Independence Days Update: Summer Visiting
Sharon August 11th, 2009
Sorry to be late with the update, we were on vacation for a few days, and I’m still catching up. Boy was it nice to be freed from the farm for a couple of days – and boy was it nice to come back. I got to go out to dinner to celebrate my birthday while near Boston, and got my favorite present (thanks Mom!) a bookstore gift certificate, and babysitting to go use it. My actual birthday isn’t until Saturday (I’ll be 37), but we’ve got guests, so we celebrated early.
It is hot here this week, first stretch of hot weather we’ve had, and I’m finding it harder to bear than usual, because I’m not adapted at all to it. Normally mid-80s and humid in August would be no worries, but we’ve had nothing past the 70s for so long that my body is treating it like a sudden heat wave in March. Blah!
Crazy, crazy week this one. We’ve got a borrowed truck for the week, so are trying to do all the things too hard to do without one – chief among them, getting our hay in. That’s tomorrow’s job – and a hot, sweaty, hay-ey deal it will be, but I can’t complain. It is a tough year for folks who hay – we’ve had so much rain that a lot of hay is still going into barns. I’d despaired of finding anything decent for a reasonable price, only to discover that my usual hay guy has some actually quite nice stuff for me. Plus, he lets my kids climb around the loft in his barn while we’re loading, for which we should be paying him extra. Isaiah keeps asking why we don’t have a barn like his. He keeps rolling his eyes and saying he’d trade for a nice, new pole barn that didn’t take so much upkeep, but I admit, I’m with his kids.
The other big job (and the ostensible purpose of the borrowed truck) is to take the revolting Cornish Cross chickens to the butcher. They are large enough, which is good, but even if they weren’t, we have to get them out of the barn. I will never, ever raise them again – all they do is eat grain and poop. I go out in the mornings with a broom and sweep them outside, trying to get them to forage, but they just look at me. I have to say, I’ve never felt so cheerful about the demise of any group of animals – I don’t like butchering, but these guys are tough to care about. I won’t be raising them ever again – yes, they put on more meat faster, but it isn’t worth the price in either grain or annoyance factor. Life’s too short to raise stupid animals 
. Next year, back to the original Cornish, or Delawares, or perhaps some of you have a good suggestion for older breeds to be used for meat?
So far, no blight on our tomatoes or potatoes, but like everyone in the east, I’m holding my breath. Holding it for this warm weather to ripen them, too – I’ve got a lot more green than red, and actually ordered a bushel of canning tomatoes from our local farm, since they are warmer and in the valley, and we don’t have anything yet. Rain, rain, more rain still coming. We had two inches yesterday, another 2 (plus hail, if we’re super-lucky) predicted this afternoon. The one thing we got here is water.
The new goats are no longer new, they’ve pretty much settled in, with Mina as queen of everything. They behaved themselves for our goat-sitters, and are happily devouring the willow-weeds. Selene and Maia should kid sometime pretty much precisely between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur – I’m praying for an easy time of it.
Ok, onto the other stuff:
Plant something: spinach, indoors, lettuce, arugula, japanese turnips, valerian root divisions, buckwheat and clover.
Harvest something: Cucumbers, squash, green beans, lettuce, a couple of tomatoes, 1 lonely eggplant, chinese cabbage, scullcap, borage, calendula, beets, arugula, yarrow
Preserve something: scullcap and yarrow tinctures, borage flower vinegar, cucumber pickles, red currant jam.
Waste Not: Actually, we wasted more than usual. Our fridge doesn’t work, and while we tried really hard to use everything up before we went to Boston (and brought some stuff with us), we had a big bowl of things to the chickens that wouldn’t have normally gone there.
Want Not: More homeschooling books from the used book store at my Mom’s, warm pajamas in Asher’s favorite color (pink – he’s very fierce on the subject that all his pajamas must be pink) and long johns and pants for Eli from the great used clothing store. Sorted through the kids clothes and got a lot to go to Goodwill, and a lot to give away. Arranged for our winter’s hay to come in, split up some branches for kindling, offered to barter a day’s work picking for some apples to our hay guy who also owns an orchard and is finding it hard to keep up with the apples now that his kids are grown. Plotted the projects needed in order to move out of the apartment for potential tenants and how to pay for them, began getting organized for that, talked to a neighbor about some firewood in trade for his cutting some of his next year’s supply from our property. Cleaned out hay barn to make way for hay. Got ready to spread manure on garden beds after stink-birds go away .
Built Community Food Systems: Nope
Ate the food: Lotsa lovely veggies, but nothing new.
How about you?
BTW, we’re still looking for an LGD puppy or LGD cross puppy, if someone in our part of the country knows a good breeder or has one. We do both money and barter .
Sharon
- Independence Days Challenge
- Comments(34)
We were on vacation ’till the 7th, and brought back a full bushel of real corn. Midwest corn, not east coast corn. Yellow sweet corn, that still TASTES like corn not sugar. Therefore, since returning …
My main adventure over the past week was to can a bushel of corn. And one batch of tomatoes. Harvested the tomatoes off my plants when I got home. Harvested hot peppers, they are hanging and drying.
Waste not: took darn near everything perishable from my fridge on vacation with us to eat on the trip. Did forget one container of leftover chicken that smellily greeted us on our return.
‘Outreach’ – spent time with a 13 year old cousin, took her to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, discussed peak oil, etc, with her. That was also the only ‘planting’ I did [grin]
Frondly, Fern
Our latest weather forecast here in southern Ontario is for 14 days of sun commencing tomorrow (may have some rain today) with warm temperatures. Wahoo, summer is here!
But I got a lot of strenuous projects done in July
. Last week I laid in a 16′ brick walk with interlocking bricks I picked up at a yard sale earlier this summer, using sand reused from our dismantled horseshoe pits as a base.
Update on other stuff: http://smallvictoriesgreen.wetpaint.com/page/Aug+10+09
Just have to comment – meat birds, in my experience at least, really are revolting. I don’t ever want to have them again. But I love my laying hens. Go figure.
It’s been cool and wet here in central Ohio, too. That is, until late last week. They’re forecasting more “normal” temperatures for the next week or so.
We put in a small garden this year. It’s the first time we’ve done it since we moved to the Columbus area eleven years ago. I used to grow a garden every year when we lived in northern Ohio, but our soil here is so bad I needed a pickaxe to break it up. We’re trying to make it better with manure and compost, and it’s paid off. We’re overwhelmed with Swiss chard right now (the kind with the multicolored stems), and peppers are looking good. I have some carrots, too, and a few herbs. Next year will be bigger and better, I’m sure.
I have what looks like powdery mildew on my zucchini plants. It looks like production is being shut down, so we’re about ready to pull the plants. That’s strange, because powdery mildew, unlike most fungi, likes warm, dry weather, not the cool, damp days we’ve been having.
Plant something: lettuce
Harvest something: cukes, tomatoes (VERY FEW!), green beans, carrots, scallions, parsley, basil, thyme, sage, chives, potatoes.
Preserve something: planning to make peach jam today, froze carrots
Waste Not: same: compost, reducing waste in general
Want Not: Cleaned out the weeds to make room for fall plantings, gave away some food to friends. From my family’s farm: apples (yay!), peaches, blueberries, raspberries, corn, squash. From my in-laws: onions, garlic, cukes, flowers, more sausage since we ran out
Built Community Food Systems: Attended the ag experiment station’s Plant Science Day, attended my town’s Potato and Corn Festival, took part in the CT Grown Challenge and promoted it on my blog and twitter.
Ate the food: tomato bruschetta, blueberry squares
It was a busy week
My update is here: http://supermomnocape.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/independence-days-challenge-aug-3rd-to-aug-9th/
We were blessed to be able to go pick pears from a man’s back yard. He didn’t know what kind they were as they were there when he bought the place three years ago. I’ve posted pictures of the two varieties on my blog. We’d sure love to know what kind they are, if anyone knows.
We were picking up a few things at the grocery store this weekend when my partner noticed the prices on organic herbs and decided that we must use $100 of herbs every week from the garden. Not quite, but I appreciate the new appreciation.
Plant: No – a little light weeding here and there in the garden beds and big time in the front yard.
Harvest: Kirby cucumbers, a few okra pods, a handful of mixed lettuce/salad greens for sandwiches; parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, “big leaf” shiso — the crop star of the year.
Preserve: Dehydrate tomatoes; decant and bottle tarragon vinegars, start sage vinegar and a trial scarbourgh fair vinegar; froze blueberries, green pepper strips, two peach pies and pie dough for another pie.
Waste Not: Sorted through the last of the storage onions; triaged tomatoes and put them in single layer temporary storage; triaged fresh peaches and made pie; went shopping in the basement for storage containers for vinegars and dehydrated tomatoes (all reused or purchased used).
Want Not: Got another 50# of organic tomatoes; made batch pie crust dough; cooked ahead for the coming week so we won’t have to do any heavy stove/oven work during the heat wave; reviewed the food storage area and dealt with a few organizational/rotation issues..
Community: Farmer’s market and garden chats as usual; shared some of the tomatoes and a few cukes with neighbors that I talk to over the fence.
Eat: Blueberries and sliced peaches almost every morning; roast peaches; blueberry pie; mixed berries; fresh tomato salsa, BLT’s, sliced tomatoes; lots of tomato, potato, and summer vegie with herbs microwave casseroles; lamb sausage and cucumbers rolled up in shiso leaves (really good, will be better once I figure out how to lightly pickle/cure the shiso beforehand).
Here is my update for the week.
Highlight: wading into the profusion of bush bean plants with the intention of staking them up off the path and realising that there were tons of beans ready to be picked!
We had a few much needed days away on the ocean. But we still managed to accomplish a few things.
Plant Something:
planted buckwheat, clover, bearberry, lambs ear and prairie sage
Harvest Something:
summer squash, eggplant, beans, cucumbers, baby turnips and radishes and blueberries
Preserve Something:
made yogurt, froze blueberries
Waste Not:
Brought surplus veggies with us for our hosts. Brought much of our own food on the weekend. Brought home all the compostable material and recyclables.
Want Not:
Nor much happening this week
Build Community:
Hit the Farmer’s Market on our mini vacation. Harvested berries at a small farm.
Eat the Food:
Sourdough herb bread, raspberry cordial, lots of cucumber salad and garlic green beans.
I feel the same way about the White Leghorns that were “given” to us as “packing peanuts” for the laying hens ordered from a poultry breeder. Roosters all, and all they know how to do is feed, fight & fornicate. A friend has promised to teach me butchering this Fall. Like yourself, I hate to think poorly about a breed of animals, but in a twisted way I’m glad I dislike these roosters – it will probably make the butchering lesson less traumatic.
IDC update on my blog, with a pic of mama hen Specklebutt and her chick, 7 feet off the ground. Chick does not look amused.
Poor, pitiful Cornish crosses-I raised two once(Dinner 1 and Dinner 2-yes, I name my food) and they were the saddest things ever. I could tell they wanted to do more than sit and eat, and Dinner 1 loved his dustbaths but they just couldn’t do more. So never again will I have chickens that can’t be chickens- it’s just too sad.
My weekly update is here:
http://inthepurplehouse.blogspot.com/2009/08/independence-days-challenge-week-15.html
8/10/09: A lot of good eating this week but not a whole lot else…and we go on vacation next week.
Planted: no
Harvested: weekly organic veggie box and flowers: nectarines, summer squash, peaches, honeydew melon, heirloom tomatoes, green beans, basil, eggplant, cucumber
Preserved: applesauce (frozen)
Reduced Waste: community composting/recycling; saved glass jars and plastics for reuse; cloth TP and handkerchiefs; mended bed sheet, pillow case with iron-on patch
Preparation and Storage: no
Build Community Food Systems: signed up for a demonstration class in “chicken dispatching and processing” at the end of this month.
Eat the Food: HM (local) Meyer lemon lemonade (pantry sugar), grilled local eggplants and beef, HM tomatillo salsa, egg (local) salad, CSA fruit salad, fried local egg sandwiches, potato salad with local potatoes and red onions, ratatouille from freezer, local chicken and cherries, pantry rice, local sausages and onions and bread, HM applesauce
More about the cornish x… someone dropped off a baby chicken at our house (yes, we have sucker written in invisible ink on the front porch), and it turned out to be one of these poor creatures. All the things that have been said are true about the breed. I could also tell he wanted to be a real chicken (and he is in fact our most caring Roo), but just couldn’t. I suppose because I have only one of these, I was able to indulge in a lot of sympathy for him since he’s a totally man-made creation. The more I read about the breed, the angrier I became. The concept seems both irresponsible and tainted with hubris. Hopping off my soap box, now.
This is our weekly update.
Plant Something—We didn’t plant anything this week.
Harvest Something—Green beans, jalapenos, zucchini, blueberries, dill, tomatoes, okra, green onions, white onions, and bell peppers.
Preserve Something—
* Freezer—Silver Queen corn, chopped green onions, chopped parsley, shredded zucchini, zucchini muffins, okra and tomatoes, shelling beans from the CSA, black beans from the pantry
* Canned—dill pickles and jalapeno slices, 4 quarts of tomatoes, 7 quarts green beans
* Dehydrated–zucchini
* Saved Seeds—zucchini, dill, and Jacob’s cattle beans
Waste Not—Since I wasn’t in the mood to put up more tomatoes, I made some salsa for the refrigerator. We’ll be munching on it for the next few days. Instead of buying bread, I made homemade pita, biscuits, and slicing bread. I made 5 t-shirt bags using stained t-shirts. I’ll try to post the very easy instructions for these on the blog soon. I made 3 bean bags using scrap fabric and some dried garbanzo beans we had bought but did not like the taste of. Obviously, the beans we used for the bean bags were dried. These are great for toddlers who find the texture interesting and the bags fun to toss. I found some quilt squares that were already cut, and I pieced them together with which to make potholders at a later date. We continue to compost, recycle, and use the rain barrel. We’ve been on a 2 week challenge with Preparedness Pro, and therefore we have been using foods that needed to be rotated out of storage.
Want Not/Preparation—My sweet hubby completed the land preparation for the play area for our daughter. He plans to start planing the wood next weekend, and the wood chips from that will be used around the blueberries. I cleaned out our daughter’s closet in preparation for her returning to school. One of the shelves on which we had been storing most of the jams and jellies seemed to be a little loose. When we realized this, we removed the jars, reorganized the pantry, and moved them to a new and safer home. Whew—that was a close one! All of the food from the CSA basket this weekend will go into food storage.
Building Community Food Systems—I put out a plea to the church for our food pantry. I used most of the reserves of money we had from donations early in the year to restock the pantry. I spoke with a few more church members about possible fundraisers for the pantry. We donated items from our garden to the church vegetable cart. I’ve been canning some for the fall bazaar we are having at the church later in the year. We purchase a CSA basket each week. I’m pleased to report that my sister has caught the farmers market bug, and she has been attending each weekend for about a month now.
Eat the Food—My favorite this week has been whole wheat couscous with cherry tomatoes, basil, chopped cucumber, and a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I haven’t made this recipe in almost a year, and it was a nice addition to our meal. I tried a new recipe for canning jalapenos.
Update for us, here.
I need to figure out what’s eating everything on the patio (black specks on the collards?)
I’ve enjoyed your posts today, even though I’ve not commented.
Hot and dry in St. Louis, MO (into the upper 90s last weekend), and the AC isn’t working right. At least the garden is producing like crazy … as long as I water it.
Plant: not in the kind of weather we had last week
Harvest: potatoes (not finished), elderberries (not finished and already about 6 pounds!!), green beans, yard-long beans, peppers, tomatoes, kale, collards, mustard greens, shiitake mushrooms, various herbs, flowers: calendula, nasturtium, lavender, hops
Preserve: nothing this week, still waiting for my DH to finish the food dehydrator and to collect all the elderberries. The potatoes are being stored in 5 gallons buckets in the (somewhat cooler) basement.
Waste not: the usual. Had to deal with a worm population explosion in the worm bin. Removed the excess population and put it on the potted fig tree and under the mulched herb bed.
Want not: taking the AIP course so I can make good plans for doing this
Community food systems: nothing this week
Eat the food: potatoes and the DH’s sauerkraut, brown rice and the green beans, sauteed outer cabbage leaves (tough but edible), tomatoes for breakfast (not just tomatoes, of course, but in place of sweeter fruits that aren’t currently available on-site), raw ripe sweet peppers (yum!!). Looking forward to beans and potatoes from the recent harvest of both …
(I hope this is not a repeat-I lost my comment somehow!)
The Cornish X are also sitting “ducks” for every neighborhood predator (raccoons, coyotes, hawks). I finally had to confine mine ot the coop after several disappeared. Confined, they grew big and even slower. Poor things.
My update includes last week as well: http://www.cauldronridge.blogspot.com
Love reading all the updates (they give me so many new ideas!)
My update is here
http://kirbanita.typepad.com/take_joy/2009/08/independence-days-15.html
Here, too, it’s suddenly summer—temps near 90, after a relatively cool summer so far. Ick. On the other hand, August means that fall isn’t far off . . . I hope.
Our IDDC report.
Chickies … we stick to egg breeds and when it is time for one of them to go, we crockpot the carcass overnight with garlic and onions. In the morning the meat practically falls off the bones, and the broth is rich enough to regard as a concentrated soup ingredient, or whatever.
We’ve seen 1/3 inch of rain since May. The tan or even whitish grasses crumble to powder underfoot. Beetles scream as they fall off the edges of the chasms in our clay soil and tumble into the black depths of the scorched earth. Distant trees attain an autumnal glory which, upon closer inspection, is no more than the gloomy brown of advanced leaf necrosis from cells exploded by the 108 degree day we had awhile back. The well pump runs dangerously, dangerously hot.
There, y’all happy?
Plant something: parsley, warrigal greens, yogurt
Harvest something: mixed lettuce, mushrooms, baby beetroot, rocket, broccoli side shoots, pak choy
Preserve Something: not this week
Prep & Storage: stocked up on extra tofu (the kind my partner actually likes!)
Build Community Food Systems: plans have been laid
Reduce Waste: good use of leftovers, but there were some annoying lapses this week.
Eat the Food: coleslaw, baked veggie/tofu wraps, bean & veggie burritos, stir fry with pak choy, storage tofu & noodles, ‘clean out the fridge’ soup.
plant: lettuce seed, more peas (can use as cover crop if they dont mature, buckwheat, plus a few mini rows of kale, collard, lettuce, oriental greens – all in scraggly seedling form. I planted them in flats and then went on the road for several days while hiding them in a shady area. hope they pull through – I buried the scraggly parts and what is above ground looks good.
harvest: a few okra pods, tomatoes are coming in (lots of cherry tomatoes), Nardello peppers – the plants are loaded and I’m letting them turn red (slowly), still have dinosaur kale and some collards(the slugs were having a feast so I harvested all the lower leaves and sheet composted them). Asian mustard greens are still coming in from spring and they are not too hot. also nasturtium flowers, green beans, crookneck squash and few zuchinni. I harvested some cilantro for seed – (is this coriander?), also lots of basil.
preserve: bottled kombucha as always – added some fresh peach juice for flavor as I bottled it. I’m getting ready to stew some tomatoes (in small batches and freeze them and maybe defrost and can them when weather gets cooler.)
waste not: sheet mulching with brewery grains and newspaper.
want not (prep) : preparing more garden beds (slowly in the cooler part of the day). making small compost piles in the garden (like sheet composting). making plans for root cellar reorganization (bought new shelves that need assembling).
community food systems: taking care of neighbors animals while they are on vacation – we will pick up their csa
eat the food: steamed black eyed peas (yumm – fresh from the garden makes a difference!). tomato-summer squash- okra- basil. green beans. sweet corn from csa. peaches … its all happening. don’t need any recipes because everything tastes so good just as it is with light cooking. sill making mung and lentil sprouts to add protein to the stir fries.
When we had a large group of cornish X they were like you said (ditto for leghorns). When we had a few with a bunch of our other varieties they followed along and figured it out and did fine. It was funny to have these giant teen birds with the tiny guys and know they were the same age. Obviously they are not the best choice if you have the land and resources for free range birds.
We have had a lot of variety in our flock over the years and have had the opportunity to see them raised in different systems. Everything from tractors, to pens with goats or cows, to free range in cedar pine forest at 7500′. They all seem to have breed quirks. For example, I’ve noticed that our Araucanas prefer greens over bugs. And their yolks are always the brightest.
One variety that knocked me dead was the Dark Cornish. They are the complete opposite of the Cornish X. If there was any chicken that could survive without any human intervention it would be the Dark Cornish. We call them raptors because they are very upright and have huge legs. And they will eat everything. We watched ours eat mice and birds that came to drink at the water bucket. Plus, unlike any other poultry we’ve had they are smart enough to put their foot on some thing to hold it down while they tear it apart. They never showed any sign of aggression towards the other animals they were housed with and they had no problem with us picking them up. We picked them up regularly because they were so dense and a lot heavier than they looked, it was impressive. They also lay well. Ours never had the chance but I have heard they are great setters and mothers. They would be my choice for a meat bird if I had more space to let them roam and reproduce at will.
Right now we are actually replacing our entire flock with Coturnix Quail. They are everything we need for our tiny homestead (1/4 acre) in one bird. They start laying at 6 weeks old and lay an egg a day (you need 5 quail eggs to equal 1 chicken egg), they are ready to butcher at 8-10 weeks one bird dressed out is about 7oz perfect size for one person. Another interesting thing is that all their feathers even the wing feather are small and soft, great for pillows etc. Plus we adore the sounds they make and their personalities. Great for people who cant have chickens because of noise, space, etc.
I could go on forever but I have been sitting in front of this blasted machine for too long already!
great post like always
The daffodils are starting to flower here, blossom is appearing on my plum tree and I haven’t pruned anything yet. Feelings of spring panic starting to set in…..
Planted: Flour peas, and some broad beans. Put potatoes in the garage to sprout. It’s been drier than usual so I should be able to get some seedlings in early, just got to clear off the windowsills and get them started.
Harvested: Most of my paltry crop of cauliflour. Chickweed, kale and bolting mizuna for the chickens. Carrots and parsnips – a lot of these have been left too long but nothing much gets picked in midwinter because I only see the garden in the dark. Plenty of eggs, half the chickens are laying now.
Preserved: Nope
Waste not: Friday has been designated leftover night rather than eat-out night for financial reasons. Leftovers from meals go into the freezer all week and come out again on Friday. We’re noticing some meals freeze much better than others
Turned an old cupboard into a maternity suite for the bantams – cut a hole in the door, and painted it a hideous salmon pink with leftover paint. Judging by the general chicken grumbling noises I think the girls will be ready to use it very soon. I’ll move them to the summer run this weekend so they can settle in.
Prep and storage: Hitting all the end of season sales to pick up bedding. Spare room is ready for a new room-mate, now I just have to find one. The rent money is going to be used to pay for a new logburner next year when our old one becomes illegal due to clean air regulations.
Community: I may have sucessfully infected a co-worker with the overwhelming desire to keep chickens
Eat the food: Used up the last of the dried peppers. Really regretting not having bought some tomatoes last summer for preserving when my crop wasn’t big enough. Cleaning out the last of the summer fruit from the freezer – made raspberry and lemon loaf. Still using up the homegrown squash and pumpkins in stews and pumpkin macaroni. Have added a fish loaf recipe to my repertoire……very flexible recipe, can contain grated carrot, zuchinni, parsnip etc. so a good method for stuffing extra vegetables into the family. And I let them put ketchup on it so everybody’s happy
We’ve also had a lot of rain here in my part of the southern hemisphere – meaning that we haven’t had frost for a couple of weeks now. I may be getting over-enthusiatic about my plans for planting out next weekend, but I’m trying to head the locals who say it could snap back to clear and frosty anytime. Last weekend we were away in the capital – and spent too much time developing grandious ideas after walking around the botantic gardens.
Planting: nope
Harvest: nope
Preserve: HELP! I tried to make crabapple jelly, but got distracted, let it overcook and ended up with jars of caramellised crabapple toffee. Any suggestions on how to use it? BB and I would prefer not to eat it as straight toffee.
Waste Not: Just the usual – compost and recycling.
Want Not: Picked up sheep manure on the way back from capital, and pea straw in my work lunch break the other day.
Community Food Systems: Took apple marmalade to hosts at the capital.
Eat the Food: I swear we cooked this week, I just can’t remember anything. Ummmm… lentils, biscuits, zucchini pasta, stuffed vegetables, at least.
Risa, that’s what we mostly do for ourselves – these are for sale, and thus, the requirements are different. But I love stewing hen!
Sealander, I love the idea of a brooding cupboard – what a great idea. I’ve got just the thing, too!
Risa, I am thinking about dark cornish, and you’ve pushed me over the edge. Thanks also for the info about quail – I’d like to try them at some point. What kind of set up do you have for them?
Sharon
Sharon,
Right now I have the quail in a bunch of old rabbit cages I built when I had angoras. I have a dozen birds per cage (2′x4′) two males ten females. Each cage has a chick waterer, a rabbit feeder, a little nest box and we give them a daily bowl of dirt to bath in. This set up is temporary. I didn’t want to spend any money till we were sure. Soon (once the chickens are gone) I will get around to building a raised cage system in our barn so they can live with the goats and keep each other warm in the winter. Also easier to maintain when everybody is in the same place.
We are hatching like crazy right now. We are working towards 60 layers and canning as many as possible before it gets to cold to incubate. The temp in our house is not stable in the winter and the incubator is a piece of crap.
I look forward to seeing how the dark cornish do for ya.
Risa
Planted: nothing. Gleefully watched seedlings coming up, but I have a mystery. The leeks are finally coming up, right where I thought I put them. Which begs the question; what the heck are the things that already came up in those rows, and how did they get there???! They look like some type of cruciferous vegetable. Did I go into some sort of non-waking state and plant two things in the same rows? It’s always possible, I guess …
Harvested: tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries, local eggs, CSA vegetables.
Preserved: dried plums and blueberries. Apricot, uh, syrup. Just ignore that jam label.
Attended gardener’s mini college and had the time of my life; learned many many interesting things. Also went crazy buying books (important reference tools!) Came away more excited than ever about starting my own CSA. Must find land!!!
It’s raining here, which is delightful after that heat wave a week back.
We call years like Sharon is having cabbage years. Or at least the old-time gardeners used to. I guess because that’s about the only thing that did well. I always look forward to them — although they are rotten for tomatoes. Gardening does change one’s outlook on weather …
Who’d'a thunk we’d have so many Risas here?
We’re like the Stony Run chickens, always named by batch. The current Rhode Island Reds are all named Rosie.
A bit late posting, as I was recovering from 47 pounds of green beans. Green beans frozen, canned, resold, given away, and eaten. It was my first time using a pressure canner. It mostly worked, after I called a friend and got her to call her 80 year old mother for advice. One jar sealing failure and one exploded jar in the two batches canned. I learned that pressure canning, even more than jam, requires a space of several hours of close hovering and monitoring the canner. This after the work of cleaning the beans and filling the jars.
Still no tomatoes, but they went in late this year. Lots of kale and zucchini.
Time to go outside and hoe out a spot in the weed explosion (previously clear winter garden bed) to plant beets.
Shira in Bellingham, WA
Same weather here in Central Ma, the most challenging year of growing in our 12 years as a CSA. We’re coping though and members seem to be remaining cheerful, each got to pick two cherry tomatoes this week
.
I raised Cornish x last year and I rather liked them, I kept them in a simple circle of wire in the 3 sided barn and let them out each day, they foraged quite well and I thought they were rather friendly. I let them go about a week too long and lost one and had a couple looking lathargic.
I made lots of chicken broth with one (plus a few grocery store wings I had in freezer) yesterday, made a crustless chicken pie and served over rice. It contained various garden veg, carrots, onion, leeks, zuc (for the green instead of peas). Rosemary, thyme and sage. Its was fab I am always impressed when I impress myself. I am going to make soup from the rest.
I don’t have suggestions for other birds to raise, the only other birds I’ve eaten are unwanted roosters (have some now annoying creatures).
Due to your autumn garden suggestions I have actually got some more lettuce, bok choi, arugula, and a few other greens in. Hoping to wow folks with late lettuce
. I need to plant beets if the soil would dry a bit 
.
Beth in Massachusetts
I haven’t been updating lately because I’ve been so busy I just haven’t thought about keeping track. This is generally what’s been goin’ on around these here parts.
Plant something: ask my sweetie. I can’t keep track of what he’s experimenting with. He’s got stuff in the shadehouse and is always piddling around with his hydroponics set-up.
Harvest something: couple of cherry tomatoes, prickly pear fruit, and CSA share. Also drove out to some orchards to pick peaches and apples. Shared the ride with two other CSA members and friends.
Preserve something: prickly pear jelly, prickly pear liqueur, a fruity ’steak & burger’ sauce, peach-pepper relish (actually I’ll use it as a stirfry sauce), frozen peaches, and the beginnings of two different vinegars – apple and plum/peach
Waste Not: used leftover prickly pear fruit pulp from juicing for jelly to make the liqueur; used peels and trimmings to make the vinegars; started a second compost pile for prickly pear parts and mesquite beans.
Want Not: got a little pump to get water out of a 55 gal barrel for emergencies; still looking for a home
Built Community Food Systems: took watermelon rind to neighbor who has chickens; told a gal at my self-defense class about the websites with canning info since she mentioned that she wants to can some peaches and apples from the nearby orchards.
Ate the food: yes! Other than rice, oatmeal, sugar, and spices, most of our food is coming from the CSA or pantry.
I raised two batches of 25 cornish crosses this year. They are disgusting and aggressive when I go to feed them. Never again. I read that dorkings won a heritage breed taste contest and now I am very interested in them. Although dark cornish eating mice sounds awesome.
1. Plant something: Transplanted lettuce starts and Dutch Corn salad starts into larger growing pots, planted radishes
2. Harvest something: My garden-Some baby lettuce and some Baby Dutch corn salad, Tomatoes, some greens, hot cherry peppers; fennel; Community Garden: Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Basil, Chives, Radishes
3. Preserve something: Pickled fennel (found recipe in Ready Made magazine);
4. Reduce Waste (recycle, reuse, reduce, repair or compost something): Turned the compost pile, did the usual recycling and composting
5. Preparation and Storage: Gathered up seeds I have collected from plants and from order and sorting and put into a metal storage box, Ordered some seeds for fall garden from company over in Ellensburg, WA
6. Build Community Food Systems: From Community Garden to food bank- donated about 2.5 pounds of Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Basil, Chives, Radishes; did my watering day at the community garden; Attended a SUBU (Sustainable Burien)meeting
7. Eat the Food (cook or eat something new)- Omelet with marinated grilled vegetables, Broiled Tomatoes with Provolone, Ate and Used Leek Flower Blossoms in salad and omelet.