Independence Days Update: Better Late…
Sharon June 3rd, 2010
Sorry for the lateness of this update, but I was so tired earlier this week that I could barely function. We had a wonderful time at our weekend event – the kids had a fabulous time, the adults had a fabulous time, it was glorious, but it took two days before we recovered.
And after that, we had to move all the furniture around so that Phil the official housemate of Gleanings farm could move in, which he did this afternoon. He was here for three whole hours before taking off to spend four days with his girlfriend, but I gather this won’t be typical.
Phil wants to learn to farm, so he was very nervous that we would have done all the planting before he got here. He begged me to make sure there was still some planting left to do…oh, Phil, you innocent 
.
A lot got planted last week, not as much this one, since we’ve been tired and busy with other things, but I’m hopeful that the week that runs from tomorrow morning to next Friday will be good – before I head off for Washington DC next Friday.
We finally had some rain day before yesterday, which we desperately needed, and there’s hope for a bit more – we could really use it. The weather has been so hot and dry it has been tough on the transplants and the early crops – this is quite unusual for us, I’ve only once before seen my lettuce bolt before the end of June. Time to start another planting. But the projection is for cooler and wetter in the coming week.
The sheep still haven’t arrived – Elaine, my sheep partner-in-crime has had problems with white muscle disease and hasn’t wanted to stress the lambs by moving them, so the grass is getting tall. I went and looked at a flock of Jacobs nearby, since I’m pretty determined to get my own sheep, but I’m leaning back towards icelandics. Keeping an eye out for a local flock – if anyone knows a good one, let me know!
We lost some of the baby bunnies in the heat wave, despite moving them to a cool spot and the judicious application of ice packs, but the surviving ones have turned into little open-eyed bunny creatures. I’m mulling over the purchase of another doe and buck, and trying to decide what would be fun to cross the cinnamons with. The setting hens hatched out a few chicks, and the does are being dried off for July/August kidding.
First strawberries came to the table, although we lost a lot of blossoms in a late freeze and won’t get tons ourselves. But the local farms are open for picking and we’ll go tomorrow and probably Tuesday for the first batches of jam. My kids can pick (and eat) an almost infinite number of berries. Yay!
Ok, onto the update:
Plant something: Elderberries, apples, filberts, pears, lady’s mantle, elecampane, liatris, dianthus, peonies, yarrow, maypop, hops, mulberries, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onions, squash, cucumbers, orach, hollyhock, mullein, breadseed poppies, clover, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, kale, chard, maximilian sunflowers, sage, lemongrass.
Harvest something: lettuce, kale, scallions, spring garlic, mint, chives, raspberry leaves, rhubarb, asparagus, radishes, strawberries, milk, eggs, yarrow
Preserve something: dried raspberry leaves, dried yarrow, made rhubarb sauce
Waste Not: Cleaned out freezer, and found surprisingly few scary things. Decided not to freeze broccoli in the future, as we don’t like it enough to eat it – prefer frozen lambsquarters, kale or chard, and like our broccoli fresh. Gave frozen broccoli to chickens who liked it fine. Froze some cream for butter making…eventually. Cleared crap out of Phil’s space and donated many things to Goodwill.
Want Not: Finally got some pasta that wasn’t orzo or lasagna to replace that which was eaten. Children very grateful.
Eat the food: Learned to make hardboiled eggs in the solar oven (thanks for the tip, Bernard!), ate lots of thai salad (lettuce, broccoli thinnings, asparagus, other veg, hardboiled eggs with peanut sauce dressing). Made asparagus rolls.
Build community food systems – had a bunch of people at my house .
How about you?
Sharon