Spring is Finally Sproingin'!

It's been a very long time since we've posted anything - sorry about that!

Spring is finally showing up in The Bog, with all the attendant fanciness and fertility that a little bit of sunshine and a lot of raging hormones bring out in both plants and critters alike.

We've had our first broody hen - Athena - who gave herself away when, upon being let out of the coop first thing in the morning, instead of following the crowd directly to the water pan and flock block, ran for all she was worth in the exact opposite direction toward the bog. Hmmm... sumpin's up! Sure enough, I follow her hasty course down to the tree line just before the bog and, viola, she's got a secret nest in a little hidey-hole amongst the roots of a mid-sized madrona tree with 5 eggs already in it. Sneaky monkey!

The ducks, however, seem to have no interest thus far in motherhood. Our Muscovy pair, Speckles and Nausicaa, are still in their honeymoon phase and seem to have eyes only for each other (and worms, and naps), so, no baby action there yet. Squirt and his harem of Khaki Campbell girls also seem interested only in hanging out. Our newest pair - adopted from our local animal shelter, if you can believe it! - are Ashitaka and Fujiko, a mated pair of Pekins. Fuji is rather high-strung, and Ashi spends most of his day just trying to keep up with her.

The quail are just kinda maintaining. They aren't particularly exciting birds, but man, are they productive! We're planning to incubate some eggs starting next week, with the hopes of getting our egg production up by the time Summer rolls around.

That's the fauna. Now for the flora side of things.

Nothing is really producing much yet except some perennial herbs (sage, thyme and horehound, mostly) and our indefatigable Victoria rhubarb. The plum tree and pear tree are already loaded with blooms, and the pie cherry tree looks to be next up.

This year is supposed to be a banner year for morel mushrooms, but I've yet to find a single one. Alas, we do have a vigorous crop of the NOT edible Amanita Pantherina growing like gangbusters in the chicken yard. I guess morels on my doorstep were too much to hope for? ;)

The garden is/will be late going in this year, as the monsoon rains didn't even slow down until nearly the end of March. Everything is still sopping, so I'm hedging my bet and holding off for another week or so before starting to plant seeds in earnest. I'd rather have late veggies that waste my time and money plugging seed into the ground only to watch it rot.

That being said, when we finally do plant our garden, here's some of what we'll be growing -

*Ho Lan Dow snow peas
*Jack Be Little pumpkins
*Danish Flag breadseed poppies
*Resina Calendula
*Bodegold Chamomile
*Goosebumps pumpkins
*Red-cored Chantenay and Royal Chantenay carrots
*Cocozelle zucchini
*Yukon Gold potatoes
*Assorted red raspberries
*Grosso lavender
*Lemon Balm
*Spearmint

I'm looking forward to getting out and working in the yard and garden without looking like I've just come from a mud wrestling smackdown. Someday... ;)

Farmstand Days and Hours - Saturdays & Sundays 10ish - 7ish. This month's offerings will/might include - Eggs (chicken, duck & quail), Rhubarb, Fresh Herbs, Beeswax and hand knit dishcloths, coasters and other assorted goodies. :)

Garden Update - Mid-May

We finally finished planting in the garden today. Whew!

Some of the earliest stuff we put in is getting big and beautiful, but so far, we haven't harvested anything yet with the exception of a few pounds of rhubarb. Our pea and onion plot is looking lovely, but the pea plants, for all their vigor, have yet to set a single flower. It seems to me like we should have had our first peas by now.

Clarke's Beltony Blue Shelling peas and Yellow Rock onions

The Watermelon radishes were also a disappointment. They started to bolt before they ever even began to form a bulb! I pulled a few and found that they were all scraggly and sad looking, so I pulled the lot. We have another succession planting of them already about 2 weeks in, so we'll let those grow and see if they come out right, and if not, I guess the bunnies will have a second feast. At least they get to enjoy them!

The carrots are starting to worry me too. No signs of life from that bed yet. :( I'll be hugely bummed if our carrots don't work out, since they are one of the veggies that we go through tons of year-round.

The potatoes finally seem to have gotten a foothold. The Purple Majesty are clearly the front-runners, with Rose Finn Apple and Yukon Gold well behind, in terms of foliage. Weird, since the Purple Majesty's are a mid-season variety, but whatever - progress is progress - I'll take it.

Seeded/Planted out today -

*Cucumbers - Addis Pickle

*Pumpkins/Squash - Small Sugar, Oregon Sweet Meat

*Corn - Dakota Black (popcorn)

*Beans - Robert's Royalty (bush)

*Sunflowers - Giant Greystripe, Honey Bear

*Peppers - Pimento

*Melons - Minnesota Midget Melons (cantaloupe)

*Ground Cherries - Aunt Molly's

*Flowers/Herbs/Botanicals - Hungarian Blue Breadseed poppies, Resina Calendula, Hyssop, Bachelor Buttons, Bouquet Dill

I had planned on putting in a bed of just cutting flowers, but food plants come first, so they didn't end up fitting in. I think we're going to try to find some room somewhere to shimmy in some borage though, since the bees go absolutely nuts for it. Besides that, I daresay we're about done planting stuff, with the exception of a few succession plantings (cilantro and radishes).

Done with the seeding! Now begins the watering/weeding/cursing-at-hungry-bugs phase of the garden. 

2 Days' Take - 3/24 & 3/25/2015

The rain has been very limiting in terms of getting to play and work outside. I think I'm ready for May to be here, like, now.

Since the weather has me somewhat house-bound, I've tried to put that time to good use reading a whole mess of farming, gardening and homesteading books, including -

*The Complete Book of Potatoes
*Organic Gardener's Composting
*Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades
*Success with Organic Vegetables
*Top Bar Beekeeping
*Super Formulas - How to make more than 360 useful products that contain honey and beeswax
*The Candlemaker's Companion

I really look forward to making my next batch of soap, even if it won't be a goat milk soap this time. I'm planning on trying out a recipe for a Pumpkin & Spice bar using the last bit of pumpkin puree that we have in the freezer from last Fall's sugar pie pumpkins. Hopefully we'll be able to incorporate a little of our honey and/or beeswax into that batch as well. That is, if we're able to rob the hives anytime soon. But first, this stinkin' rain would have to let up!

For the record -
Duck Eggs - 5
Chicken Eggs - 14

Today's Take - 3/13/15

Nothing much (again) today, just three eggs, all of them brown. Hmm.... someone... or rather, 5 someones... are slacking!

I know that one of my slackers is Bedelia, a 2-year old Americauna hen. Even on a good day, when I get a blue egg in the nestbox, I can always attribute it to our only other Americauna, Snow White, who I see in the nest box each and every morning. I haven't seen Bedelia in the box a single time yet this season. I suspect that she is laying, but not where she's supposed to. I have a plan to test this theory, starting tomorrow, bright and early. Bwahaha!

Bedelia, our suspected shirker.

Snow White, reliable provider of beautiful blue eggs

Here's what I'm thinking - I have a flower bed that I need turned over, ASAP. I also have a brand-spankin'-new used chicken tractor that just so happens to be a near-perfect fit for my weedy bed. So, Bedelia and a brown egg laying pal (or two) will spend the day working the flower bed for me, during which time they will also hopefully lay a few eggs. If I end up with a blue one at the end of the day, it'll confirm my suspicion that Miss B is actively laying, just nowhere that I can find them. Exactly what I'll do with that information, well, I haven't got that far yet. ;)

Anyway, today was a three egg day. Hopefully tomorrow, the laydies will step up their game and give us a half dozen or more. A chicken lady can dream.

10 Days 'til Spring!

It has been a very strange Winter this year.

Not enough snow has fallen in the mountains to bank up an adequate snowpack to keep the rivers flowing happily come Summer, which theoretically means that a drought is on it's way.

I know that drought is nothing to joke about, but looking at the mud pit that is my bottomland right now... a bit of drought has it's appeal.

At the moment, it's cool but not cold, and wet-but-not-sopping outside - a pretty average day for the second week of March. The thing that keeps throwing a wrench in the works is that it has been still been dipping into the freezing temps overnight.

During the day, I get a wicked case of Spring Fever and want to fiddle in my yard and garden and plant everything in sight. Come nightfall and the steep temperature dip, I find that I'm glad that I didn't.

So far we have only planted out a half bed of peas for fear that the frost will pop back up and clobber them. I have some yellow onion sets that really should have gone in last month, but I'm still apprehensive about putting them out even now, for fear that they will freeze or be gobbled by mice before they have a chance to get themselves established. Oy.

Thankfully, I do have an outlet for my plant-fever in my grow table. We have an unheated back room with a big ol' South-facing sliding glass door that is a near-perfect location for a germination station. This year, I'm really reining myself in by only jump-starting the seeds that truly need the lead time afforded by the seedling heat mats and the grow lights. That means that I only have 4 types of seed started - Ground Cherries, Hyssop, Pimento Peppers and German Chamomile. I have direct-sewn the chamomile in the past with success, the seeds are just so small and light that they make themselves rather hard to distribute evenly, and end up growing in great clumps with large gaps between. This is my attempt at a work around for that little wrinkle.

The seeds were started 4 days ago, and when I checked them this morning, lo and behold, signs of life!

My tea-to-be! 

The Hyssop have also started popping up, and a lone Ground Cherry has sprouted. Nothing from the Pimentos yet.

Our French fry futures :)

Perhaps pushing my luck, I laid my seed potatoes out to sprout today. This year we're growing 3 types of spuds - a short-season variety (Yukon Gold) a mid-season (Purple Majesty) and a late-season variety (Rose Finn Apple fingerlings). If they manage to put on some nice sprouts in the next week or two, I'll next have to chit them and let them cure for a day before biting the bullet and planting the whole lot of them out. 

Pretty please, make up your mind, weather! Farmer Chelle is itching to play in the dirt!

Spring Seeds

Look at what the mailman brought me today!

These are the first of several shipments of seeds that I'm expecting, from no less than four different companies. The trouble with having strong preferences for particular varieties is that it seems that no one seed company carries them all. Add to that that I wanted to grow a few new-to-me varieties recommended by my local Slow Food chapter and you have... a very piecemeal seed shopping experience. ;)

This is my first order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I'm particularly excited to try growing the Rat's Tail Radish since having tasted them at a few different local foods dinners. They look like a green bean, but taste like a mild radish. Neato! I'm looking forward to using them in a few pickling recipes this Summer.

As for the rest of our chosen varieties, so far we have planned -

*Radishes - Rat's Tail, Purple Plum and Watermelon

*Poppies - Hungarian Blue Breadseed

*Ground Cherries - Aunt Molly's

*Carrots - Atomic Purple, Red Cored Chantenay, Little Fingers

*Sunflowers - Giant Greystripe, Honey Bear

*Peas - He Lan Dou snow peas, Clarke's Beltony Blue-podded shelling peas

*Parsnips - Turga (a short-rooted variety)

*Peppers - Pimento (sweet)

*Pumpkins/Winter Squash - Small Sugar, Oregon Sweet Meat

*Beans - Robert's Royalty Purple Snap (bush-type)

*Corn - Dakota Black Popcorn

*Cucumbers - Addis Pickling

*Greens - Bear Necessities Kale

*Beets - Lutz Tall-Top

*Cilantro - Standby (slow-bolt)

*Chamomile - Bodegold (German-type)

*Calendula - Resina

*Pollinator-friendly and Cutting Flowers - Anise Hyssop, Gloriosa Daisy, Rocket Larkspur, Love in a Mist

We still want/plan/need to lay hands on the following seeds/starts - potatoes, tomatoes, hot peppers, lavender, elderberries, a short-season melon or two, basil, more salad greens, more cutting flowers, Phacelia (for the bees!), maybe wasabi and a few others that I'm probably forgetting.

We intend to really make a real go of our little farmstand this year. Let's hope that the weather and our backs hold up to our ambition!

Today's Take - 8/3/13

Zucchini - 3 pounds, 6 ounces
Yellow squash - 2 pounds, 8 ounces
Chamomile - handful
Peas - handful
Eggs - 8
Goat milk - 1/2 gallon

There are several cantaloupes that are now baseball sized, and quite a few more that are golf ball/kiwi sized. I can't wait to finally try one!

The sunflowers are all about 7 feet tall, and still forming their buds. When are these babies gonna bloom?

Bill said that one of the turkey gobbled at him today. Just when I was starting to suspect that we'd ended up with a pair of hens too. Well, at least one of them is a boy!

The LoL Market is creeping closer, and my perparedness-mania is just starting to kick in. Will the tomatoes be ready for market? Not at the rate their going now. Will the soap be cured in time? 99% yes - whew! Should I knit more? It can't hurt. Tomatoes, squash, beets, corn (maybe), cantaloupe, eggs, apples, soap and knits - will it be enough? Man, I hope so!

First (Late) Veggie Starts of 2013

What can I say? The fact that anything got started at all is pretty close to miraculous at this point. ;)

Germinating away on the seedling heat mats -

*One flat of mixed greens - Mervielle d'Quatre Saisons lettuce, Buttercrunch lettuce, Cimmaron lettuce and Russian Red kale

*One flat of assorted tomatoes/tomatillos - Tomatillos Verde, Black Cherry tomatoes, Roman Speckled Paste, Silvery Fir Tree

*One flat of peas - 12 of Mammoth Melting. 12 of Lincoln Homesteader.

...and that's it, so far. I'll have to start a lot more inside if we don't get a break in the rain soon. Urggg...

Update 4/15/13 - Peas & greens are starting to pop up! We only spotted one lonely little tomatillo sprout so far though,. Hopefully we'll see more sprouts tomorrow, and by this weekend we'll be able to move them off the seedling heat mats and put them under the lights. Yay for homegrown! :)

Seeds for 2013

...or seed candidates, anyway. We'll have to see how many of these badboys make the final cut, since, regrettably, we do not have infinite garden space.

Tomatoes - Paw Paw, Speckled Roman Paste, Silvery Fir Tree, Black Cherry

Tomatillos - Toma Verde

Melons - Minnesota Midget Melon

Flowers - Calendula, Rocket Larkspur, Borage, Hungarian Blue Bread Poppies

Herbs - German Chamomile, Mammoth Dill, Bouquet Dill, Thai Holy Basil, Slow Bolt Cilantro

Carrots - Nantes Scarlet (guess who picked that one!), Royal Chantenay, Atomic Red, Red-Cored Chantenay, Little Fingers

Peas - Mammoth Melting, Lincoln,

Radish - Cherry Belle, French Breakfast

Beets - Cylindra, organic sugar

Cucumbers- Delikatesse, Homemade Pickles, Lemon

Fennel - Sweet Florence

Beans - Golden Wax improved, Kentucky Wonder, Cannellini

Corn - Yukon Chief

Summer Squash - Early White Bush Scallop, Cocozelle (zucchini), Early Prolific Straightneck

Winter Squash/Pumpkins - Small Sugar Pumpkin, Cinderella, Burgess Buttercup, Williams Naked Seeded, Hokkaido Stella Blue

Sunflowers - Giant Greystripe, Miriam Edible

Salad Greens - Arugula (rocket), Cimmaron, Buttercrunch, Merveille de Quatre Saisons, Rouge d'hiver, Red Romaine

Hardy Greens - Russian Red Kale, Chinese Kale, Pak Choi


These are all of the seed packets that I could dig up, yet this seems like not quite enough to be my whole stash. Hmmmm.....

In addition to all of these, it is pretty much guaranteed that I will pick up a few starts from the Farmer's Market, once it's open. I guess I can't control myself. :\

Pigs!

We're definitely, finally raising a few hogs come this Spring. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about pig breeds, husbandry, nutrition, etc., which is unfortunately a woefully small number of books. Our local library system had a whole four books on the subject, two of which I'm reading, and two of which I have on hold. I'm surprised and bummed by the lack of information that I've been able to find locally.

With the reading that I have been able to do, I've hit upon a few breeds that really intrigue me - the Kune Kune, the Saddleback and the Chester White. Not that we'll end up with any of these breeds! Looking at Craiglist, it appears to be a sea of Yorkshires, Hampshires, Berkshires or some mixture thereof available in my area and not much else. So I guess we'll get what we get!

Anyhoo - if you have a favorite breed or a hot tip on raising pigs for meat, give me a shout. I'm hungry for more information (and also, some bacon.) ;)

Projects...

I'm back to knitting fairly regularly again, finally. Since the accident, I didn't often have either the energy or the dexterity to work with my hands, so easing back in to knitting has been slow, but nice.

I'm hoping to do another bazaar or two again this Christmas, so I'm working on building up a good and diverse inventory. Right now, I'm focusing on washcloths, since those were my best seller last year, followed by my bike helmet earmuffs. I'll be making heaps of both this time, so as not to run out again.

About 3/4 of my project yarns were gifted to me, so they cost me nada out of pocket, which means that if/when I'm able to sell what I make from them, it'll be mostly straight profit. Yay!

I did need some more kitchen cotton though, so I spent $30 on quite a bit of yarn at Michaels, which I have (so far) turned into 3 3/4 dishcloths which will, in theory, sell for $5 each. Here's hoping that I make enough to cover my expenses at least!

I also recently picked up a few clearance herbs at Bark & Garden, several of which look like they are prime for dividing. I spent $33 there, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to make a good chunk of that back selling live plants (started from these) at our farm stand in the future. Even if I don't (but I hope I do), I will have spent $2 each on some really interesting herbs that would cost at least that much for a cut bunch in the produce section of the grocery store.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Today's Take - 7/29/12

It was weirdly hot today. In spite of our better intentions to bushwhack the Alder saplings and blackberry bushes in the chicken yard into submission, we mostly ended up vegging out.

We did manage to bring in the following, though, in spite of our lazy -

*Goat Milk, 1/2 gallon
*Eggs - 7
*Lavender flowers (about 1/4 of what is ripe for the taking)

I'm going to hang these flowers upside down to dry, later, I'll cut some more to try extracting a little essential oil from with the steam juicer. Both the flowers and the oil will eventually find their way into our homemade soaps. :)

Cheese n' Stuff

Miss Sidney has been keeping us in the milk, big time lately. That, and life is getting closer and closer to normal with each passing week, post car accident, which means that it's time to find my groove again.

I busted out my handy-dandy copy of Home Cheesemaking by Ricki Carroll, and found a few recipes that I'm keen to try.

Always at the top of our list is feta. I'm a huge Mediterranean food nut, which means that we go through epic amounts of feta. I also want to try some paneer or queso blanco, the non-melty variety of cheese that texturally works a lot like tofu. I'd like to try it in a stir fry or maybe in an egg roll. And then, the hands-down most popular incarnation of my goat milk - cajeta. I'll be interested to try a batch with Sid's milk, as it seems to have a higher butterfat content than Chardonnay & Fritzen's did, and according to a few folks who have tried it, tastes more "grassy". I'm not sure how that'll translate to caramel, but I volunteer as test subject! ;)

Livy & I are also studying up on making goats milk soap. We are trying to find our necessary supplies on the cheap at thrift stores and whatnot, and will be cutting and drying some lavender and rose petals soon that will eventually end up in our soaps. With raw milk, it's use it or lose it, hence the grand plans.

Boy it feels good to be getting back to "normal"! ;)

My Germination & Propagation Situation

On behalf of my own little self, and my daughter's elementary school, I have planted/set to root:

*5 Forsythia cuttings (Which incidentally look really gorgeous just sitting there doing their thing in one of my old mason jars.)
*5 Japanese Willow cuttings
*3 Naked Seed Pumpkins
*16 Libby's Pride Tomatoes
*1 Burgess Buttercup Squash (so far - it just popped up today)
*Innumerable Buttercrunch and Cimmaron lettuce starts, a dozen or so Red Russian Kale starts.

My lofty, highly unlikely goal is to be able to grow/root/divide 100 plants for our school plants sale, in addition to starting many of the veggies and herbs that I will eventually plant out for myself, with my deadline being mid-May or thereabouts. Can I do it? Well, as of this morning, I'm about 30+ little starts closer to my goal. :)

Better late than Never

I finally started some seeds, about 2 weeks later than I'd planned. I'm starting some for us, of course, and as is becoming my norm, starting some to donate to our school plant sale as well.

As I only have three seedling heat mats, I was only able to start three flats today, one of lettuces & kale, one of tomatoes and one of "naked seeded" pumpkins. Next week I'll start some beans and squashes, I think.

It's been a little frustrating figuring out what to start now and what to wait on. I started the lettuce & kale now because I can set it out just as soon as it becomes established. The 'maters and pumpkins are supposed to take 3-4 months from sowing to harvest, which would put them at the blooming phase when the May plant sale rolls around, if I manage to keep them alive in the ensuing 12 weeks.

Tomorrow's Agenda 2-2-12

Even as we are still recovering from this Winters big snow and ice storm, my mind has already made the leap to Springtime things. I saw a planning guide for zone 7 gardeners today that said that this month I should be setting out my lettuces and cabbage. WHAT?!? When was I supposed to have started these things if they're supposed to be going out already?

So I'll just roll with the punches and pretend that starting my seeds tomorrow was my plan all along.

As the raised beds have not yet been built, the only place that I can plant my seeds is indoors, on heat mats and under grow lights. This is how I start the majority of my garden plants anyway, but the option of direct-sowing would've been nice. Next year...

As for tomorrow, the plan is-

*Locate and collect as many seedling trays/flats as possible
*Wash the holy bejeebus out of them
*Locate my seedling heat mats
*Sow seeds in trays and flats, as many as I can find heat mats for
*Document the whole shebang, so I remember what the heck is what 3 months from now.

That's about it! I really look forward to getting my hands good and dirty again, and to see those tender little sprouts push their way up through the soil. My fingers are crossed and my hopes are high, as ever, that we'll get our dream garden started this Spring. :)

Today's Agenda

Since I've put down my knitting (with the help of a certain mischievous muncher), I've picked up my books and magazines again, and have had a chance to catch up on all of my favorite blogs, which has left me chock full of inspiration and ideas for our garden this year. Now comes the bit where I need to sit down and organize my swirling thoughts into a cohesive plan. Oof!

So today I'll be poring over seed packets and sketching the first of many drafts of our garden layout. Then the Rexinator and I will go up the hill and see what's to do with the soil in our new garden spot. We'll also be spending a bit of time turning and mixing compost today, for which I may enlist the help of 3 or 4 of our elder hens, who like nothing more than scratching and flinging through straw and rotted kitchen scraps for grubs and red worms.

Beyond that, it's housework and more housework, as ever; and the beginning of my annual freezer-raid, which I'll get into over on Girl Gone Granola.

May you have a productive and fulfilling day as well! :) Chelle

The Chicken ROI Calculator

Thanks to Gavin over at The Greening of Gavin for the link to this handy little tool!

Click here to run your numbers through the calculator to get a rough idea of how much your poultry are making or costing you to keep.

My numbers-

Poultry ROI Calculator

Your Poultry cost per year is $ 19.00 (per bird)

Housing cost per year is $ 79.57

Feed quantity required per year is 763 Kg for 19 Large Fowl (**They do not let you adjust the amount of feed given per bird in this calculator. I feed about half of the pellets, crumbles and corn that other "operators" of our size do because we free range the chickens and feed them supplemental foods like commercial waste produce and day-old bakery breads for free or at very low cost.**)

Cost of all feed products per year is $ 1154.50 (My number is waaaaaay lower - about half!)

Consumables / other cost per year is $ 195.00 (Supplemental grit, diatomacious earth, vitamins, oyster shell, etc.)

Total Cost per year is $ 1448.07

Your eggs sold value per year is $ 665.28
Hatching eggs sold value per year is $ 0.00

The remaining eggs valued at shop prices $ 692.00 for your own use. (That's an eye popping number! That of course includes dozens and dozens that we give away.)

Your POL sold value per year is $ 72.00

Total Return value per year is $ 1529.28

Your Total Profit is $ 81.21 per year. (This includes the value of the manure, estimated at $100/year.)

Well done. Of course this profit calculation does not include your labour costs.

Good to know that we're not just spinning our wheels with this chicken thing. Of course, once the cost of the coops are amortized, and if/when we're able to sell more hatching eggs or chicks, our profit margin will grow. Still - 2016 eggs sold per year - wow!

Seeds for 2012

Things are running a little lean for us this year, with so many high-priority (and high cost) projects pressing down on us, we're trying to minimize costs in other areas as much as we can. This includes our seed purchases for the new (and hopefully VASTLY improved) garden.

We had quite a few leftover seeds from last year, which I know aren't exactly an ideal way to go, but have rarely failed me in the past, and so we pin this Spring's hopes on their continued fertility and vigor. Here is what we have on hand from last year-

*Lettuces - Gourmet Blend, Rouge d'hiver, Red Romaine, Mervielle de Quatre Saisons, Buttercrunch & Cimmaron
*Kale - Russian Red & Chinese
*Arugula
*Pak Choy (Chinese cabbage)
*Peas - Lincoln Homesteader & Mammoth Melting
*Celery - Golden Self Blanching
*Cilantro/Coriander
*Beans - Kentucky Wonder & Golden Wax
*Dill - Mammoth & Bouquet
*Cauliflower - Romanesco
*Basil - Thai Holy
*Radishes - French Breakfast & Cherry Belle
*Carrots - Red-Cored Chantenay & Little Fingers
*Beets - Cylindrical & Sugar
*Zucchini - Lemon & Cocozelle
*Squash - Yellow Striaghtneck & Burgess Buttercup
*Pumpkins - Small Sugar & Cinderella
*Cucumbers - Homemade Pickles
*Sunflowers - Giant Greystripe
*Sweet Corn - Yukon Chief
*Job's Tears

Stuff that my limited means allowed me to purchase to round out our little Eden -
*Carrots - Atomic Red (The girls go bananas for the colorful carrots!)
*Pumpkin - Williams Naked Seeded
*Tomato - Libby's Pride (a sauce tomato)
*Beans - Cannellini Bush Dry Bean
*Squash - Early White Bush Scallop Summer Squash

It sure was hard narrowing it down to just a few choices! I opted to order the "odder" varieties and can hopefully get the more mundane stuff (lemon balm, basil, cherry tomatoes, etc.) as starts at our Farmer's Market when it opens in April.

I really hope that we can make a go of the garden this year. It sure would be nice to actually get to make all of the lovely meals and preserves that I envisioned when ordering these seeds. Fingers firmly crossed that this year we nail it. ;)

Today's Take 9/4/11

This morning we moved the doelings (Oreo, Valentina - aka "Teeny", and Hop) into a pen of their own, away from their mamas. And they are NOT happy about it!

They are being finally, very belatedly, fully weaned. They haven't been taking that muck milk from their mothers, but based upon today's milking, it's definitely been enough to make a dent in what we're getting for ourselves, so I'm glad that we went ahead with the move. We're probably going to move ol' Miss Blue down with the little girls too, since she is never happy without babies around her. ;)

Today's Totals-

Goats Milk - 34 ounces!
Eggs - 4
Blackberries - 1 lb, 12 oz