Picture post!

We are back!

Well we took a quick midsummer vacation to the north western Minnesota lake country this weekend. We had a wonderful time. We enjoyed quite a few trips around the lakes. We looked at the homes and gardens and marveled at the castles. I was happy to see so many gardens with edibles planted. I notice vegetable gardens more these days. I am not sure if there are in fact more of them or if I am just noticing them more frequently. But either way I think it is good.
I also did a bit of fishing as well. I caught a smallish Pike and we poached it in white wine with lemons and red onions. It was quite good. I may have to try and catch more pike in the future.

Illegal Bees

Hope everyone had a great fourth and found some small way to be more independent. Things are moving along well here. All the plants are just loving the sunshine and heat. I started some direct sown cucumbers today. We will have to see how that works out. I also planted four Red Lake current bushes on Saturday. I also finally got my winter squash seeds panted on Saturday as well. That is a full 2 weeks later than last year. Well you do what you can and hope for the best.
The title of this post comes from an article I read last week that highlighted the move to legalize bee keeping in New York city. I think it probably should be legal as long as the bees are kept healthy and safely away from people. So here is a link to the projects web site. Check it out if you get a chance.

Compost.

Compost makes up the major addition to our gardens fertility every year. The majority of that is in the form of aged chicken litter. You see I try and get the most out of everything we buy in and that includes the chicken feed as well. We mostly try to litter our chickens on cut and dried grass clippings but in the winter when they are not outside as much we need to supplement their litter with wood bedding. Usually two to three times a year I clean out the coop and drag the litter out behind the pole barn. Once it is out there I basically leave it to mellow for at least a year and sometimes two. I also add to the compost in and effort to increase the nutritional components. My main additions are charred wood, ash and burned bone.
We have a number of mature trees on our property and that means plenty of sticks for the burn barrel. I used to make charcoal just for the forge but now I make it for the garden as well. I ran across an article on Terra Preta some time ago and ever since I try to add charcoal to my soil when I have a surplus.
I also used that same burn barrel a few years back to dispose of several deer carcasses left over from deer hunting. I burned most of the deer bones by suspending them over the fire which was stoked by the fat from the bones and also some that was left over from the butchering. Afterwords I had an ash that was rich with bone fragments and I figured that would add more nutrients to the pile so I saved the ash and bone to add to the pile.
I also add leaves in the fall to the base of a new pile. Sometimes I also add coffee grounds as well to offset the alkaline nature of the wood ash. That is all. If I get a chance I may turn the pile once or twice a year but that is about it.
In addition to this I also keep a garden compost pile that gets most of the organic matter from the kitchen.

In unrelated news I made a batch of strawberry rhubarb jam this evening and this weekend I dried a ton of dill.

A Night At The Movies

Friday night Jess and I went out to see the movie Food inc. at the Lagoon theater. I have to say it was well made and entertaining film. I don't know that any of the information presented in the film would be new to anyone interested in organic or local foods. People who have read Michael Pollan or Eric Schlosser are pretty much already familiar with most of the material. I do think that it presents the information in a more visceral way. It is one thing to know that Monsanto defends their patents vigorously but quite another to see the face of a farm worker being legally deposed and economically destroyed in the process. It is one thing to know that food safety regulations to be woefully inadequate but it is quite another to see a mother pushing food safety legislation after the death of her child from a food borne illness. It is this more emotional connection that helps to motivate the viewer. But this isn't some PETA shock film designed to offend and scare the audience. The film does also have Joel Salatin and he is the films beacon of optimism and reform. His Polyface farm exists as an excellent example of what else can and should be done. Joel's effervescent personality and awesome hat raise the mood of the film. (seriously I need a hat like that!) If you have the time I recommend that you see the movie and bring someone who might otherwise not see it.

Also good review here from the Boston Globe.

Strawberry Jam

This spring we have had a bumper crop of strawberries. We had been eating most of them as a small snack when working in the garden or a small handfull after dinner as a treat. However the last few days we have been have been unable to sneak down to the garden much. So this afternoon Jess and I went and picked almost a gallon of strawberries from our little 4x4 patch. We decided that this would be a great time to put some away for winter use so we made a batch of strawberry preserves from the Bell Blue Book. we held back a bit of sugar and it appears to have been just a touch thin when I last checked on it but the spoonfull I tasted after we were done canning the rest was a delight.
We also made another batch of garlic scape pesto with walnuts. We made this one with a handfull of spinach as it is just about to bolt. It turned out great. I got the idea to add the spinach from the comments to this post over at Simple,Good and Tasty. We put most of it in the freezer for pasta suppers this winter.

Hope everyone had a great Father's day weekend and made the most out of the longest day of the year.

Miracle !

Well we actually have apricots!! I know you don't believe me but here is the photographic proof!
I guess there was a fortunate alignment of the stars or something because this is something truly new.

Rick

Update

Well we are nearing the summer solstice already. And things are starting to happen in the garden. We have had a coolish and wettish June after a hot dry May. As a result the rhubarb is back and going well and the spinach has really taken off. We are starting to get strawberries as well. Probably about a cup a day or so. They taste wonderful straight from the plant. The scarlet runner beans are already showing their buds and I expect flowers this week. We had a lot of rain last week and today we are supposed to see temps in the 80's. It also looks like I may actually manage to grow a carrot or two this year, which would be a pleasant change from previous years. I am however starting to think that I need to find more perennials that I can divide to crop the entire yard with.
Also last night I started two batches of wine. One is a rhubarb and the other is raspberry and rhubarb.

Garden Pictures

Tour De Farm video.

Tour de farm

Last Sunday Jess and I went to Elgin for the first of the Tour De Farm dinners featuring a pork laden menu prepared by the Craftsmans' Mike Philips. All I can say is wow! The dinner was great. All the courses had some amount of pork from the Klein's Hidden Stream Farm. Ther is a link here to a small photo essay put up on the Tour De Farm site.

Rick

Pictures from the tour de farm

Blog

I am afraid things are still just coming along in the garden. We did manage to harvest a few strawberries earlier this week. But for the most part the news from the garden has been kind of slow. May was a very dry month for us. Much drier than we usually see here in the spring. But it looks like a change has come now that we are in June as just yesterday we received over an inch of rain. Once we get the June sun back I predict we should practicaly be able to hear the garden growing at night.
We also added 2 more tomato plants. We picked up a pair of sungold cherry tomatos last weekend at the St Paul Farmers market. I am told that it is perhaps the tastiest of all hte cherry toms.

More to come.
Rick

Cats are up.

Well I thought the seeds might have been too old but it looks like the kittens I planted are starting to sprout.

Pictures

Update

I spent most of the day in the garden the last 2 days and things are looking great. I put down cardboard over more paths and covered them in mulch. I am hoping this will help me slowly push the weeds back from the beds. I also set up my first bean trellis and I like the way it looks. On Friday I planted romano beans for the trellis and also 3 rows of bush dragon tongue beans. Yesterday I planted up a bunch of pots of basil seeds. Mostly old seeds but I figured it would be a good time to use them up. I also planted a handful of cilantro seeds as well. I also planted 2 rows of tom thumb head lettuce and 2 rows of mesclun mix.
I also dragged out the hose and filled all the water butts in the garden and also gave everything a good soaking. It has been a really dry spring this year and the plants really needed it. I do hate to use the well to supply water to the garden, but sometimes you have to. I would love to catch more rain water and use that in the future but for now I will just have to bend my ideal. I have a grand idea of using the pole barn and other roofs to fill a small pond and using the pond as a water supply for the garden.
Lastly I spread aged chicken litter on the garden beds as fertilizer/mulch.

Jess and I also went to Gastro Non Grata last night. The food was good the beer was great and the music was unussual.

Recovery day

Well today is a recovery day. I had quite the food day yesterday. I have a friend who is about to be deployed overseas and we had a dinner last night to see him off. The menu contained some great dishes. From oysters both grilled and raw with horseradish vodka to Kobe beef carpaccio with duck confit, the appetizers were delicious. There was also grilled diver scallops served on wilted spring onions with a soy flavored souce and crisped pig ear slices and open faced softshelled crab sandwiches served with morrel mushroom sauce. We finished it with both cheesecake and cardamom rhubarb cobbler. So today I might just sit and diggest.

Also take a look at the coverage of the slow food event from last weekend over at The Heavy Table

Wonderful Day

Today was the best day I have had in a long long while. The morning started with Jess and i uncovering the garden. We had it covered up last night as we were quite close to freezing. We then harvested a bunch of rhubarb and made a double batch of cardamom rhubarb cobbler. We then made a breakfast of soft boiled eggs on toast. It was wonderful.
Then Jess and I headed to Lake City for the SFM Wild About You dinner. The Lentz farm was amazing, the weather was wonderful and the food was great. There was foraged foods and small batch beers from lift bridge and flat earth breweries. There was a hike up a bluff followed by a bushwhacking adventure back to the bottom. There was also a tour of the nearby stream and some of the plants and birds that exist along the banks.
But best of all we met tons of wonderful people.

Jamie Oliver's trainees at River Cottage

Sharing food

Today a friend stopped by and gathered up some asparagus and rhubarb that we would have been unable to harvest in time. It was a nice feeling to share some of what the garden produces. Not to get too crunchy granola but I have heard it said that the preparation and sharing of food is one of the primary ways that people show love and I kind of believe it. Someday we will have even more to share and I am looking forward to it.

Harvest update.

I just blanched and froze a pound of asparagus. I vacuum packed it in 2 bags and put it in the freezer. I hope to use it possibly in an asparagus risotto this fall. It has been off and on rainy this week so the plants are getting all the sunshine and moisture they could want this spring. The hops are well over 5 feet up the trellis already. Especially the Fuggle variety which always seems to do best. I also have bunches of flowers in the strawberry bed. I am really looking forward to eating home grown strawberry and rhubarb something or other. I also added a few blogs to the sidebar thing.

Dandelion fritters

I have known for a long time that the dandelion has many food uses. Well I got the idea from this post over at Rob's World to fry up some dandelion fritters. . I have made dandelion wine before but this was a first. First I gathered some flower heads from the garden. I rinsed and washed the flower heads next. Jess helped by dipping the flower heads in egg wash and adding them to the flour and cornmeal mix. I fried them up in the wok and then drained them on a paper towel. We had them for dinner tonight and they were pretty good. I think next time I will try a lighter batter as the flavor f the flowers was quite delicate. I am thinking of possibly a tempura batter. Or perhaps a regular flour batter with a bit of curry powder in it. With a lawn like mine the possibilities are almost endless.

In other notes.
Add 2 more big bunches of asparagus to the harvest total. But the nettle beer has been a failure. It got infected and i will have to try again maybe next week.

Rick

Plant sale

Well Jess and I went to the spring plant sale at Umore park this morning put on by the Dakota County master gardeners. We picked up some bee balm and also some Blackeyed Susans. We also purchased a French Sorrel plant to add to the herb garden. The prices were great but you have to get there early. The picture above was taken 15 minutes after it opened.

Plants!

Harvest update

So far this week we harvested 7 cups of rhubarb and around a dozen asparagus spears.

Living Green Expo.

Today Jess had a choir practice in the cities and I decided to go with and check out the living green expo at the MN state fairgrounds. I have to say that while the whole "green" thing has been growing I was quite surprised at how much there was to see. There was surprisingly little tie dye or patchouli. There was however a good number of folk schools, CSA's and alternative energy folks.
I spent a few hours looking at the booths and exhibits. They had quite a number of electric and biodiesel vehicles. They even had a Tesla roadster on exhibit. It is a sexy piece of engineering!
There were also quite a few vendors of rain capture technologies. One of which even had one of my old college floor mates manning the booth.
There were also a number of composting technologies being exhibited. I was joined by Jess after her practice and she even sat in on a vermicomposting lecture with me. I am interested in starting a worm bin this year as one of my goals and the lecture was really informative.
We then finished up with a great cooking demonstration by Chef J.D. Fratzke of the Strip Club in St. Paul. He made a salad of pea shoots and blueberries with wild ramps topped with slices of medium rare New York strip. The meat came from Thousand Hills cattle company. I liked it so well that we had to leave early so I could go and order some more at Muffuletta.
By the way if you go do try the jerk chicken at the west indies soul food stand. It was great.

Shrubs

Yesterday was a great day. I started with omelets with Jess and a freind of ours. Then J and I went foraging in the woods. Our main quarry was the elusive morel mushroom which we did not find. However we did come back with a few servings of fiddle head ferns and enough nettles to make a batch of River Cottage nettle beer. Made that around dinner time.
Latter in the day Jess and I stopped by the nursery and purchased two Highbush Cranberry bushes and two American Hazelnuts. We also asked the folks at the nursery to order us 4 currant bushes and look into what was available in the way of some Elderberry bushes as well.

Looks like planting is in our future.
Rick

update

Well tonight I got a few more seeds put in the garden. I started 2 rows of Detroit golden beets. I also started 2 rows of parsnips and a row of spinach. I also set up my scarlet runner beans as well.

I also set up a new bed for planting either late this fall or early next spring.

First I soak a layer of newspaper and lay it out in the location of the new bed. Then I add a layer of last years composted chicken litter. I then add a layer of organic matter. In this case I added last years day lily leaves.

Seems to work out pretty well for me.

Rick

Pictures

Preview to summer

Well I am finally getting over a nasty sinus infection that had been making me miserable for the last week or so. I owe much thanks to antibiotics and NyQuil. Amazing stuff!
We have been having great 70's and sunny weather the last few days and being stuck inside made being sick all the more miserable. But today I was able to get out into the garden and turn a few beds and check in on the perennials. The rhubarb is up and growing like well, rhubarb. The hops are all up and will be in need of trimming and trellising probably before the week is over. No sign of the asparagus yet but I am thinking early next week. The strawberries are going like gangbusters as well. The Garlic I planted last fall are all up as well. I was able to do a bit of planting today as well. I got my onion sets and the shallots I saved from last year planted. I also planted up some potatoes left over from last year in trash cans as well.
All this along with trimming up the herb bed made for a rather productive and not to tasking day.

Now I just hope the rain we have been promised shows up.
Rick

Current happenings

Well spring continues to creep in. The temps got up to near 65 F today. The ground has begun to warm and the grass has started to really green up. I hear we should see some rain by the end of this week and then things should really start to take off. I am really looking forward to starting to forage for new nettles and also the spring mushroom season shouldn't be far off. I may have to spend some time in the woods this weekend and see how things are coming along.

Also it looks like my parsley seeds have gotten up to a quick start as well.

All is good.

Rick

Projects

Well just a quick word about some projects and plans for this year at the farmlet.

First I have divided up the chicken run to give some of ht egrass shoots a chance to get started this spring. I am planning on rotating the hens through the chicken yard as the year progresses.

Second I am attempting to increase the amount of area that I am growing on again. I have already put in a small 3X3 raised bed between the chicken run inner and outer fences. I am planning on using that bed to grow greens right next to the chickens for easy feed augmentation. I have also already turned one of the beds that I left fallow last year and am loving the look of the soil. I am also collecting newspaper and cardboard to cover more of the yard and create more raised beds.

Third I have decided that I will start vermicomposting this year. My composting setup should probably be expanded to more pins but I am hoping that vermicomposting will help by breaking down kitchen waste quicker. I will probably put the bin in the pole barn.

I know I will have a million other projects as well but those are a few that I have been looking at as of late.

Rick

Well Spring creeps on.

We had pretty good weather here this weekend. I managed to get out and clean up the chicken yard. One of the hens kept hoping out of the coop so I had to remove the old broody coop from the run. Which may have been a poor choice as I think one of the hens has gone broody.
I also got into the garden a bit more and cut down the last of the asparagus ferns from last year. It looks like the oregano and thyme survived the winter OK. I am still not sure about the lavender it looks a bit peaked and the sage looks rough as well. I may have to replace them.
I also picked the heads of many of my marigolds and now have an old Gatorade bottle half full of the seeds. I started a few up in the pots I bleached Saturday night.
I also watched a movie on Permaculture in Australia on Saturday night and it has gotten me thinking about how I use my land. I think I need to learn to think more strategicaly about combining areas of land use and also in how I organize the crops.
I also got the old lawn tractor started today. I replaced the battery and fresh gas and lo and behold she started. Which is excelent as I have heard rumors of a snowstorm coming some time tomorrow.

Gotta love Minnnesota.
Rick

Spring!

Well it is officially spring today. I took a few pictures to mark how the garden is doing on Wednesday. I take much the same pictures every year. The first picture is of the rhubarb shoots just coming out of the ground. I am always surprised to see that they have survived. It fills me with excitement at the possibilities of spring to see those shoots coming up every year. So much delicious potential. The other picture is just a overall shot of the garden. I like to take this picture so I can look back at how it all stated in midsummer.

63F

It was 63F today. And it was -1F four days ago! Nothing like living in Minnesota to give you an appreciation of change. We are almost completely snow free and most of the puddles have even dried up. The ground has moved from hard to sploshy. Signs of life are even showing themselves again. This evening I was in the garden in an area that was covered by snow yesterday and today I spotted a woolly bear caterpillar crawling along! While I was outside this evening I could hear a sound like earthworms pulling down bits of leaves and dead grass and while I stood there a flock of Canada goose flew over. They were so low I could hear the sound of their feathers. Yup spring has officialy sprung. I plan to wash pots this week and start some seeds this weekend. WooHoo!