Category: Farm Life

We May Be In For It

… This winter that is. It is still November and we experienced the coldest night this season with an even colder one due tonight.

This was 2 hours ago. The wind howled all night, yesterday’s rain turned to snow flurries during the night and everything was frosted this morning. It is bright and sunny, but there is no warmth in it. I failed to bring the chooks waterer in last night and it was frozen solid, fortunately there is a spare since there are currently no culls or meat chicks.
It is supposed to warm back to normal by early next week, so Son#1 may not have to wear everything he brings plus Mountaingdad’s barn coat to hunt next week. He is hoping to put a deer in the freezer to supplement the chickens for their winter meat. Their three student budget is tight so meat is a luxury for them. I don’t eat venison and Mountaingdad isn’t a big fan either, but we have the freezer space.
I’m hoping for tolerable weather on Saturday as we will drive two counties over to pick up our freshly killed and cleaned, pasture raised turkey for Thanksgiving. As I was making the menu and grocery list, I was pleased at how few items we must purchase between our garden’s produce from summer, last week’s Farmers’ market and our local turkey. Olives don’t grow here and I don’t have a cow for cream, nor do we have a cranberry bog, but the rest will be local, homegrown, and homemade.
Lovin’life on our mountain farm, even if it is frigid.

November 18, 2014
Dreariness

It is cold and raining. Not the biting cold of last week, that is due again tomorrow, but cold enough to make procrastination on outdoor chores inevitable. I cuddled in bed with my book until the Shadow, the German Shepherd was dancing cross legged by my side of the bed, Ranger, the big guy still lazing on his pad on the floor by Mountaingdad.

It is wet enough that the pups didn’t want to stay outside very long, not long enough for me to finish prepping their eggs, so they hovered around and behind me while I cooked. The recalcitrant hens producing barely enough eggs to have for home use and as I used one of yesterday’s 3 eggs to make cornbread last night for a meal we shared with our recently widowed neighbor after the Pipeline Opposition meeting, there were only two to cook this morning. Once I carton a dozen and put them in the refrigerator for neighbors or friends, I leave them alone and only use from the bowl on the counter. This left me with no egg today, but I had leftover cornbread, a wedge lightly buttered and toasted in a cast iron skillet is a treat to be savored, with or without an egg. The pan was heating to cook the pups eggs, so I got my cornbread first.

With the house critters (including me) fed, it was getting harder to stall about layering up in gumboots, coat and gloves and finally making the wet, chilly walk over to let the chooks out and to feed and water them. Their sloped run, bare of a single blade of grass and with the hay scratched and washed off was as slick as ice. It is too wet to uncover the big round bale of hay to throw more down at the gate, hopefully later it will quit raining long enough to accomplish that task. Their coop hay tossed to loosen it up for insulation and turned to facilitate the deep litter composting that produces heat for them, their feed served in two metal dog bowls to keep it from being trampled into the mud and a quick check of nesting boxes for cleanliness and I found a surprise.

Three fresh, warm eggs to keep my hands warm as I slogged back to the house. I haven’t seen morning eggs in weeks and am luck to find 3 or 4 cold eggs in the evenings. It would be nice to get back to going out and finding more than I can carry in without a basket, but maybe not until springtime.

If it is going to be wet and cold, it should at least be white. I’d settle for the mountain snow flurries that fall for days on end with no real accumulation, just the dusting on gardens, roofs and cars. Cold, rainy winters remind me of winters on the coast, you are supposed to have snow in the mountains. I know, I should be careful of what I wish for, we may find ourselves snowed in without power later in the winter and we haven’t laid in wood for the stove and fireplace, having only a bit left over from last year. I suppose we should set in an emergency supply at least.

November 17, 2014
Autumn Surprises

Today started sunny and at mid day, it is in the mid 60s. A great day in the mountains. We started out early to vote, hoping we will get someone in office who will help fight the Fracking Pipelines and came home for Mountaingdad to get in one of what he knows to be last rides on the BBH before it gets garaged for the winter. It was a good day to work on more of garden close down and to get the garlic planted.

The bed that had contained the peppers and tomatillos hasn’t been used before for garlic, so it was raked to remove the fallen, rotting tomatillos and the stray pepper or two that didn’t get thrown to the chickens or brought into the house. The bed was weeded with my awesome garden tool, smoothed and furrows dragged through the surface. The bed was planted with 74 cloves of garlic. I don’t know if I waited too long last summer to harvest, didn’t wait long enough curing time, but we have a lot of cloves that desiccated in their skins, as much as half a head. If this year’s crop isn’t better, I will start over with new seed garlic next year instead of using cloves from what was harvested.

planted and mulched
covered to keep the chickens from digging it up again
While out there and after a couple more nights of freezing temperatures, I found more winter squash. Most of these will go to the chickens, but there were several Burgess Buttercup and they are so delicious they will be kept. One was pared and cubed last night, roasted with Italian sausage, red onion,a green Ancho pepper, some whole garlic cloves and a few pieces of broccoli. A meal in a pan and it was great.

Several small pumpkins were tossed to the chooks. After finding Broody girl #2 on the nest again yesterday, but not having the heart to dip her hindparts in cold water, I just isolated her in the meat chicken pen for the day and left her there until dark. Once it was dark, I moved her back in the coop on a perch. She nested herself once today but stayed outside after I removed her from the two eggs she had parked on. Another one of the girls is molting. The run and coop look “feathered” and the egg production is down to a maximum of 6 a day out of 12 hens. Hopefully things will settle back into production soon.

Today I decided to start making my own whole grain chicken feed instead of buying the very unappetizing pellets. I am finding that the chooks aren’t eating all of the pellets I put out for them and it is such a waste. They never waste the 5 grain scratch which is a good start on home mixed food. Add some flaxseed, sesame seed, oats, kamut, lentils, kelp and brewer’s yeast and you have a mix that is high enough protein for the layers, they like it, and it doesn’t turn to mush if it gets damp. They don’t eat quite as much at a time either. Since they get free range time for most of each day, they are also getting fresh grass, bugs and totally decimating some of my perennial herbs. I had to put a low fence around one bed that they have decided is a good place to dig, dustbath, and just lay around in.

Another surprise in the garden was secondary broccoli. The primary broccoli heads were harvested a few weeks ago but I left the plants in place. With the freezes, they were relatively cabbage worm free and enough was harvested for a meal or two.

As a bonus, the chooks got the remaining plants tossed in their pen for their entertainment and whatever nourishment they can get from the leaves and the few cabbage worms lurking there.

The day has clouded over, though we aren’t supposed to get rain until Thursday. It was a good day to be outdoors for a while.

November 4, 2014
Arctic Zone

Yesterday was cold and wet, rain at our elevation, snow about 800 feet above us. With the cold was wind, stripping the gold and red leaves from the trees that had not lost their leaves yet. A good day to stay indoors, but it was Farmers’ Market day and if we were to have meat this week, other than chicken, a trip to town was necessary. We dallied, not leaving to have breakfast as on most weekends and knowing that there was a home game at the University in town, an attempt to try to miss the traffic seeking to find parking on side streets or failing that, paying $10/car in church lots or people’s yards. Home games are madness in our little town as the university is huge and the alumni dedicated, even in a cold rain. The market was done, the vendors all thanking us for coming out in such nastiness, but we came home with ground beef, stew meat, onions and radishes, still having greens in the garden and a bit of the last salad in the refrigerator. Our usual meat vendor wasn’t there, so I was unable to get the ground pork that I wanted to make a stuffed pumpkin this week, unless I can find a package in the chest freezer. Or perhaps, I will make a pumpkin, chicken curry in a pumpkin shell, there is plenty of coconut milk and red curry in the pantry.

Once home, the winter squash picked over the prior two days were toted down to the root cellar in the basement, two big canvas sacks at a time, many, many trips up and down the stairs. The shelves look ready to provide well this winter.

Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, garlic and canned goodies. This is what is left after loads to northern Virginia and what is upstairs in the pantry. The freezer stocked with green beans, peas, apples, chicken and a bit of pork and beef stockpiled from weekend trips to the Farmers’ Market. Our favorite meat vendor toughs it out at the market on all but the worst winter Saturday’s throughout the upcoming winter.

As the wind blew last night, and the temperature dropped, our power failed. Quickly gathering up the battery lanterns and flashlights and tossing a down blanket on the two quilts on the bed, I settled in with my tablet that had a good charge and the ebook that I am currently reading. Fortunately, the power only stayed out a couple of hours and we were awakened by the TV and lights coming on and the computer printer doing a self start, though it had been powered off before.

The morning dawned an hour earlier, thanks to the time change last night from daylight savings time. Yes, I know, an extra hour to sleep, hmmmph, I awake with the sun and get up once awake, my body doesn’t just switch gears like the clock. As I let the pups out, I realized that we were seeing our first snow flurries and the lightest of dusting on the ground and decks.

Mountain snow showers are a common occurrence, rarely amounting to anything, whenever there is moisture in the air and the temperature below freezing. The freeze last night, the first freeze burned back the pumpkin patch and the bean patch. The greens look sad this morning but will perk back up as the daytime temperatures rise above freezing.

After feeding the chickens and breaking the ice on their water, a walk through the ruined patch revealed as I suspected, several more pumpkins. The largest, not damaged ones gathered and brought in, like I really need more in the house.

Happily, several of them were Buttercup squash. A couple were tossed into the chicken pen and the rest left to be gathered in the garage or thrown immediately to the chickens over this week once the wind dies down and the temperature rises to a more comfortable range. This was the first morning that I had to don the heavy barn coat to go deal with the birds.

The peppers that were gathered prior to the expected Arctic chill have all been processed, the tiny jalapenos sliced and frozen, some used in last night’s chili with cornbread for dinner. The small bell peppers, sliced and frozen, the ripe habeneros packed whole in freezer bags, the green ones set in a bowl to ripen as you can see they are doing. They too will be bagged and frozen. The tiny hot orange pepper that I still haven’t identified, was pureed with vinegar they had been soaking in for the past few weeks and a Tabasco-like sauce made that a single drop burned my mouth for an hour. The rest of them are ripening on the upside down plants in the garage. The tomatillos that we gathered were rid of their husks, washed and packed whole in freezer bags, another 3 pounds to be used in Pozole this winter. A chicken, some tomatillos, a bag of dried hominy soaked, a handful of Mexican spices and a hearty soup to feed a small army is made.

We are lovin’ life on our mountain farm and now must accept another winter is upon us. We were lucky this year, we got an extra 2-3 weeks before the first frost.

November 2, 2014
Pumpkins and Squash, Oh My!

It didn’t quite get to freezing last night, but we did get a light frost. Thinking that 20 something nights wouldn’t do the pumpkins and squash any good, a morning harvest was set in motion.
Last night we brought in 19, most of them seen here.

This morning I harvested 53 more. They were stacked around the perimeter of the garden as I debated how to get them all over to the house and the idea lightbulb flashed.

The two tobagans hanging in the garage awaiting grandkids and snow were put to use. I have no idea how many pounds of goodness are there but each was a challenge to drag them individually across the yard. This isn’t all of the year’s harvest, some were taken to NoVa, some to the neighbor that helped last night, several already cooked for us, a few damaged or small ones tossed to the chickens. Are there more out there? I am certain of it, many tiny baseball to softball sized ones, probably a few larger ones hidden in the jungle of dying leaves. Each time I go out I spot another.
A tiny white tailed denizen of the jungle was perturbed that I dared tromp through his habitat and took off through the garden.
Earlier this fall, I was certain that the Burgess Buttercup squash were the predominant winter squash and the Seminole Pumpkins lost to the overgrowth of leaves as none of the squash were turning the characteristic tan of the pumpkins. The harvest revealed very few Buttercups and predominately Seminole, most tan or tanning on the lower side. Next year they get the orchard to cover. We will enjoy the harvest as will our neighbors, chickens, and family.

October 31, 2014
A Tribute to a Mountain Man

Today a true mountain man was laid to rest on the hill overlooking our home. The banner photo at the top of my blog was taken almost from the spot where he was buried. He was one of the first people we met upon buying our land. He was wary of us and we of him at our first meeting, but he quickly became a friend. One of the characteristics of Appalachian men is to not to talk to women outside of their family. He, though shy, was never like that. He would stop when he saw me at our mailbox or mowing the top field and chat. A nature lover, he would point out the hawks or the baby raccoons that he could spot before we ever saw them. As a veteran, he was proud of his country and his service to his country, generally wearing a ball cap that stated Viet Nam Veteran. He was a simple man that didn’t care what other people thought of him, he marched to his own drummer, but would do anything for you if asked. In the past couple of years, he first lost a leg to circulatory issues and finally his life to Pneumonia on top of COPD, he failed fast and will leave a huge hole in his family and his neighborhood. His request was to be buried on his farm, on his hill where he spent many hours day and night, watching the wildlife or the stars. At his graveside, he was given a 21 gun salute by the local American Legion, VFW and National Guard. His family presented with the flag from his coffin. Like in life, he was buried in simplicity, in his hunting clothes, his Viet Nam cap and a simple pine box. He will be missed on our mountain.

His passing allowed us to meet people who had just been names to us since our move here. Our farm sits in the midst of hundreds of acres of farmland owned by his family, his brother and cousins, only a few of whom we had met. It is a sad way to get to know them, but nice to be able to put faces with the names we have learned.

After the service and a dinner at the chapel, we hurried home to try to harvest what was left in the garden, one of his cousins, our closest neighbor coming down to help and visit. We are expecting winter to arrive tonight and have snow flurries expected this weekend with nights in the 20’s.

Darrell helped harvest any pumpkins and winter squash that were hanging from the compost bins, the ones on the ground we left to see if the leaves will die off in the freeze. A box of mixed peppers, another of the remaining tomatillos and some greens were harvested, the pepper and tomatillo plants pulled and tossed in the chicken pen, the chard covered with row cover to try to save it for a bit longer. The two cayenne pepper plants were pulled and hung upside down in the garage to see if the rest of those peppers will turn red. He left after visiting and having a cup of tea with a box full of some of the goodies. As we were cutting the pumpkins, we realize that there must be 35 or 40 more in the garden. I need to find more recipes other than soup and roasted winter squash.

October 30, 2014
It keeps on giving

that wonderous garden of ours. I asked my favorite farmer friends at the Market this morning when our average first frost date was, because my memory told me it was around October 10 and they confirmed that we were past it, so far without a frost on their farm in our county or ours. They still have tomatoes and flowers growing! Of course I had to buy a tomato and a bunch of flowers. Don’t they look great on the fall table cover?

We are getting mid 30’s nights, but no frost and the garden keeps giving of bush beans, broccoli, peppers, tomatillos, turnips and greens. The big crop of harvest now are the winter squash.

Seminole pumpkins and Burgess Buttercup squash. There are so many out there that I still cannot get to and though the plants are beginning to die back, there are still flowers on some of the plants. There will be many softball size squash and pumpkins to feed the chickens over the next couple of months and many more larger ones that we will never be able to eat them all.

Though it was getting dark when I went out last night to lock up the laying hens, the sun setting behind the west hill and casting it’s last glow on the gold of these trees stopped me for a few moments of time to enjoy the chilling night and the beautiful color. By the time I walked back, the sun had set and the side yard was dark. It is indeed a beautiful time of the year, though it is short and soon the trees will be skeletons in the woods and we will be able to see lights from our nearest neighbor’s houses through the woods.

Lovin’ life on our mountain farm.

October 25, 2014
Knit, Spin, Stain, Cook

With two days of beautiful weather, I finished all of the staining that I can reach and with the cooler, wetter weather coming, it may be all that gets done this fall. We will have to finish it this spring. I made up a gallon of the stain mix this morning and the area that was to be done didn’t require that much, so the excess was used to get about 2/3 of the coop “redecorated.” The girls were on a walk-a-bout on the farm, being supervised by Romeo, so it was a good time to get it done. We have a few days of rain due, so the last bit can’t be done for a few days. The year and a half it has been in use, it has gotten very dry and faded. The egg hatch, pop door and side drop window are all made of the same plywood siding as the coop and their exposed edges are really showing wear from the weather. I guess at some point, those three features will have to be replaced with a more weather resistant material.

Coming in, stain covered and worn out, after a thorough clean up, I turned my waning energy to less strenuous tasks. I’m working on one of the sleeves of my sweater, the one that is being knit to go with the Hitchhiker scarf made during the summer.

And an Ouroboros Moebius scarf, a design by a friend Mergaret Radcliff, published in the December 2013, Knit n’ Style magazine. The scarf will be for Son #1 as part of his Christmas gift.

Both projects are pretty mindless knitting at this point.
I’ve looked at “Hot Mess” for enough days that I think the measly 106 yards of tight overspun very fine yarn is going to become a knitted cover for a small sturdy plastic cup to hang from my spinning wheel to hold the machine oil, orifice hook and notions I need when spinning.

Tonight we enjoyed a “gourmet” meal utilizing some of the goodies from this year’s garden. The basic baked pork chops were topped with chutney that I canned, the Roasted veggies a blend of our yellow and white sweet potatoes, garlic, and rosemary added to farmers’ market potato’s, carrots and onions. A farmers’ market salad mix topped with beets, our radish kimchi and goat cheese.
Lovin’ life on our mountain farm.

October 9, 2014
Rainy Autumn Afternoons
are perfect for processing a half bushel of apples. The apples peeled and cored, some chopped fine for applesauce, another 7 1/2 pints canned, others chopped for Apple Cranberry Chutney, 4 pints, 4 pounds pared and sliced and frozen for pies or cobblers during the holiday or when guests arrive. Again I am thankful that I discovered the Peeler/corer tool, but it still took quite a while to prep all the apples and prepare the recipes for canning.

Apple Cranberry Chutney

After trying Marisa McClellan’s Green Tomato Chutney in her book food in jars it seemed that apples would be perfect for a chutney. After looking at various recipes, I created my own that turned a beautiful red color from the blush pink of the Rome Apples and the red skins of the cranberries.

Apple Cranberry Chutney
- 2 qts. mixed apples, pared, cored, chopped
- 1 c yellow onion chopped
- 1 c Cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 c Yellow seedless raisens
- 1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp pickling salt
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 whole star anise
- 5-6 whole cloves
- 1 Pt. Raw Cider Vinegar
- 1 1/2 c Brown Sugar
Place the cloves in a muslin bag or tea ball. Add all ingredients to a large non reactive pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until reduced by half and thickened 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring frequently. Remove the spice bag and the star anise.

Ladle into clean hot pint jars, wipe rims, add hot lids and bands. Water bath process for 15 minutes or pressure can at 11 PSI for 10 minutes. Allow to cool, wipe and label jars. Enjoy with roast meat or served over Neufchatel or goat cheese on crackers or baguette slices.

Tomorrow, I harvest radishes, turnips, tomatillos, and peppers then cover as much of the remaining garden as I can with sheets and hope that we don’t really get a frost this early in October. Many of the radishes and turnips will become Kimchee, the Tomatillos and peppers will become salsa and hot sauce. This may be the end of the season for us or we may get lucky and have a few more weeks.

Tomorrow will also be a day to make a batch of Sauerkraut. I see Roast Pork or chops with sauerkraut and chutney in our future.
October 4, 2014
Printed Goodness

Several years ago I joined the eBook populous and either rent ebooks (did you know you don’t actually buy them! And they can be withdrawn from your library on the whim of the publisher!); or check real books out of the library and rarely buy a print book, but yesterday an exception was made.
A few weeks ago, a fellow blogger sent me a link to another blog for a recipe. The recipe author has penned two cookbooks.

Before I bought either, I wanted to preview them and couldn’t find them in the library so I looked for them in our local Barnes and Noble retailer but they didn’t have either in stock. They special ordered them for me to preview and they arrived just prior to my leaving for the retreat so I couldn’t go look at them. Tonight, after dinner we traveled the two towns over so I could preview them before they were returned or put in their stock.

I couldn’t decide between them, both containing many interesting recipes for putting by garden and Farmers’ Market goodies and I left with both books. I don’t know whether to thank my blogging friend or not, but I have added to my library and have many, many new ideas for preserving garden goodness, so thank you Yanic for the linky.

October 1, 2014