Compost Happens

Jake and I went to a panel discussion last night featuring some local farmers discussing how to make small farms profitable. Farming and gardening is such an elegant mix of science and art... I think that's why it all appeals to me so much.

My favorite part of the evening was a lively and lengthy discussion on compost. Such wonderful stuff! After describing the necessary ratio of carbon to nitrogen, one of the panelists offered a "recipe" for composting a cow. Layer sawdust, cow, sawdust, straw, manure. Let sit for five months.
We appreciated this validation... after some discussion about what to do with the contents of gutbuckets from butchering our chickens last year, (the dump wasn't open until several days later, we didn't want to freeze them or bury them in the woods for fear of attracting predators that would bother our other animals, etc...) we ended up composting them. feathers, bones, and all. When we mixed our compost with our new soil for the raised beds this year, there was no sign of chicken!
Now we know this is not only an efficient means of disposing of animal remains, but it also preserves the mineral value of that component of your farm from leaving the premises, therefore saving you the future expense and trouble of having to replace it.
I'm currently scheming about a compost bin/rabbit hutch combo similar to this one.

postscript: The raccoon ate the rest of Agnes' duck eggs on Monday night. I could have cried! We have since designed and installed some safer nesting boxes. Lesson learned.

Yay raised beds; boo racoons

It's official. I'm a raised bed enthusiast.

Tonight's strawberries, below. Extraordinarily, there's ice cream in the house. What goes better with season 3 of The Wire than some ice cream with fresh berries?

Agnes Update: We got home from the weekend in MN last night late- around 9:00, and I scooted over to the duck pen to check if there were ducklings. I saw eggshells! Further investigation revealed that a wily duckling-eating monster (racoon? weasel?) had burrowed into the side of Agnes' nest, rolled out four eggs, and brazenly sat right next to her to devour them. There are four eggs left in the nest, and still she sits, poor traumatized thing. Jake reinforced her corner of the pen with some finer gage chicken wire and plywood. If the eggs hatch before we leave for the weekend, those ducklings are roadtripping with us to M.I.L.'s.

And, finally, because he's just so cute, and I don't want to leave you with images of the wily monster, I give you Whistle in the cabbage patch.

Ten Years

Jake and I went on our first date 10 years ago yesterday (to Grand Portage State Park in MN, where we'd later live, and Thunder Bay, ON!)and were married six years ago on Saturday. We celebrated by canoeing and attempted camping in southern MN.

We paddled, but it ended up being too rainy to camp, so we had a very special and romantic evening at the ComfortInn in Owatonna, MN. Just kidding.

In happier news, Jake gave me a pressure canner as an anniversary gift! Oh, the possibilities! Also, this book, which I read aloud to him in the car on the way to and back from So.Minn. and recommend.

Did you know you can boost the Omega-3 content in your chickens' eggs by feeding them flax seed? Its true. I read it in that book. Just don't feed them too much or the eggs will taste fishy.

My gift to Jake was a Shutterfly book documenting the building of our house. Here's a pic from the book, featuring Jake and I and our girl Carey putting in the whole tree supports for the first floor. I'm holding on to the tree around which our kitchen counter is built.

Look at this guy! I just love him. Happy Anniversary, Jake.

R.I.P. Wheels

Wheels.

When we came home from work last night, she just wasn't there. Probably picked off by a fox... maybe a hawk? Coyote? We haven't seen any of those culprits lately on the premises, but we hear coyotes nearly every night and see hawks and foxes frequently in the neighborhood.
Wheels was one of our original 10 ducks, our first livestock, long read about and planned for, brooded in what is now the greenhouse in the spring of 2009.
She was named by our great friend Margaret, who upon being asked to come up with some duckling names emailed me with "Buttons? Jack? Wheels?" after which I of course laughed and laughed and Wheels was christened. Wheels was always filthy- mudburgers on her bill, greenery hanging off the sides, etcetera.
Wheels, thanks for your whimsy. Enjoy the big pond in the sky.

Kale!

This is some of the kale harvested tonight.

We wanted to get it out of the garden becuase we're supposed to have more severe weather tonight. We were gone for the weekend but came home to driveway washout and a rain gage reading 5 inches! All on Saturday night, apparently.
Some friends we saw in Minneapolis yesterday are hosting a kale-themed potluck dinner party later this week, for which each dish must contain kale. I'm determined not to let anything in this garden go to waste this season, so I guess Jake and I are guests at our own kale-themed dinner party, but this one lasts all week.
I consult my cookbooks. One of Mark Bittman's suggestions is Kale with Peanut Butter. I think I'll start there tonight.

Free Bird

We have a lot of fowl living at S4311 (11 ducks and 8 potential ducks, 2 geese, and 32 chickens, to be exact), but there are a lot of wild birds that call our house and yard home, as well.
Here's the phoebe's nest that was built above an upstairs bedroom window last week.

Here's the front door of the bluebird house. There were eggs in there a few weeks ago, but no peeps coming from inside yet.

Here's three hummingbirds belly up to the bar.

Lots of hummingbird nectar recipes call for a lot more sugar, but I make mine with one part sugar to four parts water. I just heat and stir a bit until its dissoved, I never boil the water, and I never add any food coloring. I make a gallon or so's worth at a time and store the extra in a pitcher in my refrigerator. With two feeders that are busy everyday throughout the summer, this lasts me a good while. Last summer friends came over and we made perfect not-too-sweet mojitos with this diluted simple syrup, which made me feel like I could be a contender for the bronze medal in the country-chic/multitasking olympics.
p.s. Free Bird is a cliche song only because its really, really good.

WDRT

Me and my playlist will be on my friend and neighbor Jane's radio program, The Lucky Lucy Show, on Viroqua's community supported radio station WDRT on Thursday from 1-2! She asked for crowd-pleasing music that would make people move, so get limber.
To listen in, click here.

Weekend Update

Agnes still sits... she's got 8 eggs now. She didn't get up at all on Sunday, prompting us to deliver her worms and water. If all goes as she plans, there will be Buff/Runner hybrid ducklings on or around June 28.

The chickens' run is almost complete, so they got to explore the great outdoors for the first time.

The irises are blooming... my favorite flower. They just smell so purple.

A clear night on Saturday! The first in a long time. We sat outside and listened to music from across the valley.

On Sunday, I went to my first auction! I was invited and tutored by a friend/auction expert (her dad was an auctioneer) and she was a great teacher. I lost on some wool carders and an old crank apple peeler, but won my bid on something special for a friends' 30th birthday later this summer. I'm hooked!

S4311 Pickled Eggs

We eat a lot of these around here. Plain, on toast, with hot sauce or just salt and pepper, on salads. Mine have always been made with duck eggs, but I'm looking forward to trying the recipe with chicken eggs when our hens grow up.
I know what you're thinking... (ew!), but really, they're good. And an excellent way to preserve extra eggs. There are no safe methods for home-canning pickled eggs, so refrigerator only, 'kay?

Hardboil eggs.
While eggs are cooling, boil together:
- 3 cups white vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp organic pickling spice
- 1 1/2 tbsp sea salt
- 6 (or more) whole garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- dried chili pepppers

Pour into clean glass jar. Peel eggs and drop them in. Let sit for at least a day before enjoying.

Pepita Particularly

The heat is good for something: the garden is going gangbusters!

Just went out to check on the peeps. Everyone's doing great- Pepita particularly.

Jake and I will finish fencing in the run attached to the new super-coop'r this weekend.

In the meantime, everyone's happy inside.

One more hot day forecasted. Try to stay cool, folks.

Heat Wave

It was HOT yesterday. 100 degrees kind of hot. Jake stopped at the co-op on the way home and bought root beer float ingredients. Quite a treat! Pete wanted some too, of course. We're in for another hot day today- and again tomorrow, too. Fun fact: Today is the last day of school!

p.s. Apparently we weren't the only people who lost poultry to gnats over the weekend- we visited a neighbor last night whose friend lost 22 of her 28 chickens within an hour! Pepita is doing well.

Nesting Agnes and Pig Envy

A year old runner duck we call Agnes is setting! She scooped together a nest of leaves and straw and is sitting on four of her own and two of her duck friends' eggs. Here's to hoping for some home-made ducklings.

These are my friend and co-worker Crystal's pigs. Aren't they amazing? I lured her away from her friends and family at a get-together this afternoon to barage her and her son (also one of my very favorite first graders) with questions about pig-keeping. Next year, hopefully!

Buffalo Gnats Don't You Come Out Tonight

We lost one chick yesterday and four today to tiny biting black flies, also called Buffalo Gnats, google says. They're thick over by the coop, and yesterday's heat made them hungry. The chicks either died from asphyxiation after their nostrils became clogged with the gnats, or from anaphylactic shock from so many bites. We took the four sickest little ones inside the house, picked off the gnats, and gave them a warm water bath, and put them in a fresh-straw nest with a heat lamp while I ran to town for some permethrin and chicken gatorade. Two died while I was gone, and one shortly after I got home, but I was (fingers crossed!) able to save my favorite little chicklet, Pepita, with regular handfeeding and an afternoon in the sunshine. I just went over to check on her and she was standing up and pecking at her grit. Hang in there, Pumpkinseed.
Sidenote: Hens are so much more tame than roosters! All the hens currently in the coop are so happy to be picked up and pet, unlike our nasty, pecky, hairy brutes from last summer. I have a glimmer of understanding for Alice Walker's LOVE for her chickens!