New Addition

The text came to me Sunday morning:

"Looks like we're going to be grandparents this morning to a new calf."

Joel was missing a cow when he went to count them and found her in a far-off thicket.  Perfect timing if the goal was to help deliver a calf.  Otherwise, unfortunate timing.

Side note:

For a guy who LONGED for the days when the expecting father was only allowed in the waiting room and called back to greet the wife and newborn, he was PUMPED to be involved in this birth. 

I'm trying not to have my feelings hurt.

We call her "Red Tagged Momma"....mostly because of the red tag in her ear:)

My daughter, Morgen, names all the animals on the farm.  She started with "Baby Hamburger" but landed on "Lucille".

She weighs about 25 pounds and we are determined to make her the friendliest calf on the farm.

The momma has been fairly patient with the kids being in the pen.  She did charge Maya once, but it was just a warning...thank goodness.  Scary, but not scary enough to keep me from sending Levi in the pen.

Hey, it's no worse than those parents who shove their child on the strange Santa's lap.  Anything for a good photo, right?

Shocking Trip to Whole Foods

The WHOLE season last year I heard, "Mom, that is SO much food for $12.50"

This year all I heard was, "Mom, that is SO much more food for $25!!"

I am not the grocery buyer in my family so it is true that I probably don't have a realistic grasp on pricing my produce.  I base it off of what I would want to pay for it.  I'm not in this to lose money.  I'm smarter than that.  I'm also not in it to become independently wealthy.

I decided to prove my family wrong by doing a cost comparison with a store I consider to have the same standards I do....Whole Foods.

This is the basket I sent out the door the afternoon of the "great experiment", so the contents were fresh in my mind.

Mary Kate was a willing, but slightly embarrassed partner.  I made the decision on the way home from her muddy soccer practice, so she had to shop in her socks.  I tried to convince her that at least half the population shops in socks & no shoes, but she wasn't buying it.  I did what I do best...turned a task into a contest.  Loser buys the winner dinner.

Game on.

First we each made a prediction on what the total basket price would be.  Then we decided on the prize (so we knew how much effort to put in).  Sushi.  A rare treat.

Mary Kate: $83.00

Me: $60.00

Task number one:

Fill a basket with $25 worth of organic produce.  It didn't take long.  A few sweet potatoes and three colors of peppers....$25.  

I couldn't believe it!! I tried to exactly replicate my basket, but they didn't have purple bell peppers, and I only chose the standard orange sweet potato because they were on sale that day.  

I knew at that time that I was going to have sticker shock by the end of the experiment.  I ALMOST decided to drop my basket and go home with my task incomplete.  I like my perpetual state of "ignorance".

"Oh, no you don't," demanded Mary Kate.  You DID NOT drag me in this store IN MY SOCKS for nothing.  First, we WILL finish what we started and THEN you will buy me a mountain of sushi!!"

Wow.  That must be what I sound like every day.  My poor husband.  

We selected, weighed, recorded and computed our way through the greens, peppers, roots, potatoes, tomatoes & spices and then we reversed our path returning every item to it's original spot. You didn't think I was actually going to buy them did you???

Whew!!

Well....drumroll....the total came to:

This total excluded the items I couldn't  find...Brussels sprouts, tatsoi/mustard greens & Lima beans.

We moved to the sushi section with me talking about how many calories are in sushi and how one should only have but just a bite, lest you rip your soccer shorts.  

She's smarter than that.  THREE ROLLS $$$$.

On the way, I snapped a few Photos of the other items I have in common with Whole Foods.   

Again, I have no complaints about the store.  They have many, many expenses I do not.  I get it.  It certainly does make me thankful I have the opportunity to grow my own food because without it, I would find it nearly impossible to feed my family the way I deem "proper".

Is it Worth It?

Before we raised our own meat, we ate so many beans!  Those and eggs were our biggest source of protein.  The last year has been "dreamland" for my guys as we have abundant meat in the freezer.  

I have always wanted to grow my own dried beans...because many said I couldn't!!

WRONG!!

Growing them was really easy!  I (well, Gemma) simply planted them and left them to do their thing.  Once they dried on the vine, we picked them and hervested  the already dried beans inside.

After letting them sit on the counter for two weeks to ensure they were completely dried, I had to decide whether to store them dried or can them.  Knowing how much quicker canned beans can be made into a meal, I decided NOT to pretend I will be more prepared for future meals than I usually am and decided to can them.

As you might guess, I've never done this before.  As you might also guess, it was somewhat of a fail.

The first step was easy:  rinse, sort and soak overnight in warm water.

The next step was also easy:  replace the soaking water with fresh water and put on the stove to boil.  So far, so good.

Here begins the problem.....

I decided to undertake this project on a Sunday morning at 6:30. It took MUCH longer to get it to boil than I thought. 

Once it boiled, I still had to pack the beans in the jars, seal the lids, place in my canner, seal the canner and go through all the steps to pressure can.  

Well....It was about 7:30 a.m. when I realized I was not going to be able to finish what I started AND get to my favorite kickboxing class at 8:00 a.m.

You know I'm a problem solver:

"Mary Kate, you HAVE to get out of bed. I need your help on the kitchen."

"How important is it?"

"SUPER important".

Wow!  She disagreed that my kickboxing habit was more important than her sleep early on a Sunday morning.  

#crabbyteenager

She dug in & I left with a parting....

 "Have fun.  See you at church."

Well...she didn't have enough time to finish the pressure canning before church either and it's not anything that can be interrupted once started.  She tossed the job to her sister, Gemma.

Three important inserts:

1.  Gemma had already been to church.

2.  Gemma has NEVER used the canner.

3.  Gemma doesn't pay much attention to instructions.

When we returned from church, at 11:00, the beans were still processing.  They were due to be turned off at 9:45.  

"Gemma, why are these still cooking?"

"I don't know.  I guess nobody shut them off."

"Wasn't that your job?"

"No.  Oh....wait a minute.  Mary Kate set the timer before she left and told me to shut that off when the timer beeped.  I thought she meant shut the timer off."

"So you thought Mary Kate would simply set a timer to have you shut the timer off?????"

"Yeah, I thought that was weird, but most things you guys do around here are weird."

That's how I ended up with mostly a refried bean product on my hands.  

Eighteen jars of it.

Problem, Solution, Problem, Solution

I solve pest problems differently than many people.  To their credit, my attempts normally fail.  I have stumbled on the PERFECT solution to these destructive pests:

These grasshoppers were totally destroying my basil, Brussels sprouts, beans and even tomatoes.  I used my best parenting skills and went through my mental steps;

1.  Ignore it

2.  Blame it on someone

3.  Ask a professional & do the opposite!!

4.  Ask the advice of someone who lived in the 1930s

My steps brought me to this solution:

I tried to talk the family into raising turkeys last year, but they thought we'd already bitten off as much as we could chew for the year as far as animals were concerned.  As you know from a previous post, this is my second batch of turkeys (the last batch lived a whole 3 days before the cats killed them all) !!!

These guys & gals live in the garden and eat an unbelievable amount of grasshoppers.  It's just as impressive as I thought it would be, and it has proven to be really a fun adventure.   These turkeys are so entertaining to watch and they saved my garden, allowing me to get another month of baskets picked.

NEW PROBLEM....

Turkey population fell from five to two last week when an unknown predator captured & ate three of the pack.  These two must have been clever enough to escape.

I was so sad to see those two looking and calling for their not-so-clever mates, but thankful that we still had enough for our family's Thanksgiving dinner. 

The predator returned the next night to steal half of my thankfulness!!!  One turkey remains. Looks like there will NOT be the traditional second turkey for leftovers.  Aaaaahhhhh!!!!  I'm sure we would hate the meat of coyote or fox, but shooting it would be very fulfilling for me.

SOLUTION:

I have now placed the last bird in the electric fence with the chickens. They all still have plenty of space to move and bugs to eat, but I miss them being on the garden.  They are SO COOL to watch!!

The best statement came from one of my sassy family members...

"You sure are going to a lot of trouble to save an animal you plan to kill in 3 weeks."

Yep.  That one can make his own Thanksgiving feast.

 

Customer Day at the Farm

I haven't disappeared, but with the onset of school, I have been dividing my hours into too many things to include blogging. 

I will spend some time this week catching up.

I had been promising my customers a chance to come tour, pick and play at the farm.  We finally found a weekend when a Saturday was clear and the weather cooperated.

The pictures tell more than I need to:

Shooting was a hit with a majority of the boys.  My girls do like to shoot....but mostly at the boys:):)

Of all the animals at the farm, Lucky the duck ranks at the top.  She's 9 months old and has started laying eggs.  If you get a large translucent looking egg in your carton, it was a gift from her.

I actually avoid holding any kind of bird.  No reason.  Personal choice.  I do, however, love holding Chunk holding Lucky.

Morgen came all the way from Michigan to enjoy the weekend...and to hold Chunk...and Lucky (separately).

Ann.  A friend of mine and future wife for my son, Simon.  He'll find that out when he reads this post:):)

I can't believe Kael is holding Lucky.  She's an inside girl that has general "ewwww" comments about most things "animal" with the exception of her dingbat dog, Molly.

COTTON CANDY!!!!

The kids thought they were SO funny  spinning me this cotton candy on a carrot!!  I threw the top to the chickens & ate the carrot.

This seemed like such a good idea to Chunk...until he learned how much cotton candy attracts bees!  He quickly washed his face and stuck to cotton candy on a stick! 

The go-carts are always the draw for the kids.  Levi isn't big enough to drive so he suckers anybody he can to take him for a spin.  His "favorite Joel" (no, not his dad) is always at his service.

Gemma is my first choice for driving the babies.  She's very cautious.

I REALLY wanted to use our hay wagon to give hayrack rides.  We'd never done it before, but I repeated my mantra, "How hard can it be?"

Harder that I assumed. Not only had my willing husband never driven a trqctor pulling a hayrack,  apparently he's never even BEEN on a hayrack ride.  

He drove REALLY, REALLY fast...like I almost bounced off the hayrack!!  Maybe that was his plan:)

He's new at the "selfie" thing too, but he's great at it. What a shot!  That was one full hayrack.

It was a beautiful day and nice to be able to show customers where and how their food grows.  People seemed to have a great time...or they faked it:)

Thanks for your business!!!

Tomato Overload

As Promised.....

I planted A LOT of tomato plants.  Too many?  No way!!

Every few weeks I am faced with several crates of tomatoes ranging from cherry to large.  

A few customers have taken advantage of my very reasonable price of $10-$15 per crate to be able to preserve stewed, diced, sauced or juiced tomatoes for the winter.

Here's what I have been doing for the last 3 weeks...among other things:

CHERRY TOMATOES:

If you are an exact measurement cook, you are about to be frustrated.

Start by washing cherry tomatoes.  Sauté  some onions & garlic in olive oil.  Add tomatoes (my best guess is one medium onion, two cloves of garlic and 12 cups of cherry tomatoes).

Cook until the the tomatoes plump up and burst their skin.

Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, fresh basil and I usually stir in either a balsamic reduction or red wine.  Something to give it some depth.  Many times I'm out of both of those so I just serve as is:). I have also added hot peppers for a spicy spaghetti sauce for my main man:)

Run it all through a Vitamix, food processor or an immersion blender.  It will thicken up during that process. 

Want it thicker?  Stir in some tomato paste during the cooking process.

I use this sauce all winter for pasta, pizza sauce and to give vegetable soups a boost of flavor.  It's awesome and I have never had enough canned to last us through the winter.  This might be the year!!

LARGE TOMATOES:

I pick, wash, core, throw in a grocery bag and stick them in the freezer overnight...or for several days!!

Run hot water in a sink and toss in the frozen "pool ball" tomatoes.  As they thaw, the skin will easily pull off.

From there, toss the tomatoes in a pan to  make stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.

Sure beats the old method of boiling/Ice water/peeling.  Been there, done that.  Trust me.  The above method is much preferred.  It may produce more water in the tomato pot, but cooking it a little longer solves that problem.

Anybody can do those two methods of preserving the garden into the winter.  If you don't want to can the results, put them in gallon freezer bags, freeze them flat and THEN stack them in the freezer (yes, I tried it one year by stacking them while unfrozen.....couldn't get them apart without thawing the whole block!!!) 

Bottoms line is:  Anybody can preserve tomato products.  You will be so pleased with yourself:). Tomato time is running out!!

You Can Take the Girl Off the Farm....

Once Abbey was all moved into her dorm room (which is MUCH nicer than my first apartment), she pulled up the shades to get some natural light and exclaimed, "Wow!  What a great place to grow something.  Can you bring me something from the farm?"

I assumed she was NOT talking about marajuana.

I needed clarification.

Me:  "Sure.  What plant? How big?  Is this just for you or are you planning to start a business to sell it one ounce at a time?"

Her:  "Why, do a lot of people like mint?  

Ah!  Mint.  Whew!!

Step one:

Joel dug up one of my plants from the farm.

Step two:

Abbey found a suitable planting vessel.

Step three:

Luke poked holes in the bottom of the "pot".

Step four:

Chunk left to find small rocks for the bottom of the pot.  He may or may not have "borrowed" them from neighborhood yards.

Step five:

Squeeze this big old plant in that very narrow planter, trim, water and send it on it's way.

Step six:

Name it.  Stuart....Stu, for short.

Abbey is happy.

I am relieved.

Her roommate is thrilled - loves mint!!!

Chunk is still tight-lipped about those rocks.  

Stuart looks happy in his new home.

 

Fiddlestix Farms at UNL...WooHoo!!!

Win, Win, Win

Because I displayed my fails of the week, I should also share my wins.

CeCe & I got to go on several horse rides last week.  EVERY time we come to the farm she asks, "Can we PLEASE ride a horse today?"  Sometimes the answer is no because I have so much to do in the short amount of time I'm there. Lately the answer has been favorable.  She gets to pick the horse, I get to pick the saddle.  We make a good pair.  

Win Round Two:

I got my replacement part for my strainer so I could juice tomatoes to cook down tomatoe sauce for soup, pizza sauce and maybe ketchup(??)

We can put A LOT of tomatoes through in a pretty short period of time.  I like this method because the kids can take part.    Any of you are welcome to come use it in my kitchen.  Bring your own containers to haul away the juice:)

Because I can't just plant red tomatoes, the juice is a very interesting color.  This batch looks kind of "burnt orange" when reduced to a sauce.

Obviously I do such large quantities, it works better for me to juice & store one day, and spend the next few days cooking pots of it all day to reduce it.  There's no way I could do all of it in one day. 

Win Round Three:

I've decided to try to save my seeds this year.  I have always wanted to try it but never got it done.  I haven't followed all the rules so I won't be shocked if it doesn't work.  Disappointed, but not shocked. 

After drying them in the pods for three weeks, we popped them out and will let them dry again for a few weeks before storing them for next year.  They will keep for 3-4 years, but I didn't collect enough for that.

So far the three kinds of pod peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas and arugula are the only seeds saved.  I plan to plant some of each for the fall to see if they work.

Win Round Four:

The third cutting of hey went off without a peoblem.  Nearly 400 bales were tied, loaded and stored for sale and for our animals.  Need hay?  Spread the word!!

Joel's favorite tractor.  This is what will ultimately pull our hay rack ride trailer.

I LOVE to see boys doing physics labor.  That's most of the reason we bought this place!!

The big boys haul bales and the next youngest one drives the truck.  This time Chunk (Eli) was the chosen one.  Not only does he drive, he does it well....with a popsicle!!  Pretty sure that's legal.

We don't expect or require winning a majority of the time.  Our theme on the farm is "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back".  

We take wins when we can get them:)