The how to, from scratch, growing, harvesting, preserving, fermenting, savoring food farm blog
Peppers, peeking out from under some light weight agribon (row cover). The agribon is to help prevent sunburn on the ripening peppers. It’s an experiment.
You know those perfectly manicured gardens? The ones without a weed in sight or a blade of grass out of place? You know those gardeners? I don’t trust those gardeners. Read the rest of this entry »
As I get ready to take a quick road trip to see a friend, and then a longer road trip to see another friend at the end of the month, here’s a brief view of the garden coming on like gangbusters.
Ornamental Japanese Corn growing in the perennial garden (away from the sweet corn). SO pretty.
Bit of zucchini added to this batch, because who DOESN’T have lots of zucchini right now?
I haven’t posted a recipe in a while.
I grew sweet corn for the first time in forever last year. It turned out well, but it all came ripe at once, and I really didn’t grow enough to sell. So I blanched it all, cut it off the cob, and froze it. We still have quite a bit left. And the corn for THIS year is as tall as my waste (we definitely made the “knee high by the 4th of July” rule). So, I need to use up some of what’s in my freezer… Read the rest of this entry »
So, Charlie the turkey is kind of an odd duck. Or maybe he’s totally normal for a turkey. I’ve never had them until this last year. It’s a wonder Charlie ever has time to eat, because he displays and displays and displays. If I sit down in the poultry yard, he’ll dance around me and gobble for hours. Lately he’s lost a lot of the feathers on his chest, and some of his tail feathers. I just figure he’s starting to molt. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, the unnamed mama duck hatched out 6 babies.
Read the rest of this entry »
If you’ve been following along, you know that we have a killdeer pair nesting in my garlic bed. Most birds will lay one egg a day, and I happened to find the nest on the day the first egg was laid, on May 21st. That means that the last egg (there are 4) was laid on May 24th. Which means this particular killdeer has a 25 day incubation period. (It can range from 24 to 28 days). I know this because they hatched TODAY. Well, three were hatched this morning. Hopefully the other egg will still hatch. Read the rest of this entry »
Eggs due to hatch on the 18th.
A lot of distant friends and people I’ve met via social media look to my life on the farm with envy. And with good reason. I’m blessed to have chosen this life, and my husband’s job allows me the freedom and financial stability to explore it to its fullest. But least you think I live a life of leisure, leaning on fence posts watching lambs frolic in the tall grass all day, here’s a taste of a typical day here on the farm, and the endless dialog of what needs to be done next that goes on in my head. Read the rest of this entry »
Baby possum in a coffee can.
Totally forgot to share this story. A couple of weeks ago, we were just dozing off to sleep when one of the dogs started barking like crazy. This wasn’t “a leaf is blowing across the yard – OMG” kind of bark (we have a lot of that). This was a “Mama, this is serious, get your butt out here” kind of bark. So I hoisted my tired bones out of bed and found the flash light. It took me a few minutes, but I finally discovered a baby possum, cornered against a fence by the dogs. Read the rest of this entry »
Not dead. Just sleeping in the sun. Not a great shot, but I knew if I changed my angle, the baby would wake up, or Mama would move, which is what happened moments after I took this picture.
Well, Peggy lost one of her turkey chicks Monday. I hadn’t thought about it (and I should have), but we have a big stock tank that the animals drink out of and the ducks swim in. Turkeys will try to fly at a really early age. One of the little guys flew up, probably trying for the edge of the stock tank, fell in and drowned. Damn. So now she has just one chick. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been having a terrible time incubating duck eggs. Turns out duck eggs (and goose eggs – my friend has been having similar issues with goose eggs) are a whole lot more difficult to successfully hatch than chicken or turkey eggs. Something to do with the humidity being not too high, not too low, but just right, along with air flow/oxygen. So, I’ve only hatched out 15 ducks out of about 35 eggs. Read the rest of this entry »
MilesAwayFarm
Miles Away Farm Blog 