Seedlings Are About to Take Over!

The time has come....the seed starting unit is full!  The first seeding of peppers and herbs are starting to outgrow their trays!  We've got more tomatoes, peppers and herbs to start, and soon we've got to start celery, broccoli and cauliflower!  We've got to make some space!  Sooooo...it's time to pot up!

We've got tables at the ready with grow-light stands.  As our sun room is east facing, the light is not great for young seedlings.  We don't want lanky, spindly plants so, over the years, we've invested in some table top grow lights and had one donated by pal Deb, as long as she got veggies in exchange!  We also have some more lengths of fluorescent lights to hang under the tables because every inch of this sun room will be green within the next four or five weeks!

We'll pot up peppers and tomatoes largely into those six packs for now, herbs will go into 2.5 inch pots.  The flat of basil seedlings, thickly seeded in five rows, will probably become five, maybe six flats of little pots.  The flat of 'California Wonder' pepper seedlings will become four or five flats of six packs.  You can see how we start to fill the space quite quickly!  Along with space concerns, all the little babies become more of a maintenance chore - watering will quickly take twice as long  This cycle will continue for about six weeks: pot up, make room, start more flats of seeds.  With the nice weather we've been having, we may be able to move into the greenhouse early this year and 'thin out' the jungle the sun room will become.  Oh, right, add that to the never-ending 'to do' list: clean and disinfect the greenhouse!

Getting Ready for Goat's Milk!

We're teetering on the edge of Spring.  Although we've had some unseasonal warm weather, today it is snowing.  The snow is sticking to the ground for now, in a slushy, mushy way.  It will probably be gone in a day or two, but once again we'll be wet and muddy for a while, with more precipitation in the forecast this week.  No gardening, yet!  Although we have seeds started, and more just arrived, March is largely about getting ready for what's coming up in the Spring and Summer.  March is about building projects, maintenance and preparation.

This past couple of weeks, when not battling the flu, the emphasis has been on getting ready for baby goats!  The first babies are expected in the last half of May, when we should be busy planting!  Better to get all the preparation done now, when we have the leisure.  Farmer Man has been re-decorating the barn - preparing a nursery, for all practical purposes.  No pastel wallpapers or anything like that, but a separate fenced pen with a draft-free box that will accommodate one new Momma and her offspring.  The goat part of the barn has been completely emptied, swept, new pens and fencing constructed and new straw installed.

Along with babies, of course, will come the milk!  The whole point of this little herd is to collect milk and for that we need a milking stand.  As is usual around Aagaard Farms, we were looking to make our own!  Found some great plans for a little stand on Fias Co Farms website.  I think we've mentioned it before, but if you have goats you really need to check out Fias Co Farms - they're sharing lots of great info for goat owners!  We downloaded a great set of plans (all they ask is a small donation) and Farmer Man got busy, using all pieces of wood and plywood that were here already!  I think the only purchase was a feed bucket which hooks over the front 2x4, which we found at Total Farm Supply in Brandon.  Today was the day to test it out, and start to get the girls used to it.  We'll get them well acquainted with it now, using it to groom and trim hooves, so they are completely comfortable when it comes time to milk.

The first problem is that our little herd of four is pretty close.  They go everywhere together!  So, how do you get one on the milking stand, give them a little grain treat in the bucket and have them stay calm while three others are prancing around trying to get at the treat?  The obvious answer seemed to be to keep the stand in Farmer Man's shop and bring the goats in one at a time.  Now, we haven't trained the goatlings for a collar or bridle, so separating one out, getting her through the door solo and then shutting the door turned into a bit of a comedy show.  Farmer Man did the door, seizing on the closest goat and directed her in while I headed off the other three.  Mabel was first, and it all went quite well! She took quite calmly to being installed in the stand, showing just a little resistance when the yoke closed on her neck.  As soon as her grain ration was in the bucket, she paid little mind while Farmer Man trimmed her hooves.  The problem came when we decided we were done, and she didn't want to leave!  She kept looking around for more treats!

We eventually got Mabel out by leading her with the treat scoop.  Goldie was next, again with little problems.  Next, aiming for Chocolate, Randi made it in the door - seemingly quite anxious to see what was going on!  Always adaptable, we put him on the stand and used the same format to trim his hooves and give him a nice little brushing!  Finally, Choco was done and the milking stand, and the goatlings, were 'broken in'.  We'll continue to do this every three or four days; hopefully, the girls will get into a routine, including waiting patiently for their turn each time!  They're going to be well groomed little goats in the next little while!

Raised Bed/Cold Frame Aagaard Farms' Style!

North side, high side.

We've been talking for a couple of years about building cold frames and raised beds.  Both have big advantages for extending the season - a boon in our cold Manitoba climate where our last frost date is June 6th and our first Fall frost date is September 9th.  Yes, that's right - we've got four months to grow everything.  Manitoba has been known to get snow in mid-June and we've gotten frost as early as August 21st!  It's a good idea, especially if you grow vegetables for a living, to have protection, back up plans so to speak!  To that end, we've had great luck with our hoop houses or high tunnels over the last few years and we do plan to build a second this year.  After we fix the first one....again.  Even with a heavy-duty plastic cover, the hoop houses are prone to winter damage from the weight of snow and high winds.

Cold frames are in-ground beds with a glass or plastic cover.  The glass cover creates a solar affect, heating up the soil inside faster than the surrounding ground.  Seedlings are protected from wind and excessive moisture, the soil retains some heat in the evening and they'll provide some degrees of frost protection if the temperature dips or it snows.  If electricity is available, soil warming cables can be put in the bed to ensure good night-time temperatures!  As daytime temperatures increase, the glass covers can be opened or moved to keep temperatures at a reasonable level, then returned later in the day.

Raised beds are beds built above the existing soil.  They can be constructed of various materials and you can pretty much choose your height.  They can be built over soil that is of questionable quality and filled with a rich, nutritious mix.  They also raise the working area - a bonus for bad backs for both weeding and harvesting.  Raised beds have become popular features in retirement communities where, with a solid walkway, even people in wheelchairs can continue to garden.  They are also really useful in urban areas where they can be constructed over concrete or really depleted city soils and be really productive.  They are also visually appealing, providing some variance in height.  We've seen beds built of natural stone, old brick, reclaimed chunks of concrete, lumber and timber.  If growing food in your raised beds we would highly recommend avoiding treated wood of any kind, including railroad ties!


So, Farmer Man has been reading and thinking on these things for a couple of years.  When a neighbor offered free small bales of straw, Farmer Man saw an opportunity!  This being such a mellow winter, the snow has already melted from the area he had in mind.  He'd been thinking about an area along our front driveway, close to the road.  It's an area of poor soil, prone to erosion.  He started by discing the whole area to chop up last year's plant debris and loosen up the soil.  He next used the tractor to take one scoop of soil to create a mound.  You see, cold frames should be oriented south, to catch maximum sunlight!  He started the frame of the bed, in straw, on the mound, as the high point and back.  He then continued to lay out bales until he had a rectangle, lower in the front, south side.  The opening is about seven feet long and three and a half feed wide.  He then filled the bed with a screened mix of our own two year old compost and well-aged manure purchased last year from the Research Centre.  The opening was then covered with some old windows he had stashed.  He weighted down the windows, just to be safe.

All this just happened yesterday, two beds were created.  I went searching today for a spare thermometer and got it in place, on the shady side, so we can monitor the temperature over the next few days to get an idea of how these beds are working.  The straw bale construction is certainly being tested today, as we've had winds all day of 35 kph with gust to 55kph (about 24 mph with gusts to 40 mph)!  If temperatures seem reasonable, we'll probably start by seeding some lettuce and maybe some onions early next week!  We'll keep you posted!

We're Collecting Potatoes!

One corner of the root cellar.

From left: French Fingerling, All Red, Pink Fir Apple,
Russian Blue and Linzer Deleketess.

Most people know, from the grocery store, that there is a red potato, a white potato and the baking potato.  These people are rather surprised when they learn we're growing twenty six varieties of potatoes!  When you've got a bit of space and you grow things, it's kind of easy to start collecting interesting seeds of vegetables you really like - and that is certainly what Farmer Man has done with potatoes!  He's had helped from a few acquaintances also potato-obsessed: Menno and Greg B. have contributed to our stock of interesting seed potatoes!  It also definitely helps that we have a proper root cellar with ample room for storage!

Potatoes are largely classified by when they are ready to harvest: early season, mid and late season.  Early season potatoes are the first to be taken as new or baby potatoes - the Spring delicacy we dream about all winter!  There's just something extra special about new potatoes: a freshness, a sweetness, it's hard to define but they are a short-lived treat as the potatoes continue to grow and become just regularly, tasty potatoes!  It is a timing thing, as well.  Small potatoes are not necessarily new potatoes; we can harvest late in the Fall and each plant might have a couple of little spuds but they will not have the taste of a potato dug at the beginning of July!  Mid and late season varieties can be taken as new potatoes two to four weeks later, but most of those varieties have thicker skins and deeper eyes and are just not the same as an early.  Mid and late season varieties tend to store better; it's mostly late varieties that we're currently eating!  Early potatoes, for us, can be mature by the end of August, late season we'll leave until mid to late October.

So here's a wee round up of what's in our root cellar, still being eaten and just waiting to get planted:

EARLY SEASON:
     Aladin: A red potato, awesome as a new potato!  Mature, it's texture is often described as 'floury' or dry, meaning it's good for mashing, needs extra butter when boiled!
     Almera: Medium sized white potatoes, pretty good in storage.
     Caribe:  Purplish potato that sets lots of spuds!  Stores quite well.
     Carlton: A lovely white potato, multi-purpose.
     Eramosa: Probably our favorite new potato - thin skinned and delicate white potato!
     Norland:  Awesome red baby potato.  I've got to admit to you I wouldn't eat a Norland most of the winter - they become soft and bland quite quickly in storage and there are just better choices.
     Warba:  Exists in records since 1933.  Not available for sale this year, we're still building our stock.

    Charlotte:  New to us this year, just given to us be Greg B.  Very popular in the UK as what they call a 'salad' potato, not a term we use a lot in North America.  Apparently, it's somewhat waxy and the skin comes off easily, making it great for potato salad.  Not available for sale this year!

MID-SEASON
     Alaska Sweetheart:  Red on the outside and interesting pink-marbled flesh!  Bred in Alaska, good for short season gardens!  Similar to All Red, but a smaller potato.  Not sure we're going to continue to grow this one because we prefer All Red!
     Cherry Red:  A smaller potato with a deep red skin. Great all-round potato. Very nice in potato salads if you leave the skin on!
     Linzer Deleketess:  Ah, one of my favorites!  Heirloom fingerling - meaning it grows long and skinny.  The fingerlings are mostly all waxy in texture making them awesome for roasting, soups and stews because they hold their shape, they don't get crumbly like a white or mushy like a red.  Beautiful, nutty flavor.  Stores awesome for a mid-season!  Maybe we'll have some for dinner tonight!
     Purple Viking:  Lovely, large multi-purpose, purple skinned, white fleshed potato.  Good baked, boiled, mashed, nice creamy texture!
     Roko: A good red, quite nice as a new potato a couple of weeks after you've eaten the Norland!
     Sangre:  Probably our favorite red for eating all winter! Crisp flesh makes a lovely creamy texture, great flavor, stores well.  With last year's high water table, for the first time ever we've had a wee problem with hollow interiors in the large potatoes.
     Yukon Gold:  A golden fleshed, golden skinned potato, good flavor, great for fries.  Consistently picked by top chefs as one of the best flavored potatoes out there, used to be one of my favorites until I met German Butterball!

     Marc Warshaw's Quebec - New to us, acquired through Menno.  A really funky potato with a marbled red and white skin.   The story seems to be that a fellow named Marc Warshaw scored some seed from an elderly Quebec farmer who's family had been growing it for years.  Seed of Diversity lists it as one of their members' favorite potatoes!  Not available this year as we'll be trying to increase our stock.
     Tamagami:  Another selection via Menno.  Apparently a red like Chieftain, but better.  Not available this year.

LATE SEASON
     All Red: A really neat red skinned potato with red-marbled flesh!  Makes hilarious pink mashed potatoes.  A really nice dense, meaty potato; not quite as smooth as some of the reds, not quite as dry as many of the whites.  We like it layered in scalloped potatoes, along with Russian Blue and a white for a color hit!
     Bintje:  A really nice white, not as thick skinned as some of the storage potatoes.  Nice flavor.
     Blue Mac:  White flesh, purple-blue skin.  Still eating this one as it has really nice flavor, almost wheaty or bread-like!
     French Fingerling:  A favorite, an heirloom fingerling with pink/red skin and mottled red marbling in yellow flesh.  Waxy texture, lovely nutty flavor.
     German Butterball:  Yukon Gold used to be a favorite - until I met German Butterball!  An heirloom with golden skin and flesh and the most delightful buttery flavor!  A fluffier texture great for fries, mashing and baking.
     Island Sunshine:  Bright yellow flesh, nice flavor.  A fluffy potato great for fries, baking, boiling.
     Pink Fir Apple - Our rarest variety, it's mentioned in British records as far back as 1855!  Officially a fingerling but this pink-skinned potato grows all kinds of little 'apples' all over it.  Gorgeous waxy texture and great nutty flavor. A true gourmet sought after by connoisseurs.
     Russet/Burbank - Also known as Netted Gem this is the standard baked potato in restaurants.  This variety has been around since 1874!  Thick skin with a net pattern all over.  It's a dry, fluffy potato also good mashed.
     Russian Blue - The all purple potato with purple flesh and skin.  Absolutely hilarious purple mashed potatoes!  Officially a fingerling, it's texture is a bit less waxy and more fluffy.  All that purple color means higher levels of some anti-oxidants.  Makes a great purple french fry!  One of our favorites for layering in scalloped potatoes with All Red!

For our CSA families, we always tell them what potato is in their box each week.  It's interesting how people become hooked on a variety or two.  We've had CSA members as well as Farmers Market customers buying potatoes all winter - asking for a particular variety, now that they know about it!  Best selling: German Butterball, Pink Fir Apple, Linzer Deleketess and Russian Blue.  Even our customers will still just ask for a red or a white, as well, leaving up to our discretion what is best for eating at the time.  Blue Mac certainly has made a few enthusiastic fans, as well.  If you're in the Brandon area the next time you can see all, well quite a few, of our lovely potatoes will be at the Earth Day celebrations in Princess Park the afternoon of April 22nd!  If you're not in the area and want to know more, email us!  We'll talk potatoes!

Community Supported Agriculture in Brandon, MB

Picking up a share at the park!

Community Supported Agriculture has been around a long time.  From what we've been able to find, it started in Europe in the 1950's, when some people in a Swiss city got tired of high prices for poor quality vegetables.  Those with a rural background knew there was better food out there, so they went to visit some local farmers and made a deal for the farmer to deliver directly to them ever so often.  The concept has slowly spread across the globe, and taken on many different forms.  The basic concept is that members, or shareholders, buy a share of the farmer's harvest and then receive a box of food at designated times.

The CSA concept has seen huge growth in the last ten years or so, as consumers become more interested in  fresh and local food, lowering their carbon foot prints, supporting local economies and knowing who's growing their food and how it's being grown.  There are many variants: some CSA's require the members to work on the farm, there are (often illegal) raw milk CSA's, there are grain, egg and meat CSA's, in warmer climates there are year-round shares, there are winter CSA's of vegetables from the farmer's root cellar.  Any way people want to eat, there is probably a CSA for it, if there are enough people interested!

We certainly can't take responsibility for bringing CSA to Brandon.  That was done by the ever progressive Evelyn and Menno Isaac, long time Farmers Market vendors and some of the first to use organic growing methods in Brandon.  They started a CSA about fifteen years ago with customers interested in a regular supply of their great produce!  We got to know them through Farmers Markets and about eight years ago, they asked us to do one week of CSA so they could have a wee summer vacation - something almost impossible for those of us of selling at Farmers Markets!  We helped out a bit in the next few years, and when the two were ready to largely retire, they asked us to take over the CSA.  What a gift they gave us!  We love growing for our CSA members!  Everyone involved is interested, enthusiastic and committed to healthy food!

The way it works is that people buy a share in the Spring.  They pay at a time when the farmer needs cash flow - Spring is when we're buying our seeds and compost, using extra electricity to keep our green house going, repairing and maintaining equipment, filling the big tank of gasoline for the equipment, hiring a few people to help with planting and weeding.  That's part of the 'support' in Community Supported Agriculture - our community helps to support us in what would otherwise be our 'leanest' times and we support the community by providing a few jobs.  We start pretty much all of our own seeds; indeed seedlings of tomatoes, peppers and herbs are started in the house right now!  By July, when crops are getting going, our shareholders begin to receive their weekly boxes of fresh food.  They'll receive a weekly box through September, until we've 'spent' the money they paid for their shares.  We meet once a week at a designated spot, or home delivery is available for an extra fee.  We offer three different 'sizes' of shares so there's something appropriate for single people, couples, large families or vegetarians.  The pick up is fun: we're there to answer any questions, share recipes and identifying anything that might be new to our families!  We also have a Farmers Market table there with extra selections so that members can 'trade' anything in their baskets that they might not use!

CSA day is both a joy and a frantic scramble!  Our CSA is based on fresh food and we take that seriously!  We might dig potatoes the night before to give them a chance to dry off but everything else is harvested, cleaned and packaged on the meeting day.  We take a walk through our fields the day before to see what is ready and ripe and we make a plan for the next day.  We also work with a couple of other like-minded, chemical-free, local gardeners, to ensure a wide variety of food and we've got to be in touch with them, to see what they'll have ready.  The interesting part is always how much can be harvested and then how we split it among our families!  A lot of decisions, and math calculations, are made on the fly: we harvested eighteen pounds of lettuce and have twenty five families so everybody gets....

When we started organizing Farmers Markets, the Isaacs were one of the first growers to join us.  They introduced us to Samaritan House, our local food bank.  The Isaacs invited Samaritan House to come at the end of Farmers Markets to collect any left over produce that might otherwise go to waste.  Samaritan House would distribute it to their clients the next day, such a brilliant idea as fresh food is often missing at Food Banks!  As we got to know the staff of Samaritan House and as we learned more about the need in our community, we had the idea to promote sponsored CSA shares for Samaritan House.  People can sponsor a share or part of a share for a family, and it is a tax deductible donation; we donate a part of each share, so it's a lower price than a regular share.  We've been so proud of this effort, and so inspired by our CSA members who stepped right up and donated what they could!  Samaritan House supporters have also sponsored families and it really makes a difference in the lives and health of struggling families!

It may be March, but CSA registrations for 2012 have just gone out to our members!  We've been gratified that a number of families immediately emailed that they'd be joining again; some even came to visit us at Seedy Sunday with their cheques in hand.  The support is so invigorating and inspiring!  We can hardly wait for the snow to melt so we can get on the land to grow for 'our' families!  If you're reading this and you're not in Brandon, check out the Manitoba CSA website, Buy Local Think Global website for Canadian and US farms, or in the US check Local Harvest.  Will you be eating fresh and local food this summer?

Getting Chubby in All the Right Places?

'What are you looking at?'

We've been watching our three young does very carefully.  With the introduction of our little buck Randi in December, we're hoping the ladies are pregnant.  We're newbie goat owners, so we don't have that 'wealth of experience' that more experienced owners would have.  We're doing a lot of reading and a lot of research right now, getting ready.  And looking carefully at the girls.....

We thought, in November, before Randi, that the girls were a little over-weight, a detriment to getting pregnant.  We re-assessed the amount of grain they were getting, the amount of treats and extras, purposely took them out on more walks and they did slim down.  Now, we're thinking they're getting a little fat again - but in different places!  Goats will get wide with their babies, not bulging below.  The girls didn't seem very receptive to Randy when he first arrived, and we've never witnessed any goats 'doing it', but it may be time to have Dr Sherry out for a visit!

Pregnancy brings different requirements for goats.  For instance, too much protein, and the baby (or babies, as goats often have twins) can put on too much bone mass to quickly, and be difficult to deliver.  That will mean the mothers will have to get an adjusted grain ration.  So, although we kind of like to do things naturally here and could take a wait-and-see attitude, we'll be getting a pregnancy test done soon.  Mabel, our two tone, looks the most pregnant and she was, indeed, the 'nicest' to Randi.  Chocolate, who does not show any signs, was the least receptive; well into January she was chasing and head-butting Randi quite frequently!  Deliveries spread out over a period of time would suit us 'first time' parents!  If Mabel took a liking to Randi early on we could have babies as early as mid-May!

I can hardly wait for baby goats!  They are the the most adorable little creatures!  Plus, of course, that's when we'll finally have a regular supply of lovely goat milk and we can begin to be more self-sufficient in fresh, unadulterated milk, butter and cheese.  Plus, we'll be able start to Aagaard Farms' newest product: goat's milk soaps and lotions!  And, baby goats are just the cutest......it will be hard to get any work done!

The Thrill of the Sprout!

Doesn't matter how many years we do this, every time a flat of seeds sprouts it's a thrill!  A whoop-dee-do, yee-haw kind of a thrill.  Something about that wee life starting from that tiny seed is awe inspiring, every time!  We'll start a lot of seeds over the next month.  Anything that requires a growing period longer than the four months we have between frost dates will be started indoors.  This will include tomatoes, peppers, herbs, celery, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, some of the winter squash and more!  Last year we probably started over forty flats, thickly seeded!  Many of those had to be 'potted' up into pots as they got too big and crowded for the trays - besides, bigger tomato plants are better, right?  Before we can safely use our greenhouse, weather permitting the beginning of April, we will end up with plants everywhere in the house - and then we'll fill the greenhouse, too!

We always start with any seed left over from last year.  Pictured is basil; I ordered a huge bag last year and had a pretty good harvest but still had a bit left in the bag.  Also started bell peppers left over from 2011.  So far, no sign of the peppers, even though they were planted a couple of days before the basil.  I've also started some mesclun lettuce mix for our eating, also from last year.  As seeds arrive in the mail, more flats get started.  Cubits Organics were very prompt in sending my order and some of their sage, thyme, marjoram, oregano and borage are planted.  Received West Coast Seeds and their peppers and tomatoes will be started early next week (The awesome Dragon's Tongue bean is stashed).  Johnny's Select Seeds emailed that they have shipped and that will include more tomato and pepper varieties, as well as cabbage and some other goodies for seeding direct into the garden, like sunflowers.  Tomorrow at Brandon's Seedy Sunday I'll be picking up some packets from Heritage Harvest Seeds including a few of their awesome selection of heirloom tomatoes!  Then, the bulk of our crops, especially regular, direct seeded veggies like carrots, beets and beans will come from Brandon's own Lindenburg's Seeds.  If the 2011 bell pepper seed doesn't sprout soon, we'll add that to the order from Lindenburg's.

As the seeds progress, it adds so much to the house.  The humidity is raised, the smell of life and green growth starts to permeate all the rooms.  It's like Spring starts early, indoors.  Soon we'll be snacking on micro-greens with the added zest of some basil sprouts.  I can hardly wait for the basil to grow: even though we dried some of last year's harvest, there is nothing like fresh basil!  Of course, it's not all good smells and easy growth.  It's hard working keeping all these babies happy!  Some, like the peppers, tomatoes and herbs, need heat and light.  The lettuce prefers it cooler and a little shady to start.  The sun room, where we start seeds, is a little unreliable in temperature so we've got the seed rack wrapped in plastic to preserve heat.  On a sunny, warm day the temperature inside can shoot up quite quickly.  So it's a lot of monitoring: opening the plastic, closing the plastic, unplugging the heat mats, turning the grow lights on, adjusting the lights' height as seedling grow.  Once the little plantings have two sets of leaves we'll start fertilizing with a dilute liquid, organic seaweed fertilizer, custom mixed and getting stronger as the plants grow.  We'll be busy the next few months and then even busier as we move outside into the garden!

No Dumb Chickens Here!

Cleaning up underneath the suet holder!

Every morning, when we open the chicken coop, seven of the chickens immediately fly over the pasture fence and head off on their day.  It's not a pretty sight: chickens are not graceful flyers.  Some awkward squawks are part of the event as they make it to the top of the fence and then, with flapping wings, land on the ground on the other side.  The other forty three chickens are quite happy to stay within the pasture fences and they spread out (barring fresh snow) under the trees and around the straw bales, pecking and scratching.  In the evening, when it's time to put the chickens away for the night, most of the travelling hens have already flown back over the fence and entered the coop the traditional way.  Two are quite often sitting on the door step, waiting to be let in through the human door.  If we approach too quickly, or have a rambunctious dog with us, they scatter and then slowly amble back over to hop up onto the sill and enter.

The seven are Black Sex Links and Ameraucanas, all young hens just purchased last June as day old chicks.  As chicks they were raised in Farmer Man's shop, then they were moved into the green house.  When they were old enough to be out-and-about but still too young to be integrated into the existing flock (older hens may have attacked them) they were allowed to range in our backyard and around the barn.  They must remember that and each morning they head for the barn and spend a happy day, maybe  laying an egg and scratching through the goats' bedding for 'treats'.  Their propensity for travelling has led to the daily egg hunt, because they are not completely consistent in where they lay their eggs.  They're right there, front and centre, when we feed the goats their grain ration, hopping right into the bowl to steal some corn.  They seem to get along fine with both the goats and the barn cats; we actually like the idea of them keeping the barn a little cleaner, 'recycling' the goats' droppings, so to speak.

Two of them are a little more adventurous then the others and have wandered around the back yard and to the front of the house on nicer days.  During their strolls they've discovered the bird feeders, which are only out in the winter.  Every day now two of the hens make the trip to the front of the house and 'clean up' under the bird feeders.  They'll spend about an hour out front, having a great little feast.  They are now the two chubbiest birds in the flock!  It appears, though, they're not sharing because they're not bringing any new friends with them!  That's a couple of smart birds!

Everything's Alright - 'Dragon's Tongue' is Here!

We grow a lot of different vegetables, we need variety for our CSA families.  We start pretty much all of them from seed ourselves; yes, we may find a bedraggled tomato cheap at the garden centre, or see some nice bushy herbs and pick them up, but largely we start everything ourselves.  We pour through the seed catalogues as soon as they start arriving, circling what's new and interesting, looking for our favorites.  But somehow, I never feel secure until a pound of 'Dragon Tongue' Bean seed is in the house.  Most things we order by the packet, or maybe a large packet, but 'Dragon Tongue' we get by the pound!

I'm a bean fan since childhood.  Green beans were my thing - never liked yellow wax beans as much (I know that will get me some flack because yellow wax are a top seller for us at the Farmers Markets).  Then, in the '90's I was introduced to the purple bean 'Royal Burgundy'.  Such a disappointment that it turns green on cooking but a yummy, tender bean.  Then, I was introduced to the true French Filet bean, not the sliced up regular bean so often called filet, but the true, little skinny, tender, melt-in-your-mouth Filet.  Heavenly!  That was my favorite for a while!

We've grown a lot of different beans: heirloom, open-pollinated, new introductions, pole beans, purported great flavor and on and on.  But my absolute favorite is 'Dragon's Tongue'.    It's an heirloom, described in different places as a Dutch butter bean, a Romano type and a wax bean!  It's a big, wide, flat pod with purple streaks.  It has fabulous flavor, is never stringy, produces really well regardless of our weather, freezes nicely and - there's more: can also be grown on and saved as an awesome dried bean!  What more could a grower want?  I think we first found it in TerraEdibles great catalogue of heirlooms, and we can get the bean from Heritage Harvest, too but only West Coast Seeds offers a big, big bag!

It's huge fun for us at the Farmers Markets because we're generally the only ones who have it!  Gets lots of attention and some great 'bean' discussions are started when it's on our table.  Foodie-types who have jumped right in and tried it generally become fans, too and come back for more.   Problem is, we often pick it for Market or CSA so enthusiastically that this year we had none to dry or freeze!  Okay, and we did eat quite a bit fresh, which is the best way to eat it!  Do you have a favorite bean?

Visitors Means Treats!

No wonder all our critters like visitors - it always means extra treats!  Lacey, Annie and Brandon came out today with four children in tow, ranging from fourish to a young teenager.  Lacey is a new egg customer and the three friends are also interested in giving a garden rental a go this year.  They came for some more yummy fresh farm eggs and a bit of a tour.  Beautiful, warm day for it, too!

They parked in front of the house so we started our tour by going down to the rental gardens and showing them parking, watering, etc, etc.  The dogs, especially Blaze, were ecstatic to get so many extra pats while the adults chatted.  Then we went around the barn and over to the chicken coop.  I grabbed the scratch bucket and the chickens got a great extra treat of grain and corn.  Kids love throwing the scratch, laughing and giggling as the chickens scurry after it!  We collected one egg from the coop and broke one, but that happens: I broke one yesterday accidentally banging it against the side of the bucket!

The goats, who could see us, were putting up quite a fuss by now.  We went over to where they were all trying to climb the fence to get at us.  I had brought the homemade goat treats, which you can read about here.  So, the kids and adults were introduced to the goats, and a few extra treats were handed out.  As we turned to walk away, we discovered that Chocolate can jump the fence!  She came out to follow us, I put her back in and she jumped it again in full view of everyone!  Hmmmm, I'll have to do something about that, and soon!

We've Started Growing, Again!

It may be a little snowy outside, it may be freezing cold but in our sun room little seeds are going into warm soil.  Hopefully, soon we'll have baby plants - lots of them!  Here in Manitoba we have a very short growing season.  Our last frost date is officially June 6 and first frost is September 10!  Any seed that required ninety days to maturity or more needs to be started inside the house early and plants, not seeds, set outside.  For us, that includes tomatoes, peppers, many herbs, broccoli, cabbage, melons and some of our favorite winter squash.  We have a small, homemade, lean-to greenhouse against the barn, but it's not even slightly energy efficient; our first year here we started seeds in the greenhouse and saw our electricity bill increase about $300 - not affordable.  So now we start our seeds in the sun room, attached to the house.


Farmer Man built us a seed starting unit.  It's a three tier wooden stand, with common, two bulb fluorescent lights attached on all three levels.  We use one warm and one cool bulb in each light fixture, for a full spectrum light.  We have acquired a few table top and hanging grow lights in the last few years; the sun room will be filled with folding tables with light stands on top and hanging under a table for extra space!  There will end up being plantlets everywhere before it is warm enough to move to the greenhouse!  The bottom shelf on the grow stand has heat mats and the whole thing will be surrounded with heavy weight plastic left over from making the hoop house.  Quite a nice little hot house is created.  During the summer we store the lights and heat mats and the stand is in our prep area holding our bags and berry boxes and such accessories as we need to get our veggies to market.

Many of the heat loving plants will go into the stand as soon as they are seeded.  Tomatoes and peppers often get a plastic cover over the tray, to keep in heat and moisture.  Some seeds like lettuce, a cool weather crop, will never go in the seed stand because it's too much heat for them!  And we will start some lettuce soon for us to eat as micro-greens!  We start with any seeds left over from last year and we seed thickly in case germination is not good.  We do five rows in a common tray, so with the peppers already done that's probably over a hundred plants per tray, if they all germinate!  As seeds sprout, the tray gets moved up a level, away from the heat pads.  They will get potted up into small pots once they have two sets of leaves.

Many seed packets contain all the information you need to get going.  Each type of seed is different in what they want: the depth the seed should be at, whether they need light or heat or not, time to germination.  We also have a couple of great reference books, in case we need more information.  We have Lois Hole's 'Vegetable Book'  (a great all-around reference for cold climate gardeners) and Suzanne Ashworth's Seed to Seed - a great book on saving as well as starting seeds!  Starting seeds on such a volume will keep us busy: monitoring, watering, starting more, potting up, checking humidity and keeping Doodles the kitten out of the dirt will consume some time in the next few months!  We love the work - it's so exciting, even now, when new little bits of life have popped up through the soil overnight!  And I love to check the mail these days; a little parcel that rattles is so exciting!  Are you starting seeds? 

Spring To-Do List

As we're out walking the dogs and goats, or gathering firewood, or just strolling we're taking a good look around the farm.  Now is the time that our Spring list of chores is formulated!  This is a list separate from the on-going daily and weekly chores like feeding and watering critters, cleaning pens and coops, collecting eggs.  These are 'special' chores that, largely, fate has brought us.  It's different every spring, always full of surprises!

We notices, as seen in the picture on the left, that the hoop house has sustained some damage this year.  We love our hoop house!  It was so successful last year in supplying a steady supply of tomatoes to our CSA families, with some extra for Farmers' Markets!  We also had a much nicer crop of basil and peppers in the hoop house than what came from outside beds.  We won't know until we get a ladder out and have a good look just how big this chore will be.  Hopefully, it's just a repair and won't require replacing the entire covering of plastic: a much more expensive and time consuming event!  We are also putting on the to-do list the building of a second hoop house - they are wonderful for earlier and later harvests and protecting from damage.  Both of these are chores we'd like to have done in April, once we start planting in May, everything is about the growing!  Farmer Man is also putting some cold frames on the list - great mini, in-ground greenhouses which can ease some of the over-crowding that happens every April and May in our sun room and greenhouse as the seedlings start to take over!

Late last growing season a garden renter accidentally ran over one of the hose bibs for the rental gardens.  We were in the middle of potato harvest, still doing October Farmers Markets and just didn't get to the repair before the ground froze up.  So, that repair is on the to-do list.  We'll have to dig up the area and find the break, repair it, let it set and then re-bury the main line.  I say 'we' but Farmer Man will be doing most of the work,  I'm not a very efficient digger.  Also, in the rental gardens, as more and more people get interested in growing their food and our plots expand, we've got to build and place a couple more compost receptacles.  We make these from used wooden pallets, and some of the time involved will be cruising back alleys and commercial zones looking for the pallets!

Dealing with compost is another big to-do!  Compost is pretty much the only fertilizer we use.  For the seedlings and containers, we're using a kelp seaweed liquid fertilizer, but once things are planted in the garden we rely on the nutrition in the soil.  We purchased a load of compost last year and although the product was very nice, it was full of stones!  A number as big as a man's fist and lots of pebbles of various sizes.  We have to create a more efficient screening process to clean it before we apply it.  This chore also needs to be completed in April, so we can apply compost before planting.  We also have to turn an awesome pile of chicken coop and goat pen bedding.  Through the winter, as we remove it to clean the coop or stalls, it goes outside and largely freezes right away.  We'll need to mix it, pile it and leave it to compost this year!

We'll have Berkshire piglets coming in April or May so we've got to create new pasture.  We like to rotate the pasture around, so there is fresh grass, a clean area and no chance of passing on any parasites or disease.  It's like rotating your plantings - you don't want to keep animals in the same area year after year.  The pigs, goats and chickens really 'eat up' any pasture so the previous pasture needs a chance to re-grow.  We'll also need a nice area for Randie, our buck goat.  When we, fingers crossed, have baby goats in late Spring, we need him separate so that he doesn't hurt any babies and, later in the season, doesn't try to breed with any of his children.  Fencing is never a good time, but a chore that needs doing!

We've got to get some pruning on the list!  Our raspberries need pruning every Spring to take out old, spent canes.  We could also use some maintenance pruning on the fruit trees - they were somewhat neglected last Spring as we were distracted by flooding and other unusual events.  Good pruning will keep fruit trees producing much better!  I've also been offered some mature grape plants, so we've got to find an area for them and create some sturdy trellising before we go dig them up and transplant them!

Oh, the to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer.  The more I think of it, the more things that come to mind, and not all garden or critter related.  The house could really use painting, we've got a back patio half made (a project that has gone on a couple of seasons already!), we'd love to create a veggies washing area, Farmer Man wants to build a chicken tractor a la Joel Salatin, the two 'Blue Boy' clematis in front of the house could use cutting back, some of the iris in the front border need dividing......it just keeps going!  Have you started a Spring to-do list?