Little Kitty Exploring The Farm!

The little Kitty Mommas had their kittens up in a high place in the barn.  Last week, one bold or unlucky kitten came down; we don't know if he fell or went exploring.  We couldn't catch him so he remained down, while the other three continued to frolic around their high perch.  Thursday night at dusk, while all the dogs were off with Farmer Man, I took my cameras and went for a little stroll.  I was hoping, without the doggies around, to catch some deer or some of the incredible birds that are around the farm right now.  As I came around the east end of the barn I found part of the little Barn Kitty family, out playing on a beautiful, calm evening.  Because I feed them, they are fairly comfortable with me and allowed me to sit down quite close.  If you're interested in how I met the Wild Kitties check out here, here and here.  I must have sat with them for fifteen minutes and I got almost seven minutes of video, which I edited down.  What is quite amazing to me is what a little community these cats are.  The smaller golden one is the mother, and brown tabby is another female and the bigger golden one is an unneutered male, the gold momma's brother.  I have seen a couple of the other males in the group, neutered and unneutered, baby sitting, watching over all the kittens.  The group plays and hangs out together, mostly in harmony, even at feeding time.  I suppose that is why they call feral cats 'colonies' because it really is like a little village.  It takes a village to raise a kitten!

Farmer Man Has Chicks, Lots of Chicks!

Yesterday we picked up our baby hens.  Thirty little Black Sex Links girls, a very hardy bird that can be used for their brown eggs and for meat (although we have no intention of eating them).  We also got ten little Ameraucanas, also known as the Easter Egg bird because they lay eggs in pastel shades of green and blue.  The Hens are two years old, and will start to lay less and less eggs, so it was time for some new girls.  The Ameraucanas are not sexed so we may get some roosters.  They are an interesting bunch; most are brown and beige striped, one is quite yellow like the classic Easter chick.  I love picking up chicks: you are handed a peeping, cheeping box that rustles constantly.  Once we got them home, where the brooder was all set up an waiting, we have to dip each little beak in the waterer so they know where and what it is.  The food dispenser they find on their own; as soon as one finds it word seems to spread quickly.  They are so adorable, rushing and tumbling around, mobbing under the heat lamp.  Numerous checks yesterday right into the evening left us confident that they are settling in nicely!

Some Friends Meet The Goatlings!

Mabel, Saying Hi!

Very Interesting - What Is This?

Joe and Calla popped over yesterday for a wee visit and to meet the goats!  It's so nice to get back to a more normal life after the flooding; all roads leading to our farm are re-opened and it's so much easier to get to and from Brandon.  The young goats love people, and don't mind dogs, cats and chickens!  They've been somewhat stuck in the barn in rainy weather, so they were happy for some attention!  They did a bit of 'acting up' for Joe and Calla!  All photos courtesy Joe and Calla.

Awesome: Raising Fish and Hydroponic Veggies in One System!

 I am becoming a total fan of The Urban Farming Guys.  Their website, their Facebook page, the YouTube channel and I'm following them on Twitter.  I don't do that for many organizations but these people are fun, functional and educational!  They are looking to be self-sustaining on a city lot.  Check them out!

Wow, I Won Something, Voting to Help Someone Else Win Something!

Not to long ago one of my favorite canning/food blogs, Well Preserved, entered a video in a contest to promote sustainable seafood.  The contest was run by Ocean Wise, a Canadian conservation program educating diners and sellers about Earth-friendly seafood choices.  I like what they do over there at Well Preserved, so I checked out the contest and the videos and really like theirs, so I voted for it a number of times!  And I won, just for participating.  I won a gorgeous seafood cookbook 'The Ocean Wise Cookbook, Seafood Recipes That Are Good For The Planet'.  It's a super book, with information not only on which varieties are harvested sustainably, but wild versus farmed (farmed is not necessarily bad), health info and awesome recipes for almost any species you can think of!  Great photos, too!  It's a super, hefty book; it's a huge pleasure to add it to the cookbook shelf!  Check out Joel's winning video on Ocean Wise's Facebook page here.  And, if you decide you need it to add to your cookbook shelf, start your shopping at the link above, and help buy treats for the Hens and Goats!

First Asparagus Harvest: Shaved!

Our asparagus is finally starting to produce!  Love asparagus season.  Farmer Man and I had taken a walk last Friday and found one spear, which we promptly shared right there and then.  Took a walk yesterday and found about a pound: a nice, big handful!  I've been reading all over the Internet about shaving asparagus, for a different take on this fabulous Spring vegetable.  Asparagus is being shaved into thin strips for salads, roasted vegetables and pizza.  We had a pizza crust in the freezer, so off we went!  I referred to one of my favorite foodie blogs Smitten Kitchen for the basics.  Like so many things there are a million different ways of doing this!  We had a lovely jar of homemade pizza sauce from our neighbors Mike and Naomi, so that went down first.  Then a light layer of mozzarella cheese.  I had shaved the asparagus spears with our usual veggie peeler, than tossed them in olive oil, cracked black pepper, sea salt and a little bit of chili pepper.  I know, we were doing so well on this being a local dish but the cheese wasn't local, either.  Anyway, arranged the shaved asparagus, an asparagus head per piece and into the oven for fifteen minutes.  Even shaved, the asparagus flavor was excellent! A great, fast meal!  I can hardly wait for next year, when we should have a little homemade goat cheese to use!  And Smitten Kitchen has a waaaaaaay better picture than mine - check it out!

Vinegar As Weed Killer

In our never-ending quest for a chemical-free garden, we've tried many things.  Almost anything we read in a book or online, we'll give it a try, if it makes some sort of horticultural sense.  You can read a lot of crazy things online......Anyway, we've tried vinegar before; vinegar as an herbicide is a very prevalent notion, as a matter of fact many of the organic herbicides sold in stores contain acetic acid, which is vinegar.  I had some leftover pickling vinegar, which at 7% acetic acid is a little stronger than regular table vinegar, which is 5% acetic acid.  I have read about a very strong horticultural vinegar, but it seems impossible to find.  I was happy to experiment with this pickling vinegar, because I'd rather buy fresh to start off the pickling season.  I chose a group of happy, flourishing dandelions on the driveway, out in full sun.  I applied the vinegar straight on one of our warmest, sunniest days last Wednesday.  We had two days of warm temperatures and full sun.  By Friday, the top growth was largely, but not completely, brown and crispy.  By Sunday, after a day of steady rain, the treated dandelions were flowering - yes, flowering!  Apparently, as an evolutionary protection, dandelions can complete their flowering even after being pulled or treated with vinegar!  The centre of the plants also looked like new leaves were coming!  So, not the kind of killing result one might get with, say, a glyphosate based product like Roundup.  As I understand it, the vinegar, combined with sun, dries out the leaf.  It is not absorbed by the plant and does not kill the roots.  However, defoliation is a severe set back for the plants, so I'm going to reapply - the less leaves the plants have the less they can perform photosynthesis and eventually I'll exhaust them!  I think that using vinegar as a weed-killer will work best on younger plants than I chose, and certainly, with persistence.  It's certainly less expensive than chemical herbicides and, for us, a much better choice than chemicals!  Keep in mind if you try this that vinegar will be what's called non-selective, meaning it will act on any plant it is applied to: if you try this in the lawn you will kill the grass that gets sprayed!  

Goats and Kitties, Hanging in the Rain

Saturday's weather was steady rain all day, with stiff breezes.  Not what goats like, at all.  We didn't mind; we declared it a 'day off' after a busy week.  We left the goats, for part of the day, free to roam in the barn.  We checked on them regularly - goats are known to be able to find trouble.  On one check, we found a pastoral scene of goats nibbling on hay with barn kitties lounging about.  We even witnessed a little  nose touching and sniffing going on!  In my bucolic vision - I see goats and kitties cuddling up together on the cold days of winter!  Hopefully, fast friendships are being formed!

Hoop House reconstructed!

Hoop House, Deconstructed

Hoop House, Reconstructed

OK, we're definitely a little behind this year.  Behind in blogging, too, because we reconstructed the hoop house about two weeks ago.  I've had the pictures, had the story, didn't get it posted because other things kept coming up - like baby goats!  Last summer our hoop house suffered fatal damage in a summer storm.  We had a little trouble this Spring finding the plastic because everything in town had been purchased to help build flood protection.  We finally got our hands on a good roll of appropriate plastic and made a date with some friends.  Deb, Calla and Joe came over on an evening to help put the house back together.  While us ladies were looking at kittens, Joe and Farmer Man got the plastic over the hoops very easily.  They secured it by shoveling dirt on the bottom edges.  It was quite calm that night, but started to rain on us.  Once the plastic was over the hoop house, we had to nail in wood slats along the sides, which holds the plastic in place.  The three ladies worked together on one side, the men on the other side.  A bit of a challenge to straighten the plastic and then nail in used, warped boards.  Obviously, we got it done.  Farmer Man just had to reattach the doors on both ends and it's good to go another year!  I've already planted some flower seeds because I'm hoping to supply a wedding in July!  Soon, some of the tomatoes and peppers will get transplanted out there for a fast start in the high temperatures and wind protection it affords.  A hoop house is a good thing to have!  

A Prairie Gardener Has Got To Love Bergenia!

Bergenia

Hens and Chicks

In the Spring, the first thing a Prairie gardener asks is 'What's still alive?'.  No, really!  It can be so hard to keep plant material from one season to the next, especially if you've taken a gamble on some of the new introductions that are 'rated' to Zone 3.  I kind of figure that the plant developers never tested them in Manitobam but they should!  Much heartbreak ensues.  So, taking a walk around the ornamental gardens this week I've decided I just love Bergenia.  It's one of the few things for us that comes through every year and actually looks alive as soon as its leaf mulch is swept away!  Hens and Chicks, as well, are very heartening!  For us, mid-May, buds are just starting to swell, species tulips are just starting to bloom and we're still assessing the damage.  The big questions for me:  is the 'Blue Moon' wisteria alive?  It looks like it started to bud when we warmed up in April but may have gotten killed off during our late snow storm.  Only time will tell!

We're Making Compost Tea!

We're making chicken poop tea, to be exact (and explicit).  Not for drinking, oh no.  We're making it for our little plants, to keep them well fed.  Compost tea is a great way to stretch your compost.  Really, there is never enough compost.  The process involves soaking a bit of compost in water, the nutrients leach out of the compost and into the water and become highly available in a liquid form.  We're using chicken manure because we can - we've got lots!  We'll have to be careful because it can easily produce a tea that is very strong and liable to burn our little baby seedlings.  The basic process, which we've used before with vegetable compost, involves taking about two cups of compost and putting them into a muslin or cheesecloth bag.  For the chicken manure, we used an old stocking, because there will be finer particulate in manure.  Your bag doesn't have to be anything fancy - a square of fabric you tie at the top will do, could be an old, thin tea towel.  We suspend this bag in a five gallon pail for water, in a warm place, for three to five days.  This gives you a concentrate that we use to water our plants by diluting about one part of compost tea in three parts water.  For the chicken manure tea, we will dilute at about 1 to 20 parts water.  The compost in your bag can go back in the compost pile.  Keep the concentrate cool and dark - a couple of years ago I kept one in a warm, sunny place and it got very smelly.  Part of what I love about the process, aside from getting homemade natural fertilizer, is that the compost will contain micronutrients - more good stuff than just the N-P-K commonly found in commercial fertilizer.  There's lots of info online about compost tea - here's some rather more fancy instructions and recipes from La Vida Locavore.  They are adding a few other things to up the nutritional value.  Give it a try - it's really quite simple and gives you more-bang-for-your-compost!

Goats Will Keep You On Your Toes!

Our little doelings currently stand almost two feet tall at the shoulder and weigh about 40 - 50 lbs.  The picture at left is the chicken's entrance to the coop.  It is 10 inches by 12 inches tall.  Somehow, in the half hour that we left the goats unsupervised, three of them managed to cram themselves through that little door and were chowing down on chicken food!  So, being that the chicken pasture is not as great a place for the goats as we thought, Farmer Man moved them to the adjoining pasture, whose gate is not quite finished yet.  Right after he walked away from them (because, undoubtedly, they already love him so much) they pushed over the temporary gate to follow him, but made a stop at the barn where all the feed resides.  Having goats is going to be interesting!