It's been a busy time at the farm.

It's been a busy time at the farm and work the past few weeks.  Here are a few photos to show what we've been up to and the beauty of this time of year in western North Carolina.

You can see how big the calves have grown.  Hubby has them trained to come when he whistles or shakes a bucket with feed.

 

The hens love fresh sweet corn. I like this picture because all the white hens are on one ear and the Cornish are all on the other.

This is a picture of some of the Beautyberry on our farm; purple and white varieties.

I took a hike at DuPont State Forest yesterday. Here are a few pictures I snapped.

Donkeys are Just SO CUTE!

If you follow my blog you know I have a standard sized donkey and I think he is the greatest donkey in the world and I tell him so every day.  But tonight I took a stroll down our lane and discovered that our neighbor's miniature donkeys had babies!!!  They are so cute, I just had to share some pictures.

What a Crazy, Busy Summer it's Been

 Daughter's flower garden. 

It has been over one month since I posted on this blog because this summer has just been so full of other activities, I just never got around to it.  My professional job has been insanely busy with new grant projects, new employees, hiring more employees, conferences, and grant writing.  I just returned from a week long trip to California for the annual American Society for Horticultural Science conference.  That was fun, but now there is twice as much work to do at home as when I left.

The vegetable garden has been highly productive this year. We purchased a very large chest freezer (from craigslist) because we've already filled the upright freezer. We've frozen dozens and dozens of bags of yellow beans, green beans, broccoli, peppers, and corn.  There are lots of potatoes and onions in the cellar. Eggplants, peppers, yellow squash, and tomatoes are now in high gear and we are harvesting the first of the butternut squash.  Looks like we will have a cellar full of butternut squash and Seminole pumpkins this winter.  Looking forward to that because I have many wonderful recipes waiting for them.

So cooking has been a joy this summer.  I love to check out the day's harvest, which is usually waiting for me in the kitchen when I get home from work, and plan a meal around it.  Give me some fresh vegetables, garlic, cheese, and olive oil and a good dinner can be on the table in no time.  Add the herbs from the kitchen herb garden, and it's a little bit of heaven on earth.

Clean hens.

Last night when I closed up the coop and did a last check for eggs, I noticed that a few of the hens had "dirty bottoms" and I was concerned that they might have lice, worms, or some other malady.  So early this evening we set up our little hen cleaning station and one by one we took each hen out of the coop, closely inspected her top to bottom, set her in a tub of warm water, and cleaned her up a bit.  Everyone looked good.  Don't know why some of them had such messy bottoms; maybe too much squash or something.  But they all look healthy.  One appeared to have a bit of a sour crop so I massaged it, drained it and will put some apple cider vinegar in their drinking water tomorrow.  I also took the opportunity to clean their nests, inspect the roosts, and dust everything with some diatomaceous earth.  I fed them some bread to thank them for their cooperation and now they are all settled back in for the evening.

 Hagar, the world's greatest donkey (in my opinion)

The equines are doing just fine, too.  The other day someone left the feed room door unlatched in the barn.  We assume it was the donkey who got the door open and that both the horse and the donkey knocked over all the feed cans and worked their way into the bucket of horse cookies.  I swear the donkey checks every gate and latch several times each day.  He's a smart little guy and together they are quite a comedic pair!

  A freshly clipped horse.

The horse is a senior citizen and like many horses his age, he has Cushing's disease.  We treat him for it and he seems to be doing quite well except that he grows a very thick coat that he never really sheds out.  We have had unseasonably hot temperatures this summer and he was always sweaty and miserable, even with the fan in the barn.  So we splurged on a really good pair of clippers and trimmed off the heavy coat.  Suddenly we had a slim, trim, black Tennessee Walker again!  He was quite proud of his new appearance and made sure the lady horses in the nearby field took notice.  Guess that trimming will just have to become SOP with him.

I don't have any new pictures of the feeder calves or the foster goats working the area next to our pasture. I'll try to get those posted later this week.  But the calves are getting used to my husband and come when he whistles (expecting a little sweet feed, of course).  We are amazed at how much more water they drink than the horse and donkey and had to invest in a larger water trough for them so we could be sure they wouldn't run out during these long, hot summer days.

  Sunset in Palm Desert, California.

I'll close with a picture of the palm trees at the resort in Palm Desert where I spent last week.  I went for a long walk every evening when it cooled down to 100 degrees or so.  Beautiful place to visit, but I'll take western North Carolina over that any day of the week!

The Garden is in Full Production Now!

We are now spending a great deal of time harvesting and processing vegetables from the garden. Right now the beans are going gang busters!  We have yellow and green snap beans and we couldn't ask for better looking crops.  So that is how we are spending our late Saturday afternoon; washing, tipping, blanching, and freezing beans.  We both get a great deal of satisfaction from filling our freezer full of the produce that we've grown.

The zucchini and yellow summer squash are also producing well.  We have them in at least one meal every day.  That's another thing I love about this time of year.  I like the challenge of trying to use as much of our produce as possible in all my cooking.  Summer squash is very versatile and can be incorporated into every meal. It is wonderful in pancakes or muffins for breakfast.  For lunch today, I sauteed yellow squash, zucchini, onion, garlic, and a few chopped yellow beans in olive oil.  Then I added the leftover spaghetti sauce and six little meatballs from dinner the other night.  That, a loaf of fresh, homemade bread, a little cottage cheese, and fresh blueberries made for a wonderful lunch. Tonight I'll make a salad with long, thin strips of the squash, chopped tomatoes, and toss it with a fresh basil, pine nut, and olive oil dressing.  With bison burgers (from local bison, of course) cooked on the grill and bulgur with chevre and cilantro, it will be a perfect holiday weekend dinner.  Summer eating is so great!

Update on the Farm: We Finally Got Our Steer

Lots has been happening on Our Tiny Farm!  The vegetable garden is growing well this year.  We harvested all the broccoli heads and froze most of them.  Doesn't look like we are going to get as many side-shoots this year as in previous years.  Don't understand why.  We are growing the same variety we usually grow, Packman.  The Chinese cabbage, which was supposed to be bok choy, all came off at once.  I made several salads, included it in stir-frys and soup, and finally started adding it to almost every dish I made.  I just couldn't use it all; my creativity gave out.  Fortunately, the ladies (chickens) liked it very much.  But next year, I don't think we will plant Chinese cabbage.  We will concentrate on growing produce we can process and store.  Items like Chinese cabbage, that we only use a little of, we'll buy at the tailgate market.

The peas have also been producing well.  I have cooked up bunches and we've frozen quite a bit.  Hubby just informed me tonight that there are leeks ready to use, probably a few radishes, and some young onions.  The cauliflower is just starting to head up.  We enjoyed our first blueberries and black raspberries, too.  Yum.

We haven't paid much attention to the herb garden because daughter has kind of taken it over and incorporated it with her flowers.  She is putting in a big flower and cutting garden on the back of the house.  Fun watching her become a horticulturist.  She definitely uses her plants to relax and unwind after a long day of dealing with customers.

Two of the hives spun off swarms today.  Hubby and daughter saw them.  Even though we put out special swarm boxes, we lost them both.  Oh well.  Hope someone gets to enjoy them!

The big news, however, is that our two steer arrived today.  They are fall calves, so they are about six months old; 500-600 lbs each.  They are Biltmore Estate Angus.  Not inexpensive, but should be great genetics!  We built a paddock on the side pasture so they can become acclimated.  On Saturday we went to a friends' farm for a C.R.A.F.T. event (see http://organicgrowersschool.org if you are curious) to learn about pasture raised beef, pigs, chickens, and ducks.  Excellent timing!  We had so many questions.  Nothing better than actually being on someone else's farm to see for yourself how to do something like this.  That reassured us that steer are pretty self-sufficient.  Ha.  I say that now.  I just hope they are both still in the paddock when we go out in the morning!

A Travel Log: Portland, Oregon

On Friday, I left for Portland, Oregon to participate in a large advisory committee meeting for the Wild Forest Goods Project of the Institute for Culture and Ecology (http://www.ifcae.org/wildforestgoods/).  I'll put more about that project on my work blog (http://ncalternativecropsandorganics.blogspot.com). Here I want to concentrate on the fun, travel, culinary, and social aspects of the trip.

Photo of the MAX Light Rail from the TriMet website.

My friend, Robin, and I flew to Portland on United Airlines.  Flying sucks anymore, so all I'll say is that we got there on schedule.  We were given instructions by our host to take the Light Rail from the airport to downtown.  Neither Robin or I visit big cities very often, so figuring out how to work the Light Rail system was pretty comical.  We had to ask for help buying our tickets, reading the maps, determining which train to get on, etc.  Once on, however, it was quite interesting.  It starts out just like any other train, running on tracks off by themselves, but then all of a sudden, you are in the city on the streets right along with the cars, bikes, and people.  It was pretty cool!

  Photo from PortlandNeighborhood.com.

Robin and I are fairly educated people who have traveled widely without any problems, but navigating Portland on foot was a challenge.  Not sure why, but we had to pull out our street maps over and over again to find our way to the hotel where we would be staying for the next three nights. It didn't get any better over time, either.  Not sure why we found Portland so confusing!

Photo of king bed room from the Hotel Deluxe website.

The Hotel Deluxe was a real treat and I highly recommend it.  It is a beautifully renovated historic hotel.  It's decorated in an old glory days of Hollywood theme and it suits it well.  The rooms are small, but well appointed.  And the renovation is astounding.  Ornate ceilings, period furniture, black and white movie photos.  Wonderful.  It has a restaurant and a lounge.  Our first dinner there was delightful.  I had crab cakes, a sizzling wild mushroom plate, and a local brew.  We also ate three breakfasts there.  They were interesting, but could have been seasoned more and the service was slow.  But, I'm willing to wait a little while for crab and shrimp eggs benedict!

Photo from the World Forestry Center website.

Our meetings were held at the World Forestry Center next to the zoo in Portland.  That was an interesting place that I wish we had more time to explore.  Very well done with detailed, colorful exhibits.

Photo from the Henry's Tavern website.

Eating and drinking in Portland was delightful.  Since I am doing research on hops, I felt it was my duty to sample as many hops products as possible.  Lunch the first day was at Henry's 12th Street Tavern.  What a treat!  Interesting interior architecture with great attention to detail.  Wonderful service.  Over 100 beers on tap.  I had the grilled wild Alaskan Coho salmon sandwich with lemon artichoke tartar on a brioche bun and a little jar of their pickle slices.  With a local beer made with Citra hops, giving it a fresh, citrusy flavor, it was the perfect welcome to Portland lunch.

We also had dinner at the BridgePort BrewPub in the historic Pearl District.  I had a juicy lamb burger with feta cheese and roasted tomatoes on a bun.  Another dinner was had at Deschutes Brewery & Public House.  We started that dinner with some black truffle fries and I had a delicious Cuban sandwich with a bit of a bite to it.

Photo of a queen room from the McMenamins Edgefield website.

Our last evening was spent at the Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon.  I don't know how to describe this place and do it justice!  This is a 1911 county poor farm that has been loving renovated into a very unique inn complex with multiple venues including entertainment, pubs, gardens, and a spa. Whimsical is the best way to describe the decor.  Even though you are very close to an urban area, you feel far removed on the 74 acre property.  There are no televisions or phones in the rooms.  There are big porches to sit on and lots of room to roam.  My only complaint was that the room I stayed in used common bathroom.  Very well appointed, but for me a bit of hassle because I kept forgetting things and having to go back to my room.  But not all the rooms are like that.  So I would definitely stay there again and just get a room with a private bath. 

All in all, it was a wonderful trip.  Next time I would like to take hubby with me and stay awhile longer, but I'm not sure he could handle that long flight. So, maybe a very extended road trip in a RV??

Garden Update and Dinner Made with Garden Fresh Bok Choy

Onions, peas, potatoes, corn, broccoli.  The wet lines in foreground are carrots.

What a great week for the gardens.  We had steady, soaking rains earlier in the week and sunny, but not too hot weather for the past few days.  Perfect weather for growing vegetables and working in the garden.  The garden is looking particularly beautiful right now.  We are excited to have a little time to keep up with it right now.  We ate our first peas today. Broccoli is heading up nicely and the bok choy is coming on.

Peppers and a few tomatoes were just planted.

We got brave today and planted tomatoes and peppers.  Brave?  Yes, we could still get a frost up here in the mountains.  But, we have few enough of the sensitive plants in that I'm sure we could cover them if we had to.  We have eggplant transplants to set out, too, but won't plant them until we find the rowcover material.  Planting eggplant under rowcover is the only way we have found that works to prevent flea beetle damage.

Dinner using garden fresh bok choy.

Hubby was a little concerned about what we were going to do with all the bok choy we grew.  He likes bok choy, but doesn't know many ways to prepare it.  So, using the first head we harvested this season, I made a bok choy salad with lots of red wine vinegar, sesame seeds, and ramen noodles. Chicken breasts with shiitake mushrooms, banana peppers (from last year's garden), and bok choy. And quinoa with cilantro, peppers, and onions.  Yum!