Chicken Population Reduction Day

Usually we have some late hatch cockerels that are too small to butcher in fall.  So we watch them and the weather and when everything comes together it is “chicken population reduction day.”  We also take out some older hens so there are enough birds to make the preparation and process worth it. Just before I left to visit my parents we butchered 20 chickens.  Here is a photo of the final step of the …

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Onion Seed Pops

Each year Ken plants onion seeds in February.  When they come up, they are bent.  And then like a magical green Rockettes kick line, they unfold.   This, our first full season crop planting signals spring is coming.  It makes me smile to see those onion shoots boing open each year.  I am grateful – for the onion, for Ken, and for the lengthening days.

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And from the freezer – Asparagus for Cream of Asparagus Soup

Each year I freeze some vegetables.  In winter it is nice to have a taste of summer in the form of frozen berries or sweet corn or bell peppers, etc.  I freeze a couple quart bags of blanched, chopped asparagus.  Why?  It makes GREAT cream of asparagus soup in February.  Asparagus is considered a tonic for kidneys. Saute onion, add soup stock, herbs like thyme and tarragon and thawed asparagus. Run through blender, processor or …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden! This CSA box has greens, onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, beets, squash, and parsley. Field Notes.  Ken did get into the green house and started cleaning, clearing and getting ready to plant  The weather has been unseasonably warm. Rather than celebrating we are wary.  for the past two years Ken has lost his grape crop.    Warm nights above freezing often sets plants in gear and if they are flowering or setting …

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Too Warm Too Early

As many cavort and celebrate this unseasonably warm weather, I am grumbling.  Why?  I see why it is NOT good.  And the list is long!       Maple syrup – best if days in March are 40 degrees in daylight and 20 at night, sunny, no wind.  Too warm and the sap stays in the tree top and forms buds and leaves Fruit.  Apples, cherries, elderberries, grapes, plums and other tree or perennial fruit …

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Local Food in Winter

Most years in August someone starts a “local food challenge.”  My challenge is more like Barbara Kingsolver’s in her book Animal, Vegetable Miracle or Joan Dye Gussow in This Organic Life.  How much of our diet year round can be local?  Ken and I store many crops available for sale this time of year.  Onions, squash, garlic, potatoes, beets, carrots, black or daikon radishes, giant kohlrabi.  Until last week we had winter tomatoes, cabbage, rutabagas. …

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Egg Season is Here!

Eggs have a season.  It starts as the days lengthen – usually early February.  Think lent and Easter; there is a reason that Easter bunny has a basket of eggs!       Eggs are a versatile, great source of protein.  Our hens have a nutritious diet of sprouted grains, organic ground feed, kitchen culls and pasture.  Everyone tells us they can taste the difference.     Here is their portable coop in spring, summer, …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This box has pie pumpkins, onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, beets, celery root, parsley, and salad mix Field Notes.  Happy Ground Hog’s Day, Imbolc, St Brigid’s Day, St. Blaze, Candlemas – or whatever you may call it.  This midway point between solstice and equinox is when the days lengthen dramatically, the cold doesn’t last, and Ken starts monitoring temperatures in greenhouses.  We are in transition and can feel spring’s approach.   The …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  The box this week has salad mix, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, onions, garlic, carrots, and cabbage         Field Notes.  Ken continues planting for the salad mixes, and has been making pottery.  Soon he will start full season crops like onions and celery and parsley.  Then it will be one planting after the next.  Soon after that Ken will be seeding and transplanting in green houses.  This time of year …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This CSA box has salad mix, cabbage, potatoes, winter tomatoes, onions, garlic, winter squash, carrots, and beets Field Notes.   Ken’s winter routine is to ski out to the greenhouses and check for deer and rodent damage.  Soon he will be checking the inside temperatures in  for planting! Ken continues planting in winter – he is planting greens for salad mix.  People ask why we don’t do shoots and micro greens year …

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