Harvest Pictures

The Birch forest that we live in, is absolutely brilliant this time of year. Our homestead and the hills surrounding us are on fire, glorious, spectacular. Tall white Birch trees decked out in splendid gold and copper finery. The list of chores to do before the snow flies, is not getting any shorter. Today I believe I am killing off my honey bees :( I'll discuss this issue more another time. Also on the list is lots of stall and pen cleaning - days and days worth. At least it is a sunny gorgeous day.

I spent most of last week house cleaning, meal planning and entertaining. We had two evenings of celebrating Avery's birthday with friends and family. Thankfully I'm feeling on top of garden harvesting. Last week I stored, blanched and froze celery. I put up the last of the scallions and shredded the last batch of zucchini for freezing. All the onions and garlic are indoors hanging. I've pulled the bean plants, tomatoes and squash. I've dug and stored half the carrots, all the potatoes and maybe a third of the beets. All that is left in the garden are beets, carrots, some remaining cabbages, lingering peas, kale, swiss chard and lettuce. I think it is time to switch gears and start picking cranberries, although now that the leaves are falling, the little ruby red gems will be harder to find.

Harvest pictures

Just the beginning of the tomato harvesting.

My small little winter squash harvest, not the easiest crop here, but I keep trying.

 I mostly grow Bountiful and Provider bush green beans which you can't beat for early producers. This year I also grew a flat romano green bean, a yellow pole bean, Royalty purple pod and pictured here Dragon Langerie - I think that is how it is spelled. The later two varieties are just now getting going, whereas the heavy producers are finished.

Yukon chief, looks like a few ears are about ready to eat.

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This is our power line trail that we cleared last year and experimentally seeded with various cover crops this spring. Given that the ground is dense, rocky and lacking in nutrients and organic matter, I wasn't surprised to see some things not do well at all; field peas, alfalfa and fodder beets. I was most impressed by the fodder turnips, pictured above. I've got two five gallon buckets so far and a lot more than that to still pull. They range from golf balls to grapefruits in size. I'm not sure what to do with them exactly. We grew several  varieties in the garden for eating that we've stored for ourselves. I was planning on shredding the fodder turnips to supplement the goats and chickens diet this winter, we'll see if I ever get around to the shredding. I'm pretty sure that neither the goats or chickens will eat them unless they are in smaller pieces. The rape and clover have also taken off fairly well.

First snow and frost

Yesterday we woke up to large flakes of snow coming down from the sky. A quick glance at the thermometer reassured me that the snow wouldn't last long. The snow continued to fall most the morning but melted as it met the ground. We dawdled in the house as long as we could, making banana cranberry muffins, drinking tea and tidying. By late morning all that was left was a muddy mess.

This morning there is a light layer of snow and frost over everything. The lavender daisies on the back porch are still open as are the vibrant orange yellow gaillardia blossoms, but they are encrusted in a layer of snow and ice, frozen and still. The herbs and plants are still vibrant green but as the day warms and the plants thaw, I'm guessing many plants will wilt and turn to mush. The birch are looking rather bare and exposed. Only the most determined orange leaves still hang by threads. I would be more inclined to embrace this beautiful and exciting time of transition if we were more prepared for the snow and cold. Instead this time of year has us panicked and running around in circles trying to decide what takes priority; harvesting the garden, building the new goat barn, chopping wood, building the hearth so we can bring the wood stove back indoors or tidying up anything on the ground that we don't want to lose till next spring.

Fortunately I harvested most the garden this past weekend. We pulled the rest of the tomatoes and brought them indoors to ripen. Picked the last of the cucumbers and snipped all the herbs. I spent all day sunday blanching and freezing herbs and kale. I cut all the cauliflower and cabbage heads, they are filling our back up refrigerator at the moment. I picked the beans, peas and zucchini plants one last time before putting the plants in the compost pile. On monday Noah and I harvested a row of carrots and a row of potatoes. So far we have three two gallon bags of carrots and have only harvested a third of the crop. I pulled and scrubbed beets yestereday and prepped a bed for planting garlic. All that is left in the garden are carrots, potatoes, a few remaining broccoli and kale plants, and some swiss chard and hardy greens under row covers. I think we'll get to the rest of the potatoes and another row of carrots today. All in all, feeling pretty good about the garden harvest.

Dustin is about to have a couple extra days off. We are hoping to get the roof and walls up on the goat barn. We'd also like to get the wood stove hearth ready for tiling. These are the mornings for wood fires but the stove is sitting on the front porch. So much to do and so little time. I remind myself that one fall we were living in a tent and trying to get the roof on our house this time of year. Most years since we've been building some animal housing last minute. We've got the foundation in and the rafters up so I think the goats and chickens will be settled in their new homes within the next couple weeks. For now as I sit here looking out the window at the cold blustery day I remind myself that the sun is sure to come out again and temperatures will warm in the afternoons. There are at least a few more days of thawed exposed ground. The cool weather has me looking forward to the end of big outdoor projects. Lounging around in a warm house cooking soup and watching the kids play is sounding more enticing every day.

Notes to Self on Garden

This afternoon I came down from the garden with a bag of baby carrots, broccoli, zucchini and basil. I steamed some garlic whistles and the broccoli. Sauteed carrots, onions and the zucchini in olive oil and butter (not all at the same time), and then tossed everything together along with some goat cheese, lemon zest and fresh basil and shredded parmesan. I relish the days where the garden inspires and provides the next meal.

Today I threw out (to the chickens) several bags of greens that had been in the fridge too long. Feeling guilty I forced myself to try and salvage a couple heads of napa cabbage that some sort of fly larvae got the best of. I grated up several beat up zucchini to make into bread. And I pulled a large jar (think vase covered with a bag) of swiss chard front and center in the fridge so that I will include into tomorrow nights meal. Another batch of greens soup for the freezer is in order so that I may gain in the battle against the overtaking greens. Planting more greens needs to move to the top of the list on my garden chore list. I've recently sowed a late batch of dill, cilantro, radishes, beets and swiss chard. But no greens of late, but I hear the clock ticking. Escarole, endive, mache and arugula, tatsoi, spinach, lettuce and mizuna - your time to thrive in the coolness of fall is coming.

This week I harvested several bundles of mint and oregano to dry. There are still some more garlic whistles to snip. Basil is ready to harvest. Beans are flowering and growing little beans. Radishes are all done, a few of the cauliflower bolted in the heat. Some of the beets are getting to be nice size and some aren't. I planted several varieties all mixed together. The yellow and white beets seem to be less tolerant of the soil. Note to self: next year plant beets in better soil with lots of compost. (I recently have seen the light in regards to roasted and lightly dressed beets)

While I'm at it here are a few more notes to self:

1. Don't plant anything in straight soil! Add compost and goodies, turn well, then plant!!!
2. Plant more onions (shallots and leeks too) and make sure they are not day sensitive!!
3. Plant more cauliflower (there are maybe a dozen plants growing now-not enough) !
4. Plant less kale and more variety! (think a dozen and not four dozen!)
5. Plant less Swiss Chard (two dozen or so, not five dozen)
6. Start more cucumbers (I started six and now have four, only one is growing well)
7. Succession plant radishes and cilantro more frequently, June fifteenth maybe for second planting.
8. Plant more peas, can never have enough peas!
9. Keep beans and squash covered until they are big and bushy
10. Cover napa cabbage, radishes and onions with row covers to keep insects off, lettuce too.

That's all for now, I should do that a few more times during the season as I think of new things. Today I was looking over my notes from last year's berry harvest. When I came home from picking blueberries I measured and kept track of each cup. The raspberries I had weighed when I picked them at a Upick place. Last year I picked roughly fourty four cups of blueberries (not nearly enough), and about twenty-seven pounds, roughly eighty-four cups of raspberries. Fifteen pints of blueberry jam and three pints of blueberry topping and thirteen pints of raspberry jam made it to the shelves and several bags of whole berries into the freezer. In addition a good friend of ours brought over bags of raspberries on a couple different occassions that I did not keep track of. As of now I still have four gallon ziplocks full of frozen raspberries in the freezer and several jars of raspberry jam, but only a small bag of frozen blueberries and no blueberry jam. So, this year I would like to harvest as many raspberries as last year and hopefully more blueberries. Something new and exciting (for me) that I am looking forward to doing is making syrups with the berries. I often stir jam into Noah's milk, kefir or yogurt, and the clumps are straw cloggers- (ha! straw cloggers). A friend recently gave me a jar of raspberry syrup that she had made and it is devine. I am hoping to make more blueberry jam so instead of hoarding it we can give it as gifts.

For the last week we've been picking wild raspberries that grow along our driveway. They are looking good this year, large and free of bugs and mold - so far. Some years the wild raspberries are hardly worth picking but they sure seem to like the sun and heat we have been having and don't seem to have sufferred due to the drought. On the otherhand, we walked up our hill to the blueberry patch and while there are plenty they are small. Ergh! I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be a very good blueberry year, they do best with more moisture early on in the summer and we've hardly had any. I count two days of rain so far this summer, and a few sprinkles, makes for little blueberries. I'm wondering if we look low down in the valleys where there is more moisture the berries might be bigger than on our hill that seems to avoid the passing showers. The berries are just beginning to ripen and there were a lot of green berries still, so maybe if we get some good rain they will be looking better next week...but then the raspberries will start to mold...hm

I have stayed up too late, and tomorrow I have no farm help. I can do it! I'm leaving the goat kids with their moms tonight so that I don't feel so rushed in the morning. Getting Noah and Avery out of the house and up the hill can be challenging because the more urgent I am with Noah the more he protests. The longer it takes to get out of the house the closer Avery gets to her morning nap. The keys to success are a good breakfast for all and then snacks, smoothie for Noah and blueberries for Avery once we get up the hill. Then I just try to relax and enjoy being in a lovely garden with my kids and some hungry goats, one day I'll look back and think "ah, those were the days."