29 Mar Tue 2011
A Strange And Mysterious Landscape
What is this strange and mysterious landscape?
Can you guess?
Could it be an arial view of Mars?
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| Courtesy of http://www.technochitlins.com/archives/space/ |
Hmmm. Maybe it's something closer. Could it be an arial view of Afghanistan?
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| Picture courtesy of GLOBOsapiens.net |
Do you give up?
It's chicken footprints in frozen mud!
Sharon_1
08:54 AM EDT
28 Mar Mon 2011
The Cold Continues...
We've had cold, cold, cold weather and not a drop of maple sap for quite a few days. A grainy, icy snow still covers the ground and the poor robins congregate at any open areas of grass in search of a meal. The snow covers the food of the little seed-eating birds; so I've refilled the bird feeder and I swear I can almost hear them saying, "thank you!" A white-tailed deer came and looked in my den window today. I think it wanted to sample the landscaping around the house. You've heard the saying that "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." Let's hope so!
Later this week we're hoping for above freezing days and below freezing nights - perfect maple sap weather. Then the temperatures continue to climb and we start getting days that are above freezing and nights that are above freezing. That will cause the leaves on the maple trees to bud and sap season ends. When the trees bud, the sap gets a kind of "green" slimy taste to it and becomes inedible.
The chickens have turned into egg laying machines. I'm getting about 20 eggs per day more or less and have been able to start selling some dozens. I love that the chickens pay for their own feed!
I hope to begin planting in the high tunnel next weekend. There may be snow on the ground outside, but the temperature in the high tunnel, with the sun shining, has climbed into the 70s and even, on occasion, the 80s! It drops dramatically at night with some mornings having a low temperature of11-degrees. For the first high tunnel planting, I'll be planting cold weather vegetables - lettuces, spinach, peas, sugar snap peas, and scallions. Then in a few weeks the less hardy vegetables will start moving into the high tunnel.
Later this week we're hoping for above freezing days and below freezing nights - perfect maple sap weather. Then the temperatures continue to climb and we start getting days that are above freezing and nights that are above freezing. That will cause the leaves on the maple trees to bud and sap season ends. When the trees bud, the sap gets a kind of "green" slimy taste to it and becomes inedible.
The chickens have turned into egg laying machines. I'm getting about 20 eggs per day more or less and have been able to start selling some dozens. I love that the chickens pay for their own feed!
I hope to begin planting in the high tunnel next weekend. There may be snow on the ground outside, but the temperature in the high tunnel, with the sun shining, has climbed into the 70s and even, on occasion, the 80s! It drops dramatically at night with some mornings having a low temperature of11-degrees. For the first high tunnel planting, I'll be planting cold weather vegetables - lettuces, spinach, peas, sugar snap peas, and scallions. Then in a few weeks the less hardy vegetables will start moving into the high tunnel.
Sharon_1
07:20 AM EDT
25 Mar Fri 2011
21 Eggs
My chickens laid 21 eggs yesterday!
I have 32 chickens and some of them are really, really old; so this is quite an accomplishment! They must have loved the little bit of warm weather (although now it's gone again) and the chance to really free-range, pick through the new grass, and dig in the dirt. During the warm days, I found them contentedly giving themselves dust baths under the pig's shelter.
How can you not smile?
A day is like an egg, you know
Self-contained within its shell
Filled with energy and purpose
And yet remains so very frail.
Self-contained within its shell
Filled with energy and purpose
And yet remains so very frail.
Sharon_1
07:16 AM EDT
24 Mar Thu 2011
Potter-Tioga Maple Weekend
The Potter-Tioga Maple Weekend is this weekend, March 26th and 27th!
Every spring, the Potter-Tioga Maple Producers Association open up the doors to their sugar houses and invite the public to come in and see how maple syrup is made. Some of the sugar houses have pancake breakfasts. Some of the places will take you out to the sugar bush and show you how the trees are tapped. Some will even show you how to tap trees the old fashioned way with a hand drill, a hammer, a bucket, spile, and lid.
This is definitely something you won't want to miss!
Here is the link to the Potter-Tioga Maple Producer's Association so that you can see a map to find the sugar houses and find their hours and what they are offering:
Sharon_1
07:40 AM EDT
Potter-Tioga Maple Weekend
The Potter-Tioga Maple Weekend is this weekend, March 26th and 27th!
Every spring, the Potter-Tioga Maple Producers Association open up the doors to their sugar houses and invite the public to come in and see how maple syrup is made. Some of the sugar houses have pancake breakfasts. Some of the places will take you out to the sugar bush and show you how the trees are tapped. Some will even show you how to tap trees the old fashioned way with a hand drill, a hammer, a bucket, spile, and lid.
This is definitely something you won't want to miss!
Here is the link to the Potter-Tioga Maple Producer's Association so that you can see a map to find the sugar houses and find their hours and what they are offering:
Sharon_1
07:37 AM EDT
17 Mar Thu 2011
My Cup Runneth Over...
Well, my Cup may not be running over, but my
Maple Sap Tanks sure were!
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| Before I got the hose on it, the sap was POURING onto the ground! |
I didn't collect sap for two days because the weather was cool and there just wasn't that much. I felt it just wasn't worth the time and gas expenditure. Today, I substitute taught at the high school, and as I drove home I swung by to check the sap collection tank close to my home. As I drove up, what did I see? Precious liquid gold - maple sap - was pouring out the top of the tank onto the ground!
I ran home as fast as I could, changed into my outside work clothes, jumped into the truck and rushed down to pump that precious sap!
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| An almost full to the top tank. |
I had to make two trips to get all of the sap. Along the way I had a few mishaps - like overflowing the tank in the back of the truck and spillingsome sap!
When I got to the unloading point this is what I ended up with.
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Yup, that sticker says 550 gallons! That tank was tilted, but I figured I had about 525 gallons of sap at 2.1 percent sugar content!
The chickens love the longer days and have been coming on laying. I've been collecting about a dozen eggs, more or less, each day. I'll be putting my "eggs for sale" sign out!
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| A happy Pants On The Ground surrounded by his hens. |
Sharon_1
07:50 AM EDT
14 Mar Mon 2011
Seasonal Creek = Pond?
When we get a lot of snow melt and rain combined as we've had the past week, we get a seasonal creek at the bottom of our yard. The old-timers tell me that there used to be a creek (in this part of the country it's pronounced, "crick"!), but many years ago, there was a really bad drought and I'm told it went underground. You can find evidence of the old creek channel when you walk through the forest.
We've spent some time discussing this wet patch in our back yard. We would love to dig it out and have a small pond. There's just something about a pond that draws children. They can spend hours poking around the edges, catching tadpoles and salamanders, and dipping their feet on a hot day. Myself, I envision a small pond that would hold tilapia. We could fish our own little pond and have Friday fish fries. Maybe the peepers would come and I could open the windows and listen to them signal a warm summer's night.
We have found that in our back yard, if you dig down a few feet, the hole starts to fill with water. There are a lot of questions to making a small pond work properly. The worst to happen would be to dig the hole for a pond and end up with a mosquito breeding area. When we finish our many, many other projects, and finally have time to turn our eyes to creating this little pond, we would have to do a lot of research into creating a pond that is a pleasant addition to the farm. We'll have to figure out how to keep it aerated and how to keeping the water moving, etc. If any of my readers have ever done a project like this, I would love to hear your pros and cons and any advice you may have!
When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?
~ Ralph Marston
Sharon_1
07:19 AM EDT
09 Mar Wed 2011
The Backyard Homestead
As we see the prices at the gas pump climb up higher and higher, we'll see our grocery bill climb at the same rate. It takes gas to deliver food to the grocery store and sadly, as gas prices climb, food prices climb!
To offset this, you may want to start a garden, plant some berry bushes, or you may even want to get a few chickens. But you live on a quarter-acre lot and fear you don't have enough space. There's a book that can help you get started!
The Backyard Homestead, edited by Carleen Madigan, writes on it's front cover that you can "Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!" The back cover its reads that, from a quarter acre, you can harvest:
The book contains wonderful illustrations showing the layout of a homestead on one-tenth of an acre, a quarter-acre, and half an acre. These illustrations show how a small homestead can utilize every inch of space!
There are seven chapters cover; The Home Vegetable Garden, Backyard Fruits and Nuts, Home-grown Grains, Food from the Wild: Easy, Fragrant Herbs, Poultry for Eggs and Meat, and Meat and Dairy. Within these chapters you'll find great recipes, pruning information, informative charts, chicken coop plans, how to milk a goat, and much more.
This is a really great book for the new gardener or mini-farmer. It's incredibly inspirational. Having said that, I would like to point out that this book is a great starter book. The gardening sections are clear and you may not need more information than The Backyard Homestead provides. But, if you are interested in raising chickens, or other livestock, this book will get you started, then you'll want to find a more in-depth book on the subject.
To offset this, you may want to start a garden, plant some berry bushes, or you may even want to get a few chickens. But you live on a quarter-acre lot and fear you don't have enough space. There's a book that can help you get started!
The Backyard Homestead, edited by Carleen Madigan, writes on it's front cover that you can "Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!" The back cover its reads that, from a quarter acre, you can harvest:
1400 eggs
50 pounds of wheat
60 pounds of fruit
2,000 pounds of vegetables
280 pounds of pork
and
75 pounds of nuts.
The book contains wonderful illustrations showing the layout of a homestead on one-tenth of an acre, a quarter-acre, and half an acre. These illustrations show how a small homestead can utilize every inch of space!
There are seven chapters cover; The Home Vegetable Garden, Backyard Fruits and Nuts, Home-grown Grains, Food from the Wild: Easy, Fragrant Herbs, Poultry for Eggs and Meat, and Meat and Dairy. Within these chapters you'll find great recipes, pruning information, informative charts, chicken coop plans, how to milk a goat, and much more.
This is a really great book for the new gardener or mini-farmer. It's incredibly inspirational. Having said that, I would like to point out that this book is a great starter book. The gardening sections are clear and you may not need more information than The Backyard Homestead provides. But, if you are interested in raising chickens, or other livestock, this book will get you started, then you'll want to find a more in-depth book on the subject.
Sharon_1
07:20 AM EST
08 Mar Tue 2011
Copra Onions
This year I decided to try starting my onions from seeds rather than from sets. Sets are when you buy little baby onions and plant them to grow into larger onions. It's a lot less expensive to start them from seed and if it doesn't work, I figure I can always get the sets. I planted them in mid - February and they're coming along beautifully!
I chose "Copra" onions because they are a good all-purpose onion and store well throughout the winter. Here is the description from the Johnny's Select Seeds catalog. www.johnnyseeds.com
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| Courtesy of Johnny's Select Seeds catalog. |
I chose "Copra" onions because they are a good all-purpose onion and store well throughout the winter. Here is the description from the Johnny's Select Seeds catalog. www.johnnyseeds.com
Unsurpassed for storage.
Uniform, "rock-hard" storage onion with early maturity. These medium-sized, dark yellow-skinned storage onions have the preferred blocky round shape with thin necks that dry quickly. Firmness and skin are superior. Copra remains one of the absolute best in our yearly storage trials, staying firm and flavorful after most other varieties have sprouted. Highest in sugar (13°-14°) of the storage onions. Adaptation: 38°-55° latitude. NOTE: Also offered as plants. Packet: 460 seeds.
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 104
Here are my baby onion plants. I have two flats of about 250 baby onions starting up. (Don't mind the beer bottle in the bottom picture. It works beautifully for reaching in under the lights and watering the plants!)
Sharon_1
06:40 AM EST
07 Mar Mon 2011
Will It Ever End?
Schnee, neve, nieve, sneeuw, niege ... in any language, they all mean the same thing... SNOW!
And I think I can speak for most folks around here when I say,
I think we've had enough!
Sharon_1
06:34 AM EST
06 Mar Sun 2011
2011 Chicken Order
Yesterday I ordered my chickens for June delivery. We've always had them sent earlier, but then it would be too cold to put them under the lights out in the chicken coop. They would have to be put down in the basement until the weather eased up a bit and let me tell you, chickens are dirty. They generate a ton of dust and it gets into every single nook and cranny!
When I get my chicks, I put them in two plastic round kiddy pools with some nice straw in the bottom (thick enough to discourage spraddled legs) and wire fencing around it so they can't fly out. There's no corners for them to get piled up and crush one another.
When you order chickens, you can get pullets, which are females (egg layers), males, or straight run (which is a mix of male and female chicks). I have two good-natured male roosters (trust me a good-natured rooster is hard to find!) and I'm not raising chicks, so other than my cornish rocks (who are for meat), I get all pullets.
Here was my order from Ideal Poultry (the pictures are borrowed from their website). I just hope the pictures stay and I don't end up with the question mark thing:
5 - Americauna pullets (Easter eggers - green or blue tinted eggs)
5 - Speckled Sussex pullets (so darn pretty, and lay a speckled egg)
5- Rhode Island Red pullets (good layers, brown eggs)
25 - Cornish Rock straight run (meat birds)
10 - Buff Orpington pullets (a really nice temperament, good laying chicken, brown eggs)
5 - Golden Lakenvelder pullets (white eggs, hardy, rare, and they're Pittsburgh Steeler colors!)
5 - Welsummer pullets (fairly rare, hardy, lay a dark, terra-cotta brown egg)
The Welsummers are back ordered and, if they're not available in June, I'll get 10 of the Golden Lakenvelders instead.
This seems like a large order, but you generally lose a few of the chicks due to the stress of shipping, and because my chickens free-range, I have some loss to predators. I have a number of old chickens in the coop this year who are not laying and a couple of meat chickens from last year that are about the size of small ostriches who will all be culled. It's time to move in some fresh layers!
When I get my chicks, I put them in two plastic round kiddy pools with some nice straw in the bottom (thick enough to discourage spraddled legs) and wire fencing around it so they can't fly out. There's no corners for them to get piled up and crush one another.
When you order chickens, you can get pullets, which are females (egg layers), males, or straight run (which is a mix of male and female chicks). I have two good-natured male roosters (trust me a good-natured rooster is hard to find!) and I'm not raising chicks, so other than my cornish rocks (who are for meat), I get all pullets.
Here was my order from Ideal Poultry (the pictures are borrowed from their website). I just hope the pictures stay and I don't end up with the question mark thing:
5 - Americauna pullets (Easter eggers - green or blue tinted eggs)
5 - Speckled Sussex pullets (so darn pretty, and lay a speckled egg)
5- Rhode Island Red pullets (good layers, brown eggs)
25 - Cornish Rock straight run (meat birds)
10 - Buff Orpington pullets (a really nice temperament, good laying chicken, brown eggs)
5 - Golden Lakenvelder pullets (white eggs, hardy, rare, and they're Pittsburgh Steeler colors!)
5 - Welsummer pullets (fairly rare, hardy, lay a dark, terra-cotta brown egg)
The Welsummers are back ordered and, if they're not available in June, I'll get 10 of the Golden Lakenvelders instead.
This seems like a large order, but you generally lose a few of the chicks due to the stress of shipping, and because my chickens free-range, I have some loss to predators. I have a number of old chickens in the coop this year who are not laying and a couple of meat chickens from last year that are about the size of small ostriches who will all be culled. It's time to move in some fresh layers!
Sharon_1
02:16 PM EST
28 Feb Mon 2011
Complicated Oatmeal (It Sounds Like A Name For A Band!)
I make my kids a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every once in awhile (especially since my friend, Rosie, taught me how delicious it is made with milk - don't ever make it with water!).
Here's how I cook it: mix together oats and milk, maybe throw in some cinnamon and a dollop of real maple syrup; cook, stirring, on medium heat until it gets to the proper consistency. Drop a bit of brown sugar on top, serve.
Ingredients: oats, milk, cinnamon, real maple syrup, brown sugar (molasses, white sugar)
Now, here is the ingredient list for the "healthy" Breakfast Oatmeal from one of those fast food places (you know which one):
| Oatmeal Whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, food starch-modified, salt, natural flavor (plant source), barley malt extract, caramel color. |
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Diced Apples Apples, calcium ascorbate (a blend of calcium and vitamin C to maintain freshness and color). |
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Cranberry Raisin Blend Dried sweetened cranberries (sugar, cranberries), California raisins, golden raisins, sunflower oil, sulfur dioxide (preservative). |
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Light Cream Milk, cream, sodium phosphate, datem, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sodium citrate, carrageenan. CONTAINS: MILK. |
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Final Analysis: ~It takes about five minutes to make your own oatmeal at home (using quick-cooking oatmeal) and two minutes to wash out the pot. ~It probably takes the same amount of time to go through the drive thru. ---------------- ~You can sit at a table at home to eat - or you can eat in your car or at your desk and take the chance of glopping oatmeal on your clothes or workplace. ----------------- ~You're eating five ingredients when you make it at home (counting brown sugar as one ingredient). ~You're eating a whopping 21 ingredients if you eat it from that fast food place. --------------------- ~The fast food Breakfast Oatmeal contains fruit. ~At home, you can easily throw some some raisins and dried sweetened cranberries into your cooking oatmeal (I will attest that this is awesome! Oh, and this raises your ingredient count to seven). Diced apple takes a bit more work but is not impossible. You can add extra raisins and dried sweetened cranberries to get your daily serving of fruit.
How did something so simple become socomplicated?
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Sharon_1
06:31 AM EST
27 Feb Sun 2011
Winter Gifts: Eggs and Carrots
Last winter, I tried layering carrots with sand between them in a big plastic container and put the container in my basement. I kept wondering how I still had a few fruit flies in the late fall? Then, long before the spring came around, I poured a nasty smelling carrot/sand mush into my compost bin. It did not work.
Last fall I read an article in Mother Earth News about a mini homemade root cellar made out of a 5- gallon bucket. Here's the link to the article: Mini Root Cellar. It looked feasible.
I didn't have a spare 5-gallon bucket floating around so I found a deep, plastic, Rubbermaid-style, container. I drilled holes in the bottom and prepared to bury it out in my garden. Fitz pointed out that it would stink to have to dig snow to pull out my carrots, so I decided to bury it at one end of the high tunnel. I didn't have a spare straw bale lying around either, but I had plenty of leaves, so, after filling the container with unwashed carrots from my garden, I piled a mountain of leaves on top of it.
This is what I brought up from the garden and chicken coop the other day - in mid-February!
Last fall I read an article in Mother Earth News about a mini homemade root cellar made out of a 5- gallon bucket. Here's the link to the article: Mini Root Cellar. It looked feasible.
I didn't have a spare 5-gallon bucket floating around so I found a deep, plastic, Rubbermaid-style, container. I drilled holes in the bottom and prepared to bury it out in my garden. Fitz pointed out that it would stink to have to dig snow to pull out my carrots, so I decided to bury it at one end of the high tunnel. I didn't have a spare straw bale lying around either, but I had plenty of leaves, so, after filling the container with unwashed carrots from my garden, I piled a mountain of leaves on top of it.
This is what I brought up from the garden and chicken coop the other day - in mid-February!
Aren't they gorgeous? They smell wonderful! I don't think I've ever noticed in all the years I've been buying them from the store, that carrots have a wonderful "carroty" scent. I've rinsed these off and they're still a bit dirty. I found that the leaves that I had piled on top of the bin are a bit of a pain to pull off and then they fall down into the plastic container so you end up with leaf bits all over the carrots. Next year I will definitely put a straw bale over them.
If you are growing carrots (and I imagine this would work well with other root vegetables). Follow the link above and give this a try. I think you'll be pleased with the results.
Sharon_1
05:57 PM EST
24 Feb Thu 2011
Sap!
THE SAP IS RUNNING!
After I got off work yesterday, I thought I would take a ride and look at my sap lines. What a pleasant surprise!
In the top photo you can clearly see the sap running out of the lines. Those icicles hanging off the tank are all maple sap.
The bottom photo shows an area we tap that is very shady. A lot of junk gets built up in the lines and all that green gunk you see has washed out. That's why we run the lines a bit before we stick them into the tanks. If you look at the bottom photo near the top center you can see the stream of maple sap.
After I took these photos I stuck the lines into the tanks - we're collecting! Now we just have to cross our fingers and hope Mother Nature does her part!
The worst that can happen (I can't believe I'm saying this) is that it gets too warm too fast. We want below freezing nights and above freezing days.
Maple Sap Weather for Wednesday - 6:30 a.m. temperature: -3 degrees
4 p.m. temperature: 33-degrees.
Got Sap?
Sharon_1
07:38 AM EST