A Hiatus

I need a month off, folks.

I don't want a month off from being here with you...but I really think it's necessary.  There is a lot going on this next month or so and I need time to live it (and live through it).  What will I be doing instead?  Lord willing, I'll be...

~ freezing corn and red raspberries
~ making and freezing beet hummus and pesto,
~ baking and freezing more zucchini bread
~ freezing spinach
~ canning tomato sauce, tomato soup, and chopped tomatoes
~ freezing whatever peaches from our trees we haven't eaten
~ braiding garlic and onions
~ continuing to cut and sell sunflowers
~ hosting my sister and her four children for 5 days (cousin camp!)
~ painting the mudroom
~ keeping an eye on the bees
~ finding a wood chip source
~ getting the school room ready
~ finishing school plans, determining lesson schedules and choosing a starting date
~ sitting on the dock and looking at the lake- for a week
~ taking a couple end of summer day trips
~ camping out with Jamey's family

I will keep taking pictures and will likely explode with posts when I come back.  I hope your August is lovely.  I will miss you dearly.  Sniffle, sniffle, whimper, sob.

Love,
Jane Pin It

These Are a Few of My {Recent} Favorite Things

1) Homemade fudgesicles.  My favorite popsicle growing up: the fudgsicle.  So when a friend (thank you, Beck), posted on facebook about these treats, I knew I had to make them.  Here are the ingredients: plain yogurt, vanilla, cocoa, milk and (drumroll, please) maple syrup.  I kid you not.  No processed sugar, friends, and they are delicious- rich chocolate flavor with a hint of tang from the yogurt. The whole family loves them.  We've eaten three batches already this summer.  Recipe found here.

2) Summer Reading.  We've thoroughly enjoyed Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Homer Price.  Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is an eccentric lady who lives in an upside down house.  All the parents in town end up calling her because she can fix their children's behavioral ailments using some very creative treatments including "The Won't-Pick-Up-Toys Cure" and "The Answer-Backer Cure" and "The Selfishness Cure" and "The Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders Cure" and so on.  My kids, between giggling, were pretty embarrassed to hear how awful some of these behaviors sound when read about- how familiar they sounded was the embarrassing part.  This book was highly entertaining and very sweet.

Homer Price is about a boy and his adventures in the quaint little town of Centerburg which include how he and his pet skunk help catch some thieves and what happens when his uncle's donut maker contraption goes haywire.  It, too, was delightful.

3) An Outside Sink.  Jamey recently installed one for me.  Now no more muddy hands or vegetables (think carrots and potatoes) in my kitchen (or bathroom) sink.  Dreamy.

The water comes from the barn roofs via our rainwater storage tanks.  Used water runs out of the sink and into the bucket to the left (to be reused yet again).  The stump is a stool for little people and the shelf on the right acts as a little counter space.

4) Smooze.  Another cool and healthy treat.  I've only been able to find these on Amazon thus far.  Made with coconut milk in flavors mango and pineapple, they taste even better bought with Swagbucks!  Click the picture to find out more.

5) Coconut Oil.  You may have been hearing all the recent hype about coconut oil.  Well, a few months back, I bought some from Tropical Traditions because they were running a sale and offered free shipping.  I've completely switched over to using it for all my sauteing and have even substituted it for butter in some baked goods.  Along with my first order, I received a book (no pamphlet, a real book) about how this company came to be and how real families are harvesting the oil using authentic methods in the Philippines.  It also includes the owner's personal testimony in the back- yes, the owners are Christian.  I highly recommend their coconut oil.  You'll receive the free book, too, with your first order (and through their referral program, I'll receive a discount coupon).  To find out more about it or to place an order go here.

6) Pet {Wild} Bunnies. Their mama built their nest in the midst of our strawberry patch, inside the garden (inside the "rabbit proof" fence).  It was either dispose of them or try to tame them. Everything we read said that taming and keeping wild baby bunnies alive is close to impossible and they've proven so.  One of the original four sneaked out of the box one night never to be seen again and, just recently, two more died from us moving them out of their pseudo nest and into a small rabbit tractor of sorts when we went away for the day (totally our fault and I was sick about it).  But we still have one!  And the kids adore it.  And, maybe I do, too.

feeding them baby formula with a plastic syringe- every few hours- at the beginning

So...what's one of your {recent} favorite things?

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Sweat in My Eyes

Sure, when it's hot, I sweat.  But I don't think I've ever experienced sweat running into my eyes before like the other day.  Can you tell I'm no athlete?

So, what was it that kicked my behind?  The hen house.  In July.  It had been a couple years since it had been cleaned out well and it was time.  Sam was a big helper.  Using our snow shovel, I scraped and scooped, scraped and scooped, scraped and scooped.

left hanging bucket holds feed, right hanging bucket holds water and has a chicken nipple (yes, there is such a thing) underneath- this keeps the water clean

Using an old broom, I took down so many spider webs, you could no longer see the broom.  We patched holes that the scrapping and scooping uncovered.  

This hen house was (obviously) here when we bought the house over 8 years ago.  It's old and large, so it works well for our 25 or so current residents.  The chickens spend very little time in here, actually.  They have access to the great out-of-doors 24/7.  No, we do not shut them in (not even at night) unless we're introducing two groups of birds or on vacation.  The only predator problems we've had have been hawks and the occasional opossum.  A couple times a skunk was eating eggs.  These problems are rare enough that we prefer to take our chances and let them get up and out as early as they like and let those who enjoy dusk stay out a little later than the others.

One hen, who had gotten out of the chicken yard earlier in the day, took advantage of the open doors when I was cleaning and sneaked in to lay.  She (and others) seem to prefer laying with some privacy thanks to the hinged fences that keep them from roosting (and therefore pooping) in the upper nesting boxes.

We cleared out old hay (which does get replaced more often than every couple years- I promise) and replaced it with new.

The roost was raked and scooped,

uncovering an old glass bottle which cleaned up nicely and will now become a little flower vase no doubt.

Even with the doors open and the natural ventilation that comes with drafty old buildings, it was dusty, hot and stinky. I banished the girls from the hen house because I still have to help with their baths.  Sam was my right-hand man since he can take his own shower.

view from the roost into the rest of the hen house through the chicken door

In the end, the house was possibly as tidy as it's ever been and we had collected a lot of chicken manure for the garden.

It's wet under the windows because Miriam's mom-needs-me-to-be-busy-so-I-don't-wander-into-the-dusty-hen-house job was to "wash" the windows with sponge and bucket of water.

The hens?  They didn't seem to notice.  But since they all agreed to poop in the outhouse now, we're good.

And what ensued ranks near the very top of my favorite cold shower list. Pin It

Thy Hand Hath Provided Cookbook Giveaway at The Deliberate Agrarian!

If you'd like a chance to win a copy of the Thy Hand Hath Provided cookbook, please go here and enter your sweet self! Pin It

Back to Eden

Your gardening concerns in the comments the other week were overwhelming to say the least.  I'm with you on many of them (blasted squash vine borers and poke weed) and I feel your pain!  I so wish I could give you all the perfect answers for each and every problem adjusted for each of your climates and growing conditions. I even started drafting a post to address them the best I could.   But, you know what?  This growing of our food which was initially meant to be a breeze (think Garden of Eden) became part of the curse.  It's not meant to be easy, friends.

“Cursed is the ground because of you;

    through painful toil you will eat food from it

    all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

    and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow

    you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

    since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

    and to dust you will return.”

Genesis 3: 17b-19

I'm going to be pretty bold here and say that we deserve what we get- even though I don't like it.  It is a constant reminder, not that we were naughty but, that choosing our own way comes with consequences- some seen and some unseen.  It's a reminder to me that I want to choose God's ways- not out of fear but out of appreciation that despite our human screw-up-y-ness, God wants to reconcile us to Him- draw us back to Him so one day we can live in His presence and -can you imagine it?!- walk through a garden with Him. It's not about defeat- it's about hope.

Will we ask these gardening questions then?  I don't know...but I bet it won't seem nearly as important to us as they are now.  Once we recognize this, I believe we can take steps to better our experience as long as we don't expect those nasty garden pests to start weeding for us.  Wait.  Maybe that's what heaven is like?! Ha!  Now that I would love to see.

*****************

When we (Jamey and I) have a gardening dilemma, we usually search online- specifically on the Mother Earth News website. If you just search "Mother Earth News" you'll end up on their magazine subscription website.  If you want to find an article online, search in this way "Mother Earth News squash vine borers" (for example) and you'll get better results.  Mother Earth News is an excellent resource of organic gardening tips and solutions.

Speaking of Mother Earth News, reader Christine emailed me a few weeks ago and told me about a documentary that she read about on their website called "Back to Eden".  She said she thought we might be blessed by it.  The documentary is available to watch online FREE here.

Jamey and I watched it a couple weeks ago and it rocked our gardening world. It's about the gardening practices of Paul Gautsch and much of the film is Paul explaining gardening revelations he's had that have lead to some pretty incredible results.  Paul is a Christian and his faith is entrenched in his gardening.  He quotes a lot of scripture and speaks readily about his prayer life and how He hears God speaking to him. My hope is that even if you don't share Paul's faith, that you will be patient with him and hang in there so you can see what it is that he's doing.

We were practically drooling over this man's garden.  It was almost hard to watch knowing the weeds and other issues that can plague our garden.  And the changes he recommends?  Simple, simple, simple. I think we've been on the right track, but he takes it all one (huge) step further.  Make plans to watch it soon- with the whole family if you like!

You'll be seeing us make some changes to our gardening in the coming years thanks to Paul.   So, if you're not quite ready to jump in, see how it goes for us first.  But I imagine, you'll be pretty inspired, too.

Blessings, friends, as you garden.  As frustrating as it can be, it sure has it's perks- perks I can't imagine living without.

Love,
Jane

P.S.  For the record, no one asked me to promote Mother Earth News or Back to Eden. Pin It

Bee Happy (We Are!)

Please remember, we are very new at this.  This is an account of what we're observing and doing, NOT a recommendation of what to do.  Only time will tell if we're on the right track.  So in the meantime, read along, look at the pictures and appreciate all the amazing skills that the BEES possess.

It had been 19 days since we discovered that two out of three of our hives were queenless.  That same day, we placed two capped queen cells into those two hives (thank you, neighborhood beekeeper, for the donation!).  After all the bee-drama we'd been experiencing, we were sure hoping that our queenless hives now had queens, but it seemed almost too good to be true.  Jamey made me promise that no matter what we found I would not freak out.  I told him I'd do my best.  He lit the smoker and donned his bee jacket and I grabbed my notebook and camera.  Here's what we found....

#3 Hive: This is the hive that was a divide from the Upper Hive on June 1st.  We also marked the queen that day.  This hive is doing great.  We spotted the queen, eggs, larva, and capped brood.  The small hive beetle trap had 20 dead beetles inside and we killed about 8 more during the inspection.  The were a few empty queen cells but nothing to worry about.  The bees had built out the last few bars we added, so we added 4 more, making the total bars in this hive 16.

happy Hive # 3 - capped brood

marked queen (Hive #3) 

Lately, whenever I think I'm busy, I think of the bees.... 

Upper Hive:  This is the hive that we tried grafting a queen into back on June 2nd and then, when we didn't see any queen action on June 29th, we placed a capped queen cell from our beekeeper friend inside.  We also saw a few empty (lived-in) queen cells.  So, we're not exactly sure where she came from, but this hive now has a queen!  We spotted her lovely self along with eggs, larva and lots of capped brood.  The population increased greatly since June 29th when it was like a ghost town compared to the other hives.  We added two bars (for a total of 21) and closed her up feeling very excited (and relieved!).

Another sign this hive is doing well was a little something we saw the bees do.  We saw very few small hive beetles during inspection but there were 8 dead in the trap.  While we had the hive open (envision the picture at the top of this post), we saw a few bees on the bottom of the hive attacking something- it was a small hive beetle larva (not really what we want to see, but wait...).  Two bees lugged that big larva up the inner side of the hive.  We were psyched to see them dump the larva over the edge, but oh no.  One girl took hold and then took flight.  Okay, so she's going to drop the heavy load a few feet away- makes sense.  Oh no.  This hulk of she-bee flew that larva right off our property (and quite possibly beyond).  Because she was flying slower and her load made her larger, we could see her plainly against the blue sky- up and up and away.  We just stood there with our mouths open- what a sight to behold.

We were so excited at this first sign of a queen- capped brood!

Then we spotted the lovely, light-colored (and therefore easy to find) lady herself.

beautiful, newly built comb in the back of the hive- ready for nectar

Lower Hive:  This is the hive that was doing swimmingly until it's queen up and disappeared and we added a donated capped queen on June 29th.  In this hive, we didn't spot the queen, but we did see a few eggs, a handful of larva and a lot of capped brood- which is great!  It did leave us a little confused, though, because all the capped brood was at the front of the hive and the few eggs were way toward the back.  It makes us think that some de-throning has been going on.  That and the fact that there were 9 capped (meaning they will hatch soon) (supersedure) queen cells and 1 capped (swarm) queen cell- yikes!  We gathered that the bees are still not happy with their queen and are trying to oust her.  With all those capped queen cells, we were concerned some of them might be forced to leave and take bees with them, so we decided to make a divide, moving out most of the queen cells.  We left 3 capped queen cells in this hive to fight it out and moved 5 bars into the Nuc Divide leaving this hive with 17 bars.

a good sign- eggs (the tiny rice-looking things)

four capped queen cells on one comb, a-la bees

Nuc Divide:  So we created a 4th hive by placing 5 bars from the Lower Hive into our Nuc (short for nucleus hive).  Two of the bars/combs were full of nectar and pollen and the other three held 7 capped queen cells and brood.  We also brushed an additional bar's worth of nurse bees into the nuc to account for any forager bees that got transferred over and will fly back to their original hive (the Lower one) after their next outing.  We kept one hole closed to help them defend the nuc and left two empty bars in the back of the little hive, for a total of 7 (all the nuc can hold).

Our main reason for doing this is to have a spare queen on hand in case we lose one of our others again.  We're hoping that in the midst of all the mayhem that will ensure when 7 queens emerge, one will stay, mate and become a laying queen in case we need her.  Well, it may not be mayhem- sometimes the first queen to emerge then goes around to the other capped queen cells, chews a hole through and kills them.

getting ready to move bars into the nuc

Nuc Divide a-buzzing and water sources depleted after a hot day (and later refilled)

All this to say, we now have four colonies- all complete with either queens or plenty of capped queen cells. At the moment, bee life is very good. And we're going to enjoy it :-).

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Blueberry Delight

I wanted to give you all an update on our blueberry bushes.  All sixteen are still alive and seem to be doing well!  All are showing new growth. The blossoms turned into fruit and the fruit is ripening!

In addition to increasing the acidity of the soil through a couple sulfur treatments (one while planting and the other a few weeks later) and some other tips we're trying out from a blueberry-grower-friend (we'll share more about what we're doing once we know it's working well), Jamey bought some cheap litmus papers that we can test the soil's acidity with.  As of a month ago, the acidity level wasn't quite up to par (par being 4.5 to 5), but over time it will continue to improve.  We'll test the soil again in the spring and see where we are.

As soon as the first couple berries started to ripen, I covered them with bird netting.  It's only a minor inconvenience to lift the netting to pick the berries and pull the weeds.  As the bushes grow taller, netting them will be more of a challenge, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  An occasional bird has gotten caught in the netting- sometimes we can free it, once one died tangled up in it, and another time I finally freed one and Somersault promptly pounced on it and ate it.  Thanks, kitty (not).

We've had pretty regular rain so far this summer which has been wonderful.  Sometimes, it's not a real soaking rain, so I water the bushes to make sure they get a good dousing every 3-4 days.  I've learned with red raspberries that if the plants don't get good water after the fruit is set, it doesn't ripen properly- instead they shrivel and dry up so I want them watered well.

There might not be many, but they're ours:-).

After lugging 5-gallon buckets over to the bushes a few times, I borrowed the kids' wagon and now wheel my buckets down.  Water is pumped from the cistern at our back door which collects house roof rain water.

The wood chip mulch has been great.  Not only does it keep the moisture in but as it breaks down, it will mimic the forest floor.  This reminds me of the wild blueberries that grew along the edge of the woods in the mountains of Pennsylvania where I picked them growing up at a family cabin.

Also, you may know that if you lay fresh blueberries out in a single layer after picking, they'll ripen up even further.  The wood chips provide a clean landing place for any ripe blueberries that fall off the bush.  The next time I come along to pick, the ones laying on the wood chips are beautifully ripe and clean- perfectly fine to eat.

wineberries and blueberries on cereal

While we're only eating them fresh because our harvest is tiny, here are a few of our favorite blueberry recipes just in case you find yourselves swimming in them....

Fruit and Oat Muffins

Classic Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry (or any fruit, really) Swirl Coffee Cake

Mama JJ's Aunt Valerie's Blueberry (or Strawberry) Bars

Freezing Blueberries

Blueberry Crumb Bars

Cobbler, Southern Style

Blueberry Buckle

Fruit Pizza with Lemon Curd
Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I'm pretty sure that those blueberry bushes are the best birthday present I've ever received.  It's funny how what we value changes.  I'm thinking of finding Jamey some dried cow dung to use in his bee smoker for his birthday this year.  Shhh- don't tell him.  He's going to be thrilled:-).

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Permaculture

Permaculture is a word that I hadn't heard prior to just a few years ago even though it's been around for awhile.  It's very basic definition is...

the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient

I've been reading more about permaculture lately because I've been curious to see if this term is descriptive of what we're doing and the direction much of my recent interest seems to be headed.  As you may have noticed, I don't talk as much about growing specific vegetables, individual recipes or even preserving as much as I used to.

view across the back of our property (1.5 acres) with our neighbor's house in the background

Of course we're still growing vegetables (and fruits), making food and putting it up (and all those posts exist on this website, please look them up).  But since getting bees, I've become much more fascinated with how it all comes together.

(top to bottom, left to right) honey bee on clover, wild black raspberries, house roof rain water cistern/pump, butterfly on black raspberry bush, mulberry tree, blooming chestnut tree loaded with pollinators, day lilies, mulberries, young peaches, honey bee on butterfly bush, wineberry bushes, first crop of blueberries

How can we create an environment that is attractive to pollinators, birds, worms, ladybugs, etc?  What are the best ways to use and reuse water and other resources on our property?  What balance of wild to tamed works best for us?

Sadie's garden mound of vegetables and flowers in front of our large brush pile

our used-to-be-all-lawn side yard with sweet cherry and blueberry rows, wild grasses (the birds are loving the seed heads) and sunflower patch

As you may have noticed, it's never been important to us to have a manicured yard.  And, no, this isn't just what happens because we don't have the time or interest in manicuring it.  It comes from the desire to have a more natural-looking property and the desire to not be slaves to our land- there is more to life indeed.

paths

We hope that our brush piles and brambles will encourage birds to come and stay.  We hope that the mulch will turn our garden soil into a lush home for worms and that beneficial insects and healthy plants will deter pests without much intervention on our part.

That flowering weeds, trees and bushes will provide nectar and pollen for our bees and butterflies. That wild raspberries and wineberries will continue to multiply, pushing their way into mowed paths if they like.

black raspberries and wine berries at the edge of the woods with bee hives in the background

The way God created His creation to live in harmony is breath-taking.  I have been relishing it and look forward to reading and learning more about what we can do to encourage it instead of fight it- whatever it might be called these days.

If you're interested in more of the specifics of Permaculture, Wikipedia provides this list as one version of it's twelve design principles:

1. Observe and interact: By taking time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.
2. Catch and store energy: By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need.
3. Obtain a yield: Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.
4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback: We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
5. Use and value renewable resources and services: Make the best use of nature's abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior and dependence on non-renewable resources.
6. Produce no waste: By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
7. Design from patterns to details: By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go.
8. Integrate rather than segregate: By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.
9. Use small and slow solutions: Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes.
10. Use and value diversity: Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.
11. Use edges and value the marginal: The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system.
12. Creatively use and respond to change: We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.

Sadie feeding kitchen scraps to the chickens

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Idea Book for Gardeners Winner!

Wow!  I thought you all would love this book and you confirmed my suspicions with all your entries.  And, oh!  I could hear and feel your pain through your garden dilemma comments.  How is it that we can love something so much even though it makes us so crazy at times?!?!

I could totally relate to so many of your concerns and I'm going to devote an entire post next week to addressing some of the issues you mentioned and show you where I go to get my organic solutions to gardening problems.  I'm also going to rock. your. world. with something else garden-related so stay tuned.

Okay! Back to the exciting business at hand.  I just had this book outside with me in the garden the other day and now I get to say...the very lucky winner randomly chosen to winner Herrick Kimball's Idea Book for Gardeners is...

Janet who wrote:

Janet-Olde Crow PrimitivesJuly 8, 2013 at 6:59 PM

Bugs, weeds, and birds eating the fruit and vegetables. Wish we could get them before they did.
Help :(

Thanks
Janet

Congratulations, Janet!!  Please send me an email (thyhand123@gmail.com) giving me your name and mailing address and I'll pass it along so we can get your free book in the mail.  For those of you who didn't win, go here to purchase the book.  If you can't swing it right now, put it on your birthday or Christmas list.  What? You haven't started one yet?  What are you waiting for?!

Thank you, Herrick, for writing an excellent book and for sponsoring such an fun giveaway! Pin It