Farm Fresh: Almost Spring!

Our Silver Appleyard ducklings arrived March 4th.  They are doing great under big sister A's care.

 March 10th my two experienced mama buns each had 10 kits.  Neither of the two new (choc/choc) ladies had any! Quite frustrating, but we will try again in a few weeks.

 The "White Way of Delight" (ornamental pear trees lining our driveway) are just about to blossom.

 And all the wild daffodils that I keep moving from various parts of the yard to encircle the base of the trees are coming up nicely.  Maybe some day I will spend the money to actually buy some other kinds of bulbs to mix in.

 I planted out the chervil and Johnny Jump Ups this week.  Only light frost (about 32 F) in the next 10 day's weather forecast and they are both semi frost tolerant.

 Transplanted most of the rhubarb into large pots and put them outside.

 The jostaberry cuttings are starting to take off.

 Perennial herbs are coming back. Yarrow, sage, lemon balm, tansy, chives, rhubarb, and the lettuces I planted in the fall are all coming up strong. Catmint, mullein, bee balm, and valerian are all growing well two.  I even spied some feverfew near the barn.  Thank goodness for perennials! Now to clean up their beds and get some annuals in place before the new baby comes.

 Another thing that would be great to have more of - there's nothing like hellebores in the early spring.

 And here I am wearing my latest completed knitting project. It was not meant to be a maternity sweater, but it kinda fits for now.

 The buttons are a funny story.  I bought a bulk pack from Amazon of these brown coconut ones years ago. I have used them on some other sweaters and still have plenty. The brown just didn't look right with this one.  And in keeping with my "Buy nothing. Use what you have." mantra I decided to try painting them to match the sweater.  I tried several different types of "paint" that we had around the house and then put them in a pillowcase to give them the washer/dryer test.  Most of the samples could not stand up to the washer.  The winner? Nail polish. It showed no signs of coming off, so that is what I ended up using on all the buttons.

 This is the first hooded sweater that I have knit for myself.  The kids have a couple already.  I had to meld two patterns together to get this the way that I wanted it to look. The dark green yarn is cashmere and the whole thing is very soft. I have been wearing it a lot lately. I made the sleeves extra long too.  Usually the sleeves of sweaters are a bit short on me.

 And a good belly shot because I know my mom wants to see it:

 I also put my sewing know-how to work fixing these fleece row covers for the garden.  Last year I put them up outside the garden fence to protect some flowers. The cats love hiding under them. Normally that is not too big of an issue, but since they were outside the fence the dogs thought that it was a game and tried to go after the cats while they were in there. Not cool. They cost about 25$ each and I have 4 of them.

 I took the metal hoops out and started experimenting with various patches.  I had some very lightweight fusible interfacing and it worked well and was the easiest to insert (no sewing required, just ironing).  All patched up now.

Family Fun: St Patty's Day Playdate, and Outdoor Fun

Missed updating the blog last week because I was preparing to teach a class for youth night on "foraging".  We had several fun playdates over the last couple weeks.  Good thing since we won't be having any for the foreseeable future! For one of them our friends brought all the fancy trimmings to decorate shamrock cookies.

The girls kept the youngest entertained with taking pictures of themselves while his mama and I filled the back of her car with 5 gallon buckets of rabbit manure for her new garden.

 On Saturday we tried to have a campfire with some friends.  We cooked the hot dogs and then it started raining during the s'mores.  We came inside and turned off the lights to do the "spooky stories" that my kiddos had written.

Big sister A made a little museum exhibit in her room by dressing up her dolls and labeling the various historical stations. It was very cleverly done with what she had on hand. 

 I especially like this one from 1914 since she drew the NYC back drops.

 We attended an Eagle Court of Honor for a young man that hubby helped when he was a cub scout.

 Brother M bought a new drone with his earnings. He wanted one that had a video camera and card, but that didn't require a smart phone.  This one has its own screen.

  He has been practicing with our old inexpensive one for awhile so he has pretty good flying skills.  They love watching the videos of themselves doing things in the yard.  I like the high overhead views of the farm-- reminds me of Justin Rhodes' videos.

Today we had church at home. I am grateful that hubby has the priesthood and could bless and pass the sacrament to us at home.  The kids gave talks. We read some of our "Come Follow Me" lessons for Sunday School, watched "Book of Mormon" videos, and sang some songs that the primary chorister sent out for us to practice. 

 One exciting part was that big sister A can accompany us on the piano now.  It's hard to believe she has only been taking piano lessons for 7 months.  She really enjoys it and practices without being reminded. (Anytime she passes by the piano she plays something). She has already finished the advanced beginner book 1 series.  Her teacher is wonderful too.  She will be continuing her lessons via skype for the next couple weeks as will brother M for guitar.

Things that were not photographed: Big sister A went to the temple to do proxy baptisms on her first youth temple trip last Saturday.  Hubby went with her and drove a bunch of the other kids in the van.  Their session started at 8am so they left the house a little before 5am.

We also had a playdate with some friends who have big fields and a creek with cattails.  My kiddos had their first experience pulling out cattail fluff and making "snow".  All the usual swimming,  music, and co-op school lessons as well as regular school work happened too. Big sister A is doing French classes with the free Rosetta Stone software available from the library. The Relief Society presidency came over for a few hours to help me transplant tomatoes from plug trays to 4 inch pots. They will be given out on Mother's Day to the ladies at church.  We went to the chiropractor. Hubby cut down some more small trees in our future blackberry patch.  Brother M had a den meeting and big sister A toured another scout troop that they might join when she bridges to Boy Scouts. I finally got my lab papers sorted out with the HC midwives and had my second glucose tolerance test -- no gestational diabetes.  But after the mess with the lab slips, non responsive phone service (for 5 hours!), record keeping debacle, poorly functioning admin staff, and long wait times, I decided that they are stressing me out too much and I am going back to my original midwifery care providers.  They are wonderful, familiar, well organized,  and not that much farther away.  

Farm Fresh: Rabbit sales, New recipes, and Pruning for Spring

I had a couple farm visitors looking to buy rabbits this week. Here is one of the Chocolate Silver Fox bucks that we sold.  Brother M and I had a fun time trying to get them to pose in show positions so that the buyers could get a sense of their conformation before coming over.

 Big sister A made meringues which left me with a bunch of yolks to use up.  I made lemon curd and then decided to try a basic sponge cake recipe from a European baking book that I found at a thrift store.  I know it is likely a British recipe since the measurements are in grams and the text in English.  Loved it! Super simple with only a few ingredients - a lot of eggs (6!), very little sugar, and still nice and moist.  Perfect for lemon curd or jam.

I also got the Prairie Homestead cookbook from the library.  We made the Apple Puff pancakes on National Pancake Day.

Last Sunday, I finished making an XL batch of a tincture (herbal remedy) called "Red Plague Remedy".  Here is the story about it.   I feel, especially in light of a possible current pandemic, that it is always good to be prepared with home remedies for serious illnesses. Regardless of whether or not you believe Claudia's story about the recipe, the ingredients are sound herbal remedies for a lot of different flu/pneumonia type symptoms -- so it made sense to me to make a batch.  I only made a quarter batch of what her recipe calls for and am dividing it & the costs of making it with two friends.

Because the herbs are tinctured in alcohol, it should remain potent for the next 15-20 years.

Plant and seed starting are continuing to expand rapidly.  I already have too much to fit on the grow light shelves and am rotating things in 12 hour shifts.

 Broccoli plants are hardening off -- going out on the porch for a few hours every morning. I hope to get them in the garden under row covers later this week.

 The josta berry hardwood cuttings have been in cold storage (garage) for more than a month now and I think it is time to let them enjoy some sun and try to leaf out.

 My little rosmarinis officinalis (rosemary) plant arrived in the mail from Monticello gardens just before the last frost.  I was afraid that it would not survive the winter and made a gallon pickle jar into a little cloche/greenhouse for it.  This is the first year that I have had a rosemary plant survive the winter.  It is thriving! Even growing out the edges a little.  Hopefully it will grow sturdy this year and I won't need a cloche for it next winter. I am sure it will not fit in a gallon jug by then...

 Lots of progress on my land clearing project this week. There are just a few big logs left that hubby will need to move with the tractor and/or cut into woodstove size pieces.

 I also spent time in the orchard this week.  I pruned all the trees and fertilized them with nice slow release rabbit manure.  A few needed some straightening or reinforcement of their protective cages.  I finished most of that too. 

 The elderberry bushes got the most serious pruning.  I took out a third of the branches and pruned all the remaining ones down by a third. (I did the same thing last year as well).  My big goal for the orchard is to keep all the trees to about my height or within arms reach and of course as healthy/fruitful as can be.  Every year before I prune I read more about it and learn new tips. This year I focused on keeping and encouraging more horizontal branches.

I potted up all the hardwood elderberry cuttings that were the right thickness (3/4")  -- about 50 altogether from the three bushes.  I also notices some softwood sprouts at the base of the bushes already.  I will pot those up for the plant sale as it get closer.

Family Fun: Cub scouts Klondike Derby and Blue & Gold Banquet

Last Saturday was full of activities. The annual Klondike Derby started at 7am. 

 Only brother M went with daddy this year because big sister A had a birthday party (waffle brunch) to go to in the morning and volleyball games in the afternoon.

 Then that evening both big sister A and M went with daddy to the Blue and Gold Banquet. A received her arrow of light and is just about to go on to join a boy scout troop.

 Meanwhile back at the ranch, brother S lost his second tooth.

 All the kids, minus brother M having been having croup-like symptoms this past week. Brother S had the barking seal cough and both he and big sister A had laryngitis for a day or two.  No fevers, just lethargic and mildly sore throats.  We used a lot of our homemade elderberry thyme syrup and the kids spent a lot of time resting under blankets in various parts of the house.  Everyone seems largely recovered now.

Big sister A had a funny "team work" spaghetti dinner at church where they all had their hands tied together.