It feels like forever since I posted anything. I spent a week in Florida and came home with a head cold. I wasn’t sick enough to stay in bed but my head felt like I had a wad of cotton where my brain used to live. Today is the first day I feel back to myself.
There’s a lot to catch up on. Our piggies are here. We have 4 of them but we could use 2 more. Our neighbor, Tom, will be on the look out for a heritage breed pair that won’t cost as much a good used car. The turkeys will be here next week. I hope that we can convince some neighbors to become interested in Bourbons as well. I’m learning a bit about the ins and outs of genetic diversity in both plants and animals. If we keep a tom and 4 hens and three other neighbors do the same, there would be enough diversity to keep us in healthy poultry for several generations. The new bees are here too. Bruce is taking a class right now on raising his own nucs. We really aren’t happy to continue to rely on inputs from Georgia to keeps us in bees. Top bar management is an entirely new method for bee raising but seems a healthier way to do it. On a side note, I just read that Monsanto has purchased the company that was doing research into colony collapse. Can you say fox and hen house? I think I’ll be picking up the Oiko’s order next week. I do wish I could remember what I ordered. I’m very disappointed the Carol Deppe order has not arrived. I did score a few squash seeds from a friend but I am waiting none too patiently for the rest
I’m hoping we’ve seen the last freeze. The trees appear to have made it through unscathed but this weird weather has got me to thinking about a few things. While in Florida I learned that a lot of orange farmers have sold their smudge pots on Ebay. I never thought of smudge pots here but why not. If we continue to have spells of early, hot weather followed by freezes we’ll need to do something and you can’t put row covers on trees. The strawberries are flowered out and we’ll be eating asparagus for dinner tonight. Yipee! Root crops are in and starting to pop small green heads out of the soil.. I spent the afternoon fighting the May flies while I completed the work on the expanded herb garden. It looks barren right now. It’s nearly 3 times as large as the old one and it will take time to get it filled in. Do any of have any “gotta get em herbs”? I love lemon verbena and lemon grass. I have a lot of mints and yarrow. Chamomile is such a pain but I do love chamomile tea. I have the common culinary herbs. It’s more the medicinals I want suggestions on.
We have some family news. Nate and family will be moving in just a couple of weeks. I’m doing a big clean and reorganize in preparation for the move. It’s astounding just how much stuff I seem to accumulate. Oldest son, Bruce Jr. is buying a house about 4 miles from here. It’s a dandy little doomstead with over 13 acres, a house and a guest house plus a couple of studios and out buildings. He had planned to build a house but prices are still falling and this one was a steal. It’s in move-in condition so he will probably be in within the next couple of months.
I had planned to post pictures today but neglected to put the card in the camera so that’s it. I’ll try to get to it tomorrow. I’m preparing to do a workshop with Jim Kunstler up at Cold Antler Farm. I’m quite excited about this. I do a lot of food preservation classes but not as many focused on family preparedness. Many things are going on that make me anxious to get back to talking about this. I read today that 20 of the big Nat Gas companies are under cyber attack. This is a huge threat and deserves more attention than it gets. The climate change models continue to look worrisome. I hope you are all prepared for big storms again this summer. The news out of Europe is an ongoing concern as are the Middle East conflicts. As we plan for the future around Barefoot Farm we always ask these questions. What do we need to add that will enhance our ability to manage without outside help for a period of time? How can we work to help our friends, neighbors and family withstand economic, geopolitical or geological dislocation? What purchases provide bang for the buck rather than temporary fun?
The windows are ordered and every one will be replaced before the end of the summer. We have an appointment with the chimney man to replace the old chimney on the end of the house. The roof on that side of the house is being replaced as well. We’re adding insulation to the places we can reach and replacing the old knob and tube wiring in the attic. This will make it possible to add more insulation up there too. The summer kitchen needs a few finishing touches and we have some further work to do on the second greenhouse. This may sound like a lot of work but the pay off could be huge. The more efficiently I can keep this place warm in the winter and cool in the summer the better I’ll feel. I want to face our latter years with the house in need of no major repairs.
I’ll be posting more about the Hilltown Seed Saving Guild in the next few weeks. One thing I’ve learned is that there is an awful lot I don’t know.
May 6, 2012 at 6:08 pm
I missed having your blog since it seemed such a long time!
We are eating yellow straight neck squash and zucchini. They make a great stir-fry (actually more steamed than fried since I use so little oil) with some of the fresh onions and some of the frozen bell peppers from last year. We’re nearly out of frozen peppers but have a few already set on this year’s crop. The tomatoes are getting large enough that we are beginning to worry about the birds since they peck once out of each when the first pink appears. Green beans are blooming as are the cucumbers. We’re still getting red leaf lettuce but expect it to bolt before long as the temperatures in Central Texas have reached 90 three days in a row. My husband thinks the potatoes are getting to the digging stage–at least for the first new potatoes. We plant earlier than most of our friends and can harvest in mid to late June. We usually have enough to last into January. The chard was thinned Thursday; so we have added some of it to the stir-fry as well as steaming some. It gets planted so thick that there is a lot when it is thinned. The plants left look beautiful–very green and healthy. Chard is one of our favorites since it can last through the hot Texas summers.
May 6, 2012 at 7:52 pm
You seen to have a vendetta against Monsanto, why?
May 6, 2012 at 8:14 pm
They are at the top of my least favorite corporation list. They have a history of planting crops modified with terminator genes (meaning that they can’t reproduce), next to farms growing traditional crops. When the genes migrate to the neighboring field they have sued those small farmers for stealing their genes even though the farmer didn’t want the gene and had no way to prevent cross contamination. They are also responsible for selling small farmers who have been growing land race crops for generations on the idea that GMO seed wll produce better, more disease resistant crops. They fail to mention that that the farmer must now purchase seed from Monsanto because the seed won’t breed. Also, it is now a monoculture and that’s always bad for ecosystems. I resent that they have spent so much money blocking legislation that would require the company to lable their product so I can make an informed decision. Connecticut had a piece of legislation on the docket this week that would have required such labeling and Monsanto threatened to sue for a violation of free speech if passed. The measure was dropped. I am also concerned about any corporation having control over the vast majority of the nations’s seed supply. He who feeds you owns you. I am also concerned about modifying seed so the food becomes a pesticide. This has impacts on bird and bee populations that are not well understood. Right now, I could not grow corn on my land because the farmer next to me grows GMO corn so I can’t save my seed. This is only the tip of a large and ugly iceberg in the food industry. There is a very good documentary on the subject. Can anyone remember the title?
May 6, 2012 at 10:05 pm
So glad to see you back, Kathy, and I can’t wait to get together soon. So much to catch up on and share back and forth! I hope you’re over your cold, too.
May 7, 2012 at 8:59 am
I’ve gotten your blog in my inbox for over 2 years but didn’t get this one! Just pulled it up today thinking you might have posted. Anybody else having problems? Glad you’re back!
May 7, 2012 at 8:11 pm
I’m an Ontarian transplant to British Columbia, but my family is still back East and I follow the weather there. Just saw in the news that Ontario farmers have verified a loss of 80% of their apple crop and 30% of their tender tree fruits to a severe dip in the weather two weekends ago. Losses are supposed to be heavy on that side of the continent. Here, we have rain to worry about, taking the blossoms off the trees before pollination occurs, but I think we’re doing better this year. Our Mason Bees and assorted neighborhood pollinators have been out doing their thing (fingers crossed). Last year, we had -one- cherry off of three backyard trees due to a combination of factors, and they’re my husband’s favourite!
May 7, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Welcome back, Kathy! Is the documentary you mean Food Inc.? I agree, Monsanto is the poster child for corporate power run amok.
May 8, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Kathy:
I think the documentary you refer to is “The World According to Monsanto”.
May 8, 2012 at 5:15 pm
We have pigs, too! 3 of them and, boy, are they cute!
And though I LOVE pork, we are slowly working toward all grass fed meat animals able to be raised on our small holdings. I’m thinking that if we were in a grid down situation (or if for some reason I couldn’t run to the feed store for an extended period of time like a big bad blizzard) I need know that we could feed our meat animals with what we readily have here on the farm. We have an abundance of grass but a fairly short growing season for any extra amounts of food aside what our garden produces for the family. Plus, the growing season here isn’t very reliable (the last two summers we had a killing freeze in mid- August!) So growing any real amount of food every year for more than just one or two large grain eating animals is kind of iffy (like multiple acres of corn, oats or barley). I’m pretty sure I can grow enough corn to sustain a small flock of chickens through the winter. But I’m not so sure about grain type foods. So we are experimenting with sheep, goats, and rabbits and are entertaining the thought of a milk cow (if only I could find a milk cow that could produce well on grass/ hay alone….heaven!).
That being said, right now we have pigs and turkeys and (of course) our sweet dog along with chickens and rabbits. I am researching the old ways of feeding large animals through the winter (IE turnips, pumpkins, carrots…..) but I’m just not confident in my skills yet. I just hope we can nail all this down before we really need to……
I’m so glad you’re back and I can’t wait to hear more about your trip.
May 9, 2012 at 12:01 pm
For Elizabeth, look at the blog ‘Throwback at Trapper Creek.’ She has a family milk cow, and feeds roots etc. It sounds like you have a short growing season – she’s in the Pacific Northwest, and having a lot of land commited to farming, but I’m sure her knowledge and may of her ideas and methods might be helpful.
May 9, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Thanks for the info, Ellen. Yes, I’ve been following Matron of Husbandry for just a short time (can’t wait to see how Jane does with her first calf!) And she’s part of my “research”. I can’t remember what breed of milk cow she has had in the past. (Her pics look like Jerseys and I think the one she has now is a Jersey mix…..but I just can’t remember.) And you’re right again, she lives in a wetter, milder climate than me but she is a wealth of info. I’ve been slowly reading her back materials and love her dedication to not only to producing clean food for her animals and family but her consistant blogging.
(Anybody out there know about milking Dexters? They are supposed to be pretty good milkers at half the size.)
May 9, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Try Rural-Revolution.com. The family has Dexter cattle that they milk. Patrice Lewis, the blogger, wrote a book–A Simplicity Primer.
May 10, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Oooo, thank you.
I’ll check her out.
Elizabeth
May 10, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Just got my seeds from Carol Deppe yesterday, so don’t give up hope!
May 10, 2012 at 7:26 pm
I got mine today too! YEAH!!!