Harvest Monday 1.26.15

It's Harvest Monday again.

All my harvests this week were greens and broccoli that went to flower. Because it went to flowering I gave it to my feathered friends. They REALLY enjoyed it. Luckily for them there was enough for each of them to have a small head. Unfortunately for me it means I still haven't harvested any for the table.

So I will show you what is left of my sweet potato harvest. I gave a few away to a friend with diabetes, and a few to a neighbor for making slops of her own, ate a couple fresh and now I have set these out for 'curing' in the garage. Of course here the whole curing thing isn't very effective, but it helps me to keep out of the stash a few weeks so at least some of the sugars can be converted. ;-)

Turned out to be close to 20 pounds that are left. I'm happy with that. It's rather exceptional considering I'm robbing the plants throughout the summer as I need them.

Here are Baby and Swayze  after enjoying their treats from the garden... I'm really happy with the decision to keep this hen. She may be a golden but her coloring is fantastic and 50% of the female offspring will be silvers because the drake is a silver. It may be a couple years before we would be able to keep any of the babies, but I will probably let her raise a clutch in late summer if she decides to set. I will try to time it just right and order a few pullets to put under her when the ducklings hatch.

That's it. Sorry - I know my ducks aren't necessarily 'harvest' material, but I am getting an egg a day from this beauty, so I suppose it does count to a degree.

Enjoy your week. I'm counting on company soon so I'll be cleaning up the tall beds and trying to get them back in order.

See you soon!

Barbie~

24 weeks.

Baby turned 24 weeks just the other day.

She's really turned into a stunning Golden Welsh Harlequin.

She's not longer dependent on me, and now prefers the exclusive company of Patrick. I feel somewhat bad that she is the only hen for him, but for now it needs to stay this way. I'm on the look out for a  young Muscovy hen to keep with them, and I"d even consider a Hinny (mix of muscovy hen and mallard derived drake) as they will lay eggs and while they would not be viable, I'm not looking to expand my flock either. 

So low and behold on the day that she turned 24 weeks... Guess what I found?

Her first egg. The next day I found two more! I'm very happy about this new development as the chickens are 3 years old now and the two of them barely scrape up 5 or 6 eggs a week these days. 

I have noticed the texture of the shell is a bit silkier and the bloom is much more - well... uh - lets say thicker. You can see that even after washing these eggs (No, I don't wash them all) that some of it remains. It's kind of an unappetizing color, but that certainly won't stop me.

So, some time this week I'll be posting about their flavor and maybe even a comparison. I've heard that duck eggs are far superior for baking but eating straight it seems is personal preference.

We'll see!

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 1.5.15

It's 2015 now, and this is the first Harvest Monday of the year!

The last few weeks have been super busy here. I'm sure it's been busy for everyone but here the last 2 weeks of the year are crunch time. Time to fill the freezer with red meat and the pantry as well. I keep finding some good pickings out in the garden and keeping up is not even possible. So for now "m playing catch up and will get ahead again sometime in February when I start preparing for tomatoes and warm weather veggies.

This weeks harvest from the garden:

Loads of greens and some citrus.

We harvested 2 gallons of pecans. Meager pickings compared to years past. Enough for a few pecan pies and really, what more could I ask for? Also pulled the sweet potato bed up. I harvested an additional 4 gallons worth of them. Weight wise I have no idea, but my 5 gallon pail was almost filled to the top. That of course feels great after pulling what I wanted out of the bed all summer it's a pretty nice haul.

Unfortunately sweet potatoes don't cure well here so they don't get nearly as sweet. However, the good to that bad news is that they make truly fantastic chips. My mandolin and I will be good friends the next 2-3 months./ :-)


See you soon!
 Barbie~

Reality

We have managed to fill the freezer and the pantry so that's awesome.

Sure hope it rained while we were gone or my garden will be toasty by now.

See you soon!

BarbieSo we are packing up tonight and the kids are wound up. They won't go to sleep no matter the bribe or punishment. I understand. It's the opposite of the Disney effect. Instead of not being able to sleep because we are excited to go we can't settle down because we want to stay.

It's not like we haven't spent more time here in the last 6 weeks than we have at home. No internet. Barely a phone signal (and never when you actually want to call someone) no cable. This place is obsolete. It's wonderful. When the news comes on at home it's about triple homicides and beheadings, bank robberies and school shootings. Here? Someone's house got broken into and instead of letting the robbers get away they went after them. They called to cops and the thieves were apprehended. Talk about a change of pace. Not that every single thing that happens here is good. A big part of this small community passed away this past week. It was not that the man wasn't elderly. It's that he was such a big part of this area.

So tomorrow it's back to reality. Back to using a dishwasher and 300 channels with nothing on TV. Back to leaving for work before dawn and coming home after dark.

But also back to taking care of ducks and chickens, cats and kiddos. That's the part I like. Sure wish I could find a way to combine these two and find my happy place.