FarmSmarts Blog Relaunch

Even though I never went anywhere, Im finally back! The harvest kept going - in more ways than one. Just last week I was canning STILL! I do believe that things have finally calmed down to a reasonable pace (which I never thought would happen). I don't even know where to start. The month of October was kind of a "turning of the page" for me. I made the tough decision to sell Holly the cow. Fortunately my farmer friends where I boarded her wanted to keep her, so that was an easy transition. Sometimes its hard for reality to work its way into your dreams, but once it does you can feel sure of your decisions, and I feel that way about Holly. I certainly haven't given up on someday having a Jersey milking cow, but now is not that time, and it wont be that time for quite a while yet. There was no way I could bring her home to our non-barnyard 1 acre, and I got an extra shift at work, and it was just getting harder and harder to keep up when I was running for chores (as much as I absolutely loved it!). So that was that. Now the critter count is 25 laying hens (seven are the dual purpose layers who have integrated just fine into the coop), 3 handsome roosters - Rob, Fluffy and the Garden Boy. So yes, I didn't have the heart to kill my favorites... And we have 2 rabbits, Burgess and Marigold, and that's it. The typical day for me now is just feeding and watering chickens, topping up their limestone chips (for calcium), collecting about 5 eggs, feeding and watering the rabbits, and changing the bedding in their cages. Pretty much only half an hour of chores per day, helping me to finally focus on housework and keeping a regular schedule of sorts. The garden wrapped up really nice. The "pantry" is full of beautiful jars of canned produce. The pressure cooker served me well - I wouldn't possibly have been able to freeze everything. We would have needed ANOTHER deep freeze!! I dehydrated a lot of produce as well - shredded carrots, berries, apples, onions, tomatoes, herbs... Ive been busy baking off squashes one day per week, they don't seem to be keeping as well as I would like. And I had to put a rush order on canning carrots because they weren't keeping either. Needless to say, Im out of jars and Id say I blew my budget on jars this year too... Maybe Ill have to start a free jar collection campaign next year. But with the end of canning in sight, and being on the brink of Christmas, I can start looking ahead to knitting and sewing projects. I also have several rabbit hides that Im going to tan this winter. Just this week I got my seed catalogue in the mail and since it arrived Ive been having a hard time getting anything done other that dreaming about what Ill plant next year. And believe me - next year Ive got big ideas. Im going to focus on raising things that do well for canning and selling. Now that I know what we need for one year in terms of canning, I can start looking towards selling excess. Plus I want to try growing a cash crop of pumpkins and squashes next year. Ive saved a lot of seed this year, and providing that it germinates, I could put in a lot a cucurbitas! We expanded the potato garden triple the size it was, and was that ever a job to do. I didn't figure it was worth digging by hand again, since time was an extra precious commodity this fall. So we ended up pulling a hand plow with the diesel 3/4 ton and actually had to flip at least half the sod by hand since the truck had to back up over everything that it flipped. Lesson to self: avoid planning a garden where there's very little space for the right equipment to do the job... So the last two months can be summed up by "all work and no play" - but its a good thing we enjoy the work we do!    

More Critters - Burgess the Breeder Rabbit (to be)

Last week I went and bought another rabbit, before I've even gotten around to butchering the first batch. BUT this rabbit is going to be my breeder rabbit so that next year I can have a whack load of rabbits! I named him Burgess and his wife (the white Californian) has finally been named Marigold. Burgess is really scared and skittish, but he's slowly coming around. He's only about 2 months old. He's got the most beautiful colouring, he is a New Zealand Red. Apparently the new Zealand and californian cross makes a great meat rabbit - so that's what Im hoping for come spring (obviously Burgess has a bit of growing up to do before he becomes a parent haha).

The Garden Wind-Down

After all the hard work of planting, weeding, and waiting, the harvest came in a rush, and now after a heavy early frost, the garden is completely levelled and ready to be prepared for another year. Fortunately I got the main things off before the frost, tomatoes and my last zucchini. I figured the roots would be ok in the ground, so I left them (aside from my potatoes which I harvested). I left the cabbage, the vines and the beans. My beans were turned completely to slime, and some of my squash and pumpkins even took a hit, with freeze marks on the top side. I didn't get my apples picked in time, but they don't look to have suffered any. I picked them just after the frost, in case we get another frost - I wont risk it. Overall, production was good (considering the limited amount of time I put in) and we have a good store of food in for the winter. Now all I can think about is garden expansion plans...

 One and only eggplant

 Spartan Apples

 Harvested 1 bushel of potatoes off the new garden (see post on double digging!)

 My seed zucchini

 Kidney beans drying

 The frost damaged garden

 Again - more frost damage

 My bountiful squash harvest

The Great Chicken Adventure: Week 23

Wow I'm delinquent at keeping a blog!! I promise I didn't check out of chicken care the way I checked out of blogging this past month. Everything has been crazy busy between the harvest, some butchering and "extra curricular activities". As sad as I am to see things winding down, Im glad in a way. Its been such a busy and consuming first year of farming. But I am starting to see the fruit of all my hard work. Week 23 in the chicken coop brings a slightly reduced flock. We started with 33 chickens, butchered Bernie, the first troublemaker-dictator, then we butchered his "sister" who was actually a male, then we did a big lot of 5 miscellaneous roosters, bringing the chicken total to 26 birds. We didn't have a scale to weigh the end results but taking a guess they were each around 4 pounds of well fed rooster. Now its so quiet to go into the coop, theres practically no fighting, and theres no bloodspots (from stress) in the eggs anymore, yay!! We still will have another 4 or 5 to butcher, whenever we get time. We had to kill off Racing Stripe the most beautiful rooster, because he was fighting with everyone! If another rooster even looked at him, there would be an all-out-feather-flying fight. Rob is the new king of the coop and the little garden helper is still alive too. The hens are laying eggs quite faithfully, everyday there are about 3-5 for me to collect. And I haven't been in need of eggs yet. Two hens have made a habit of laying on the floor, but fortunately they haven't made the habit of eating their eggs (yet)... Occasionally I let all the chickens come outside on the grass and theyre just in their glory when I do that. They make the funniest excited noises! And eat grass like its going out of style! The chickens still get a fair bit of garden and veggie scraps. They went pretty wild over the pumpkin skin I gave them. Theyre on 100% laying mash (even the males) and they get an additional scoop of oats (when I remember to give it to them). Im going to start them on oyster shells this week at some point, that will help the hens with building their shells.
Below are some picture of the birds during the last month.

The Great Chicken Adventure: Week 19

Surprise! Surprise! After expectantly checking nest boxes every day for the last several weeks, I am SO happy to finally have collected my first eggs! Only two hens must be laying, because Ive gotten one egg per day plus two days Ive collected two. They are pullet eggs, meaning that they are smaller than the egg of a fully mature hen. I think its the dark brown hens that are laying, since that's who Ive caught sitting in the nest box. She lays her egg in the afternoon, as I haven't collected it before two in the afternoon. So now that some are laying, Im switching their feed to the laying mash, as soon as my scratch feed is done. Im very happy that they are laying in the nest boxes - sometimes birds wont use the boxes, and if the eggs are on the floor theyre more likely to pick up the habit of eating their eggs. Recently the roosters have been fighting more - the longer I put off butchering, the harder it is to decide who will have to go. They'll be well fed when their time rolls around though!

Produce Overload: Canning Applesauce

I made the mistake of not spraying my mellow apple-producing Melba tree this year, and the apples are unnecessarily wormy. The whole apple isn't wrecked, you just have to cut out the worm trails. So Monday I picked up a 5 gal. pail of windfalls, then again on Wednesday, then again on Friday and then again today! So Ive been chopping (with the wonderful help of my Ma) and making applesauce! Im onto 8 litres and 12 pints - and not slowing down.

Heres what I do:

Quarter your apples, leaving skins and cores on  
Put in a large pot and fill with water until about 2 inches from the top of the apples
Cook the apples until they are completely soft
Pour the apples and their juice through a food mill
Put applesauce into sterilized jars
Process jars in pressure cooker for 5 minutes at 5 pounds of pressure (see "Produce Overload: Canning Beans" for more pressure cooker instructions).

And enjoy - all winter long, without taking up all your freezer space!

*Don't worry, I didn't forget the step "add sugar" - because you don't. You can put your sugar on when its in your bowl!*

Produce Overload: Canning Beans

Sometimes smells tie you back to a memory - and the smell of canning beans reminds me of Grandmas kitchen in the summer. She taught me how to can beans, and after the way my plants are producing this year - Im glad Ive got something worthwhile to do with them all! After I finished tonights batch my grand total is 45L of canned beans! (My secret goal is to have a jar per week - 52). I don't think my bean plants will let me down either, theyre non-stop! If you buy from Veseys be sure to order Provider green beans and Gold Rush yellow beans, their names give them away. So first step to canning beans, don't waste your time with a boiling water bath - go buy a pressure cooker (I got my heavy duty second hand brute at an auction, for less than half the price of a new one, and its worth its weight in gold). Second step, pick your beans, snip them to inch lengths and wash them twice in cold water. Sterilize as many jars as you have beans (4 c beans per litre jar).
So my process for the pressure cooker is to get the water boiling in the pressure cooker, with the lid askew. I heat 7 litres of water to boiling in another pot. At the same time as I stick my jars in the oven to sterilize, I get my snap lids heating in some water too. Then when everything is boiling, I get my jars out, pack them, leaving an inch at the top of each jar. Put one tsp. of coarse salt in each jar. Fill the jar with boiling water and put the lid and ring on. Don't crank the ring on, just until it pulls firm when you twist it on. Then place them on your rack in your pressure cooker, get the lid on and fastened. Make sure you have your petcock open to vent the steam. When steam is pouring out, shut the petcock, let the pressure rise to 10 pounds and then hold it there for 25 minutes. Make sure to let the pressure decrease to 0 before opening the petcock. When no steam comes out, open up the pressure cooker, take your jars out and let them cool on a rack. And for goodness sakes, use oven mitts, those jars come out stinkin hot!
If you haven't used a pressure cooker before, watch a youtube video or something first, and don't walk away from it while the heat is on. And they usually come with manuals - which are good to read too.
Ive never had a jar of beans not seal for me before - when done in the pressure cooker. The flavor is far better too than frozen or store canned (blah!).

Produce Overload: Bread and Butter Pickles

Bread and butter pickles have to be one of my favorites! Now that the cucumbers are ripening (almost too fast to keep up with) - its time to do up some pickles. Here is the recipe I use, try it and enjoy. Im sure you wont be disappointed!


Bread & Butter Pickles

Scrub 30 medium size cucumbers and slice into thin rings.
Slice 3 medium sized onions in thin rings.
Soak the vegetables in ice cold salt water for 3 hours.
Drain.
Combine:
5 c. vinegar
5 c. sugar
2 tbsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. whole cloves
Bring to a boil.

Add vegetables and return to boiling point - but don't boil.
Pack into sterilized jars and seal.

Leave them on your shelf for at least a week before enjoying. They keep a good two years.

The Great Chicken Adventure: Week 17

Another couple of weeks have quickly gone by. The chickens are as full grown as they'll get I suppose. I was looking though my blog posts the other day - starting at week one, and its incredible to look back at how much the chickens have grown. Theyre on 100% chicken scratch now - which is a five grain mix. I haven't gotten any eggs yet, but maybe they'll start around the 5 month mark (3 more weeks to go?). Their diet has been heavily supplemented with fruit and veggie scraps from the garden - mainly apples and zuchinis right now. I cleaned the chicken coop out yesterday, and replaced the old bedding with fresh bedding, I just used a mix of pine shavings and hay. The old bedding was incredibly dry - so unlike cleaning a cows stall! All the chickens went nuts exploring their clean house. Now I shouldnt have to clean the coop again until late fall. Ever since we butchered Bernie, Racing Strip has stepped into the place of dictator. He does a good job too - bossing everyone and scaring the living daylights out of my poor hens. He's next to go. Im torn though, he's developing such beautiful colours its a shame to kill him. Now that his tail feathers are green, he's growing in BLUE wing feathers!! What type of chicken is he?! Well even if he ends up in the freezer - Ill save his feathers. Maybe Ill make a collage with them... Well here's some pictures!

 Chicken version of "The Wall" by Johnny Cash

The Cream Separator

Over a year ago now, I bought an old DeLeval Junior cream separator at an auction. At the time I didn't have access to cows, fresh milk or a farm - but now I do and that's why Ive finally had the opportunity to try out the machine! The separator was kept in wonderful shape throughout its life and wasn't rusty. I gave it a thorough washing before taking it up to the farm. There was a fair bit of assembling required, but fortunately the separator instruction manual came with the machine! That alone is an antique Im sure, but I appreciated it. We milked fast, excited to try out the separator! We had about 10L whole milk to put through. We got the handle turning, because its a bit stiff, then we poured the milk in, opened the release and let er' fly! Before you knew it there was a beautiful yellow stream of cream coming out the top and a bright white stream of milk coming out the bottom. It took about 3 minutes for it to process the 10L, which I would say is fast! Then we had 8L skim milk (which is probably still richer than anything you'd buy at the store) and 2L of rich rich cream. All the parts of the separator had to be disassembled and washed ,including the discs. I only used water, not soap (don't want your hard earned cream tasting like soap!). The next couple of days were filled with dairy experiments - including: skim milk yogurt, butter, crème brulee, the list goes on. We eat well with the cream separator at our disposal!