independence days - week 5

since i'm struggling to get the garden in again this year due to my rambunctious toddler, i thought taking the id challenge would be a good moral booster for me. i try to practice this idea anyway during the growing seasons so it's a great reminder of how much i really do even when it feels like i don't.


1. plant something:
sat: none - rain
sun: between storms: 344 sugar beets (for goats and sheep mostly)
mon: potted up: 25 echinacea, 8 spearmint, 11 peppermint, , 5 catnip, 2 comfrey, 4 feverfew, 4 purple goosefoot, 4 motherwort (prepping for local horseradish festival) between rain showers
tue: none, cold and rainy
wed: ha!
thu: transplanted ashwaghanda and wood betony seedlings into garden
fri: woodruff and garlic chives i stole from my mom's house today

2. harvest something:
^harvested eggs
^rose petals for drying
^strawberries!!!

3. preserve something:
^pressure canned 4 pints black beans, 8 pints red beans, 1 mixed pint from dry beans

4. prep something:
^ordered seeds to grow winter goat & sheep feed: parsnips, rutubaga, kohlrabi, kale, swiss chard
^firmed up 2nd wwoofer for the season and offered 3rd and 4th wwoofer's a time slot

5. cook something:
^made granola (first time in a long time)

6. manage your reserves:
^discovered 1 bin has been compromised. pulled out all bulk items (rice, noodles, flour, sugar, black beans, garbanzo beans, red beans) and relocated what could be salvaged


7. work on local food systems:
^sold eggs and jellies at local farmer's market


8. reduce waste:
^use canvas bags at grocery store
^re-use egg cartons for our nest run eggs
^grocery shopping (i rarely do any other kind than this) less, reducing amount of waste coming into the house
^using smaller bags for garbage to encourage less waste

9. Learned a skill:
^planning/researching raising root crops for goat and sheep feed for winter time

good day sunshine

the sun is finally emerging again. with the vast amounts of rain we've been getting, all my seeds are just sitting there, not sprouting or doing so very slowly.

last night, i noticed spaghetti squash finally emerging. the beans are also sprouting but that's about it. no edamame, okra, acorn squash, 2 other winter squashes, cukes or watermelons.

and, everything i've planted is just sitting there. the tomatoes look sad, i've lost a few. the peppers were disappearing to the rabbits, we made tiny cages to cover them. they aren't growing though. neither are the 6 celery plants or basil or anything else.

the potatoes are slowly merging but they were planted long, long ago.

i still have some basil in pots and it's growing quicker than the stuff in the ground. i wonder why. they are both outside.

harvest wise, i've gotten about 1 dozen strawberries per day. jaden and sage gobble them up w/in seconds. i've sampled a couple but that's it. it's too much fun watching the joy on their faces from eating them.

the portable chicken coop is done and is in place in the back pasture. the broilers seem happy. i've got pictures on the camera to download and post. next up is the fencing for the garden to keep out the chickens and allow us to let the chickens free range all day and then renovating the garage for the WWOOFer who is arriving july 7. we actually have 2 coming jun 1 - 14 but they'll be tent camping. the july one is a single mom with a 3 year old and will be here for 1 month. then we have another one coming in august. here's hoping it's a better experience than last year!

we currently have 10 eggs in the incubator. we started with 36. when the hens brought the numbers down to 13, we brought them inside. i candled them last night and discovered 3 bad ones. so, here's hoping the remaining 10 will work out. i'm thinking of putting them back under the broody hens next tuesday (hatch day) so they will raise them and stop this silly broodiness and get back to work giving us eggs. i'm considering pulling a few more eggs and trying for a 2nd round. we have another hen going broody that i could put them under at the end of the 3 week period. i just hate taking away from our egg supply to do it. but we desperately need more hens to lay so we can supply more eggs. ahhh, such a vicious circle!

thanks for all the comments on the previous post. i am looking forward to this experiment. right now, the seeds have been ordered. i think everything i ordered needs to be planted in aug/sep time frame for overwinter storage. i'm consulting the root cellaring book (that may be the title, i don't remember but it's one of the popular ones on the subject written by a husband and wife, possibly last name bubel or something like that).

how much does a rutabaga weigh?

or beet? or parsnip? or kohlrabi?

i ordered several root crop seeds for experimental animal feed. i estimate we'l be feeding 7 goats and 3 sheep this winter. those 10 will eat an average of 40 pounds per day. multiply that by 6 months (182 days) and that equals 7300 pounds. wow.

i don't expect to grow that much but you never know. the complete list of what i hope to grow (we'll be eating most of these too):
turnips
parsnips*
carrots*
sunchokes*
beets
kohlrabi
rutabaga
kale*
swiss chard*
several winter squash varieties: pumpkins, buttercup, etc.

* marks those i will leave in the ground and cover for protection.

this year, i hope to rate their yield vs. weight and compare that list to what the animals prefer. then next year, i'll grow more of what they prefer. w/in 3 years, i hope to get them mostly off grain and onto root crops for winter feed (plus hay - see below).

i feel that i cannot truly be self sufficient with animals if i'm always needing to purchase our feed for the animals from outside sources. i don't want to be one of those 'homesteaders' who raise a whole menagerie of animals to be self sufficient and raise their own feed but yet still be dependent on others to feed their feed. did that make sense?

we have plenty of land that can be better utilized to accomplish this goal. we are taking over the back field that the farmer usually farms and turning it into a hay field. there are two types of hay i'm interested in: a mix of clover, vetch and alfalfa and a mix of oats and peas (grown together and harvested when oats start to turn). supposedly, the latter is good if you have poultry in with your goats/sheep as they will scratch and eat the oats that fall out of the hay. we hope to keep our turkeys in with them. we'll cut these with a mower on the tractor and then hand rake it and pile it loose in the shed. if need be, we have a sickle to cut it with.

i am very excited that we are approaching this goal. from day one of owning animals, i've wanted to be able to provide them their feed. the $20 worth of seeds i'm investing in will hopefully be a great start. i was just reading this morning how someone was growing 4 - 90' rows of parsnips and a few rows of carrots to feed their 2 cows during the winter. it's great to see others are attempting this as well.

i also am growing some black sunflower seeds. that started when i discovered several had sprouted from the goat bedding i had covered the potatoes with. they love these sunflower seeds and they are expensive. i hope to set up a small patch and see what my yield is. they will make a yummy treat and also a good supplement for the does in milk.

carla emery's country living book also has some great information on feeding animals in this manner. the whole 'what did people do before they could go to rural king and buy grain for their animals' aka the pre-cornfed diet.

has anyone else had any experience with this method of feeding livestock?

next, i'll be researching what to grow to feed the chickens during the winter.

in other news, the pesky rabbits have been taking out my cayenne pepper plants one at a time so greg fashioned me some mini pepper cages out of hardware mesh. they are dinky but hopefully will keep any more from disappearing (i've only got 3 left).

the joy of naming...

chamomile, calendula, goldenrod...

clover, echinacea, bergamot...

these are a few ideas for the new goats. the first group for the light red ones and the latter for the darker one.

independence days - week 4

since i'm struggling to get the garden in again this year due to my rambunctious toddler, i thought taking the id challenge would be a good moral booster for me. i try to practice this idea anyway during the growing seasons so it's a great reminder of how much i really do even when it feels like i don't.

slacking a bit this week. most planting is done for now. waiting for field to be plowed for corn...

1. plant something:
sat: 29 sweet potatoes / 25 genovese basil / 3 ft. spinach / 8 spaghetti squash / 8 sweet meat / 6 table queen squash
sun: 133 okra seeds, 1 paprika pepper, 5 cayenne peppers, 6 celery plants, 8 different kinds of lettuce; transplanted lots of escapee sunchokes, cosmos and fennel, planted more thyme, cilantro and amaranth, elecampagne, butterfly bush
mon: 20 edamame seeds, 3 yellow scallop seeds, 3 yellow watermelon seeds, 5 raspberry plants, moved around a bunch of volunteer seedlings: dill, fennel, comfrey
tue: none
wed: 29 thai basil, 39 spicy globe basil
thu: none- on a field trip
fri: 36 cucumber seeds, bushing variety

2. harvest something:
^harvested eggs
^yellow dock root and leaves

3. preserve something:
^yellow dock root

4. prep something:
^weeded beds and paths, preparing to lay more cardboard and mulch over pathways to cut back on weeds
^weeded strawberries and more paths
^did i mention weeding???
^found local source for hay seed mix

5. cook something:
^yellow dock leaves

6. manage your reserves:
^cleaned and organized 2 shelves in basement, made note of another area to do the same with
^ordered 10 lbs of chunk sea salt
^looked at new goats for homestead

7. work on local food systems:
^signed another person onto our chicken cooperative
^ordered round 2 of broilers
^sold eggs and jellies at local farmer's market
^received a free vendor booth at the horseradish festival to sell plants (i'll have a mix of herbs that are edible and medicinal)

8. reduce waste (was compost something):
^use canvas bags at grocery store
^re-use egg cartons for our nest run eggs
^grocery shopping (i rarely do any other kind than this) less, reducing amount of waste coming into the house
^using smaller bags for garbage to encourage less waste

9. Learned a skill:
^nope

field trip!

i took the kids to look at some goats a friend is selling today. we left at 8 am and got home at 6pm. it was a great break from the everyday mundane...

first, the goat shots. i'm hoping to get 3. 2 are first time fresheners and 1 was born this year. they are half or more lamancha so i've got to sell greg on the elf ears. i milked both and the milk was very sweet and delicious!


this is snowball. at this point, i'm undecided about her. her teats are tiny and her bag small. her hind end is narrow too.


this is the doeling i'm interested in. mostly because she has horns. they missed her when they were disbudding. our herd is horned.

snowball headshot. (the name would definitely change).

this is cinnamon (her name would have to change too, can't have 2 cinnamons). i am sold on her. she was easy to milk, even being a first time freshener, her teats were larger and hind end wider.

headshot

tori doesn't usually milk her first time fresheners. yesterday, she put both on the stand to see what she could get. they freshened in feb and mar. snowball gave 1 1/4 cups. cinnamon gave 3 cups. the kids were not removed from either of them prior to the test. i think cinnamon had twins and snowball a single birth. so, cinnamon at this point seems very good. snowball came from good lineage so she could be better with time and the right feed (neither is on the poundage for milkers).

now, on to the fun stuff...(ok, the goats were fun too!)


pyrenese mix puppies


mr. peacock kept showing off for the hens. the female peahen is currently setting on eggs. while the hen is away, the cock will play!

mr. duck...mrs. was setting on her eggs and a few chicken eggs.


here piggy, piggy...


jack the miniature donkey


one of 3 bunnies.



nina absolutely LOVED the horse after she got over freaking out being on him solo. she wanted me on there. i was wearing a skirt so i didn't think it would be wise.


amos is 30 years old. he was a sweet pony...


2 semi-wild icelandic horses. one of three chicken tractors they have in the pasture. they currently have another 425 chicks in the brooder. i don't recall how many were in the 3 tractors in the pasture. probably 300. they have them processed and sell them.


sage LOVED the pony. he got mad when i took him off.


jaden enjoyed him too. poor thing was foundered. i felt bad for him.

fluctuations

logging my daily work into my garden journal, i noticed something i've kept noticing over and over this spring...things are taking longer to develop this year. i wonder why. the weather temperature wise has been pretty accommodating. maybe it's all the rain?

other odd observations:
*lilacs hardly bloomed. i wonder if this is something to do with last spring's late freeze?

*one apple tree didn't bloom

there were a few other oddities but i didn't write them down so i don't recall what they were.

anyone else noticing differences in cycles/growth?

independence days - week 3

since i'm struggling to get the garden in again this year due to my rambunctious toddler, i thought taking the id challenge would be a good moral booster for me. i try to practice this idea anyway during the growing seasons so it's a great reminder of how much i really do even when it feels like i don't.

1. plant something:
sat: farmer's market
sun: rained out
mon:direct sowed cilantro seeds
tue: rained out
wed: planted 28 strawberries, 80 haricot vert seeds, transplanted about 2 dozen yard long beans
thu: surprise, surprise...more rain
fri: 15 rattlesnake beans from the omelays, 28 white sage transplanted to medicine circle, 28 red rubin basil to medicine circle

2. harvest something:
^harvested eggs

3. preserve something:
^made and froze ~2 lbs of butter

4. prep something:
^ordered 3 mantles and chimneys for my aladdin lamp
^weeded raised bed to get ready to plant basil in
^greg continued to work on the chicken combine (don't laugh)
^continued correspondence with n-c sheep breeder

5. cook something:
^tried cooking goat in crock pot with excellent results twice: once with just water and seasonings, the next time with homemade barbeque sauce and ribs. yum!

6. manage your reserves:
^placed coop #2 order
^went through canned goods and discarded some OLD (from about 5 years ago) stuff. took note that i have a lot of apple sauce that the kids didn't care for (made last year and wasn't my best stuff) and made plans to start using it up making apple cake and bread and such
^used some dried onions i'd forgotten i had
^moved broilers to barn for more room until chicken combine is finished

7. work on local food systems:
^fed and watered broiler chicks several times a day (they go through food like crazy).
^stopped by local store to purchase asparagus that they grow and sell
^sold eggs and jellies at local farmer's market

8. reduce waste (was compost something):
^use canvas bags at grocery store
^re-use egg cartons for our nest run eggs

9. Learned a skill:
^learned more about navajo-churro sheep

a reprieve

the weather here has been windy and soggy. all my tomatoes are looking sad. drooping beyond belief. i'm hoping it's just because we got about 5" over the past 4 days. i can't get into 95% of the garden and the other 5% needs the manure tilled in before i can work there. i've been weeding te raised beds to prepare them for the pole beans. several of the yard long beans that fell to the ground last fall are sprouting. i'll move them to one section and let some grow. we eat them steamed or sauteed and freeze most of the pole beans for winter consumption.

opening day at market was great fun. money wise i did well and spending 4 hours away from sage was a mini holiday! that boy is tiresome. i was able to offer a variety of things...in addition to my herbal products i also had eggs, 4 herbal jellies (violet, dandelion, lilac and peppermint) and live herb plants.

we are considering buying two navajo-churro ewes from missouri. their ears have been chewed but they are still as cute as can be. i'm waiting to hear back on what the deposit fee is. we had talked about using electranet fencing to contain them but we are also considering using hog panels. we would just need 4 and could move them daily or as needed to 'mow' our yard. as a bonus, i'd get to stop by and see karl and tabitha and crew! since they live close by. (that is if they'd want the company ;). here are some pictures of the cutey pies:
i love n-c sheep. they come in a rainbow of sheepy colors and some have 4 horns. we'll have lawn mowers, wool for spinning and stuffing toys and meat.

the aliens are taking over

i found this on our cedar tree. there are about 6 or so over the entire tree. i have never noticed it before and it is kind of creepy looking. it reminds me of some alien life form, it is sort of slimy.

anyone ever seen them before? will i be alive to read the comments from this post????

independence days - week 2

since i'm struggling to get the garden in again this year due to my rambunctious toddler, i thought taking the id challenge would be a good moral booster for me. i try to practice this idea anyway during the growing seasons so it's a great reminder of how much i really do even when it feels like i don't.

1. plant something:
sat: too cold to have the little one outside (ok, so really, i'm the wuss when it comes to cold. i was productive inside)
sun: weeded and mulched garlic and horseradish, weeded asparagus, planted 5 summer squash (a pattypan i think)
mon: planted 17 tomato plants, 1 row of carrots, 3/4 row of beets
tue: planted 34 more tomato plants
wed: planted last 4 tomatoes, planted last 20# potatoes, mulched potatoes
thur: extremely rainy day, no outdoor activities - got over 3" rain
fri: more rain. sorted seeds to be started in the greenhouse and directed sown outside, hopefully tomorrow! planted 3 cotton plants when the rain finally stopped and transplanted holy basil into larger pots

2. harvest something:
^harvested more asparagus
^harvested some mint

3. preserve something:
^made lilac jelly
^made dandelion jelly
^made mint jelly

4. prep something:
^started list of items needed to further our cause (more supers and a spare hive or two, electranet fencing, etc)
^figuring how many chickens we need to separate to harvest eggs for hatching
^following up on milk goat leads
^bought 10 cases of jelly jars
^still searching for berkey water filter (lost an auction this week by $2.50 grumble)
^ordering more chimneys and mantles for my aladdin lamp once money is back into account

5. cook something:
^made goat stew. it was good but chewy. need to slow cook it more
^made goat chops, baked. still a bit tough

6. manage your reserves:
^placed coop #2 order
^ordered 4 turkey babies (don't know what they are called)
^picked up #1 coop order
^emailed 2 navajo-churro breeders about availability

7. work on local food systems:
^fed and watered broiler chicks several times a day (they go through food like crazy).
^emailed slow food st. louis to be added to their database
^emailed local harvest grocer to feel out interest in selling our products (and got a response...now i need to send them a price list)
^discussed possibility of selling our eggs at local nutrition store

8. Compost something:
^every day, all our foods go into the compost bucket and get fed to the chickens who turn it into manure for the garden.
^i hold back apple cores, carrot ends and peels and a few other veggies scraps for goat treats
^the dog and cats eat most the meat/bone scraps (i feed fish scraps to the chickens for extra protein)

9. Learned a skill:
^working on perfecting butter making and pasta making
^made mozzarella balls with citric acid instead of cultured method. yum!

send life preservers

3" of rain yesterday and who knows how many today. i haven't been able to plant something so today, i'll be sorting seeds for sowing and starting in the greenhouse.

i know death is part of life on the farm. when i was 12, my horse died. i laid on him and cried. he had colic and his gut was twisted up beyond repair. i remember my sister and i walking him in the cold rain for hours. it was december 13. he died sometime in the night. my parents finally made us come inside. the next morning, i had to go to school. i didn't know he was dead yet and my mom refused to let me check on him. she knew and she didn't want to ruin my day. when i got home, i knew he was dead because she (who hated horses) had been crying.

sometimes, our animals become so a part of our families that we can't help but feel a huge loss, no matter what their purpose in our life is.

life and death on the farm

we lost two goats last night. the white buckling and his mama. he was weak from day one and i kind of expected this would happen but i was shocked about his mama.

ginger was my first milk doe. i learned to milk on her and that was quite a feat as she had no patience for newbies. she'd kick and step into the milking pail. once i got good at it, she was good as gold but would treat anyone else learning to milk the same way. she was a sweet lovable doe who was gentle and loving to humans and very bold with the dog. she'd chase moonie down anytime she came near the goats.

this was going to be her last year breeding. she was headed to retirement. she was close to 8 years old.

it is a sad gloomy day here at the farm.

now that's mozzarella!

i've been experimenting with making mozzarella. the first two times, i did a long and tedious version using buttermilk to culture it. this third time, i followed a quick, easy recipe that used citric acid and only took about an hour from beginning to end.

here's the recipe: mozzarella in 30 minutes. now, it took me twice as long as her title states but it was so worth it. i gobbled up two balls tonight!

every day, i've been chipping away at the garden, trying to get things in here and there. it all adds up! before the rains hit, i managed to get in all 55 tomato plants, the last 20# potatoes and mulch them. mulching means that i have to go to the goat barn, load up a cart with goat bedding, pull it back to the garden, unload and repeat 3 times. i managed to do that this am while sage napped, bless his soul for sleeping so long! it took about 2 hours.

here are some boring looking garden shots:this is a shot of my original garden - 6 raised beds. in the back left bed, i have garlic. the front bed is horseradish in the front and asparagus in the back. the bed next to that is strawberries. all the other beds are fairly empty with the exception of weeds. the soil is quite yummy but it is a pain trying to keep the beds and paths weeded. the compost i purchased a few years back from a commercial lot (stupid move on my part) was full of bindweed root. now, our farm is overrun in it. thus, back to conventional gardening for us:to the left, middle you can see the edge of the last raised bed. the right front side of this garden will be full of herbs. the left front most likely will be sweet potatoes or pumpkins. the covered hoops in the very back are my brassicas. on either side of that are potatoes and onions. closer this way is where i planted the 3 rows of tomatoes (not shown in this picture). the garage is cut off in this picture but it is just to the right of the concrete pedestal.

this is the other side of the garage, taken from the back porch steps. due to the shade from the house, it's hard to see what's going on. the circular area in the front/right side is my defunct herb spiral (too much shade) so i turned it into a flower bed. there are pansies, dianthus, hollyhocks, evening primrose and golden rod. hopefully they will like it there. to the left of that are some herbs. behind the green house and to the right of that area are more herbs. behind that you can see the covered hoops for the brassicas.

i thought our garden space was fairly big until i started planting it. it's starting to seem real small now given the amount of stuff i have yet to plant: okra, 4-5 types of winter squashes including 2 varieties of pumpkin (what was i thinking?!), beets (4 varieties, one being a mangel to store for goat feed in the winter), oats, spinach, lettuce, a few more summer squash, watermelon (optional for me because i don't care for them!), green beans and another patch that greg still needs to till up for corn. oh, and the sweet potatoes that should be arriving soon.

i am out of soaker hoses so we'll be hand watering over half the garden. ugh. let's hope it's a fairly wet summer.

the bees are doing really well. they are all abuzz when i go by, coming in heavily laden with pollen and nectar. go bees!

this weekend, market opens for the season. i've been busy preparing for it. i don't think i'll be fully ready (still lots of products that need updating) but i should have more this year than i was able to produce last year.

we've had several wwoofer's contact us to work on the farm this summer. the latest kind of put me over the edge. i had emailed them saying:

What types of projects are you interested in and what do you have experience with? Our needs range from putting up fences, weeding and gardening, preserving, butchering, assisting with market, candling eggs, milking goats, caring for animals, tethering the goats, moving the chicken tractor, harvesting herbs, making herbal products, etc. Is that what you are looking for?

and they replied:

Yeah, definitely keep us on the list; we would love to work on your farm. As for
the projects we are interested, neither of us have any experience, but we are
both willing to learn everything you have to teach.

I know that I would especially be interested in gardening, harvesting herbs, and
making herbal products; although I am open to pretty much anything else.

I think my friend is in agreement with me about dealing with animals, in that we
would be more than happy to feed, milk, and care for them; but could never bring
ourselves to hurt them in any way.

anyone care to venture why i was annoyed???? that last line did me in. i mean, i'm all for vegetarianism. but come on. we raise our own food, including meat. that's part of what we do here. why volunteer for a farm if you're not willing to help? what, are they just going to leave for the day every time we butcher? i wanted to write back 'oh, we don't harm them. we give them a very loving, happy life here and then we quickly slit their throats. they don't feel a thing.' whatever.

i need to amend our listing so that it states: vegetarians please don't apply. we love you but we love to eat our animals. it's a fact of life here and we can't rearrange our lives to accommodate your convictions.

if anyone reading this is a vegatarian, please don't be offended. i used to be a vegetarian myself but my body type just isn't cut out for it.

vacuum sealer

ya'll pulled through for me on the pasta maker suggestions....i got an atlas and i LOVE it!

now, i need your help on vacuum sealers. anyone had any experience with them? what do you love and why?

independence days - week 1

since i'm struggling to get the garden in again this year due to my rambunctious toddler, i thought taking the id challenge would be a good moral booster for me. i try to practice this idea anyway during the growing seasons so it's a great reminder of how much i really do even when it feels like i don't.

1. plant something:
sat: out of town
sun: started weeding strawberries and asparagus
mon: transplanted basil
tue: planted 4 cauliflower, 4 green cabbage, 5 red cabbage, 2 brussels sprouts, 12 broccoli, finished weeding strawberries
wed: planted some nasturtiums, amaranth, borage, hollyhocks, calendula
thu: covered brassicas with row cover, finished planting onions, weeded horse radish, started weeding wheat feed, transplanted peppers, celery into larger containers
fri: planted 20# of potatoes with 2 little ones help, planted 5 zucchini, planted dill, parsley, cilantro, thyme, chamomile, wild tobacco, summer savory and chives, repotted holy basil and elecampagne, cut up last 20# potatoes

2. harvest something:
^harvested several wild morels found around our property and neighbor's property
^harvested some of our asparagus

3. preserve something:
^made 2 batches of violet jelly
^made and froze 1 lb butter

4. prep something:
^got several sustainable gifts for my b-day this week: marcato atlas pasta maker with several attachments, butter churn, pampered chef bread pan, another large cast iron skillet and dutch oven (you can never have too many!)
^secured a load of firewood from neighbor
^searched for milk goats, berkey water filter and refrigerator (for storing extra eggs and milk)
^started reading making your small farm profitable

5. cook something:
^wild morels and homegrown asparagus were on the menu this week

6. manage your reserves:
^placed coop #1 order
^started coop #2 order which will be placed once #1 comes in next wednesday
^purchased several bottles of everclear to use for tincture making

7. work on local food systems:
^fed and watered broiler chicks several times a day (they go through food like crazy).
^listed our eggs and meat on our local harvest online store
^separated seedlings to grow peppers and celery to hopefully sell to local restaurant and at market later this season

8. Compost something:
^every day, all our foods go into the compost bucket and get fed to the chickens who turn it into manure for the garden.
^i hold back apple cores, carrot ends and peels and a few other veggies scraps for goat treats
^the dog and cats eat most the meat/bone scraps (i feed fish scraps to the chickens for extra protein)

9. Learned a skill:
^tried out my new pasta maker (my daughters took turns hand cranking it)
^tried out my new butter churn (jaden tried cranking it but it was too hard for her)