KW Homestead

Pasture Raised Poultry & Edible Landscaping Plants Since 2013

Category: her thoughts (page 14 of 21)

growing tomatoes: why we love our tomato varieties

let me start by saying that we will always grow tomatoes… no matter what! we are in love with freshly grown tomatoes! whether we’re pickling green ones or eating BOT sandwiches, we’ll certainly have tomatoes on the vine.

they are an amazing food: versatile, delicious, and if you pick the right variety, super duper nutritious.

our very favorite slicing tomato, one that i grew up eating and that we’ve recently realized also makes an excellent pasta sauce is the cherokee purple. supposedly the seeds from the cherokee were passed on from the cherokee  tribe beginning before the 1900s, and have been grown ever since. this makes it an heirloom tomato, and it sure is great. dark purple/red in color with a green top when ripe, we consider it to be a very meaty, dense tomato that tastes less acidic than your average tomato. this taste profile makes it fantastic on a tomato sandwich, especially when the slices are thick. it’s also great in soups and sauces since the sweetness of the tomato really shines through.

the ripened base of the cherokee purple, champion of tomatoes!

the ripened base of a cherokee purple, champion of tomatoes!

the top of the cherokee purple (yes, it's ripe... just cut around the very green spots).

the top of the cherokee purple (yes, it’s ripe… just cut around the very green spots). the brown lines are where the tomato burst open from all of the rain we got the last two days. you can see that the spots have healed over naturally.

we’re also growing two types of paste tomatoes, the san marzano and the black plum paste tomato. jason and i both feel that the black plum is the “cherokee purple” of paste tomatoes. colored much the same and similar in its less acidic flavor, it’s also super creamy. we were surprised by this, but i guess that’s what makes it a great paste tomato… being creamy instead of watery!

san marzano on the left, black plum on the right.

san marzano on the left, black plum on the right.

the san marzano is a bright red tomato that is also creamy. together, these two paste tomatoes give us the best of both worlds: the flavor of the black plum is superior but the san marzano seems to be more fruitful and grows larger tomatoes.

this tomato triad is an exciting combination for future soups and sauces. we’ve already frozen some mixed batches, with all three tomato types included. stay tuned for a farm food friday fresh tomato sauce recipe!

.:.

rainy day reflections

well, finally we’re getting a steady, lengthy, solidly wet rain. i feel like it’s been months since the garden swales have filled up with water, and the moisture in the air is thick and sticky (luckily the weather has turned a little cooler). as i was walking around today i noticed that everything was super wet and saturated, which can only come from a nice, long rain. it must have rained most of the day when i was at work and coming home i found muddy puddles all around the yard. the geese seemed perfectly happy in the rain, either sleeping under their tarp or swimming in their pool. the chickens, on the other hand, didn’t have a great day. since they’re not water birds like geese they look hilariously scruffy and horrible when they’re wet. they hid in their house most of the time, but came running out into the rain every time they thought i was coming by with their food.

the cement floor of the carport always starts to sweat when there is a lot of moisture in the air, and i noticed that some decorative wood slices had begun to grow a beautiful green fungus right beside the bark. this made me think about our shittake mushroom logs and whether today’s weather has given them a boost in colonization… hopefully they’ll begin fruiting soon!

n

this wood grows an extra decoration!

perhaps the greatest thing about the rain is the fact that we don’t have to water the garden! plants that are under the carport can come out for a drink and as i said, the swales filled up. so did our little frog pond right by the garden and bolt enjoyed drinking out of it as we went on his afternoon walk.

the ferns that hang in the carport get brought out for a long drink of rain water.

the ferns that hang in the carport get brought out for a long drink of rain water.

 

tonight jason and i are hearing a frog chorus that is much louder than what we’ve heard any other night.

and on top of all of this, rain is just plain cozy. it’s a time for introspection and taking it slow. i love rainy days!

.:.

saving greenbean seeds: strategies and thoughts

now is the time for our first planting of greenbeans to be left alone and allowed to go to seed. this means that we are simply letting the mature beans dry on the vine until the pods are brown and gross looking (when they even look like they’re molding or something… which they usually aren’t unless you’ve had tons of rain). once the pods look brown and funky, you rattle the pods to hear if the beans are wiggling inside. if they are, then the pods are ready to be harvested and the beans are ready to be removed and saved. you can see from the photo below that the beans in the ziploc bag are darker red/brown. they were collected at the right time, whereas the other beans were collected perhaps a little too soon and some are lighter in color or small and a little funny shaped. i’m not yet sure if these beans will be as fruitful as the others, but we’ll find out next year!

i also tried another experiment with bean seed preservation, which involved dehydrating (using the dehydrator) some large and tough beans that were still green. as expected, the beans did not really cure, since they need to stay on the vine until their nature-designed time for becoming viable seeds. it was still an interesting experiment, though, and i’m glad to know a bit more about curing our seeds for next year!

greenbean hulls and greenbeans, in different stages of curing

greenbean hulls and greenbeans, in different stages of curing

.:.

garden carrots–not just for rabbits!

yesterday we harvested our little bed of carrots so that we could have the space for planting more sweet potatoes. the carrot variety that we planted this year was danver carrots, a variety that i’ve grown before but i never had as much luck with them as we did this year. although we didn’t get a lot, some of them were pretty big! and considering that we never fertilized them or thinned them, that’s pretty great news!

freshly picked garden carrots!

freshly picked garden carrots!

the largest carrot was about 8 inches long… pretty exciting! these carrots are sweet and fun to munch on, and i’m glad we harvested them now instead of waiting.

.:.

chicken update!

ever since we lost primera, we’ve not had any luck hatching any chicks. our last try of 8 eggs were all failures, with 6 of them breaking before their hatching date (none of these were fertilized) and the other 2 never hatching (one of these was fertilized but it never fully developed).

since primera’s story was a sad one for us, it was amazing to visit my parents and see a little barred rock chick that is from our flock. this chick was hatched and raised by one of my dad’s broody buff orpingtons, and he (still not sure if it’s a future hen or a rooster) is doing wonderfully! he is, of course, rex’s son and also the son of one of our barred rock hens. this means he is unlike primera somewhat, who was a barred rock/buff orpington cross.

rex's progeny: first chick!

rex’s progeny: first chick, with mom standing by!

another chicken update that we have is that we’ll be acquiring 9 more bantam hens from my dad very soon. these hens are a beautiful golden/orange/black and they haven’t even started laying yet. it will be exciting to have more bantam eggs and i’m sure roosty will love having some younger hens in his flock. we’ll be moving the bantams to a separate pen in the next few weeks, where they won’t have to deal with the standards. roosty hasn’t yet been given the chance to reign as protector of a flock, and he’s a great little rooster so i’m really happy for him to have his chance without rex bullying him and his ladies.

the bantam hens that we'll bring home soon.

the bantam hens that we’ll bring home soon.

.:.

pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, and greenbeans!

today i spent a portion of the day pickling some our veggies for eating later in the year.

so far, jason has been the only pickling champion in the house so today i decided to try my hand at it.

i did 6 jars of veggies today… 2 jars of arkansas pickling cucumber slices, 1 jar of arkansas pickling cucumber spears, 1 jar of arkansas and white wonder cucumber spears, 1 jar of green tomatoes, and 1 jar of greenbeans.

i did some experimenting with spices, so we’ll see how that goes!

cucumber slices with garlic, dill, and jalapeno slices.

cucumber slices with garlic, dill, and jalapeno slices.

cucumber spears with garlic, dill, and jalapeno slices.

cucumber spears with garlic, dill, and jalapeno slices.

greenbeans with garlic and jalapeno slices.

greenbeans with garlic, jalapeno slices, and dill.

green tomato slices with garlic, thyme, and basil.

green tomato slices with garlic, thyme, and basil.

two weeks from now,  we’ll see how they taste!

.:.

 

 

 

 

apple picking, filling up our bags!

last week jason and i picked all of the apples on our one, mature apple tree. this one we did not plant and it was here when we bought the house and land. it is the very first tree member of our food forest. last year this apple tree did not make apples larger than the size of small crab apples, but this year, after being pruned, it made a great first harvest for us!

our (golden delicious?) apple tree

our (golden delicious?) apple tree

we’re not sure what variety of apple it is, but the apples are very similar in taste and appearance to the golden delicious apples that my parents grow. this year the apples grew to be much larger and they taste wonderful! a little sour and a little sweet–my favorite!

jason climbing the ladder to get to the apples at the top.

jason climbing the ladder to get to the apples at the top.

first we picked the lower apples on the tree, placing them into our picking bags and baskets and afterwards we brought out the ladder to get to the apples at the top of the tree. we were surprised by how many apples were actually hidden on the branches of the tree… we got so many more than we expected!

jason's picking basket.

jason’s picking basket.

my picking basket. a backpack hung over my front makes it easy to place the apples i pick inside. plus, it's practice for being pregnant in the next few years.. ha, ha!

my picking basket. a backpack hung over my front makes it easy to place the apples i pick inside. plus, it’s practice for being pregnant in the next few years.. ha, ha!

after we picked all of the apples, we sat in the cool basement and sorted them, separating the apples with blemishes from those without them. the apples that are the worst shape are in the kitchen now, awaiting their turn to be consumed. other apples with blemishes are in the fridge downstairs, to be eaten before the other refrigerated, blemish-free apples.

after we sorted the apples we weighed them and we got 32 pounds! how exciting!

next on our plate (besides the fresh apples)… german pancakes with apples and apple pie! stay tuned for some of these recipes…

.:.

processing kale seeds for next year

a few months ago we harvested our kale seeds pods after they dried on their stems. today, i spent hours processing the seeds for planting later this year. it was fun (i love doing detailed work with my hands!), but it sure took a while!

kale seed pods stored in a paper bag to dry

kale seed pods stored in a paper bag to dry

our seed pods were stored in a paper bag and i went through the stems one at a time, breaking open each seed pod and pushing and/or scraping the seeds out into a bowl with the broken off pod pieces.

broken off and emptied seed pods after processing

broken off and emptied seed pods after processing

kale seeds, freed from their pods!

kale seeds, freed from their pods!

that was it, really. a simple process but one that takes time and energy. we filled about 1/4 or 1/3 of a sandwich-sized ziploc bag with seeds, plenty for planting this year and the next!

next year's kale crop inside!

next year’s kale crop inside!

we put the spent stems and the still-attached pods into a compost area; perhaps we’ll use them for mulching in the near future!

emptied kale stems and pods

emptied kale stems and pods

and since i found the opened pods to be beautiful, i decided to save them, though i’m not really sure what i’ll do with them yet! i’m thinking a craft of some kind, but who knows?!

empty pods--a future craft?!

empty pods–a future craft?!

.:.

what all of us animals have in common…

one thing’s for sure, living with animals on a farm reminds you how much all of us animals really have in common.

when it gets hot and humid outside, we all head for the shade and search out some water. since i just got back from the beach, i spent most of today dreaming about a large body of water to soak in (like a pond!). i also drank tons of water today, which i really needed to add ice cubes to since i spent most of today with my hands in a scalding hot dish-sink. we’ve decided against cutting on the air unless company is visiting; we really like hearing the world outside our windows and having the AC on makes us lazy bums who avoid doing anything outside.

since today was a hot one, and i spent most of my time looking out the kitchen window  at the birds, i was reminded of these common needs we all have in the heat… shade and water!

the chickens were nowhere to be seen when the sun was shining, but as soon as a cloud would cover the sun they would come out of the house for a little exploration. the small white shade cloth that we’ve recently added to our new chicken pen setup provided enough shade during portions of the day for rex and a select group of his ladies to nap in the shade.

the geese spent most of the day sleeping while floating in their kiddie pool, and bolt tried to hog the floor fan that was supposed to be blowing on me while i washed dishes. no doubt if he had been outside he would have been hiding under his shady bush!

all four geese chilling in their kiddie pool together!

all four geese chilling in their kiddie pool together!

bridey drank tons of water and bolt could be heard lapping up water from the upstairs toilet, the downstairs toilet, a downstairs water bowl, and an upstairs water bowl. when it rained later in the day both he and i really enjoyed walking in it to cool off!

so whatever animals you have, mammals or birds, or just your partner (since we humans are animals too), make sure they’ve got plenty of water to drink and shade to hide in!

.:.

backyard chickens: finally in the backyard!

hilariously, our “backyard” chickens have never actually been on any of our backyard pasture. for some reason, we started them in the front yard and they never ran out of green spaces to occupy. now, though, after a year of having them, they’ve made their journey to the back. and with that journey came a new way of piecing together their fencing. instead of the usual 6 cattle panels that made up their old chicken pen, we’re only using 4 of those panels, permanently tied together on three of the four corners just like with our goose pen. we also are not rolling their house inside the pen, instead using it as a fifth side that the two unattached fence corners can lean against. the space between the front wheels of the house  and the house itself act as perfect slots for holding the 2 fence pieces in place. one of those connections act as the gate, and all you have to do to get in is lift the fence up and over the wheel and walk on in. bird netting is still draped over the top to deter hawks and escaped chickens, and a metal bar is leaned up against the base of the house to prevent small bantams from escaping that way. we have 2 wooden poles with tennis balls attached to keep the netting up higher and we remove when we move the fence so that the netting won’t get too taut from pulling and rip.

x

our backyard chickens get a newly designed pen!

some of our reason for making this change are:

  • once the chickens go in their house at night and we close them in, we can easily roll the house whenever we want without first disassembling all of the cattle panels and step-in posts that we used to use.
  • once the house is rolled away, we attach the open side of the fence with a clip and can slide it along the same was we slide the goose fence, with the netting still attached. the square shape is really easy to move, we’ve discovered. this also requires no posts at all!
  • since the gate is right by the house it is so much more helpful to be able to set food and snacks on top of that while you walk into the fence. i’ve always found it annoying and difficult to get inside the fence holding buckets of food while chickens walk under your feet or try to fly up in the air to land in your bucket.
  • since the square shape of the pen can be pulled on to be made more diamond-shaped, it will be easier to fit their pen in tighter spots in the the yard (like in and between garden beds and trees).
  • even though the area of their pen has been cut in half, since the house is no longer inside that area, they probably have 3/4 of the actual grassy area that they had before. and since they are so much easier to move now, this is a benefit for them. they’ll probably get moved every 5 days or so (they used to be moved every 2 weeks) and they still get 3/4 of the pasture area that they did before. it a good deal for all of us!
x

our chickens, enjoying their fresh grass.

.:.

Older posts Newer posts

© 2024 KW Homestead

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑