Doggies--gotta luv 'em

So it's been a very wet week with rain nearly everyday since Wednesday evening. But that's good for the crops and hay and I would much rather have it wet than go through the drought we have had in the last decade.

One thing I get to do every week for our CSA customers is bake bread. I absolutely love it! The house smells great, I get to experiment with different recipes and some of the outcomes are well, rather unexpected.
The picture above is one of the loaves that a customer was supposed to receive this past Saturday. I had made Challah (Jewish sabbath bread). It was outstanding, if I do say so myself! Fragrant, chewy, a soft crumb, ahh lovely. Then the dogs came in for the night....
Normally they are not left alone and thus, don't get in trouble for say, eating things they aren't supposed to get OFF THE COUNTER. However, Thursday evening, something went amiss.

It had been pouring rain while Lyn and I did chores and we were soaked. I was changing into dry clothes in the bedroom, Lyn was getting a dry jacket as he needed to go out again. The dogs were left alone for maybe 3 minutes max--and boy did they enjoy the Challah! This is why I do not bake on Friday for Saturday delivery. So Friday I made more bread and all were happy, especially the chickens as they got to finish what the dogs began. I love the dogs, I really do, but Thursday I was thinking non-loving thoughts towards them.

Oh well, it's just bread. Have a great week!

Market season is here!

Well here we are at the end of a very long week but a very good week. And we managed to get to 2 markets today! Lyn went to Rapid City and had a good day, for opening day, while I manned the Chadron market, also having a good day. It is so fulfilling to see people appreciate our produce when we work so hard to give them the best we can grow. Lyn also delivered our customers their first CSA packages. YUM! NOTHING like fresh spinach! (We just have to keep Popeye out of the garden :D.)
Every year I learn more about preparing for market before the opening day of the season. This year was no exception. Now that we do two markets on the same day, we have to have duplicates of certain items. A thought that didn't really hit me until about 5:00 this morning as I was packing salad greens for Lyn to take to Rapid. We have a special container we have used for lettuces in the past, now we need 2 of them. Thus, I was running through our local department store at 6:45 with a big plastic box, trying to get Nichole to work on time at 7:00. There was only ONE aisle open...and the clerk and customer were CHATTING about?? ARGGGGH We pulled up at the hardware store at 7 o'clock exactly. Then I rushed home, fed chickens and calves, changed clothes (darn calves--messy little buggers keep using my jeans as their napkins), ate some breakfast and back to town. Good grief it's no wonder I sleep so well.
A thought to leave you with:
To be a success, one must begin.
Donna

May 24, 2010

Well it's been very busy around here, thus my lack of updating this site. We have laid plastic mulch and been planting pumpkins, squash, and cucumbers as well as green beans. The lettuces are up and delicious! and the spinach too. The hi-tunnel green houses are coming along, but, as usual, are taking more time that Lyn or I would like. The fryer chickens are enjoying their pasture buffet and will be plump little things in another month. We have received about 2 inches of rain in the past 2 weeks so everything is growing well, especially the weeds. ARGGH!

Nichole has been working very hard at her schooling and will be finishing a semester worth of school in less than 3 months. Homeschooling is so flexible! She is also working part-time in town at a hardware store and enjoying the cash that comes from that. She had a great time at the local prom. Her friend is a really nice young man that is going to be a senior here next year. If Nichole keeps going as she has been, she will complete 2 years of school in one--for some odd reason, she's looking forward to that. I think she is more looking forward to being in college and not having to help with the weeding ;D.

Hopefully, I will make it back in a more timely fashion next time.
Take care.
Donna

Rain, rain go away..but only for a little while :)

Hello again!
Well the cold I had last week was actually bronchitis. So after a course of antibiotics, I am ready to go again. (Thank You God for antibiotics!) However, we are getting rain today, and tomorrow, and Wednesday and maybe snow Wednesday night and Thursday--so I get to catch up on paperwork, housecleaning and other sundry inside duties. I am fitting in little outside chores between rains, so am not completely shut-in.
As I wrote earlier, we have bottle calves, three of them, and boy are they cute! I did the ultimate rancher/farmer no-no. I named them. They are Phil , Teensy (see photo), and Baby Girl (lying down). Phil is the largest, Baby Girl is the shyest, and Teensy is a preemie that has had a bit of a hard time lately. If it would warm up and the wind stop blowing, I am sure he would feel much better.
We had a hard frost late last week and lost one row of our peas, but the other 2 rows were a different variety and tolerated the weather better. Hopefully, this week will be the last of the colder weather, but considering I have seen snow on the 6th of June, one never knows!
We are still taking orders for CSA packages and broiler/fryer chickens so if you are interested, let us know.
Here's hoping you have a great week!
Donna

HAPPY MAY DAY!

May has arrived! Am I ready? Not really. This is such a busy month and I have been sick all week. I have a rotten cold that has settled in my lungs. I can't get enough air to do the things that need done. Earlier this week, when I wasn't quite as sick as I am now, I did manage to get 2 of the 5 or 6 stumps dug out in the yard. This place was definitely a fixer-upper when Lyn bought it and it has taken A LOT of work to get it to where it is today. There is still more to do, of course, and we are hoping to have a decent lawn this year.
One of the infrastructure items that Lyn has been working on this week are new high tunnels. For those of you who don't know what a high tunnel is, it is an unheated greenhouse. We have one full of strawberries already. The others will be filled with vegetables as insurance against any possible hail or pest damage to the garden. The frame will probably go up this week. Plants will go in sometime in the next 2 weeks. Which is great because I have tomato and pepper plants that are yelling at me every day to get them in the ground. They have the most annoying voices at 5 in the morning! :)
I leave you this week with a picture of our strawberry tunnel.
Happy May!

4/25/2010

Spring is about babies and, boy, do we have them! Baby chicks, baby calves and honey bees all arrived in the past 10 days, and "baby" vegetables are making their appearance in the garden. And, just like our own children, they will all be grown up in the blink of an eye.
The weather has been cool and wet so we are not able to do as much outside as we would like, but there is plenty of indoor work to do. Since we start all our tomato and pepper plants from seed, I have been transplanting many of them into larger pots, taking care of some home school chores, and refreshing my calf-feeding knowledge.
Just in case you think all we do around here is work, let me tell you about the fun we had last night. We went to the family dance in Angora. WHAT FUN!! People of all ages from knee-high wee-ones to grandparents and a bunch of twenty-somethings enjoying an evening of good, clean dancing fun. It had been a while since Lyn and I had gone dancing as we don't enjoy going places where the air is blue (either from smoke or language). We had such a good tome that getting up to feed the calves and take care of the other chores wasn't a very big deal even though we got home a 1:00 a.m.
Tomorrow starts another busy week, so I will leave you with a picture of our bees.
Happy Living!
Donna

Hello again!
We have had really nice weather this past week, if you don't mind the wind! :) We have been busy with everything SPRING! I am tempted to put away my winter sweaters, but every time I do, it gets cold again. Maybe just half of them will go into storage.
Nichole and I planted 90 conifers this week. The salad greens, radishes and peas have come up. And the large four-legged vermin most people call deer have gone away for a while. At least they aren't going to demolish the peas for now!
We continue to await the arrival of new kittens. Curly is getting quite large and is lying around quite a bit, just waiting. Every day we wonder how much bigger she can get. Some of us are getting impatient for the arrival. the picture doesn't show how big she is getting, but it sure is cute.
That's all for now. More trees are waiting to be planted, dishes to be done, and Nichole has a job interview today so I'd better get moving.
Donna