Our Backyard Farm Fall To-Do List

I arrived home this afternoon from a long weekend away with my husband.  We saw so many farms in our driving around, and it made me think of all the things that need to be done before autumn ends and winter sets in.  (In fairness, we live in a part of the country that doesn't have harsh winters--just rain, more rain, wind, and then a bit more rain.)
Still, there are a few chores that need doing on our .11 acre, and to stay motivated and accountable, I'll publish my to-do list here for all to see.  (And should you see it, and you know me personally or are related to me, and you live close by, you are most welcome to volunteer your help with a task or two!)

1. Finish chicken coop roof.
2. Build cover for chicken feeder.
3. Install hook for chicken waterer.
4. Tarp on shed roof.
5. Cut back blackberry vines behind shed.
6. Straw, leaves, and burlap over raised beds.
7. Clean up decorative beds, pull weeds and trim back plants.
8. Cover kids' bikes.
9. General clean up around yard.
10. Plan for next year!

It's Salsa Canning Time

Hey Farm Aficionados!

It's that time of year when all good little tomatillos and tomatoes cry out, "No!  Choose me!  I want to SALSA!"  Yes folks, not to be confused with Salsa--the Latin music/dance style, our tiny toms are actively involved in our canning fiesta on our farm.  Farmer Gina rose early and begun the rinsing and cutting of the veggies ceremony as you can see in the photos below.
 

Notice those beautiful ROMA tomatoes?  They make awesome salsa!

In addition to salsa roja (red sauce for you non-Spanish speakers), Farmer Gina made salsa verde (green sauce, etc). They are chunk-a-licious! Here are two of our little beauties.

I will let you know if the recipe was a success when I open a jar up in the next couple of days.  If the recipe tastes good I will tell you where I got it from.  If the recipe is an epic fail I will tell you where I got it from!  Happy eating!

Spud Princess

Hey Pine Street Family Farm Fans--all three of us!

Please look upon the following picture with oohs!  aahs! and isn't she cute?!  This is Farmer Amy checking on a portion of our potato harvest.

After digging deep in the mud, our very own SPUD PRINCESS shares her tater treasures. 

Yep, We're Still Here!!

It's Farmer Stephanie back atcha after a temporary absence from the "Blog".  I've been too busy to post anything as it has been potato harvesting, tomato picking, general garden bed mulching and spent crop, herb, and cut flower composting.  Farmer Gina and Grand daughter Farmer Lucy are planning the square garden seed plots as I write.

I haven't figured out how the successful "blogists" post all the glorious pictures and tidbits and recipes on a daily basis.  Farmer Gina and I homeschool four children and care for a 3 year old and a nine month old throughout the week.  Eventually, I will get pictures posted of these future farmers (six of Farmer Stephanie and Non-Farmer Mike's grandchildren).  The three year old, Antonio, is a willing worker.  He helps prune back whatever plants Farmer Gina and I ask him to do.  He carries split wood and places it in the chicken run so the bugs congregate and our girls have a little protein variety.  He loves the chickens, especially his hen, Diesel.  Don't ask me why he named her that, but he is happy working outside and we love having him do so.

Shout out to Farmer Gina and Farmer Lucy for helping me get this pic of Farmer Antonio on the blog!

We have had a successful tomato and tomatillo run this summer.  Recipes and canning jars are at the ready for salsa roja and salsa verde.  We'll get back with recipes and photos.

HAPPY FARMING!

Farmer Stephanie--All On Her Own

With Farmer Gina on vacation in California, Farmer Stephanie has no photos to share at this point because Farmer Stephanie doesn't have a clue how to put them in her post.  Next week, perhaps, but after all, she is a Farmer not a tech wizard!

To update you on the happenings on Pine Street Family Farm:  The chickens continue to delight us with their antics.  I have been "elevated" from a mere Chicken Crooner to Chicken Mama.  They come running when they see me and I have trained them to eat out of my hand.  Not bad for an old gal new to chicken life with chickens which were not "hand raised".  No matter, they love me.  They are like dogs, except they actually give something in return.  I'm all about love and devotion, but you can't eat those; you can sure eat those awesome eggs the girls provide, however!

Farmer Stephanie's first observation about hand-feeding:  The girls will peck at the nail polish because they are attracted to the bright color.  I figured this out, however, so my nails are painted the palest pink possible.

Second observation: They are pigs when it comes to treats.  Our girls love unpeeled bananas, grapes, greens, and wormy tomatoes from our garden.  Found some slightly ripe pears on my early AM walk. I hope they'll enjoy it.  I'll let you know.

Third observation:  They do not like broccoli.  At least my girls don't.  This is good, though, because Farmer Stephanie's hubby, Not a Farmer Mike, won't have to share his favorite veggie.  That's OK as the girls can have my portion.

Other goings-on at Pine Street Farm: Now is the time to get our seeds in the raised beds for salad greens, broccoli, celery, flat leaf parsley, and green onions.  I will be adding more organic material to the beds before seeding.  Every time I see something green peek its head up after a week or two I am always amazed at the miracle of life underneath the soil.

Happy Farming!
Stephanie

Late Summer is in Full Swing

Where did this summer go?  It seems like it was just barely May and we were carefully tending newly planted seedlings, wondering how long it would be until they really took off.

Now it's August, and the tomatoes are on the verge of bursting into red ripeness (in fact, we've already been sampling our grape tomatoes!).  Here's one of my farmhands helping me stake up her tomato plants.

Yesterday, our neighbor two doors down brought us plums from his tree.  And not just a few.  He gave us around 115 plums.

These are just some of the plums.
Aren't they pretty?

What do we do with that many plums?!  Well, we eat them fresh, of course, and to start with we decided to make plumsauce (like applesauce, but with plums).  So Mama Stephanie cut about 25 of them in half and cooked them down.  But they didn't turn into plumsauce.  There was so much water that when we blended it, it was more of a puree.

That got me to thinking--jam starts with puree.

So here we are, our very first (and perhaps last, depending on how it turns out!) canning project.  We had the right jars and lids, the pectin, the sugar, but no canning equipment.  No matter!  A stock pot with extra jar rings in the bottom is a fair substitute.

Measuring out what we need for jam.
The rest is for plum BBQ sauce.  YUM!

Sanitized and ready to be filled!

My canning rack, as it were.

Waiting to get in the bath.

A nice, hot, 10-minute soak.
And by soak, I mean boil.

All finished!

My husband counted each of the 11 satisfying "pops!" as the seals were created.  Tomorrow, we'll taste it and make sure it's good enough to share with our friends and neighbors!

I Have a New Calling

It has been one week and two days since Inca, Henrietta, Diesel, Miss Speckles, and Wahoo! have joined our family.  We have had a blast integrating our new "kids" into our farm.  They love the homegrown lettuce, mint, and dandelions (we don't cultivate these, they grow despite our best efforts to eradicate them).

One of the most enjoyable pastimes for me is "putting them to roost" for the night.  Frankly, they seek the coop all on their own in the evening, but I have determined that I shall be the one who helps them settle down.  I sing--to them, I mean.  They love it.  My voice will never win any human music awards, but if ever a "Best Chicken Singer" category made it to the Grammys, I am a shoe-in.

The Girls' current favorite:  Good Night, My Someone  from The Music Man.  The softly cluck along in bird harmony.  They are at peace, I am at peace.

About their eggs:  If you have not had fresh, truly organic, homegrown eggs, you are missing out.  I had enjoyed our neighbors' homegrown eggs numerous times, but the fact that they are laying eggs in the awesome nesting boxes Gina made, on our farm, makes them even better.

Here is a super easy recipe for homegrown eggs.  In a small fry pan place a pat of butter in the pan and place on the stove over Med-High heat.  As the butter melts and coats the pan, place two HOMEGROWN (yippee!!) chicken eggs that you have cracked into the pan.  Slowly add them in so you don't break the yolk.  As the clear part of the egg turns white, turn the heat down a bit so you don't overcook the whites and the yolks.  I like mine sunny side up.  Fresh egg yolks have the deepest yellow you could ever imagine.  Continue the cooking process on Medium.  Honestly, it doesn't take but a couple of minutes.  When the gelatinous clear is white, gently slide them out of the pan, butter and all, onto a plate.  A little sea salt, a little cracked black pepper--God is good and all is right with the world.

Here is a quick supper idea for those same eggs.  Take fresh ground beef (either your own blend) or an 85-15 ratio lean to fat, and making each patty approximately 4 oz. per serving, add a dash of sea salt, cracked pepper, and mix gently into the meat.  Form 1/3" patties, slightly indenting in the middle.  Place in skillet and cook them like you like to eat them.  I like mine medium, with a little pink in the middle. Meanwhile, have some spinach clean, sorted, stems removed, or a frozen block, and cook it up, drain the water and take a wooden spoon and press the cooked spinach into a colander, removing all the water.    Now, take that beautifully cooked hamburger, place it on a plate, take the verdant green spinach, place it on top of the hamburger.  Finally, take those HOMEGROWN sunnyside up egg(s) and place atop the spinach, piercing the yolk so it runs down into the spinach and into the hamburger.  Bliss!!

We're Livin' the Dream!

I am the second, much older half, of our urban farm endeavor!  As a young girl, I had hoped to marry a farmer or a rancher so I could live out in the country and have my farm and my own horse.  That dream never materialized until now.  I realized a couple of years ago that with a good  partner this farm "thing" could become reality.  Enter in daughter Gina.  While I am the aspiration of this charming duo, she is the perspiration and inspiration of our endeavors!  Don't get me wrong, I am the best "go fer" this, "go fer" that, she could ever want!  But we have our urban homestead farm because of her.

Jumping into Urban Farming

Over the last couple of years, we've put in raised garden beds in the backyard and tried growing a variety of different things.  In the past, we've grown tomatoes, corn, summer and winter squash, beets, potatoes, onions, lettuce, green beans, peas, and more.  We learn a little bit more each growing season.

For example, planting broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage in the spring brings those little white butterflies that lay their eggs which hatch into green horn worms and eat the plants, and the cycle just keeps going.  We tried spraying the plants with soapy water, but that didn't work.  We tried going out each morning and picking the worms off the plants, but there were so many we couldn't keep up.

Last year, we planted broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage in the fall instead.  We picked off 5 worms total, and that was the end of it.  So we've decided to only plant those crops in the fall because it makes our lives easier.

This year, we thought we wouldn't get much at all planted in our garden because of different circumstances.  We surprised even ourselves!  Not only were we able to plant potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, and peppers, but managed to build a chicken coop and run to house 5 chickens!

2 of our girls--the Ameraucanas

Barred Plymouth Rock, Ameraucana (see above), Australorp
Not pictured in either photo: our Buff Orpington

We're now talking about putting in fruit trees next spring, and have planned our fall garden which will be planted this week and next.  We've become city farmers, I guess, and loving every minute of it!