The Best Dads I Know

Happy Fathers Day to the three best dads that I know.

My dad, who instilled the tremendous importance of family,

B, who is a loving and patient teacher opening the kids eyes to the wonder of the world,

and my little bro, who is raising two amazing girls while balancing the rigors of a crazy busy career.

slàinte boys!

Preparing for the Solstice

Since we will be headed out of town late next week to visit family, I will not be around for the solstice celebration that we have been planning at the Eco Justice Center. What better way to participate, than gather with a couple of ladies at the farm and spend a couple of hours hand dying solstice prayer flags.  Our goal was a sunny disposition to the flags that will be placed on sticks and carried in a parade celebrating the wonderful wildness of summer. 

This is my first time dabbling in dyeing and it was so easy and lots of fun.  A couple of things that I learned, at least when dealing with turmeric.....

It does not take much.  The recipe that we were using indicated 1 cup of turmeric to four quarts of water, that seemed like a lot and I can assure you that two quarts of water heated with 2-- .75 oz Jars of turmeric was plenty.   We hand twisted the fabric in a tie die fashion, and just held the little 8x7 flags in the hot water for about 30 seconds (until we could feel the hot water seeping up into the knot we were holding).  We set them aside on a plate until we were done, then took them outside, unfolded them and hung them to dry.  That is it.  Simple, beautiful, natural.

What a Ride

There is such a delicate balance to nature.  Even with the most conscientious of care, it can be hard to predict which things will thrive, fail, or endure the slimmest of odds.  It can be all at once disheartening and uplifting, and we find that as we nurture different things, we become very connected to them.

Most days we walk the homestead three times, early morning, mid day and evening.  We peruse the garden, check the bees, plan for future crops or animals, let the chickens out into the yard, harvest, water, pet the bunnies, weed pull, dream, and simply enjoy.

There are ups and downs to this process, because we will notice even slight changes that lead us to investigate and sometimes worry.  Both of our bee hives have been vigorous all spring, so much so that we had to add an additional box to each of them.  This week we had slowly warming weather, then a sudden very warm day.  I noticed that one of our hives had a large number of bees congregating outside, and some beginning to beard there.  This sent me into a little bit of a panic.  Are they going to swarm?  Are they unhappy in their home?  Are they just too warm from this crazy weather and getting some air?  We watched them carefully over the last couple of days and they are hanging in there.  This morning B noticed that the other hive seems to have many fewer bees, and we wonder whether this hive swarmed.  This second hive though robust,  has not been nearly as active as the other.  Maybe it lost its queen, and they are in the process of making a new queen.   It could be the other just had a huge brood hatch and by comparison it looks much more populous.  It looks like we will be examining the boxes in more depth to see if we can see a problem, or detect a new queen cell. So many possibilities, one of which is hives sometimes just swarm, period.  We will be setting out our bait hives this weekend, hopefully looking to catch a wild swarm, and not one of our own!

There is something about relying on mother nature that is very rewarding and humbling.  Hard work can be rewarded or punished by such simple things when you are relying on the elements and ecosystem around you.  But wow, what a ride!

 **Update.  After I posted this B spoke with our bee keeper friend who is very seasoned and been doing this for many years.  It seems we anticipated everything right, and it would be unusual for one warm day to cause a sudden swarm, especially since this hive was not the one with the excess of bees.  He thinks it sounds more like a mass die off due to some contamination/poison.  It happens these days.  We will inspect the hive this weekend to see if there is still a queen, and if the numbers continue to die off.  It leaves me sad, this was not necessarily mother nature, it was man made.  Big Ag may have created crops and insecticides to increase yields, and make for cheap hybrids (where the nutrition has all but been removed; ie. today's grains).  But I wonder what the true cost will be?  We already see effects in the health of the natural ecology.   The long term health effects to humans is yet to be seen, though I think he tip of the iceberg is emerging.

Thursday Things

It has been so busy this week, with the last day of school and summer activities getting into full swing without missing a beat. It has left me a little splintered with some tasks half done. So here are a few random Thursday things that I have been thinking about.

::  I had planned on baking cookies two days ago, but the afternoons have been so busy that it just has not   happened.  So this morning as my beautiful room temperature butter stared back at me accusingly, I decided to shake things up a bit and get my cookies baked early.  I am always at my best early in the day, and that time is normally monopolized by lunch making and carpooling before work.  What did I learn this morning?  An added benefit to summer....early morning baking rocks!

::  Virtually any garden item can be harvested and infused in vodka, olive oil or vinegar.  The possibilities are endless.....and delicious!!

::  When I knew that big storms were headed our way last night, I quickly ran outside and cut a few of our newly bloomed peonies, for fear the torrential rain would make them drop all of their petals before I could enjoy them.  Mother nature sure does it up right.  As I mourn the passing of my beautiful lilac flowers, she cheers me up with these delicate fragrant blooms, and reminds me that it is all a cycle and as one thing ends another begins.

New Life Feeds New Life

I have waited all week to post, in the hopes that I would catch another glimpse of the newest little life on the farm.  On Tuesday morning, mama and baby were walking through the long grass at the far end of the property.  I snapped a shot, but it was very grainy.  So each morning I got up extra early, prepped the kids stuff and waited patiently.  Mama appeared Wednesday morning walking around, but the little one was well hidden somewhere near the orchard.  This is the doe that I am certain has taken up residence for much of the last two Falls back in the orchard.  I haven't seen any sign of them the last two mornings, so I will post this, in the hope that Murphy's Law will be on my side and I will see them in the morning. 

Look at the sweetie, so small and unsure on her legs.  She can't be more than a week or two old.  So I guess I should not get too angry that the strawberry greens have been munched on, and that one of our baby oak trees has lost several of its leaves to our visitors.  New life does after all does feed new life.

New Homes and the Farm Weekend

Two of our not so little anymore little ones went to there forever home yesterday afternoon.  Brothers, Blue is the spitting image of dad, while Cluster has some of mama's finer qualities.  Dot (mama) also has a smiley face on both sides.  Fitting that the largest and the runt of the litter go home together. 

The kids spent some time primping them in preparation.  They got one last romp in the garden, and then a pedicure and a dry bath.  One of the best parts is that they went home with some friends of ours, so there will be visitations.

Aside from two traveling soccer games, a house full of 10 year old boys slumber partying, and 4H picnicking, we managed to get some more planting done in the garden, and some more envisioning for its future.  I am not sure if it is the fact that the weather has finally warmed, the possibility that we may soon finally be rid of the other house, or that our little farm is the site for a wedding this fall, but we feel a little lighter and better able to envision simple, sustainable changes that will move us forward. 

This morning, I processed the rest of the rhubarb that we have picked so far into 2 gorgeous Quarts of Rhubarb Vanilla cordial.  After much hemming and hawing about it, and the fact that Charles and Sidney now love soda water as much as B and I do, we are finally going to invest in a soda stream to cut down on our can waste, and to compliment the variety of cordials this seasons garden will offer.

This season we are also upping the ante with the purchase of a pressure caner.  We will be able to process a much wider variety of items to fill our pantry.  By later this summer, look for some new canning tips!

Golden Butterflies

The wind lifts the maple helicopters
dispersing them far and wide.
They dance like so many golden butterflies,
stretching their wings,
eager to propagate their future.

And, Another Rhubarb Post

The rhubarb picking over the weekend has left me in a frenzied mood to cook it.  One thing about eating seasonally, you are so excited to see the delicacies of each part of the season, that you eat them like crazy while you can, almost like you are trying to overdose on the memories of the flavors to hold you over until the next time.  I read this article this morning and I really love the idea of a living protest, and making your life a sign for your beliefs.

I already mentioned the Rhubarb Cordial that we started on Sunday.  I have decided that most batch recipes handle rhubarb in two pound increments....at least the ones that I am making.  I measured carefully the two pounds for the cordial, but when you have loads of chopping ahead of you, eyeballing is just good enough!  Yesterday I made a rhubarb lavender crumble.  I cheat a little, because I use Cracker Barrels apple crumble topping.  It is the best one that I've found, and have been yet to replicate it.  I always pick up a few bags of it when we pass by one.  hmmm maybe I should pinterest it, and see if anyone else has cracked the code to this oatmeal cinnamon goodness.  And, yes I did just use pinterest as a verb.

I also took 2 1/2 pounds of rhubarb and simmered it on the stove with 3/4 cup of water, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla for about 45 minutes.  This produced a lovely rhubarb compote that gave me three full pints.  It is wonderful on toast, or my personal favorite swirled in oatmeal. 

I am almost half through this first batch, and am searching for more new and interesting uses.  How do you use rhubarb??

My Rhubarb Agenda

This weekend was the traditional start to the gardening weekend in Wisconsin.  Normally we push the envelope and have most everything planted well before now, but that was not in the cards this year, and as it turns out that is ok.  We had patchy frost Friday morning!

We took our time this weekend, and got better than half of the seasons plantings in the ground before the rain began.  Thankfully, B had diligently prepared and covered many of the beds last fall, so there was not the prep work to be done.  We covered the beds that we are rotating out this season, and laid drip line as we planted. 

Our deep urge to get the season started sparked lots of conversation and brainstorming.  I love these sessions.  We can develop and fine tune our vision, and search out sustainable ways to make it happen.  As you can see from above, this weekend also gave us our first rhubarb harvest.  Thirty-four stalks as big as my arm and as wide as my wrist.  Oh there are so many things on my rhubarb agenda, so I began yesterday with a new recipe for an alcoholic rhubarb cordial.

So simple!  Two pounds chopped rhubarb, 1 Cup sugar and 1 liter of good vodka.  It needs to sit for a month, stirring it daily until the sugar is completely dissolved and the rhubarb breaks down.  Then we will strain it and bottle it.  I can't wait to see how it tastes!

We had a cold misty rain all day yesterday, perfect for watering in the new tender plants and allowing for farm dreams.  This morning, as thunderstorms and warmer air are rolling in, everything is foggy like London street corner at twilight.  I almost expect Sherlock Holmes to emerge out of the mist.  Not too bad a start to a Tuesday morning after a long holiday weekend;  warmer weather on the way and an air of mystery about the week. 

Alway's Look on the Bright Side

In case our afternoon of scattered torrential rain has gotten you down.

Remember, it has put a damper 

 on our current pollen problem! ;-)

 AND, you could be out practicing soccer in the torrential rain.  The kids love getting wet and muddy,  I've gotta give full credit to our dedicated coaches!