Hibernation and Awakening

I have always loved the change of seasons, each one with its own special something that I long for.  Winter is a time for hibernation that I love.  We are unable to work outside, so it is a forced time to not only rest but re-evaluate and plan.  I love the cozy candle lit evenings with the family.  Even during this rest in farm activity, life goes on.  There is great growth and great stress, laughter and tears, anxiety and relief.  It is the ebb and flow of life.  It is natural.  It is expected and accepted.  This year, the cocooning seems to have silenced my voice.  The words simply would not flow, ideas would come but never develop.

Then today is a 55 degree day with powerful 50 mph wind gusts that all but made the snow evaporate in a matter of hours.  The grass below is saturated but with a telltale hint of green that made my heart skip a beat.  Walking the property in the wind, watching the pigs frolic in the mud and the chickens finally take a few hesitant steps outdoors again, fed my soul in a much needed way.  It felt like an awakening.

#100HappyDays :: Day 17

As we are traveling, I am posting day 17 a day late.  Friday was a relaxed day spent shopping, hanging at my brothers home in New Jersey and barbecuing.  Due to circumstance happy or sad, the cousins have gotten to see each other on a fairly regular basis over the last twelve months.  We hope to keep up the trend of visits going to allow their connections to grow.  Seeing them get to spend time and strengthen their bonds makes my heart smile.

#100HappyDays :: Day 13

Even on the most crazy and uncertain of days you can find a moment of peace.  Walking out the doors at work, the trees were full of butterflies that fluttered all around me in greeting and reassurance.

#100HappyDays :: Day 1

The service berry tree is covered in blooms that take on an ethereal look as the cool spring fog begins to settle in.  As we finished our morning chores, B put the eggplant and peppers into the cold frame to harden off.  What a great way to start the day, Spring is truly here!

***After watching julochka and now lost star, I too have decided to undertake the 100 Happy Days challenge.  With life at the moment increasingly busy, I want to focus on keeping myself grounded in the here and now, those special happy things that come from each day, no matter how hectic.  I think it rather a good sign that the final day of this challenge will be the same day that we head to California and one of our favorite places for vacation!

{this moment}

{this moment}- A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment that I want to pause, savor and remember.

Linking with SouleMama

The Growing Days Have Begun

If things on the farm do not happen simultaneously, they certainly happen in quick succession.  Mother Nature is wise that way.  As we thank the trees for the early sap for syrup, now is the time to cease in collecting it.  As you can see, the lichen are thanking us for the little overflow of sap.

Today as we removed the spiels from the trees and scrubbed the buckets to ready for them storage, everything around us is hinting of tasks to come.

In a short two weeks our cool weather broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower seeds have blossomed into little plants ready to be hardened off and planted in our mini hoop house.

A large amount of dirt is lifting as our giant rhubarb begins to emerge like an octopus poking up from the deep.

Tender garlic shoots are beginning to poke their ray through their winter blanket of straw.

We have never seen stinging nettle on our property before, and after an exhaustive unsuccessful search last spring, late summer this plant began coming up in our pepper bed.  We left it and it is now getting large enough to transplant into its own area, I am excited to finally try julie's nettle pesto!

It is also spring animal time.  We are trying to finalize decisions on piglets, and since we did not want to brood any fowl in the house this year we have waited an extra month to order them.  Now we are putting together an order for chickens, ducks, and geese to wander the property all summer.  There is never a dull moment as the growing days have begun!

Spring Is In The Air

The snow has almost melted and the sap is running freely.  Dinner this evening will be out on the front porch so we can enjoy the light and balmy 69 degrees before the weather turns cooler and more seasonal again tomorrow.

The weekend was filled with evaporating off 67 gallons of sap into what eventually became two gallons of beautiful maple syrup.  Since this is our second year and we set our expectations appropriately, the sugaring off was much more relaxed.  We stepped away from the boiling and were able to do a number of spring chores.  The chickens and ducks are happy with their newly spruced up coop.  The cold frame is covered, warming and waiting to be planted with early cold weather greens next week.

As I write, the windows are flung open, a vase of daffodils are sitting on the counter and the kitchen filling with the smells of candied walnuts to toss on our al fresco salads for supper.   I have tried a lot of candied nut recipes, and this recipe is ah-mazing!

Children's books are never just for children......wouldn't you agree?

I am constantly pinning recipes or storing them to my online ap Paprika, however there is something about the physical cookbook.  When Seriously Delish came out I ordered the kindle version, and quickly found that I missed having the book to flip back and forth through, refer to previous recipes or bits on information in the prologue, so I promptly ordered the book itself.   I love to read cookbooks especially when the author adds little stories around the recipes or discusses their trials and errors.  I like to make notes in the margins as I cook and was happy to see that I was not alone.

How was your weekend?

{this moment}

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Linking with SouleMama

Pollinator

Our week is looking springlike.  Increasing to seasonal temperatures, a storm here and there, we are heading into Memorial Day weekend with a much needed taste of summer.  Our bees are robust so far this season, one of our hives may need to be split sooner than later.  Interestingly,  the sheer numbers of bumble bees around seems much increased over previous years.  Maybe it is because of the harsh winter, or maybe they have just decided to make our abode their home and help us with the work of the garden.  Love our built in pollinators.

Getting it All Done

This was truly a weekend of getting it all done.  Early Saturday B was able to take in a round of golf with friends while I went to yoga, and then we were off to soccer.  Once home we spent the afternoon, early evening and most of Sunday, except for soccer game time, working on farm projects.

The early season beds are doing beautifully.  Spring onions, radishes, kale, bok choi, kohlrabi, spinach and asparagus are all in various stages of growth, soon to be in our first farm bags.  We are able to eat fresh thinnings with our meals.  The lettuces, chickpeas, peas, beets, carrots, flower sprouts and chard are all poking their heads through loving the sunshine.  The rhubarb appears to be abundant and I made an amazing rhubarb upside-down cake last night... and well, uh, am eating some for breakfast too!

The tomatoes, eggplant, leeks & more onions are in the basement grow room, looking robust and ready to be transplanted this week!

The ducklings had their first venture outside and loved the grass.  I can't wait to hear when their voices begin to change from cheeps to quacks.  With this new experience, they are so different from chickens already, and are 3 times the size of the chicks that we got at the same time.

We painted the re-worked chicken tractor and it is almost ready to be the night-time haven for our free-range meat birds.

We also cooked out and had our first meal of the season on the porch.  Not too shabby.  How was your weekend?

Looking for Love

The air is alive with the the sounds of birds this morning, peppered with intermittent quacks from my little friend here.  The sun is shining and Spring is in the air, can you feel it?

Even The Bees

I have been somewhat absent this week, but along with work, busy school and sports schedules, and hosting a birthday party, we have family in town visiting.  It  has been a week of very cool temperatures and almost constant overcast skies with drizzle.  Though it was not the best for outdoor activities we have managed to escape, stay busy and enjoy one another.

Today for the first time all week we have real sunshine.  Perfect for soccer if not for the 22 mph sustained winds, making for a blustery hour.  Despite the wind we are basking in the sunny 62 degrees, soaking up as much Vitamin D as possible.  Even the bees who have been cooped up all week and are not fond of gusty wind are out and about coming home with legs caked full of pollen.  Aaahchooo Ah Spring!

Unintended Perfection

For the last several years I have drooled over my blogging friends' posts of wild violet jelly.  These beautiful little flowers come and go quickly in early spring and I tend to be so busy gazing upon them and taking pictures that they are past their peak when I think about harvesting them.  This year I remembered to go out just in time. I sat in the middle of our large patch of these native beauties, and took pictures while I picked.

We have made jams and jellies for years and it is always a great experiment.  It seems that every time I use a recipe calling for pectin, no matter what the volume, the jellies never set up. Upon the suggestion of a friend last year I purchased River Cottage's Preserves Handbook.  I cannot recommend a better book for the home preserver.  The suggestion for pectin rich fruits to compliment the fruits, flowers, or herbs that are bring preserved is brilliant.  Every jam or jelly that I have done with these recipes have set up beautifully, with no added pectin.

Our wild violet adventure has been much the same.  I found from multiple sources the same basic recipe for violet jelly.  They all called for making a violet tea of sorts, then adding sugar, lemon juice and pectin and boiling for 10 minutes.  Alas, it was tasty, but a little too tart for our taste and it only partially set up.  Since I remembered to harvest flowers early enough this year, we were able to do a round two, and I went back to my tried and true River Cottage book. I much prefer the methods in this book and the flavor is absolutely beautiful, though for this medium it turned out as a lovely rich syrup, a perfect cordial, not jelly.  

Though I went in with the intent for jelly, I will stick to berries for that.  Our state flower seems destined to be the flavoring for homemade sodas, with or without a splash of vodka, and I am perfectly OK with unintended perfection.

Wild Violet Cordial

3.2 lbs apples, rough cut

6 C violets, rinsed & packed cups

Sugar (by volume, see below)

7 Tbsp. Apple cider vinegar

Place apples and violets in a sauce pan and just cover with water.  Bring to boil and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally.  Place mixture in straining bag and separate liquid (this takes 2-3 hours, we hang the straining bag over a bowl and for this volume re purpose our honey strainer, our jelly bags were too small).  Measure out your liquid and add it back to the saucepan with equal amounts of sugar.  For me this was 9 1/2 Cups.  Add the vinegar and boil until it reaches 220 F.  Skim any scum (the violets had virtually none), bottle & enjoy!

The Sea

As I drive the kids from place to place, I frequently listen to our local NPR Stations.  There are always interesting stories on and a news snippet yesterday morning particularly captured my ear.  It was discussing the temporary shutdown of an Indiana steel plant due to delays in deliveries because of the lingering ice on the lake.    The shipping season is off to a slow start as the Great Lakes still have nearly a 50% ice cover and in some places the ice breakers are trudging through three feet of ice... in April!

What particularly appealed to me was the British news woman who at the end of the piece referenced the five inland seas.  I have never heard this term before and found it wonderful.  Perfectly romantic and full of mischievous adventure, don't you think?  I love that I live on the shores of one of these seas.

Spring Farm Weekend

As the weather begins to cooperate more and more, we are beginning to feel the soreness in our core muscles that comes from the hard work that is spring on the farm.   We completed last weekends hoop house adventure by finishing the planting and installation of the second one.  We filled it with three varieties of garbanzo beans, and giant Salanova lettuce heads that should be farm bag pleasers.  We also seeded Summer Crisp lettuce, kale and spinach to the cold frame by the house.  The garlic has just poked its green shoots above the straw and seems to be coming up abundantly.

We also laid down some landscape fabric over a grassy strip adjacent to the berry beds where our newly grafted baby apple trees will go in about a month or so.  We segmented out about 40 feet and plan to espalier them in that row.  I can not wait to see how many of them we can get to take!

We are really beginning to feel the absence of the other house in that we are more freely and actively dreaming of what we can do here now.  We have plotted out all of the areas that need clearing and begun to make a plan for getting it all done.  A couple of years ago we pulled out a number of large overbearing green hedges from the South and East sides of the house.  Last summer we barked it all in and planted the area with hostas.  Yesterday, with the help of a big chain and the tractor, we pulled out all of the leggy hedges that were encroaching on the North side of the house.  Now all of our irises and hostas on that side will have a space to shine without being choked out.

We also managed to retrofit the chicken tractor in preparation for a small flock of meat chickens and ducks that will free range the summer away.

I love spring farm weekends because we relish in being outside and are kept company by the abundance of birds and sounds of people out and about.   While it is still bare, buds just verging on greenness, we have the opportunity to visualize what will come next.  To top it off, we have a mass of energy bottled up from an exceptionally cold winter indoors to make those visions come to fruition.

A perfect example of how each child approaches a sunny 54 degree day differently! How was your weekend?

Singing for Spring

A little morning walk with my camera, if only I could have captured the sounds of all of the birds around despite the 28 degrees, singing for spring.

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That keep so many warm.

Emily Dickinson's Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Epic Struggle

 As much as we are aching for warm weather and sunshine, winter is attempting to hang on.  The temperatures for the week are still forecast to be ten degrees below normal with a few possibilities for sloppy snow through the mid and end of the week. 

We did manage to have a couple of warmer days over the weekend.  Saturday afternoon and Sunday shown with crystal blue skies.  The chickens scattered happily about to scratch as we cleaned out their digs from the long winter.  A win, win.... happy chickens and happy compost.

If Mother Nature is reluctant to bring spring, then we will help it along.  We built two small hoop houses over raised beds.  A perfect spot for starting cool weather seeds, while it is still a bit too cool, and they will function perfectly as a place to harden off plants that we start in-doors. 

Even though we are only getting hints of spring, it is energizing.  You can feel the struggle of the life on the farm right now.  The life around us wanting to stretch and bloom, yet not sure if it is quite safe to do so.  As you can see we are all a bit like this rhubarb, poking our heads up and wondering when Spring will win the epic struggle between seasons.

Sugar Sugar

As I mentioned here, we are attempting to collect sap and make our own maple syrup this year.  Yesterday after a week of intermittent temperatures and two good sap flow days that yielded 15 gallons of sap, we decided to cook down what we had collected so far.

Our method of choice was a large propane operated camp stove, which seemed to do the trick quite nicely.  Next time if the snow cover has subsided we may try doing this over a wood burning fire.

Would you expect anything less of a small animal veterinarian, than to have access to the perfect bulk sugaring device?  An unused stainless steel kennel from work was the perfect tool for the job.

As we collected sap during the week, we stored it in a couple of large buckets that we packed in snow.  I suspect by the time we get to cooking next weekend, our snow cover will be sparse, but the nighttime temperatures should continue to work in our favor.

So basically, you do nothing to the sap but cook it, and cook it, and cook it.  The sap is comprised of a great deal of water so your aim is to evaporate all of it off.

Once our volume had reduced from fifteen gallons to about three gallons, in this case seven hours, we poured it into a couple of large stock pots to finish in the house.

The indoor finishing process took an additional three and a half hours.  The sap begins to turn amber, reduce more dramatically, and most importantly taste like maple syrup.  What you are looking for is your syrup temperature to reach seven degrees above where water will boil in your location on that day.  So for us, the temperature we needed was 217 degrees.  You have to be very careful not to cook it over that temperature or you can scorch it.  Trust me, after this time investment, no one wants that to happen.

So at 1:30 am this morning after ten and a half hours of cooking our syrup was jarred and us put to bed.  We learned a few great things, this is truly an easy task, just time consuming and we need to start much earlier next time.  We yielded 4 pints from 15 gallons.  Based on what we ended up with our sugar concentration was  3%  which is what we would expect from sugar maples and so fantastic for the silver maples we are using.  With the weather appearing to be ideal this coming week, we are looking forward to how much we can collect for next weekend.

Our Latest Dusting

To get a true sense that Spring in Wisconsin has finally arrived, all you need to do is take a look around.  The windshield of the car...

 The tops of the newly leafed out plants

The top of the BBQ

Or even, just the tracks made during the evening stroll around the homestead.

Ladies, and gentlemen....the pollen has arrived!  As you sit in awe of its beauty and how happy the bees must be, remember....take your zyrtec!