Woodwork

My son and daughter in law purchased a house about a month ago. To help with the mortgage they are turning the basement into a one bedroom suite. They took the basement right down to the studs, added a bathroom, changed some doorways...and the work continues. They had some leftover 2X4 in 14 foot lengths as well as some old fir 2 x6 in eight foot lengths which Art planed, sanded and turned into a picnic table and bench seat. Just waiting for me to paint it and make some cushions..add them to the list..


I love them and we dine al fresco under the grape vines...

Fruit Trees

I was so lucky to find a house that was well looked after, both inside and outside. Although the house needed some upgrading it has "good bones". And the same applies to the outside. I moved in with two established green houses, a neat and tidy yard and quite a few fruit trees. I added outside veggie and flower gardens with plans for more. My goal is to plant a green type fence for privacy made up of small trees, roses, lilacs and other flowering trees and plants. And making my veggie garden big enough to grow corn and beans. My ultimate dream would be to grow enough wheat to make my own flour but that's a long way off.

But, today I want to show off the fruit trees.

The tree king in our back yard is the cherry tree. It was well pruned in the past and is basically disease and pest free, but it's a fight between me and the crows to see who gets the fruit first. Unfortunately this past week we had some torrential rain storms and some of the cherries split, but the chickens love them. Last year I made about 8 jars of jam and froze tons. It was so nice to have almost "free" cherry deserts like pie, crumble, cakes and muffins during winter.

Every king needs a queen and in my backyard the queens are the three plum trees. Two Italian purple plums and one yellow plum. Last year I made plum jam, plum chutney and again froze a bunch which I used in desserts throughout winter. Of course we ate lots of them too.

There are three hazelnut trees which bears love. The year before we moved in the bears broke many of the limbs which meant no nuts but this year I see a fair amount of fruit so...again it will be a battle with the bears, chipmunks, and the crows to see who gets to eat these tasty little morsels.

I think this is a walnut tree and for the first time it has fruit, I counted about 10 walnuts, maybe these are pecans??? We will have to wait and see.

And two apple trees..my least favorite and the most problematic. Lots of fruit which is full of worms...the bears, chickens, and any other critter is very welcome to them.

But honestly, I need to find out how to care for them without using any pesticides and if anyone has any information please let me know.

In the meantime I'm patiently waiting for the cherries..

Margaret

Around the garden

Do you have a favorite garden area? Mine is this little spot right at the front of the driveway. It's quite small and without exotic or difficult flowers but somehow it really makes me smile and happy.





On Wednesday I wrote about the heavy rain but I may not have mentioned the strong winds that went along with the rain. It flattened my Lavatera, some of the stalks were broken off but with a strong stake and string I should get it upright again.





And I bought a floating cover today and some seeds. I won a $25.00 gift certificate to a local nursery at my last garden club meeting. Those little root maggots, cabbage loppers and the like will not get the best of me..I hope.




The sun is shining today and will hopefully shine all weekend so I can spend my time in the garden. I hope the sun is shining in your part of the world.



Happy Friday everyone.



Margaret

Rainy day blahs

After a month with almost no rain we are getting buckets today. No gardening (which also means no watering, yay) but I'm happy to be in the kitchen making raisin bread and biscotti. It's quite cool and the house needs warming up.

Pretty simple, I'm using my regular bread recipe and adding honey, raisins and cinnamon to it.

The biscotti are also really simple and oh so delicious, taken from my trusty, Betty Crocker's New Cookbook with substitutions here is the recipe for Orange Almond Biscotti:

1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tbs orange zest
2 large eggs
3 1/2 cups all all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds (I used toasted walnut pieces because I didn't have almonds on hand)
1/2 tsp pure almond extract (my addition because I like it)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (my addition and you guessed it, I like 'em)
-Heat oven to 350 F.


-Beat sugar butter, orange zest and almond extract.
-Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, walnuts and cranberries
-Shape dough into two equal rectangles, 10 x 3 inches on un-greased cookie sheet.
-Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
-Cool for 15 minutes
-Cut on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices, place slices cut side down on a cookie sheet.
-Bake for about 15 minutes or until crisp and light brown, remove from cookie sheet and cool.
-Drizzle melted chocolate if desired. I dunk my cookies so no chocoloate drizzles for me...





Enjoy with tea or coffee.

Turnips

The turnips..what a waste if time. I finally pulled all the turnips last night and will likely not grow them again unless I invest in floating row covers. I love small, young turnips lightly sauteed in butter, so investing in a floating row cover might be the way to go, I'll give it some thought.



The chickens are all doing well, they are so funny. I've never seen a chicken run, I laugh every time..Here Art is letting them out for some free ranging..


Proof that poppies have weed like tendencies..they are growing amidst rocks at the back of the house which gets very little sun and is never watered. But so pretty.

Raw Milk and eating locally

A little while ago in an effort to eat locally I started buying my milk from a local organic small farm. The farm is about a 2KM walk for me and my dog. The milk costs $2.50 per litre. At first I thought, yikes, that's pretty expensive, almost 4 times as much as a 4 litre jug at the supermarket.

I was tempted to go back to the supermarket milk, after all, I also want to live frugally as well as green, organic, self reliant, ect....

But as I was walking to buy my milk today, with my dog, with the birds singing, with very little traffic, the sun shining down on my shoulders, and a light breeze to keep me cool I came up with some reasons why I will continue to buy milk from the little farm just down the road from me.

- I don't have to buy a gym membership.
- I'm not producing any pollution.
- Walking keeps me healthy and less of a burden on our Canadian Health Care system.
- My dog is healthier and doesn't require as many visits to the vet.
- $2.50 does not seem like a lot but it helps to keep a local farm in business.
- No trucks, ships, or planes were used to get milk to my table.
- It keeps me sane and out of the psych ward.

Some folks have no problem with raw milk but I prefer to pasteurize my milk. It's really very easy.

Before you start make sure you sterilize your milk bottles and tops.

Heat the milk in a double boiler for 30 minutes to 63C, stir the milk to ensure the milk heats evenly.

Cool very quickly in an ice bath.

Bottle your milk in sterilized bottles.

Full details on how to pastorize your milk can be found here.

What are your reasons for eating locally?

The chickens

Well the chickens are settling in, they have graciously given us 9 eggs, we are thrilled.

The chickens it seems have grabbed every one's attention.





And their clucking is surprisingly soothing as we sit and watch them scratch at the ground.

One surprising thing.. that is not so soothing, they poop, alot. Who new that such little thing could poop so much.

I'll have to use one pair of my shoes just for the chickens and leave them in the garage..