Spring On The Farm

Ok, I know I didn't like carrying water and wrestling with chicken house doors because the frozen ground bulged up but, 70 degrees and above?  Really?  One extreme to the other.

My dogs went from playing in the snow, to begging to get out of the hot sun.

Spring cleaning in the garden is always refreshing, even if it's HOT in the high tunnel!  But, complaining aside, SEEDS ARE A-GOIN' in the ground!!! Yay.  And, Sprout, my little greenhouse is full of seeds/tiny plants in pots just biding their time 'till they get to be planted outside.

 And, the rabbitry "Briar Patch" is all cleaned out.  Now if I can figure out a way to get "the girls" to like "the boy"!!

The" Penny" house (housing for a small group of chickens) is all clean.  I don't trust the weather enough to remove the heat light paraphernalia yet.  The new little "brooder" house is moved into the Penny pen and Josephine is setting on her eggs.  See her story under the page entitled CHICKENS.

My darling goats...last spring's pictures of new babies.

Cassie, my beautiful.

Briar Patch: bunny apartments and room to play on the ground.

Weather To Clean

It's clean up time at the farm. Gary, Bob (the tractor) and the new/old farm wagon are picking up limbs, brush and nature's miscellaneous contributions to the general chaos of stuff clogging the fence rows. The 7 new gardens are plowed and tilled; Jack and Mable have been having a scratching good time in them. They are so happy, I'd call it the chicken version of Disney World. We are up to 7 eggs a day now--lovin' it. Tomorrow is a BIG day: 1st day of Spring (always a cause for cartwheels -yes, I can still do them) and some of my new chicks are coming. The New Hampshire Reds. I'm giddy with anticipation.

Hope you enjoyed yesterday's How To Tuesday....next week I'll show you two ways to actually get that needed calcium INTO your bones! Life Is Good.

Button Box

One day you're sitting snug in the house with snow and sleet flying past the window dreaming/slash/planning gardens and new chicken facilities and the next day warm breezes bring good weather and green shooting up through last years dead foliage. It's like Mother Nature is saying "GO!!"

One of the best ways she says go is with CHICK DAYS. OMGSH, I love chick days. We ordered some New Hampshire Reds (brown eggs), Armericanas (Easter eggs!), and Jersey Giants (LARGE brown eggs). They will arrive 3/17th thru 3/23rd and round out our flock of Mables. So, we are busy getting the chicken houses moved, cleaned and repaired. Stay tuned for chicken happenings! And, Mable has given us enough eggs to sell, so stop by and treat yourself to free-range eggs...there's nothing quite like them. (See 2/15 blog for nutrition)

Have also started cleaning up the yard and gardens...tulips are peeking out just to make sure it's warm enough. The wind helps keep the muddy-mucky-mess in the barnyard at bay but I still find myself walking with big convict boots caked with mud.

The burn on my finger from the melting plastic is healing nicely. It is about 1/8th inch deep and still painful to the touch. I'm still putting lavender essential oil on it and also applying my Herbal Aid Salve and keeping it band-aided during the day.

Be sure to check out our recipe of the month on our website: www.RCVfarm.com
Chef Gary hasn't quite decided which one he's going to post, but if it's as good as last month's asparagus, it will taste great.

I am making cup cakes for my grandsons birthday today...now if I can figure out how to get some herbs in them....hmmm

If you are wondering (or even if you've totally forgotten the title of today's blog) how Button Box applies to anything I've said so far: My grandma's button box was extraordinary. At least to an eight year old. It held so much more than buttons: lace snippets, grandpa's overall snaps, a horseshoe nail, a Texas sea shell. Then, my mom's box was somewhat different representing her hoarding proclivities: fish hooks, newspaper clippings, jewelry. Of course, I carry on this informal tradition with my own button box, except mine has grown to several boxes! And, since I write, I apply everything to writing. So, THIS button box is a compendium of farm miscellanea. Love it. Life Is Good.
PS Chef Gary just decided: Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. Don't let the benign name fool you; this recipe is KICKIN'! It should be on-line by noon.

They're c o m i n g...

Complete with brilliant sunny faces, flying down and nourishing greens..DANDELIONS! With only patches of snowy reminders that winter's still here, dandelions are waking up. I see proof of life with tiny saw-toothed lion-shoots peeking above ground level. I'll be digging some today to feed Cassie, my dog, my cats and Jack and Mable, my chickens. At record breaking temps yesterday, can spring be far?
PS This image is from two summers ago lest you think Rocky Creek is already "producing"! For a birdseye dandelion tutorial check out blog entry 3/3/09.

Spring sprung?

The artificial sun is shinning, several of them in fact, so what do I care that the wind is cold and the rain is falling in spite of the calendar's assurance that spring is here? Thanks to my handy-dandy husband's carpentry/engineering skills my herbal seedlings are growing in the basement blissfully unaware of the weather outside. This is a shot before I separated and transplanted them. I can't bear to "weed" them out, so I save all of them. Makes for an extraordinary crop!

I mustn't complain as we have had monumental gardening weather for several days that has enabled me to start cleaning Green Blessings Farm beds and even plant a few things. I am overjoyed at the new plantings who made it through the winter: valerian, elecampagne and some "wild ones" burdock, mullein, plantain. Last year we put down ground cloth to help control weeds. When we purchased the property it was OVERGROWN with weeds and it has taken several summers to get a handle on them without using herbicides. But, the ground cloth did not let enough water through, so I ripped up the cloth around the plants and just left it in the pathway. I found a golden treasure under part of the cloth...carrots!

Farmers Market Managers did not see their shadows and are getting the contracts in order, a sure sign of spring. Let the summer season begin!!

My husband and I are trying to eat more vegetables, but not for obvious reasons. My little worm farm is expanding; literally eating us out of house and home. OK, not really, but, wow, can they eat. They are busy creating castings as fast as they can chew. I love "making soil"! My herb and flower beds are crawling with earth worms; at last the conditions are right and the dirt is supporting life!!

I participated in a Health Fair last week with the help of my daugher. I think she was a little bored and I so appreciate her willingness to help me out. Isn't it great to have support? Here's a photo of our booth. My new skin care and candle line did very well...must have been that NO CHEMICAL INGREDIENTS thing! Check out all our new products on at GBHfarm.com