Week 1: Buy Better Milk

After watching Food, Inc. and No Impact Man recently, we realized that we've been getting kind of lax with some of our lifestyle choices. Having a baby definitely makes it tempting to do things based on convenience rather than conscience. So to get ourselves back on track we've decided to make one new resolution each week that we'll try to make a part of our everyday lives.

This week, we're going to stop buying supermarket milk. We like Stoneyfield, but we're lucky enough to have a great local company that sells grass-fed, certified organic, gently pasteurized milk that comes in returnable glass bottles.


I'll have to go a little bit out of my way to get it, and remember to wash and take back the bottles, but it'll be worth it. Not only does their milk taste like real milk, but we'll also be getting extra CLA and Omega-3 fatty acids. All of their farms are located in Lancaster County, so it should all come from about 50 miles away or less. And we won't have to worry about what the packaging is made of or where it goes after we're done using it. And even though it costs a little bit more, the money we spend stays local and supports our farming neighbors. If you're interested in finding local grass-fed milk, check out Eat Wild.

Baby Fruits

Our yard is ripe with new growth and the start of this year's backyard fruit crop. Take a look at some of the little ones...

Apples

Mulberries

Wild Raspberries

Wineberries

Kousa Dogwood fruits

I'm optimistic that we'll have a good harvest for cider, pies and wines later this summer.  We'll let you know how we do!

Overwintered Kale and Spring Peas

The kale we planted last fall never grew very big, so we didn't end up harvesting any of it. We just left the scrawny little plants in the garden over winter, and we were surprised when they were still alive come spring. Now they've got beautiful yellow flowers and plenty of seed pods on them!


Since kale will cross with other Brassicas, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage, saving seed can be tricky. But considering that we don't have any of those growing nearby at the moment, we should be able to get a pretty nice seed harvest for planting next year!

Peas are also great to save for seed, and we plan to do just that with some of our fall crop. But our spring crop will be all for eating, and I was pleased to find these pea shoots coming up in the garden this morning.


Peas are one of my favorite garden vegetables. They're easy to grow. You just pop them in the soil, no indoor starting to fuss with, and they pretty much take care of themselves, making up for the extra effort involved in shelling! They're worth growing in the home garden for fresh eating because they're so much sweeter than anything you'll get from the market, but they also freeze beautifully for something green to eat all winter long. Also, we can't forget to mention how useful the pods can be. We planted about 100 pea seeds, and plan to plant the same number again in July as a fall crop. I'm hoping for a freezer full!

Cannibalism in the Coop

We've got a problem: our chickens have turned cannibal. First, the Barred Rocks started hen pecking the Reds, pulling out the feathers on their heads. Obviously, cannibalism in this case is a bit of an overstatement, but that's what the text books call it. There was never any blood, just pecking to establish the social order. And now, they're eating the eggs. Just this past weekend we started to notice a decrease in the eggs we were getting, and when Gardener was outside he heard one of the hens making a loud banging noise in the coop. He looked inside to see one of the Reds eating a broken egg in the nest box. We're not sure what started it, but yesterday we got no eggs, and this morning there was evidence of more broken yolks.

This weekend we also ended up building an isolation coop for one of the henpecked Reds. We noticed she was spending a lot of time hiding from the others, and then we noticed that she also has a swollen toe which she's limping on. We built this temporary "chicken hospital" to get her away from the others so that she can get plenty to eat and some rest.




I've been spending some time researching tips to stop the egg eating, but I'm really not sure what to do. A lot of what I'm hearing is that once they get the taste for eggs, it's nearly impossible to stop them. We'd be more than happy to hear from anyone who might have any suggestions. (Please!)

Sprout!

We're pleased to introduce you to our biggest project yet to come to fruition:

Sprout!

We've gone almost 2 months without a blog post, and there's a lot going on around the homestead:

The garlic has really taken off, and is looking strong and healthy. Even though we had lots of rain on top of melting snow at the end of winter, we didn't have any problems with rotting this year, so it looks like we'll be sticking with hardneck varieties. It's nice to have something green in the garden this early!



Out back in the wild perennial patch, the raspberries and wineberries are getting leafy. Downstairs in the seed starting station, everything is doing its thing (although I do have to say that I still feel we have room for improvement in this realm).

Our hops plants came back and are looking really good. We're in the process of "renovating" their plot to include other perennials like strawberries and rhubarb. We're also working hard to get the other garden plots ready for planting. This week our peas, potatoes, spinach, carrots, beets, and lettuce will be going in.

Caring for baby Sprout is proving to make getting other things done much more difficult than I had anticipated, but that really just means learning a new pace.

Hickory Nut Shortbread

Continuing our trials with baking, we finally found a use for all those hickory nuts we collected from the woods in the fall.  Last night we adapted a walnut shortbread recipe, just substituting hickory nuts for walnuts and made the most delicious shortbread cookies!

 
The industrial strength nut cracker that the Gardeness gave me for Yule was put to good use and made the job much easier (and safer) than using a hammer.

Also, after moving two of our taps over the weekend our maple sap collection has taken off and I'm feeling really optimistic about how much syrup we might get. We've started the alpine strawberries (from seed again) with gooseberries next on the agenda. It was kind of a busy weekend, in a relaxing sort of way.

Snowed In

Last Saturday we got blasted with about 2 feet of snow, and yesterday we got at least another foot with the bonus of "blizzard" conditions. Everything basically shut down, and even our municipal snow plows were getting stuck.


It was the kind of day for staying inside and planning for spring. We made a bunch of paper pots for starting our seedlings, got all our planting dates down on the calendar, and tried our darndest not to feel like we'd entered The Shining!


These little Woodins peeking from their woolen log also helped keep things cheery. They were a gift from Pragmatiste for the little one on the way, and I have to say they're about the cutest thing I've ever seen!