Microgreens

Every single time I buy one of those plastic clamshells of not inexpensive organic greens, I end up getting one or two salads out of it and then start seeing lots of slimy bits.  So the pigs get the remaining greens and the recycle bin gets the clamshell.  

It stunk to have to put one more plastic container into recycling when we're hearing that a lot of stuff isn't getting recycled as we thought!

So I decided to follow up on a speaker, Peter Burke, whom I heard at the Mother Earth News Fair a couple of years ago and start growing my own microgreens.  

First, I got his book, "Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening," as a Christmas gift.  

Then, I started collecting all that I needed - the dirt, the compost, the seed, the dishes for growing.  Peter Burke suggests using aluminum foil bread pans, but I don't like to use aluminum foil in anything if I can help it as I've read it's linked to Alheizmers.  And the pans wouldn't last indefinitely - so I went to our local Goodwill store and picked up some glass baking dishes.  

Following Burke's instructions I put the growing medium in a bag (I know - plastic - but I plan to reuse it over and over - I need to think about this) and kneaded water into the soil to moisten it. 

I had these seeds left over from a failed attempt at growing sprouts.

The growing medium gets placed in a dark place for four days and then the emerging seedlings get pulled out and placed in the sun to green and grow. 

 You can see these two growing pans about four days apart.  The bottom dish will get a couple more growing days and then I'll have an incredibly fresh salad!  

As we eat the greens, we'll feed the root ball that's left behind to the pigs or chickens for a nice fresh wintertime treat - zero waste!

...Then reuse the dishes and start the next round of salad greens.

Is it as easy as purchasing greens at the grocery store?  Definitely not!  And there is a start-up cost for supplies.  

But I hope, that once I get a growing rotation in place, I'll never again have to waste money to buy greens that turn slimy. 

And I won't be adding more plastic to the landfill! 

  

A Cozy Moment Before The Storm

Here in north-central Pennsylvania, we are preparing for the big storm that may dump as much as two feet of snow.  

The horses are hayed and their water is topped off.  Sassy, (my 31-year-old mustang) is wearing her blanket - the old girl got pretty spritely and ran all around the pasture after I put it on her - I think she really liked it!)

All the other animals are warm, tucked in, and we're ready to go. 

Last night, I fed the horses and pigs.  Then I walked out for the nightly feeding of the chickens and turkeys.  As I walked back to the barn to return the water bucket and give the horses their nightly "cookie" I saw Lochlin waiting and watching for me and I thought, "this is the epitome of coziness."  

When we get cold and snow like this I think of a story out of a book from my childhood, "Stories That Never Grow Old," edited by Watty Piper.

Inside this marvelous, enchanting book, with its beautiful illustrations, is a story titled, "Shingebiss." 

Shingebiss is the story of a duck who defies the North Wind.  

"'How fortunate it is that I have a comfortable lodge with a good fire,' said he to himself.  And he looked at the great logs that would keep his fire burning until spring came again.  There were four of them - one for each of the cold months."

"Far up in the Arctic, the North Wind lived.  He was a quarrelsome creature.  He liked to come blowing down over the earth, frightening the animals and birds.  Sometimes he froze them to death, if they didn't hide when they heard him coming."  

The story goes on to relate the struggle the North Wind has to defeat Shingebiss as it freezes the lake ice, blows ice and snow over Shingebiss' back, comes into his lodge to blow out his fire, and tries to blow down his lodge.  Shingebiss replies with:   

"Bring your frost and ice and snow; I'm still free to come and go."

I hope that we can all feel like little Shingebiss after this great storm blows through!

Our Little Forest

In December of 2017, we purchased about 23 acres of forest nearby.  The property was lightly logged by Amish (much less impact on the environment) and in the process, a few nice trails were created. 

One of our other purchases of 2017 was a Vizsla puppy.  And the saying, "a good vizsla is a tired vizsla" is certainly true!  Ladybird, our young vizsla, needs me to get her out of the house for some exercise at least once a day or she becomes cuckoo!  Our trails through the new forest give her plenty of running space.  The exercise seems to help our old lab, Daisy, as well.  

 

The peace of a calm and silent forest is like meditation.  It soothes and rejuvenates at the same time.  

I really enjoy seeing signs of wildlife.  The white-tailed deer travel on self-made highways through our little forest.

And I was confused by the tracks you see below but found that an animal who travels by stepping into their own tracks is probably a red fox. 

What made this track?  I'm not sure.  I thought it might be vole tunnels, but that's just speculation.

Most days in which the wind isn't blowing hard you'll find me taking time in this forest.  I'm leery of widowmaker trees when the wind blows hard and walk carefully.  

What is a widowmaker? In the general sense, it’s anything that has the potential to kill men, thereby making widows of their wives. In a more specific sense, widowmakers are dead branches caught precariously high in trees, ready to fall on unsuspecting individuals below (source: https://www.offgridweb.com/preparation/the-danger-of-widowmaker-trees/).  

I certainly wouldn't want to be standing near this tree below when it gives out!

This forest is a wonderful place for walks and peace, but it serves a much more real purpose in that it will keep us in firewood for years to come.

  

 

Deja Vu

I started this blog on July 31, 2010.  

I have written 688 posts! 

Sometimes I feel like I'm out of things to say or I have to wonder if I'm repeating something I've already written!  

But I keep writing.  Even if it has become a bit sporadic.  Because there are people out there who ask me about my blog.  And that makes me happy.  

So, going into my 10th year of writing, I'm trying to commit to writing more often.  

But I would like to know if there is anything specifically about which anyone would like to hear?

In a lot of ways I've sugar coated what goes on on the farm.  Deaths and failures don't get a lot of press, but I think for the sake of my readers I'm going to change that.  

So here goes...

2019!

Comparing Wintertime Water Containers For Fowl

I recently had water run down to the horse barn and boy has it become a game changer!  Instead of hauling hoses from the basement and running them across the yard I have one hose hanging from the barn rafters so that it drains after use and I take that out to fill horse trough.  The water spigot puts me right beside the pig pen and filling their water dish has become a breeze too!  

But... I don't have water (nor electric) to the chickens and so I haul a bucket of water out to them every morning and evening to refresh their frozen water dish.  

Over the years, I've used many different kinds of water dishes and my current favorite is a metal pan that I get at the feed store.  It gets terribly beat up from being picked up and slammed on the ground to get out the ice.  But the ice comes right out and the dish is inexpensive to replace.  

A beat up, but functional, water pan of the type used for chickens, turkeys, and pigs

 I spent years using the traditional plastic chicken waterer in the wintertime.  I would have to haul a bucket of warm water down to thaw the container enough so that I could twist off the top and break out the ice inside.  You can see from the handle the amount of torque that was sometimes used to pull off the top!  Many a time the plastic itself would give way and destroy the container.  

Traditional plastic chicken waterer

Second, to metal water pans, I like to use heavy rubber pans.  They don't get as beat up, but they tend to have these little threads in them that make it more difficult to get out the ice.  Over time, the sides will split after being jumped on and manhandled in the process of getting out the ice chunks. 

Heavy rubber dish

I think everyone has their favorite way of handling their frozen water situation.  

What's yours? 

Winter Came With A Vengeance

The snow came early and hard to our little part of north-central Pennsylvania!

We won't talk about what fall cleanup chores remain undone!

Horse Talk

You have to love when you live in on a street where there can be a stray horse.  Not a dog or cat, but a horse!  

The mare outside the fence lives in the pasture next to ours with six other horses and she is a real Houdini at getting out of her fencing.  Luckily, we live on a dead end road and people don't drive too terribly fast.  We've become accustomed to her antics and she's rarely on the road.  Most of the time she goes to the lush grass in the field beside her pasture.  She is a chubby girl!  We either put her back in her pasture ourselves or her owner, who checks on her and his other horses multiple times a day, puts her back.  He constantly works on the fences to try to figure out where she's getting out.  

She loves to come up to visit my horses and the other morning I watched my two gelding boys "show off" for her.    

It's really funny how Sassy, the 30-year-old mustang, walks between them as if to say, "knock it off, boys!"

Yesterday was a super windy day and when I moved the horses across to their 10-acre pasture they were all wound up and running.  I got a few seconds clip of them running until they ran into the trees.  It's a lovely sight!

My husband always says that these horses hit the "horsey lottery" when they came to live here!