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Agrarian Harvest

Wholesome, Organic, Experience. Our small farm, food, and simple life.

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Farm Update

The ducks have grown up, they are probably full grown now. And are still beautiful. We love having them part of our farm life. They have been turned out and are free range ducks now.  Although, they are not taking advantage of the being free range and running the whole property like DSCN7408the chickens do. The ducks are staying in their safe zone we are calling it. They are keeping themselves contained to the back, out behind the yard and around beside the garden. At this point they are so well behaved, they are the favorite animal of the farm. They have access to a ditch and love playing in the water. And we love to hear them splashing around and quacking merrily. They are not laying eggs yet, but are keeping the grass and weeds ate down so I don’t have to do any mowing or weed-eating back there. That means less work for me, they aren’t destroying my yard or garden and they don’t scratch. That makes for a very happy farm wife!

 

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The ducks playing in the water of a shallow waste ditch.

The tomatoes are getting tied up and are full of blooms. We are hoping to have tomatoes by the end of the month. The peppers are blooming and setting. We may have ptying tomatoeseppers very soon. The eggplants are blooming their beautiful purple blooms too. The corn is growing taller and loving the heat we have had. The melons are really sprawling and growing too. We have even seen a few baby melons on a few of the plants. We are looking forward to lots of vegetables and melons.

And, of course, the weeds have gotten away from us and are growing out of control. That is probably how it is going to stay. Weeds have way more energy than we do.

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Elderly Wisdom & Farming

This farming wife has had a hard time focusing on farming lately. We have been so touched by the elderly around us and their circumstances. I just want to take some time to focus on how to take in every word they say, apply it and cherish every moment with them. We are facing the fact that we may lose one of the dearest people that we have every had the privilege of having a part of our daily lives. Losing this person not to death but to distance. It saddens us greatly to not have this person a part of our daily lives. I know it is a fact of life that people either pass on or move on. But let’s take some time to take their words to heart and learn from them.

 

So we have been told by the elderly that, “The golden years aren’t so golden,” “Don’t wait to have fun until you are retire. Have fun while you are young and can still move,” “Getting old is terrible, don’t get old!” That leaves me wondering . . . . . .  how do we have fun and enjoy life while living this farming life or more like this market gardening dream? It is very labor intensive and requires us to be on the farm or marketing for the farm everyday of the week. We have been trying to take one day a week off to have fun, but that doesn’t allow us time to travel or get very far from the farm. The only answer I have to my own question is to learn to live on less, money isn’t what matters, just enjoy our time together, and don’t put fun activities off until tomorrow or wait for retirement. My vote is to do it now! And make time to visit your grandparents and all the elderly around you. Listen to their stories and advice and take it to heart. They know what they are talking about; they have lived through a lot and experienced more years of life than you have. That makes for a lot of knowledge they are carrying around. What if my generation applied that knowledge now, I think we could live a very enriched fulfilling life. There is a famous quote that I have heard many times, “Wisdom is knowledge applied.” So let’s seek out that knowledge, apply it, and savor the time with the ones around us. Then we can be wise.

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Random Farm Life Thoughts

It has just been so busy with trying to finish up the planting, weeding, watering and harvest that there is just is not enough hours in a day for me to sit and write too. So this week I have some random thoughts that have been floating around my head to share. Yep, apparently, there is lots of empty space in my head for thoughts to float around.

 

  • When chickens are in the yard, scratching in the flower beds, why do they always scratch the wood chips out of bed into the grass and not the opposite direction . . . . further into the bed? Or when they come back to the same spot to scratch again, why not scratch the chips back into the bed? Clean up after yourselves chickens!
  • Why are ducks faster growing than broiler chickens? The don’t loose their downy fluff at any time in the growing process while growing feathers either.  And ducks are cute throughout the whole growing process!!
  • It’s amazing that the huge sows have several tiny piglets, are able to communicate to them with grunting sounds, flop down very ungracefully and not smash all the piglets.
  • Why do dogs lay right in front of the door to sleep and then not get up to follow you when someone walks outs? Our great Pyrenees dog lays in front of the door and doesn’t move when you are trying to walk in or out.He so large that I can’t step over him, no, I have to leap over him. He just opens one eye partially, barely lifting his head like he is asking, “Why are you disturbing my sleep?” And I want to ask him, “ Why are you laying in front of the most used door? There are so many other places you could lay on this farm.”

 

There may be answers to these thoughts and questions, but I have not taken the time to find answers. I just wanted to voice my thoughts and ask: Is anyone else thinking the same things?

 

I’ll leave you with one last thought:

Everyday is a day of learning and growing. Make the most of it.

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Harmful or Helpful?

At planting time last year, we were amazed at all the earthworms and had to do a little research on them. We still a lot of earthworms; large, medium, and many babies. This Spring we have been seeing Armadillidida or commonly known as roly polys or pill bugs everywhere on our farm and lots of them. These “bugs” (they really aren’t bugs; keep reading and I’ll go further in-depth on that) have always been fun to find for the kids. They love seeing roly polys roll up when touched, which is a defense mechanism, then wait for them to unroll so they can touch them again and sometimes roll them around the palm of their hand.

 

We are seeing a whole lot more roly polys than we have in the past. So, of course, this lead to a little research project. Part because we love learning and part because we were wondering if they were beneficial or are they going to be pest. We were quite happy to learn that they are beneficial and help with the decomposing process. They eat decaying plant and animal material. We provided the organic matter and now they have moved in to help with the breaking down of the organic matter, to increase our soil fertility. Hurrah! We read that they could feed on seedlings and plant roots, but tend to eat decaying material when it is available. We have a lot of decaying plant material available and have not had any problems with them feeding on plant roots or seedlings. There are thousands in the cold frame where we have greens growing and started all of our seedlings. They haven’t kill any seedlings.

 

It was also quite interesting to learn that they are actually not a bug, they are a land crustacean and are related to shrimp. They like dark moist places and have gill-like structures used to breath, but can’t live underwater. They don’t urinate, but instead release an ammonia gas through their exoskeleton. And they shed their exoskeleton as they grow. The back half sheds first, then the front half. The females carry their eggs and newly hatched babies in a special pouch before they start crawling out to walk on their own. Huh. . . . the things we learn through hand-on activities and work with curious minds questioning everything! This little organic piece of Earth we live on just amazes us! 

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The Anticipated Season is Upon Us

It feels like all we do this time of year is plant, plant, plant . . . . .  and there is still more to plant. We are nowhere near done planting. This week has thrown other events into our schedule and has interrupted our planting rhythm. We are entering into our market season. So our weekly schedule and rhythm will be changing from a spring planting routine to our summer plant, weed, harvest, market routine. It may sound like a lot and, honestly, some days it feels like a lot. And then other days there is not enough to do, but that has not been the case this week. 

 

It has been a very busy week or at least it feels busy compared to our spring planting routine. We had our organic inspection, which started a day before it was scheduled and lasted into the next day. That was a ridiculously long and drawn out process for the small acres and production that we do. In the middle of our inspection, we had our broiler chicks and ducklings arrive a day early. And now we are getting ready for the first Twin Falls Farmers’ market on Saturday, and then there is more planting. Please nobody call and tell us the market is going to be on Friday instead of Saturday. Everything has been happening a day early this week and it feels a bit like a nightmare. As long as today is actually Friday and not Saturday, then we are pretty excited about this first farmers’ market. We planned better this year and have more produce ready for the market. We will have a lot of kale, lettuce, spinach, arugula, along with rhubarb, green garlic, green onions, radishes, herbs, eggs, salad dressings,  handmade soap, and laundry detergent.

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In the previous paragraph, I mentioned ducklings. Yes, we now have ducklings! Ducks are our experiment for this year. We are going to try to raise khaki cambell ducks, they are suppose to be good layers. We are all very happy and excited, especially me. Beside the fact that they are the cutest little poultry critters ever! They don’t scratch like chickens (yes!!!) and are excellent foragers. I think the ducks are going to go over very well with the family and become a permanent part of our farm. I will keep you updated on the ducks throughout the summer.  I’m confident this duck project will be much more successful than our garlic and sweet potato projects were last year.  

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February Awakening

I like to do what I call human hibernating for the winter. I stay in the house, keep the fire stoked, homeschool, read several books, watch movies and go outside very little. The farmer on the other hand stays inside most the day too, but there are still chores to do and animals to care for.

. . . .  Then in February, it feels like there is a great awakening among plants, animals and people.  The weeds start to grow, the tulips and daffodils are peeking out of the ground, the fruit trees are pruned and developing buds; and we feel alive and full of energy again. It’s like the sun suddenly rose shining warmth and new hope for the first time in months.

 

Our seed orders start to arrive in February and the weather starts to break. A true change in weather takes place; the air is warmer and the precipitation changes from snow to rain, transforming into Spring. We started our February by working the ground in the cold frame getting it ready to plant. Then the exciting part, actually planting our first seeds of the year: arugula, spinach, lettuce, and onion. The arugula is up and the spinach should be soon behind it. Spinach has longer germination than arugula. The lettuce was planted a couple of weeks after the spinach and arugula so we are still waiting for it to come up too.

 

The first part of February also brought our first pig roast. We had a Super Bowl party/birthday party for the farmer and decided that was great time to e20160206_181331xperiment with roasting our first pig. Who doesn’t want to be invited to a party to eat an experiment?!!!  Be aware before you read on, how we cooked this pig may sound or actually be a little redneck-ish, but, hey, that’s just how we are. We started it the night before in a pit we lined with rock. We started wood pellets and 10 pounds of charcoal briquets on fire and got it hot and cooked down. We torched the hair off the pig with a weed burner and wrapped the pig in woven wire and put it in the pit. Then cover the pig and pit with a piece of tin roofing. It cooked and smoked all night. We checked it periodically and rotated it a couple of times. We thought it was done at noon the next day, but we didn’t take it out of the pit until 3:30. The Farmer put the whole thing in a large cooler and brought it in the house. When we were ready to eat, we started cutting it up and taking chunks off. It was good, although, I like my meat well seasoned. So I can’t say it is my favorite way to eat pork. But it was a fun experience and very neat to have a whole roasted pig for all the guest to see before we ate.

 

The sight and sound of new life really is in the air of our farm now. Our chicks have arrived and the brooder is full. This causes great excitement and happiness on our farm. Spring, hope, growth, energy and life are in the air and happening at Agrarian Harvest!DSCN7272

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Sweet Potato Project

Recently, we watched the movie Faith Like Potatoes and it made me think a lot about our sweet potato project. You can’t see what is growing beneath the ground, you just have to have faith. I try to look at the positive in all things, which I have a hard time doing. Sweet potatoes aren’t suppose do well or even grow at all in our area . . . . .  they grow in warm climates and are of tropic origin, our climate is far from tropical . . . . . .  so we set out to do the impossible once again, to grow sweet potatoes. We had to see for ourselves what would happen when we planted those unusual sweet potato slips. Honestly, we expected the project to be a failure. But, I guess, deep down we had to have a little faith and just not realize it or we wouldn’t of even bought the slips and planted them to begin with.

We expected a crop failure, but honestly it wasn’t that bad. Harvest is much different than regular potatoes, aka Irish potatoes that Idaho is famous for growing, which takes getting used to. Sweet potatoes are a root and not a tuber like Irish potatoes. The root is about 20 inches long with a swollen part in the middle that is the actual sweet potato. There were some that had two swollen parts or sweet potatoes on one root. The whole root thing makes them harder to dig and get out of the ground. You have to start digging 18 inches away from the plant, being careful not to poke or scratch the roots. They bruise easily.

We have learned they need lots of room to grow. The ones that were planted 24” apart as recommended had all small tubers, but the one that we planted 36” apart had larger tubers under them. And the vines spread and cover several rows and any plants that are growing near by. To make digging a little easier, we mowed the tops of the plants off before digging. And as with most task around here, we did it the hard way; we did all the digging by hand with a digging fork. Though we had a couple of nice sized potatoes per plant, there are a lot of small tubers. But, hey, they grew and we have sweet potatoes!

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Sweet potatoes are not very sweet when they are first dug. They have to sit and cure at a warm temperature (80 degree F) for 10 days to get their sweetness and set their skin. After they have cured, they need to be stored in a cool, dry location that stays above 50 degrees, ideally between 55 – 60 degrees, and should never be refrigerated (until after they are cooked, of course).

After digging those large sweet potato roots that never should’ve grown in our soil, it makes a person think and believe. It was amazing to see those large tubers come out of our soil. This project has taught me to have faith no matter how impossible the task, project or plant may seem. Have faith no matter how impossible things may seem or how many times you are told it can’t be done.

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Farmers’ Market Selling & Spunk

Last week I posted that we were enjoying our Indian summer, well, after posting I did some research and figured out that we actually are not having an Indian summer. An Indian summer is unseasonably warm weather in the fall after a good hard frost. Since we have not had a frost or even a cold spell yet, we are not experiencing an Indian summer. We are a just fortunate to still have warm weather, no frost, and produce still growing and producing.

Thanks to this wonderful weather we still have lots of produce and are still able to participate in our local farmers’ market. This is good in some ways and bad in others. We are happy to still be providing our local community with organic, fresh produce and happy to be eating it ourselves. But we are getting tired and worn out; slowing down just like the produce. We have lost our enthusiasm and spunk for all the harvesting and preparing for the market, but we are still at it.

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Most people don’t realize how much work it takes to sell at a farmers market, unless you have actually participated in one. And how much determination it takes to keep at it the whole season, May through October. It takes most, if not all day, the day before market to harvest, package and prepare all supplies and products. We are usually up into the wee hours of the night getting ready; especially in the middle of the summer when there is a lot to harvest and get ready. Some weeks we don’t make it to bed until 2 am and then we’re up at 5 am to finish the last minute harvesting and load all that produce. This takes some critical thinking. We load all our boxes/crates/coolers of produce/product, tables, canopy, signs and the family into an excursion. There have been several weeks I don’t know how we have gotten everything in the excursion. When we unload at market, we look like a little car of clowns. You know the cartoon image of clowns that just keep piling out of a little tiny car. Well, that’s us at farmers’ market, people, boxes, coolers just keep coming out of the excursion. We get looks of how did you get all of that in there? We have hopes of having a trailer to haul it all in next year.

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Once everything is unloaded, then there is the set up. We set up the canopy and tables. Next come the organizing of several boxes/crates; making the display cute and inviting. There is the rush of getting all this done before the early bird shoppers arrive and before the vendor meeting starts. Then market starts. If we are lucky it is busy and the time goes by fast. But on some days it is slow and time drags by. It may be a very cool day and we bounce around trying to keep warm, it may be a very hot and there is not enough shade for the produce and people or our worst market day was cold and pouring rain. Whatever the day holds, we stand there and sell for four hours of market.

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At the end of market, it is time to take it all down. We like to stay open until all the customers have left the market. Then we start to load all the produce/product that we have left. Lastly, we fold up the tables and canopy. There are usually empty boxes that we break down, so the loading to come home is easier, but can still be tricky to get it all to fit back in the excursion.  We drive home and it is time to unload again. This is probably the hardest part because we are all tired and hungry. Once unloaded, we head for the house and collapse in the living room for a family movie and time to rest.

For most of September and October, I haven’t had the energy to keep up with all my domestic duties and go to market on Saturdays. So I have bowed out of the farmers’ market routine. I’m thankful for the Other Half taking on the Saturday market work and sells on his own. I ran out of spunk several weeks ago for the pre-dawn loading, chilly morning air while setting up for market and the energy to do rest of the market. Instead, I have  put my energy into canning, drying and preserving produce for winter. Another wonderful aspect of farm life; being able to eat your own produce all winter long!

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Miracles and Good News

We have been enjoying the warm Indian summer days of October. And are thankful for them since we were unable to get the sweet potatoes dug this week. So you have stay in suspense until next week to learn how the harvest of the sweet potatoes goes. Instead of dealing with sweet potatoes, we had ourselves a pipe trailer accident to deal with. We were moving gated pipe from our Jerome property to our farm in Buhl. When we were a few miles from home the tongue of the loaded pipe trailer broke. The tongue of the trailer remained hitched to the vehicle. The trailer veered to the left on its own and went crashing through a fence on the opposite side of the road stopping in a ditch missing a tree by mere millimeters. Although it was scary to see and feel in the moment, we were quite blessed. It was actually sickening to feel the trailer violently pulling from side to side behind us. Then seconds later to see the loaded pipe trailer (in the mirror) fly to the left behind us with a grinding of metal on pavement . . . .  metal clashing against metal . . . . and lots of dust flying. As the passenger, I had been reading a book about seeing miracles in everyday life, activities and circumstances. It sure didn’t feel like I had just lived through a miracle, it shook me up a bit to see our trailer driving off by itself. But it truly was a miracle. There wasn’t a car coming in the opposite directions, it barely missed a tree when it went through the fence, missed hitting the power pole, it went to the left and not the right where it would of hit a house, nobody was hurt, there was no damage to our vehicle, there was only the broken tongue and flat tire on the trailer, very few pieces of pipe were damaged, the owner of the property was understanding and didn’t want the fence repaired. Aaahh, I can sign a breath of relief. It took awhile and few trips to load the pipe to another trailer, haul it home, fix the pipe trailer and get it home. What we thought was a simple task turned into a time consuming project, but it is done now. 

It has also been a week full of canning. I finished canning plums and went onto apples. We have several apple trees, but they are small and not producing many apples yet. The kids eat all the apples off our trees as soon as they ripen. So this year, we were fortunate enough to get boxes of apples from a neighbor. The house has kept that sweet smell from canning the plums, but we now has a bit of cinnamon spice aroma mixed in. We have been canning cinnamon apples, applesauce, juicing apples and drying them along with baking apple crisp.

More good news; we got our pork back from the butcher. So we now have pork available by the cut: sausage, tenderloin, boneless loin, spare ribs, babyback ribs, pork chops, ham hocks, shoulder roast.

We are looking forward to the coming week and more miracles. Hoping to get a field of winter wheat planted and sweet potatoes dug.

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