Missing Willow Farm

Purchased as females, three of the eight chicks we purchased in February ended up being roosters.   Boo!  We kicked them out of the hen house when we discovered one of our hens hiding and almost pecked to death.  We dressed her wounds and gave her a shot of penicillin (we guessed on the dosage!) and she’s doing much better.  They free range, but never far from the ladies.  We hear roosters in the distance from a neighbor’s farm and now have our own crowing here at home.  For now…

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Our Jenna  lives to boss around our sheep.  And chase her wubba.  And ride in the Mule.  I give her treats and let her out in the morning and invite her to ride in the Mule instead of running behind it.  I love her and she loves my husband.   It’s like he makes the moon rise.  She watches his every move, greets him with a toy, and gives him her very best behavior.  sigh.   No fair!

Certified by the Guinness World Records organization in 2007 as the hottest pepper in the world, the Bhut Jolokia (aka Ghost Pepper) rates at 1,067,286 units on the Scoville scale.  It has since been replaced as the world’s hottest, but let me tell you I wouldn’t want to try anything hotter!  We received a seed last July to grow our own.  That is very late in the season for starting peppers but gave it a try anyways.  The seed ‘took’ and we overwintered the plant under lights in our dining room.  It has taken off like crazy!  I’ve only used a few so far, in jars of homemade dill pickles to add some heat.  I bet those are gonna be amazing.  I plan to dry them for pepper flakes, freeze a few and save some seeds for next year.  I’ve pickled peppers before and we usually don’t end up eating them so don’t want to do that.  Any other suggestions?

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Yesterday’s garden haul included french fingerling potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, some green beans and assorted baby carrots.  We finally collected enough beans to serve, they’re just getting started.  I steamed and drained them then added a pat of butter, salt, pepper, hot pepper flakes and a sprinkle of romano cheese.  Yum!  The carrots were crying out to be pickled for the winter.  Doesn’t it make a pretty jar?  I thought those potatoes were going to be the last I ever harvested because when I was digging them, I also dug up a snake.  With a hand trowel!  O.M.G.!  They absolutely terrify me.  My sweetheart husband actually found and dispatched the serpent.  My hero!

Sundays keep me busy.  Today I canned plum tomatoes (I am canning about every other day right now to capture them at their peak), dried peaches and apples in my ancient Montgomery Ward dehydrator, pickled baby carrots, and made chevre from our goat milk and votives from our beeswax.  I’m not counting the housework and twice a day farm chores in my accomplishments.  What fun things did you do today?

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October is planting time for garlic in our zone, and July is harvest time.  You know it’s ready to harvest when a few leaves start going brown and it looks like it wants to lie down.  Don’t wait until it’s fully brown and on the ground.  Take a trowel and lift the bulb from the side.  We harvested hundreds of heads from our raised beds.  We brush the soil off and hang it for a few weeks in our lawnmower shed, which is basically an old dog lot with a roof on it.  It’s under cover and gets good ventilation that way.  I needed garlic and refused to buy any with all of this fabulous stuff hanging so have been using some of the fresh in cooking.  It’s a little hard to peel but still tasty.   We’ll hold onto some of this harvest to plant in October… just three months away (!)

Fearrington Village in Pittsboro, NC has Belted Galloway cattle as their mascot.  We used to take out of town company there just to see the beltie cows.  The Village restaurant serves beef from their herd and it’s delicious.  They are listed with the American Livestock Breeds Conservacy as a “watched” breed and are known for their quality marbled beef.  Guess who has their own beltie cow now?  That would be us!  For all of you True Blood fans out there, she was purchased from a Mr. Bill Compton who lives on Bill Compton Road.  I asked him if he has HBO (he doesn’t) and if he knew he has the same name as a popular vampire character (he does).  He said people keep stealing his road sign!  We named her Jessica.  Don’t get too attached, she’s destined for the freezer some time next year.  In the meantime, we’re going to take good care of her and enjoy having her around!

Shallots, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini and greenhouse cucumbers on an early July morning.   I’ve been babying the very best tomatoes of each variety on the vine, they’ll be saved for next year’s garden.  Seed saving is the second best thing about heirloom tomatoes, the best is the taste!

Although, I wish.  A few of our friends have donkeys and they are the sweetest creatures.  Caring for one is similar to owning a horse, which is time consuming and expensive.  I know this because we own the book  ‘Looking After a Donkey’.  We considered getting one as a guard animal way back when (thus, the book) but we’ve got the dogs.  So basically, we can’t come up with a good enough reason to get one so I admire them from afar.  It’s the only animal I want but don’t have.  Oh.. and a peacock.  And a flock of guinea hens (but we’re working on that).