Missing Willow Farm

Heirloom tomatoes aren’t self-pollinating, which is an issue when we grow them in our greenhouse through the cool months. We start our seeds in January in our dining room under lights then pot them up a few months later.  They get moved into the greenhouse in April where they stay until after our last frost date in early May.  During these later months, they are growing like crazy (taller than me) and start getting blossoms. Without insects, there is no pollination so we take that task on ourselves.  A paintbrush goes from flower to flower and, by the time we move our plants to the back deck, we’ve got tomatoes!

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Whenever I go into the pasture for any reason, Milos shows up to ask (nicely) for a dog biscuit.  Yesterday, it was to get photos of Mina’s twins…  Of course I oblige.  These dogs are very difficult to handle so I am happy to ‘train’ them with treats.  His sister FiFi got out a few months ago and it was the promise of a biscuit that lured her back into the pasture after a few hours on her own.  That and, I’m sure, a desire to be back on the job with her brother. FiFi’s big adventure.

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Shiitake and oyster mushrooms are what we’ve selected to grow.  We inoculated logs in 2008 and 2009.  We follow the directions on getting them to fruit but they seem to do their own thing, which is apparently now.   Mushroom growing is not a topic I would ever advise anyone on.  Asparagus and mushroom risotto for dinner tonight!

Nugget, our smallest chicken, has gone broody.  She’s the only broody chicken we’ve ever had.  She stopped laying her tiny little eggs and has started sitting on everyone else’s.  Which includes some ginormous double yolk ones we’ve been getting from our Rhode Island Reds that won’t even fit into an XL egg carton.  She doesn’t seem to realize that since we have no rooster, there will be no baby chicks.  What is fun about Nugget nesting is you can pick her up.  And pet her.  And tickle her.  And carry her around.  Normally, she’s absolutely untouchable… faster than a marsupial.  I enjoy a broody Nugget!

Jenna takes her spot between us in the Mule.   Brian usually encourages her to run with us to the barn for some exercise (it’s about a quarter mile) but I like it when she rides with us.  She’s not very good about sharing the seat.  “Move over fat ass”  comes right after “Load up, Jenna”.  She completely ignores the squirrels and bunnies we scare up on the journey (they’re not large, white and fluffy like our sheep).

Sweet woodruff is a shade loving herb that spreads like ground cover.   I’ve had sweet woodruff in my garden for the past 30 years.  It blooms this time of year and is used to flavor May Wine; a mixture of German white wine, strawberries and a few sprigs of this herb.  It can be used as a potpourri ingredient, too.  When it’s fresh, it has no odor.  But if you leave it to dry overnight, it develops a strong vanilla scent.  Just lovely.

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Vegetables aren’t the only thing we grow.  When we first moved here and just had a small vegetable garden, I dug up the ugly shrubs around the house and put in a lot of herbs, perennials and biennials.  Now that I no longer have much time to spend on my flower beds, it’s nice to just weed, mulch and enjoy the show.

Turkey poults arrived in the mail last week.  It ‘s kind of fun getting a phone call from the P.O. at 7AM asking to come pick up the ‘babies’.  They are shipped in a cardboard box with straw and breathing holes.  They are notoriously difficult to raise from this tiny (one day old), at least for us.  We sprinkled hard boiled egg on their food and bought them two baby chicks to teach them how to eat and they pecked them both to death.  And some of them didn’t learn how to eat before the chicks were gone.  Sigh.  Turkeys are stupid.  We’re going to soldier on with them and consider purchasing older (more expensive) turkeys next year if we can find them.

These blocks seem to be getting easier.  Maybe I’m just getting used to my new sewing machine.  With the completion of April’s block, I’m 1/3 of the way through my quilt.  I’ve not missed a turn in day yet, so it continues to only cost me $5 total for the pattern, instructions and beautiful batik fabric.  Pretty cool!

Augusta (Gus) had her lambs on Monday, a ram and a ewe.  She was our last pregnant sheep.  We gave them good southern names – Alma and Jasper.  Her 2010 lamb was named Savannah so we got out our Georgia map and found cute Georgia town names for this year’s babies.   I’ll get some better photos of them when they get a little bigger.  Gus didn’t want me too near them, she’s a very good mom!