The Garden

“One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener's own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race.” 

~Wendell Berry

The 1,200 square foot garden entirely enclosed with a 10-foot deer fence was one of the more alluring, yet daunting, aspects of our property when we purchased it. I inherited a 30 foot long row of strawberries, a 40 foot row of marionberries (that completely inundated us this year), 30 feet of raspberries, and 15 feet each of concord grapes and boysenberries. Caleb also planted 8 blueberry bushes that did not produce this year and a long row of asparagus, which are a perennial and take two years to be ready for harvest. Yet, the garden was not even 1/3 full. I told myself that I did not have to plant all of it. I could do as much (or as little) as I wanted. But it felt wasteful to have the space, cleared and mostly irrigated, and not grow food for my family. So I planted all of it.

I decided this would be an experimental year since I have never grown any type of garden worth mentioning and didn't really know what I was doing. I grew a little bit of everything (and a lot of some things) to learn about it and to see what my family would use. I went easy on myself and did not start seeds indoors, or even use very many seeds at all. I mostly planted starts. I picked up Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest at Costco, and it was extremely helpful. Invaluable, actually.

My Successes

One Day's Bounty

Broccoli: Wow, this went all season long and it was the veggie presented at many dinners. I would definitely plant again and maybe even a bit more. I planted a second round mid-summer and it is still going now, though not as vigorously as my first planting. 

Salad Greens: Early in the season they were delicious. They get bitter the warmer the weather gets.

Kale: It's still growing strong. I dehydrate leaves and make a kale powder in the food processor. About 20 leaves goes into 1 Tablespoon of kale powder. That is some concentrated nutrition! I plan to sneak it into sauces and soups this winter. 

Cucumbers: 2 lemon cucumber plants and 2 regular cucumber plants left us inundated. But we all love them with a little pink sea salt... yum!

Butternut Squash: I planted 3 plants and have 12 large butternut squash cured and in basement storage, hopefully to last the winter. 

Zucchini and yellow summer squash: Who isn't successful with these? I have gallon bags all cubed up ready to make our favorite zucchini cheese soup all winter long.

Tomatillos: 5 plants that all produced heavily and needed no care. They amazed me. I canned a lot of salsa verde.  

Tomatoes: I planted 25 plants of all different varieties in the hopes that they would ripen at different times. The plan worked well and yet I always had enough to work with at any given time. I marvel at how many tomatoes go into any tomato product. If I truly wanted to use only homegrown tomatoes all year long from my pantry, I can't fathom how many plants I would have to plant. 100? Quite possibly.

Beets: I grew these from seed and they did well. I have tried every possible way to eat beets and still cannot stand them. Caleb loves them though so I try to can a few pints for him. 

Snap Peas: My kids love eating them straight off the vine so very few even made it to the dinner table. Peas are the first crop planted in the spring and the first one to be done in early summer. I would plant more next year as they grew right up the fence and we certainly have enough fence to offer them.

Pumpkins: I planted several plants of different varieties and we have many pumpkins. Actually, a volunteer pumpkin plant sprouted near the compost pile and was the healthiest, most thriving of them all, producing 6 huge pumpkins. It was gratifying to carve pumpkins that we had grown ourselves. 

My Failures
Green Beans: I planted several plants of all different varieties, pole and bush. None of them really thrived. We had a few green bean dinners and I was able to freeze a few for winter, but I would plant several more next year and definitely not a couple of the varieties I tried.

Potatoes: I planted a 20 foot row of yukon golds, baby reds, and purple potatoes. They started out strong, but parts of our irrigation system were not working properly and the potato row was just not getting enough water. It was a huge failure, but I'd like to try again after we re-vamp our irrigation.

Onions: I planted some along the fence where there is no irrigation, and pretty much anything that relies on me hand-watering for it's main water source is not likely to survive. 

Celery: I missed the proper harvest time and they were inedibly bitter.

Carrot and Spinach from seed: None of my seeds sprouted. I even tried carrots twice. They were one of the few things I had grown successfully before, so I was surprised and disappointed.

Cauliflower: I planted mid-summer for an early fall harvest and I missed my window. They have all bolted. 

Mixed Bag
Swiss Chard: It's beautiful. It's big. It grows all season. It's still growing. But how much swiss chard can one use? I suppose I'm not creative enough.

Radishes: They were definitely a success. I grew them from seed and they were ready in 3 weeks. The instant gratification was fantastic. The problem is that they were so spicy we could hardly eat them. Seriously, they brought tears to our eyes. And again, how many radishes can a person eat?

Parsnip: I had a large, thriving parsnip patch growing from seed. I planted in May and they are not ready for harvest until October. So while I patiently waited all summer, I would come out each day and find a burrowing animal (mole or gopher, I suspect) had tunneled into my patch and devoured one. The patch died a slow death, one parsnip at a time and I was powerless to stop it. This month, harvest month, I had one pathetic half-parsnip left. Sad.

Pickling Cucumbers: My plan was to have 3 pickling cucumber plants so I would have enough ripe at one time to do batches of pickles. One plant thrived from the start. The other two died, so I dutifully purchased two more to replace it and then they died. Inexplicably, that cycle continued. After purchasing at least 6 plants, I decided I would do better, financially, to just outsource my pickling cucumber purchase, if needed. That one plant produced amazingly and I was able to can several pints of pickles just from it, although I did have to purchase some additional cucumbers at the store. Caleb is a little panicky that we will not have enough to last us all year (He loves my garlic dills!) and I'm afraid he may be right. 

Bell Peppers: I had a blossom end rot issue so probably half of my peppers were rotted and unsalvageable. I read that can be caused by inconsistent water and un-coincidentally, the irrigation was not working on that row and I had to hand water. What I did harvest were great and I was able to use them in my salsas.  

Watermelon and Cantaloupe: They really don't grow too well here and even though this was our warmest, driest year in recent history, we only harvested a few small melons. They were so delectably sweet though, that it was completely worth the space they used. (And I am only speaking of watermelon. Cantaloupe is the one food I have despised all my life. Even the smell makes me throw up in my mouth a little. My kids, however, love it, so I sacrifice.)

I haven't even touched on pears and apples or done any philosophizing on growing our own food. I will have to save that post for another day. My pantry is full. My freezer is full. Food is rotting on the vines in the Autumn rain and I cannot bring myself to even go into my garden and deal with it. I am tired. But I am satisfied in a way I've never known. For this abundance I prayed, and the Lord provided.

And Then There Were Goats... (Part II)

If you're short of trouble, take a goat.

~Finnish proverb

When we brought Elinor and Marianne home, we placed them in the pasture and expected them to start eating the vast variety of yummy weeds and shrubs and grasses thriving there. (Goats are browsers, preferring a sampling of many things rather than the focused grazing on grass of cows or sheep.) But they just stood at the fence and Meh-ed at us for days. And days. Since their previous owner did not have pasture for them, they were kept in a small pen and fed oats. We continued to do this for a few days but then decided we needed to starve them out and force them to browse. Even then, they mostly just stood at the fence, keeping a watchful eye for one of us to step outside so they could cry at us. They were pathetic. 

Every evening we would let them out with us and they were our shadows. (Actually Elinor was our shadow and Marianne was Elinor's shadow.) We strolled up and down our long gravel driveway while they nibbled on blackberry bushes and dried leaves, never leaving our side. If we had to step inside for a moment, this would be the view from inside (accompanied by very sad crying): 

Feeding a goat is not as straight forward as other livestock. They need a mix of hay (second or third cutting alfalfa), goat-specific mineral supplement, and grain. Plus, they are subject to various ailments like bloat, which occurs if they eat wet grass, kidney stones, and lactic acidosis (grain overload) if their rumen PH falls below 5.5. (I'm not sure I even know what that means.) Plus, many common plants are toxic to them, including rhododendron and laurel (we have both) and tomato plants (which I totally would have thrown to them at the end of growing season, if I had not read this). All of this was stressing me out the first couple of weeks. Finally, we bought some Purina Goat Chow, which I'm sure is junk, but at least won't kill them immediately, and we are purchasing some second cutting alfalfa for the winter.  

They are definitely more comfortable now and venture out into the larger pastures to nibble on goodies, but still prefer to be fed (and if it comes directly from our hands, all the better.) They are more like dogs than farm animals, which took some getting used to, since we already have two dogs and I wasn't really in the market for more. 

Yes, that's Elinor giving me a kiss.

I have grown to love these creatures, but they are a handful. They used to gladly follow us back to the pasture when their time out with us was finished. Now, they're too smart for that and I have literally had to drag Elinor the LONG distance down to the pasture while she dropped to her knees like a toddler who doesn't want to go where she is being led. They force their way through the small chicken door into the coop (actually breaking it) and devour chicken feed (which can also be toxic to them). They mysteriously appear places with no indication of how they got in or out. They truly are endearing though. And they just want to be with us. Is that so wrong?

People ask us why we bought them. Are they working goats? Are they pets? We thought they would work on our weed and blackberry and poison oak problem, but they are so finicky and so small that they could eat every hour for the rest of their lives and really not make a dent. We would like to breed Elinor this fall or spring and sell some kids. (Shock of shocks: Caleb said he would like to keep one of the kids. I'm including that information here because after something is written on a blog, it's irrevocable, right?) After breeding, Elinor will be in milk. I really would like to try milking her, but it is a huge commitment, as goats have to be milked twice a day, at 12 hours intervals. After gushing extensively about how convenient it was to spend a little more money and purchase the pre-sliced Tillamook cheddar from Costco, my dear husband gently suggested that maybe my zeal for pre-sliced cheese indicates that I am not quite ready to tackle home dairy. Touche. So let's face it, they are pets, and we are okay with that.

And Then There Were Goats.... (Part I)

If you're short of trouble, take a goat.

~Finnish proverb

My whole life I have had the inexplicable desire for a goat. I don't know why, except that they are awfully cute and I have heard, are brighter and more like pets than other farm animals. So when we moved to our little homestead property, I promptly purchased The Backyard Goat: An Introductory Guide to Keeping Productive Pet Goats. There are so many breeds of goats and each with their own distinct purpose, from meat to dairy to fiber to transportation (pack goats), that I wasn't really sure what breed would best suit us. But I did discover almost immediately that we did not want a buck (an un-altered male). 

"Though regal and often affectionate to a fault, 

bucks have bizarre habits that make them 

unsuitable for most applications...
Bucks don't make good pets or working goats. "
pg 15

To expand on this, a buck considers female humans part of their herd and courts them, challenging human males for leadership. Although it has been a long time since I've been courted, it hasn't been long enough for me to find a goat's courtship flattering. And while under most circumstances I would enjoy seeing Caleb defend my honor, I would hate to see him battered by a 200 pound, love-struck, horned goat. Believe it or not, that was the least offensive behavior described. I won't go into detail, but bucks are a little obsessed with their private parts and find many unseemly ways to express this. I'm all for home education on the farm, but at this point there are some places I'd just rather not go with my young children. 

In all honesty, after reading The Backyard Goat cover-to-cover, I cooled on my goat plan a bit. They seemed (even aside from bucks), perhaps, more high maintenance than we were up for, and we were busy with baby chicks and cows about to give birth and planting a large garden, etc. I shelved the idea for several months. And then after our calves were safely delivered, I breathed a sigh of relief... and I got a bee in my bonnet: I wanted a goat!! I searched Craigslist everyday. I read blog articles and informational websites to discover a breed that would be suitable for our family. I settled on the Nigerian Dwarf breed for a few reasons. First, they are completely adorable. Second, their smaller stature make them easier to manage and less expensive to feed. Third, if I ever want to pursue my dream of a home dairy, Nigerians are the ideal choice. Fourth, they can be bred anytime of year and usually birth 3-4 kids which can be sold for at least a couple hundred dollars each.  

I found a lady on Craigslist about 20 minutes from us, selling off a large assortment of Nigerian Dwarf wethers (castrated males), doelings (females who have not been bred) and kids. For about three weeks I watched her change her CL ad to reflect her dwindling inventory. By the time Caleb consented (over a peaceful Friday night dinner and glass of wine, sans children) and we landed at her farm the next day, she only had one kid and a few doelings to choose from. She informed us that it really was not an option to only take one because they are herd creatures and absolutely need companionship. Cows can occasionally stand in, but really, they need another goat. We decided to take her one remaining kid, a scrumptious 3-month old black and white female with blue eyes (we paid a premium for this trait, as it is supposedly quite desirable) and a beautiful auburn and white year-old doeling. We opted to pay extra to have them papered so that if we decide to breed them, we can in-turn charge more for the kids because we have proof of their purebred blood lines. So without further ado, let me introduce you to Elinor and Marianne (named after the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility):   

How much cuteness can one picture hold???

We really did not prepare for them in advance. Their owner fed them oats twice a day so I scrounged up some breakfast oats from my pantry. We boarded them in a barn stall. As we looked around for a water container, we noticed a bucket attached to the wall. This property was a goat farm, and not just a regular goat farm, but a dwarf goat farm, so we are actually totally set up for dwarf goats in ways that we did not even realize. The barn has little doors cut into the stalls to allow goats to come and go freely. Each stall has water and feeding troughs at just the proper height for dwarf goats. The fencing around our 3 acres of pasture is specifically designed to keep small (naughty) goats in. This is what we were designed for!  

To be continued...

  

They Were Pregnant!

You may remember a few months back there was considerable speculation about the reproductive state of our cows. Well, let me end the suspense:

We actually found out before the calves showed up in our pasture that they were, indeed, pregnant. A couple of months ago I spoke with my very knowledgable neighbor (owner of the bull who fathered these adorable babes) and asked if she really thought the cows were pregnant. She said unequivocally, YES! She said she had not seen the cows exhibiting any "in heat" behaviors since the bull was in pasture with them. When I pressed her on what those behaviors would look like, she said, for example, they hadn't been mounting each other. (Really? Female animals do that??) She said to definitely proceed on the assumption that they are pregnant. And the closer we got to D-Day, they were obviously much larger and their udders began to fill with milk. 

Being the newbies that we are, we also had a country vet come out to check them out and make sure everything was in order. (I was disappointed that he was nothing like James Herriott. I suppose a Scottish accent coming from Dallas, Oregon was a bit much to expect.) He told us that cows should labor no longer than four hours and push for no longer than 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, we need to call him immediately.     

Every day in June we eagerly watched the pastures for signs of new life and then the morning of June 24th I stepped out to this sight:

Baby Boy#1 was still wet and Mom #1 (Stripe) was cleaning him up. I think he was probably born an hour or so before I saw him. We were all very excited! 

Caleb giving the calf his vaccinations

That very same afternoon I was fairly certain that Mom #2 (Splotch) was in labor. She was pacing around endlessly and not eating, her whole body contracted every so often, and her tail was sticking straight out. About 9:00 in the evening we were all working in the garden when Britton happened to walk by the pasture she was in. He yelled, "I see a snout coming out!" We sprinted over and were all able to witness Baby Boy #2 being born. It only took about five minutes and Splotch did not moo or appear distressed or in pain. We moved down into the pasture and stood right next to them for about twenty minutes, watching Mom clean him up as he kept trying (and failing) to stand on his wobbly newborn legs. I'll tell you, peering over that fence on a warm summer evening with my children and husband, watching our cow give birth was an extremely special moment, a gift from God, and brought tears to my eyes. I'll never forget it. We have no pictures because we were too busy actually witnessing it. But here is a picture of them later:     

Britton immediately named them Goggles and Mask ("named" as a way to distinguish them from one another, not to make pets of them - or so we keep telling ourselves). Goggles is the most beautiful deep mahogany red color. My neighbor said he looks just like his grandfather, who they also owned. The boys have such fun playing together, running around the pasture and butting heads. 

A few days after our little bulls were born, our neighbors came over and helped Caleb band them (i.e. change them from "bulls" to "steer"). It seemed in poor taste to photograph the event so my words will have to suffice. As a thank you I gave our neighbors several pounds of freshly picked marionberries. It seemed a quaint, country thing to do: trade two bull castrations for garden produce (though I'm sure the bulls steer think they got the short end of the trade).          

The calves are a little skittish with us (perhaps because of the above-referenced "banding" experience) but the kids have gotten to pet them quite a bit. 

Britton recently told me, "I don't ever want to be a 'city-slicker' again!" As proof he wrote the following song (printed with permission):

Living in the Country

a song by Britton

I moved to the country when I was 9

And I admit it was really fine!

The grass was green. Really green.

Greener than I had ever seen!

There were many trees. Lots of trees!

And we're thinking about raising honey bees!

Chorus:

I'm livin' in the country! Me and my family

Living! Living! Living in the country! Country! Country!

Come on down! Come on down! Come on down!

Come on down and visit me-e-e!

I moved to the country and got a cat

I'm so happy, gonna get a heart attack!

Chorus

Oh yeah-a-a! Oh yeah-a-a!

I'm living in the country

Chorus

There is hard work!

You get into the dirt!

But don't let that discourage you!

Don't say boo hoo hoo!

It's really worth it yeah!

Chorus

I'M LIVING IN THE COUNTRY!

WOO!

The number of exclamation points alone should tell you how excited we are to be out here in the country and should make you want to come out here too!!!

Chicken Love

Surprises
A few things I did not know or expect about chickens:

* They are garbage disposals. I have a perpetual "Chicken Scrap" bowl on my kitchen counter and into it goes everything: apple cores, carrot shavings, banana peels, meat scraps, pasta, etc. (Britton has requested that I do not include pieces of chicken so as not to make cannibals of them. I may or may not sneak some in occasionally.)  While my compost bin is now suffering (it's pretty much all egg shells, coffee grounds, citrus peels and napkins now), turning our garbage into future eggs somehow feels more satisfying than turning it into future dirt. Plus, it lessens our chicken feed bill.
* Chickens put themselves to bed each night. When we go out to close them up as the sun is setting, we invariably find them all tucked in on their roost. (Roosting = one of the many chicken idioms in the English language). If we go out too early in the evening, they are not yet ready for bed and are still out in the pasture. Their internal clocks instruct them on what to do. Wonderfully designed creatures!
* I love watching the chickens. They cluck and peck and chase each other around and just do their chicken-thing like God designed them to. They delight me. If chaos reigns in the house or if a rare moment when all my children are peaceably occupied occurs, I might slip out and find my own moment of peace at the chicken pasture fence. They are mesmerizing. Caleb describes it as similar to watching a campfire - you can stare endlessly. 

The Cast of Characters
Have you ever tried to photograph chickens? Its not as easy as it might sound. I was trying to get a picture of each pair of the same breed, but they are in constant motion and kept photo-bombing each other. I spent way too much time crouched down in the chicken pasture, being swarmed by chickens hoping for kitchen scraps (which I usually have), having my toes pecked at. These were the best I could do. Since our family loves books, each girl is named for a literary character (and I use the term "literary" loosely, as we are talking about everything from true literature to books my three year-old enjoys and everything in between).

Our most beautiful breed (in my opinion), the Gold-Laced Wyandotte. We have two, "The Janes" - Jane Austen and Jane Eyre. 

Our two Gold Sex-Link, Anne Shirley (the red-head, obviously) and Golden Miranda (so named for the perfectly sweet character in the Humphrey the Hamster series). Gold Sex-Link are a cross between Rhode Island Red and Rhode Island White. They are called Sex-Link because a chick's gender is distinguishable at birth based on its color. Very handy when you want to ensure you are getting an egg-layer!

We have two of these Black Sex-Link, Diana Barry (Anne Shirley's raven-haired bosom friend) and Cuddles. Cuddles was more aptly named when she was two-days old and was a little ball of fluff. I wouldn't recommend cuddling her now. Black Sex-Link are a cross between Rhode Island Red and Barred Rock. Again, the males and females are distinguishable at birth by their markings. Their back feathers shine a deep green in the sun and they are gorgeous!

Silver-Laced Wyandottes, Annabeth (from Percy Jackson series) and Bethany (from the Erec Rex series)

We have two Barred (or Plymouth) Rock, Violet (from the Boxcar Children) and Little Lavender (from both Anne of Green Gables and Harry Potter books). As a chick, I thought for sure Little Lavender wouldn't make it. She was half the size of the others and just layed under the heat lamp all by herself when the others were off exploring. She appeared sickly and small, but she rallied and is now as large and ornery as the rest of them. 

Daisy and Hermione

These girls are our mavericks. Daisy (from the Biscuit books) is a California White Leghorn. This breed represents 90% of commercial chickens. They lay between 300-350 eggs a year - more than any other breed. Do you buy white eggs from the store? They are almost certainly from a California Leghorn. I have found Daisy covered in blood no less than seven times. We have been at a loss to figure out how she is cutting herself. At 4 pounds, she is much lighter than the others and can squeeze places she shouldn't. She can also take flight and will perch on top of the fence. I finally realized that the back half of the fence is topped by barbed wire and that is most likely where she is getting her pokes and cuts. Since she apparently is not learning from her mis-adventures, I suppose we will need to take the barbed wire down. 

Britton with Anne Shirley, who does not
mind being held

Hermione (from Harry Potter) is an Ameracauna. She has the look of a hawk or falcon with tufts of feathers around her face and a thick neck. She was my novelty pick because she is not a heavy layer, but she lays green eggs. I couldn't resist. She is skittish and Britton laments that she is the only chicken he has not been able to pick up and hold. The other day I challenged him to a little competition to see who could catch her first. We ran around the chicken pasture for a good while (which did not assuage her fear of us, I'm sure). Alas, Hermione was the winner on that one. She remains unheld. 

I can't have a section called "Cast of Characters" and not put in a picture of these four:

Never a dull moment around here!