Folkways Farm

2010-11-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

We find these amanita mushrooms every November:
Here's one of our 11 year old's watercolors for her art class:

It has been a while since posting, I think because I am still catching my breath after finishing our house inspections and feeling like we are sort of done with our house. Also homeschooling is in full swing as I juggle schooling three kids at once. It is going pretty well; I've realized that our 8 year old needs to skip up to a more complicated math book and I an really excited that our 5 year olds reading has really coming along. Our 11 year old is also doing very well with her studies, art, dance and piano. The garden is winding down but we have lots of cool weather crops in the ground like beets, chard, kale and cabbage, and lots of onions, garlic and squash stored. Today I hope to plant some garlic (late as usual) and I am going to roast one of our home raised, home slaughtered turkeys. A little early for it, but it will be good!

I just built my own house and all I got was this stupid piece of paper!

2010-08-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

Today we had our final building inspection with the county, and passed of course! I took the kids to a park today so they wouldn't be in the inspector's way, while Brian spent several hours panicking, waiting for the inspector to show up. Everything was great, and we got this little piece of paper saying we were approved. Kind of anticlimactic actually. Now we get to spend the rest of our lives doing bits of finish work, cob and glassing in a sun room/greenhouse, building a rainwater catchment swim pond... but at least we are finished with the county. I brought Brian home some beer and pizza to celebrate, and now he is back to work!

2010-08-07T16:48:00.003-07:00

Just posting some quick garden photos and then back to braiding large amounts of onions!

Brian planted about 100 kohlrabi plants this year. Does anyone really need that much kohlrabi?
Lemon cukes!

2010-07-23T22:43:00.001-07:00

We have been super busy lately: trying to keep on top of the weeds, caring for the animals, and trying to get some last things done on the house so we can get our final inspections done on the house before Brian goes back to school. He's put a sink in the mudroom (great for washing produce, garden tools and muddy kids) and is almost done with our shower! Here are some garden pictures from this evening:

Our daughter is the one who takes all the photos in our family. She has the nicer camera and enjoys photography, so almost all our blog photos are hers. Unfortunately that means we don't have as many pictures of her to post!

She started her own blog to post some of her photos and the art she is working on for drawing class. You can see it here.

Heat!

2010-07-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

It is pretty hot today, mid-nineties, and should be just as hot or hotter tomorrow. This morning we rushed around watering plants and giving extra buckets of water to the animals. They need lots of water on days like today. Now we are mainly working inside.

A few days ago we harvested our garlic. I have been braiding the softneck varieties and hanging bunches of the hardnecks. I easily use at least one whole garlic bulb per meal (bulb, not clove) so we need lots for eating, planting in the fall and for gifts.

Yesterday we beat the heat by going to our favorite spot on a nearby river. It was beautiful but the water was really cold!

Turkey day

2010-06-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we butchered our three turkeys. It went well; poultry is pretty easy to turn into food. It always amazes me how quickly it goes from being our animal to something we can put on the table. Our four year old was especially fond of the turkeys so he wasn't happy that we were going to be eating them. I really liked our turkeys; I think they imprinted on humans because they really liked us. As chicks they would peep when we left the room, and as they grew they would follow us around. I know they have a reputation for stupidity, but I found them to be really sweet, though a little simple. It is never easy killing one of our animals, but at least I know that our meat had a great life roaming free and a fast death.

2010-06-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry the blog has been so quiet. Between all the work that needs to be done on the house, land and garden, plus my homeschooled kids' social life, there just hasn't been much time. Finally we have some sun and the plants are really growing! Unfortunately so are the weeds...

2010-06-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

After 4 1/2 years without a computer, we finally have internet. It took us a very long time to get the internet lines put in (we had other priorities!), and have been blogging from our library or a family member's computer, but last week our local communications co-op came out to hook us up. We are pretty excited but also a little cautious about its potential as a time-waster. Here are some pictures our daughter has recently taken:

Countdown to the market!

2010-05-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

Our first market of the year will be this coming Saturday, June 5th, from 10-2! We have been having very cool, wet weather, and it is supposed to be raining Saturday, but we will be there! We should have our goats milk soap, lettuce, greens, radishes, green onions, possibly strawberries, and more. All grown organically and hand made by us! Please come out and support the market!

Wet, wet, wet!

2010-05-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

We've had lots of rain this week. Everything is very soggy, and the slugs are loving it! I am liking that I don't need to worry about watering though. We had a busy weekend working on house stuff; Brian poured and tiled the mudroom floor and I worked on lime plastering. I just couldn't bring myself to get soaked working in the garden, and I don't like weeding when the ground is so saturated any way. Our new chicks and baby goats are growing fast, and the turkeys are getting huge! Here are some new garden photos:

More kids!

2010-05-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

This week the boys came running in announcing that there were two more baby goats in the goat house! Our oldest goat, Nettle, kidded for her fourth time. She is a pro-mama, so she was already licking and talking to her babies, then birthed her placenta a promtly ate it up! No mess to clean up for us. I have a good connection with her so I sat down next to her while she licked her babies and nuzzled me. My other milk goat, Rose, is a little less lovey, so I give her lots of space to bond with her kids, but Nettle is happy to let me be with them. Her udders were pretty full and low, which makes it harder for the new kids to latch, so I helped them get the hang of nursing. I was struck by how peaceful it is spending time with my animals. I need to remember that feeling the next time they sneak through a fence or when I struggle to trim their hooves!

Ugh, Slugs!

2010-05-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

We have been blessed so far with very few pest problems. We get our aphids here and there but nothing terrible. But here in the cool, moist Pacific Northwest; slugs are always an issue. They can cause serious damage to our new sprouting seeds in one night. We had some tomatoes in our cold frame and Brian pulled them in when he saw some slug damage. Of course that meant bringing lots of slugs, beetles and even a snake into the house with the pots! I just know that the weather will warm up, the plants will get bigger and the slugs will be less of an issue, but right now they are driving us crazy!

2010-05-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

We've had a pretty busy week. We had a birthday party for our two older kids (turning 11 and 8) plus some friend's kids as well. So we spent more time doing land and house clean up and cooking, and less time weeding and planting. Sunday was our day to plant and weed in the garden so we put in more beets, cabbage, zucchini and summer squash. It is that funny time of year when the sun shines and we are roasting, and then it goes behind a cloud and it feels too cold!

Here are some recent photos of baby goats, chicks and wild boys!

Kids!

2010-04-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

We had some new goat kids born early this week. I expected our goat Rose to kid on the 15th, but the trio came a few days early. I had hoped to catch some birthing pictures with my camera, but she had her babies without us knowing! What a fun surprise. Now we are waiting for our goat Nettle to kid in a few weeks. It is a big change having to milk twice a day again. I enjoy milking but it was nice to have a little break in the goats last months pregnancy. Hopefully we can post photos soon.

We have been busy taking care of seedlings, planting potatoes, and making new garden beds. After a month of colds, the flu and travel to see family; we are ready to have a weekend to get a lot of work done. So we will be planting, planting, planting!

Buzzz

2010-04-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we picked up four new bee colonies! They were supposed to arrive Monday but due to bad weather the truck came in late. Brian picked them up at Ruhl Bee Supply on the way home from work and hived and fed the new ladies. Hopefully on Monday we can post photos of the process (I just did). Two of the hives are a type of bee that is supposedly hardier, but also not as docile as the Italian honey bees, so of course Brian got his first sting of the year!

2010-04-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

We spent this weekend with my parents in Southern Oregon to celebrate Easter. We came bearing dozens of eggs, a huge bag of spinach, and Easter Egg radishes. It was good to see family but always stressful to leave the farm. I worry about animals getting sick or loose, or something happening to the house... Fortunately, all was well when we got home, except it is no fun to have to rush around checking on everything after spending hours in the car!

2010-04-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

We had a very productive Spring Break, with no computer time to update the blog. We worked hard on getting the garden ready and planted a bunch of cool season crops: radishes, kale, cabbage, etc and we continued to sow peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and other warmer weather crops inside. I have often lamented how much I like clear, over spaces in our home but often our projects take over our house. Right now every available space is covered with seedlings, unless it is nice enough to put them in the sun. I can't wait for our last frost date to pass so I will have these babies out of my way!

We mainly worked on the land this past week, with Brian clearing out a scrap wood pile that has been building since we started out house. he also started tiling the bathroom floor, which is really exciting. My big milestone is that I have finished the interior plaster. All I will need to do it the lime washes on the plastered bales and some Alis (clay paint) to the cob! On to the outdoor plastering...

I got sick early this week, which slowed down what I could do. I was determined to weed the garlic, and it took me so long. Towards the end I was so tempted just to lie down in the rows and take a nap! I did rest afterward with a book, but it drives me absolutely crazy to do nothing!

For our last months of homeschooling before summer, the kids are doing ancient Greece and Rome in history. When I told the kids what we would be doing, they were so excited, you would think I said we were having ice cream for dinner! I love how different homechool kids are; they are not self-concious about diving into things. We are reading the Odyssey before bed, and our 7 year old hopes to make himself some sort of Spartan-inspired battle suit. What fun!

Happy Spring!

2010-03-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

The spring equinox was a few days ago. We celebrated by doing lots of work outside, planting onions and preparing garden beds. We got all our onions planted, which is a relief. I put up a little Easter tree with the boys. It is just some willow shoots in a bucket with wheat grass seeds, hung with painted wooden eggs. My kids love any holiday decorations and traditions.

Brian brought home a new batch of chicks and three turkeys! Right now they are warm under a light next to the wood stove. Our four year old likes to carry them around. He showed me a fuzzy yellow one and told me it liked it's belly rubbed!

It seems like every surface inside is covered with trays of seedlings. It will be a relief when they are all planted in the garden in the next few months. We ordered a soil blocker, which I think will help streamline our seed starting.

We are trying to expand our garden beds, fence in new areas, and seed some pasture areas. Brian is on spring break and we aren't doing our full homeschool schedule, so I hope we get lots done!

Onions!

2010-03-15T09:33:00.001-07:00

Last year onions were one of best sellers at the market. This took us by surprise and we sold basically every onion we grew, including the storage onions I planned on saving for ourselves and using all winter! So this year we have planted enough to exceed our market needs and have tons for our own use. We are planting Mars, Ailsa Craig, Copra and Yellow Sweet Spanish varieties. Also we are growing some leeks. We love our alliums!

For Christmas this year our almost 11 year old got a digital camera. So lately all our blog photos are from her. She is doing a photography club for homeschoolers so she coming up with all sorts of neat pictures. Unfortunately because she is behind the camera, I don't have as many photos of her for the blog! It is really fun to look at her photos and see all the mischief the kids get into! Here are our boys:

Notice the baling twine so the wagon is being towed by the bike.

Once they harnessed the wagon to one of the goats!

2010-03-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago after dinner, our seven year old said, "I'm cold. Could you make a fire?...Actually, I'll make the fire." And he chopped up some kindling (he has been taught how to use a small hatchet safely) and started a fire in the wood stove. I am so glad to have such self-reliant kids. I like the idea that if you need something, first see if you can do it yourself, and then ask for help if you need it. I think it helps that they see their parents constantly making things from scratch, repairing things ourselves when they break, and making do with the resources we have on hand.

This self-sufficiency helps our 10 year old take responsibility for her home education. Although I do spend a few hours daily working with her on more challenging subjects, a great deal of her "school" day is self-directed. She has all her materials and knows what she needs to accomplish each day; so she is able to get her work done by herself.

This week it has been more of the same on the farm: plastering, weeding, taking care of animals, working on the house, caring for seedling and Brian fixing our truck (again!). We have most of the seeds we need for the year, but we have been picking up some extra seeds to round out what we are growing. We are choosing many heirloom varieties from organic companies. Also our huge box of onion sets just arrived, so this weekend will be spent planting onions!

2010-03-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

The last few days the weather has been really warm and sunny, so we've spent a good amount of time outdoors. Brian has been clearing out the chicken coop and working on our numerous fruit trees. I want to be done with the interior lime plaster coat by spring break so I have been plastering our mud room. It is the only room left and then I am done plastering lime

inside!

The kids have been spending lots of time outside running around, riding bikes and catching (and releasing) some early frogs!

Our seeds and seedling are coming up; this month we will be planting a lot more outside: swiss chard, arugula, onion sets, potatoes, etc. Also we will be starting more seeds indoors.

Here is a cold-frame with radishes:

Two days ago we had are first ducklings of the season! This time of year all the female ducks disappear and we find them tucked away in their nests. After a few weeks they come out with a line of fuzzy ducklings. Even though we have several batches of ducklings a year, it is so fun to see them brand new!

Spring?!

2010-02-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

Despite the really low temperatures we had in January, this winter has been really mild. Already I have crocuses and daffodils blooming! Our cold framed radishes are getting big and the spinach is getting lush. Our peas have been planted and Brian has been starting our first set of tomato, eggplant and pepper seedlings.

We had a nice dry weekend which allowed us to get some good outdoor work done. Weeding the garlic and around the edges of our fenced gardens, planting some new berry bushes and moving a few young fruit trees and shrubs, and Brian made me a new clothesline! We don't have dryer, so being able to hang lots of clothes out when we have sunny days is crucial. For wet days I have a clothesline under our roof overhang. Brian has been working on our gutters; the county requires them and we need them in for rainwater catchment.

This is the time of year with our homeschooling that I go through the calendar and plan out the rest of the year and make sure we are on track for completing our curriculum by the time Brian is out for the summer. We're doing pretty well but will definitely need to stay diligent with Math lessons in order to get it done! This is also the time of year I look at the things we should be covering in the kids grades and panic when I realize we still haven't covered certain things (the periodic table?!). Over all though, we are working hard and I feel good about what the kids have accomplished.

Here we go again...

2010-02-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

We are starting to do a little planting here and there. Mainly lettuce starts and radishes. In March our big indoor planting begins, and we will start putting the cold-tolerant seeds in the ground. It is always exciting but daunting to plan now for things that we will be harvesting in the late summer. Sometimes we don't plant enough of one thing, not enough in succession, or too much of another (like summer squash). Soon my window sills and counters will be full of seedlings. Eventually we want to cob and glass-in our South side of our house for a sun room/ greenhouse, but or now we make do with what we have.

Here are some pictures of the kids:

2010-02-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: If you are squeamish or offended by meat-eating (we used to be vegan, so I understand), please don't read the following post!

On a small farm we have to be really careful about the number of animals our land can sustainably support, and we raise some animals for meat; so this weekend we butchered one of our pigs, named Wilder. We have raised animals for meat before, but a 250+ pound pig was definitely going to test our abilities.

The killing went really smooth; Brian expertly shot her in the head and she dropped instantly. There was a lot of movement because of her nervous system, but by that time she was gone. A very brave friend of ours did a great job with the throat cutting to bleed her out. I was surprised at how emotional I felt; I even cried a little. I knew that we raised her for food and she had a great life (she was able to run around on pasture and eat good, healthy food) and a fast death. But the experience was still pretty intense. Although I feel it is important that if we eat meat we should be able to raise and kill it ourselves, I don't think I will ever be unaffected by the gravity of it.

We had three other families come out so the kids could play while the adults helped. Everyone pitched in for the hard work of killing, skinning, eviscerating and breaking down the carcass into meal sized cuts. It was a full days work and then we all shared a great potluck dinner with fresh roast pork. We sent friends home with coolers of meat and have filled a freezer for ourselves. I am going to make sausage this week which should be delicious. We will definitely think of our pig and give thanks to her every time we eat this nourishing, sustainable food.

Entropy acres

2010-01-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

I have this fantasy farm in my head, where everything is perfect: the animals never get out of their fences, the paths and pastures are always free of mud, and every is perfectly organized and runs smoothly. Of course this past week was the opposite of perfect. The abundant rain made lots of mud, the pigs learned to root around a post until they knocked their fence over and snuck out; just the usual farm chaos. Brian always laughs because every time things seem under control and caught up, something happens that takes him several days to fix! But eventually the sun came out and we got some work done. I trimmed all the goats hooves and cleaned out the milking/hay and feed storage shed, while Brian built a new pig shanty and set up fencing to move them to a new area to clear.

Mystery Pig

2010-01-11T19:00:00.001-08:00

Last week I was doing my usual morning chores: milking, hauling water, etc, and I had just fed our two rather large pigs and left them happily munching in the pig house. As I started heading up the hill I heard some piggish grunting and snorting and was confused because I was sure the piggies were behind me. A little, brown hairy pig came nosing her way through the bushes and under our fence, where she snorted at me and then walked straight into the pig house and starting eating breakfast! I had no clue where she came from. So I called Brian at work so he could laugh at the absurdity of a pig just showing up, and the kids ran down and instantly fell in love with the new pig, and begged me to let them keep and name her.

We all piled in the truck and start asking our neighbors if they have lost a pig. I got to our neighbor Bud's, where I find him on the phone calling around to see if anyone has found a pig! He was thrilled we had her, but he figured she would just escape again if he put her back. So much to the kids' delight, he asked if we could watch her for the week until he got her pen under control and found a new pig or two to keep her company. He thought she escaped because her larger companions had recently been sent to the butcher and she was lonely.

We kept her for a week, and with Bud's permission the kids named her "Chocolate". Then Bud showed up with a friend and we had a fun time getting a rope around her, slipping her under our fence, and then they led her home with a bucket of feed. Our seven year old helped by turning off the electric fence at the right times and then turning it on so our pigs would stay in.

She hasn't been back so she must be happy with her companions. Also Bud ended up getting a boy pig so we might use him to breed our girls. Brian and I had a good laugh about living somewhere where run away pigs travel through woods and cross roads just to hang out with our pigs!

Here are some new photos, taken by our ten year old:

Action shot

Tiling on New Years eve

Our 4 year old playing with legos

And here is a picture of Brian's raw, bleeding hands after grouting our floor. Ouch!

2009-12-25T16:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! We had Christmas morning at home, and then came over to Brian's mom's for more gifts and dinner. In a few days my parents and grandfather will be coming up to see the kids. The kids had a blast with their new books, art supplies and a few new toys. Hope everyone had a nice holiday!

Happy Solstice!

2009-12-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

It had been really cold here a week or so ago (at least really cold for Western Oregon). Our thermometer was at 8 degrees, and it was 9.5 degrees in town. We fared pretty well, although part way through we did end up turning on our propane back up heater to keep the temperature comfy at night. It was a real luxury but really not absolutely necessary. It was a real chore keeping the animals watered though. I would haul buckets of warm water out first thing in the morning and a little while later they would be iced over. Our shallow duck pond was solid ice, so the kids had a blast "ice skating" and playing hockey.

During this time our good friend Myron came for a visit. We had a great couple of days making plum wine and soap; while playing music, hanging out with the kids, and just catching up. He is studying herbal medicine so he spent some time gathering poplar buds to make a pain relieving salve and red cedar leaves for it's anti-fungal properties. He also has a lot of experience gardening and working on the land; so it was great to have him wander around and give us feedback and ideas. He makes a great moisturizing bar which you can check out here.

We made it through the cold spell, Brian had his winter concert at his school, and our daughter danced in the Nutcracker, so now we have two weeks to visit with family and get a lot of work done. Brian is working on tiling and plastering drywall, while I am focusing on the interior lime plaster. In the warmer months we spend so much time working on the land, so now is our time to really work on the house.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the beginning of winter and the shortest day of the year. Today was especially cold and wet, with the sun setting just after four o'clock. A great day to be inside by a fire and enjoying the Christmas tree. So happy Solstice everyone!

2009-12-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

Today is our last market until next year! Harvesting yesterday was easy; just some turnips, sunchokes, kale, bagged mixed greens, mizuna, spinach, cabbage... the usual cold weather harvest. The market today is great, complete with a visit from Santa, a huge gingerbread house, beautiful gifts at the different vendor's booths, a choir, and beautiful wreaths made by Brian's mom. Very festive and fun!

We had a great Thanksgiving in Ashland with my family. We got to see my brothers new home, and spend time with my parents. We went on a nice hike and the kids got to play in the snow. My mom sells her own soaps (made with our goat milk!) and body care products at the farmer's market down there, so she had lots of local foods for our Thanksgiving feast. Yum!

A good friend took great care of our critters, even milking my goats! I feel really fortunate I have someone I can count on to help us when we are out of town. Thanks Danielle!

Our home schooling is going really well. I feel like our seven year old has made a major shift in his ability to do "school" for longer stretches. Before, he could only sit there for about 15 minutes at a time, and then need like 45 minutes to run around and play. I know this is normal, especially for boys, but it was taking all day just to get a few things done, and my days are already pretty busy. In the last few months though he is really able to focus more: so he is reading for blocks at a time, then we do science and history (which he loves), then some language arts, then math (which he also enjoys and has a real aptitude for), with some art projects, read aloud time, and special topics thrown in here and there. Then he is done for the day, and can play with his little brother. During his school time our 4 year old often sits with us, doing his own "reading and writing"and then runs around the house reciting the definition of a noun. He has also been known to ask random people questions like "Do you know who Genghis Khan is?" He is learning a lot just be being around his siblings. During this time our 5th grader does her independent work, and then after lunch while the boys play I work one-on-one with her on the harder subjects. Of course at least once a week we attend various clubs or playgroups with other home schoolers, so we keep busy.

We're just about finished with getting the kids' Christmas presents. We try to keep things pretty simple. I think too many things can be overwhelming, hard to keep clean, and the kids end up not playing with them anyway, so we try to keep gift giving under control. It is hard because we obviously want our children to have fun, nice things. We give our kids mainly books, home school items and art supplies. This sounds boring, but our kids devour books, the home school items are fun things like tangram sets or really interesting history or science projects, and my kids constantly are creating art. For their stocking we will get some more "fun" items: a few toys like Legos, some hair stuff for our 10 year old, useful things like socks and gloves, and even some traditional holiday oranges. It should be lots of fun, and we also get to see both Brian's family and my side as well. Brian and I don't exchange gifts; if one of us needs something, we get it.

This week has been really cold. I'm having to haul water for the animals every morning and need to get out the hats and gloves. I love that now that the ground is frozen there is no mud, but the pigs have trouble running across the hard, frozen ground in their tilled up areas. The kids get so excited about the ice coating everything, and our four year old goes on and on about the beautiful "frosting" outside. He can't catch on that the correct word is "frost"! Our ten year old is in the Willamette Ballet Academy's Nutcracker, and I help out with costumes; so I have been sewing lots of lace and sequins in the evenings.

We are now shifting into planning for next year, ordering seeds, and getting our planting calendar figured out. Now that we have a better idea on what our customers want, we are excited to start a new year of seed starting and planting!

Survivalists?

2009-11-23T20:03:00.000-08:00

Brian was talking to someone the other day who was asking about our gardens in November, asking what we were growing right now. He assumed with the cold weather there wasn't much; but Brian told him about all our cold hardy veggies like kale, mache, cabbage, leeks, collards, plus lettuce and spinach in cold frames and under cover, as well as our home raised milk, eggs and meat from our animals. Plus we have cans and cans of home preserved jams, sauces, broths and pickles, buckets and boxes of potatoes and apples. We got some jokes about preparing for the apocalypse, which Brian of course plays up. We often joke with each other about being survivalists with our self-sufficiency goals, buckets of stored food, and love of food preservation. And I do have a fascination with end-of-the-world novels. But really we aren't preparing for Mad Max scenarios, nuclear winter or zombie attacks.

Many years ago Brian and I looked at the problems we humans were causing and the issues we would be facing in our children's lifetimes; global warming, peak oil, environmental degradation, the industrial food system... and we thought long and hard about what our reaction would be. We had already done the activism thing, with disappointing results. So what could we possibly do (besides offing ourselves) to some way minimize our personal impact on the planet, while still living within the confines of the system.

We decided the best we could do was to work towards self-reliance. Anything we could grow, raise or create ourselves was one less thing creating waste, warming the planet and using fossil fuels. When we couldn't or didn't have the time or energy to make it ourselves, we decided to try and find the least damaging source of the item. We buy food in bulk because it has less packaging and uses less fuel in transport (and it's cheaper). I like to buy many things second hand to minimize waste and not wasting resources creating something new when used works just as well (and it's cheaper). Now we are by no means perfect; we shop at stores, drive a car, watch movies, etc. But we do try.

There are also some additional benefits to having our food storage, stacks of firewood and herd and flocks of animals. If we ever had a personal disaster; Brian loses his job or we get a ton of unanticipated medical bills (like our ER trip a few months ago created, despite good insurance), I know I will have plenty to feed my family. Usually once a winter our area loses power for a few days, and I have seen the scramble as people go to the store to buy drinking water, candles and canned food when a big storm is predicted. With our solar power and wood heat, we are relatively insulated from these things. So we aren't crazy survivalists, despite our stocked pantry, hand tools and books on how to do everything from tanning hides to smoking meat. We just believe in being prepared and the value of learning how to do things ourselves.

This last week had more intense wind storms, but despite keeping us up all night; there was very little damage. Brian dismantled our tangled irrigation systems to store for the winter, and I've been doing more lime plaster inside to house. We are preparing to go see my family in Southern Oregon for Thanksgiving, while a good friend is kind enough to take care of our animals. We are looking forward to Christmas break to have a big chunk of time to get work done on the house.

Hibernation

2009-11-16T19:16:00.000-08:00

It seems like the longer we have lived on our land, the more in tune we are to the earth's rhythms. I'm not sure if it's eating seasonal food or being more aware of light because of our solar, but we are all feeling winter coming on. Right now it is getting dark before 5:00, so there is a rush to get any outdoor chores done while there is still light. The kids are going to bed really early, and we are often asleep before ten. It is cold enough that we light a fire in the evenings, and the house is still warm the next morning. We've been eating pots of soup, and drinking gallons of tea. I feel like we are well prepared for this winter: we have firewood stacked, food canned and stored, and we have lots of indoor projects lined up for the kids. We have had another crazy weather week, cold nights, marble-sized hail, and high winds. Today it was really warm and very windy. It even blew over one of our trees!

2009-11-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

We had a great indoor market on Saturday. We sold out of most of our produce, and it was great to see return customers and to connect with new ones. Brian was especially happy to meet some of the people in Wellspring Heart program. It was great to see people trying new foods. I was a little worried about how all the seasonal produce would do. But people were happy with the turnips, kale and sunchokes!

That night we rented the DVD Food, Inc. We are already well-educated about the industrial food system, so there weren't many surprises, but I found the movie really well-done and informative. Plus it features both Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin (Brian's hero). The film breaks down different elements of the industrial food system, and ends with a basic conclusion. You are voting with your dollars, so if food (and your health and the environment and the treatment of workers and animals) is important to you: buy local, shop at farmer's markets, grow a garden. Now Brian tends towards extremes, so he ended the movie depressed about all the ways we still buy into the food system. That day he bought a six-pack and a jar of natural peanut butter (gasp!). Of course I countered with the fact that we just provided our community with fresh, seasonal organic produce, and we grow and raise a huge portion of our food, and no one can be a purist anyway.

He felt better Sunday, because we harvested some of our ducks that we don't want to over winter, and had delicious roasted duck with rosemary, garlic, turnips and cabbage, all from our farm. Now we are canning the rest in broth to make meals through out the winter. I am also making some pickled easter egg radishes and turnips. Yum!

Roots and greens!

2009-11-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

For our November market, we've harvested lots of roots and greens; turnips, radishes, chard, kale, salad greens, cabbage and more. It was a very cold and wet Friday, which made for tough picking weather, but we got it done. It didn't help that our pig Wilder (aptly named by the kids because she is more wild than the other pig), snuck out of her pasture three times! Brian was at work so I rushed to get the homeschooling and household work done so I could be done harvesting before dark. It was very cold pulling up root veggies out of soggy beds and spraying them off outdoors. By the time I milked the goats, my hands were so cramped with cold I could barely get them to work. Also the goats weren't thrilled with my icy fingers! Thankfully Brian got home and took over the rest of the washing, bundling and bagging, so I could take a hot bath and put the boys to bed. Then we had a nice time listening to music and getting everything ready. We've also made some more soap, salve and new beeswax candles from our beehives.

As I was sorting through radishes and putting aside slug-nibbled ones, I was thinking lots about how we expect our produce to be "perfect", regardless of the cost to the environment and our health to make it so, and the amount of waste created by throwing out cosmetically imperfect food. It is so frustrating to spend all the time and energy growing something, only to harvest it and realize we can't sell it due to light insect damage. But we have had good luck will our customers accepting some imperfect produce because they know we grow organic. Fortunately we are small enough that it is easy for us to eat our market "rejects", and we can always feed things to our animals or the compost pile. But I shudder when I see all the picture perfect produce in the stores and think of how many chemicals it took to grow them that way, and how much food was thrown out that didn't meet aesthetic standards. I think we all need to learn what kind of imperfections are acceptable and won't harm the quality of the food.

The last few days we have had high winds, driving rains, hail and even lightning! Our animals have been hiding in their shelters, waiting for breaks in the rain to come out and forage. Brian made a new cold-frame for our lettuce, and put row covers to protect our spinach and greens. We should have enough to eat fresh greens all winter. We are still eating plenty of fresh tomatoes that have been ripening on my counter. They should hold out until December, when I will start using my home-canned sauce.

I've been trying to get as much plastering done as possible, after chores and homeschooling, before making dinner, nighttime milking and clean up. Here is a picture of the lime plaster over earthen on our south wall.

2009-10-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

We had a productive weekend this week. Saturday was dry and mild, so I mucked out our buck pen, put in fresh bedding, trimmed the boys' hooves, and cleaned off the buck. He is in rut right now so he is constantly peeing on his face and front legs. Supposedly this makes him more attractive to the does. But the urine irritates the skin on his legs really bad, so I try to spray him off every so often. It doesn't seem to improve the smell.

I also cleaned our milking/ hay and feed house and scrubbed the milking stand, and cleaned out the pig's house and put in fresh straw. Now I just need to finish cleaning the chicken house and get wood chips on the mucky paths.

I have been applying lime plaster on our exterior strawbale walls. Lime over layers of earthen plaster is a good idea for strawbales homes in our climate, as is provides excellent protection while still allowing the bales to "breathe". It is made from limestone which is heated and slaked into a powder form, then made into a putty, and when exposed to air it turns back into limestone, creating a hard plaster. I mix fine sand with lime putty, adding small amounts of chopped straw and wool to act as a binder. I moisten the earthen plaster and trowel on the lime paster. Lime is very caustic, due to it's high PH, so I need to wear gloves to prevent burns, and I should wear googles. This time of year is good for working with lime; it needs cooler, moister weather to keep the drying time slow to help the plaster set up hard. But when it gets too cold (below 45) I will need to move on to the interior walls. We have really large overhangs to protect our bales, but we do get some intense storms with driving rains, so it feels good to know that our bales will be well-protected.

Brian has been working hard on firewood. He has been cutting up downed trees on our property and we should have plenty to get us through the cold season. Of course he will probably keep stacking anyway, just to be prepared. Our house is well insulated with the bale walls, with lots of thermal mass in the floor, earthen plaster and interior cob wall, and we have a passive solar design, so thus far we haven't needed any additional heating. Also I think we tolerate cooler house temperatures than most people. It will be nice when we fire up the woodstove in earnest.

Brian has been clearing an area of rotten wood and stumps to get ready to plant berries, so he built an enormous bonfire. It was the biggest we have had on our property. By now, he is a fire building expert, and he made such a clean, hot fire it made virtually no smoke. The kids love fires, so they spent the day cautiously playing near it's warmth and gathering wood for it. While getting wood they found a salamander, which they found a safer home for.

On the housewifely end of things; I have been working hard on the kids' Halloween costumes, and trying to get some knitting in during the evenings. Brian has been plastering the ceiling, laying tile, and generally making a big mess of our living space. It is worth it though to see our house get closer to completion.

We made some new soap and are getting ready for the November and December markets. We hope to have many items that could work for holiday gifts; like our soap, salves, beeswax candles and more.

Apples!

2009-10-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

We went apple picking at a friend's orchard a few days ago. The kids ran around eating apples like they were the sweetest things ever, while Brian and I filled boxes. It looked like it would be rainy but it turned out to be the perfect fall afternoon.

Now the boxes are sitting on my counter with the salvaged tomatoes needing to be dealt with. We have already used a bunch by getting out our cider press and making sweet cider for the kids (heated up and spiced is their favorite) and started brewing hard cider for us. I still have lots for apple sauce, apple butter, apple jelly and to store for eating this winter. Right now my favorite treat is apple slices with peanut butter.

The first year we started picking at this orchard we filled the whole back of our truck with apples. Despite giving lots to friends, and canning applesauce, butter and apple rings in syrup, we still ended up having to compost many that spoiled before we could get to them. It made great compost though! So this year we tried to pick enough to have a good amount for fresh eating and storage, but not so much as to be overwhelming.

Today I went to a local park with a canopy of huge oak trees, and collected acorns for our pigs. They also are enjoying the wormy walnuts from some friends. They have been doing an amazing job tilling up our fields and eating weeds.

This weekend we did a lot of planting; Brian planted 6 fruit trees we picked up over the summer (2 apples, peach, plum, plucot, and cherry) and planted 8 blueberries. I planted a gooseberry and currant I started from cuttings, and an echinacea plant I started from seed. I still have lots of gooseberries, currants and a fig to plant. Fall is my favorite time for planting. The trees and shrubs seem to like the cooler temps and moisture.

2009-10-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

Last week there was a coating of ice on the animals water dishes, and the hoses I use to water them were frozen. It thawed quickly, but it called my attention to how my routines will be changing as the temperatures drop. I will have to haul buckets of water, and bundle up for chores. The animals will be staying in their shelters more and we will have to deal with the mud when the ground isn't frozen.

Brian has been working hard with our preparations; chopping wood, caulking and painting, and clearing out the gardens. He planted lots of garlic last week, and our compost pile is overflowing with garden debris. I dug the last of our storage potatoes (yukon golds) and put them in cold storage. Brian picked every last tomato, so I have been making sauce for every meal and we have green ones in boxes to ripen slowly.

Today we are going to do our last big apple picking of the season, so we are excited for lots of apple pie, apple crumble, applesauce and just plain apples!

First Frost

2009-10-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up to our first frost. It was a light one that killed the pumpkin leaves, but left the tomato plants intact. We should get some harder frosts this week, so the next few days will be spent harvesting like crazy, and figuring out what to cover. Most of our winter crops are hardy, but our tender lettuces will need some protection. It is sad to lose all the summer plants, but it feels good to feel like we will get a break from weeding and other constant garden chores.

Brian is getting serious about stacking firewood and I have gotten out extra blankets and warmer clothes for the kids. We are getting serious about preparing for winter.

Home as a Workshop

2009-10-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

When we designed our home, we put an emphasis on work spaces. Downstairs, our kitchen has big counters that take up almost half of the living area. The other half has our dining table, a piano, and our woodstove. The idea was that we spend a lot of time in the kitchen area; cooking, canning, brewing, etc, and we spent a lot less time hanging out in a living room-type area. Outside we built large overhanging porches to protect our strawbale walls, that also provide covered outdoor work spaces. Right now I have several lengths of clothesline under one porch, and Brian has stacked dry wall sheets and bags of organic fertilizer.

We also have numerous projects constantly going on; I have my knitting projects, sauerkraut fermenting in crocks, beer brewing, fruit to be canned, herbs to be dried, Brian's tools, musical instruments and sheet music, bread rising, kid's toys and homeschool materials, tile to be laid, etc. Add to this all the equipment we use to do all this stuff: grain grinders, cream separator, cider press, canners, etc and things can get pretty busy in the house.

When we prepare for market day, every inch of space downstairs seems to be covered with veggies to be washed, bagged and refrigerated, fruit to be boxed, honey to be put in jars and labeled, boxes of soap and all the crates and baskets to hold it all. I definitely start dreaming about a barn with food washing sink and walk-in fridge, but this way I can watch the kids and make dinner while we get ready.

Today is the first of our monthly Saturday markets inside Wellspring. We will be there the first Saturday of November and December. We should get our first frost this month, which will end the tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash and other non-hardy vegetables, but we should have a good amount of hardy greens like kale, mache and cabbage, some root crops, and lettuce and chard grown under cover.

We try to eat as seasonally as possible; so in the spring we eat lots of salads, in the summer we eat our fill of cucumber and tomato salad, and eat tons of steamed green beans and zucchini. By the fall we are ready to eat pounds of kale. I love it sauteed in olive oil with garlic and tamari sauce, or chopped up in soups.

The kids had colds this week so I made lots of soup. One of them was made with all our own crops; roma tomatoes, lots of onions and garlic, beets, carrots, kale, soup beans and herbs. The only thing in it not made by us was some sea salt!

2009-09-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend my mom came into town for the Flock and Fiber Festival. On Saturday our whole family went to look at the animals and pick up some yarn, wool for spinning, and a spinning wheel maintenance kit so I can tune up my spinning wheel. It was fun to see all the different sheep breeds. We hope by next year to get a few sheep. I like the little Shetland sheep, and Brian is partial to Icelandic. There were also alpacas, angora and pygora goats, and angora rabbits. On Sunday my mom and I took a advanced drop spindle class. During the class I really was able to improve my spinning and learned new techniques. I learned how to spin while walking, spin the spindle with my feet, and special plying techniques.

It was really fun to get back into knitting and spinning again. This summer I didn't do any fiber work; there just wasn't time. But now that it is getting darker and colder, I am going to have more time to knit at night. I am working on socks for Brian, lacy socks for me, and the kids will need new mittens this winter. So I better get busy!

Our radishes, lettuce, spinach and leeks are coming along, and we are getting ready for garlic and shallot planting. I have several fruit trees that I will plant when the rainy season starts in earnest. I have been trying to get the indoor plastering and cobbing done while it is still warm and dry; it will dry a lot slower as it gets colder.

Brian has been chopping firewood. We heat entirely with wood, so our woodpile is really important.

I took the kids with my mother-in-law to the Oregon Garden's homeschool day. It was fun but tiring walking around the garden visiting their education stations. My kids' favorites seemed to be the compost station where they looked at worms and bugs in compost with a magnifying glass, and the wildlife station with animal tracks and signs. They also liked the children's garden with a model train and a kid sized hobbit-hole. I liked their vegetable and fruit garden (I fantasized about having a crew of volunteers to work in my garden) and the One Green World garden. One Green World is my favorite nursery for unusual edibles that do well in our climate. It was fun to see all the mature plants; paw paw, dwarf pomegranate, figs fruiting.

This Saturday, October 3rd from 10:00 to 2:00, is our first indoor market at Wellspring. We will have seasonal produce, with lots of kale and greens, soap, salve, honey and more. This is a once a month event. Hope to see you there!

2009-09-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Despite the return to high temperatures today (high 80s) at night it has been getting very chilly. The kids woke up a few nights ago needing an extra blanket. We only heat with wood, and heat sparingly at that, so as the weather cools we begin pilling on the wool blankets and comforters. The first winter we lived in our home, the upstairs was just a shell; roofing and plywood without insulation. Downstairs we had the strawbale walls to keep the heat in, plus the thermal mass of the floor, but upstairs was cold. Some nights I would look up and see frost on the ceiling. We kept the kids in warm jammies, under mounds of blankets, and put hot water bottles on their feet, so it was tolerable, but stressful. This winter should be a lot more cosy, with ceiling insulation and dry wall in.

2009-09-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

Not too much new here on the farm. Just making tomato sauce, sauerkraut and eating lots of dishes with eggplant, tomatoes, summer squash and green beans. Inspired by a customer's idea; I made sauerkraut with red and green cabbage, some red onion for flavor, and some red-fleshed crab apples! Experimental but I think it will be yummy. Brian planted beds of spinach, lettuce and greens this week too!

Homestead homeschooling

2009-09-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

This week we have been focusing more on homeschooling. Our older kids are in 1st and 5th grade, so we keep pretty busy. Our 10 year old does most of her work on her own these days, with me checking her work, and doing some one-on-one teaching for things like math. My 7 year old still needs lots of mom directed time. I don't know if it a boy-thing or just his personality (or just a kid-thing!), but he would way rather be running around outside than sitting still and working on reading. He really seems to like math though. Our 3 year old insists on doing homeschool too so I have lots of workbooks and manipulatives for him to do while I work with the older kids. We do history and science all together, with my 10 year old doing more extensive reading and writing on what we are learning. It is amazing how much home schooling is a full-time job. I love it, and I love spending so much time with my kids, but it can be draining sometimes.

With getting ready for our last market, getting back into schooling, and getting the house under control after a summer of letting things slide a little; I haven't got much done except for the daily maintenance work. The kids do help a lot with chores and I consider this an important part of their schooling. I would like to raise kids that can grow and prepare a meal, do laundry, knit a sock, sew a seam, chop wood and start a fire... as well as being able to do algebra and read Shakespeare. Thus far they are interested in learning what we do and lending a hand, and I hope that if we have the patience to show them now while they are young, they will continue to be willing helpers as they get older. Our 10 year old has a knack for intricate work and has been knitting and sewing projects since she was seven. My 7 year old has a real kinship with animals and is talented at building and fixing things. It will be fun to see what gifts our youngest develops.

2009-09-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

We put our pigs out on pasture this weekend. It was amazing to watch them root around with their snouts. Our son said "They're just like a rototiller!" Which is funny, because we decided to get pigs to use them for tilling and weed control, not just because they are cute. We were delighted to watch them chew on thistle roots.

We had lots of rain the last few days, which is great for my new seedlings and onion sets. We use only solar power and the well pump drains the batteries quickly; so it is great to not have to irrigate. We hope in the next year or two to put in a rainwater catchment pond and use gravity for irrigation.

Today I took my son to the orthopedic doctor to get his arm checked and his cast off. The doctor was asking him what sort of chores he does that he could use to strengthen his left arm. He asked if he empties waste baskets or vacuums? My son replied that he didn't do those things but he does empty the compost bucket. I could have added that he hauls wood, collects eggs, waters the animals, etc, but I think the doctor thought we were nutty enough already!

This Saturday is the last of the weekly Saturday markets. We will have an abundance of produce, as well as our soap, salves and honey, so come out and see us!

Piggies!

2009-09-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

We picked up our two pigs on Saturday. They are eight week old girls and they are hilarious! It seems every time we get a new animal we spend hours hanging out with them, finding their antics hysterical. Pigs are especially funny. They grunt back and forth and root around with their snouts, and they can really bite when they think your fingers might taste good! Their first morning on our farm the kids ran up saying "The pigs are gone!" I ran down to check and found them burrowed into the thick straw, sleeping. They also have made one escape attempt which required all five of us to work together to get them back in their pen. What fun!

Brian has been manuring new and empty beds in the gardens and I have been canning like crazy! We have about 150 tomato plants so I am making lots of sauce. Hopefully I will put up some salsa this week too!

For our market customers: No market on Saturday, September 5! But we will be back for the last market next week. Hope to see you there!

Seasons changing and nighttime carnage

2009-08-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at sunset as I was bringing the goats up from the lower field, I was shocked to notice the maple leaves are starting to yellow. It seems like summer just started but it will be the first day of autumn in just a few weeks. It is hard to watch summer end but I am looking forward to the fall. It is one of my favorite seasons and after a rush of canning and preserving, it marks the start of a slower time for us. We won't need to be weeding or watering, and we will do less harvesting especially when the Saturday market ends. Egg and milk production will also slow down as we lose light.

We harvested our first pumpkin but as we planted late, our main crop should be ready by Halloween. For some reason Brian really loves pumpkins, so he is really excited to see them growing. Our Roma tomatoes are weighing down our plants, and I have been canning tomato sauce made with our garlic, onions, oregano and basil. I am hoping to can enough for the whole year.

We picked boxes and boxes of apples, pears and asian pears this week. Brian made a solar food dryer following directions from this book. I can dry apples in about 12 hours on a sunny day. I use a hand crank apple peeler/slicer/corer so it goes fast. I have also been drying pears and asian pears. Dried asian pears are my favorite. I love asian pears fresh, but they are kind of watery and insipid. When dried, all the sugars crystalize and it gets all chewy, almost like candy.

This week we will also try to can applesauce, apple butter, pear butter, and apple jelly. Also we will be getting out our cider press and making apple cider; sweet and fresh for the kids, and start fermenting hard cider for us. Last year I made some nice pear and crab apple hard cider, but Brian accidentally dropped the 5 gallon carboy (glass jug used in beer and winer making) so we lost most of it. This year I am determined to get a good amount.

Our concord grapes are ripening up; several times a day I see the kids grazing on the fat, purple grapes. What they leave behind I am making into grape jelly. We also picked some for the market booth. The blackberries are getting big and sweet. We have a good patch by our gate and every time we open or close it we take a minute to eat some. Even the dog has been snacking as we go on our evening walk! Our "Autumn Bliss" and "Fall Gold" raspberries are also coming on nicely, although with three kids constantly in the raspberry patch, I don't know if we will have enough for jam. I think we need to expand the raspberries because the are a big favorite.

Brian has been hard at work mucking out the goat house. It is strenuous work but oddly satisfying. It is fun to watch the huge pile of manure and straw get bigger and steam in the mornings as in composts down. When it is finished breaking down we will have amazing compost for our gardens and fields.

Our pigs are ready for pick-up so look for a post and photos this week!

A few nights ago our dog alerted us to sounds coming from the chicken coop. We ran out to find carnage; 5 chickens dead or mortally wounded, and several ducks and ducklings dead or missing, including the mama of a clutch of new ducklings. We think several raccoons got in and killed them in just a few minutes. It was about 2 am so we rounded up the living and locked them in, and decided to deal with clean up when it got light. At some point the raccoons came back and grabbed a few of the dead poultry, but left most of the carcasses behind. The swiftness, waste and brutality of it was pretty shocking, and Brian took it as a personal attack. He tracked the raccoons through the woods following feathers and scat, but we havn't actually seen them. This was the first real predator problem we have encountered. So now we are serious about locking down tight at night, rounding up all the straggling duck we can find, and running outside whenever the dog starts barking in the middle of the night, but I am guessing the raccoons have enough meat to last a while so they probably won't be back too soon. I hope.

2009-08-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Summer is already starting to wind down for us. Brian goes back to school on Monday (his off-farm job is a middle school music teacher). He loves teaching and looks forward to it, but it is always hard for him not to be able to work on our land all day. We have two more markets left; there isn't going to be a market on labor day. Our crops are still producing like crazy, so we are working out a weekly produce drop. Also, we may be doing a once a month indoor market as well. Keep checking the blog or email for more info.

Earlier this week we took the kids to the coast to visit the aquarium, play on the beach, explore tide pools, and buy some yummy crab. It was lots of fun, although nerve-racking when the kids were wading in the waves! It is such a blessing to live just an hour or two from the coast.

I haven't been doing as much baking this summer, but I have been making no-knead, dutch oven bread. You can find the recipe here. It is so fast and easy, and impresses guests. By cooking it in dutch oven or other heavy duty covered pot, it seals in the moisture and heat to make perfect artisan bread. The dutch oven we use came from Brian's great grandfather, who mined for gold and lived in a tiny cabin in Southern Oregon. I feel in touch with our family's history ever time I use it. When we first got our dutch oven cast iron pot, it was rusty and neglected. But we did lots of scrubbing and curing and now I use it often for roasting chicken and veggies, cooking in my solar oven, or baking bread.

Brian finished the chicken tractor and we have three of our hens in it digging up the soil, eating weeds and bugs, and fertilizing in between rows of vegetables. I picked a few of our hens that seemed to be either getting picked on by other hens or getting too much attention from our rooster. We have also put been putting our goats in the lower field and they are getting

to work munching thistles.

We are still planting for the winter gardens and I am try to plan what I would like to plant for the rest of this year: cover crops, garlic, fava beans, etc. We are also starting to get ideas about what to grow next year. We are looking at what worked this year, what didn't sell, what we sold out of, and what gaps we had in availability. If you have any ideas or there is something special you would like us to grow for you, let us know! We would love some input.

This year was really done "by the seat of our pants"; we basically just grew what we normally grow and brought the excess to the market. Items we thought would sell really well didn't (lettuce, radishes) but items I didn't anticipate selling a lot of always sell out (onions, eggplant). So we are planning with that information in mind. Although, next year's market may be totally different. One of our biggest questions is whether or not to increase the size of our flock. Right now we have 20 chickens and when we sell out of eggs we end up just barely covering our feed costs, and not covering the labor involved. The eggs are fun, and people seem to really like them, but we aren't sure how cost effective they are. I now know why people charge so much for eggs at the larger farmer's markets. We hope to see you all at the last markets; we will keep updating the blog and have items (fall produce, honey, goats milk soap, salves, etc) available all fall and into the winter.

Honey!

2009-08-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

We harvested our honey yesterday. The kids were so excited, they spent the afternoon chewing on honey-filled beeswax. Brian suited up with gloves, boots and a bee veil and opened the hives. Usually when he works with the hives he doesn't wear any protective gear; but when we harvest honey the bees get more aggressive. He goes through the hive frame by frame, brushing off the bees and brings the (hopefully) bee free frames inside. We leave the lower supers (hive boxes with frames for bees to keep honey and raise larva) on the hives for the bees winter supply of honey.

Once we bring the frames inside we heat up our uncapping knife and remove the wax cappings off the comb. The we put frames in our manual extractor and crank it to spin out the honey. Then we strain the honey to remove any wax but never pasteurize. The honey we sell is raw so you get all the good enzymes and pollen, and a more complex taste than store bought honey. We then drain the honey off the beewax cappings, melt the wax and strain it, and then the beewax is ready for use in salves and candles. It is lots of work but the yield is well worth it.

We will be selling some of our honey by the half pint starting next Saturday. We only have a limited supply (we keep a large portion of our honey for our own yearly supply) so if you want to buy some, come early! We also have our soothing salve made from our own beeswax and herbs grown or wildcrafted on our farm. In the coming markets we will also have some handmade beeswax candles, so keep your eye out for them!

In a Rut

2009-08-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

The pig house is done! Now we just need our piggies. We have lots of new seedlings coming up so it looks good for the fall/winter gardens. With all the rain the tomatoes have slowed their ripening a little, and we had a few split. But we still had a good harvest for Saturday's market, as well as eggplant and cucumbers. The rain seemed to give our pumpkins a boost and gave the forest a much needed drink. You could see the change in the leaves the last few days; they seem greener and more open. We got two loads of wood chips from some neighbors; I am so excited by my huge pile. I use them for mulching around trees and perennials, for paths and for animal bedding. Our 7 year old (with the broken arm) just got a new cast made from a material from Gore-tex, which he can get wet and even swim in. It is lime green and he is thrilled.

On top of our piano in our living space, Brian has a huge stack of books that he reads every morning while drinking coffee, and sometimes during his rare breaks throughout the day. Right now he is reading: Eliot Coleman's New Organic Grower and Four-Season Harvest, Michael Ableman's From the Good Earth and On Good Land, Steve Soloman's Growing Vegatables West of the Cascades and Gardening When It Counts, to name a few. He is trying to learn as much as he can so we can grow more and better organic (not certified) food. He is also in touch with Oregon Tilth to see about getting ourselves certified. The way we grow our crops is inline with the standards, we just need to pay the fee and keep records about what we do and when.

Saturday mornings are always hard because we have to get up early to load up and head to the market. Brian loads the truck while I feed, water and milk the animals, and then we have to get three sleepy kids awake, dressed and loaded in the truck with something to eat. This morning our buck had snuck out of his rather secure fence and was at the gate to the girl goats. August is usually when the does (female goats) start to go into heat and the bucks (male goats) go into rut. Bucks are normally somewhat stinky and obnoxious, but when they are in rut they are over the top. Fences have a hard time holding them, they get more aggressive, they flap their tongues and flare their lips, and they spray urine all over their faces and legs. Seriously. So I had lots of fun this morning wrestling him back in his pen with his wether (castrated male goat) buddy. Goats are social animals and shouldn't be kept alone, so we have a wether as a non-stinky, non-aggressive companion for him. If he was with the does, he would make the milk taste "bucky" and we wouldn't be able to control the timing of their pregnancies. I really hope I don't smell like a buck today.

2009-08-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Brian has been working on the pig house this week, and we had some nice rain last night. I am thrilled because I have just planted seeds so the moisture will help them germinate. Lots of tomatoes are ripening and we should have some nice eggplant for Saturday's market. We have another duck on a clutch of eggs, so more ducklings should come marching out soon, and we mated one of our Nubian goats so if all goes well we should have some new kids in about 5 months. We have started to think about what we want to do for the market next year, so any input would be appreciated. If you have any ideas or want us to grow something special, please let us know!

Gratitude

2009-08-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

With the cooler temperatures it has been really nice working outdoors. We are getting new beds ready for the winter garden. I will be planting peas, turnips, beets, greens, and more cabbage. The fall crops I planted earlier are coming up well. Hopefully we will be harvesting honey in the next week or two, so be on the lookout at the market for it. If you have never tried real raw honey, you will be amazed!

We have been researching the best way to proceed with the Canada thistles on the property, and looking at the research online how to address them organically. Their roots can go down 4 feet, and any piece left will continue to grow. If you pull them up and dry them, they can still resprout, and even herbicides will not kill them for good unless you use 24-D (yikes!). Some organic methods include lots of repeat tilling and use of cover crops. You may see improvement in three years! We have kept them relatively under control in our gardens by hand pulling, but we are looking for more efficient methods in our larger growing areas. We are interested in cover crops to smother the thistles but don't want to do lots of tilling because of cost and concerns about soil health. So we have decided to use the goats more intensively for thistle control, along with the chicken tractor. Brian has been building fences and goat shelters in our growing areas this week. We also decided to get two piglets, which will arrive in September, so Brian has been figuring out how to house and fence them. We hope to use them for tilling, and we are all very excited. We will post updates as they come.

Brian has been laying tile in the kitchen with recycled tile from The Rebuilding Center. It is way nicer to walk on and looks great, but now I think I will have to do more mopping! I have been doing more plaster as usual.

I am still trying to balance the house building with animals and gardening and mothering, but everything is being taken care of, albeit imperfectly. I am also trying to maintain the gratitude I feel for the life I am living, even when the work is overwhelming. I have a lot to be grateful for. In the evenings I take our dog up the ridge behind our house and from the top I watch some amazing fiery sunsets to the west in the coast range, and some beautiful, yellow, full-moonrises in the east over the Cascades. I love watching the plants grow and ripen, especially the fruit trees. This year we will get lots of apples, asian pears, european pears and even some peaches! Being with all the animals is amazing, although challenging at times. The goats are so smart and full of personality, but they can be really stubborn! Our children are so wonderful and full of life, and we have a great, supportive extended family we see often. We are able to grow the majority of our food and sell the excess in the community.

Often when I tell people about what we are doing: strawbale house, solar power, small organic farm... the comment is "That's always been our dream!" I feel like telling them there are times it feels very difficult. I think about hand pumping our water, spending a winter in an uninsulated space heated only by a woodstoove, having to pull a stuck kid from a momma goat, or dealing with the hundreds of small crises that seem to arise in daily homestead life (our 7 year old broke his wrist this week!) But also I am struck by how great it is that we had this vision for how we want to live our life and how lucky we are to be working towards it.

August Is Upon Us

2009-08-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well, we survived the recent high temperatures. We had to keep checking the animals' water and use lots of water for the plants. Some of the young alders and cottonwoods on the property look a little fried. The kids spent more time than usual indoors and lots of time in their little pool. Some wonderful friends came over to help with hanging sheet-rock and plastering the house, and we had a great dinner together. The heat seemed to really ripen up the garden, and now we have loads of cucumbers, squash, zucchini and tomatoes coming in. My daughter and I picked lots of blueberries and planned to put up lots of blueberry jam, but I didn't want to heat up the house by canning so we ending up eating them fresh. Eventually we want to have an outdoor kitchen under our covered porch, so I can cook and can on hot days without roasting us. We will pick more when it is cooler and try again. Also, the blackberries are getting closer to being ripe and we hope to pick a bunch for jam. I also will be making some sauerkraut in the next week or two. We had a great market Saturday; it was fun for Brian to see repeat customers as well as meeting new ones. We should have the usual produce next week as well as more lemon cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and eggplant. We have been making soap to keep up with demand, and we are working on a new rose scented soap. Look for it in a few weeks!

Nature's Abundance

2009-07-25T12:14:00.001-07:00

As I walk our land and surrounding properties, right now there is an amazing amount of wild foods growing. We have wild hazelnuts ripening, saskatoon berries, salal, thimble berries, black cap raspberries, wild cherries, rose hips, salmon berries, huckleberries, blackberries (both the native trailing ones and the non-natives) and indian plum, to name a few. In the woods and roadsides, I often see old apple and plum trees growing untended. I wonder if they are the remnants of someone's old homestead, or just grew from a thrown pit or core. In the spring we look for nettle shoots and morel mushrooms.

I love identifying and harvesting wild foods and herbs, and I feel safe doing so and teaching my children because I do a lot of self-study about plants. I grew up taking nature walks with my parents and studying their guidebooks. My dad was a science teacher and naturalist, and when we would go into the forest or even parks, he would take his sketchbook and guides and teach me what was growing around us. To this day when I am in nature I subconsciously scan and classify the plants I see. I wonder if it is from my childhood experiences or some throwback to our hunter-gatherer brains. I am teaching my kids what I know and learning with them as we spend time in nature. My seven year old can tell a ponderosa pine from a douglas fir or red cedar, and my ten year old can identify many wild herbs and tell me what they are used for. They snack on the wild berries that are abundant right now.

In a few weeks the blackberries will be ripe and I hope to pick lots and make pints of blackberry jam. I have made strawberry, strawberry-currant-gooseberry, and currant-gooseberry jam so far, and I hope to make blueberry jam in the next week.

Squash explosion and ducklings!

2009-07-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

Summer is in full gear now. We have tons of summer squash and zucchini coming on, along with lots of cucumbers. The tomatoes are ripening and we have been enjoying them in homemade salsa and straight off the plant. My mom will be shocked since growing up I hated zucchini and tomatoes, but since I have been growing them myself I love them. I am amazed at how sweet they are! I have been sauteing the squash and zucchini with onions, garlic, beets, cabbage and basil, all fresh from the garden. Then I top this with homemade pesto with lots of parmesan. I also like to cut the zucchini into thin strips and lightly saute in olive oil or even water and then top with tomato sauce instead of using pasta. Yum!

One of our ducks is setting on eggs, and another showed up yesterday with 9 ducklings! The ducks usually have one batch of ducklings in the spring, and another midsummer. The ducklings are yellow and brown and completely fuzzy. They stay right with their mom and she puffs up and covers them at night to keep them warm. We have seen many batches of ducklings over the years but we always get excited to see them!

Brian has been hard at work finishing the clearing work and weeding. With the predicted hot temperatures for this coming week we figure we will do our outdoor work early in the day or late, and then work inside during the hottest part of the day. I will need to make sure the plants and seedlings have lots of water and I might put a shade cloth on our lettuce and tender greens. The animals will need to have their water checked frequently, especially the milking goats, as they drink gallons of water while making milk.

Our strawbale home is very well insulated and has lots of thermal mass, so as long as we keep the windows closed and don't bake too much, them temperature stays around 70 degrees, with no air conditioning or fans. I will be working on earthen plaster inside and Brian will be plastering the ceiling or laying tile on the floor. We have been devoting lots of time to the land and outdoor work, so it will be nice to get some things done inside the house.

Brush clearing and chores

2009-07-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

We have been busy this week trying to get the weeds and brush on our land under control. We pasture our goats on the hillside to keep the brush down, and they do a good job, but it takes time for them to clear an area. So this week we rented a brush hog (a big spinning bade that is pulled behind a tractor) and Brian trimmed up blackberries and cottonwoods for two days on the hillside to prepare for our expanding orchard this fall and because we plan on increasing our growing area in our lower field and eventually want to dig an irrigation pond. . He also broke it twice (a good reason to rent a several thousand dollar machine instead of buying one). We usually do this work with hand clippers, the weed eater or goats, but we are pretty pressed for time so we chose this quicker option.

I have gotten a good start on the fall/winter garden this past week. I planted cabbage, collards, brussels sprouts and winter onions. The real trick is keeping the seeds moist enough to germinate in this hot weather (yesterday was over 90 degrees at our place). But I am seeing some seedlings coming up so they should be fine. I love Eliot Coleman's book Four Season Harvest for information on how to plant a winter garden and how to make simple greenhouses and cold frames.

For the market we have more potatoes, garlic, squash, zucchini, onions, kale, chard, beets, turnips, cabbage, cucumbers, etc. The lemon cukes should be ready in a week or two, which are always a favorite in our home. We like to chop up cucumbers and make a salad with a yogurt, dill, olive oil and garlic dressing. Yum! We will also have another batch of lavender soap for the market next week.

Right now we have lots of chores to work on every day. In the morning I feed and water all the animals, let the chicken on of their coop, milk two goats, lead the goats to pasture, water the garden, and the usual household chores. Then I try to make earthen plaster and plaster the house for a few hours. Then I try to weed and hoe the garden, lay mulch, harvest food, flowers and herbs, pot up seedlings, and general garden maintenance. Of course somewhere in there the kids need meals, clean clothes, stories read, etc.

The kids have been a great help with the house and land chores. Our ten year old daughter has been helping with the dishes and hanging laundry, and she can fix simple meals like pancakes. This has been a huge help on days when I am super busy in the garden. She is also a great berry picker and she is great at prepping food for preserving. Our 7 year old son is a great one for running quick errands around the farm. He is always good about running to get a tool or gathering eggs. He helps me herd the goats and is a great duck catcher. He also has a real tool kit (thanks to his Grandma Sue) that he uses to fix things around the house. He is really handy with a screw driver. He is also great at helping with some of the dirtier farm jobs like hauling wood or shoveling manure, and he uses his own small shovel to pitch in and help. Both kids are responsible for keeping their rooms clean and helping entertain their 3 year old brother. Our littlest doesn't do many chores but he does help pick up toys and he likes gathering eggs, although he sometimes drops them! I think it is good for the kids to feel like they are important members of our family team and they play a vital role in keeping our house and farm running. Of course we also want them to have lots of free time for play and take them on family outings to the river or homeschool park days, and we even went to the movies this week!

Brian stays really busy every day working on our land and garden and spends the evenings working on the house. But he always seems to find time to help the kids with something. This weekend he will be building a chicken tractor to help with the weed situation. Hopefully we can post photos of it when it is finished!

Do-It-Yourself

2009-07-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

One of the main ideas behind our goal of buying land, building a house and starting a small farm is the idea of trying to meet as many of our needs by "doing-it-ourselves". Over the past years we have learned how to make bread, sew clothing, spin wool and knit (thanks mom!), grow food, raise livestock and bees, make our own herbal medicines and teas, cook from scratch, make cheese and butter, heat with wood, brew beer... the list goes on and on. It is always funny when we create something from scratch for the first time, and one of us says, "that is just like real ... (butter, sausage, rolled oats, wine, etc)". It doesn't get more real than that.

It usually starts with looking at the things we use and the figuring out what it would take to create it on our own. I find it so satisfying to have a meal of only thing I grew and raised, or to take something complex and figure out the process of making it ourselves. We have taken it so far as to build our home from the foundation up just the two of us (with some friends helping here and there). Our last child was born at home (actually at my mother in laws, our house wasn't built yet) and the midwives stayed in the other room while we did everything.

Of course, we do have limits; we have grown what will amount to several 5 gal buckets of grain, but I will still keep ordering 50 lb bags of oats and wheat from Azure standard (I don't buy boxed cereal so we eat lots of oatmeal and baked goods, and I make all our own bread, so 50 lbs doesn't last as long and you would think). I know how to stitch a wound and do basic first aid but we take the kids to the doctor if something comes up. We do buy clothing (mainly second hand ) so not everything we wear is hand sewn or knit. We do buy items (mainly luxuries) at the store. But we do enjoy the knowledge that we know the basic steps that our involved in the things we use, and in a pinch we can create them ourselves.

The last few days I have been feeling overwhelmed with the summer work load; tending the gardens and animals, plastering the house, taking care of the kids, cooking everything from scratch, maintaining the housework, on and on. It feels like there isn't enough time to get everything done. But a few days ago my friend came out with her kids and she helped me braid garlic and make earthen plaster out of clay, sand and straw for the house. Just having a little extra help and someone to talk to while I worked made all the difference. Thanks Danielle! Of course Brian was working so hard the whole time in our fields, land and house, but he never complains. Must be a man thing, right?

Garlic and Taters

2009-07-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hello all. We will be at the Wellsprings Marketplace again this Saturday and will be bringing our usual stash in addition to our new salves, salt scrubs, face cream, potatoes and GARLIC! I love garlic........

2009-07-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

Harvest, continued

Yesterday Brian commented on how funny it is that even though we just passed the solstice, already we are feeling the push towards fall. The veggies, fruits and nuts are all getting ripe and ready for picking and preserving.

We dried our cherries in a solar dehydrator that Brian made and they turned out great, except for the fact that our dog got into some of the trays and ate way too many dried cherries! The oats are drying nicely and next we need to thresh, winnow and hull them (get the grain out of the husk). Soon we will harvest our rye and wheat. We also harvested lots of garlic and I am working on garlic braids to sell at the market.

I need to harvest more St. John's Wort, Calendula, Lavender and Comfrey for salves and drying. Our children have been helping with all the picking and preserving as well as helping Mom keep the house together while we are so busy. The goats are making gallons of milk which we are using for soap, cheese and of course, drinking (the boys alone drink about a half gallon daily). The blueberries are ripening and I hope to put up lots of blueberry jam. My goal is to make enough homemade jam to last the whole year. Oh, and Brian has made a delicious batch of homebrewed beer to keep him going while he weeds on these hot days. So we are all very busy, but having a good time.

We are also starting putting in our fall and winter garden this week, so we will have fresh veggies all winter long. If you need more information on what to plant or season extension techniques, email us or ask Brian at the market.

At the Wellspring Market, we had a good response to our homemade salves and lotion bars, despite the heat. This coming market we hope to add to this our salt scrubs and body lotion, as well as our usual goats milk soap, produce and eggs. Hope to see you there!

Harvest, Preserve and Plant for Winter

2009-06-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we harvested our oats by hand with scissors and today we harvested many, many cherries from a good friend's orchard which means that now we get to figure out how to extract the oats from their hulls and how to use our new cherry pitter. We will surely dry most our the cherries using our solar food dehydrator but we're not totally sure yet how we'll preserve the oats (likely the same way).

All of this harvesting and preserving reminds me, it is now time to start planting your winter garden. There is nothing better than being able to harvest fresh greens when they are covered in snow, but you must plan and plant when winter is the last thing on anyone's mind. To help with this, we have been growing kale and chard starts to sell at the Saturday Marketplace for people to plant in their own gardens. If you have questions about how to get started with your own winter garden please come and visit us on the 4th of July when we will also be debuting our new salves and soaps in addition to lots more produce.

Long Days

2009-06-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was the summer solstice. We had another family come over for good food, good company and a small bonfire. The summer solstice marks the beginning of summer and the longest hours of sunlight. We have been using these long days to the fullest; working on the land, weeding the garden, building our house, taking care of the animals, and of course caring for our three children. Even after the sun goes down; the goats have been milked, the kids read to and put to bed, we still often have hours of work. We make soap, brew beer, can jam, and work on house projects we couldn't do during the day. Good thing Brian and I like to work, and doing projects together makes it fun.

St John's wort is an herb that is flowering around the solstice. We have been picking the flowers and infusing them in oil with calendula and comfrey to make a healing salve. We hope to bring some homemade herbal salves and creams to the market. So please check out our booth next week for these new items as well as our goats milk soap, produce and plants!

Saturday Market June 27

2009-06-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hello folks! Well, since we don't have our own computer and I am writing this at the library, I can't upload any of our new photos. You'll just have to use your imagination and fantasize about what our Tayberries, Gooseberries, Walla Walla Sweet Onions and new Oatmeal Soap look like until you can come and see them for yourselves at our next market on the 27th. Hopefully, after this weekend, we will be able to write a longer post, complete with pictures, recounting our Solstice fun. We hope to see you on Saturday!

What's New At Folkways Farm

2009-06-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hello again folks! This week, in addition to getting ready for our next market appearance, there has been much strawberry jam making going on in the kitchen and way, way, way too much thistle weeding going on in our lower field. Although we will never do it because we care so much about the quality and safety of our food, there are certainly times, when our arms are swollen from thistle scratches, where we understand why so many people, especially large-scale farms, spray toxic chemicals all over everything. But, according to everything we have read, at some point, the weeds will just give up and move somewhere else..... right?

Our beautiful strawberry jam.

Some before and after thistle fun in the garlic.

And here it is folks! Our first iphoto, quicktime, slideshow, movie thing documenting some of the stages we've gone through while building our straw bale house. We have done all of the work ourselves with the help of many good friends who are happy to work for beer, eggs, duck meat, produce and edgy but passionate conversation.

See you Saturday!

Saturday Market June, 13

2009-06-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hello folks! A big thank you to all who attended our second Saturday Marketplace and helped to make it a huge success. Next week we expect to have more Hood Strawberries, Raspberry and Strawberry Starts, Red and Green lettuce, Cut Wildflowers, Free Range Chicken and Duck Eggs, an assortment of other Random Produce, including Garlic Scapes, and if we're lucky, we will have a new batch of Oatmeal Goat Milk Soap and some Walla Walla Sweet Onions!

Hood Strawberries

Kale

Walla Walla Sweet Onions and Potatoes

And just to prove that we really are crazy and harvest all of our produce the night before in the dark and rain......

We hope to see you on the 20th from 9 to 1.

Saturday Market

2009-06-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it, our first ever market! We would like to extend a big thank you to all who attended. We anticipate having more Hood Strawberries and Free Range Eggs next week in addition to Raspberry and Strawberry starts, Cut Wildflowers, Greens, Herbs and of course, Goat Milk Soap. We hope to see you on June, 13th at the Wellspring Saturday Marketplace.