No News is Good News?

I've been checking my garden every sunny chance I get...



Nothing new. Dirt and a few weeds, and the three, thriving strawberry plants. Its day 11, and still nothing. I'm planting my second rows of salad, spinach and carrots on Monday (if I have time). If I don't see anything sprouting by next Friday, I'm replanting. I think I may have planted too early. The mornings have been a bit chilly so I wouldn't be surprised if they were struck by a frost.

One thing I am grateful for is no cats in the garden, or crows for that matter. And I do love that fence Mr. Selinger built for me a few years ago. The ground is so hard I had to dig holes for the posts. Boy it was a pain, and I don't think Sisko appreciates it either...

Slow Changes!

There was a pleasant break in the rain today, so I wandered out back to my garden to see what was going on. And I found nothing new. I pulled out what I assume were a couple of weeds. I think its still early for any growth.

Even though there was no growth, I was struck by the amount of change that has happened so far this year. The back corner has gone from a wild jungle of new growth on the blackberries and short, winter grass. The ground was uneven and bare, the beginnings of weeds just starting to poke out of the hard ground.

Now, I have a productive corner behind a curtain of tall grass. Sure, nothing is growing, but I hope in a few weeks there will be little sprouts, steadily storing nutrition until the day I pluck and eat them! How exciting!

For comparison, February 21, 2010:



Today:

Book review 2

Sorry, nothing new or interesting to post, so you get filler!!

I finished "Small-Scale Livestock Farming" by Carol Ekarius. It is a must have for me. It covers everything from financing to livestock management. It is a bit older, published in 1992 (close enough), so some thing, like the prices and trends, are a bit out of date, but it really doesn't matter.

I learned a lot about how may animals the land can hold, how to overwinter effectively, and how to read the land, so to speak. It teaches how to enrich the land so that every year it is improving and adding value and growth, and not deteriorating.

The key thing for me was when the book dissected the change from small scale farming into industrialized farms after World War 2. It explains how the number of animals in the US have remained relatively the same, but the number of farms have drastically decreased, and those farms are now owned by just a few, large corporations instead of by the farmer alone. Very interesting stuff to me!

Another thing I found really interesting and useful were the equations! There are equations for everything, from how many acres you need to some many heads of cows, to how many pastures you needs, how long to graze, how much to feed, and they all complement each other. Its really helpful, and as a math lover, extremely satisfying!

Overall, I will be buying it, and will be happy to add it to my growing collection!

Leavening Action!

Usually, when I try something new in baking, I fail miserably! So you can imagine my distinct surprise when I made a behemoth of a loaf! Generally, I make two little loaves a week, but stashed under all my other pans, I found a large loaf pan that Mr. Selinger brought home for me many months ago! So I decided to give it a try!



The leavening! Never have I gotten such a rise from a loaf! I must have done something right this time... I'm had the sneaky suspicion that I've been killing my yeast with too much heat, so I think I finally got it right! I squished all that dough into the pan and left it for a second rise!



Loe and behold! It doubled in size again! So exciting! Its about the same size as a store loaf, but I'm sure it will be much denser, which is just fine by me!



The finished loaf! It took 20 minutes longer to bake, and even then, its very pale. I like my loaves a bit darker all around. I want my crust to be chewy! The finished loaf weighed in at almost 3 pounds! Very tasty loaf. I will also report that the next morning, a good chunk of the loaf had been cut off and eaten already... I think someone has midnight snacks of my bread...

A Hard Day's Work!

Had a blast with Jenelle yesterday!



She came over early yesterday morning and we planted the summer crops! She helped turn over the beds, pick out the rocks, weeds, and roots and got her hands filthy! Mine, I assure you, were spotless as a result! We planted carrots, lettuce, spinach, corn, two kinds of peas, cucumbers and Mr. Selinger's favorite, strawberries!



We were done in a couple of hours thanks to her! That, and the beds are nice and small! I also figure that I need row markers... I used chop sticks. I think they will work just fine... I also need a better method of spreading those small seeds. We used our fingers and sprinkled them in. I'm sure there are better ways!



But before we go, one last picture of Jenelle and her dirty hands!

Changes all Around...

It seems like overnight my tiny little green pineapple got fat and yellow! So fat and yellow, that I harvested it!



I chopped up the poor little thing, and boy did it smell good! Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), I was overzealous and picked it too soon so it was crazy bitter!



That's ok though, in two more years I'll have another little pineapple to sweeten up and eat! I can't wait until then!

Things are Happening!

Long time no type-y! Finally have a working computer again (Thanks Konie!)! How great it feels!

A while ago, on a bright, sunny day (March 20th to be exact), the raised beds were put in!

Mr. Selinger cut up all the pieces for me...



...Then marked where they went...



...Then hammered them into the ground...



...And presto! All done!



Whew... That was hard work... Don't know how I got through it! Next up, I need to fill those beds and get a move on! End of April is coming fast!