Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[Mini Horses]

I love a good horseradish sauce on a roast beef sandwich. But have it so seldom, I buy. Now sunflowers? I'd need 50 acres to supply these chickens all they want! LOL I do have some planted, tho. In the past they have done well & look pretty.

Ooooh…. cold there still. Is that normal this time of year for you?

 

[Britesea]

Well, we are marginally warmer now- in the low 60's for daytime, high 30's to 40's at night. Hallelujah! Trump got involved in the water situation here and the farmers have been granted the original allotment of water they were promised, so the crops they have already started have a shot at being successfully harvested. It won't be a great year, but at least they won't lose their shirts.

I spent some time today in the garden putting out Lacewing eggs, praying mantis egg case, beneficial nematodes in some of the beds, as well as some extra worms that were for sale at the feed store, and some more mycellium to help the soil. Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day, so hopefully we can plant the rest of the garden and start putting the wood-chip-and-pine-straw mulch on the planted beds. I've pulled the last of the radishes, and I'm trying to decide if it's not too late to plant more, or if I should just move on to the rat tail radishes. It's been cooler than normal so far this year, but that could change really quickly.

The Farmer-To-Family Program started this week, as well as the Farmer's Market. Yesterday I drove my friend over to the Salvation Army, where they were giving away boxes of food from local farmers, and they insisted that I could take some too, as they still had stuff leftover at the end of the event. So I got some potatoes, some onions, grapes, oranges and apples, and a watermelon, as well as 8 pints of sour cream! I have the sour cream in the freeze dryer now, and the fruit will likely go in next. Then this morning I went to the Farmer's Market and got some beautiful collards and broccoli, lettuce, carrots and "salad turnips" (pulled when they were the size of marbles-- so delicious!) and some pea shoots and sunflower sprouts as well as about 3 lbs of lovely grass-fed oxtails. I had to spend some time this afternoon figuring out menus to use all this great stuff.

So tonight we are having a stir fry with some of the chicken that didn't make it into the freeze dryer and some of the veggies.

 

[baymule]

What a great haul of goodies! The ox tail will make delicious broth too!

 

[Britesea]

What a great haul of goodies! The ox tail will make delicious broth too!

good meal, good broth, and some bone char for the garden at the end!

 

[Britesea]

Klamath County suddenly realized it's summer. Weather is up in the 90's almost overnight. Suddenly I'm having plants wilting in the greenhouse, where before I only had to water them about once a week. I still have half a dozen beds that haven't been planted yet. I got up this morning extra early to work on weeding and getting the beds ready.

Father's Day. DH got a cute mug and a kiss and hug from me, with the promise of some doohickey he wants for his black powder stuff, as well as permission to take the day off- no honeydo's. I'm fixing a Porchetta roast, with a giant sweet potato and green salad for dinner. He really likes large chunks of meat, lol.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Your DH is getting the royal treatment! I thought you were giving way TMI when you were telling about giving him some doohickey!

 

[Britesea]

LOL, I can't remember what the part was called. I suppose I could have called it a WHOSSNAME instead.

Today is supposed to be the hottest day for the next week. We spent early morning working in there- pulling weeds, adding wood chips to the pathways and mulch on some of the beds. I got the tomatoes planted finally. This evening, I hope to get the cucumbers planted, at least. If I have time between fixing dinner and sundown, I'll try to prep a couple beds for my Delicata Squashes.

I won't be able to get much done tomorrow because I'm teaching Tai Chi again. That plus doing errands around town always seems to wipe me out- way more than working hard in the garden. Must be something to do with the stress of dealing with driving and lots of other people. I'm basically a hermit at heart. I still have 3 more beds to prep and plant this week. I'm praying that with the late frosts we end up with a nice lingering summer and early fall, so that the garden will provide us with some goodies this year. It looks like we may get a banner crop of apples and tomatoes at least.

Last night, I broiled a Top Sirloin, and added a butter sauce with fresh summer truffles, shaved thin. I've never had fresh truffles before; it was divine! Now I understand what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately, at $20 an ounce, I was only able to buy two truffles-- I used one last night, so we only get to have it once more. I can't justify doing that regularly.

Tonight I'm trying a new recipe- Asian Sesame Beef Salad.

 

[Britesea]

It's been a busy summer. I'm frantically freeze drying my cabbages, trying to stay a jump ahead of them splitting. Not completely successful, but... oh well. I've been getting pounds of beautiful mushrooms from the Produce Connection and dehydrating them; I have over 2 gallons of them now.

Got a call from my neighbor across the road, demanding I "do something about the roosters". Seems they've been keeping her awake at night. She talked to us about this 2 years ago and we put rooster collars on the roosters, then called her to ask if that was good enough. She never returned the calls, so we assumed everything was acceptable. NOW she calls and is nearly rabid about it. She wants all of them gone because "you don't need roosters to get eggs." We currently have 4 roosters, because we got a bunch of chicks this spring and we were waiting to see which ones we want to keep. It's been a tough decision because they are all very good, although the little Lakenvelder is so much smaller and shriller. But he's the most conscientious about making sure all the girls get a fair share of the goodies, and he's the one that rounds everyone up at night to make sure they go inside the coop.
Anyway, DH spent some time yesterday closing up the windows of the coop with insulation and boards in an attempt to both reduce the light getting in and the noise getting out. I can still hear them, but it's a lot less noisy. I'm afraid that this won't be enough though. And if she complains, we'll have to get rid of over half our flock because we're technically zoned "Rural Residence" which means no more than 12 small animals on our half acre. I'll say this, if she forces us to get rid of our animals, she can stick it if SHTF and she wants eggs or meat from us!

 

[baymule]

She doesn't sound like a very nice person. I don't like rude people like that, who think that everyone around them should comply with what they want and deem is right.

 

[Mini Horses]

Well, on my street/road, I am sure I have MORE roos than anyone else. They crow. A lot. Because we are spread out, no doubt some can hear them, just not as loudly as I do...considering their distance an window insulation, etc. There are other roos out there as I have heard them when outside...and knew it was coming from other than here. Not an issue for me. This time of year, some areas have weather that allows for open windows...sounds are heard more. ???

The issue is if she reports you. Otherwise....maybe decide who you want to keep and reduce numbers....since it would make you dispose of more than excess boys??

Cabbage...can you frig some until more room in freeze dry unit? It's a real tough problem to have -- more than you can process quickly. We should all be so lucky.

I've been getting pounds of beautiful mushrooms from the Produce Connection and dehydrating them; I have over 2 gallons of them now.

That's up my alley. I love mushrooms. Here, only a very inexpensive "original" type dehydrator. Works well. But, no controls except your own control of adjusting air flow, moving trays, etc. Hey -- $8, 3 yrs ago, 2nd hand. I'm good. Just finished trays of paste tomatoes. Delish. Peppers tomorrow.