Thursday, June 23, 2011

"Tis the season...

Tonight was a summer supper. After doing some yard work and playing around with the goats, I harvested some fingerling potatoes, parsley, cukes, basil and summer squash from the garden.

For dinner we had: boiled fingerling potatoes (flavored only with a little salt in the cooking water). Squash sauteed with Urban Farm parsley, garlic and onions, some smoked salmon sent by the SB's sister (who rocks), and a salad of tomatoes, cukes, basil, goat cheese and kalmata olives. Oh, and garnished with chard stem pickles (because I didn't have capers for the salmon). Simple fast and oh so fresh. THIS is what I like about summer.

I have decided not to horde the potatoes this year.... I am harvesting early and often. Before tonight, I made some fabu potato salad. My goal is to use them all up by the end of November, since they don't really store any longer than that. In past, we have just ended up with WAY too many seed potatoes.... With the summer squash, I am trying to pick it early. I mean, really, there is only so much summer squash you can eat right.

Last evening we had a large black snake in the duck house (again). This time he was in the process of eating one of the eggs. Imagine being disturbed while you are about 1/3 of the way through getting your mouth around a watermelon, and you will have a good idea of the state we found him in. Being lovers of a good meal, we left the snake to do what it would with the egg. At that point we were dubious of the outcome. When we returned from our own dinner, we found that the snake had not only gotten down the egg he was working on, but went on to a second as well.

Just shows me why I need to be a little quicker on the draw with the egg collecting.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Quiet

It has been quiet on the blog because it has been anything but quiet on the homefront. Dag. The drawback to the lengthening days is that there is way more light to work by. So if you come in when it gets dark, that means you start making dinner at 9. Which means you are up until past 11. Which means that when you get up at 6:00 to feed the animals you are a wee bit cranky.

But anyway...

The garden is entering the summer phase. The peas came out over the weekend as well as some of the beets and turnips. Also the cilantro that has bolted and the fennel that is looking ready to go skyward. I harvested some of the red onions and some of the garlic (the rest doesn't appear quite ready). In place of these things I have put okra and long beans. Possibly will add some more leek seedlings since they have miraculously held on in their tiny cell packs. I harvested the first cuke today with a yellow squash coming right behind. Lucky us.

The ducks are good. Spoiled with being out and eating far less grain. Which is a good thing. The gimpy duck still has a bump on her foot. She doesn't seem to be limping though and it hasn't developed the nasty black scab that the other bumblefoot bump had. I don't know what that means. Seems like her weight is OK and she doesn't seem to be in pain. Kind of all we can hope for.

The goats are cranky with giving up their milk. They now just get an ounce of water by bottle in the morning because I am a lily livered pansy and afraid they are going to make a rukus in the morning if I don't give it to them. My neighbors are already saints for listening to them complain in the evenings about the milk thing. Sheesh.

The goat barn is coming along slowly. Considering a work party soon to kick it before the SB takes off for Scotland for 3 weeks at the end of July. It would be nice to have it at least partially completed by then.... These things always take so much longer than expected.