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.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Summer
If it weren't for the veggies and fruit, I really would have no use for summer. I'd skip it all if I could. The bugs, heat, sweat, watering, poison ivy, and dealing with hoses. There is none of this that I love. What almost makes it worth it is the tomatoes, peaches, fresh peppers, basil, tomatillos, corn, squash and parsley that makes its way to the table.
Last night we had a very late dinner of roasted chicken and veggies. I had found some inspirational new potatoes at the market and added my own tiny carrots, beets, turnips, fennel and onions and popped them in a way too hot oven and we still ate near 11. Which is what happens when you work until dark. Why is it that delicious roasty things come in a season that you don't want to roast? This is what I am saying about summer. Inconvenient on all fronts....
Last night we had a very late dinner of roasted chicken and veggies. I had found some inspirational new potatoes at the market and added my own tiny carrots, beets, turnips, fennel and onions and popped them in a way too hot oven and we still ate near 11. Which is what happens when you work until dark. Why is it that delicious roasty things come in a season that you don't want to roast? This is what I am saying about summer. Inconvenient on all fronts....
Monday, May 23, 2011
Season of Laundry
At this time of year there is much to contribute to the never ending and insufferable mountain of laundry that the SB and I produce. First, the temperature fluctuates wildly during the day. You can go from needing long sleeves, pants and socks in the morning to short, tank and sandals in the afternoon. Necessitating at least one change of clothes. Add in that you are sweating and stinking up your clothes. And that just about everything that we do outside involves mud, water, hay or poop and you can see where this is going. Then there are the work clothes. If I could hire out one indoor task it would be laundrypluscleaningthefreakinbaseboards.
The goats are growing and getting a wee bit chubby I think. They are full tilt on the hay but have not given up the bottles. We are weaning them down.... Tomorrow I think we do away entirely with their mid day meal. Nice how I eliminate the one that I am not home for.... I let the SB suffer the loud displeasure of the goats. Him and the neighbors. By the weekend they will be used to it. And I can sleep in another 10 minutes.
LBD is going on her third round of antibiotics. She still has a lump in her foot. It isn't getting any worse, but it isn't getting that much better either. The last bit really needed to ripen up on its own time, so we are trying to be patient. I talked to the vet today and he said his partner suggested using Preparation H on it. Another vet has told us that we should soak in epsom salts and hit it with Benadine every day until it "drains". There is both comfort and frustration in the fact that the "experts" are just as scatter shot as I am on this.
Flea beetles found my tender eggplant plants if 34 seconds flat. Planted corn and squash this afternoon. I think that counts as getting something done.
The goats are growing and getting a wee bit chubby I think. They are full tilt on the hay but have not given up the bottles. We are weaning them down.... Tomorrow I think we do away entirely with their mid day meal. Nice how I eliminate the one that I am not home for.... I let the SB suffer the loud displeasure of the goats. Him and the neighbors. By the weekend they will be used to it. And I can sleep in another 10 minutes.
LBD is going on her third round of antibiotics. She still has a lump in her foot. It isn't getting any worse, but it isn't getting that much better either. The last bit really needed to ripen up on its own time, so we are trying to be patient. I talked to the vet today and he said his partner suggested using Preparation H on it. Another vet has told us that we should soak in epsom salts and hit it with Benadine every day until it "drains". There is both comfort and frustration in the fact that the "experts" are just as scatter shot as I am on this.
Flea beetles found my tender eggplant plants if 34 seconds flat. Planted corn and squash this afternoon. I think that counts as getting something done.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Renaissance Hombre
So yesterday was sort of a crazy day, as are most around the Urban Farm in the springtime. The SB though, decided that he might just merit the title Renaissance Man after the day. He spent a big portion of it designing and building the goat house. The difficult part being the pyramid roof with the cupola that is planned (you know, the one that allows the light to come into the middle of the building and fire up the chandelier in the middle of the day). Not so straightforward in the rafter department. Not revolutionary, mind you, but it takes some figuring. Add to that an (at least) semi successful foot surgery on the Little Brown Duck (LBD) and you have a day of many colors here in Woolen Mills.
The surgery. Oi. We captured the duck late in the day and decided to give it another go on the bumblefoot. The foot was progressing in that the bumble was getting a large scab on the bottom and a tough outer ring. The SB poked and carved at it a bit until something came out. Um. Dis.Gusting. It was an evil looking thing. Like a booger from the nose of The Devil Himself. Tough like cartilage and with nasty fingers poking out in all directions. It bled quite a bit, but getting that bit out was a big step in the right direction. There may be more there, but we are giving it a few days to sort itself out before we try anything new. When I came home from work I gave the duck some antibiotics and tried to get some Blukote on its foot, but I couldn't subdue its feisty three pounds of protest (at least without doing damage) so I called it a day and let her spend the rest of it in the garden with free access to the pea shoots and spinach.
All in all, progress on many fronts. I got the tomatoes in the ground (FINALLY) and still have to plant lots of peppers and eggplant. And okra. THAT definitely has to go in soon. But the garden is heading toward its first lull, at least in the greens department. Though now that the spinach and cabbages are on their way out, this year's chard is coming on, so we should be ok for a while during the wait until the peas and zucchini start making a showing.
The wee goats are growing up and are now more interested in eating than in lap sitting. Which is truthfully something of a relief as I was beginning to wonder if having two forty to fifty pound goats in one's lap was really a good way to spend the summer. They are still adorable and love to be petted and will still climb in your lap, it is just between foraging now.
The surgery. Oi. We captured the duck late in the day and decided to give it another go on the bumblefoot. The foot was progressing in that the bumble was getting a large scab on the bottom and a tough outer ring. The SB poked and carved at it a bit until something came out. Um. Dis.Gusting. It was an evil looking thing. Like a booger from the nose of The Devil Himself. Tough like cartilage and with nasty fingers poking out in all directions. It bled quite a bit, but getting that bit out was a big step in the right direction. There may be more there, but we are giving it a few days to sort itself out before we try anything new. When I came home from work I gave the duck some antibiotics and tried to get some Blukote on its foot, but I couldn't subdue its feisty three pounds of protest (at least without doing damage) so I called it a day and let her spend the rest of it in the garden with free access to the pea shoots and spinach.
All in all, progress on many fronts. I got the tomatoes in the ground (FINALLY) and still have to plant lots of peppers and eggplant. And okra. THAT definitely has to go in soon. But the garden is heading toward its first lull, at least in the greens department. Though now that the spinach and cabbages are on their way out, this year's chard is coming on, so we should be ok for a while during the wait until the peas and zucchini start making a showing.
The wee goats are growing up and are now more interested in eating than in lap sitting. Which is truthfully something of a relief as I was beginning to wonder if having two forty to fifty pound goats in one's lap was really a good way to spend the summer. They are still adorable and love to be petted and will still climb in your lap, it is just between foraging now.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Invested
I talked to my vet today. He admitted being "invested" in the duck cure. I like that in a vet. He even called around to get me a better antibiotic set up. You see the ones I got were pre mixed and for use with mammals. Avian species apparently metabolized differently so we need to give her a lot more per body weight. But since the stuff was already diluted, it meant that we were trying to give her 3 ml twice a day. OK, that probably doesn't seem like a lot, but when you are holding a squawking duck down at 6:20 AM, it seems like a lot. Especially as a lot of it ends up on the person delivering. So the pharmacist at Meadowbook (who rocks) mixed up a stronger dosage. I think he also added some glycerine as it is a little thicker too. To keep it from running out of the bill so quickly.
Over the weekend, the bumble developed an honest to goodness scab that could be removed. We hoped that removal of the scab in combo with some swimming would help things along, but it looks like we are going for another surgery tomorrow afternoon. I think this one will be successful. It is easier to see now where the best place to make the incision is. Cross your fingers for us.
I have been dreaming of wee duck footwear to keep the foot "clean and dry". I don't think I am going to be able to craft the stylish duck sandal I have in my head, but we will need to come up with something. And if we do get it out, there will be an end to the swimming for a while. Which is too bad as she does enjoy it. Especially because we add copious amounts of spinach to the bathing water, which is a favorite way that ducks eat. Gag.
The garden is about to hit that awkward in between stage where the spinach and arugula is bolting but the summer squash and beans have not yet matured. I think I will have beets and some mustard in the interim, but it is kinda hard to tell right now. Looking forward to cool week ahead to keep the greens from bolting.
Over the weekend, the bumble developed an honest to goodness scab that could be removed. We hoped that removal of the scab in combo with some swimming would help things along, but it looks like we are going for another surgery tomorrow afternoon. I think this one will be successful. It is easier to see now where the best place to make the incision is. Cross your fingers for us.
I have been dreaming of wee duck footwear to keep the foot "clean and dry". I don't think I am going to be able to craft the stylish duck sandal I have in my head, but we will need to come up with something. And if we do get it out, there will be an end to the swimming for a while. Which is too bad as she does enjoy it. Especially because we add copious amounts of spinach to the bathing water, which is a favorite way that ducks eat. Gag.
The garden is about to hit that awkward in between stage where the spinach and arugula is bolting but the summer squash and beans have not yet matured. I think I will have beets and some mustard in the interim, but it is kinda hard to tell right now. Looking forward to cool week ahead to keep the greens from bolting.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Double Ugh
We tried today to lance the duck's foot. Succeeded in making an incision but not in getting out the cyst, or whatever it is. I gave in and called a vet. Of course, the one who is up for odd animals is out of town. Now we have a duck with an open foot and no treatment options. The vet is supposed to call me back tomorrow and see if there is any advice after they do some research. Which probably means reading the same blog posts that I did. At this point though, I am happy to pay someone else to take responsibility. The SB (who did the cutting), the duck (who did the insanity inducing consta-quack) and I (who did the maniacal irrigating with sterile saline solution) are all ready to have the pros take over. Crikey. That is some grim work.
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