April 2015 – Peacock Orchard

Experimentation on the farm

We are always experimenting to see what works best for our area. Last year it was swales and berms, which have been fairly successful. This year it will be different earth works and a deeper look into our personal food systems. Below is a list of our current experiments:

Corn- The best way to grow it. Sunken hugel bed and corn planted in the bottom of crater gardens for wind protection. Which will do best? I suspect the wind protection will be a big boon to growing corn here, though the soil at the bottom of the craters is quite hard, so may not allow the corn to grow sufficient roots. We shall see.
Potatoes- I bought 4 different varieties of potatoes and I am going to plant them in 3 different ways to see what does the best. Some will be planted in our raised bed, some in the berms and some in a tire tower.
Bio char is going to be added to a wide variety of plantings to see if it helps.
We are going to be testing the viability of Sainfoin as a dry land forage/hay.
I am going to be setting up the silvapasture but have not decided what the best planting method will be yet. Do I plant in holes for water and wind protection, but risking animal legs, or do I do swales? I don’t know. See what we come up with and how it goes.
Ginseng experimentation. Can it grow here? What is the proper soil/sun conditions in our area. We will be spreading 250 ginseng seeds through various rows of trees in our tree line and seeing what does best.
Best earth work for our environment. Now, I enjoy our swales and berms and still believe in them. However, the bush experiment from last year has me thinking basins and mini craters are going to be the absolute best way to grow things here. This years earth works will be building basins and mini craters and testing them against last years systems.

It is an exciting time for us here on the farm. Establishment has been stressful, expensive and exciting. I can’t wait to see how our plants succeed here.

2013 Chateau Ste Michelle Gewurztraminer and Jarlsberg Cheese

Wine:

Chateau Ste Michelle Gewurztraminer $8.99 on sale

[From the wine maker] A fan favorite, this Gewürztraminer is such a flavorful wine with beautiful, expressive fruit and clove spice. This is a lush style of Gewurztraminer with a lot of floral character, yet it still maintains the grape’s natural crisp acidity. Try this wine with Thai food or any cuisine with a little “bite” to it.

Cheese:

Jarlsberg $7.99

[From Wikipedia] Jarlsberg cheese has a yellow-wax rind (outer layer) and a semi-firm yellow interior. It is a mild, buttery cheese. The flavor is “clean and rich, with a slightly sweet and nutty flavour.” It is an all-purpose cheese, used for both cooking and eating as a snack.

Wine Review- We rather like Gewurztraminer wines. So much so that I bought a hybrid grape called Traminette. We are hoping to get enough grapes to make our own Gewurztraminer wine variety. We shall see. This wine is really rather nice though. Mild and flavorful. We had Gewurztraminer for Thanksgiving last year. Goes very well with turkey and fixings. Goes well with most foods really. It’s a nice, all around wine, imo. Not spectacular but quality and versatile. We will continue to buy it.

Cheese Review- I’ll be honest here, we ate 2 cheeses. The pictures did not turn out (must remember to check the photos before calling it good) and we ate all of the other cheese so we couldn’t remember what it was. It was good, we ate it all. The Jarlsberg was pretty good, we ate 1/2 of it. It has a stronger flavor but was nice with crackers. I could see eating it again.

We did this review for a date night in. We rented the movie “Lucy” (WEIRD!!!!!!!!!) and cuddled up on the couch. It was an enjoyable evening, in spite of the odd movie.

Growing Medicinals- An Introduction to our First Year

Since having children I have become increasingly interested in natures medicine. Having sick children is simply miserable. They are too young to take any over the counter drugs and I don’t know that I would want to give them to them anyway. So on top of growing delicious food for us to eat and sell I am growing medicinals. This will be our first year of planting and I am starting with 20 simple varieties. I will simply add on each year.

I have two elderberry plants arriving with this years fruit tree orders. I also have a witch hazel plant arriving with a different tree order. Otherwise I’ve simply ordered a large variety of seeds. Here is a brief list of what we are adding this year.

Lemonbalm

Echinacea

FeverFew

German Chamomille

Plantain

Borage

Ginseng

Mullien

Peppermint

Spearmint

Calendula

Lavendar

Marshmallow

Ginger

Catnip

Safflower

Creeping Thyme

Valerian Root

St John’s Wort

I’ll keep you updated in future posts with what works and what doesn’t when I get the time to test it out!

2013 Chateau D’Esclans Whispering Angel Rose and Brie

Wine:

Chateau Desclans Whispering Angel Rose 2013 $22.19

[Wine Makers Notes] Whispering Angel is a blend of Grenache, Rolle, Cinsault, Syrah, and Mourvedre grapes. Strikingly pale pink in color, the aromas are fresh and fruity. On the palate, it is bone dry through the finish. The name really suits the delicate nature of this wine.

If not simply drinking Whispering Angel on its own, pair it with lightly grilled steaks, salmon, other fish dishes and salads, as well as cheese. Fabulous with modern cuisine.

Cheese:

La Bonne Vie Brie $5.97

[From the cheese maker] Known for it’s excellent quality and flavor, La Bonne Vie Brie is a soft cheese made of cow’s milk, with a deliciously creamy and buttery taste and a snowy-white edible rind.

Wine Review- An excellent wine. Not too dry with fruit flavors. We really enjoyed this one. I suspect this wine would go well with most any entree or dessert. I certainly enjoyed drinking it and eating Lindt truffles. It was a decadent evening for us.

Husband said, “I thought it was awesome, I didn’t get a buzz off of it, the cheese was a terrible choice, although the wine DID help quell the taste in my mouth when I stupidly did something french and ate the mold rind part with the cheese”

We will certainly be buying it again. The back of the bottle said you may hear angels whispering when you drank it. I’m not sure about that but it was certainly delicious. We highly recommend this wine!

Cheese Review- Well, it was ok. With the rind cut off and eaten with crackers it was acceptable. With the rind it was rather disgusting. I’d probably not get this cheese again. It didn’t thrill me. We did eat about half of it though, so no awful.

The kids did not get to participate in this wine tasting. They were in bed and we were luxuriating on the couch, catching up on some TV. We are dreadfully behind on the few shows we watch on Netflix. It was a lovely, peaceful evening and the wine certainly helped with the mood.

Playground Projects

Last year I did several things in the yard for the kids. I put a tractor tire up for the kids to climb on.Which quickly became the preferred method of using the slide.

I made the sandbox referenced here.

I put up a post and bucket pully (that I now have to move).

And I planted quite a few tree roots to try to get some shade cover going in there. These are cottonwood roots that were sprouting. I dug a trench around them, used the tire for wind block and mulched with paper.

I also took down some unsafe railing on our deck. That is a saga for another time as it is still a work in progress.

This year I hope to fix and add much more to the children’s playground. The broken slide has already been taken care of as seen in this post. So now to add to the fun.

I am excited to add a Tetherball court. I am going to make the tetherball pole moveable so that it can also be used as part of a future badmitton/volleyball court. This project was inspired by some Pinterest browsing that led me to this blog.

A new swing set is being constructed this year, the poles and design will be planned for the addition of a clubhouse next year. Temporarily I have simply removed the broken section of the swing set. Son is not happy about this as it included the glider portion.

This is a picture of the swing set just after install. The poles on the right side are badly damaged from a run in with the tractor.

Spools are going to be used for all sorts of projects but the first is going to be spool cars with this Steering Wheel. I found a design for these cars here. The kids are painting their own cars and I’m excited to see how it all comes out.

I am hanging a Basketball Hoop on the post that the bucket pully is on. Our son has shown a marked interest in throwing things and I hope to refine his technique so he stops knocking things over inside.

I am unsure about establishing a music station outside. The kids have a variety of musical and sound making objects indoors that they do not show a lot of enthusiasm for.

I do think I’ll be using some spools to make a mud kitchen though, as seen here.

I am also excited about building a scale near the sandbox. I believe the kids will love that!

I am also trying to figure out how to hang these Baskets for various toy storage around the yard. We have dogs who love to eat any toys left out and kids who love to cry about it. This Organizer is absolutely brilliant for next to the sand pit. I will be able to hang the digging tools from the hooks at the bottom. I love it! I am excited to get them up and in use. We are currently using a large laundry basket for toy storage and I hate carting it around. Plus, to get to the toys at the bottom the kids dump the entire basket out and the mess is massive. So, smaller, off the ground storage is going to be key going forward.

We removed some broken, hanging gutters last year. I plan to try to incorporate them into the sand/water station somehow. I’m still working on that concept.

So stay tuned as our backyard gets turned into a kid centric playground!

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New purchases and Updates on growth

We recently purchased some grape vines from a hobbyist in Colorado, 5 dormant frontenac grapes and 2 Tramenier grape vines . We also received our Gurney’s grape order of 5 Reliant grape vines. They arrived bare root and dormant and so I took the risk of putting them outdoors, heavily mulched.

Furry butt here is the reason the grapes are caged. Don’t want him getting bored and chewing them up.

The pistachio tree is doing quite well.

The apple seeds I’ve been growing are hit and miss, but mostly doing well.

The lone locust tree seedling I have is growing slowly, but growing.

My tomato seedlings look…unchanged. I’m doing something wrong, obviously, but I do not know what.

I’ve had bug issues. The bamboo brought them into the house. The grapes cuttings I’m trying to root were the worst hit. I’ve since put diatomaceous earth on all of my indoor plants. We shall see if what they say is true, and the bugs die.

Everything else is not noticeably different but doing well.

I have planted out the hill I built for the kids slide, mulched it and tried my best to keep the mulch in place. I’m hoping in a few weeks I will be able to remove the fencing.

The birds enjoyed making it into the yard, usually heavily guarded by dogs. The ducks took the most advantage, though a few chickens came in. We had to escort everyone out before dinner, so the dogs could go back out. This gave the kids an opportunity to pet a chicken.

Yesterday we also brought home a new peacock, to replace the one that was killed by the dogs. He’s an india blue black shoulder. He had some broken feathers in transit but is still looking mighty fine. The kids took the opportunity, while the pea decided whether to come out of the cage or not, to pet his long tail and peak in on him.

We hope he adjusts well and that we can open the door to the barn again soon. They’ll all be locked in there until we are sure the new pea won’t fly away.

Here are a few extra, gratuitous pictures.