Orchard Helper

What is going on and some updates

Wow that 2 weeks of intense work turned into a month. So here is what has been happening while I’ve been AFK.

This is my lettuce and onion bed. Kids were “helping”.

Lettuce Sprouting

Here it is finished with compost and planted.

I also have a sunken hugel bed for corn and peas. I have it surrounded by tires that are going to hold potatoes and tomatoes.

I’m filling the tires in this pic. The pea trellis is the crib mattress from our son. Cribs, I love everything about them!

I’ve been hard at work kratering. Here they are in the process of being terraced. Still have to put the topsoil back on.

Here are a few kraters that I have finished and begun planting. The little tree with no label is a black locust. I have one for each krater and they are between each tree in the swales from last year.

We had a bit of a surprise pond. It was supposed to be another krater but it filled up with water and…well it’s still full. I went over with the excavator and tried to dig through the water holding layer but wasn’t successful. I’ll try again when I have time. I don’t really want a pond right there.

Thought I’d share my technique for keeping the kids entertained while I work. It didn’t work for very long before they were out in the mud, but it did work.

This is our new peacock, the old one was eaten. He’s small but very pretty, not very intelligent though.

Husband is making biochar here.

Flowers that have arrived on their own.

There is a lot more but I’ll have to update again later.

I am away

My day job is so demanding right now that I just can’t post to the blog. I’ll be out for 2 weeks, from May 4-May 15. Will talk to you when I’m back!

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.