permaculture – Page 7 – Peacock Orchard

Eggtastic Tuesday- The Fluffiest Scrambled Eggs

The key to fluffy scrambled eggs is a simple one, air. The more air you can get in your eggs the fluffier they will be.

Now, I do not claim to be an expert whisker but I’ve whisked plenty of things in my life. I whisked and whisked the eggs but I can’t beat the blender for adding air.

30 seconds in the blender and the eggs are airy and light.

These are hand scrambled eggs. Now, it should be known the eggs got a bit overcooked as we were having photo problems. Thankfully our first two eggs were equally over cooked so the experiment was still good.

Eggs in the blender. Noticeably fluffier.

Once I picked which method made the airiest eggs, I then tried adding a teaspoon of water and a teaspoon of milk to see which would would assist in further fluffing.

This is eggs poured into a hot and oiled pan after being blended with water.

Eggs blended with milk.

There wasn’t a very noticeable difference between the milk blended and water blended eggs. I do not believe it affected taste either. So I suppose that’s a personal preference thing. I will say that adding water or milk to thin down the eggs did produce lighter eggs.

So get out your blender and blend some eggs.

Oh, as an added note all of the eggs were laid that day so they were all the same age.

Gleying a pond with pigs

What is “gley” exactly? According to Merriam-Webster gley means:

a sticky clay soil or soil layer formed under the surface of some waterlogged soils.

In essence I am using my pigs to seal a pond for me. Their manure and weight will tamp and coat the soil to keep the water in. It hasn’t been warm enough for them to be doing it long. We’ve had about a months worth of weather where they left the barn freely.

There was a few inches of water in the bottom of the pond that the pigs were enjoying. I wanted to fill the pond for the ducks though, and to see what the pigs would do. So a month ago I filled the pond to capacity. The pond is 14x20x3. I dug it years ago. It has a deep end and a shallow end I intended to use as a biological filter for the duck mess. It never worked out, unfortunately. The cement I had used to seal the pond cracked and it hasn’t been usable for years. We pounded out the cement when we got the pigs and now it’s their turn to work.

Or play, depends on your perspective. B.L.T. has brought a toy into the pond and he splashes around with abandon. In these pictures I’d turned a sprinkler on for them because it was SOOOO hot out, at least for Wyoming.

The pond isn’t completely sealed yet, but it has a good start. A month without intervention and it still has a fair bit of water in it. It was unexpected. I hope they are able to finish the gley soon. They are eating weight now.

Plum out of luck?

The plum trees are blooming. For Wyoming, it’s early. Too early.

The 5 acre orchard in front of the house is a learning experience for us. Everything we do here is ground breaking in our area. The plum tree currently in bloom is planted in one of our swale berms. Another plum tree close to bloom is planted on the side of a swale. The trees in the Kraters are not yet old enough to bloom, so the verdict is out on the success of that. Knowing that there are various ways you can plant trees to get desired results. I believe the plum trees, being early bloomers, should be planted in the bottom of the Kraters, to keep them dormant long enough for our late Wyoming storms to be over.

Wyoming often has storms up until, and sometimes through, the end of May. I was excited to see the plum blossoms, our first fruit, but nervous as well. When I heard the news, an expected foot of snow, I was even more nervous about the possibility of getting fruit. I kept tabs on the trees during and after the storm. It was not as bad as expected, a few inches of snow at most. Lots of wind and ice though.

The blooms seemed to be fine in spite of the ice.

There was a lot of ice as well.

After the storm the blooms that had not opened were fine, but those that had been open during the storm had shriveled and died.

Lots of blooms left, lots of time left for more snow and ice. Time will tell.

Springtime in Wyoming

Spring is in the air. A constant state of confusion lays heavy over the land. Will it be warm? Will it be freezing? It could be both, all in the same day. Summer clothes have already been donned this year. Now we’re back to snow suits and gloves. Back to animals too smart to leave the protection of the barn and me hauling water to them all.

Thankfully the barn is large and I’m healthy enough to be carting the necessary liquids. Solids too, since the pigs kept breaking into the food bins and I had to move them to the garage. Since we are currently in possession of an attack turkey the kids prefer to occupy themselves out of the barn while I’m feeding.

I’m particularly glad that weather has never stopped the kids from venturing outside. We are a tough lot, the kind willing to live in howling winds and unpredictable weather. A versatile lot as well. The wagon has been retired for now, in order to accommodate the snow. Strolls around the property have to be maintained, after all. Pictures must be taken! Trees checked.

Proof that Permaculture WORKS!

As if you needed proof, I know. Still, I am excited today.

A review of the orchard shows more trees that survived the winter than I had anticipated. The mini kraters and swales have done amazing things. We are set to have a bumper crop of plums this year, so long as we don’t get a late freeze, fierce wind, or some other completely likely weather event.

Why would I say this small 5 acre orchard is proof that permaculture works? It is dry here. Very dry. Made worse by the incredible wind we suffer from. We are high up, cold, besotted with pests. There is no genetic material available from our state to base our plantings on. We have everything going against us, including public opinion.

“You can’t grow _____ in Wyoming!” I hear it every single time I talk to a local about the orchard. When we are open to the public minds are going to be blown!

If I can grow trees here with little to no watering (certainly no irrigation), than permaculture planting techniques are a blazing success.

This winter we harvested so much snow we even created an ideal place for pests to hide.

I do hate those ground animals.

I’ve also been successful at growing garlic and onions for the first time. Ruth Stoute and mulching, a real winner!

I’d highly recommend permaculture planting techniques to everyone and you should too.

Sainfoin- An experiment still in progress

If you had asked me last year what I thought of our sainfoin experiment I would have told you it was a failure. A walk along the property today has proven otherwise. The sainfoin, It’s ALIVE! Right now it is the same size as last years seedlings. It has a million more leaves though.

I could be wrong, maybe it’s the size of them making me think this, but I swear there are more plants as well.

well it’s hard to see each plant but there are 6 plants in this frame. Last year I would have expected to see 2.

Our ground is awful, as you can see. I’m excited to see what difference the sainfoin makes of this mess. It’s coming up in all the cracks from what I see. Sainfoin does love dry. Dry is what we have.

I was assisted in todays sainfoin adventure by my plant scout and all around bossy photographer.

I was hindered by the girl who refuses to walk this much. So much. Wagon AND stroller much. Sigh