Sourdough Bread

Several months ago, I attempted to start a sourdough starter.  I say attempted because it failed miserably (there were flies and maggots involved, it was beyond gross).

Well, it took me long enough, but I finally got one going again and was very intentional to keep that baby covered up nice and tight this time!

Isn't it pretty?  So, after a little more than a week of feeding this baby and waiting patiently, Tool Lady made our first batch of sourdough bread!

It was so tasty, she had to make a second loaf because the first one was half gone within just a couple of hours!  Yum-my!  Next I think we might try sourdough pancakes and english muffins...

Harvest Monday

Happy Monday everyone!

We've got some more greens to report this week!  Enough to actually make a couple of small salads!  I checked on our wagons again and things are looking steadily better, I even poked my finger around a few carrots and they seem to be sizing up nicely :-)  I restrained myself from picking a few, but my patience is wearing a bit thin!  Maybe a couple more weeks and I can have a little snack?  My fingers are officially crossed!

A couple of our mixed greens under our grow lights are starting to flower, which probably means they're getting a little toasty under there!  We're still playing with the distance between the flats and the lights, but it has made for some pretty little flowers in January!

This weeks totals:

• Spinach = 1.5 ounce
• Mixed Greens = 1.5 ounce
• Kale = .5 ounce
• Eggs = 18

Happy harvesting!

Linking up to Harvest Monday @ Daphne's Dandelions

& Macro Monday on Lisa's Chaos

2012 Garden Planning

With a full year of really gardening under our belts (we're like newborns, I swear, there's so much to learn!), we're trying to figure out how to grow even more veggies in our limited space!

I recently borrowed How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons from my friends at Spotty Dog Farm and took lots of notes on BioIntensive plantings.  Now my head is spinning with ideas about how to squeeze as much in as possible!

A couple of years ago, when we first put up the fence in the front yard, I decided to make a map of our property so we could plan out where the beds and grass would go.  The map has evolved as our yard has, but it has proved priceless when it comes to planning what will fit where.

Front and back yard maps, together.

I have since made a map for the backyard, too.  Each map is to scale (I used graph paper and lots of trips outside with a tape measure) and allows me to not only plan each years plantings, but also helps me think about my succession plantings and crop rotation in future years.

Backyard - We put the chicken coop where it is because the house
shades that side of the yard most of the day and nothing would
grow over there.  We can let the chickens out to get some more sun,
 but we can't move the plants once they're in the ground ;-)
Also, the back of our house gets super hot in the afternoon,
so we have to plant accordingly.

My current veggie maps are no where near done being that there are probably 3 or 4 revisions that will happen before it's time to actually put some plants in the ground in May, but it's fun to play around with the possibilities of it all.

Close up of one part of the back yard - Ideas, ideas, ideas...

Close up of the back wall in the back yard with an idea for a
cucumber trellis drawn off to the side.

The front yard - We have a mixture of no sun, some sun and lots of sun
in our tiny  yard.  Even in the shade though, at the height of summer,
it gets hot enough to send the spinach (in full shade) into bolt mode overnight.

Close up of our two raised beds in the front yard.
 In the 4X6 bed you can see that I have some corn, bush beans and beets
 kind of crammed in there...this is one of the BioIntensive experiments
 I'll be playing with this year.

Another close up of the front yard.  I plan on tying the Roma Tomatoes
up to the fence for support.  The winter squash will vine out, so I can guide
 them around the outside of beds around them and along the path.

All of this planning only adds to my spring fever.  I mean really, it's January and there have been more days than not this month that I have been able to walk around outside without a jacket on!  Don't get me wrong, I do wish for more moisture...snow would be wonderful...but all this warmth is adding to my longing to put my hands in the earth!  So, as I mentioned earlier this week, to work with the longings instead of against them, I've already started some seeds under our grow lights.

In addition to all the planning, and as you probably know, I've been tracking all of our harvest totals for the past year.  This year I intend to not only continue this practice, but to also begin tracking the money we spend in the garden as well as figuring out this years income from the garden.  This gets a little complicated because I'm thinking about going back and trying to figure out how much money we've put into the garden from the beginning, then amoritizing it all and coming up with a base line for each year.  Crazy.  We'll see how this goes, but it doesn't seem right to start from zero this year and only track income.  Whew!


Happy planning!!!

Linking up to Homestead Barn Hop #47

The Little Things

The Little Things is my way of taking a moment to slow down, acknowledge and appreciate some of the little things in life!  If you would like to join in, that would bring me joy, too!

There's enough bad news floating around out there...

Let's share some good news!

Here are few thing that have brought me great joy recently...

My (sick) child breaking in our brand new counter tops by laying on them.  Now that made for a good laugh!

Radiohead in general and this song in particular, makes me very happy...despite the dark, introspective poetry of it all.  Maybe it's because we really are just accidents waiting to happen ;-)

Sunsets, especially Santa Fe sunsets, bring me great joy.  They are peaceful and dramatic all at once.  Here are a few shots from a recent sunset...

Now, if you would like to join in the happiness of sharing a link to a Little Thing that brings you joy, please do!  Just leave a comment below and a link to whatever has brought you joy this week.  If you are linking back to your blog, please link back here so others can join in, too! 

I hope that whatever you're doing this weekend, it's bringing you joy!

A Quarter of a Cow

Yep, we've just received our very first quarter of a cow!  

After initially looking into another farm, we finally decided to go with D & R Ranch up in Mora.  They were nice, fast and fairly priced.  Turn around time was just a couple of weeks and I do believe that this beef is, hands down, the best beef I've ever tasted.  While they are not certified organic, their cows are all grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free.  What more could you ask for, right?

Now, at first we thought we were getting a screaming deal because the beef is advertised at $3.85/pound.  But (and this is very important), that is the hanging weight, which is the entire cow after it's been slaughtered, not just the weight of meat you'll actually eat.

So, how did it all really break down?  Well, we went in on a half a cow with some friends of ours, which gave us each a quarter of a cow.  So, our family paid a total of $404.50 for our quarter.  This bought us approximately 64 pounds of beef.  That factors out to $6.35 per pound (including the slaughtering, butchering and packing).  We also paid an additional $12.50 for them to deliver the beef to us (we would've spent at least that much on gas to get to them and back).

Now, a pound of grass fed, organic beef at the Farmer's Market costs (on average) $6/pound.  Stew meat, steaks and other cuts range from about $8/pound to $20/pound.  So, all in all, we got a good deal.  Not as good of a deal as we initially thought we were getting, but a good deal none-the-less.  And, of course, in addition to stocking our freezer with some super yummy beef, we're also supporting local ranchers, which is a big plus in my book. 

The question is, was this a novice mistake on our part (buying into that $3.85/pound price tag), smart advertising on their part or something else?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

Linking up to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #12

{this moment}

{this moment inspired by Soule Mama} 

If you feel inspired to share your moment, please leave a link to your moment in the comments below for all to see.

Dirty Eggs & Cute Chickens

So, last week our chickens decided to lay their eggs not in their cozy nesting boxes, but in the back corner of their coop, right under their roost.  The problem with this?  Well, it is the only part of the coop that is not easily accessible to us without a shovel, broom or big stick.  So, in order to retrieve said eggs without fear of breaking them, I was forced to climb up into their coop.  Not a pretty picture, trust me (flailing arms, lack of balance, chicken shit everywhere...you get the picture).  Completely gross.  Here we were thinking they'd gone on strike again because we couldn't find any eggs, but no, they were just playing a joke on us humans.

It's hard to stay mad at them though when they follow you around, cluck at you like they're trying to share some great story and then come to the back door later to say HELLO :-) Oh, and give us eggs most of the time!!!

Pickled Red Beet Eggs

A couple of days ago, Tool Lady heard about Pickled Red Beet Eggs from a volunteer at work.  He stated that they were one of his favorites, and since he's been such an awesome volunteer, we decided we should try to make some for him.

After several Google searches we found a recipe that looked like something we could try.  We tweaked it a bit based on our preferences and the fact that Tool Lady has done a lot of baking recently and we didn't have any white sugar in the house (and neither of us wanted to make a trip to the store), so we used brown sugar instead.  We also used fresh beets (not from our garden...not yet at least), apple cider vinegar instead of regular vinegar and we put everything into two quart sized jars instead of in a "bowl or pitcher"...one for giving away and one for trying ourselves, of course!

We're now waiting patiently to try them.  Honestly, though, I'm really not sure how long we'll last in this little waiting game!  And, if we like them, we'll definitely try this recipe next time!  You can't really lose with cinnamon AND cloves, can you???  ;-)

Seeds & Soon-To-Be-Sprouts

I may be getting a bit ahead of myself here, but I'm longing for spring and feeling like testing a few boundaries.  Since we have our grow lights in place, happily helping along our greens, some herbs and even a few bush beans, I figured it was worth a little experimentation in tomatoes and peppers as well.

I planted 3 seeds in each little pod of the following:

• Yellow Taxi Tomatoes
• Brandywine Tomatoes
• Roma Tomatoes
• Bi-Color Cherry Tomatoes
• Mystery Tomatoes (small, sweet, red, cherry)
• Green Bell Pepper
• Jalapeno
• Mystery Bell Pepper (black outside, green inside, semi-sweet)

Now we just water, wait and see how well they all do...maybe, just maybe, we'll have some fruits earlier in the summer than usual?

Linking up to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #11

Harvest Monday

Happy Monday everyone!

I've been checking on (and watering) our hoop houses/wagons about once a week.  Their growth is slow and not very exciting, so I don't usually bother during the week, just on the weekends.  The short days are also a factor and I don't ever want to let the heat out of them in the evenings.  After checking on them this weekend though, it appears that, finally, things are starting to perk up a bit.  Not sure if it's the unusually warm (and dry) winter we've been having, or if they've just finally gotten their feet under them, but everything's looking pretty good!

Beets

More beets, same kind as above...Early Wonder...but very a
very different color on the leaves!

Kale

Carrots

Spinach

Slow and steady...it's becoming a theme.  Our tiny spinach harvest didn't even make it into the fridge...I just ate it right after I weighed and washed it :-)  

While I wish we were harvesting more right now, there is definitely hope growing in the garden...and lots of plans for the coming seasons!

Garden plans and wishes aside, the chickens are continuing to happily lay some gorgeous eggs!  Sweet!

This weeks totals:

• Spinach = 1 ounce
• Eggs = 24

Happy harvesting!

Linking up to Harvest Monday @ Daphne's Dandelions

The Little Things

The Little Things is my way of taking a moment to slow down, acknowledge and appreciate some of the little things in life!  If you would like to join in, that would bring me joy, too!

There's enough bad news floating around out there...

Let's share some good news!

First things first!  The announcement of my giveaway winner!  Jeanette has won some of my delicious Butternut Squash Seeds!  Jeanette please email me at trinityvision3(at)gmail(dot)com with your address and I'll send 'em out!  Butternut Squash are easily my favorite squash, so I am very happy to share these seeds!

 

Additional joy filled moments this week have included:

My child's love of peace and kindness makes me very happy and very hopeful for her generation, our future and our planet.

I love Marcel the Shell...but I especially love the last few seconds of this video.  ("Because it's important.")

The dramatic skies we get after a storm are so incredibly beautiful!

I really like this song by Gotye...the intensity of it, the truth of it, the simplicity of it...but I really LOVE this cover of it!

Now, if you would like to join in the happiness of sharing a link to a Little Thing that brings you joy, please do!  Just leave a comment below and a link to whatever has brought you joy this week.  If you are linking back to your blog, please link back here so others can join in, too! 

I hope that whatever you're doing this weekend, it's bringing you joy!

{this moment}

 

{this moment inspired by Soule Mama} 

If you feel inspired to share your moment, please leave a link to your moment in the comments below for all to see.

Sweet, Sweet Jams

One day, hopefully later this year, we will have a pantry that is stocked full with jars and jars of food that we have canned.  Oh how I swoon over pictures of pantries that have already accomplished this!  In the meantime, however, I am finding pride and joy in the few items that we have canned...including (but not limited to) these delicious jams!!!

The strawberry jam was created last weekend, is amazing, and will be even more amazing when made with home grown strawberries (fingers crossed) next summer!

And this beauty is what was created during my very first canning experience last September.  Believe it or not, we had not cracked open one of these gorgeous jars until last weekend!  I know, I know...shame on me!  But man...was it worth the wait!  We will definitely be growing a lot of yellow taxi tomatoes this year just so we can make a ton of this again!

There really is nothing like a little taste of summer in the dead of winter!