Spring is slowly, slowly heading our way and we have a long list of things to get done before it gets here.  Our first huge project, of course is this year’s logs to be inoculation party.  But before that can happen we have some smaller project to get done.

Ron has plans to expand our mushroom area by getting us on the other side of the stream.  That involves a bridge, strong enough for him to drive the 4 wheeler across.  So he talked with his new Amish connections and they came through for him.

We have a little tweaking to do. Some kind of ramp for each end, but I think this should do the job quite nicely.  To Ron’s right is the pond where we get the water needed to soak the logs.   Our current logs are off on the right too but he wants to get more going  on Jo’s side of the stream.   We still have some serious work to do, anybody up for some land clearing?, but it will be good to have another area to work in  that is closer to our water source.

Ron had already gotten cherry logs so we could try growing a new variety of mushrooms, nameko.   We just had to get them inoculated.   The weather conspired against every weekend.  Too much rain or just too darn cold.   Even with our great tent to work in, we needed some measure of comfort.

Finally President’s Day weekend we decided that it could not be put off any longer.  Monday it was going to be clear enough and the weather people were sure it was going to be over 40 degrees.   So as soon as the sun was up and it the temp was over 35, we loaded up and head out.  It was just the 3 of us and the load was pretty lite.  Too lite in fact.  Jo realized we had forgotten to bring the spawn so I headed back to get it.  Ron was struggling to get the grill going.  We use it to melt the wax we need to seal the spawn in.  And to grill lunch when we have more people around.   At least 3 mice had made their home in it and obviously they had chewed up a few things.

When I got back with the spawn, Ron was still fighting with it.  He had gotten out his flame thrower (don’t ask) and burned everything out of it and tried using the flame to jump start it.  No luck.  Then he decided to get the burn barrel going so we would have that option for melting wax.  30 minutes later it was barely going.  I had given up on that process and was keeping our hot plate and double boiler going.  And that actually worked.  We had wax ready to go.

Ron did the drilling, Jo the inoculation and I was in charge of the wax and getting the logs stacked up outside.

Just about 2 hours and we were done.  And so much for the  promised 40 degrees.  The cold drizzle we got hit with made it feel even colder.  Our tent kept us dry but not really warm.  Though as long as we were working, it wasn’t too bad.  The walk back to the road is when the chill really hit us.  Such a relief to have one thing checked off our list.

Of course we have now added fixing the grill to our list.

I have been working on soap for the past month.  Interestingly I confirmed what I read about goat’s milk soap.  If you keep your loaf covered with a towel for the first couple of days, the color will eventually darken.  This is all the same soap, the small round pieces were left uncovered and stayed lighter in color.

Yesterday we got hit with a major snow storm.  They were calling for  12 -18 inches and they were spot on.  I was already scheduled to work from home, Ron got a snow day and Jo was at home too.  I worked on my computer and watched the snow come down while they worked to keep the driveway clear.  There was some worry about the snow on our new tent.  We really did not have it in us to deal with another disaster.

Jo was off to work Saturday morning and Ron and I headed of to THF.  Long boots, double layers, a shovel and new parts for the grill.  Ron had already replaced the tubes with no luck.  We parked in our usual spot, took a deep breath and started the long, slow walk (wading really) through the knee deep snow.  There were more than few stops to catch our breath.   Ron decided we might have an easier time walking further in the trees once we reached them and he was right.  We got closer to our work area and felt huge relief to see the tent standing tall.

We dug out the back end and Ron got busy working on the grill.  Not total success, but he got two of the bars going.  More than enough to grill some lunch and melt lots of wax.  Yea team.  Then we headed out to our shed to get the broom there so we could use it to knock the snow off the tent roof.  By this time I was soaking wet from the knees down from all the snow that fell into my boots.  Broom in hand and we went back to the tent.   Ron went to the far end and reached up with the broom to push against the tent room.  There was a massive noise that I have never heard before and as I stood there frozen, all the snow slide off the roof.  We had just had our own small avalanche.  It scared the heck out of me, but how cool.  No more worries about the tent for now.

We had only been out at the farm for 90 minutes and we were done and ready to head home with two big items checked off our to do list.  A good day at THF.

This has been a long time in coming. As I told you before, I have talking about making homemade soap for years. Classes, books, You-tube videos, and assorted supply purchases were made but none of them were enough to push me over the edge. I have no idea what was holding me back. Fear of failure is the only thing I can think of. Which is silly when I think about it.   After all, Ron, Jo and I took a huge chance and bought a farm three years ago. How could soap making be any scarier than that?

Christmas 2017 was the game changer. My amazing friend Josi made me a soap cutter.  This is something that anyone who makes soap really does need.   We have watched dozens of people make soap on You Tube and only a very few of them can hand cut their soap into even slices.  And most of them graduated into a cutter anyway.

This is the cutter Josi made for me.  So very cool.  And she told me that she was going to come over and make soap with me.  There was no waffling I could do this time.

I had already started infusing olive oil with calendula flowers.  This is a very cool medicinal herb that offers so many benefits for your skin with its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.   Takes a good month for proper long infusion to take place so early planning is necessary.  And you can infuse a range of oil types.  I have calendula in jars of olive, grapeseed and coconut oil all steeping in our family room.

When we bought our house, we did not think about the orientation to the sun.  We don’t get much sunshine during the morning hours and then only through the front windows in afternoon.  That makes it difficult to set up a secure table for my jars.  Especially with two active cats in the house.  Right now I am using the heat from our wood stove to gently warm the oil.  Too hot and I will kill off the benefits.   As my first batch of oil would be ready on Jan 19th that was our target date for soap making and we settled on Feb. 3.  When Josi asked me what time she should arrive.  I said – early.  She needed clarification;  did I mean regular early, or Delaney early?  Regular early would be fine so the plan was for her to arrive at 8:30 am.

There is a lot of equipment needed for soap making.  Scale, pot, oils, lye, molds, thermometers, wand mixer, gloves, long sleeve shirts and glasses.  Then there are the extras.  Ron wants our soap to have calendula “flecks” showing, but I decided no essential oils would be added to this batch.

We started by mixing the lye into the “calendula tea” I had previously made.  This was the only dangerous part of the process as lye is very caustic and the mixture gets very hot.   I used a large plastic pitcher for this.  I like the idea of higher side to lesser risk of splashing.   Once that was set aside we started mixing together the oils and warming them up.  The temps of both lye and oils need to be around 100 degrees.

That was the biggest chunk of time, waiting for the temps to balance.   Once that happened, things speeded up.  I carefully poured the lye into the oils and Josi started mixing it together.  In less than 10 minutes we had what is called trace and our soap was ready to pour.  I added calendula leaves and poured our mixture into the mold.

The recipe we used fit nicely into the mold I bought.  Now we had to wait until Monday when I take the loaf into work with me along with my cutter and we give it a try.  I was so excited, I did a happy dance once an hour all weekend.

I arrived at work with a bag full of soap stuff.  The soap, the cutter, my background material, camera, parchment paper and a few nerves.  Josi and I used one of our break times to get everything set up and slice our soap into pieces.  She had do to a quick repair as one and then two of the wires snapped as they were tightened.  But the darn thing worked.

We ended up with seven slices.  And discovered that the lady who provided the cutter directions must like chunky soap.  Both of us decided that they were just too thick for our tastes.  And that next time I needed to chop up the calendula flowers.  They were just too big and ended up leaving actual holes in the soap.   But not bad for my first attempt.  Of course I won’t know what the soap is like until it has cured, in about 4 weeks.   When I got home with it, I cut each piece in half so I have thinner slices.  I didn’t think it through ahead of time, so my pieces are nowhere near evenly cut.  This soap will be handed out to our local test subjects, so looks don’t matter that much.  This time.

By June we have to have some seriously nice looking soap for us to sell.  More practicing is  needed and a few tweaks to our recipe.  Ron is already working on our label.  It is good that he gets to use his graphic designer skills for us.  And it is very nice for me to have something exciting to work on.  While I have no problem and, really lots of interest in getting our mushrooms bolts ready each year, I have to say they are not my thing.  I don’t even eat them.  So soap, lotion and salve making will keep me busy, happy and interested in the farm.  All in all, a very good thing.  But then I start thinking about elderberry jam, lavender sachets, and juneberry whatever and have to wonder if I will have enough time for even half of it.  Especially as I have to blog about everything we do.  My organization skills are going to need sharpening.  It is a good thing that I like to make lists.

With the winter weather here in upstate New York we have not been out to THF for anything but quick trips.   Since Christmas the temps have been in single digits or the teens and most days the wind has made it even colder.  Along with most people up here, we have spent a lot more of our time indoors.  And I have been taking advantage of it.  It is the perfect time to do a bit playing around with things. To see what I can do with the plants we grow on THF. Those who know me;  know that I have been talking about making soap for years. Many, many years…..  Many years. Ron did research and found me a local connection for the lye I need and we drove out to pick up a bottle of it.  I bought books and printed up lots of recipes and directions.  Went to every soap making workshop at each Mother Earth Fair we attended.  I have most of the equipment that I need stashed in a box down cellar. But I just could not bring myself to take the plunge.
That has all changed now. Not only do I have fabulous calendula growing plans in the works but my wonderful friend, Josi made me a soap loaf cutter for Christmas. And she is going to come over to my house to make soap with me.  I am saving pictures of her soap cutter for that adventure.
Turns out was just the push I needed. I ordered a soap mold and started infusing olive oil with dried calendula flowers. That takes at least a month so it will be next week before we can make official plans. Soap making is longer process than just mixing it together and pouring it out. It has to cure which can take up to several months. As we are hoping to sell our soap at local events this summer, now is definitely the time to get started.
I also got busy looking for other things I can use my calendual infused oil for.  Once again I spent a good deal of time on Pinterest.  And they have so many good ideas.

I started with salves.  With both calendula and lavender, which we also grow on THF.   The people Ron and I work with are more than happy to be our test subjects.  You have to get not only the feel but the scent just right.  For most, lavender is a hit for hand lotion and salves.

Calendula lip balm is a bit more tricky.  Turns out lavender not so good on your mouth.  I tried a bit of orange essential oil, but was informed that peppermint would also be good.  You do have to keep it light as too much so close to your nose can be a real turn off.   If any of you have looked into making your own lip balm you know the list of oils you can add is long.  One does this, another that and one is not good at all.  Trial and error is the only way to go.  And lots of trying out on your test subjects.

Lotion bars were my next project.  I have been a fan of these for years;  a nice simple thing you can stash in your bag and carry with you anywhere.  But things have changed since I first bought one.  Now the molds you can use are amazing, all different shapes and sizes.  I used an old ice cube tray that I had handy for my first attempt.  I do have to admit that I grabbed it as I could not find the mini muffin pan I bought a few years ago. I was not going to let that stop my on going projects.

When I found the muffin tin under our dehydrator cart I was able to try a new variety.  This one had arrowroot powder added.  It is supposed to reduce the oil feeling.  Not so sure that works but I will try a few more batches and see what the end result is.

The next steps really are the harder ones.  Not only do we have to decide what shape I want the lotion bars to be, but have to decide what container to use at the same time.  And the label needs to be factored in.  We need ones that not only lists Tiny House Farm as made by, but the name of product and the ingredients.  And it turns out labels are costly.  And we have to fight about the containers.  What color they are, either gold or silver and what shape.  The graphic designer in Ron wants to make sure the whole thing pops.   Already decided we want to use screw top tin containers and amber colored jars with a black lid.   The jars will be for a calendula cream I made.  That was fabulous.  But it is water based and needs a preservative or it has to be kept in the frig at all times.  Which might not be a good selling point.  And that leads to another decision we need to make.  Which preservative do we use?  More research needed.  I am trying to keep our products as natural as I can which does tend to limit the choices.  Actually that is not a bad thing.  If I had twenty or more types to pick from, I would never get through that process.

All of this is very exciting and scary.  And I am having serious fun with it.  Ron always has to add his two cents in, which can be a good thing. I have been doing a pretty good job of taking photos for this blog.  But taking a photo of a jarred product in my kitchen is a bit tricky.  The light tends to throw a glare just where you don’t want it.  Ron told me I needed a large box with front cut out and then covered with background cloth.  I would then be able to use natural light.  I had been using an old beach towel on my stove but his box idea is much easier to work with.   The beach towel had to go though.  Ron thought denim would be prefect by giving me a slightly country look for any photos.  What we came up with is another connection to family for me.  Years ago Mom gave me her denim jumper and I love it.  It isn’t exactly big enough, but for now that I what I am using.  And don’t you agree that my photos look great?

I don’t know how well all my efforts will turn out.  Not even sure we will make any money on them.  There is so much more I have to do, number crunching at the top of the list.  It is a serious balancing act trying to figure out what we can charge.  But again we are having great fun with this.  Meeting lots of great people and learning so much along the way.  2018 is going to be exciting.

Wish me luck.

We are now well into December and are again scrambling to get things done before the snow flies and ground freezes.  Our to do list keeps getting longer, not shorter.  I cross off one item only to find that Ron has added two or three more.   We not only have the water hoses and equipment to store away,  but last minute planting to get done.

Last weekend we finally got the last of our garlic into the ground and covered with straw.    We had run into not only issues with rainy weather, but with the ground itself.  The first row we did was ideal.   Every row after that was just a degree harder to get our dibblers into the ground.  For the fourth row Ron had to pull the tiller out and dig it up again.  By this time everything was really wet which made it even more fun for Ron working in his heavy boots. 

This year we are growing Italian music, German white and new for 2018, Italian red.  Come early summer I am going to try pickled garlic scapes.    In case you didn’t know;  I have my own list going.  This is a list of experiments for me to try.  And let me tell you, pinterest is not my friend in this regard.  So many ideas out there right now.   I keep adding to my “ideas for THF” board.  Not sure how many I will actually try.  But, man it is so exciting to think about all the things I can try making with the products we grow or plan to grow out on THF.  That is another list that continues to grow.  Not only more types of mushrooms but other herbs, flowers and fruits.

But I am not the only one who has experiments to be tried.  This year Ron used our new shed to try and expand our shiitake growing season.  This involved hauling our logs across the stream from the forest area and setting them up in the shed.  Ron had his builder include a support beam just for this purpose included in the plan.  It runs almost the full length of the shed and we can have at least 50 logs there at one time.  He did get a few more runs of shiitakes with the added bonus of fewer bug issues.  He plans to try and get the season started early next year.   All of this involves more hauling back and forth.  Wonderful.

On Sunday, while I worked on getting protective layer of straw down on the garlic,

Ron and Jo got the logs back where they belong.  Then they brought the hoses back over so we can get them put away and out of the soon to be deep cold.

Ron and I had broken down his dam the day before.  A lot of silt collects in the pond during the year and it needs to be flushed out.  

The more nature washes out over the winter, the less we have to dig out come spring.  A deeper pond works better when you are pulling water out to use for soaking your mushroom logs.  Ron took the opportunity to have the water tested again.  The results were fabulous with the E-coli levels very low.  This is just what we needed for our Certified Naturally Grown standards.

And Ron and I finally got our wild flower seeds sewed.  We mixed the seeds with sand and then walked the length of our planned bed, scattering as we went.  We did seriously underestimate how many seeds we needed to cover the area.  Could have easily doubled the amount.  Luckily we still had a huge amount of cone flower seeds at home.  When we got home, Ron went out and cut dozens of the heads off and busted them down.   The birds we have at our house will not be happy to lose so many of the seeds they eat each winter.   We are just hoping that the birds out at THF don’t eat the seeds before we actually get flowers from them.   So looking forward to an explosion of color next summer.   But Ron will have to be patient with this project.  It might take a few years before the butterflies discover THF.

One of the things we , well actually Ron has discovered over the past two years is that there is a group on Facebook or Yahoo or Google for just about everything.  He has connected with so many people through these social media groups.  For mushrooms in general, shiitakes in particular, butterflies, pawpaws, elderberries;  the list goes on and on.  And they are more willing to share advice, information and contacts.  One contact from the Monarch Butterfly group sent him butterfly weed seeds.  They are another variety of milk weed and have orange flowers.  They will make a nice contrast to the common milk weed, which to be honest, is not the prettiest flower out there.

Our garlic bed is now ready for winter, we have about half of the pre winter chores done and I am ready for a break.  Too bad I won’t get one.

We have our fields to get ready for our 2018 garlic, for the calendula and other herbs we will plant next spring, for the planned juneberry bushes and now for Ron’s wildflower swath. I am actually looking forward to that. Lots of lovely flowers that will hopefully attract bees and butterflies to THF. And our friend Dick bringing some of his bee hives out so he can take advantage of all those soon to be blossoms. Jo is not as excited about this part of the plan as she simply does not like bees.

Which is why I bought her a this great t-shirt. I am such a good mom.

First thing we had to do is cut more landscape cloth for our calendula rows.  More weed control.  Come next spring we will move the strips off the planting areas and onto the walkways between them.  Getting a double benefit from the work.  We headed back to our favorite large parking lot to get the cutting done and then out to the farm.

Ron had already drilled holes into his wood blocks and Jo and I had picked up the stacks we needed to hold the cloth down.  It is very windy out at THF (thinking windmill?)and it is struggle to keep the cloth in position.  We tried using mulch on top of it around the fruit trees, but that just appears to lead to more weeds.

We cut enough cloth to put between the rows of garlic too.  The straw had helped keep weeds down in the actual garlic patch, but the weeds were crazy everywhere else.  Got to do some serious research about the best ground covers to use.   Keeping in mind Ron’s future plan to have chickens on the farm.   Everything we do out there has to be done factoring in our future plans or added benefit.

This is going to look so pretty next year with the yellow and orange calendula, the lavender, and then our fabulous elderberries.

Getting the rows set for planting was pretty easy.   We had left the strings used for our tilling guide in place and just laid it out.  Then we tacked it down with the wood blocks and spikes.  That did not go so well.  Even with the holes drilled, the wood tended to split when we hammered it down.   Ron is already busy trying to find a rubber washer that he can used instead.  I am sure he come up with something.   When we got to the garlic rows, we hit a stumbling block.  Last year we had to scramble to get a fourth row ready for planting.  Already exhausted by the time we started, we made what turned out to be a major mistake.  Instead of hauling the rocks to our rock pile and out of our way, we just tossed them in a row a few feet from where we were working.  Lesson learned.  Don’t leave a job half done.  The weeds had grown over the rocks so Ron had to weed whack just to uncover them.  Then Jo and I had to dig them out, toss into the wheelbarrow and move them.

Lucky for us, Ron had just bought us the perfect tool for the job.  We each got our own rock rake.  What a guy.

Our garlic really needed to be planted, but mother nature had our plans on hold.  Rain, rain and more rain.  On Saturday, Nov 4  the weather finally cleared and we spent a few hours breaking apart each garlic head.   FYI, use a butter knife to help with this by inserting in between the cloves and giving a gently twist.  Makes the job much easier on your hands.  Now that it is fall, we have to wait for daylight and slightly warmer temps before we can get going on our work day.  The first row we planted went just like you would want it to.   Using Ron’s template we plunged the dibbles into the ground and then dropped a clove into each hole.  From start to finish it took us just over an hour.  Even with our late start we were home by lunch time with plans to head back to get the second row done.  That is when things went wrong.  In the few hours we were gone, there had been a major change in the soil at THF.  This time we struggled to get the dibble down far enough and it took more effort to pull it back out.  It felt like someone had poured glue everywhere.  Took the three of us a bit longer, but we got the second row done and gave up for the day.

Sunday morning was bright and beautiful but windy.  Two more rows to get done.  Again we struggled with the dibble.  Most annoying but we got through the third row.

While Jo and I covered each clove up with dirt, Ron tried one hole in the fourth row and said no way.  We need to till this up at least one more time.  Another delay in getting this task done.

So next weekend we have to finish garlic, give the planned wildflower patch another quick tilling so we can scatter the seeds and try to get a few more rows of landscape cloth down for our juneberries.  With record low temps forecast, not sure just how much we will get done.  But we have to make an effort.  That is the first lesson we learned on this adventure, some things just have to get done.

Normally I would be really looking forward to winter so I can have a break from all this farm work.  Not this year.  Ron has been nagging me about elderberry jelly, lavender sachets and lip balms.  He wants ME to come up with non perishable things THF can sell based on the products we grow.   It is going to be a busy winter.   Anybody got ideas for me?  Or even better, an idea of how to make Ron’s brain stop coming with more work for me?