Ramping things up on Tiny House Farm

November 12, 2015Getting Startedginnyd

Winter is slowly creeping our way and you would think work would be winding down on THF. Not when Ron is in charge. He has all sorts of projects in mind and plans to pull Jo and me into them. We have continued to be surprised by the Shiitakes popping up.

While we have two small patches of “wild” ramps already going, Ron wants to grow lots more.

035 For those of you who don’t know what ramps are, they are wild leeks but look like scallions and are used like mild garlic. We picked some in the spring and tried making pesto out of them. It wasn’t bad but we obviously have some more experimenting to do. Once the buds turned to seed, Ron had me sew up some bags out of tulle so he could catch the seeds. I ran up a dozen or so and used embroidery thread as the string to tie them off. He was most pleased with them. Out to THF he went with them and slipped them over all the seed heads he could find. Several weeks later we checked on the bags and found that birds had apparently pulled all the strings out.

Guess they wanted to add some color to their nests. The one in front on left is the only one with string still remaining. Ron must have tied that one tighter.

He got his order of ramp seeds in and counted them out into groups of 100. He fashioned his own little packets for them. He is such a creative guy. Though Jo has a totally different sets of words for him.

The three of us headed out the to Tiny House Farm to plant the seeds. Easy enough task. Just raked back the fallen leaves, scratched up the ground, scattered seeds and then covered them back up with the leaves. The red flags are to help us find them next spring. We hope.
The
While we have blue cohosh growing wild on the far end of our property, Ron decided that we should grow black cohosh too. His plan is to grow and hopefully sell forest products and herbs could be a big part of that.
He built 2 foot square boxes and bought top soil and compost so we could plant seeds and see what happens. With the change in weather; bringing us lots of rain Ron was no longer able to drive his Transit onto THF. Could not risk getting stuck. I can just picture the tow truck driver’s face as he came to rescue us. Though that would make a great blog post. Now he had to walk in, get the wheeler and trailer and drive them up to the road so we could load everything up. Once again, I am so glad that he talked me into buying that 4 wheeler. (but don’t tell him I said that).
Luckily Jo had the day off so not only was she a huge help hauling things, but she took some pictures of me working on the Farm. First we raked back the leaves and positioned the beds. A mixture of soil and compost were put in each one and then we sprinkled one packet of seeds into each of 3 of the beds. I patted them down into the soil.

Then we covered them up with leaves. Now all we can do is wait for next spring to see how well they grow. It will be several years before we have a viable crop. With every new venture Ron keeps reminding me that we are on a 10 year plan. It is a good thing I have lots of patience and love for my crazy guy.

Pumpkin butter 101

October 30, 2015Foodginnyd

Ron came home with some pumpkins a few weeks ago and I decided that I would actually do something with them this year. While Ron is focused on Tiny House Farm, I am looking toward the holidays and getting ready for them. Homemade pumpkin butter would be a lovely thing to share with family and friends. I cut two pumpkins in half so I could roast them in the oven. Lots of reading on subject led me to use an ice cream scoop to both get the seeds and “guts” out of the way but to also get the cooked flesh away from the skin.

I ran this all through the food processor and then into a plastic bag for freezing. I didn’t know what specific variety pumpkin I was working with so I planned to get a few more of the pie pumpkins. Just to be sure I got the right combination of texture and flavor.
The next week we headed over to Ole McMarley Apple Farm in Clinton, NY to pick up more cider and apples. They had the pumpkins I was looking for and I came home with a bag of them.

More scooping and roasting, scooping again and I was ready to try making pumpkin butter in my crockpot. I did remember to get the frozen pumpkin puree out of the freezer too. Again internet overload. There are so many recipes and so much advice about this project. I decided to go with maple syrup as the sweetener and cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves for the spices. This was going to be a smaller batch just to see how it turned out. I ran the flesh through the food processor and then filled bags with 15 ounces of the puree.

This I will stash in the freezer and can use to make pumpkin cookies, muffins and bread.
Nice thing about crockpot cooking is that you don’t have to fuss over it. The occasional stir and taste is all it needs.

Several hours later I ended up with a lovely pumpkin butter. Ron, being my taste tester said it that was pretty good. Just the right amount of sweetness. I filled and froze one half pint jar and then two one cup containers. The rest I stashed in frig. I needed to take it to work for more taste testing. I was surprised to find out just how many people don’t like pumpkin. But I found enough friends willing to give it a taste. All in all, I got a huge thumps up from all but one person. They will remain nameless.
Once Halloween is over, I plan to get more pumpkins and get going on another batch or two. I do so love it when a plan comes together. Next I will try pumpkin soup. Taste testers always needed.

Sometimes it is just meant to be

October 16, 2015Thoughtsginnyd

Ron is a strong believer in Karma. Not that he wanders through life as Mister Happy Go Lucky, Pie in the Sky kinda guy. He believes in the causality characteristic, which is that like deeds lead to like effects. So good karma produces good effect on the actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. In other words – you do good, you get good.
I told you the story of getting the straw bales so we could get our garlic planted. What I didn’t tell you is that Ron pulled his Troy-Bilt chipper/vac out of the garage to get it ready. He runs the straw through it before we use it to cover the garlic. And it wouldn’t start, wouldn’t even pull. So he loaded it up on the trailer and drove it over to his repair guy. We would just have to go with the straw as is and went on with our day.
Have I mentioned that Ron is an internet junkie? The man could spend all day reading and researching any subject under the sun. He stays signed into Facebook and checks in on numerous pages. Which lead to our latest good thing. On People and Places of Rome NY he spotted a post from a lady offering the same brand chipper to anyone who would come and get it. The thing ran but one of the blades was broken. He posted a note saying if it was still unclaimed, he would be more than happy to take it off their hands. Sheila replied with her phone number. He called and we headed out to Rome to pick it up. Ron was giddy. Not only did we have the trailer at the house with us, but it was still hooked up to the Transit. It was so meant to be.
A 25 minute drive and we pulled into their driveway. Handshakes all around and we headed to the backyard to see the machine. Turns out the owners no longer needed the machine as all the trees they used to have around the house had already come down. Now it was just taking up space in the garage. Which reminded me, just where are we going to store this thing?
As I loaded some of the smaller parts on the trailer I was surprised to see Ron’s cousin Chuck heading toward me. He lives across the street. A nice bonus to our day. We got the thing loaded onto the trailer and strapped down for a safe trip home. A few more minutes of conversation, a last thank you and we headed out. This was all on Sunday, Oct. 11.
The next day he took it over to his repair guy so see what could be done. Dave was shocked that Ron had gotten this for free. But he is used to my husband showing up with another “toy” that he got a “deal” on. Our chipper’s engine was shot so they decided they would get the new one up and running for us and keep the other for parts. Cuz Great, now we have to find a way to store both of them. Anybody want to come over and help us organize our garage?

I think Ron has watched too many cooking shows

October 11, 2015Foodginnyd

Saturday was another low key day at THF. My favorite kind of day. All we planned to get done was tilling the compost in and then using the edging attachment to finalize the three beds for our garlic. Is it just me, or does this look like a great set up for Halloween?
It was apparent right away that we needed some more practice with the edging. Lucky for us, Ron is on a 10 year plan. But we got the beds laid out and all was ready for planting on Monday. All three of us have that day off, so the work should go faster. Besides, we have experience in garlic planting.
Ron and I headed out to check on the mushrooms. Me, I was hoping that we wouldn’t find many. It is getting closer to the holidays and I have a long list of things to get done. Finding takers for our mushrooms has no place on that list. Shiitakes; we picked eight of them. Easily handled. Bagged them up and set them aside to pick up on our way back through. Then we headed to check on the wine caps. There we found an explosion of growth. Do you see the one coming out from under the bed rail?

We had forgotten to bring paper bags with us. I had left one in the Transit but we already used that for the Shiitakes. Now we had to come with another plan. Ron had a couple of plastic crates out there and a couple of empty garbage bags. Bag stuffed inside the crate did the trick and we headed back to the Transit. We had to hook the trailer back up as Ron would need that for the straw bales he had to buy. That will go over the garlic to protect it from frost heave. As we were already out, I suggested we get them before we went home. We headed back toward Rome and stopped at local farm to buy 6 bales. The whole time we were trying to think of someone, anyone we could get in touch with that would like to some red wine cap mushrooms. Tried calling a few friends, but nobody was home.
Back at the house, we started unloading while still trying to come up with a plan. We were so desperate to reduce the pile we had that we snagged a neighbor walking her dog and got her to take a bag. Our next door neighbor came out at the right time and he got some too. Not a big dent, but it helped. Ron sat on front porch cleaning mushrooms while I made another call. And success. Jan said she would by later and get some from us. Ron finished up and decided that he would try grilling some wine caps. His previous attempt had been; well, lackluster is a good word. We had done some research and found mention of grilling. They don’t recommend sautéing but say they can be used as any other mushroom. They are less meaty and slightly sweet. Ron chose smaller ones and cut them in half. I got him some wooden skewers while he started up the grill. Olive oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper and he was ready to go. Having never done this before, he started with indirect heat for the first minutes, then dropped them onto the grill in order to get those nice grill marks. While he was doing all this, I was busy slicing the rest of the mushrooms in order to dehydrate them. Plans are to try adding them to a barley soup.
Ron pulled the wine caps off the grill and tried a bite. A few minutes thought and he was pleased. But he decided that a dollop of my freshly made hummus (with our own organically grown garlic, of course) would send it over the top. That was good, but he wanted to try adding some heat to it. A good sized splash of his favorite habanero pepper sauce and Ron was a happy man. He will have to plan better next time. We either have to buy some metal skewers or he has to start the process sooner and get the wooden ones soaked. They do tend to burst into flames when used dry.

We have so much more to learn

September 30, 2015Mushroomsginnyd

It poured rain here over the last two days. A welcome change to the dry weather we have been experiencing for most of the past few weeks. Though that meant we could not go rock picking; so sad that made me. Ron told me that he wanted to go out to THF after work today to check on possible flooding. We get lots of water out there in all sorts of odd places, but have not yet been able to figure out where it is coming from. I think we need to have someone come out there with their drone and a camera to fly over the place and see what they can find.
When we got out to the Farm we were surprised but pleased to see that the creek wasn’t flooded and more importantly that all those rocks we had so carefully picked and dumped into the gully, I guess you’d call it, they were still there. We were even more surprised to find more mushrooms.

We had come with a couple small paper bags just on the chance we found few that were ready for picking. There were more than a few. They were all over the place.

Ron and I had to move the logs around so we could get to them. And Ron was kept busy dispatching the slugs too. The problem is that every one of the mushrooms was soaked with rain. Not what you want for really good Shiitakes. This batch is going to be dehydrated. We going to have to a plan for the future. While the dried ones are said to be great, people really want to buy the fresh ones.

We walked to the far end of THF to check on the Red Wine Cap mushrooms and were shocked to find them also flowering. All that rain. It just pushed everything over the edge. I am actually hoping for colder weather soon. That should put a stop to the mushrooms until next spring. When we will be ready for them, I hope.

Ron picked the two largest ones, these you simply pull right out of the bed. They are so pretty, the color is amazing. We carried them all back to the Transit and headed home. The paper bags themselves were soggy by the time we got there. We had Jo lay a beach towel out on a table so we could try and dry the mushrooms while I got dinner going. Didn’t really make much of a dent in the wet. Ron then had to figure how you actually cook Red Wine Caps. Apparently they don’t go well with garlic and butter. Who knew? He found recipe that we had all ingredients for and gave it a try. Fennel seeds, nutmeg, white wine and lemon juice. Jo said he used too much lemon. He was winging it again as the recipe called for 12 cups of mushrooms and he only had the two.
Then he cleaned and cut up the Shiitakes and I got them into our dehydrator. They say it should take 6-8 hours. But I am betting on just a bit longer. Come morning, we will see how they did. Thank goodness Ron is on a 10 year plan. That gives us lots of time to learn what we need to.

Family fun time on THF

September 29, 2015Thoughtsginnyd

Ron and I went out the THF on Sunday morning just to pick more rocks. We were bored, you see. Still no friends showing up to help. What is with that?? He had decided that we would stop at 11:30, this after he spent most of Saturday out there by himself. Ron used a 4 tined cultivator to pick up rocks; he has always been a tool guy. Me, on the other hand, I am down there in the dirt. Picture rice field planting. Apparently our goal is to get as many rocks out of the field as we can. Taking that to heart, I snag just about every one I can. Ron and Jo tend to focus on the larger ones.
With the lunar eclipse happening that night, we decided that we would set up the burn barrel so we can come back at night to watch it. Out on the farm, the light pollution would be much less an issue. When we got that finished, Ron told me that we had a stop to make – North Star Orchards in Westmoreland. They make the best pumpkin cake, but only in the fall and now, only on Sundays. He had called to order 8 pieces for me. Sounds like a lot I know, but I cut them into 3 smaller pieces and then freeze them. Now I can have yummy pumpkin cake whenever I want it. We did make one stop first, at Old McMarley’s Apple Farm in Clinton, NY. There cider is fabulous. And they are our source for apples for dehydrating into chips.
Back home and I headed out to get some shopping to get done. Then it was time to get our normal Sunday chores done and wait for 8 pm to get here. Pack up chairs, lighter (most important), bug spray just in case, headlamps, camera and jackets. Of course I grab the nearest one, turns out to be much too light.

Practicing for the zombie apocalypse.

The moon was so bright, we almost didn’t need our headlamps.
Even with the fire burning nicely, I was so cold that Jo felt sorry for me and switched jackets with me. Next time I will bring two jackets. Just in case.

Once the moon was totally in the sun’s shadow, we could see all stars. For the first time, I actually saw that shot that you see on TV, with thousands of stars across the sky. My trusty Canon camera which has taken fabulous photos since I got it when Jo started cross country in school over 10 years was just not up to this task.

This was the best shot I got. So does not do justice to the scene. We didn’t stay out on the Farm until the eclipse was over. Just too tired. We are early morning folk, not late nighters. Our normal wake up call at 4 am comes around awfully early.