There is a remote chance we could be adding lovely angora goats to the farm. I'm so excited, even knowing it is SUCH a long shot.
Visit Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm, the host of this amazing giveaway:
Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm Goat Giveaway
Vote directly for Rumination Farm's essay (please!):
Vote for Our Essay
So it seems our sexy rooster has lured in a new female fan... this lovely little pheasant has been hanging around the chicken coop for the last few weeks. We first saw her (or possibly a family member) nearer the property line & in the raspberries, but now she's a regular around the chicken run in the mornings when I toss out scratch. The story we're telling ourselves about her is that she's a juvenile recently separated from her mother and has set up camp where food is abundant and the presence of other birds comforting. She's increasingly tame and, unless I'm imagining it, getting prettier by the day. Her tail seems longer & her feather pattern more pronounced. The Dr. Doolittle in me wants her to move in with the chickens so we can keep her warm & fed come winter time. Yes, I know... farmers are tougher than that & guard their birds against dreaded disease-carrying wild birds... uh... yeah, right... not this farmer. So, I am a little less careful than I should be with the scratch in the morning & she feeds within 10 yards or so. Life is very very good.
Our New Wild "Hen"
Ok... Let's confess right now that one of the fun things about growing your own vegetables... is mutants. Check OUT this carrot! It required creative cutting & cleaning, but it cooked up wonderfully. What a masterpiece!
Monster Carrot
The favorite meal of this summer is root crop pockets. Dan introduced me to this wonderfully easy way of cooking - oil or butter, seasonings, & veggies in a tinfoil pocket in the oven while we put the baby down & do chores. Viola - ready when we are and carmelized to melt in your mouth. Since we are also harvesting garlic, that makes these particularly scrumptious!
Root Crop Pockets
Two new experiments this year: dill beans and smoked peppers. The gods of green beans have been flexing their muscles & recruiting worshippers with an impressive harvest this year. The freezer is full and more just keep coming. Peppers are more challenging for us. We have tried drying and freezing, but with mixed results. Jalapenos don't lend themselves to either, so Dan wanted to try smoking for our very own chipotle. On a hunch, I contacted an expert gardener, homesteader, jack-of-all-trades friend and asked if he happened to have a smoker. He did - of course - from his days of smoking salmon in Alaska. Score! So, for several days, the house & Dan reeked of smoke while he smoked his first serranos! The photo below includes the serranos (pre-smoking) chilis, cayenne, & a paprika (or a mutant bell?) on the screen where I'm drying sage.
Dilly Beans
Peppers
Galleries posted for the chickens and the ducks and the coop gallery has been updated.
Labels: chicken coop, chickens, ducks, galleries
We, for the first time ever, are having a problem with deer in the gardens. It looks like we have a doe and baby prowling our gardens each night. We're doing our best to deter them, but they seem to have developed a taste for our beans and beets.
Low ribbon around the raised beds to discourage deer
Strawberry damage
Beet damage
Ribbon fence around the garden
Adding shiny things to the ribbon fence
