Cold Frames in and plants growing

                          

                    We have plants after lots of hard work we have sprouted plants in our grow beds. In this house we use all we can from what we have, the chicken coop is built from tons of spare lumber and tin, our greenhouse is going to be built with old windows, and our new cold frames are old windows on an old fence post we took down.

            Over the last week, Daddy O and I got to work planting all the cold weather things. We laid windows over our herb boxes and built and planted a cold frame box with cabbage, spinach, kale, and chard. We also made pallet beds for lettuce and onions. It shocked the girls to see after one week we have shoots popping up all over.

                                                

                                                Herb boxes out of old shipping crates, lettuce and onion bed behind, water system rain barrel hooked to our sump pump for constant water to the beds and bigger garden.

                                                Cold frame ... we are still in talks over what to do with the rest of this area by the house, it has one tree and some funky bushes and 2 flower plants we love.

Maple tree Finish

Is it really worth it ... Yes 

           I  now know why maple syrup cost so much in the store for the good stuff. First I will lay out our mistakes then I will lay out our success and if someone learns from them it will save you the pain of waiting for 2 days and 48hrs to have a half-gallon of maple syrup.

        It was a pretty Saturday morning ... but with anything, we could not start right away because we had things we had to do together and it had been put off for the week due to life. Did our "town" errands and got back home around lunchtime. Started the propane turkey fryer and started the low in slow boil-off of 11 gallons of sap. We put in 3 gallons at a time which took about 4 hours per 3 gallons to burn off enough moisture to add more. By midnight we called our fire sitting and pulled in the container for the night. Sunday we woke up went to church and then back home to get back at the low and slow burn off at this point both of us thought let's crank it up by 11:30pm we were almost there so we called it a night filtered it and moved it to smaller pots on the stove it halfway filled up my 5qt stockpot. Wake up Monday morning and on again with the boil around 1pm it started to thicken and reach 107*c and 212*F which is where it makes a syrup.  We got our jars together and put some together for the people who lent us the turkey fryer and some for us. In all for all that work ... we got 32oz of syrup.  Next time we will start off hotter so we do not have to cook it so long, we will tap earlier in the season, and we will tap all of our trees to get the most sap this year we only tapped 4 trees.

                                                On the stove

                                                our part 

                                                Part we share

                                                Boil it down

                                                more boil

                                                    Set up to boil down

Cold weather plants and year round planting

 Zone 5 planting 

                        We live in zone 5 our planting season is short compared to many others. In Zone 5 I can start in the house with little transplant things on March 1. But you have to really keep an eye on the sky on March 15th we were hit with a snow storm this weekend it was in the 70's we thought of pulling the taps and bam sap is flowing again due to the cold. This weekend our goal is to set up beds for long-term growing cabbage, kale, and swiss chard will go into a cold frame raised bed not in the full garden area so we can harvest it year-round. Our planting season does not really get started till after Mother's day or Mid May. We are outside much of May and May 1 the chicks meet the big chickens.
                        Last year we grew tons of lettuce and it did very well in early spring but it went to seed and got bitter in summer ( fun fact if it gets over 75* you lettuce gets bitter  ) so this year we are doing a smaller bed with 2 planting seasons. 
                    This year the plans are also in the works to get my greenhouse up and going I won't go into that much because that is another blog post altogether. Our main growth in the greenhouse will be greens and fresh things for winter. Also, some things to try like doing 2 different trash can growing potatoes year-round and it will also be a safe place to move all the chickens if need be.
            We were also approved by the state to get bees so now we wait on the village.

 

New Chicks for our flock

                     Silver and Gold ... Silver and Gold ... Silver and Gold .... Silver 

                    On Thursday we added  7 new Wyandotte chicks to our flock , we were adding 6 at a time on a two year cycle from laying to meat to feed our family. We pick dual purpose , cold hardy , and friendly chickens. We had 6 ISA browns in the spring of 2020 and we get constant wonderful eggs from them. We had a hawk attack and lost one to it. To loose one in a year I am ok with she got out of the garden and did not hide like her sisters. One of the new 7 will go with the 5 we have left next spring to make way for 6 more chicks and keep up our cycle of food. 

            The Wyandotte is an American breed of chicken developed in the 1870s. It was named for the indigenous Wyandot people of North America. The Wyandotte is a dual-purpose breed, kept for its brown eggs and its yellow-skinned meat. They will start to lay at 9 months and will lay for 3 years.

            The ISA Brown is a crossbreed of chicken, with sex-linked coloration. It is thought to have been the result of a complex series of crosses including but not limited to Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites, and contains genes from a wide range of breeds. They lay brown eggs daily for the first 3 years of life.

            Now we are novices to chickens we have never owned them, never cared for them, never knew how many flipping eggs 6 chickens would give you. We started a cost sheet where we take the cost of feed, bedding ( we have started collecting our own and will start growing food for the animals ) and all things chicken with the number of eggs they give us in a given month we are up a lot. In lean times the chickens have proven to be great for our family in both our pocketbooks and our tummies.  I will post more on how we saved money by building the coop from scraps left around and the whole year with the ISA's but nowhere are the chicks. We brought them from a local farm supply store and they are hens as we are not allowed roosters.
This is our broader where we keep the chicks safe and warm in it we have food ( medicated ), grit, water, a heat lamp, and a thermometer. The thermometer is important because baby chicks can not regulate their own temps. We put the chicks in our sun porch last year we had them in the basement and it was harder to keep their temps up.

                                        Lots of thoughts into this and trial and error from last year 

                                                    Babies rocks in the water so they do not drown 

                                                    Night time is colder but they still are able to stay warm enough

                                                

Maple Tree start

Welcome to the Mom farm fashion this outfit is best for going into streams and collecting Maple Sap
Last year we got this brilliant idea to tap our trees but we were too late in the season. We have been monitoring the other farms around here and Sat we were set to tap. To tap a tree you want snow on the ground and the daytime temps above 40* for more than 3 days. The season only lasts till the nighttime temps at overnight get above freezing.

We have a big tree with 8, 18 inches around shoots we can tap at the moment we have 4 taps in ( we brought a kit on amazon with tubes and taps ) The instructions that came with it were so easy. Dad drilled and the girls set the taps in.

 We check the taps twice a day and usually get a gallon or 2 a day. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Springtime is really big chores in the O house and everyone does the chores because everyone eats.
                                             The kit we ordered Tap Kit

Pickled Eggs

                 What do you do when you have Eggs for Days?

            So when we got chickens in the spring of 2020, we had just gone into lockdown the stores had run on eggs and other things. We had planned chickens and it just seemed like the right moment to start that journey ( more on that later when the next set of chicks come ).              

            In starting that journey we underestimated first how much chickens who are loved and cared for and feed a very healthy diet lay. We only have 5 chickens ( we started with 6 but lost one to a hawk). We get on a good day half a dozen eggs on a bad day 4 eggs. We have an egg tracker sheet and a health chart to see which egg layers need some help.

         My kids have got to be getting sick of eggs for breakfast, hard-boiled eggs, egg salad, breakfast for dinner, and dad can cook eggs pie. As I was putting away the cucumbers into pickles last year in my classic book there was a recipe for pickled eggs. I thought why the heck not we have 8 dozen eggs in the fridge and they last for 3 to 4 months. They really can be used in all the ways you use hard-boiled eggs and keep longer for storage. 

Here is how I did it  

1 bag pickling herbs about 4 tablespoons  * we used dill, peppercorn, sage, and bay from the garden* but you can so buy it.

3 cups vinegar ... apple cider will give it a sweet flavor, balsamic and soy is tasty chopped with ramen.
1/4 cup sugar  ... less sweet you can get away with a tablespoon but we like sweet pickles.
1 tablespoon coarse salt 

and a dozen hard-boiled eggs peeled 

Wide mouth jar

                                        Egg collection method and eggs ready for the fridge

                                                    I cool my eggs before putting them in the fridge

                                                    Eggs for days of all sizes!

• Now how to make it :

1. Place all ingredients except eggs, in a saucepan
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. 
3. Place eggs into the wide mouth jar in this case bigger is better 
4. Pour the liquid over the eggs and seal the jar.
5. Refrigerate at least 3-4 days before eating (1 week is best).

Planning for greener pastures

                                                       Planning the land 
        

            This year we are planting our full 32 seed pack and what was leftover from last year's planting. This will be the biggest garden we have ever had so we will upgrade our soaker system and tiller. I will link the seed pack we use at the end. We have had really good luck with it and this is with the tiny humans not a care in the world planting into the soil .... we really need to get better at spacing this year.
        

           This year we are planting an abundance garden to help our fellow man with food insecurities. But in planting a big garden you have to know your space. We have planted the garden plot for 2 years now. The first year we did a 12 by 12 plot and did the 3 sisters and tomatoes and that was it. The second-year we did our big space 1/4 of an acre and planted 4 kinds of lettuce, beans, peas, cucumbers, 3 different kinds of tomatoes, beets, turnips, squash, melons, pumpkins, potatoes, and tons of gords. Plus an herb and tea garden that we are still using into the new planting season. 

         Potatoes are to go in the soil next week. I uncovered all of the herbs from winter covered and hope to see a shoot in the next few weeks. Here are some pictures from the gardens past. As we plant I will update what goes in the ground when and how we harvest and preserve it. We are in Zone 5 and most planting can not go direct sow until after Mothers Day.
I can not for the life of me figure out why it went all capital ... 

         cucumbers ( these are going on a wooden trellis this year )

                                Tomatoes ( these will move ) 

                                   Radish and Beet late sow

                                    Trash can Potatoes

                            Herbs and rain collection system

Seeds