Drying, drying, drying...

Farm Update

I have been out to the farm and re-planting sunflowers.  The germination was poor so I am trying to fill in the spots where nothing has germinated.  The sunflowers that have germinated are really starting to grow!

This morning I purchased a canopy, table and weights (to keep the canopy from flying away) to use at the Farmer's Market.  This was quite an investment...hoping to break even now...LOL

Can you tell which one is NOT a sunflower?  The plant on the bottom is a pigweed.  I studied 10 different species of pigweed for my Master's thesis.

Garden Update

My oregano overwintered really nicely and just took off this spring.  So, I went out and chopped a bunch of it off and hung it up to dry.  I may be taking some of this to sell at the Farmer's Market this summer...

Oregano drying

Speaking of Farmer's Market, when I was there last week, I saw somebody selling the mushrooms that we have growing in our front yard!  Now, I know what they are called...

I decided to try and dry some of the mushrooms.  We have so many and I didn't want them to go to waste.  It has been a VERY good year for mushrooms here.  I used my oven to dry them.

Fresh mushrooms ready to be dried - I started with 2 pans full.  (I would cut the larger pieces smaller next time.)

After one hour of drying...

After about 3 hours of drying (this is both pans of mushrooms condensed down to one pan after drying).

Dried mushrooms can keep for months and are easy to add to soups and other dishes.

Around the Homestead

A couple of months ago, I went through my garden shed to look for small pots to start my sets.  I found a birdhouse and so I put it up in the lilac tree/bush.  I was mostly just wanting to get it out of my way.  I was surprised to see that a wren has made a nest in the house...

It is hard to see but the wren is sitting at the opening of the birdhouse.

My hubby got me a chicken magazine for our Anniversary yesterday!  It doesn't take much to get me excited!  Actually, we just purchased tickets to see Shania Twain in September so I think that is our real Anniversary gift that will be just a little delayed...