Winter 2019 farm update...

Here is an update of what we did over Winter 2019:

First, if you don't live locally (Moscow, ID), it is important to let you know that we had a record amount of snow this year.  Most of it came in February.  I think I heard estimates of up to 50 inches of snow over the winter.  Here are the water trough raised beds to show the depth of the snow.

This picture was taken on March 1st...

This picture was taken yesterday (March 24th)...things are melting nicely...

I took the covers off the large round water trough and the spinach that I planted last fall looks amazing!  It looks almost exactly like it did last fall before I put the covers on.  The walking onion is starting to take off too (back center of picture).  The weather has really warmed up so I expect that we will be able to start harvesting spinach soon!

I experimented with growing lettuce inside.  I started some in December.  It worked really well!

We made some time to go snow tubing at Silver Mountain! We also did some tubing in our own front yard due to all the great snow we got!

Mark and Henry getting ready to "tube" down the hill.

I experimented with making my own soap.  This is an olive oil based soap.  I used oil infused with calendula flowers (that is why it is kind of an orange color).  It just finished curing and I got to use some for the first time right before I started working on this blog!

We continue to work on diet and exercise.  I have been taking Mark swimming and he really enjoys it.  I thought I took a short video of Mark swimming but I must have deleted it by accident.  

It looks like we are on the right track with the weight loss.  Yes, there are some ups and downs and we plateaued for a little bit but we seem to be back on track now...I would say he has lost about 15 pounds at this point.  Still would like to see him lose another 55 pounds...I know that seems like a lot but with warmer weather coming, we should be able to get out and exercise a little more.

Sad news...the bees did not make it.  Yes, these are all dead bees that were at the bottom of the Langstroth hive.  My top bar hive did not make it either.  I cleaned out the hives yesterday and have already ordered new bees (hopefully, they will be available on April 13th!).  I will harvest some honey from the top bar hive so that is a nice thing to look forward to.

Lastly, I spent some time yesterday measuring and flagging our "front" yard where we are going to be building our poultry coops.  

Here is a low area of the property where some water has accumulated.  I have marked it so it can become a small duck pond.

I also had someone out last week to get an estimate on fencing and extending a water line out to the coop areas.  It is both exciting and super scary to move forward with the poultry egg business.

Looking forward to warmer temperatures!
~Denise

New apple jelly and sunflower for Farmer's Market

In the Kitchen

I am starting to think ahead to the Farmer’s Market this summer.  I just received a packet in the mail from the City of Moscow sent out to all potential vendors each winter. There’s a mandatory orientation in April and they are also doing site visits. I don’t know if this is a new thing. I’ve never had a site visit before. Something to look forward to, I guess.

 Last fall I was able to collect enough apples to make apple cider jelly and apple pie jam which I’m planning to take to market. Here’s a picture of the different apples that we have on the property. The last apple is a type of crab apple which is completely inedible. Crab apples are used in orchards because they have a long bloom time. Most apple varieties need to be cross-pollinated so having a long bloom time is a bonus for getting good fruit set. 

Here is a picture of the different apples that we have on the property.  The majority of the apples are Ben Davis apples. That is the first apple in the line up (far left).

The other apples, I am not sure about.  The last apple is a type of crab apple and is completely inedible.  Crab apples are used a lot in orchards because they have a long bloom time.  Most apple varieties need to be cross pollinated so having a long bloom time is a bonus for getting good fruit set.

The majority of apples are Ben Davis –the first apple in the line-up on the far left. The Ben Davis was one of the most popular apples in the United States in the late 1800’s and “one  of if not the most important commercial apple at the time.” (Mother Earth News). The world’s most famous apple producer of the time, Frederick Wellhouse of Leavenworth, Kansas, (they called him “The Apple King), stated that the Ben Davis was his most profitable apple. This was high praise from a man who dominated the industry for 30 years. The Ben Davis did not win such high regard for taste, which was usually described as “cotton-like” or tasteless. When it comes right down to it this was an apple that fit a certain need at the time. Fruit lovers required an apple that would put up with rough handling and be able to be stored without refrigeration until cherry season in June. Who would want to peel and can hundreds of pounds of fruit if they could simply store the whole lot in a barrel in the cellar?  In fairness to the Ben, it does get much better in storage. By  January the Ben Davis Apple had softened from a rock-¬like state to something resembling a Jonathan apple. Its taste had mellowed and it made a decent pie

Our neighbor told me that this orchard was planted to have apples to make apple cider vinegar.  I guess there used to be a processing plant for this in the area at one time.

In the Field

 I placed my sunflower seed order a couple of weeks ago. I opted to try White Lite seed this year which is the only new one I ordered. It has a white petal and white center.  I tried White Nite last year. That one has while petals and a brown center.

The only thing I did not order was more of is the PorCut Peach.  It looked beautiful but the bugs loved it and ruined it by chewing little holes in the petals.  I still have seed left over from last year and I plan to go ahead and plant it to be used as a trap crop to keep the bugs off the other flowers.

~Denise

Seed saving and giving...

In the Garden

There are many benefits to saving your own seed.  Of course, there is the obvious benefit of saving money!  The seeds you save will be better adapted to grow in your region/environment.  Growing heritage seeds allows for more diversity in our food supply.

Here is a nice blog article:  40 Reasons to Save Seeds.

Do your research.  Some seeds require certain protocols for saving i.e. fermenting tomato seeds.  Also, you cannot keep seeds of hybrid plants because they were made by crossing two plants and so the seed will not be true to the parent.  

I didn't get around to saving as many seeds as I had hoped but it was also my first big year of gardening so I had lots of things to monitor.  

Here is a list of things I did keep: 

potatoes

arugula

a flowering tobacco plant that I just LOVE the color of

dill (I also shook the plant really good to try and get it to self seed)

calendula

feverfew

marigold

broccoli (although I did buy a new broccoli so I am not sure I will actually grow these)

a green frilly lettuce (I need to do a better job of labeling things too)

peas

cilantro

Our library in Moscow started a seed library last year.  I finally got around to checking it out this winter.  

The idea is that you can take some seeds and leave some seeds.  I took some lemon balm and Cinderella pumpkin seeds.  I left some arugula and calendula seed.  They have very nice directions on how the library works.

I have already placed one seed order and it was about $50.  I still have more seeds to order!  It is just way too much fun to sit and look at the seed catalogs and dream about the garden...

~Denise

Tea time and tinctures...perfect for a cold winter's day...

In the Kitchen

A short post on herbal tea and some tinctures I am experimenting with...

Chamomile

Last year, I grew an herb garden right outside of our kitchen door.  I also planted herbs out in the vegetable garden among the veggies.  Here is a picture of chamomile growing among some broccoli plants.  The chamomile has the little yellow and white flowers.  I would pick off little flower heads and dry them to make chamomile tea.

Taken from herbwisdom.com:

Chamomile has been used for centuries in teas as a mild, relaxing sleep aid, treatment for fevers, colds, stomach ailments, and as an anti-inflammatory, to name only a few therapeutic uses. 

Anise hyssop

Another herb I grew was called anise hyssop.  I have to say that I did not know a lot about anise when I planted it.  Just that I had read a lot about how great it was.  It has pretty purple flowers that bloom late in the season and the bees seemed to really love it.  I picked and dried the leaves to make a tea.  It has a licorice type flavor.

Taken from 104 Homestead:
Hyssop is often times uses as a cough and cold remedy, usually in the form of a tea. It loosens mucus, aids in congestion, and lessens the symptoms colds, flu, sinus infections, and bronchitis.

There was also this recipe on the 104 Homestead website:
COUGH & CONGESTION TEA
Feel a cold coming on? Try this recipe.

1 tbsp. dried hyssop flowers or 3 tbsp. of fresh
8 oz. water
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. lemon
Steep flowers in boiling water in a covered container for ten minutes. Add lemon (optional) and honey. Honey can be adjusted for optimal sweetness.

I did not dry the flowers so now I am wondering if I did this wrong..well, the leaves make a nice tea too!

Calendula

Here is a picture of how I dried the flowers.  I just picked off the petals and let them sit out until they were crispy.  These are marigold petals.  I also hear calendula referred to as marigold.  I dried a lot of calendula petals.

Taken from mamaandbabylove.com:
Marigold tea is great for fussy, colicky babies, fevers and tummy aches. It’s also great for healing trauma and big stressors, since it’s super calming to the nervous system. 

I found this graphic on the draxe.com website.  Not sure you can read it but click on the link and you can go to the article.

Rosehips

I didn't actually grow the roses but we have lots of wild roses around the property so in the fall I would go and harvest some.  I made a tincture with the rose hips by placing them in some 100 proof vodka and letting it sit for 6 weeks.

Taken from organicfacts.net:

The health benefits of rose hips include their ability to reduce the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, relieve respiratory conditions, prevent cancer, lower cholesterol, manage diabetes, increase urination, regulate digestion, boost the immune system, increase circulation, and help in building stronger bones.

Comfrey

I planted quite a bit of comfrey in the food forest.  There are so many benefits of comfrey that it should probably be it's own blog post.  

Taken from motherearthnews.com:

The most common medicinal use of comfrey are in poultices to help heal swellings, inflammations and sores. 

Here is a pic of how I dried the comfrey.  The leaves were so large that I just pinned them to the clothes line until they were crispy.  Then, I made a salve with it to put on closed wounds.

Catnip

I mostly wanted the catnip for the cat but then I started to read all kinds of great info about it's medicinal properties.

Taken from mountainroseherbs.com:

Used in traditional medicine in Europe for centuries, and first mentioned in the poetic 11th century herbal, De viribus herbarum, catnip was prized for its ability to calm occasional nervousness and promote restful sleep. It was employed as a relaxant and diaphoretic, and was thus helpful in cases of occasional restlessness Considered extremely useful for children, it was often used to support healthy digestion and soothe the stomach. 

I had also read that catnip tincture makes a great bug repellent.

Yarrow

I planted yellow and white yarrow plants (I think the yellow one is a hybrid type).  Each one had different types of leaves too.  I harvested the flowers and some leaves to dry.

Taken from wellnessmama.com:

Yarrow is one of my go-to herbs for children. It is helpful in relieving fevers, shortening the duration of cold and flu, helping improve relaxation during illness, and relieving cramps associated with hormones or illness. Applied topically, it is helpful with skin itching, rash or other issues.

An external tincture or poultice will often help with hemorrhoids, rashes and broken skin. Some people will notice relief from allergy symptoms by drinking a tea of yarrow and mint.

Mint

Of course, you can't forget the mint.  It is a plant that I brought over with us from the rental house.  I have it in a pretty shaded area so my hope is that it will not take over the whole herb garden.

Taken from organicfacts.net:

These were just a few of the herbs I grew.  I use them to make simple teas to drink and I also made some tinctures and oils.  To make a tincture, put the dried/fresh herb in a jar and fill with 100 proof vodka.  To make an infused oil, used a dried herb and cover it will olive oil.  Shake every day (that you think of it) and let it sit for 6 weeks and then strain.  I am over simplifying this but I think you get the idea.

 ~Denise

Starting ReMARKable Eggs business...

I will be posting our journey of starting Mark's egg business on this blog.

January 24, 2019 - Mark and I had initial meeting with Vocational Rehabilitation.  We are hoping to get some funds from VR to start his business.  We were given paperwork to fill out.

February 1, 2019 - Took filled out paperwork back to VR.  Signed some paperwork.  Now, we wait to see if he is eligible for the program.

March 2019 - VR had some issues with our Power of Attorney...worked on this and got it corrected.

Farm Planning and 2019 goals...

Farm Planning and 2019 goals...

I know it is the end of January but since I only blog every other week and I devoted the last blog to Mark's 18th birthday, I am revisiting the yearly goals now...

Last year, I did make some goals for the farm.  You can visit the post HERE.  But here is a run down of the goals:

1. Fencing - not even started...but got the money saved up to begin!

2. Clean out barn - did clean out small things but LOTS of big items to discard still

3. Saving money for Mark's chicken business - COMPLETED!  This was for a match for money that we can get from Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) to start a self employment business...now to "Start Mark's egg business!"

4. Clean up dead trees - ongoing...I assume there will always be trees to clean up but I was hoping to really tackle a lot of the apple trees but it just did not happen.

5. Set up rain barrels - set up one made from a water tank but have lots more to add still.

So...I hope this doesn't sound lazy but we are just going to keep working on these goals and I am going to amend Goal 3 to be "Starting Mark's egg business!"   Mark and I had our first appointment with VR last week and have another appointment scheduled for this coming Friday.  We will probably call his business ReMARKable Eggs...

Now that we are working on starting Mark's business, I had to get serious about the farm planning and deciding where everything will go.

I used this video to help me draw a "to-scale" drawing of our property on a marker board.

Here is a pic of our farm planning white board.  I know it is probably a little hard to see...it is not listed on here where the chickens will go but it is in the area south of the house.  The map is oriented so that the top is north...

This past fall, I went out where we are going to place the chicken/duck coops and measured everything.  Now, I am going to start placing flags out where the coops will go.  This is kind of the next thing on my "To Do" list so I haven't got it completed yet. 

Then, once I figure out where everything is going, we will need to add a water line out to the area where the poultry will be.  We may not be able to proceed with the water line project until things thaw out this spring.  In the mean time, we will be working with VR to get partial funding for the coops. 

I also want to start working on making a small duck pond so this is another project that I will start in the spring. 

That is all...keeping this short and sweet.  Hopefully, we will soon have regular updates on getting the egg business going!

~Denise

Mark becomes an adult and we work on healthier eating...

Mark turned 18!

Yeah!  We have been preparing for this for months!  I am happy to report that we got everything in place for a smooth transition to adult services.  Last Friday, Mark and I went to get him an official identification card.  On Monday, we will go and open his checking account.  Also, I still need to call Social Security to get those benefits started.  I won't drone on anymore about all that.  Just happy that most everything went smoothly.

I had posted in November that Mark was having some health issues.  You can read more about that here.  The gist is that he was having some high blood pressure issues.  We had an ultrasound of his kidney performed and that was fine.  Then, he was referred to a cardiologist.  The cardiologist did an EKG of his heart and that was fine.  We bought a blood pressure cuff and started taking blood pressure readings every other day.

Then, we happened to be at the pediatrician office and I mentioned that Mark was having some "leaking".  Be forewarned, there is going to be some talk about poop.  The pediatrician sent us for an X-ray of his colon and it was determined that Mark was almost completely plugged up!  The doctor told us that people with elevated blood pressure may also have constipation. This is an association, not causation.

So, we started down the road of giving Mark copious amount of Miralax.  It didn't work and we went back to the doctor and was told to give him more Miralax.  Luckily, by this time it was Christmas break from school so we had the opportunity to pump Miralax to Mark every other hour of the day.  It was really challenging to get him to drink so much but finally in early January we had a (literal) breakthrough!  Unfortunately, we have determined that he still has an obstruction somewhere so we continue to work on this...

I had talked to the cardiologist about wanting to try changing our diet and getting more exercise before going on any type of medication for the high blood pressure.  Since Mark is so young, he said that was a good idea.  Here are some of the things we have been trying...

Eating more fiber:

They now make pasta with added fiber.  Barilla makes a pasta with "White Fiber" that has 3 times the fiber of regular pasta.  One serving is 24% of your recommended daily fiber intake.  Mark LOVES pasta so this is a huge help.

There are also all kinds of alternative pastas...chickpea or lentil pastas have fewer carbs, more protein and lots more fiber!  I end up mixing a few of the chickpea/lentil pastas in to the white fiber pasta.

We started buying some Fiber One cookies for snacks.

I am working on adding whole wheat flour back into my baking.  Whole wheat fiber has about 5 times more fiber than plain white flour.

Reducing fat:

We are not huge milk drinkers but we switched from drinking whole milk to 1%.

We were able to find 2% fat cheese sticks and shredded cheese (these were way harder to find than I thought it would be.  The low fat food craze is definitely over!)

Started buying the "slow churn" or "double church" ice cream.

Reducing sodium:

We are working to replace cheeseballs/cheetos with other snack choices.  These are Mark's favorite snacks.

Introduced Mark to Larabars (taken from Larabar website: delicious gluten-free blend of fruits, nuts, and spices (and sometimes chocolate chips), LÄRABAR includes only what's really good and absolutely necessary to help you eat clean, stay active and be present each and every day.)  He likes the apple pie bars and the peanut butter cookie ones.

Started offering sugar free jello as a snack.

Started buying microwave popcorn with lower sodium (I know microwave popcorn is not the healthiest thing to eat).  We also got a microwave popcorn popper that you use to make popcorn in the microwave.

Eating less calories and finding more ways to be active:

We started buying the "thin" sliced bread and more "natural" peanut butter (less sodium).

I love, love love the Eat This, Not That podcast!  I have gotten some good ideas from the podcast and the Eat This, Not That books.

Eat This, Not That! takes a fun and informative look at how Americans eat. Whether it’s what we eat for breakfast on the go, what we pack for lunch, or how we fill our shopping cart and stock our pantry, we make more than 300 food decisions every day. Together, we’ll learn how to make better choices and eat all of our favorite foods, guilt-free!

It is not always about food either...I just listened to a podcast about "No Sweat" Weight Loss Tips.

Eating more fruits and vegetables

This is going to be a challenge.  Mark will eat a good variety of fruit so I am just being more conscious about putting these out as offerings to eat for snacks.  He doesn't care for vegetables.  I found a way to sneak squash into a couple of things that he loves to eat...bread and macaroni and cheese.

We have started tracking blood pressure and weight every other day.  I love this app on my phone called Blood Pressure Companion.

It is hard to tell from this graph but the blood pressure is slowing going down.  His average blood pressure reading is 136/85.  This is still considered Stage 1 high blood pressure.  Normal blood pressure is below 120/80.

 We are making some good progress on the weight.  I would say his initial weight was 270.  (I know one day it was as high as 271 but I think that must have been some water weight because usually he was weighing in at 269.9 when we started.)

I would say Mark's current weight is 260 so we have lost 10 pounds since we started in mid-November.  My goal is to get another 60 pounds off so he is down around 200.  Obviously, this is a long term goal.  It is challenging to get out and walk when it is the middle of winter but we try to get out as much as we can.  Hopefully, this summer, his weight will be down enough that we can go out and ride our bike!  We did not get to take it out last summer because he was so heavy.  He loves to ride the bike so this will be motivation to keep up on our weight loss goals.

Mark was given a Fitbit for Christmas but he doesn't really like to wear it.  In fact, he tried to take it off and actually broke the band so I need to buy another one and get him used to wearing it.

~Denise