The Garden

I am soo soo infinately glad that we have a "yard" big enough that we can grow a sizable garden.

This is now our 3rd year for gardening and it is finally starting to look like we know what we are doing.

I look back at that first pitiful, hopeful, sad garden we planted our first year here and almost have to laugh. If TS had HTF that 1st year we would have died for sure just trying to figure crap out.

Now we have expanded, tried a few other different places and plantings to see how things work or dont.

My fruit tree's are thriving and looking georgous quiet unlike that first year when I actually managed to kill half of the ones I planted! Half! Wow.

I plan to take a few photos tomorrow for you all. The smallest cutiest pepper and cuke. The promise of a bounty yet to be seen.

My mother was looking around my yard ..and she said . .."I just love your place, it's so full of hope"

I was sort of shocked. Hope indeed.

Congratulations, momma! 

Hey, I was thinking about you in the past few days.  Looks like Nibiru is back in the news....

Thanks Lou!

I have been doing alot in the garden these days. It brings peace like nothing else.

I have also been researching about 'fermenting veggies"

It looks intresting and since you dont get botulisim from it I am going to give it a try.

Never eaten veggies done up like that befor and so I am super curious what it will taste like.

Along with Lactofermented Soda. I am so making this, I will let you all know how it turns out in a few days ;)

I remeber back in Slovenia they used to keep cabbage in these jars

Okay update:

So I made the veggie one. I made it in 2 batchs because you really do need a bucket! LOL

So I did :
half a green cabbage
1 big leek
1/2 a bag of baby carrots
1/2 of a califlower broken into little pieces.

I salted it down and added to one batch Mustard/ginger powder and to the other one turmeric/cummin
instead of the hot peppers (we dont like 'hot' stuffs)

So the verdict;

1st off I accidentally added too much salt to one half of it. but it is still nice I just need to be inventive how I use it ..Like top it over brown rice or chicken then it is divine. (the turmeric one) It was really supurb on the side of some roasted chicken. I could take a bit of chicken and use it to tame the veggies down..it was finger licking good! and I felt this sort of ..I dont know .."zing" from eating it because it was 'alive' Absolutely beautiful it was. Gave me tons of energy and I wasn't hungry for hours after.
The mustard one is this lovely soft yellow with this tiny tang to it I can see how it will make a lovely side dish to pork or pasta.

2nd They are bubbling away and look sooo fancy! This would be a great gift for a friend who is feeling 'down' or starting a cold.

3rd this was soooooooo much FUN to make with the kids! Great great way to teach kids about spices and various veg, they were too busy being excited to make a fuss about tasting everything. It was brilliant. Little hands getting messy mixing the veg then they were licking everything. I am suprised I even had any left to make it into the jars!
It is that good right from the start.

So basically anyone who likes veggies ..you gotta try this fermenting veg. It doesnt taste like saurkraut or pickled stuff. It is as someone said ..'Just enhancing the flavor of the veg 10 fold." So true.

I can't wait to try other veg.

Oh boy! I feel like a new mommy! I am all nervous and aflutter!

You all will never guess what I did!!!

I GOT CHICKENS!!!

4 little chicks that will hopefully grow up to be awesome chicken layers.

I got 4 different hens. Buff Oprington, Barred Rock, Silver Laced Wyandotte, and a New Hampshire Red or a Rhode Island Red.

I am not sure about the red one because they didnt have 2 of the chicks I wanted when we finally got there and so I had to pick on the spot!

I soo have to figure out how to upload photos! 

Ha!  CONGRATULATIONS.....momma.  ;)

Can't wait to see pictures of the new little ones.

Watch out for hawks!

Yay, CM, I would love to see photos.  Congratulations.  They are lovely breeds too.
 
I love hens, always have.  We never kill our old hens either, just let them retire and die naturally.    There's a local academic here who has recently written this book:
 
"People assume that chickens have no brains and therefore believe they can treat them badly," she says, referring to "meat sheds" and battery-egg farms.
 
"We as humans measure things according to our own intelligence, and yet these are creatures with binocular as well as panoramic vision."
 
Sometimes called "feathered apes" because of their cleverness, they have also been found to have a language of their own.
 
"With 32 meaningful calls, they are, in fact, quite specific with semantics," Potts says.
 
"And I've got a real thing about people using the word chicken to mean coward. They are anything but cowards. Roosters are very brave and hens are extremely protective of their chicks.
 
"People refer to 'bird brains' only because we've lost touch with them."
 
Farm birds have been part of people's lives for millennia, but now chickens are trivialised in terms of food and money, she says.
 
Despite having distinct personalities, and their ability to form friendships and feel emotions, they have been reduced to meat and egg machines.
 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/lifestyle/6950530/Chch-academic-writes-book-on-chickens

Yeah and I discovered when I was like 4 or 5 that hens and bantams made the most fantastic pets.  Your kids will love them too. 

Oh for photos try www.photobucket.com or Flicker on Yahell.

Okay update:
So I made the veggie one. I made it in 2 batchs because you really do need a bucket! LOL
So I did :
half a green cabbage
1 big leek
1/2 a bag of baby carrots
1/2 of a califlower broken into little pieces.
I salted it down and added to one batch Mustard/ginger powder and to the other one turmeric/cummin
instead of the hot peppers (we dont like 'hot' stuffs)

So the verdict;
1st off I accidentally added too much salt to one half of it. but it is still nice I just need to be inventive how I use it ..Like top it over brown rice or chicken then it is divine. (the turmeric one) It was really supurb on the side of some roasted chicken. I could take a bit of chicken and use it to tame the veggies down..it was finger licking good! and I felt this sort of ..I dont know .."zing" from eating it because it was 'alive' Absolutely beautiful it was. Gave me tons of energy and I wasn't hungry for hours after.
The mustard one is this lovely soft yellow with this tiny tang to it I can see how it will make a lovely side dish to pork or pasta.
2nd They are bubbling away and look sooo fancy! This would be a great gift for a friend who is feeling 'down' or starting a cold.
3rd this was soooooooo much FUN to make with the kids! Great great way to teach kids about spices and various veg, they were too busy being excited to make a fuss about tasting everything. It was brilliant. Little hands getting messy mixing the veg then they were licking everything. I am suprised I even had any left to make it into the jars!
It is that good right from the start.
So basically anyone who likes veggies ..you gotta try this fermenting veg. It doesnt taste like saurkraut or pickled stuff. It is as someone said ..'Just enhancing the flavor of the veg 10 fold." So true.
I can't wait to try other veg.

-concernedmomma

Sounds great.  I need to do this too.  I've never done any fermenting (at least not the planned kind!).

The fermented Veg is really good Em, the biggest trouble I have is finding what to eat it with ..Like on the side, in rice, in pasta, hot/cold?

Anyway yeah.

We decided to just go for it and the rest be damned.

Where we live is really odd. We are zoned 'county' which means technicaly we CAN have anything we choose, however in buying our house it is part of the paperwork (forget what the term is) that we CANT have 'livestock' without the approval of our housing association.

But this sub division we live in has never formed a housing association(been like 10+ years) so exactly who do we ASK?
 We had the same delema with building our fence around the property. No one to ask for exact rules/specification or anything. But also...No one has anyone to complain to. When I called the county they said they would'nt deal with it. Basically if anyone wants to complain about anything they need to form a housing asociation with all 44 houses. And that would take alot of time and effort.

SO. Weird no? So we don't live really close to our neighbors, and our yard is very big  we are on 3/4 of an acre. and we are also the corner house so the only neighbors who might complain are on the side and back of us. So we are going to be really really responsible chicken owners where-in people would be like OMG! You have chickens??!! I never knew!

The side being the Preacher, and the back being a nice widower who keeps to himself.

I keep saying I dont want to seem rude but ..am I supposed to march over there and ask? Yet equally staying all to myself seems rude as well.

I wouldn't mind going over with a nice hand made garden fresh quiche or pie or something but you just dont know what is and isnt going to upset people these days so I just keep to myself.

Photo's if this works ;)  **crossed fingers and toes**
The big fat Buff Oprington (she will be a little ball of feathers )

and my sons ( I think the name will probably change a million times and they say women change their minds! Try a 7 year old! )

And finally my Silver Laced Wyandott (she is gonna be georgous!)

And my daughters baby

Oh myyyy God.  Are they gorgeous or are they gorgeous!

They're gorgeous CM!  Thanks for sharing the photos.

Awwww........

Kiss their little beaks for me, the wee little darlings.

I had a turkey and a chicken that were best friends......

Those little chicks are adorable!

re the pickle posts: I made this Nepali daikon pickle 'mula ko achar' once and it was delicious - not too difficult either. There is a recipe on the web. It smelled a little strange while fermenting(like kimchi, which is similar) but ended up very tasty. I gave a jar to my friend and she said her South Indian husband finished it off in 2 days.