Today, we harvested garlic that we planted last November. I made some notes back then to remember the planting date (November 4th). The growing season lasted 218 days for the garlic until the leaves lost their turgor and half of the outer leaves died out. The inner leaves remain green and the crowns feel spongy. The harvested garlic was laid… Read More »Garlic Harvest
Terminology of spinning process: Batt A wide, rolled-up bundle of carded fleece that unrolls into a rectangle. Carding Combing and aligning the fibers of the cleaned fleece. A hand carder or a drum carder is used. Drum Carder A drum-like tool that cards fibers for spinning. Fleece Raw wool sheered from a sheep or goat before it’s processed into yarn.… Read More »Terminology of Spinning
Cutting wood has reached a whole new level with the purchase of this incredible log splitter. It is an expensive purchase, but a wise one for our farm. Right now, our sole source of heat in the farmhouse is wood – by choice. Cutting wood is a typical winter-time chore. A Rough Start to the Woodcutting Season Up until now,… Read More »Damsel
My Remaining Tomatoes from the Garden The summer garden has come to an end. My tomato garden has been harvested last week and replaced with winter plants. The green tomatoes had been hanging on the vines waiting to be harvested. The did not ripen because of the cooler temperatures. Two years ago, I made green tomato relish. We liked it… Read More »Stewed Green Tomatoes
A Sudden Start of the Season The deer season has started and we have opened our season with thee new deer. This is an unexpected a pleasant surprise for both of us. Weeks of preparation, which included a purchase of new deer rifles, the new sheepskin footwear with fur. New warm clothes, and a lot of work out (on my… Read More »The Deer Season is Open
Winter gardening is much easier and more rewarding on our farm than gardening in the summer. The delightfully cool winter weather fosters the limitless time spent outdoors. The refreshing winter breeze invigorates the body and the soul of the humans and animals, but it slows down the plant metabolism, making it possible to survive only for the hardy and highly… Read More »Plants for my Winter Garden
Yesterday, I had a separation anxiety – of a different kind. My hot process soap separated. The oil-like liquid was floating on top of a curd-like chunky mess that sunk to the bottom. It looked almost as if the saponification had reversed itself (which is impossible) and my lye and oils parted their ways. Although I never had anything drastic… Read More »Hot Process Soap Separated in the Making
Our New Flemish Giants
