Fooood!

Yesterday morning, I tilled an area of land bigger (far bigger) than our last apartment.

Hells yeah I had a beer with lunch. Tilling = blech. But I'm excited to plant tons o'pumpkins in that area. The front half is for popcorn.

Bill fired his oven on Sunday (more on that to come) and we ate really well on Monday as a result. He made pizza and bread with the "crappy" flour because he wasn't sure how it was going to all turn out and he didn't want to waste the good stuff on his first experiment. We ate French Toast for breakfast:

...and leftover pizza with an arugula salad and homebrew wheat beer for lunch. This meal was very, very exciting because we could see it all coming together. The pizza is all from scratch - bread, sauce and cheese made by Bill. Someday the sauce will be from homegrown tomatoes and we'll get some goats to milk for the cheese. Bill also talks about growing wheat, but I think that will be more of a fun experiment than a long term, sustained project.

The salad is arugula and radishes from our garden with a simple balsamic vinaigrette (I already lost the recipe. ooops!) homemade croutons (a great way to use up substandard bread) and a young Parmesan cheese. The cheese is not supposed to be done until November, but Bill couldn't wait. It tastes young, but is very good. Check it:

A very satisfying lunch!

For dessert we had some blackcaps.

Already.  

In May (in 2009, we picked at the end of June). I'm sure we've eaten a quart already and they've only just begun. Some day I'll show you the madness that is our blackcaps. They are probably some sort of horrible invasive here in Indiana, but I don't care!!! We let them grow wherever they'd like and are happy to share them with the birds.

Speaking of sharing with wild animals...there is a family of three red squirrels living in our basement. We see them in our mulberry tree every morning and every evening. They don't even wait for the mulberries to get ripe before chowing down.

Here's one of the babies:

Too cute to be evicted, right?

Green, green garden

Our garden is growing and being eaten - but not yet by us. A deer has been sleeping in our field. She seems to feel protected by the tall grass and our newly installed fence and in exchange for our hospitality, she's been munching on our peas, corn, and tomatoes.


We've attempted to make part of the garden deer-resistant with twine. (All the plants that have been enjoyed by deer in the past are grown inside a second fence, while the plants that were previously untouched (squash, corn, tomatoes) are in an unsecured patch in front of the barn.) At first, we made the 4 foot fence taller with the classy addition of saplings and twine, but the deer found a weak spot and got her second taste at our strawberries.

Now, we've made a nearly impenetrable maze of twine.


It keeps the deer out of the garden, but it's a big barrier to us too - hence the ever expanding weeds.

The beans have been protected though. There's three types of beans here:

In the foreground are Jacob's cattle beans. I don't know who Jacob is, but his red and white drying beans are speckled like little Holstein cows.

In the middle on the trellis are yard long beans (which I keep calling Mile-long beans. Bill is impressed with my optimism). I think we got the red noodle variety. They have developed a fuzzy orange fungus that is of mild concern. Fortunately, it does not seem to be affecting their vigor - yet - and, as these beans are a totally different genus than typical garden beans, it doesn't seem to be spreading to the others.

In the back, along the fence, are pole beans. Much adored by me and our chickens.

Our potatoes are growing too. We're making a box for them out of our old barn doors. Unfortunately, 2 of the 4 varieties may have blight.



Mulberries are growing in abundance too. They are a favorite of the chickens and Sugar Pie, who snorfs fallen berries up from the ground with great enthusiasm.


Though it's raining today (which means jam making!), we've had a lovely spring with some beautifully blue skies.

Sun tea...

Then and now.

Arlington:

Indiana:

Garden progress

Our strawberry plants look better than they ever have. This is likely because a deer hasn't (yet) munched on them. We also used a lot of hay left over from last fall to mulch around them and prevent weeds.

They love it. I swear I can see them grow by the minute.

Radishes are peeking out.

And Sugar is rather enjoying running in the pasture.

That pasture grass is getting pretty high, don't you think? Given that we're not expecting ruminants until later this summer, and our neighbor isn't going to hay the field this year, I wonder what we're going to do...???

Fencing!

Bill recently installed 400 yards of woven wire field fencing around our pasture.

It was hard work that took him two full days and left him looking like this:

But now all of this:


and this:

...is the free-running range of Sugar Pie - at least until the turkeys come. After some barn repairs it may be the home to sheep and/or goats as well.

Freezing fog

Ever heard of it? I had no idea until this winter and we sure are getting lots of it now.

It's just what it sounds like....water droplets from fog, freezing on surfaces.

It's the same stuff that forms in freezers. It makes everything white.


Everything.


And it sure is pretty.


It's been a treat waking up to frozen fog covered trees all week.


Usually, it is accompanied by clear skies that are bluer than blue.


As it warms up, the ice crystals start falling from the trees. It looks like its snowing, but the sky is incredibly blue. Very trippy.


Speaking of trips...we had a lovely day in Cincinnati last weekend. We stopped at Jungle Jim's for hot sauce and micro brews, had Chipotle for lunch, and watched Syracuse beat Cincy in a good game. We got to sit with Orange fans from all over the Midwest, including a gentleman who played with Boeheim and regaled us with stories of the old days.


And, here are some unrelated socks.