Basil

After the mouse in the greenhouse incident I went a bit overboard with the basil. We have in the garden:
Regular Italian basil
Lettuce leaf basil
Lemon basil
Thai basil
Minette basil
Cinnamon basil
Red Rubin basil
Purple ruffles basil
Variegated basil
I love basil and it is so fun to see all the different kinds in the garden. They smell so good and boy are they pretty. I love to use fresh basil it adds so much flavor. I LOVE pesto in the summer. That is my favorite meal when I am hot and tired, it gives me the energy I need to get back out there and finish the job!

Haven't you had that baby YET??

NOT YET!!! Now quit checking on me unless you are going to bring me a cookie!

Peaches

I was in the orchard checking things out and was surprised to find baby peaches,cherries,apricots and apples on the trees!! I was quite worried that we would not have any fruit. We have had some spring storms that brought cold wet weather during the bloom time on the trees. I am so pleased with the progress of the orchard. We have added seven new trees this year bringing the total to 33 trees! I hope they all do well and we have loads of fruit.
We had the first delivery for the CSA this past Saturday. It is hectic and difficult to get back in the swing of things. I hired a gal to help harvest and she was rough on the lettuce.. it did not look as good as I wanted and I did not see this until we were unloading. We forgot that one of the fridges we use runs cold and froze 40 heads of beautiful romaine.. DARN!! The weather was windy and colder than predicted.. the shade canopy was not able to be put up because the wind was fierce... I know that in a few weeks things will fall in to place and get running smoothly. In the meantime I am frazzled....

Natural chicken nuggets........

The first batch of meat chicks came in the mail form Iowa on Wednesday. They look really good and are now settled in the nursery. We raise enough chickens in the summer and spring for the whole year. We will put them in the chicken tractor in a few weeks so they can eat bugs,scratch around and be chickens. I love that we have the ability to raise almost all the meat we eat. I got a great book on smoking and sausage making for my birthday. I am planning on curing the hams and bacon form the piggies. I am also getting a awesome smoker. I can't wait! I have not made much sausage and such, but am anxious to learn. I found a Amish man that does great hams I am hoping to pick his brain and get some pointers.

Mary Janes Farm

Here is our article in Mary Janes Farm. I am happy that we were chosen to be in the article, she has a way of making farming glamorous. I like her style and felt that it would be a good fit. This issue also has a article about milking cows! I love the recipes and am wanting to make the milkmaid apron. I hope ya all go and check out Mary Janes Farm she also has a cute site maryjanesfarm.org.

We have something to crow about!!!

I am so pleased to announce that we are in the new issue of Mary Jane's Farm magazine!! It is a short article about our farm and what we do. I am happy with the article and the lady that wrote it was a doll. I will post photos and such later!!

Outside Fun

I let the lambs outside for the first time. They were not sure what they were supposed to do they just stood together and cried. Reina was a good mother hen and stayed by them all day. I want them to graze and be sheep. I was hoping that the other sheep would come and hang out with the babies, but they just stood watching them cry. I did see one nibbling grass and seemed to know what to do but the other two just kinda stood at the gate and cried. It was a bit much I would think that they would have no voice left after all that bawling. I plan on letting them out during the day when I am around and putting them back in the barn at night. I am also trying to teach them to drink from a bucket. I have been giving them a bottle three times a day and now they are old enough to get milk from a bucket. Things are very busy with the gardens and orchard that I just don't have the time to feed them three times a day. I put milk in a bucket this morning and the one drank but the others just jumped around in a frenzy looking for the bottle.. I hope they get the hang of the bucket.
I have spent every moment that I can planting in the gardens. So far we have only planted a third of the gardens.. The upper garden is pretty much done I have to finish out the pepper row and then I will work in the lower garden. I bought 10 more fruit trees and they have been planted and fertilized. I have 100 red raspberry canes that need to got out I hope to get them in tomorrow. Cherry tomatoes are out and this week the big tomatoes will be in.. there are 350 tomato plants waiting... it seems like a ton of tomatoes but I sell out every week!! Things are looking good so far.