Meanwhile, Across Town

Actually there were a whole bunch of people in there this weekend. As the rain continues (let’s not think about garlic and potatoes rotting in the ground right now) we took full advantage of the cool day to catch up on some baking. I of course required some of Corrie’s patented giant muffins and whipped out two batches,  one oatmeal chocolate chip and one lemon and red currant. The cookie jar was bare as well so there are a full batch of slightly undercooked (just the way I like them) oatmeal chocolate chip and raisin cookies too. We also had an abundance of eggs as our regular buyer was away and didn’t require her weekly delivery so we baked up a giant (and I mean giant) batch of pound cake. Using a whopping 24 eggs, 12 cups of flour and 12 cups of sugar among other things we produced 7 large loaves and 7 mini loaves. Not pictured below was Saturdays efforts of two batches of strawberry jam and one strawberry pie. The pie didn’t last long and was still warm when it disappeared and the jam has made it’s way into storage. Our weekend of cooking all began from an abundance of eggs and our favorite veggie vendor at the local market having too many strawberries and not nice enough weather to sell them all so we got one heck of a bargain. And now the oven has been switched off, the dishes washed and once again the freezer is full to the brim.

I’m not sure it the title is referring to the crazy amounts of rain falling on us right now or my enthusiasm for posting to my poor neglected blog. On one hand the garden, rain barrel and the well give thanks for the rain but on the flip side when you only get two days off every two weeks a rain day certainly puts a damper on things. Not to fret though as there is always plenty to do inside as well as out so it looks like today will be filled with cutting and painting trim and perhaps a second coat of paint on Corrie’s new bathroom cabinet. Work outside has been progressing nicely with two cords of wood split and stacked with many thanks to Olivia for her help with the stacking and my neighbour for lending me his 3 pt. hitch mounted log splitter. On the horizon there is more wood to pile and new this year there is hay to cut. Rather than watch the pastures grow and grow only to be hacked down with the bush hog in the fall we’ll be cutting and baling it this year with already two potential buyers for it. Heck it’s like found money growing right out the back door. The meat birds are doing well and getting fat, the layers are laying and the berry bushes are heavy with berries ready to ripen. All is well.

Well there was no fire involved but we certainly got one hell of a storm. Several of them actually. After a relatively sunny and warm month of April, May has rolled in with a vengeance. We’ve been treated to several days of torrential downpours as well as a couple days of wind that seemed like they would never end. It’s not to say that I’m working on an ark or anything of that nature but we were certainly lulled into thinking that summer was here already. With the rain comes green grass and that is certainly worth it after months and months of shades of greys and browns. The apple blossoms are out and the strawberry plants are growing in leaps and bounds and if only we could get a couple dry days we’d work on getting the garden in.

Since it is Saturday once again perhaps a trip into town to the farmers market or the sale barn and see about picking up this years meat birds. Best to make the most of the day since tomorrow is Mother’s day and each of the girls have drawn, painted and crafted about a hundred items each for Corrie the entire day could be spent doling out the artwork. And on that note I’m off and running with coffee in hand.

Spring is in the air and once again there are fresh eggs to be had. Our last layers were nearing the end of their laying cycle and once winter was upon us we figured they would serve us better as soup stock than as non layers freezing their butts off all winter long. The girls are immensely happy to have chickens to look after once more and are old hands at the wrangling of chickens and collecting of eggs. With spring comes a multitude of projects that need to be completed all with varying degrees of effort required. So far we have built a sandbox for the girls, turned over the garden with the tractor and plow, busted up the furrows with the rototiller and done a whole bunch of yard clean up. The yard clean up is a never ending struggle as we are entering the third summer here and still we are trying to erase the multitude of flotsam and jetsam left by the previous owners. If I take a step back and look we have made plenty of progress so far and things are really starting to look like we want them to. The next big task will to be get the garden in and luckily my Mom has offered to come up in a couple weeks to help with that task.

As you’ve probably noticed that with spring and summer upon us the frequency of the updates will slow to a trickle as all the waking hours will be spent at work or outside. Hopefully you all are also enjoying the wonderful weather and not staring at a computer screen too often.

So begins year number two of growing garlic here on the homestead. The girls helped me plant the bulbs last fall with me manning the dibber and marking the distance between bulbs and them pressing the seed into the earth and covering it over. Then a nice healthy blanket of leaves appropriated from the around town during fall clean up. The leaves work wonders as they keep things a little bit warmer over the winter and the garlic grows right up through them. You pretty much put it down and forget about it and if you are lucky it will also keep the weeds down for most of the growing season. This years batch is grown entirely from our own garlic bulbs saved from last years harvest. With only a small outlay the first season we saved enough from the first harvest to ensure a perpetuating cycle of garlic. Yum! We have about a 100 plants this year it looks like which is a nice amount for us with a little extra for friends and of course saving some for seed. The growing season is upon us and the yard work is underway.