Dinner=Yum!

Local grass fed rack of lamb: thank you Rosanne!  Carmelized roasted root veggies: thank you Me!  AND baked butternut squash with maple syrup and butter: thank you Sam! Awesome Family Fun Night Dinner!

Sending You Your Seeds

Seed On It's Way!

I spent the last few days separating, organizing, and packaging seed.  I should have everything sent out by the end of the day.  I not only save seed, but I'm given LOTS of seed.  My husband and my son are commercial seed producers (the other son is a field man for a company that commerically produces sunflowers) .  They grow hybrid and op/organic seeds for Seeds by Design, Terra Organics, Sakata, Bonanza and on and on.  It's an interesting business.  My husband grows hybrid vine seeds (melons, cucumbers, squash).  With the hybrid seed you grow several rows of female seed and then a row of male...you harvest the female rows (for seed) and leave the males to rot or for me to feed to the livestock!  Whenever I explain this growing process people ask me how you can tell the males from the females: I always say "The males have a penis!"  I just can't help myself!  The truth is I don't know how they know...it just says male/female on the bags of seed!  I think the client must say "Hey! Let's cross an xyz watermelon with a zyx watermelon and let's see what we get"...other than that I just don't know.  I grow most of our produce.  I use organic open pollinated seeds and a few hybrids.  I save only op's...they seed true (if I pay attention and don't let them cross-pollinate!).  And every once in a while I accidentally create a veggie I like...and I collect the seed.

Harvesting the Females...the Males Feed the Flock!

So...I'm sending the seed out...I hope your gardens flourish...if you get a *surprise* veggie save the seed and send me some...pass on what you don't use...enjoy.  And if you have questions about hybrid or open seeds please ask me and I'll find out (I have a house full of seed experts)...I know sometimes you can't believe everything you read and it's nice to get it from the "horses mouth"...

Texan Give Away

I don't have many followers, and I'm sure most follow Texan...but I need to learn how to do a link...so go over to her blog for a chance to win the cutest goat and or dog coat you ever saw!  Now to do the link:
http://www.texan.blogspot.com/    I hope this works...I love her blog!

Seeds to Go

I'm packaging seeds to give to several Community Gardens, Shelters, Churches and Senior Centers.  Some of these seeds are hybrids and some are seeds I saved from my own op seeds.  If you would like seed or know of someone that would like seed, just let me know and I'll send some. I follow the Square Foot Garden theory: don't over plant seeds: no more than 3 to a spot...including teeny-tiny seeds like carrots. You can save most seed for 5 years, so why waste them...they can be pricey little boogers!

Rapini Rabb: Early Fall and Early Spring, Celery: Golden Self-Blanching, Celeriac: Giant Prague, Broccoli: Gypsy and Imperial, Carrots: Zeus and Imperial, Cauliflower: violetta, Collards: Georgia and Bulldog, onion: Mt. Whitney and White Gem, PakChoi: Joi Choi, Bell Pepper: Double Up, Radish: White Globe and Crunchy Royal, Squash: a Hybrid Test no-name, Spaghetti and Turnip: Southern Green and White Lady. My seeds are 2010, some are field tests from commercial seed production, some are my own natural non-certified organic op seed saving. Let me know what you'd like. I also have some squash seed I saved from my own organic op winter squash (Australian Butter, Butternut, Sugar Dumpling and Delicata), but my grand kids used the seed to play a counting game and mixed them up...I'll send a surprise package of those if you have the room and or courage!

It's Complicated!

Well, I have the goat/poultry electric fence netting and it should be up.  But, as with every thing I attempt here at my *LITTLE* Farm it's been a bit more involved than I had counted on.  I thought I was getting the whole kit...nope...just the netting and a few poles...no charger/energizer.  I have spent the last two days trying to figure out just what kind of energizer I want/need.  Do I want to invest in a complete solar system anticipating that in the future I will be needing/using more fencing in remote locations...sure this is something I'd like to do a'la Joel Salatin...Salad Bar Beef, Pigerator Pork, Pastured Poultry and my very own Glorious Grass Grazing Goats, but what if it doesn't work out and I've invested all of those $$$$?  Been there done that (that's why I have a $50,000 mobile commercial kitchen).  Or do I spend the least amount and get what I pay for and have to do the whole thing over again: bigger and better.  Is there resale value in a solar powered charger/energizer thingy?  I'm going to go ahead and get the least expensive set-up and if all works out I'll invest in a more professional set-up next Fall.  Tomorrow I'll go to Tractor Supply and get what I need...pay cash: no plastic and in a month kick myself in the butt for not getting the better set-up!

I'm going to spend Saturday at a Goat Sale.  I haven't been to one of those in twenty (20) years.  I used to be a Goat Judge for sanctioned goat shows and fairs...this Saturday should be fun and if I'm lucky I'll find a couple of Nigerian Dwarf Does to bring home.  When I had goats I'd never even heard of a Nigerian Dwarf Goat.  I had a small show herd of Nubians...I just loved them.  In my effort to cut down on grocery shopping it's almost mandatory I have goats again (that's the line I dished out to the hubby) and besides, the grand kids are going to love them! If I don't find any goats at least I'll meet up with some goat people that can point me in the right direction.  I had originally planned on two (2) does, but because of the amount of cheese and ice cream my family consumes, it looks like I'll be getting four (4).  I have an unlimited supply of hay and grains (no cost to me) and if the portable fencing works out...lots of acreage for grazing.  I love making cheese so I can hardly wait!  Okay...I'm getting the super solar set-up...gonna' need it!

                                                

                                                                                                             

Today was a pretty good day.  I got up early had a quick cup of coffee and headed out the door.  I worked a great deal on portable electric fence netting on Craigs List.  We agreed to meet at an In and Out Burger in the Gold Rush town of Auburn: close to her town of Cool, and a 2 hour drive from mine.

But what a great drive...can't beat the Gold Country, to me it's always beautiful.  I love all the skinny little roads, the ravines and the water...I day dream about what it must have been like in California in 1849: it must have been something else.  So I met up with the cutest little gal, we traded $$ for the fence and off I went and I immediately got lost...BUT not too lost.  I have a N S E W thingy on my mirror and I have a navi system I don't know how to work...I just figure if I keep driving west I'll get to the Pacific Ocean and I can find my way home from there...any way I also use the Sutter Buttes as a focal point.  Once you get out of the mountains/hills and look down into the Sacramento Valley there they are and my home is west of the Buttes...they are my view to the East.  I watch the sun rise over them almost every day.  They are the smallest mountain range in the world and they are beautiful.

I stopped on my way home at the Sutter Beauty College to get my hair cut off.  I have very long hair...way past my waist.  I usually wear it in a long, fat braid for day and up on my head for dress-up...once in a while I leave it long and loose.  My hair gets cut off to my chin about every six years and yes it grows past my waist in that short of a time.  I usually get my hair cut when I'm on vacation: Hawaii, Manhattan, Las Vegas, Paris...you get the picture...well I'm not planning any trips until next year and my hair looked really bad.  I used to color it, but I've gotten too lazy and or cheap and I've let it go gray...but it's just the front part of my hair...real wirery and wild...any how today I went into the walk in beauty school and told the gal: *cut off about 2 feet*  maybe a few wisps around my face...NO BANGS...well the poor little thing cut off about 16 inches...kinda did a tiny cut around my face...blew it semi-dry and then apologized because she said she didn't have the courage to cut it all off...that's what you get for $5.00...exactly what you pay for.  She was a cutie and I think I scared her to death.

I stopped and picked up 2 new inner tubes for my bicycle and should have that up and running tomorrow.  Need to get my butt in gear.  Spent the Summer in the pool treading water (my workout) and this Spring I'm riding with my friend (we used to ride our Harley's).  The plan is for us to do 5 miles every day on our own, then once a week take the bikes to a well know *trail* and ride that...we used to do basically the same thing with the motorcycles...it was short lived...I high-sided on one of our rides, went over the front and broke my upper arm really bad...I was laid up for a year.  I did keep riding, just not as much and really never got over the fear...so I still have my bikes in the barn, but they will be sold in the Spring. I hope I do better on the bicycles than I did on the Harley!

I fixed a terrific dinner in the crock pot, because I knew I'd be tired tonight.  Cranberry and Kidney Beans  (grown by my son) with my homemade tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes...I added a bit of browned grass-fed beef burger and pastured pork sausage.  Yummy!  Big hunk of homemade sourdough bread, lettuce salad from the garden and apple crisp for dessert.

Tomorrow will be another full day.  I have to plant more potatoes and an apple tree.  Then put up the electric fence and convince the *girls* they need to stay behind it. Fix the tires on the bike. Order some decomposed granite for the garden paths.  Take two of my grand kids to the dentist, pick another up from school and then we have the whole family for dinner...we've changed our Thursday Family Fun Night back to Wednesdays...somehow it just works better for me and since I'm the main cook, I'm in charge!

SNOW!?!

So what does this say about 2011?  We don't get snow here...maybe a tiny bit every ten (10) years...but nothing like this! Power was knocked out for hours.  I won't be pruning roses today!