Spring on the farm…
I’d like to think that Spring is here. There is no rain in the forecast and the sun is shining. It is sixty-five degrees today and beautiful. The herb garden loves the sunshine. Everything is thriving and I must harvest the chives and oregano soon. The rosemary, thyme, savory, sage, marjoram and sweet basil are waiting patiently for more sunshine and higher temperatures. They look healthy and delicious.
Click to enlarge photos…
Flowers in the garden area...
Sage in the herb garden...
Oregano...just think of all those Italian dishes!
One of the raised beds - all planted. Another raised bed is full of strawberries and another full of herbs.
There are lemons on the lemon tree actually turning yellow, but we were informed by a grower at the farmers market on Saturday to wait until the lemons are large – actually three times the size they are now! That will take patience. The macho logger tree farmer is busy at work adding an addition on to the greenhouse – a storage building. It will adjoin the wall on the rear of the greenhouse – 10′ x 10′ – and will not affect the sun coming into the greenhouse on the other 3 sides. He loves “building something” and this will definitely give us more storage. It will be vented appropriately.
Lemons on the Meyer lemon tree...
The goats are in need of care: brushing, worming, hooves trimmed – and a good bath when the weather is warm but that will be a major challenge. For now, they are healthy and growing. Sharon has learned to use her horns to her advantage, although I still think Cindy is the “ring leader” who decides where and when they all move to a different place in the pasture. They all stay together regardless…
The chickens are in their peak production – giving us large, brown eggs by the basketfull! There are only so many dishes that I can prepare that call for eggs, and so we give away a lot! Last week, we accidentally opened a piece of mail belonging to our neighbor that had been inadvertently placed in our rural mailbox. We returned the opened bill with two cartons of 18 eggs. She thanked us, then quipped that we could have just paid the bill! 
We haven’t walked down to the canyon recently but I think it is time. I want to see if the wild irises are blooming yet. They are blooming on the farms further down in the valley below. Wild purple irises are such a sight to behold in full bloom and last such a short time. Not a blessing to be missed!
The beautiful wild irises from last year…
The last day of January…
What a perfect afternoon to hike down to the edge of the farm property…and back up. Blue skies and sunshine although it was definitely chilly. My light fleece jacket felt good. On the way down, we stopped for a visit with our three Boer goats – Sharon, Cindy and Gracie in the pasture. We sat on their play structure and they thought it was great fun to nibble on my hair and loved it when I laughed. The girls really do remind me of great big puppy dogs.
I was amazed to see the new growth in the greenhouse! Great big lemons on the Meyer lemon tree. I can’t wait to make a delicious but tart Shaker Lemon Pie! I’d better get busy making a lot of salads since there were several heads of lettuce ready and cucumbers! It’s fun harvesting fresh veggies in January. The tomatoes are green and we’re not sure if they will even turn red in the greenhouse. If not, guess I’ll be making some Southern fried green tomatoes!
Hope you enjoy the slideshow below of the photos taken all along the way this afternoon…
A few more Campbell Kids collectibles…
The macho logger tree farmer takes his Campbell Kids collectibles seriously. He has been collecting since the year 2000 and only buys rare or unusual items…in some cases, he has purchased the only one to have been produced. I would love to see the items displayed on shelves out of their boxes for the most part. For example, the wonderful Campbell Kids trains would look great displayed on high shelves “traveling” around the room. Not to be. I’ve been informed that an accumulation of dust (which would happen in the scenario I described) would lower the value. Kiddingly, he tells me these adorable “dolls” are “action figures”, but we both know better.
I hope you enjoy this little slideshow below of a few of the collectible dolls (definitely not action figures!). Dating from 1909 to the early 2000′s.
Merry Christmas from the farm…
- Merry Christmas from Sharon, Cindy and Gracie!
A peek into the greenhouse on Friday…
And below: the beautiful Japanese Maple in the backyard.
There isn’t a lot of Autumn color on a conifer tree farm,
so I love the red in this gorgeous tree…
The one that got away…
Both the macho logger tree farmer and I enjoy going to antique shows and poking around the occasionally dusty, vintage antique stores. On the second weekend of September, we traveled to the quaint little town of Coburg, Oregon, for their yearly antique fair. It was an unusually warm Sunday afternoon…more like Autumn in the South really. We walked up and down the lanes that had been created by the different dealers’ booths. The “food court” was set up in the middle of the green, and the aroma of kettle corn filled the air. We bought a small bag and munched on the sweet and salty popcorn as we walked along.
A few weeks before the antique fair, we had been to Coburg and found, perhaps, the most perfect antique that I have ever seen. Granted, I have seen gorgeous pieces of antique furniture that I would love to have had as well, but this one was much smaller. This antique was a J. & P. Coats Thread Cabinet…and it was perfect. It had all the neat little drawers – all in remarkably wonderful shape. The price tag read $400. I thought, at the time, that the price was unbelievably high. Jim offered them $300. They turned it down. We came home without the beautiful thread cabinet and began researching. Evidently, $400 would have been a great buy! Similar thread cabinets were listed on eBay for up to $2,750. Jim went back to Coburg the following week to purchase the thread box as a surprise for me, but it was gone.
So, the Sunday afternoon of the antique fair in Coburg, we searched again for another pristine J. & P. Coats thread cabinet. No such luck. It was not to be.
I’m beginning to understand how a dyed-in-the-wool fisherman feels when he talks about “the one that got away”…
J. & P. Coats Thread Cabinet...photo from eBay
Homemade chicken noodle soup…
If I were a true farmgirl and not just an up and coming “wannabe”, I would have marched out to the hen house, picked out one of my healthy, organic chickens, dispatched it to chicken neverland and proceeded to create my homemade chicken noodle soup. (Much like the Pacific Northwest frontier women of yesteryear.)
However, I must confess that I just can’t eat my faithful little hens who give us about 8-10 eggs a day. Nope. I just go buy a fresh hen at the super market and proceed to make this delicious homemade soup.
Serve this savory chicken noodle soup with hot cornbread and a small tossed salad and you’ll have a wonderful Autumn supper. Perhaps have the Ozark Mountain Apple Cake for dessert!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
One 4-5 pound chicken
3-4 fresh carrots cut into chunks
2-3 stalks of fresh celery cut into chunks
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 sprig of fresh thyme
OR
2 tablespoons of Herbs de Provence
1 large onion cut into quarters or diced – your preference
(I used the small onions from our garden)
3 cloves of fresh garlic
Kosher salt
Lawry’s Seasoned Pepper
3 cans chicken Broth
or
1 large box chicken broth
1 small package of noodles
Wash and pat chicken dry. Salt inside of cavity.
Sprinkle kosher salt and seasoned pepper on outside of chicken. Set aside.
Melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter in bottom of large pot. Saute vegetables to give them some color.
Either slide the garlic cloves under the skin as I did or mince them and add them to the soup.
Put the chicken into the pot.
Add chicken broth and 3 cans of water or enough water to almost cover chicken.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer until chicken is tender.
(I flipped the chicken over about half way through cooking.)
When chicken is done, taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed.
Remove pot from heat and let cool. When cool, remove chicken from pot and debone chicken.
Return meat to chicken stock. Bring to a boil and add noodles.
Cook until noodles are tender – about 8 minutes.
An afternoon walk on the farm…
Path to the goat barn in the pasture below...in the process of putting gravel on it.
The garden and greenhouse...
Two lemon trees and one lime tree in the greenhouse...
The lemons are about the size of a small pecan.
Tomatoes for winter...growing in the greenhouse.
Veggies for winter: yellow squash, zucchini, cucumber...
Lettuce in the greenhouse for winter salads...
First year for the grassy orchard. We need a cow or a tractor! Next Spring, we'll rent a tractor.
The pasture and a view of the greenhouse...
Back home again on an Autumn afternoon…
Safe at last…
When I left for my two week trip to Chicago and the South, the Macho Logger Tree Farmer was hard at work on the goats’ secure sleeping shelter. If you’ve been following the story, then you’ll recall that “the cougar” had killed three of our goats and five of our neighbors’ goats over the past few months.
The chain-link, cyclone fence structure with the small goat shed is now finished and the goats are sleeping in it at night. We ring the small cow bell for them about an hour before sunset and are prepared with a small bucket of grain to entice them into their small night barn. It works like a charm. We release them back to their pasture an hour after sunrise. The gate to this area is left open so they can come and go as they please during the daytime. They also have the larger barn below. So far, so good.
Based on the following article in The News-Review, we’re not the only ones who have fought a battle with cougars for the past few months. I would like to think that they got “the” cougar, but there are still miles between us and Sutherlin and way too many cougars…
A hike and warm lemon bars…
It has been a long, dry summer but Fall is here at last. Today has been cool and overcast with a slow, light rain. Even so, we pulled on our boots and windbreakers and hiked the half mile or so down to the canyon. It has taken a while, but I’ve learned to identify all the trees on the farm now – douglas fir, grand fir, cedar, ponderosa pine, manzanita and madrone. Douglas Fir is “king” of the Pacific Northwest timber industry and accounts for the majority of the trees on this 58-acre tree farm. There are a few hardwoods down in the canyon and I love the color that we’ll see after a hard frost. However, the spectacular view of the farm from the front porch is mostly green…conifers!
On the way back home, we stopped by the goats’ barn and gave the girls their favorite grain to share. We sat and rested on their play gym and talked to them for a while. Then, we picked a few of the remaining ripe vegetables in the garden and headed home. Samantha, the part-Siamese kitten, had followed us, so we had to be sure she made it all the way home.
After lunch, there were warm lemon bars with a dollop of whipped cream. You can see from the photo what whipped cream on warm lemon bars will do! It was good all the same…
Note: I decreased the amount of sugar to 2 cups in the linked recipe.
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