Time at Home due to COVID-19/Coronavirus
Due to the current conditions with COVID-19/Coronavirus we are spending all of our time at home these days. Since we don’t have to leave for work or school and have enough supplies to last a little while we have decided to just stay put and not take any chances. This gives us time to work on spring cleaning projects, garden projects and of course cooking. We are continuing to work on the sourdough production and […]
Garden 2020 – Beginnings
With about 4 weeks left before last frost date, I can actually start to plant some things outside. So we start with Peas. First ones are Spring Magnolia Tendril and Springs Blush Tendril, both from Baker Creek (www.rareseeds.com). This year I decided to try to be more formal with the garden layout instead of making notes on pieces of paper that usually get lost, wet, dirty, etc. I have found that Google Drawings lets me […]
Plant Starts Are Growing
It was time to give the plant starts more growing room so everyone got a new home yesterday to allow them to keep thriving until it is time to move outside in a few more weeks. Average last frost date in my area is not until April 16th so they have another month to wait.
Project Time – Greenhouse
With the short growing season but mild winters of the Pacific Northwest we have decided that we can extend our growing season to almost year round by adding a greenhouse. We searched for a long time and finally found plans from Ana White (https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/diy-greenhouse) that I also saw completed by Justin Rhodes and helpers on his You Tube channel. Check out the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joRN06xY-UY if you want to see them build it. We are […]
Seed Starts
Exiting time on the farm, we are about 8 weeks out from the last frost date and it’s time to get the first little seed starts going. This year we are trying to get them started in the grow tent with full spectrum lights, fingers crossed we can get it right this year and not be reliant on the starts from another source. So far the following seeds are warming away in the tent, I […]
Sourdough – Take 2
Today was sourdough – take 2. This one is a higher hydration dough (80%) than the first one with higher oven temperatures and the end result is awesome.
Sourdough Experiment
Sourdough has long seemed like an unobtainable goal for me on the bread front. It seemed like a lot of work from babysitting the starter, the long rises and the scoring of the dough, etc. Decided to try it and see if we could be successful. The starter for the first loaf came from a freeze dried culture for the starter. It worked great and produced a very active starter (some days it blew the […]
Bread!
With the shorter, colder days ahead, here’s some Ciabatta bread we made today! I was intrigued and challenged with the article by William Rubel in the most recent edition of Mother Earth News (December 2019/January 2020). I had always wanted to try making Ciabatta but was always a little intimidated by the end product. After all it looked like something that must be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. I was pleasantly surprised, the recipe […]
Spider Season!
It’s that time of year again! The spiders are out in full force. I managed to get a couple of shots of one right outside the window!
Busy Summer Continues
The busy summer continues here in the Pacific Northwest. As other parts of the US are winding down in the garden department we are just now going strong with harvesting. Things have been crazy here this summer with more varieties of plants to try but more pest pressure than we have had in years past. The leaf miner battle with the spinach, chard and beets has been a battle of wills for sure. Next year […]