Spring project kick-off

At the Cattlemen's Winterschool last weekend, we got some info about the Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation. It was formed to fund tree fruit research at the WSU Northwest Research & Extension Center in Mount Vernon, WA. They are holding their annual winter field day on March 7th, with seminars on pruning, grafting, pests, and general fruit and berry growing. Looks like we won't be able to make it, but the websites of the 2 groups have some very helpful tips for fruit growing in the Pacific Northwest.

There were over 700 people attending the Winterschool. We took classes on barnyard drainage issues, beekeeping, cider-making, composting, and chicken processing. We took a lot of notes and got some great handouts from the teachers and exhibitors. Looks like we may be getting a beehive this spring after all! We're really looking forward to next year's workshops, since you can only take 5 classes, there were a lot more we missed out on. And we're hoping they add an intro to draft animals, so we can get some ideas on putting Gemini to work at Seven Trees.

Magnus is teaching his own winterschool in advanced sleeping techniques. I love his method of falling asleep in the rocking chair while doing his laundry. A real professional!

We got the spare coop moved this weekend. We need to paint it before we put it up on pier blocks, and start getting it ready for the new chickies in March. Sometime this summer we'll insulate it and add a layer of plywood inside, so it's as warm & cozy as the smaller coop.

It was quite a workout, walking it across the barnyard. The steers are happy to have a little more room for roughhousing, and now we can enclose both coops in a varmint-resistant run. We're getting ready to start the next project, which is running power to the coops and barn. What a treat to get rid of extension cords and have a real electric light to work by. We'll also add a security light near the end of the drive, since the front porch light doesn't really make it out that far.
We're still eating last season's onions, garlic, squash & potatoes fresh from the garden, but not much left. We'll be planting even more this year. Plenty of canned goods left, green beans, pears & applesauce especially. I'll be making jam out of the blackberries & strawberries left in the freezer, to make room for upcoming harvests. Always something tasty in season here, once we figure out what to grow when, and how much to preserve.

Here's Doug & Buddy showing how excited they are about the coop-moving project. Doug definitely takes after his mom when it comes to being bossy and yelling for food....

Springing into February

Check out this before & after picture of Hidatsa Shield Figure beans! They really plump when you cook them, and taste great. Hidatsa is the name of the tribe that originally grew these beans, and the dark part of the bean is supposed to resemble they way they painted their shields. I haven't seen any Hidatsa shields, so I can't verify that ;)

These beans were recently boarded on Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste. (Be sure to check their site out for all kinds of amazing foods in danger of disappearing.) We've grown Hidatsa beans for 2 years, and will keep them in rotation as a house favorite. Dry beans take up a fair bit of garden space, and take a long time to mature, but it's worth the trouble to find out for yourself just how tasty heirloom beans can be. You can buy your own Hidatsa bean seed here, or check out Local Harvest to see who's growing them near you.

Finally! Paychecks, days off, and end of road restrictions all aligned so we could have a load of gravel delivered. It was a fun day of being local. The gravel came from the pit nearly next door, then we drove 3.5 miles to our local Breckenridge Dairy for milk (check out this picture of the dairy drive-thru during our recent floods), ran into a neighbor who had just seen a friend/coworker/neighbor coming down the Pole Rd. on his tractor to spread the gravel for us. He brought his cute little dog, Roxie, with him, and took some of our homemade goodies back with him. We had to leave for grocery shopping and traded our hard earned cash for more local delights - fresh oysters from Taylor Shellfish farms. We grilled the oysters on the BBQ and ate them with lime wedges, hot sauce & melted butter.

Stewart, doing his lapdog impression. He's going on 3, but still a puppy at heart.

And as usual, Magnus, demonstrating how stressful his life is.

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We also attended a day of classes in assorted farm & livestock management called the Cattlemen's Winterschool. Here's this year's class schedule, so you can get an idea of what is offered. It is a program of the Washington State University extension, and they have an incredible amount of useful information on their website alone, not to mention all the classes and publications available through them. More about our day of agricultural fun later this week!