Sawdust in My Shoes

We're into serious "putting up wood" mode around here these days.

Papa Pea put in many, many hours with his chainsaw cutting the remaining stack of 16' long lengths of hard maple wood into these chunks ready for splitting.  All the wood was solid and heavy with a capital "H."  What a job!

Our yearly goal is to have our heating wood cut, split and stacked in the shed by the end of April.  That may be slightly unrealistic as our wood working area is at the foot of a portion of our land that rises at a pretty good angle behind us and therefore remains damp (if not downright wet) sometimes well into spring. 

At any rate, we're late in getting the job done this year, but if we push along now and get the wood split and under cover, it will still be dried and in good shape for this coming heating season.

We won't know for certain until we work through all of this huge pile, but we're fairly confident it will amount to a lot more than we'll have to burn this coming winter.  And it's always a good feeling to be ahead of the game when it comes to wood put by.

While I Was MIA . . .

Here's to share a couple of things that have been happening around our little homestead while I was unable to post.

On June 10th we had a swarm from one of our honey bee hives.  Swarms don't occur every year and this one was unusual in that it happened early in the season.  Papa Pea happened to be out in the yard when he saw the huge cluster of bees in the air in front of the hive right before they took off.

Lucky us, they landed in a small apple tree in the poultry yard where the attempted (and successful) capture could easily be engineered.

If you look closely, you can see the clump of bees in the tree above the stand set up to hold the hive box. 

Papa Pea getting ready to get the bees to drop into the readied box.

A good hard downward shake . . .

. . . and the clump dropped with most of the bees landing on the box.

Good job, Mr. Beekeeper!

So far, the bees seem very happy in their new home and are doing well.

The garden bed of mixed salad greens is coming on fast and strong.  (Radishes, too.)  This is a picture of the very first harvest.  They're oh-so-tasty and we're into our summer routine of a big salad nearly every day now.

On June 15th, another one of our Muscovy female ducks (who made her nest in a nest box in the chicken house) hatched out 10 little ducklings . . . and two chicks.

Here the ducklings are only a day old.

The chicks entered the world earlier than the ducklings (shorter incubation period) and were either kicked out of the nest by Mama Duck or jumped out.  These two have decided another broody hen (chicken) in the house is their mother and have been happily scampering around in the chicken house often seen snuggled on top of the expectant chicken mother who is still sitting on her clutch of eggs.  The hen seems to have adopted them even though she continues to wait for her own brood to hatch.

This newest duck family has been moved to their own little hut where they'll stay until the ducklings are a bit bigger and ready to be introduced to the great out-of-doors with their mother to guide them into the ways of the poultry yard.

Our June weather has still been very cool and wet.  Seems we get rained on at least twice a day even though we've not had any great accumulation.  

The no-see'ums are simply awful this year.  We have to suit up in our bug shirts each night when we go out to close up.  Even so, a couple of nights ago, I got 5 bites on my head and face.  I can only assume they somehow made their way up under my shirt to torment me.  Seems unlikely but it happened and I was not happy.  Oh well, could be worse.  We do have periods during the day when the vicious creatures seem to be napping (or planning their strategy for another attack), and it's possible to work outside without a full set of armor on for protection.  One of these days, their cycle will be over and we'll be free of them.  (Can I count on that?)

More catch-up to come in the next post.

Things I Learned While My Computer Was Hospitalized

~  I have been using the computer to procrastinate.  My daily list of Things To Do is long and (often seems) endless.  In the past, I've found that when I look at said list, and perhaps even after managing to cross one item off, the rest of the list looks so daunting that I don't have the oompf or enthusiasm or impetus to start another project.  So, in a moment (several times a day) of out-and-out avoidance, I tritz on back to my computer here in the bedroom "just to check" my e-mail or read someone's new blog post or look something up before starting another task of the day.  (Yeah, right.)

~  And as far as "looking something up" on the computer, during the past ten days when I've been computerless, I've been amazed at how often I do use the computer to check on a gardening question, find a recipe, look up info on a particular author, etc., etc.  Not at all a bad tool to have at one's fingertips.

~  These past mornings when I've not had my computer available, I have no desire for my morning latte. Nope, don't miss it and don't desire it at all.  Also, it's become quite evident that trying to "wake up" first thing in the morning in front of the computer with a cup of caffeine is not good for my system.  It keeps me in a state of semi-consciousness and encourages lethargy.  I'm much better off and have a better start to my day if I get up, move (!) and begin my day in a more active way.

~  I've missed documenting (keeping track of) our everyday activities, happenings, and events because of not being able to blog. 

~  Because I couldn't download them into my computer, I've not taken pictures I now wish I had taken.  (Not sure that makes much sense, but it is what it is.)

~  I have missed the encouraging and supportive connection to other like-minded folks out there in the world.  There aren't a lot of people living our type life or doing what we're doing in our area.

~  I have missed the convenience and simplicity of placing orders on the Internet.  I currently have a list here on my desk of "Things I Need to Order When I Have My Computer Back."

~  Perhaps most of all, I've found I really, really, really miss communicating with and reading blog postings of all you dear people who have become friends because of having a computer.

 

ARRRGH!

My computer has died a slow, painful death over the last several days.  At times I could get it to work for perhaps a 5 minute stint before it flopped onto its back with feet sticking straight up in the air with all functions frozen, and I had to do a "hard" shut down which my daughter said was not a good thing.

At the present time it is in computer hospital and, with luck, will return home (hopefully) in not too long a period and be back in working order.  (And please, please without too much of a repair bill, if that's at all possible.)

In the meantime, I am thinking of all of you but am unable to make new posts (daughter has me hooked up to a "foreign" machine to type this update), read your posts, comment on them or receive or answer any e-mails.

I'm having to sheepishly admit being unable to use my computer on a regular basis had caused me to wonder if it is a bad . . . or good thing.  For someone who thinks they don't spend much time on the computer, I've been made aware that I spend many short periods during a day's time with my fingers on the keyboard and eyes on the screen.

So have no fear I've passed out in the garden and the cucumber vines have nearly covered my prone form.  My absence is just one of those computer "problems" that we all experience from time to time. 

Asparagus: Does Size Matter?

A blogging buddy recently commented that some homegrown asparagus she's seen doesn't look much like the slender, uniform sized bundles for sale in stores.  So, does asparagus grow in different sizes both in girth and length?

Yep, sure does.

The different sizes of spears may be hard to distinguish in this shot of one of the asparagus rows in my garden, but some spears are thin and slender, others are fat and thick. 

This is a thick spear before harvesting.

Here are a few spears of the batch of asparagus I just harvested.   There was a great variety of sizes and shapes, both in width and length.  (The longest one shown here measured 19" long.)

These three were the fattest or thickest.

Of the spears I've harvested this year, all of them (no matter size or shape) have been tender and delicious.

Before using a spear, I start at the cut end and press a sharp knife lightly into the spear as if to cut off a piece.  An inch or two (sometimes more) nearest the cut end will feel woody and tough.  I progress with my knife testing up the spear until I reach a spot where the knife blade easily starts to cut into the spear and that's the point from which I start taking the cut pieces to use.

So, no, when it comes to the thickness of the spears that may grow in your garden, size does not matter.

Having said all this, I have no idea where those uniformly sized bundles of asparagus for sale in stores come from.  Well, okay, they come from large, commercial asparagus patches.  But what happens to the bigger or smaller stalks, the misshapen ones?  Commercially prepared Cream of Asparagus soup, anyone?

"Step Away From The Cake" Recipe

Here's the recipe for the best rhubarb cake ever made (in my humble rhubarb-loving opinion) per a request made by a reader to a recent posting of mine.

This recipe was printed a couple of years ago by a gal who writes a food column for our local newspaper.  I changed the name and made slight modifications to the recipe, but owe its lusciousness to her originally shared recipe.

I don't usually enjoy or make cakes because about 98% of them seem too dry to me.  This cake is not dry in the least and is my go-to cake whenever rhubarb is in season.  Here goes:

Step Away from the (Rhubarb) Cake

Sift into a large mixing bowl:
    1 cup sugar
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 cups flour

Then add and mix well until batter is fairly smooth:
    2 beaten eggs
    1 cup plain yogurt

Next fold in:
    4 cups diced rhubarb 

Batter will be very thick.  Put it into a greased and floured 9" x 13" pan and smooth it out with a spatula.

For the topping, in a small bowl combine:
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    1/4 cup flour
    1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cut in 1/4 cup butter until thoroughly combined.

Sprinkle topping mixture evenly over top of the cake.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Four people did this much damage to the cake in one day.  (Is that a bad thing?)

I may have under-baked the cake a smidge bit this time around as it usually rises a little higher, but the flavor was not hurt one iota.

Every time I make this cake, I get a good chuckle reading the last line the author put at the bottom of the printed recipe.  After the baking instructions, she wrote: 

"Eat every last crumb then make a second

cake for your family and friends."

Yes, the cake is that good!