Lots of eggs in Illinois

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The flavour of a fresh, home grown egg can’t be beat in my opinion, so an over-abundance of eggs would be welcome around here. Abundance is exactly what Sarah in Illinois has. Add a few chickens to your household, and the eggs quickly pile up. Sarah is here today sharing some of her favourite egg recipes. She’s also seeking suggestions on other ways to use up her bounty.

We still have 7 healthy chickens so that means we have 6-7 eggs to collect every day. Those eggs add up quickly. I really hate to have any waste, so after I have given eggs to our immediate family, I try to use everything that is left.

The most obvious use for eggs is breakfast. I like to scramble a few and add fresh chives and dill from my herb garden before I leave for work. On the weekends, Steve fries them or makes his favorite: omelets. His specialty is filling the omelets with green peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese, sausage and fried potatoes.

Probably the most common way we prepare our eggs is hard boiling them to have for breakfasts or an easy to grab, high protein snack.

Blitz’s favorite breakfast? Boiled eggs mashed up with butter. No lie.

Our go-to carry-in dish is to make deviled eggs. This past weekend I made them to take to our family reunion and used a basic recipe of mixing the yolk with mayo, mustard and relish. Then I added ranch dressing to thin it out a little. This isn’t Steve’s favorite, but the kids and I like it.

However, even with all of these uses, we still have plenty of eggs left over. So I decided to search for more recipes.

Growing up mom often made a quiche. I think I am going to try this one by Paula Deen.
One dish that I have always been curious about is Eggs Benedict. I have never tried it before but I think this would be an easy recipe to try.

I keep telling myself to make a batch of these scrambled egg muffins and freeze for a quick breakfast on mornings we are running late.

One of our overachieving hens laid this double-yolker.

What would make your egg recipe list? How do you like your eggs for breakfast? What are your favorite ingredients in an omelet?

Mmmmm… eggs. I love eggs. (BTW, I love that spiral egg rack too.) I’m a poached egg person usually. I love dipping toast fingers in the yolk. We also make our own version of McMuffins some weekend mornings. Omelets, quiches and frittatas are a go-to for an easy dinner. If you’re looking for something a little fancier, a strata is a good go-to. I’ve made this one a few times and it’s good.

Labour Day labours

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Happy Labour Day everyone.

Like Studio McGee said on Instagram the other day, I’m “really feeling the whole rest from your labours thing this weekend.”

Of course, we tend to mix in a bit of labour around here even when we’re having a mostly relaxing weekend–a three day weekend too. But sometimes the labour doesn’t go as planned.

Note the dog, who is very unconcerned with his chances of getting smushed by either a car or a tractor or whipped by a snapping chain. I’m glad he trusts us to keep him safe, but dude could have a bit better sense of self-preservation.

Note as well the husband hiding behind the front end loader.

And a final note that this is all my fault. I hadn’t mowed the gully with the push mower as well as I usually do. There was an actual thought of, “I wonder whether Matt can get down here with Wiley.”

Turns out he can, but he can’t get out, at least not when the ground is soft and a little wet.

What are you doing this Labour Day?

Birthday wishlist

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Happy September, everyone. September is my birthday month. Usually, I tend to have one thing on my birthday wishlist. In the past, Matt and our families have come together to give me my coveted Strandmon wing chair, a beautiful painting of a local landmark and our birdbath.

This year, I’m putting two things on my wishlist: a load of topsoil and a session with a stump grinder. Maybe not typical for birthday festivities, but much desired by me.

The topsoil will regrade the north and back of the house getting rid of the last of the rocks and weeds in these two areas. It would be very nice to have these two areas graded properly for water flow and have them mowable next summer.

The stump grinding is also about mowing. Ralph’s stump (sorry, Ralph) is my nemesis every time we cut the grass.

Now that we’ve cleared the meadow, a few more stumps have been revealed. They’re continuing to sprout suckers which block my view of the pond. And again, mowing around them is a pain. Getting rid of these stumps would be a huge part of our quest to clean up the meadow.

Really, property clean-up is like a gift that keeps on giving. Yes, there’s some work involved, but I enjoy that part. I will also enjoy my stump free meadow and weed free yard for years to come. So happy birthday to me, maybe?

What’s the oddest birthday gift you’ve ever asked for or been given? Have you ever used a stump grinder? I’m curious to see one in action.

End of summer sunrise

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Our morning walks have been slowly getting darker and darker. I love summer, so I’m sad to see the days shortening. But I do enjoy seeing the sun rise over the fields rather than heading out when it’s already up. The change of season is coming.

How are you starting your days as the summer winds down? Is anyone else a bit sad that summer’s coming to an end?

Sawing through the honey-do list

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Since moving to the farm, I’ve discovered a few new favourite tools. One of these is the chainsaw. However, in our house the chainsaw is Matt’s and he’s the one who wields it. Due first to Matt’s broken arm and then to a hole in the oil tank on the saw, we’ve been chainsaw-less so far this year.

Matt’s arm is healed and almost back to full strength. He and his Dad fibreglassed the oil tank back together. And over the weekend he finally fired up the saw.

Low hanging branches, small trees that sprouted up in unwanted spots, dead wood have all been trimmed. Best of all, Matt went through the meadow and down to the pond.

My view to the pond is continuing to clear. It seems like as soon as I abandoned hope of clearing the pond shore this year, that’s when we finally started this project.

A few hours of work netted us the biggest burn/brush pile I think we’ve ever had. A tractor-size one. We also left a bunch of brush down at the pond to burn there.

Collecting the brush was Mr. B’s favourite part. Or the trailer ride to get the brush was.

How was your weekend?

Vegetable garden: Keeping it real

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Today we’re keeping it real. I haven’t shared much about the vegetable garden this year. Mostly because I felt like it’s not good looking or full of food yet. But weedy, slow-growing, buggy… whatever is happening in the garden is what you’re going to see today.

Like the hose that fell off the fence that I haven’t bothered to fix yet.

Honestly, I love our garden. I’m very proud of it, and I think overall it’s doing well this year.

We got a late start, so all of our produce is behind. This might have been to our advantage, though, because our spring was super rainy. By the time we put things in the soil, the rain had mostly passed, so our sprouts and seeds survived.

We’ll start in quadrant #1. This is the area where I planted our winter rye cover crop last fall. We never turned the rye in the spring because I didn’t know what I wanted to plant here. So I just mowed the rye.

We had a surprise when a whole row of Russian Blue potatoes popped up through the rye. Last year, this quadrant was home to all of our potatoes. I have no idea how we left so many potatoes in the ground last fall–and apparently in a perfect row. But we’re taking the volunteers and I’ve been carefully mowing around them.

Quadrant #1 is also home to our zucchini. I didn’t know where to put them, so I stuck them in the middle of the rye. The plants are a little crowded and spindly as a result, but I’ve harvested two zucs and there are more to come–which will be good as my sisters and people at work have all been asking for them.

As we rotate around the ring, we come to the blackberry and raspberry rows. I planted five new blackberry bushes in the spring, and they are all alive, which feels like a great victory.

In an attempt to combat weeds, we laid some wood chips between the blackberry and raspberry rows. They’re not working quite as well as I had hoped–weeds are the story of the garden this year.

The red raspberries were plentiful–in fact, they completely got away from me. I couldn’t keep up with the picking, and so I let the raspberries go. We enjoyed lots of them though before I gave up. I’m looking forward to pruning the canes this fall. I think it will tidy up the row and hopefully improve the health of our plants.

The one issue is that the raspberries have fallen victim to Japanese beetles. So even if I didn’t like picking berries, I need to get back in the canes and pick beetles.

Quadrant #2 on the other side of the centre axis of the berries hosts this year’s potato crop. A whole quarter of the garden devoted completely to potatoes. You can see the weeds at the back edge of the quadrant, but the potatoes have managed to thrive despite the invaders. And we’re actually really close to harvesting. I think the red potatoes are ready. The rest are not far behind.

At the far edge of the garden, our grape vines are climbing. After the vines were decimated by strange little worms in the spring, everyone has bounced back. The vines are tall and leafy. I did cut off any grapes that sprouted in the spring so that the plants could focus on growing big and strong. Things are looking good and my fingers are crossed that a year from now we will have fruit.

Spinning around into quadrant #3 we come to our late bloomers. This was the very last quadrant we planted. We have a row of decorative kale (it’s supposed to be in different colours, not for eating), my favourite yellow bush beans, my other favourite beets, some parsley and a mix of lettuce–oh, and more weeds.

I really like the arrangement of the ring of raised beds around the outer edge of the garden. These are home to our perennials like asparagus, grapes, rhubarb, blueberries and hollyhocks. They also have all of our herbs. My favourite is rosemary. I’ve laid a few springs down, trying to encourage new bushes to root.

Opposite the raspberries the other arm of the centre axis is our squash A-frame. Half is butternut (my favourite) and half is acorn (Matt’s favourite). Because we planted so late, they haven’t climbed very high, but they’re working on it. I love how the A-frame helps to keep the squash contained. Otherwise, they would absolutely take over the whole garden.

Our final quadrant, #4, is probably my favourite. Remember back when I said I wanted to try a straw mulch to deal with weeds? I have decent layer on straw on this quarter, and it’s been very helpful at suppressing weeds. This quadrant is growing onions, red and jalapeno peppers and three rows of tomatoes–one more than last year.

Our cherry tomatoes–which are all volunteers–are the first to ripen. None of them have made it into the house yet. I love having a pre-dinner snack right in the garden.

So that’s the garden so far this year. Not the prettiest and not the most productive–at least not yet–but ours, and I’m satisfied with where we’re at.

How is your garden growing? What are your tips for dealing with weeds? Do you have any favourites that you’ve planted this year?

Mid-summer garden in Illinois

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

We’re deep into summer, which means the gardens are at their peak (well, they should be… ours is a bit behind as you’ll see later this week). However, Sarah’s garden is going gangbusters in Illinois.

My garden is in full swing. I think the pictures can mostly speak for themselves.

Brussel Sprouts

Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes! Wow!

Tomatillo

Side note on my tomatillo: this is my first time ever growing a tomatillo. The plant looks very green and healthy however, I have not seen anything that resembles any fruit. I only see blooms. I was at first worried that maybe it didn’t get pollinated, but the other day I saw a little bee working hard going from bloom to bloom. I really hope something comes of this little plant!

Watermelon

Peppers

So what am I doing will all of this produce?

Quite a bit is eaten fresh in salads and snacks.

Sometimes I roast it for a delicious side (my favorite way to eat green beans).

And finally, I am learning to can. We brought my mother-in-law over to show us the ropes in canning and so far I have canned:

Ten pints of hot peppers.

Nine quarts of tomato juice. And there will be many more to come. The tomatoes are just now ripening.

And finally 24 quarts of green beans.

I am learning a lot about canning.

For example, when the directions suggest using rubber gloves when canning hot peppers, DO IT!

I am also learning vegetables ripen quickly and all at once. So just because you thought you didn’t have anything planned for the evening, one trip to the garden will change your plans to a late night over a steaming stove top.

And finally I have learned that the small area we had set aside for the few things that my mother-in-law had canned in previous years is way too small and will require new shelves and storage area and a minor remodeling of our laundry room. But of course, that is material for another post.

What do you do with a large harvest? Do you can? Freeze? Dehydrate? Any suggestions on how to use 10 pints of hot peppers?

What an awesome harvest already, Sarah. Well done. I think canning is a necessary part of gardening. We turned most of our tomatoes into ketchup last year, and Matt’s talking about salsa this year. We also pickled a lot of beans. I was skeptical, but I really liked them.

Freezing and dehydrating are also good. My secret with the cherry tomatoes came from Chiot’s Run: garlic, olive oil, roast overnight in a low temperature oven. They turn out almost like sundried tomatoes. Then I toss them in freezer bags and into the freezer. Really good with pasta or pizza.

Composter course correction

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Remember when I overthought my way into adding a composter behind the house? It’s been really handy having the composter so convenient to the kitchen (the picture below is from when I first put the composter in place two years ago).

However, it was apparently a little too convenient for someone else too. And we apparently were composting some overly delectable food stuffs (and I apparently haven’t weeded the patio yet this year). Side note: For about the third weekend in a row rain started as soon as I hung up the laundry. So annoying.

Someone tunneled into the composter, spreading food around and tilting the composter.

So compost clean-up was required–boy, you’re in for a glamourous post today.

I had been hoping to defer this area until the fall, when I can deal with all of the weeds behind the house, pick up rocks and seed new grass–basically what I’ve already done on the other side of the concrete steps. I’d do it all in one shot, level things out–and over-complicate a simple composter installation yet again.

But the composter was too tilted to use, and the smell of compost was making its way up to the kitchen window.

So I decided not to over-complicate things and to just fix the immediate problem.

I picked up the composter and set it aside. It’s light plastic and easily lifted off the ground. Then I scooped the compost that was strewn about into the wheelbarrow and went about releveling the area.

Along the way, I did end up extracting a bunch of rocks–what else is new–but I tried not to get too carried away. It still took Matt and Wiley three trips to take them to the rock pile behind the barn–and these are only from an area that’s about 3 feet by 4 feet. So ridiculous.

Then I was able to set the composter back in place and put the compost back inside. The compost looked really good, and I considered just spreading it right on the gardens, but there was enough food that was still whole that I just dumped everything back in the bin. Soon enough.

I piled a bit of dirt around the bottom of the composter and then spread some grass seed to hopefully help hold everything in place.

So it’s not glamourous, but it looks better–and the kitchen no longer smells like compost.

Still to come, the rest of the back of the house.

Do you have a composter at your house? Have you had any issues with animals getting into your compost pile? How long does it take for your compost to decompose?

Summer lull

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Vegetables are slowly growing in the garden. Some of the hay fields have been cut for the second time. Lilies are blooming in the flowerbeds.

Summer goes on at the farm, and I’m enjoying it.

I’m going to take a week off from the blog to savour some more of my favourite season. I’ll be back next week.

Finding our waterfront

Posted on August 11, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Remember how clearing the pond shore was my one and only outdoor home goal for this year? And how at the mid-year report I said it wasn’t going to happen?

It’s happening, people.

Our keen 17-year-old nephew who loves being at the farm had a day off from his summer job, and he wanted to learn how to drive the tractor. If you’re driving the tractor, you might as well learn how to use the front end loader, the new rotary cutter and tow the trailer.

So I went through the basics of a hydrostatic transmission and what levers did what. We hooked on the rotary cutter and I pointed him at the pond.

Here’s how things were looking after last weekend’s mowing of the meadow. I swear there’s water on the other side of all of that grass and brush.

I was super impressed with our nephew. He was calm and confident and careful.

A morning of work cleared about half the shore on the east side. The remaining thickets are hiding all kinds of logs and stumps. So we have more work to do, and I need to set Matt loose with his chainsaw, but the progress is awesome.

This vantage point still doesn’t show you much of the water, but I swear it’s there.