My First Egg!

My chickens are starting to (finally!) lay eggs. This was the first egg and it was delicious! It was an abundant garden this summer and I just have to (rather proudly) share what I have harvested and preserved: Zucchini bread; green tomato jam; frozen green beans, corn, swiss chard, pesto; dried corn, chicos, cranberry beans; onions, garlic, all the herbs, sunflower seeds; ambercup winter squash; sun dried tomatoes packed in oil; and from the Farmer's Market honey and potatoes. Wahoo!!!!

Green Tomato Jam

Green Tomato Jam
4 lbs. of green tomatoes, chopped
2 lbs. of powdered sugar
3 lemons, sliced very thin and quartered
In a large bowl, alternate layers of the chopped green tomatoes and powdered sugar. Put in refrigerator for 24 hours, stir. In a large kettle, bring to a boil and then simmer the green tomato and powdered sugar mixture for one hour. Skim off any foam. Add lemons and simmer for one more hour. Sterilize jars and lids and fill the hot clean jars with the hot tomato mixture. Fasten lids and put the tomato jam upside down on clean towels. Leave upside down for 30 min., or until when turned upright, the jar lids are sealed. When you tap on the top of the lid, it shouldn't give at all and be tight. Enjoy!

Summer Bounty

The rains came and my Russian Mammoth Sunflowers grew 9 ft. tall. So did the corn! Lots of produce this summer, hard at work preserving food right now. Mostly freezing (30 loaves of zucchini nut bread and lots of vegies) and drying herbs, chives, etc. Chickens love the extra goodies from the garden and I made a pallet compost bin to put in all the chicken waste and garden scraps. Full circle now: chickens feed the compost bin that feeds the garden that feeds us, love it! Chickens should start laying any day now, too. Kitty likes eating my organic Swiss Chard!

My chickens have come home to roost!

My Tropicana Beachless Resort for my 10 (6 different types) chickens is finished and they have happily moved into their spacious home. They are pretty easy to take care of and I enjoy hanging out with them. They seem to like me singing "Summertime" to them. They sleep all cuddled together, heads resting on each others backs-very sweet and I'm not seeing any of this infamous pecking order. I really love them. All I need now is some pink flamingos for their yard!

The Eternal Renewal

Nothing says Spring! like my neighbor's goats having babies..... And me out in my 1200 sq.ft. circular organic vegie garden prepping the soil to receive seeds. Hard physical work (that at first I questioned if I would be able to do), but by the end I felt so strong and proud of my accomplishment! Now, gotta do the planting part next weekend.

Bees and The Due Return Show!

Bronze Age Bee Goddess

Just took my first beekeeping class. Wonderful! We wore veils but no gloves. I had to pick up the Queen's cage from a table that had bees totally covering it. I moved VERY slowly and the bees gently parted to let me pick it up. Nothing happened and I faced my fear about being stung big-time!

Then I saw a great movie, Queen of the Sun, about the predicament of bees. Scientist and beekeepers from all over the world sharing information. Pretty alarming information and yet somehow the film was very uplifting and inspiring. And so beautiful!! I'm totally committed to having bees on my Paradise Farm next summer.
Coming soon - 10 day old baby chicks (May 13)!!

That's also the date of my son (Keith Yohai) with Meow Wolf's opening at the Center for Contemporary Art, www.theduereturn.com. An amazing show of a 2500 sq. ft. ship that has been traveling through time and space for 2 centuries and has now landed on an alien landscape! There's a ton of buzz about this show, including 2 national art magazine articles. Can't wait!!

Heirloom vs. Hybrid Seeds

Heirloom seeds are unaltered seeds often handed down through generations of people. They sometimes have interesting histories - "brought over from the old country by Anna and carried west in a covered wagon". Most importantly, you can take the seed from the plant, save the seed, and next year when you plant that seed you will get the same exact plant. Hybrid seeds have been modified by combining several types of the same plant and when you plant their seeds, they can revert back to any of it's ancestors so you can't be sure of what you'll end up with. Heirloom seeds do tend to grow wonderfully delicious vegetables but if you grow several types of say, zucchinis, they can cross pollinate and next year's zucchini could be a mix of types. If you want to save the seeds, just grow one type of that particular vegetable that summer. Hybrid seeds can be designed to be disease resistant, which can be helpful. They are all good but I love my heirloom seeds as they are jewels of the garden passed hand to hand from one earth lover to another!

Daydreaming through the Seed Catalogs

Took this picture a week ago from my porch. And while it's (very) cold outside, I'm doing one of my favorite things to do in my organic vegetable garden: going through my seed catalogs and daydreaming my future garden. It's so easy, no hard work digging, weeding, planting! The seed catalogs I prefer are: Seed Savers, Johnny's, and Territorial. I never can resist trying something new, something exotic. But I have my tried and true favorites also. Like costa romesco zucchini, the old fashioned zucchini with the ribs, best texture and flavor! We often take for granted that which comes easily to us, like the abundance of zucchini. But I treasure them as zucchini is so versatile in recipes, from pickles to casseroles and breads!

Why Pioneers Didn't Pay For Gyms, Part 2

Snow shoveling, like gardening, is a full body workout. I'm continuing my quest to learn how to bake good bread. One of the most successful ones I've tried is Debra Madison's challah bread. I'm finding that the trick is in getting hearty healthy whole wheat bread bread to lighten up and not be a very dense brick. Kinda like my lesson in life right now.