The last of the robin eggs have hatched! They should be out of the nest within a couple weeks (and I’ll thankfully get my ladder back)…
2017 garden started
Forecast is for a warm and mostly sunny week, so moved some of the more hardy plant starts outside. Started these summer squash seeds a month ago. Mammoth Red cabbage got started mid-March. Also planted Waltham 29 broccoli, Chioggia beets, Kabocha winter squash, Graffiti Purple cauliflower, tomatillos, and sugar snap pea starts. I’ll direct seed carrots, lettuce varieties, Swiss chard, spinach, and sunflowers later today. It’s still a little risky here in the northwest to plant chili and tomato starts outside — that will be a mid-June project. The garden looks so empty this early in the season. It’ll be a jungle by July, though, assuming all grows well. Garlic planted last fall is
May 22, 2017
new cherry blossoms
First cherry blossoms on the first cherry trees I’ve planted. Happy to see they made it through this exceptionally cold, snowy winter!
sunflower greens harvest
Wow — these sunflower greens came up fast. Usually ~12 days start to harvest, this batch was ready for harvest in 7 days. Fingers crossed the batch started yesterday will be ready for this Saturday’s Kalispell Farmers’ Market!
beehive dead-out
Planet B Gardens’ bees, sadly, did not make it through this winter. After the bear attacks in the fall that took out half the hives, I had one large, strong hive left and one small, weak one. The remaining hives went into winter with plenty of fresh capped honey. When I opened the large hive, 75% of the honey remained, undisturbed. The smaller hive had 50% left. There was no sign of moisture build-up, no mold, no varroa mites, no other visible disturbance in either of the hives. A ball of dead bees huddled together in the center of the hive, while the remaining dead ones littered the bottom board. This
April 25, 2017
first garlic
First sprouts of Siberian Purple garlic emerging this spring from the few spots in the garden where snow has melted this season. Much of the garden remains covered in snow, though, and the ground temp is still less than 40F. Planting cover crops will have to wait a while longer. Crimson Clover going in once the ground warms up a bit more.
endless snow and baking
Getting mad baking skills with the endless snow this winter…. Rye batard today—fresh out of the oven.
montana christmas
Montana-themed Christmas gingerbread and sugar cookies — homemade from the neighbor kids….great job, guys!
chili verde with hominy
Snow is falling here on the Montana homestead. Time for a warm, hearty meal. I had some ground, lean pork shoulder from a local farm in the freezer, plus hominy I’d made a couple weeks back. Just the ingredients to start a spicy chili verde. Chili Verde with Hominy 1.5 cups chopped onions 4-6 fermented garlic cloves, smashed and chopped (you can also use fresh garlic cloves) 1 lb. ground pork shoulder ¼ cup canola oil (if needed; if your pork has enough fat on its own, omit the oil) 4 large green jalapeños, sliced into rings (keep the seeds if you like it spicy, remove them if you prefer a
November 16, 2016
fresh horehound lozenges
Yesterday I got some beautiful, fresh horehound leaves from a herb farm near my place. Horehound is great for reducing the congestion of an oncoming cold, so making this batch into lozenges in advance of the winter season. To make the lozenges, put a packed cup of the fresh leaves into a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan with a cup of water. Cover, bring to simmer, reduce the heat to low for 20 minutes. Pour the finished leaf “tea” into a mesh strainer over a bowl to catch the liquid. Squeeze the liquid from the leaves into the bowl, and add the liquid back into the saucepan. Compost the spent leaves. Add 1 cup of
August 25, 2016