A Hue of Pink or Blue?

As our experiments with edible borage flowers continue, Liam is becoming an expert borage blossom picker.

We have tried eating them fresh but they taste awfully similar to smelt (which also taste a bit like cucumbers).  The cucumber-fish taste kind of weirds us out.

Two weeks old (left).  Today's (right).

Thanks to the many borage blossom-infused vinegar concoctions we currently have on the go, we are now officially out of white wine vinegar.  The accepted infusion time is 3 to 4 weeks, so we are still a ways away from taste testing but colour-wise it is pretty underwhelming.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with pink vinegar but I was pretty excited for blue.  I read some reviews that suggested "enhancing" the colour with blue food colouring, but somehow that seems like cheating.

Summer Staples

It was a kombucha and coleslaw kind of day...

Showing Off

For a weekend that we were hoping would finally be rainy, we instead had a beautiful two days full of sunshine and hot weather.  If we did not need the rain so badly, this would have been wonderful.  It did mean that we had no excuse not to get outside today and check some more farm chores off our list.

After all the work on the gardens yesterday, we suspected that our animals might be feeling a bit neglected.  So today we focused on them.  We mucked out everyone's barns (there are a lot of them right now! SIX!) - ducks, chickens, pigs, chicks, sheep, and goats.  We laid down fresh straw or wood shavings for new bedding.  We cleaned out the nest boxes and filled up the mineral feeders.  We even washed out the water and feed buckets.

Inspired by my virtual garden tour yesterday and with everyone looking their best by the end of today, the boys decided it was high time for them to take you on a virtual tour of our farm.  We opted against a live video just in case (you can never be quite sure what they will say on camera) but they actually did a really good job.

And so, (not) live from Gael Glen Farm, I present your tour guides - Liam and Seamus...

Weed Free and Loving It

We finished weeding the kitchen garden today and thought that we should take you on a quick virtual tour before the weeds all grow back!  We start at the tomatoes, head to the peas and broccoli, turn the garlic corner, mosey past the row crops, cabbage and eggplant, and end up back at the lettuce and tomatoes.

This is the best vegetable garden we have grown in our ten years here on Gael Glen Farm.  My dad would be really proud of us.  He loved a good vegetable garden and grew many himself.  He has been in my thoughts lately as I tend to a garden that could finally rival one of his.

After his passing, I questioned how I would be able to keep going on the farm without his support.  I am grateful for the family and friends who have stepped up to help me - each filling a small portion of his shoes.

I still miss my dad daily but in continuing to do the kinds of work that he also loved to do, I feel like I am keeping his memory alive in my own small way.  I wish he was here to sample my radishes and spring onions dipped in salt.  They would have really knocked his socks off.  And best of all, they can now be served without a side of weeds!

A Whack Load of Weeding

Around the time that the strawberries are ready, the vegetable garden seems to grow by leaps and bounds. 

Our first crop of homegrown strawberries is finally here!

My little strawberry pickers are ready for action (and consumption).

These past few days our plants have seemed to double in size!  This is great when we are talking about tomatoes, lettuce or basil; however when we are talking about weeds (so, so many weeds) it can get overwhelming quite quickly.  And thus, it was a happy day when my self-appointed volunteer farm hand (Mrs. Cheryl) showed up this morning ready to weed.  She got right to work and in the blink of my eye (it probably felt like an eternity to her) she had my tomato/lettuce patch back in good working order.

Motivated by her progress, Liam, Seamus and I tackled the row crops, cabbage/eggplant patch, and garlic/ground cherry corner later in the afternoon.  All that is left for tomorrow is the broccoli section and three rows of parsnips/peas. 

We got a huge amount of weeding done today, though I am not sure how much dirt we actually left in the garden.

Alistair was not bothered at all by our filth, as long as we agreed to share our strawberries with him.

Squash Shots

Remember the year we gave out squash at Thanksgiving?  Buy a jar of honey and get a free squash?  Well, we have not had a good squash harvest since that fateful year.  Our poor squash plants have been plagued by a variety of pests from the squash bug to the striped cucumber beetle.  By far the worst one though is the dreaded squash vine borer.  These bugs are awful and they really do decimate the plants.

This year we vaccinated our squash and zucchini plants against the squash vine borer.  Using a hypodermic needle, we shot up each plant with 1cc of bacteria juice (the biological insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis v. kustaki). After last year's abysmal squash crop, hopefully this, combined with crop rotation and intentionally planting more pest resistant cucurbit varieties, will get us back on the zucchini train.  

We have to repeat everyone's squash shots again in ten days from now but for the time being, all of our squash and zucchini plants are a little bit more protected from one of the bugs trying to bring them down.

Budding Florists

It was a fresh and crisp morning for harvesting Week #3's second batch of CSA baskets. Even though the rain still eludes us, I am so relieved that the heat wave is over.

Today's baskets included: sweet or snap peas, wine cap mushrooms, a salad mix (green and red leaf lettuce & endive), green head lettuce, borage or spinach leaves, kale, radishes, spring onions, a mini broccoli crown and/or leaves, garlic chives, sweet basil, mint, sage, and daikon, wasabi mustard and clover microgreens.

Today's bonus item was a beautiful bouquet of fragrant peonies.

The boys were so enthralled by the fresh cut flowers that I could not resist giving them a pair of scissors and letting them loose in the flower gardens to make their own floral bouquet.

They did an amazing job!   Apparently, florist is now up there with barber and demolition man as the boys' desired career paths.  I tried to explain to them that florists do not really run around chopping down beautiful flowers but I am not sure that my message got through. At least they had fun and I got a lovely centrepiece out of the deal.  In hindsight, I wonder if I clarified that this was a one time thing...we might need to revisit that tomorrow before I have no flowers left in my gardens ever again!

Everything's Coming Up Mushrooms

We are having great success with our wine cap mushroom patch this year.  Our trick is to keep it watered.  The mushrooms are loving this hot hot heat!

Today's mushroom-based meal was thyme focaccia bread topped with mushrooms, feta cheese and borage blossoms.  Beautiful and beyond delicious!

Procrastinators Never Proposer

How do I loathe thee, Laundry?  Let me count the ways I can avoid washing, folding and putting away...

Procrastination Strategy #1: Daisy Bud Capers

Procrastination Strategy #2: Mexican Caramel Sauce

Procrastination Strategy #3: Pickled Watermelon Rind

And alas, as direct result of my excellent procrastination skills and in spite of Alistair's "assistance", the Olympic Mons of clean but unfolded laundry is still towering in my living room.  I guess we all know what I will be doing this evening... 

Procrastinators never prosper but they do end up with pickled watermelon, cajeta and capers!

Lovin' on our Papa Bear

You are the bait on our hook, the motor on our boat, and the ice cream on our peach blueberry pie.  Quite simply, you make our lives better every day.  We are so lucky to have you as our Papa Bear.  

Happy Father's Day to the most important man in our lives.  Ian, we love you to the moon and back.

Just Ali and Me

As Mama of three it is always amusing to reflect back once upon a time when I thought it was tough having one child.  Now, any chance I have to care for only one child at a time is practically a vacation!  Which brings us to today.

Liam is up at the cottage for a few days with Grandma.
Seamus was up at the crack of dawn ready and waiting for his promised fishing trip with Daddy.  They eventually rolled out at 6:30 am leaving Alistair and I to fend for ourselves.  Easy peasy.

I got a chance to have two cups of coffee while Ali played quietly after breakfast.  There are definitely perks to caring for a kid whose only words are "all done", "Ali" and "Emily doggy".

Alistair and I made Greek yogurt, mushroom soup, mocha rye bread, and raspberry mint kombucha.

During his nap, I watered the plants and livestock and weeded the kitchen garden.

Halfway

All done!

We did several loads of laundry.  It is still weird to see face masks drying up there.

We played in the sandbox and made an easy supper of venison steaks with grilled zucchini and peppers on the BBQ.

By the time Seamus and Daddy returned with seven keepers, we had had a very productive day.  Just Ali and me.  What a team!

Daddy and Seamus are a pretty good team too!