Overseer of Hens & Holes

Pecky Becky has assigned herself Hole Overseer. She spent the entire day supervising this hen as she sat in a hole. The whole day. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Dinner Delivery

Ian and Liam had a very successful fishing trip and brought us home a delicious pan fried supper!

What a catch!

The freshest fish ever.
From live well to pan in under an hour!

 

CSA Week #5

Today Gael Glen Farm's CSA basket included: snap peas, cabbage, broccoli leaves and crowns, chinese cabbage, scallions, radishes, eggplant, arugula, spinach, lettuce, hot and sweet peppers, basil, apple mint, parsley, sage, oregano, dill, marjoram, microgreens, a dozen eggs, fresh baked bread, and dandelion jelly.

The cabbages are really coming along nicely - they are forming lovely heads and I am managing to keep the cabbage worms under control!

We also got our first cherry tomato today, though it did not make it into a basket but instead headed straight into my belly! I can't wait for tomato season to get underway.

And Then, Life Can Go On

On really hard days like today, it helps me to breathe deep and remember to be grateful for all the beauty surrounding me. And then, life can go on...

Tic Tac Toe

The chickens are on a roll lately creating themselves a tic tac toe board that doubles as a dust bath spa. I wonder how long until they are ready to play.

 

Chip Drop for the Win

The only good thing to happen in the past week was the drop off of a free load of poplar wood chips via Chip Drop. I am seriously happy to now be able to reinoculate my mushroom patch and then top it with these fresh chips. Here's to hoping for an amazing flush of wine caps this fall.

 

Thistles by the Thousands

Before

It is weeding season and someone has been very busy in the chicken coop garden. This was a labour of love and took many, many weeding sessions fit in around our very busy life. If anyone wonders why they are asked to pay more for organic produce, it is because your farmer spent heaps of time weeding to ensure you aren't getting a side of thistles with your greens.  #firstdayofsummervacation #divineintervention

After

One Thing After Another

 I was so thrilled to see Gus Gus return to the farm today and was finally able to locate her egg stash. I built her a beautiful, fluffy straw nest in her own part of the coop and relocated her and her eggs to safety just in time for a huge downpour that turned her muddy hole in the ground "nest" into a miniature pond. Well, so much for that. Gus Gus did not want anything to do with her new nest, her relocated eggs, or her dry safe space in the coop. After two hours of her throwing a fit and kicking her eggs around (and me hoping she would give up, gather them up, and sit on them), I opened the door and she fled to be with Pecky Becky, abandoning her eggs entirely. Sigh. That was an epic failure, though at least Gus is back to sleeping safely tucked away in the coop at night.  Until she lays another clutch of eggs I suppose and we begin the whole process again. Double sigh.

Mother Nature's Tears

 

Like us, Mother Nature is sad to wish farewell to our beloved GG. GG was a very important part of our lives and she will be forever missed. I am very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to say goodbye before she passed. I know she heard me.

CSA Week #4

Alistair is still home sick so we had a special helper to prepare this week's vegetable baskets. As a result, the harvesting process took twice as long, lol.

This week's harvest includes: snap peas, a spring cabbage, broccoli leaves and crowns, kale, a chinese cabbage, scallions, radishes, lovage, garlic chives, garlic scapes, apple mint, parsley, sage, oregano, dill, thyme, lemon thyme, head lettuce, peppers, daikon microgreens, wasabi mustard microgreens, red clover microgreens, a dozen eggs, and your special items this week are sun dried tomato, feta, and farm-fresh rosemary focaccia bread and four bottles of tropical fruit-themed kombucha (passionfruit, mango, guava, and lychee).

Ali is Under the Weather

Sometimes when it seems to good to be true, it is because it probably is. Alistair was perfectly quiet on our fishing trip yesterday because he is sick. I took his temperature at bedtime on Sunday and it was 102F. Looks like someone won't be going to daycare today.

Fishing on Father's Day

It was a busy day with tutoring, a classmate's birthday party paintball adventure, and a bunch of weeding, but we still made time to get out fishing on the Ottawa River to celebrate Father's Day with our very favourite Papa! We didn't catch anything but it was a lovely way to send a Sunday afternoon.

Alistair was great on the boat.
He even almost napped out on the water.

Winner of a Dinner

There are so many delicious things going on in this dish, I don't know where to begin. We have farm fresh shiitake mushrooms, sorrel, scallions, garlic scapes, and broccoli leaves. This one was a winner!

 

Growing Greens

As someone who does not enjoy the heat, I am loving the cooler spring we are having. In addition, it is excellent for growing greens. This lettuce and arugula is the perfect topping for tonight's lamb and feta burgers.

 

In Search of a Manly Man (Turkey)

Gus Gus seems to have flown the coop. After milling around in the run yesterday, she was nowhere to be found at bedtime last night (again). I made Ian help me search the weed forest missing person style (line searches at arms length) but alas no Gus Gus or nest of turkey eggs. I remained hopeful that she would return this morning like she has the past few days but nope. No Gus Gus.

Ian thinks that she might have gone to join the wild turkeys that live in the trees near the creek not far from the farm. We can see the males roosting high in the trees at night and we can hear them gobble at dusk. He says in nature the hens travel to find a suitable mate so this would make sense given the time of year. We are all aware that Pecky Becky sucks at reproduction so it is entirely possible that Gus has had enough and had gone to find a more manly bird to have babies with. 

While it seems that Gus' patience with Pecky Becky has worn out, poor Pecky Becky is now the lone turkey in a flock of chickens - at least until Gus Gus (hopefully) returns with her chicks.  It's only been one day but I think Pecky Becky looks lonesome, don't you?

Haskap Energy Boost

 Raisin bran with blueberries and farm fresh haskaps = breakfast of champions.

CSA Week #3

I am certainly enjoying the beautiful sunny weather for this morning's CSA Week #3 harvest. This week's baskets are amazing - so fresh and full of variety!

Today's harvest includes: a spring cabbage, broccoli leaves, rhubarb, kale, a Chinese cabbage, scallions, radishes, lovage, garlic chives, garlic scapes, apple mint, parsley, sage, oregano, dill, lemon balm, basil, head lettuce, baby peppers, daikon microgreens, wasabi mustard microgreens, red clover microgreens, a bouquet of fresh cut peonies, and a dozen eggs. The special items this week are chive-themed: a loaf of fresh baked chive and cheddar bread and chive blossom-infused vinegar to use in homemade salad dressings.

It is a delicious day to be a Gael Glen Farm CSA member! Have a good one.