What’s Happening Now Around the Farm: Weekly Update I

Hello! I hope all is well with you :) We’ll be providing weekly updates on what we’re up to. Depending on the time of year, this may include gardening, livestock, food preservation, farm projects, and/or recipes.

This week we:

• transplanted some plants we started from seed

• Are waiting for our goats to have their babies!!

• Made Baked Beans from scratch

• Put American Bresse Hatching Eggs into the Incubator

• Celebrated our Wedding Anniversary

New Life in the Garden, Again…

We transplanted some of our starters into the ground outside - specifically Rober Cauliflower, Dragon’s Tongue Wax Beans, Burpeeana Early Peas, Sugar Daddy Peas, and Safari Zucchini. The peas and cauliflower are frost hardy, so I have no concerns about them surviving the winter weather. It’s our birds that are their greatest threat! Our garden is fully enclosed, but the fencing is only 3 feet high, and we have chickens, turkeys, and a Guinnea cock that are all fully capable of flying over without issue. We made “mini-greenhouses” by repurposing gallon milk jugs. We simply cut off the bottom and placed the milk jug over the plants that are not frost tolerant - those being the beans and zucchini. I’m excited to compare how well they do to the same plants that I’ll grow indoors until the threat of the last frost has passed. We live in zone 9a/9b in interior Northern California, and for our area, our average last frost date is February 15; however, I’ve found that we have unexpected frosts way after that, and when I transplant too early, it stunts them for so long that we ultimately end up with fewer fruits throughout the year. This year, I aim to have everything transplanted during the last week of March and the first week of April.

On the 24th of January, 2023, Thomas, who’s 3 years old, and I started various seeds indoors, ranging from late winter to summer crops. We used a 72-cell seed starting tray, with Burpee organic seed starting mix, along with a warming pad set to 72 degrees Fahrenheit and some cheap grow lights. Here’s what we planted and how many days it took until they first sprouted. If there’s no number of days included, then they haven’t sprouted as of February 4, 2023 (11 days since planting):

• Sweet Peppers

  • Albino Bullnose Heirloom (white)

  • California Wonder Heirloom (green to red)

  • Zulu Heirloom (black)

• Spicy Peppers

  • Jalapeno - 9 days

  • Serrano Tempiquino - 9 days

  • Poblano - 9 days

  • Craig’s Grande Jalapeno - 6 days

• Squash/Gourds/Melons/Cucumber

  • Round Zucchini - 11 days

  • Black Beauty Zucchini

  • Safari Zucchini - 5 days

  • Table Queen Acorn Squash

  • Luffa - 5 days

  • Zucca (World’s largest bottle gourd) - 7 days

  • Golden Honeydew Melon

  • Hearts of Gold Heirloom Cantaloupe

  • Royal Golden Melon - 4 days

  • Mexican Sour Gherkin/Cucamelon - 4 days

  • Aonaga Jibai Cucumber - 3 days

  • Armenian Cucumber/Melon - 4 days

• Nightshades

  • Purple Tomatillo

  • Rosita Eggplant - 8 days

  • Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry - 6 days

  • Barry’s Crazy Cherry Hybrid Tomatoes

  • Amish Paste Heirloom Tomato - 4 days

  • Best Boy Hybrid Tomato - 3 days

  • Steak Sandwich Hybrid Tomato - 4 days

  • Thorburn's Terra-Cotta Heirloom Tomato - 3 days

  • Dad’s Sunset Heirloom Tomato - 4 days

  • Super Sweet 100s Hybrid Tomato - 4 days

• Herbs

  • Chervil - 6 days

  • Marjoram - 3 days

  • Sage - 7 days

  • Purple Opal Basil - 4 days

  • Lettuce Basil - 4 days

  • Persian Basil - 4 days

  • Sweet Basil - 4 days

• Beans/Peas

  • Blue Lake Green Beans (bush) - 5 days

  • Dragon’s Tongue Heirloom Wax Bean - 5 days

  • Burpeeana Early Peas - 4 days

  • Sugar Daddy Peas - 4 days

• Onions/Alliums

  • Leeks - 4 days

  • Green Bunching Onions - 4 days

  • Ailsa Craig Heirloom Onions - 6 days

  • Yellow of Parma Heirloom Onions - 5 days

  • Wethersfield Red Heirloom Onions - 6 days

  • Flat of Italy Heirloom Onions - 6 days

  • Southport Globe Red Heirloom Onions - 6 days

• Brassicas

  • Waltham 29 Heirloom Broccoli - 4 days

  • Ragged Jack/Russian Red Heirloom Kale - 4 days

  • Purple Peacock Heirloom Broccoli - 4 days

  • De’jesi Heirloom Cauliflower - 4 days

  • Rober Heirloom Cauliflower - 4 days

We were thoughtful as we curated our list of plants we’d like to grow this year. We chose a mix of heirlooms and hybrids that offer both deliciousness and tolerance to our exceedingly hot and dry, arid growing conditions.

Goat Babies on the Way!

Both of our does are pregnant and ready to have their babies any day now! Our doe Moira is a Boer Goat, which is a meat variety. She was born in April of 2021 and this is her second freshening (pregnancy). In April of 2022, she delivered a single stillborn doeling. I assisted with the birth because her baby was stuck and she was not able to deliver it herself. Unfortunately, it died in the process, which was heartbreaking. Another story for another day. I am hopeful she will deliver a healthy babe or two, without incident.

The other doe, Cajeta, actually belongs to our friend Marisol. We fostered Cajeta for about 6 months and during that time she became pregnant and is now about to deliver. She’ll go home with Marisol after the babies are born and when Marisol’s goat pen is ready. We will miss her though - she is the sweetest! Cajeta is a hornless Nigerian Dwarf, which is a miniature Dairy breed.

There were two bucks in our goat enclosure, but we believe the dominant buck, Caramelo, also a Nigerian Dwarf, most likely impregnated both Cajeta and Moira. We have a buckling named Bashir, born March 2022, who never stood a chance at breeding because Caramelo wouldn’t allow him to get near the girls when they were in heat. Bashir is Moira’s adopted baby - another story for another day - but the day after Moira delivered her one and only baby and it didn’t live, Lane purchased an orphaned Boer triplet for Moira to raise. It took a couple of weeks, but we were able to graph Moira and Bashir successfully. Bashir means “bringer of good news” which we thought was just perfect, for he brought joy to Moira when she was heartbroken (and I was, too).

We aren’t sure exactly when they’re due, but they both have “bagged out”, meaning their milk has come in. Moira initially looked like she was a week or so behind Cajeta, but now it seems possible that Moira will deliver first! We have them in a separate area so they can safely deliver without the bucks or any other animals bothering them. The chickens come in for a visit and to snack on their alfalfa and grains, but they hardly count.

I’ve got my emergency goat delivery supplies that I need to collect and have ready to go - things like clean gloves, paper towels, iodine, selenium (both oral and injectible), a bulb sucker to clear the baby’s throats, if needed (this may have saved Moira’s baby had I had one), some dental floss to tie off the umbilical cords, and a jug of water. It rained last night, so Lane is out right now picking up a bale of straw, so we can give them fresh bedding every few days to ensure they have a clean, dry place to deliver and care for their little ones.

Recipes & Fun in the Kitchen

Yesterday I made old-fashioned baked beans from scratch. I found inspiration online and then did my own thing, as usual. From what I gathered, it’s partially cooked beans mixed with barbeque sauce ingredients cooked with the lid on for millions of hours until your house is hot and smells delicious! I should have pre-cooked the beans longer as they were firm for way longer than I believe they should have. Here’s how I made them, but with instructions to properly cook the beans!

• 2 pounds dried beans - I chose Great Northern and Pinto (I believe Navy are traditional, but I couldn’t find any at our local market)

• 1 pound bacon ends and pieces

• 1 medium to large yellow onion, minced

• Half a green pepper, finely diced

• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or grated

• 1 cup ketchup

• ¼ cup molasses

• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar

• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika

• 1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

• 3-4 cups water

After washing and sorting the beans (ensuring there are no pebbles or icky things), add beans to a large stockpot or dutch oven, cover by several inches with cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil for just a couple of minutes, then kill the heat and allow it to chill for a while while you do the next steps.

Preheat oven to 275-300 degrees F.

Cook the bacon in an even larger stockpot (mine is 7 quarts), until the fat renders, then add the onion, and pepper and cook until softened. Add the garlic, and then the remaining ingredients, and bring to a simmer.

Using a slotted spoon or spider, transfer the beans to the larger pot. Or, drain the beans, discard the cooking water, and pour them into the sauce. I don’t recommend using the bean cooking water as the water for the recipe unless you don’t mind having crazy gas, in which case, go for it! :)

Cover the pot with the lid or heavy-duty foil and place it in the oven. Depending on how extremely dry your beans were, it can take 2-4 hours. Stir every 30 minutes or so, and add water, if needed.

Love & Family

Friday, February 3, 2023, was our fourth wedding anniversary. Emily and Sam were 3 and 4, respectively, when we got married. Thomas was born 4 months later, so he was technically present at the wedding, too! :)

This year, we are celebrating in two unique ways. First, as a family, Lane and I decided it would be fun to recreate our wedding day menu. We only had about a dozen guests, so we served takeout from a barbeque restaurant in Chico, CA called Smokin’ Mo’s. We had ribs, and tri-tip, potato salad, garlic bread, green salad, maybe a few other things, too, and our cake was from The Upper Crust in Chico and it was Lemon cake for the top layer and Carrot Cake for the bottom layer. To save me too much hassle, we’re making just a carrot cake. The kids will help make the cake later today and we’ll have our feast tonight!

Thanks for sticking around for this bear of an update. Talk with ya next week :)