Full Swing

I just wanted to take a few minutes to share what is going here on Tighe a Logaine Farm. “Tighe a Logaine” is Gaelic for “the House in the Bowl” and that indeed is how our little farm is situated. With mountains on all sides the house nestles down low between 2 streams and is generally sheltered from strong winds and other intrusions. We’ve been hard at work canning and generally preparing for the next season. Still I love to stop and admire all that my windows have to view. Let me also share a couple quick updates that have happened since the computer crashed.

We did a little logging on the mountain but one tree fell wild and wiped out a large portion of our tomato section and all but one of our acorn squash vines. What a sacrifice! We were heart-sick, but still happy to have the logging since it opened up to the sunlight nearly 33 percent more garden space.

We heard about a garden method used at Mount Vernon and instituted it for our fall garden. Our son-in-law dug a trench about a foot deep, ­­­16 inches wide and 20 ft. long. He and my husband then filled the long hole with chicken manure and followed that by mounding back on top the dirt we took out. We then planted a part of our fall garden on the top. As the chicken manure composts, it keeps the dirt (and baby plants!) warm throughout the cold season. We also put some plants in the beds that were finished for the summer season, and now our baby cabbages, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, and kohlrabi. These have twice the growth on them that the others do.  

George and Martha Washington were able to have fresh vegetables all winter long because of this. Later in the spring we will harvest the last of our vegetables and dig up the wonderful earth which will be the gift below the surface. We will be able to enrich the existing raised beds with it. We will then put fresh chicken manure in the hole and cover with more dirt. Into this we will plant our seedlings and once again the composting process will keep our little baby plants warm until the weather warms up too.

Another addition this fall has been Dusty – our new rooster. With the internet problems I’ve not been able to research but he has a rose comb, a dirty white neck ruff (hence the name!), and lovely iridescent green tail feathers. When he was introduced to the flock he seemed a bit intimidated be the numbers but within a couple of days he discovered his special purpose and manfully did his duty and egg production is in full swing! We have 34 hens and we are averaging 30 eggs a day. He is truly the “cock of the walk”.

In addition to canning, a lot of time is invested in harvesting our herbs this fall. The chickens love weeding time and wait hungrily at the gate for us to throw handfuls of salad greens to them. My basil bed did especially well this year so I am dehydrating lots of leaves which fill my house with an earthy smell that is very satisfying! The oregano is next and then a bit of mint for winter flavorings and some jellies as well. This year I had 8 varieties of mint and walking through the garden is an olfactory delight. Lastly I will harvest some of my rosemary to season chicken and vegetables this winter as well.

Children are great workers in these 2 arenas. Even if they are too young to know weed from vegetable, they are not too young to make multiple trips back and forth hauling handfuls of weeds to the coop or compost bin. And once you point out which leaves you want to harvest in the herb beds, they will systematically strip every one. They can also wash leaves, and arrange leaves on the dehydrator tray or cookie sheet. Once the leaves are dehydrated, they can put them in containers whole, or take turns crushing them. Be sure to praise the work not just that day but later in winter when you add “their” oregano and basil to the spaghetti sauce. A tea ball containing chocolate mint swirled through their hot chocolate increases their delight when they can really taste what their hands have done.

For those of you who had asked what we were canning, here is a run-down: From the tomatoes we’ve canned sloppy joe mix, salsa, spaghetti sauce, and spiced tomato juice. We got a little bit of grapes off our new vines, and will get more from our old vines so we expect to can some grape juice. We’ve canned strawberry jam and strawberry balsamic jelly, blackberry jam, sweet pepper relish, “little spicies” which are pickled jalapeno peppers, some spicy mustard, and some meats. We have vegetable scraps in the freezer that I’ve saved to make chicken, beef, and vegetable broth. I also still have to make our soup mix which is mixed vegetables to which I add meats and/or broth and juice. In this way I have a lot of variety. I can take a quart of the vege mix and add canned chicken and some chicken broth for a chicken soup, or add to it some canned beef and beef broth for vegetable beef soup. Sometimes I add it to our spiced tomato juice for some rich vegetable soup, or I can pour the mix into a pie shell for a pot pie with either beef or chicken!

What have you done this year? I love hearing other peoples recipes or tips!