The Babies and The Boys of Summer are Here!

Greetings Earthlings!

It appears that winter has finally left the building.  It is just me, or did this year's winter seem extra long?  I don't think it was, truly, but it sure seemed to be.  For me, anyways.

Perhaps it had more to do with being shut in from the extreme cold and Papa's recovery, then being told we needed to be shut in due to the virus.  I am so grateful to be living a country life - we are free to go outside without worrying about running into anyone.  I am even more grateful to be able to go outside and not have my face frozen off now!  So thankful for small things to make me happy.

We have embraced April with full vigour.  From watching the snow melt away, to getting the greenhouse up and running, to getting the high tunnel erected, to baby chicks hatching in the incubator and finally the deliver of this year's Boys of Summer - Quar, Anne, Tine our three Hereford Steers.  Feed was delivered and more feed was picked up last week.  We began to clean out the flower beds and planted 2 more cherry trees in the back orchard and 4 new shrubs down by the pond.  We also moved 9 peonies from their temporary home in the nursery area of the main garden, to their new permanent bed by the upper pond.  We have had socially distanced coffee in our driveway and wine on the front deck, enjoying the warm sunshine.  We have toured friends through our yard, to see the new additions and have managed to maintain our distance from each other.  How I would love to hug my dear friends, but for now, we are happy with video and phone chats and visits in the driveway and a friend's wheat field, if need be.  Strange times indeed, but you do what you have to do.

The High Tunnel is up and ready to be filled. 

Papa planting his tomatoes in the high tunnel.
I really hope that it's not too soon!

I can't get over the difference in heat inside and outside the high tunnel!  I am suspecting he is going to need a heat sink out there if he plans to plant his tender tomatoes out there this early.  Time will tell!  Fingers crossed it goes well.  He checked the forecast before planting, happy about the warm, sunny days ahead.  And then, it changed of course, to cooler weather and frosty nights, after he was done.  Sigh. 

The Greenhouse is doing wonderfully!  His circulating solar heated water system is working beautifully again this year.  I am also so happy we picked up that propane furnace for those extra cold nights.  Things are thriving!

Petunias already in bloom!

And check out the Long English Cucumber!
It will soon be "Have you eaten your cucumber yet today?"
time again!  Hee hee!

The baby chicks came a day early.  Perhaps we didn't count correctly!  Regardless, we got a 78% successful hatch rate.  That's pretty good indeed!  I felt bad for the 9 eggs that didn't hatch out.  One had a pip hole in it and the other 8 had nothing.  You never really know why an egg doesn't hatch. We left them in the incubator for an extra day and a half, just to be sure, but there was no movement or chirping coming from any of them.  The other 31 chicks are doing very well - being their chicky cuteness! 

Whew!  Breaking out of an egg is very hard work!
Time for a much needed rest! 

The chicks hatch out very tired and wrung out.  It doesn't take them long to dry off and hop about
and cheep for joy, encouraging their hatch mates to join the party!

31 little Chicken Nuggets are in their brooding area.
They will stay in there for 3 weeks or so, until they no longer need the brooding lamp
and have most of their Big Bird feathers.  They are so cute when they are this little.

We love the Hereford breed of steers since they are generally very friendly and docile.  They are so personable and tend to settle in right away.  We have had several other breeds over the years, but none are as nice to have around as the Herefords are.  This year's group is no exception  The look so little!

2020's Boys of Summer:  Quar, Anne, Tine!

We are so happy to see our goldfish swimming about, now that the pond is completely thawed out.  I can't remember if they are 2 or three years old now.  We had our first school of gold fish for many years, until we lost them all one really bad winter.  Our daughter showed up with a bag of feeder fish to replace them all - at least 2 summers ago.  We are so happy that they survived another winter.  They are getting so Big!  We have experienced babies in the past, from the first bunch.  Perhaps these ones will reward us as well one day. 

4 of the 6 observed Gold Fish in the Pond!

I had to do some canned beans recently as well.  I was going to make a pot of chili and was surprised to find that we had consumed most of the pressure canned beans in the cold cellar pantry.  I guess they must have been good!  I tried a new basic baked bean recipe for this one.  There is more pepper that we would like in the sauce and the flavor needs tweaking - they are a bit flat - but I think I can work with this recipe.  It is very close to what I was wanting to produce.  The beans I normally make for just eating are a Maple Syrup and Apple Baked Bean - so awesome!  The other beans I pressure can are Romano, Black Eyed, Red Kidney and Garbanzo.  All of those are just in water, ready to be added to a recipe and season as desired.  I was wanting a tomato/molasses bean to add to chili dishes.  These are pretty close to what I am looking for, but I have made notes to make changes the next time I do them.  Here is the link, if you want to try the recipe for yourself:  https://youtu.be/rEtSjzVN7XI

Tomato/Molasses Basic "Baked" Bean just
out of the pressure canner.

It was also the first time I got to use my new Presser Canner Weighted Rocker Regulator.  Up until now, I had relied entirely on the pressure gauge and the basic pressure regulator.  I had read recently that if you replace the basic pressure regulator with a weighted rocker regulator, your pressure will stay more precise during your caning session.  I figured that I had nothing to lose, so I ordered a "replacement" weighted regulator.  Well.  Game Changer!  Instead of having to sit and "baby sit" my gauge so it didn't drop below the recommended pressure for my altitude or go way above, once the new weight got to proper pressure, it does a gentle Hula dance.  I adjusted my heat flame maybe twice during the whole 90 minutes of canning time, instead of every 10 minutes or so as it crept and fell.  No siphoning and no yuck on the seals.  In fact, I had a 100% seal success rate.  I am glad I stumbled upon this pearl of information.  It was also very freeing to not have to sit and watch the gauge.  I managed to get a lot of sourdough bread made in this same time.  If I have to be in the kitchen, I prefer to get a lot done in a short amount of time. It has bothered me to have to watch the gauge so closely.  Now I can just listen to it rock and know that the pressure is fine.  And, if I did happen to check the gauge, it stayed steady at the psi it needed to be at.  Seriously, a Game Changer for me!

I haven't been spending much time in the studio since our focus has quickly shifted from indoor pursuits to outdoor activities.  I did, however, transform another unwearable pair of jeans into a fun and funky large summer tote.  The wooden bars that the straps are woven through are available for purchase in the studio.  We offer them in two different sizes to make an easy to open, but tightly closed bag when correctly installed.  You can take any purse or tote pattern and instead of adding a zipper or another closure, you make two sleeves to hold the purse bars.  The bars are slid into the sleeves and your continuous strap is added as a final step.  The beauty of the bars is the weight of the bag forces the bars together to keep the top closed.  But when you need to open it, you put it down and it slides open, without effort.  I am really happy with my funky tote.  I can wear it cross body or just carry it as a bag.  I had a lot of fun making and embellishing it.  It was a design as I went project as I had no pattern to work from. 

The top part of a pair of jeans with a new, stabilized bottom added
and embellished with fun buttons. 

The inside of the tote includes a large, zippered pocket
(look at the black strip towards the bottom of the picture)
and a large, three sectioned open pocket on the other side. 
Notice how easy the strap slides in the purse bars.  

And this about sums up how our last 10 or so days has been.  We are keeping ourselves occupied as we patiently (or rather impatiently) wait for this Covid crisis to pass.  It will be wonderful to be able to hug my loved ones again.  It will certainly be quite emotional.  I can't say that I will be letting them go once I start.  

Stay Safe Everyone!

Until next time.

Hugs,

Gremlynn