No Regrets Ranch

Greetings Earthlings:

PSA:  Did you know that Facebook can create a Page for your business, blog or address and call it a Community Page?  I only just discovered this recently.

As you are aware, we have called our property No Regrets Ranch and I will tag my personal page with this name when I have something to share of farm/lifestyle interest.

I also have an Instagram page under @Gremlynn1 that I use #noregretsranch and #ppqsponoka, to sort thru entries for our farm and my quilt shop.

It was clicking on the location tag of No Regrets Ranch, on my personal Facebook, that I made the discovery that Facebook set up a Community Page for No Regrets Ranch.  They choose the photos and content for that page.  I couldn't edit anything until I became an Admin for it.  Thankfully, I was able to claim the page they created for me and am now the sole Administrator for it.  Apparently it has been active for well over a year.  I had no idea.

To check out the Official No Regrets Ranch Facebook page you can go to:  https://www.facebook.com/No-Regrets-Ranch-101287754988105/
Here is where I add my content for the page.  It is the Official Page  Copy/paste if it won't take you there.

You can still click on or copy/paste:
https://www.facebook.com/No-Regrets-Ranch-370506267134051/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARDrrcbFWu-U5Fx_KE0PAlqi6vtJFqYLeysbuVEotCIC5TViWcaHyYBt1WC2Hkwp79d1sp60cj3W3M0v&hc_ref=ARR6ws-V_AvoUi3gz-CKyWN1JAL1v4d1aVnKTjBD64izhEoW0Dh6ZJdlyYYj8lapW8U&ref=nf_target&fref=tag&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBffM6UdjoMiDroNCxhadZ5R2UpvTWk3C2oDlPxcPpv27N8XqJrR1f3vby5tl6IWm-y_RFcdRDm4hBpjjxfbe7JEPiObwg4jtOVzJrt23pvJonbMLXGMneoKLOBcJTMCCVxfHm-rwnqvhIPbsnkg0cUiW14-Rby5-PiwBTD3KpnQC-iZywdGZCrrRJz6S035qjRtrYhaAc4UoFe9-W6Ssjpsy5PyLjXRCkmR7jLZIw2jrS3Qa59P3FvS4PallQE9im332MCoW7w_E4DhxFtQpfMdqLbbG8   to get to the Community Page.

Sure glad I was able to get this sorted out.  I am still trying to figure out a way to merge the two.  Stay tuned on that one!

Things have been rather busy here at our little funny farm lately.  Summer is time the time when the rest of the world heads to the lake or golf course and when we head to the garden and yard.

Main Garden view from the back deck

I enjoy this time of the year immensely but it often difficult for those who don't live a lifestyle such as ours, to fully appreciate that we just can't drop what we're doing for the weekend and get away.  It takes a lot of planning on our part to find help that understands and is able to do what is required out here to maintain the greenhouse.  It can quickly cook up in the extreme heat, if not monitored. 

We have simply come to the realization that we Can get away from October to April, but not from April to October.  And we're good with that.  We do take the occasional day away, but never an over night.  There is simply just too many things that need care and attention and it's a lot of responsibility to leave to someone else to manage.  And it is worse yet to return home to less than ideal circumstances.  Thankfully we love our summers on the farm and are quite happy and content to spend our summer days here.

The garden and greenhouse are both in full production.  Already I have canned up 2 dozen quarts of stewed tomatoes, a canner full of tomato sauce and our first batch of Salsa of the season. This is only the beginning of the tomatoes yet to come.

First batch of Salsa of the season

Jams and jellies are being replenished as berries ripen. 

Strawberry Jam!

Raspberry Jelly

Snow Pea pods are being picked, blanched and frozen and we had our first picking of shelling peas the other day.  Soon there will be evenings spent out on the deck, sitting in the shade, shelling peas and chatting about our day.

Peas to be shelled as the raspberries are being steam juiced for jelly

Baby Peas!  Aren't they just the cutest!?

The raspberries are beginning to flush.  The apples are getting big.  We are enjoying the zucchini on almost a daily basis.  Tomatoes that aren't being canned have been made into Pico de Gallo, Bruschetta and toasted tomato sandwiches. There is sincerely nothing like vine ripened tomatoes!

Bruschetta and garlic oil brushed and toasted sourdough bread for lunch!

The first flush of sweet peppers have been chopped and frozen or dehydrated.  Having both on hand is a great convenience for me for winter meals.

Sweet Peppers ready to be processed

Sweet peppers diced up and ready to be frozen or dehydrated

The herb jars are getting replenished with the newly dehydrated herbs.

Lemon Thyme ready to be dehydrated

First picking of parsley ready to be washed,
cut up and dehydrated

Last night I put Lavender stems and Calendula into the dehydrator to prepare them to be infused into a neutral oil.  This will be added to my homemade tallow soaps, later this fall or winter.

Lavender and Calendula ready for the dehydrator 

Our steers are doing well.  Today I was hanging out the wash when I noticed all three, laid out on the shady side of the wind fence.  It's a rough life with a full belly of all the grass you can eat!  They are looking great!  Obviously very content. 

2020 Boys of Summer:  Quar, Ann, and Tine as named by Maeva

I heard a kerfuffle over in the chicken coop this morning.  The not so little meat birds are beginning to find their voices and were mimicking Russel Crowe, our rooster in the laying flock.  Apparently Himself Did Not like this and tried to assert his dominance by standing between His girls and the chain link fence which divides the two flocks.  When one of the little Roos walks by, he rushes the fence to challenge the interloper.  I guess he's just protecting his interests, but it's cute listening to the new little men assert their voices.  Sadly, their final days will soon be upon us as their harvest date looms closer.

Russel Crowe and his girls.  The meat birds, in behind and to the left,
are the ones we hatched out earlier this spring. 
These are all Russel's offspring.

Our flower pots are sure lack lustre this year.  It has been so cold and damp that they are lacking the heat they need to thrive.  I had a memory come up on facebook and it really drove this point home for us.  I knew they were pretty sad, I just didn't realize just how bad!  We will be composting many of them right away as they are just too depressing to look at any more.  What is normally spilling out of the pots onto the deck and ground by this time of the year, have barely begun to bloom.  It is a sad state for sure. 

Most of the perennials have come back though and they have all bloomed, albeit it late this year.

 Several of our fruit trees are still in a sad state.  Many of last year's super producers are almost completely without leaves this year.  It appears that this has been a common theme for more people than not.  I am to understand that the trees never had a chance to store up for winter during the colder and wetter weather we had last fall.  Then they broke dormancy during the January chinook, followed by 6 weeks of sub arctic weather and a very cold spring.  They all appear to be pliable, which indicates that they are still very much alive, but many are only partly leafed out, even this late in the season.  We'll leave them for this year and hope they reset their internal clocks for next year.  

Isn't this just the saddest Cherry tree ever?

Or this one!  It was a top producer last year. 
This year it won't even leaf out!

The Herbs have been lovely this year.  I made a batch of herbed butter and liked it so much that I had to make another batch.  It is in the freezer in individual pats.  OMGosh!  It is truly amazing!

I gathered and chopped up Garlic scapes, chives, basil, oregano and parsley.

Sauted it all in a tablespoon of grapeseed oil until just bright, not browned.

In the food processor, 1 lb of butter, softened and chopped to tablespoon sized pieces.

Add the cooled herbs to the butter and process until smooth.

Using a small scoop, I scooped individual portions onto parchment paper
 to be frozen, then stored in a large ziplock bag.

I haven't been spending much time in the studio lately, but I have been knitting a bit in the evening.  Things will slow down in the garden in a month or two and I will get all the studio time I am wanting, come winter! 

I did get a day or two out here a while ago when we had a big rain and worked on my scrappy string strips blocks.  I added the side pieces to make them into squares.  This will be another project to be completed at a later date - or when we get a few days of rain!

Scrappy Strips getting side strips.  Will give this a bit of cohesiveness when it's done.

I guess that is all for this entry.  I hope this finds you well.  If you are looking for me, I'll be in the garden or the kitchen!  Enjoy your weekend!

Regards,

Gremlynn