Garlic Galaxy

At least that's what the husband called it when he saw ten pounds of garlic laid out for planting.  As we continue to grow, I imagine the amounts will get larger.  Last year we planted two and a half pounds.  We ended up with about seven pounds.  After selling some, we will barely have enough left for us to get through winter so more garlic it is!

I planted three different types, one softneck called Chet's Red Italian and two hardnecks called Metchi and German Extra Hardy.  I try different varieties at this point until I find strains that will be steady producers every year.

Softneck garlic is the kind of garlic you tend to find in garlic braids and the like as well as the grocery store.  It usually stores very well which makes it good for shipping.  It does not tend to grow very well in North Dakota though as I learned with the two varieties I tried last season.

Hardneck garlic can still store for a decent amount of time if harvested and cured properly, but I really like it for the beautiful scape it sends up as it starts to mature.  Scapes make wonderful pesto and go very well in egg dishes.

Chicken Update

Can we help you?

The girls (and guy) are getting bigger, and eating their weight in feed every week.  It is still pretty amazing to see just how fast they grow and they are just 11 weeks old.  It will be another couple months before they (hopefully) start producing eggs.

Being the only guy, doesn't always have it's perks

Out of the 27 birds that showed up at the end of August, one of them ended up not being the girl kind.  He is not long for our farm, but he will be finding himself in a lovely new home when he starts making too much noise.  At least until first butchering next summer.....

Most people get their chicks in the spring and they start laying eggs by early fall.  Since we got a late start in this department, we are trying to fool them in to thinking it is summer by supplementing their light  If they get less than 16 or so hours of light, they don't put much effort in to making eggs.  Come February, we will see if it worked!

Blizzard!!!

So it wasn't really a blizzard, but it sure felt like it driving home in it!  Last weekend I went to town for a lovely few hours of me time.  When I left, I could see our grass and driveway.  When I arrived home, it was to this:

The rabbits that have made their home under the chicken house were in a pickle when they couldn't find their hole.  They sat in front of the door for half the morning before they found their home again.







Once the initial deluge subsided, all ventured outside for some fun.  We had our niece and nephew over that weekend so it was really a good time.

One thing I really enjoy about fresh snow is how it reveals all of the critters that wander around our place.

 

Most of the snow has now melted, but I can imagine we will receive another visit soon.

Gymnastics

I have recently discovered that I am unable to tire out munchkin before nap time any longer.  This has wreaked a bit of havoc on my much needed quiet time.  With that in mind, a morning activity was deemed necessary and gymnastics was the selection.  At this age, mom or dad are required to accompany their munchkin.  How much work could that possibly be?  I think I get more tired out than she does, but she really enjoys it and practices her pikes, tucks and straddles all the time now.

Manual Labor

I recently blogged about helping some friends get ready for a family auction.  This auction helped clear out a house that my friends wanted to move in to.  Part of moving to this farm involved moving their farm operations which are mostly meat in nature.  They have a lot of chickens, for meat and eggs.  All of the meat birds are done for the year, but the hens stick around for obvious reasons.  During the winter, their hens get to live in a high tunnel.  It's called a hoop coop on their farm.  We were askedto help set up the high tunnel in preparation for the ladies' arrival.  We really like to help these friends.  Not only do they have three lovely children that munchkin likes to play with, but they feed us very well.


Pounding posts isn't as much fun as it sounds.  I tried to pound one in myself and had to pass off the sledge.  My friend, Annie, is much stronger than I am.  Look at the height she was getting!  And she got that thing all the way in.

One really nice thing about recruiting us for this job is obtaining the services of the land surveyor I am married to.  He went out there, measured, and measured again.  There was leveling string involved at some point.  It was all very engineered in the site selection and preparation.

Half a day wasn't quite enough for the four of us to get it done, but we now have a very good idea of what it will be like for us when we get ours.

Pumpkin Patch

A Bismarck tradition in the fall is a trip to Papa's Pumpkin Patch.  We missed it last year so we wanted to make sure to get there this year.  On the next to last day they were open, we went with some friends who's daughter is a little younger than munchkin.







 



I could not believe how big it was! There was so much to see, play with and climb on.  There were slides, a corn maze, a train, a trebuchet and lots of straw structures to climb on.

Of course, once munchkin discovered the zip line, nothing else mattered.

Halloween

Halloween sort of snuck up on us here so there was not a lot of planning involved in munchkin's costume.  Thankfully we ended up with a lovely hand-me-down and I still have the pumpkin bucket from last year!










 

There was some mummy fun at MOMS club.

Then there was some cousin fun.  Out of 20 or so pictures on my camera, this one was the least blurry.

We did have some time to carve pumpkins, which uncle joined us for.