Welcome to the Farm (Yard)

It has been getting downright homestead-y around here the last few months. There's much too much to describe, so I will sum up, with pictures:

I tried canning for the first time -- delicious apricot jam with fruit from our neighbor's tree. Success! I just wish I had made more, because I'm almost out. I opened my last jar the other day, and it was amazing to taste and smell the intense, sweet apricots months after they've disappeared from the trees. My gallon bag of frozen apricot halves is long gone -- the whole family loved eating them just like popsicles on a warm day.



In June we built a vegetable garden in the backyard. We needed the tall fence to keep our dogs out of the plants, and that actually provided some great inspiration to make the most of a small space.

 

I created a simple design for the garden, and my husband built it, complete with an A-frame to support vertical plants. Our daughter loves to help when she can, and I love to see her learning from a young age where her food comes from. (The trick is to get her to wait until the food is ripe before she picks it and eats it right there in the yard.)

 

Our first season produced green beans, pumpkins, cucumbers, some tomatoes that are just now ripening up, and some surprise melons that must have come from our compost pile.

The biggest development in our little farm-yard: in August we got five fluffy little chicks. It has been an adventure so far, but they are charming and amusing creatures. They should start laying within a few weeks, so we'll have fresh eggs for Christmas. 

 

Growing my own food has been a steep learning curve -- but there is nothing I love better than to learn about things that I value. It has been wonderful digging into my grandparents' recipes, talking with my parents about their ranching days, and knowing that my own kids will have a connection to their environment and to their heritage that too few people do.

And, I've been enjoying learning new ways to use up all the bounty! Coming up next: pumpkin recipes, and attempts to make use of the copious hachiya persimmons on our huge tree. (If you want some, come and get them!)

I hope you and yours are enjoying a happy harvest time, and a rich Thanksgiving. I am thankful, indeed.

Spring Happenings

We are well into spring, and lots of good stuff is underway! Since March I have taken a writing class (which may or may not have done me any good), had my first little freelance piece published in the Ventura County Reporter, and, perhaps most exciting of all, ordered chicks to start a backyard flock!

Inspiration from the amazing Ashley English

I've been toying with the idea of raising chickens ever since I've had a backyard, so when I recently realized my sister-in-law harbored the same "farm heart" that I do, we decided to split the cost and the eggs and go for it. After snooping around backyardchickens.com and other sites, we placed an order for our little peepers from Meyer Hatchery. They're scheduled to arrive August 1, so we've got some time to build our coop and brooder and get ready to welcome our new feathery friends. I am sure to post more about that soon!

I've gotten a lot of inspiration lately from homesteader, author, and blogger Ashley English, and I've been pouring over her books about chicken keeping, and about canning and preserving -- another upcoming adventure for the summer. Last fall I wrote about my first attempts at preserving, and this year I'm eager to take it a bit farther. Tomatoes, tomato sauce, apricot and strawberry jams, and peaches are definitely on my list, and English's book has a lot more tempting recipes I'd like to try -- spiced pear chutney or cardamom apple cider butter, anyone? (These may show up among your Christmas gifts from me this year!) If all goes well, maybe next year I'll invest in a pressure cooker and try some meyer lemon and lemon verbena curd.
Meanwhile, my multi-talented husband has been doing his own version of preserving in the form of flavored syrups for homemade soda. So far we've had simple syrup, orange and vanilla, and, today, cherry. Coming up: raspberry and blackberry.

With the weather warm, and a fridge full of delicious homemade beverages, I am looking forward to a long summer. I will be working hard to get my backyard into shape for kids to play and parents to barbecue, and I'm looking forward to placing an order with Annie's Annuals. This woman and her team have gathered an amazing array of rare and old-fashioned plants, including a lot of California natives and other water-wise beauties that make sense in this climate.
But first, we will kick off the season with a visit to one of California's very best offerings: Yosemite National Park. I love my state for myriad reasons, but this singular place is one that makes me especially proud, and grateful, to be a Californian. My husband and I got married there, celebrated our "baby moon" and 5th anniversary, and this will be our girl's first trip. An auspicious beginning to the season.