Late Spring


My personal "Backyard Farm" - my favorite morning spot!
We Farmgals have been so busy the past month, I have completely forgotten about technology.  I sat down to the computer tonight and I have 135 e-mails to sort through.  135...that's absurd and time consuming...so I highlighted and pushed delete!!!  The farm is taking up the majority of my time.  Finally we are feeling a little warmth and the plants are shooting up, including tons of weeds.  My hands are calloused and sore from weeding and raking over and over again, but the hard work is paying off.  Things are looking beautiful.  I love watching the little pieces of green coming up through the soil, stretching out and then shooting up to the sun.

Forellenschluss
We have been enjoying the most amazing spring salads from the garden.  The lettuces that I planted have completely captured my heart.  Each one is so different, with unique texture and color.  I love picking a beautiful head of lettuce, knowing that it grew in my soil and will satisfy my family.

Forellenschluss is absolutely beautiful.  I picked our largest head of this type yesterday and was completely thrilled with the  perfect flecks of color and it's perfect shape.  It's a romaine type lettuce that means "speckled like a trout".  I love this lettuce.  It keeps very well in the fridge and builds a very hearty but not tough salad.

Yugoslavian Red
Yugoslavian Red is an heirloom whose seeds were saved by a single family in Yugoslavia for generations (I love that!!!).  I am completely head-over-heels for this one.  The color is FANTASTIC.  It almost looks like it is blushing when you look at it.  It is more of a butter lettuce with very loosely formed heads.  I love to just sit and stare at it!  It also keeps well and it holds a dressing well when in a salad.  I can't say how much I love this little beauty.  I am so glad I ran across it in a catalog.

Larissa
Larissa has proven to be a wonderful little butterhead lettuce.  It has a tighter structure than the Yugoslavian Red, but has a bright brilliant green color.  It is thicker and has some real heft, as far as lettuce is concerned.  It makes a lovely little salad or is nice on burgers, that kind of thing.  I really love mixing a couple types of these beauties to make a salad with different color and texture.  I have also been adding fresh herbs to the tossed greens.  It adds the most amazing flavor; it is heavenly.

Strawberries are starting to bear fruit, which is thrilling for us.  The spring has been so cold and rainy here in Utah, I wasn't sure that we would see any produce this year.  Luckily, there are little green berries starting to form on the plants, and with each berry, there is a little hope attached, that this year will produce after all.  We are about a month and a half behind with the growing season.  I am hoping for a very late fall, so that everything has a chance to mature and produce.  I am crossing fingers, toes, legs, arms and anything else I can possibly cross!

Strawberry = Hope!
Cluckingham Palace is nearing completion!  Woodman (our incredibly handsome farm hand) finished the loft, hung feeders and the fabulous pink chandelier this week.  Spoiled rotten chickens...they have a chandelier...I don't...what gives???  It has been a lot of fun deciding how to make the coop different and fun.  We are sill waiting for the pink nesting boxes and we are hunting for a picture of Prince Charles in a horrible gaudy gold frame.  (Since his coop has the same name, it is only fitting to hang a picture of him for the girls to ogle at.)  

Pink Chandelier in Cluckingham Palace
Hopefully in the next week or so we will have peas, and a few other things.  One thing that I am learning is that this is a tremendous amount of work, but so satisfying.  I love being covered with dirt by the end of the day, it means that I accomplished something worthwhile!  I am praying that my kids are learning something from all of this, mostly that wonderful things don't come easily, they are the result of much hard work and determination!  

Happy farming y'all!!!

Exhausted Farm Baby Feet!!!

Comments

  1. AnnekeJune 21, 2011 at 7:26 PM

    I absolutely love love LOVE your backyard!! it looks a lot like mine. :) I would love to know where you get your different lettuces.... or if you are interested I would love to do some swapping of heirloom seeds if you are interested. I live in the same area as you do and would love to exchange ideas, seeds or whatever sounds fun. Are those elephant garlic I see in the background? Beautiful!

    Anne

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  2. FARMGALJune 21, 2011 at 8:51 PM

    Thanks for reading!!! I seem to gather lettuces from all corners. One great place I have found is Traces in SLC. They have a lot of varieties that no one else in the valley seems to be interested in and they carry a lot of heirlooms. The garlic is three different kinds of hardneck/softneck. I am thinking about elephant garlic on the "big" farm this fall!

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