Backyard Farmgals

WHAT TO DO WITH IT ALL??? Blackberry Raspberry Jam made the same day the berries were picked...Ohhhh....it's so good!!! Okay, you’ve sown, and now you are reaping the benefits of last spring’s work.  In fact, sometimes I reap a lot more than I thought I would.  The question that comes to mind is, “what to do with it all?”  I always end up throwing away produce, and this year I am desperately trying to avoid the garbage can.  It’s just too much work to throw away!  Here are a few things that I have resorted to in order to avoid tossing away my blood, sweat and tears: DRY!  I have become a huge fan of drying fruits and veggies.  You can use a food dehydrator or you can simply use your oven turned down to a very low heat (200 F).  I have dried apricots, cherries, tomatoes, apples, bananas.  You name it, I have probably dried it.  The great thing about drying food is that it makes it a bit more compact and easy to store.  Once my ...

Honey bee taking advantage of the sage blossoms in the garden. Time flies by and our darling baby girls are now teenagers with attitude (I'm not kidding)!  They are getting personalities as well as all of their "big girl" feathers.  They are still on chick grow feed.  At the farm store the other day, I learned that some people actually keep their girls on chick grow until they are about fourteen weeks, then they switch to mash.  After several batches of chickens, I am still learning! Along with growing feathers and such, their smell also grows!  I am having to change their house about twice each week and that still isn't enough.  Lucky for me, I am able to keep them in the garage.  If they were in the house, we would be in trouble.  For such small little fluffy things, they can sure be foul (haha). The building of the new coop, "Cluckingham Palace" (complete with pink chandelier), has been put on emergency status and we have been working on i...

Today was the first day of the Downtown Farmer's Market here in Salt Lake City.  I often have a misconception that the first few weeks of the market will be sparse, with few good things to find, but I am always wrong.  I always find much more than I imagine. Going to the farmer's market is not only a fun family activity, but it supports local businesses and farms.  I take my family every Saturday, rain or shine, because I want my children to understand where their food comes from and how important farms are.  Each stand has something different to offer, and it's refreshing to be able to ask questions directly to the grower.  They often have recipes and ideas for using the produce, and are filled with great information about growing and harvesting.  If you have questions about gardening or cooking, ask a farmer that grows and cooks what you are interested in, you'll be amazed at how much you will learn! What I found this morning at the market: (Clockwise...

My favorite lettuce, I love the red flecks! I harvested the first bundle of delicate salad greens from the garden.  I planted an heirloom mix and the leaves are absolutely beautiful!  They are green with red specks all over each leaf.  I made the most amazing salad with mangoes and oranges mixed in with other vegetables, it was so colorful.  Also, I made a whole citrus vinaigrette with fresh squeezed lemon and orange juices, oh, it was good!  I could eat salad like this every day.  The best part was that the lettuce was so tender and fresh; I felt truly spoiled! Tom Thumb lettuces...you can see where they get the name! The funny thing about this recipe is that the next day, I took a little bit of the same salad to work with me.  While I was eating it, a little friend crawled out of the bowl.  A potato bug hitched a ride to work in my salad.  I will admit, I was a little grossed out at first, but this is what you get when you pledge you...

Our backyard farm is the proud owner of week-old baby chicks.  They came in the mail to the SLC airport last Monday.  It was a mad panic as we rushed to get kids out of bed, dressed and fed so that we could pick up the chicks.  All thirty were alive and well inside their packing crate and were peeping away. The first thing that we did was bring them to their new home.  The temporary chick housing is a large plywood box that we can unscrew and lay flat for storage.  In the bottom, we put untreated pine chips.  It is important that the chips are not treated by any chemicals because the chicks like to peck at them and I am sure that they manage to swallow a chip or two.  We also turned on the heat lamps.  We have two lamps and they are above the tiny coop suspended about 18-inches off of the ground.  You will know if your light is too high or low by how the chicks act.  If it is too high, they will huddle together to stay warm.  If ...

This was a huge week for all of us gardening fools.  Unfortunately for me, it rained every single day that I had off work and was sunny and beautiful on the days that I was gone.  I was fortunate enough to almost break a few bones in my foot on Tuesday which got me off work early on Thursday and Friday.  If you think that I promptly went home and iced, elevated and rested my foot like a good nurse, you are mistaken!  I painfully donned my garden boots and went to plant garden #2.   With Woodman’s help, we have been able to terrace the garden at my mom’s house which gave us the opportunity to square-foot part of it.  I got almost everything planted.  I am still a little leery about the basil and a few other plants, it’s just too blasted cold for the most tender things.  If summer ever gets here, I will have pesto from my basil! The potatoes are popping up through the ground.  I started to hill dirt around the plants.  It is so exciting...