Zucchiniland

By Mike

Dec22012

Yep, it’s that time of the year folks.  Back in the spring it was so hard to only plant one zucchini plant.  Heh, now what are you going to do?

I thought I was being restrained. I really did.  After last year’s monster zucchini I didn’t see any reason to ever plant more than one summer squash.

I had picked up some sugar pumpkin seeds this spring at the seed swap at Homegrown New Mexico thinking, “What the heidi-ho? Some pumpkin pie would be nice.”  Well my friends, squash are infamous for being a little naive and a bit loose.   Clearly some some bees took last year’s pumpkin and a willing zucchini out for a few too many drinks because the love child of that tryst created a plant that makes the biggest baddest squash you’ve ever seen!

zumpkins 

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Fresh Poultry

By Molly

Jun82012

We are deep into our chicken season and it seems like there is a chicken at every turn.  This year we decided to raise and process 200 chickens.  Hmmm, what to do with almost 200 chickens?!  That is the question.  For now we are going with the ‘if we build it they will come’ attitude.

Mike:  Yep, cause’ that has worked so well for us before!

Molly:  Alright, we are out at the Farmers Market in Eldorado on Fridays through June and a new totally awesome market on your way out to Las Campanas at the wine store. 

We started this a few years ago to see what it was like to raise our own food.

Molly:  Having raised chickens for eggs for over a decade I wanted to challenge myself.  When I researched how chickens are raised for food my eyes were opened to the great wide world of the industrial poultry business.  I just could not see being a chicken farmer using these industrial techniques where the conditions seem awful and disease was a huge issue.  Right away I read everything I could get my hands on small scale chicken farming.  This education sent me to the conclusion that I would raise my own chicken using these guidelines:

  • Chickens raised in the outdoors
  • No pesticides
  • No meat by-products
  • No antibiotics or drugs
  • No growth enhancers
  • No hormones
Cornish XCross about 5 weeks old

Cornish XCross about 5 weeks old

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Yurt Reborn!….slowly….in stages

By Mike

Jan292012

When we last left the yurt it was still standing but was decaying and in serious need of repair.  The outer weatherproof cover had deteriorated again and the smell of mildew was pervasive.  The mice were ransacking the interior and the flooring was starting to rot.  The yurt needed help and lots of it.  For a while (quite a while) we just let it sit while we considered a strategy to deal with all of the yurt’s needs.

The first step was to take it down before it deteriorated any further.  In the spring of 2008 Molly and I disassembled the yurt and packed it up.   Most of the platform and the outer covering went to the dump.  Now we just needed a home for the rest.  Storing a building sized tent as well as the furnishings inside of it was a challenge but we managed to shoehorn it all into our various other outbuildings.

Molly:  It was a sad day when we took it down.  It had been this thing of beauty and now it was…not.  

Mike: Yeah, one more face lift was not going to recapture her lost loveliness.  It was just going to make her look permanently surprised. » » »

The Vegetable Harvest

By Molly

Oct72011

This was going to be so easy.  Just plop a few pictures and and BAM! there’s a great post about this year’s vegetable harvest!  Not so fast turbo, it took hours to sort through all the images from the garden this year.  We have a tendency to take a few too many pictures.

Molly:  It took me all week to go through the pictures and make the decision if the photo stays or goes.  It was a lot of pressure.

Mike:  That was a lot of pressure?  I think you may want to go back to work so you can remember what intense pressure really feels like.

Molly:  I know, I know!  When I have more time and fewer projects I can get a little bit finicky.  Building someone’s dream home within budget and time constraints seems so simple from this distance.

Mike:  Hmmm,…. » » »

Fresh-n-Tasty Veggies in the Winter

By Molly

Sep262011

This is post is part of the Hearth-n-Soul blog hop.  Their mission is ‘about food from your hearth, made for your soul. Food that follows your intuition. Preparing food from scratch to nourish your family…body, mind AND soul! Food made with your own hands…infused with energy and passion and intent. Real food made by real people to feed real families (big and small, in blood or spirit). Ingredients from scratch, be it something grown in your garden or raised on your land…food foraged in the field or woods…food from local farms, farmers, or farmers markets…or even ingredients chosen by you from your local market that will be turned into something that feeds your soul. Tapping the food memory that each of us has stored inside; letting it guide and influence our own time in the kitchen.’  It’s definitely something Mike and I can get behind!  Don’t forget to check out the other participants! » » »

Too Much Basil !?!

By Mike

Sep72011

Never had to say this before but I had a basil problem this year.  It started innocently enough, six little basil plants here, six more there, and heck, why not?  Another six.  Basil is one of those plants that just make you feel good.  It germinates quickly and watching those green leaves come out on the windowsill while it’s still too cold to plant anything outside gets me primed to get the garden going.  I ended up with about 18 plants that I put in the ground in front of my tomatoes.  I heard that tomatoes and basil like to grow next to each other.  They weren’t kidding. » » »