Sunday, August 15, 2010
We're moving!
THE BLOG! As the olive press becomes more real I can see that I will need a more structured web presence and rather than creating yet another place; we are going to close this blog down. The new Dale Family Farm site is at www.DaleFamilyFarm.com . This blog will be replaced by the announcement section of the website which includes an RSS feed.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Filled with joy
As Rebecca reported on Facebook:
a very good day. potato harvest ( almost 25lbs), some garbonzos, sugar snap peas, artichokes, blackberries, plums, onion... Then spun my very first two ply yarn. so addictive, spinning.
Monday, August 2, 2010
mmmm... eating from the yard
The potatoes are awesome! served with the the spring onions... even better!
Did I tell you about the vinegar? As you may remember last year we picked about a half ton of grapes and turned some into wine and some into jelly. Well the wine continues to age but periodically I open a little to see how it's going. I know nothing about wine but people have said that it is coming along nicely. The stuff that we open but don't drink goes into my Red Wine Vinegar vat. The first batch of vinegar should be ready in a couple of weeks.
I'm excited to make my first salad dressing from oil that I pressed and vinegar from grapes that I picked, fermented into wine and then let mature into vinegar. I guess it should be over a salad from the garden, while supping a glass of the wine we made.... oooo... out of the bowls Rebecca and Merav recently made at the pottery studio... sometime I think we go a little too far. But we have FUN!
Did I tell you about the vinegar? As you may remember last year we picked about a half ton of grapes and turned some into wine and some into jelly. Well the wine continues to age but periodically I open a little to see how it's going. I know nothing about wine but people have said that it is coming along nicely. The stuff that we open but don't drink goes into my Red Wine Vinegar vat. The first batch of vinegar should be ready in a couple of weeks.
I'm excited to make my first salad dressing from oil that I pressed and vinegar from grapes that I picked, fermented into wine and then let mature into vinegar. I guess it should be over a salad from the garden, while supping a glass of the wine we made.... oooo... out of the bowls Rebecca and Merav recently made at the pottery studio... sometime I think we go a little too far. But we have FUN!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
There may be hope
Now that we are giving the tomatoes water how we should; deep every 3 or 4 days, they are doing much better. We may yet get a tomato crop.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Back on the Farm
Well, I finished my hundred mile bike ride so now I can get back to farming.
We recently harvested a little honey so we have that for sale again. We should have more soon. We generally have more eggs than we can eat so if you need eggs let us know, we try to sell them for $5 a dozen so we can buy organic chicken feed... which doesn't cost... chicken feed... sorry.
The garden is off to a slow start but coming along. Over the last couple of weeks I have installed a drip irrigation system. It's really nice to see the water going where it's needed when it's needed rather than the area sprinkler that we used before that water more weed starts than veggies.
Next crop looks like it will be garbanzo beans...mmm... home made, home grown Humus!!
Our tomatoes are refusing to progress this year. I guess we will have to buy tomatoes to can.
We recently harvested a little honey so we have that for sale again. We should have more soon. We generally have more eggs than we can eat so if you need eggs let us know, we try to sell them for $5 a dozen so we can buy organic chicken feed... which doesn't cost... chicken feed... sorry.
The garden is off to a slow start but coming along. Over the last couple of weeks I have installed a drip irrigation system. It's really nice to see the water going where it's needed when it's needed rather than the area sprinkler that we used before that water more weed starts than veggies.
Next crop looks like it will be garbanzo beans...mmm... home made, home grown Humus!!
Our tomatoes are refusing to progress this year. I guess we will have to buy tomatoes to can.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Olive Oil
Did I say anything bad about Olive Oil? Surely not ME.
Anyway... I may be getting an Olive Oil Press so I have been learning all about making Olive Oil. It's very different than seed oil pressing and has potential for 'good batches' and 'bad batches'. When pressing seeds the oil is pretty uniform but with olives it depends on the ripeness, flavor and water content of the olive. My hope is to setup a 'Community Press' where people with Olive trees can bring their fruit for pressing. There are a surprising number of olive trees in the area.
The big hurdle... I need somewhere to house and run the press. It doesn't need much space but needs a 220V outlet.
I'll let you know what happens next.
Anyway... I may be getting an Olive Oil Press so I have been learning all about making Olive Oil. It's very different than seed oil pressing and has potential for 'good batches' and 'bad batches'. When pressing seeds the oil is pretty uniform but with olives it depends on the ripeness, flavor and water content of the olive. My hope is to setup a 'Community Press' where people with Olive trees can bring their fruit for pressing. There are a surprising number of olive trees in the area.
The big hurdle... I need somewhere to house and run the press. It doesn't need much space but needs a 220V outlet.
I'll let you know what happens next.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Spring is Sprung and it's Egg Hunting time
We built a beautiful coop for our chickens last year. We made them nesting boxes just like the book said we should... and then they laid their eggs everywhere but in those boxes. We found a big pile of eggs under the old yellow bike trailer and moved it so there was no there there any more. We found a clutch under the blackberry bush and tried to block it off. What they didn't seem to understand is that we wanted our eggs laid in the nesting boxes... I mean; that's what they were for!
This year we are smarter; we are placing colorful eggs in the places that we want them to lay as this attracts them. Today all 9 of the chicks laid their eggs in the nesting boxes along side the colorful eggs we left out.
It seems like it could become a tradition... put out the colorful eggs... and send the kids out to find the newly laid eggs. See where the chickens are going to lay this year.
Next I will explain my newest idea.... bread that isn't left to rise!
This year we are smarter; we are placing colorful eggs in the places that we want them to lay as this attracts them. Today all 9 of the chicks laid their eggs in the nesting boxes along side the colorful eggs we left out.
It seems like it could become a tradition... put out the colorful eggs... and send the kids out to find the newly laid eggs. See where the chickens are going to lay this year.
Next I will explain my newest idea.... bread that isn't left to rise!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Just in case there isn't enough to do...
Check out this page... what will I do next? http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/ambbr10/adalej
Friday, January 29, 2010
will wonders never cease?
Despite now having eaten lots of fresh veggies from our garden I was STILL surprised when we started eating our celery. Our celery doesn't look very marketable, it looks more like a patch of greens than nice 'heads'... but... the taste! It's amazing! Makes the best tasting chicken soup I've ever had. (now I just have to work on getting our chickens in there :-) )
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Winter on the farm
Did I mention how I feel about mud? It's so... muddy! I don't like mud... which makes working on the farm much harder. So... the chickens are doing their own thing and producing 1 or 2 eggs a day. The garden continues to produce Kale like a weed. The celery is doing well as are the favor beans. The onions aren't as good as the summer crop but still good.
Oil oil oil... lots of oil... We are now selling the Cake (what's left of the seeds after the oil is removed) at a local store for chicken feed as we produce way more than our chickens can eat. As of next week... we should have our oil available in a local store.
Oil oil oil... lots of oil... We are now selling the Cake (what's left of the seeds after the oil is removed) at a local store for chicken feed as we produce way more than our chickens can eat. As of next week... we should have our oil available in a local store.
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