It's been slow...

I totally get the reference of a slow news day!  It's been a slow month or so on the farm. Well, until the last two weeks. First, Emilio the duck, went missing. No sign of home ANYWHERE. We hope he learned to fly and flew off with his duck friends, but we all know that didn't happen. We joke that he's on vacation somewhere.  The kids like that thought better than another predator breeching the perimeter. 

Second, evidence of an attack on our Donnas. Our Russian Orloff was hit this week. Feathers and a foot/leg/thigh still left in the yard. It's hard knowing what happens and hard not knowing. 

We'll miss them both....

"It's working! They're melting!" - Matilde

As a kid, like my own, I enjoyed infomercials. I loved the way they dazzled you and made you continue watching not because there was nothing else on tv but because you wanted to know more. You believed by the end of their 15-30 minutes of paid programming that you could not live a normal American life without their prized product. My favorite was for the Ronco Food Dehydrator. I longed for this magnificent machine that could turn my fresh fruits into candy, my vegetables into edible treats, and my meats into marinated handheld healthy snacks. Finally, after living years without dehydrated foods, it's mine. A beautiful four-tiered (the fifth was missing), fanless, second-hand Ronco that's all mine! A fantastic gift from my in-laws. Fantastic!

This evening Matilde and I prepped six bananas in a water/honey mixture and carefully placed each slice onto our trays. They will spend the next 36 hours shrinking down and drying out into crispy little chips that are perfect for snacking. 

Dreams do come true. 

It's hunting season...let me take a selfie!

I love this guy! 

He went out to try and bag his first deer last weekend up in Darrington with no luck. We're hoping his luck changes next weekend at a new locale. I'm hurting for some deer jerky and deer sticks!  Cousin Ty got his first this season down in AZ and sent us some jerky that was gone in two shakes of a lamb's tail. That jerky was the shizz, yo! Mama needs her fix. 

Wish my gun toting deer slayer luck! 

A little elbow grease goes a long way!

I decided to bake two whole rabbits for dinner this evening, but my oven had other plans!  It didn't want to light. Instead, it sizzled, crackled, and popped!  Lights out. I contacted PSE and the gas man made an appearance. He advised there was no leak, but our oven ignitor went out and needed to be replaced. Wah wah! I LOVE my gas oven and I will fight until the end of time for it. (I'm looking at you Granmo!) 

Unfortunately, my baked rabbit plan went out the door. I didn't want it to go to waste, so I pulled out the meat grinder! It was work trying to get the raw meat off their tiny little bunny bones, but I did the best I could. I soaked the meat in a teriyaki marinade and proceeded to grind. The results were 3.5 pounds of ground rabbit to be used for jerky (we also have a jerky press waiting for some action too!). I was all set to dehydrate it in the oven, but......MY OVEN IS BROKEN! I'm a dunce. It'll just have to wait. 

In the meantime I've decided to boil up the carcasses of the rabbits to soften the bones. After they're softened, I'll finely grind their bones to make my bread! Ha! Only kidding. I'll grind their bones and feed them to the birds out back. It's good for them. 

Here at El Gallo Blanco Backyard Farm and Garden we appreciate and use the whole animal. ;) 

Kid tested. Kid approved!!

Matilde's sunflower grew and grew this year! She planted her seed indoors, helped transplant it outside, helped papa harvest the seeds, and helped me roast them!  She was also the first to taste them! 

I soaked the seeds for about two days in a salt water brine.  Boiled them for 10 minutes, then spread them out onto a cookie sheet, dusted them with salt and set them to bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.  They crunched and split just like store bought seeds. The Gutierrez boys enjoyed them too!  Ole had been wanting to try home grown seeds and came just at the right time! All four kids loved them. :) I suppose we should plant another one next spring! 

Wicked Tuna

The west coast has some great tuna fishing too!  Andy had the pleasure of joining Steve Kesling (yes, he's still alive!) and friends out off the coast of Westport today. They caught 20 fish between the four of them, and Andy nabbed three including the one pictured. It was huge! He said it took about thirty minutes to reel this guy in! He sliced it and bagged it up after I snapped this photo. We will use everything from this fish including the remains which will be buried in one of our garden beds tomorrow. Way to go Andy!! In the hopes of him reeling one in, I looked up fresh tuna recipes today. I plan on searing a couple steaks for us this week.  They should be delicious!

Autumn is HERE!

Yesterday, Matilde and I were busy baking bread because it is officially bread baking season! The house is finally cool enough to use the oven for a few hours in the afternoon and the girls are eating more sandwiches now that school's back in session. Plus, we couldn't pass up a fresh loaf! This bread recipe was really simple, very inexpensive, and it looks like "real bread!" We used flour, yeast, salt, milk, sugar, and water. What more do you need?! Honestly, it was so simple my 5 year old could make it....oh wait...she did! And it's absolutely delicious! 

Meow!

Evan walked outside to feed the rabbits this morning only to run back inside demanding my phone. I asked her what was wrong. She said I would never believe it so she had to take a picture. This is the photo she brought inside!  I couldn't believe it, she was absolutely right! 

Then this afternoon she found another one...and so it begins. 

Jealous?

We are still getting strawberries from our doorstep planters!  There are both green berries and some flowers just starting to bloom on both of the plants. Of course, Andy and I never get to taste any because Matilde and Evan are too busy sneaking them every chance they get! We'll see how long they last considering it's already AUTUMN. 

Snuggle Buddies

Wrapped in Plastic

We have been overrun by the Alki flu that hits our house every year, so in between popping our vitamin C, sneezing, and wheezing, we have been slowly but surely prepping our garden for Autumn. 

First things first, wrap the beds in plastic. That was all we got to today... Like I said- slowly but surely. ;) 

Weez gots hops!

And boy are they are stinky!  I love that smell....hops and Concord grapes is the scent of autumn in the Yakima Valley. 

Long day, full freezer

We have had a long weekend!  After the Harvest Fair yesterday, we processed both of the broilers we showed. We thought we'd break up the job between the two days. Aside from the meat you see in the photo (2 chickens), we harvested THREE more birds and NINE rabbits!!  I also picked a ton of ripe tomatoes and canned 5 pints worth. I lost a pint and a quart in the water bath in the process. One jar busted the bottom clear off and the other blew a seal and a ring!! Of course, I can't have a nice, easy experience canning there always has to be some lesson learned while I do it!  Today's lessons were that some jars are flawed and will break for no reason, never mix pints and quarts- do one or the other, and place my jars into the hot water bath at an angle. 

All in all, we are all exhausted and my poor lover boy still had to go to work. He's amazing and extremely tired every Monday morning! 

Also-- We are searching for a small square freezer and a vacuum sealer for keeping our food. If you know of anyone selling, we are actively looking to buy. Please pass us the info if you have it! Thank you, friends!

Harvest Fair 2014

Today was a ton of fun! We shared our story and animals with patrons young and old. We opted for a larger setup this year including a few bins to showcase some of the goodies grown in our own garden. Our goal was to share with others the ease, benefits, and fun urban farming and gardening can be.  It's always a treat to see the reactions from people when they hear just how "large" our property is. If we can do it, you can too! 

Thank you to everyone who stopped by today to say hello, ask questions, or to just pet the rabbits. We enjoyed our time representing the urban farming community at another wonderful Seattle Tilth event!  

YOU'RE INVITED to the Seattle Tilth's 2014 Harvest Fair!

Come visit us at Meridian Park, September 6th!  We will be showcasing our beautiful bunnies and fat ol' birds and encouraging others to raise their own food too!  It can be done!  

The fair is free and is located behind the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave., Seattle 98103) in the Wallingford neighborhood. There will be plenty to take in.  Please visit the Seattle Tilth's event page for more details:

http://seattletilth.org/special_events/seattletilthharvestfair

Farm Peepshow

Sweet...

Juicy...

Homegrown...

Corn! 

Delridge Deli Mart

Bri'Anna: Slug bait. 

Clerk: Did you say slug bait?!

Bri'Anna: Yep. 

Clerk: That's what half my customers drink! 

Bri'Anna: So it works! 

Clerk: Yes, it does because they keep coming back!

A girl can dream...

Potatoes are not considered a complex carbohydrate if you grow them yourself. 

(Andy's camera is SO much better than mine! Wow!!) 

Andy's Hops

We hadn't seen much change from last year until Andy noticed these flowers! Now, we are noticing them all over the vines. It's a big difference from our first growing season in which we yielded a total of four flowers. 

Surgeon General's Warning

Our home looks like a tropical resort with large plant leaves decorating our walls, but these are not palm fronds they're tobacco leaves! We will hang them to cure in the attic for a year and hopefully be able to smoke 'em up shortly after that! Our kind neighbor, Mr. Matt, volunteered to test-smoke it for us. He said he's been smoke-free for a few months, but home-grown tobacco doesn't count, plus, he owes us a solid. Anyone else who'd like to take up a smoking habit, hit us up in a year. We'd be happy to be your pushers! ;) 

Trust Issues

We went away for the weekend and decided to leave Andy at home. We needed rabbit feed and I volunteered to go to Bleyhls (the local farm store in Grandview).  I volunteered mainly because Andy has a habit of buying additional animals upon EACH visit to the farm store. Even though I bought the feed he couldn't resist an unaccompanied trip. Now we own a duck. It is an all black Indian Runner he named Ugly that I renamed Emilio because, well, he looks more like an Emilio than a Gordon. ;) He is too cute and I have no desire to eat him. Andy would like to plump him up or he'd like Emilio to lay eggs (I should mention we have no idea what sex Emilio is yet!). Nonetheless, I think he's here as our first real farm pet. 

Please stop by and help us welcome Emilio to our family! 

Cabezas de Ajo

While the girls and I were enjoying the fair and the heat of the Yakima Valley, Andy was having fun harvesting our garlic and braiding them together. Andy loves braided garlic. He's funny like that. ;) 

TRY IT! 

To peel garlic, either cloves or heads, put them in a jar, replace the lid, and shake it! It takes a minute or two, but it works! 

This little piggy stayed home. ❤️

I caught these two (at the Yakima Valley Jr. Fair) in an embrace while resting and trying to cool off in this blasted heat. They went to market today, but hopefully they sold as a pair. Come on, who can resist a cuddly pair of piggies?!  

Sowing the seeds...

Meet our fall harvest. 

Crockett's Kraut

We harvested two VERY large heads of cabbage this week and Andy (Andy Crockett King of the Urban Frontier) requested it be made into sauerkraut.  He also insisted HE make it!  I made sure to have the ingredients at home ready to go including: easy to find juniper berries, hard to find pickling salt, and five pounds of homegrown cabbage. The pickling has begun! This recipe should yield about seven pints. Did I hear you say something about a Reuben sandwich?!! 

Cat Nap

Looks like the same ol' Tina, but she is beginning to mouse like the cat she was born to be!  

She started mousing last night.  I'm sure she's done it before, but I finally witnessed her doing it.  

 

Living in the city there is an increased number of rodents in our area and having a farm with smells, spilled feed, and decomposing food scraps, we attract a few extra as well.  Last night, I caught a mouse sneaking through the barnyard, so I grabbed Tina--PHYSICALLY PICKED HER UP--and dropped her out the back door.  I ran to my bedroom window and called her over.  (Luckily, she listens to me.)  I removed the screen and pointed to the barnyard.  She sat in the middle of the yard and looked.  I kept staring until she noticed the movement on the ground.  Tina went into total lioness mode!  She stalked it, pounced on it, and although I couldn't tell if she actually killed it, it was such a relief to see her out there mousing like a REAL farm cat! 

This evening, she willingly walked outside, I called her, and she sat until she saw something move.  

It has begun.

Rabbits are HILARIOUS.

This picture is too much. It even made Andy chuckle when I showed him. Hahahahahaha

Silly rabbits...

Thievin'

I couldn't just let those plums fall off the neighbors tree this year. No way! I sent Andy up onto the roof of the barn to pick what was ripe and then I made him promise to go up again to get the rest in a week or so. :) 

I didn't think we had as much as we ended up with (which was 12 pints and 3 quarts!). They leaked and floated to the top, but after troubleshooting and calling mom-in-law, Robin, they sealed and should be safe to eat and save. The floating is more than likely caused by me not heating the fruit before adding it to the jars, and the leaking is because I overfilled the jars with syrup. Matilde enjoyed licking syrupy fingers and gave me a smile of approval. Andy is now trying to figure out where we will store the jars. 

And we're back!

Wow! What a great week! We had a ton of fun camping at Rimrock Lake. We read books, took naps in our hammock, swam, fished, enjoyed shooting stars and campfire songs, ate pudgy pies, hid from the rain, smelled the trees (Ponderosa Pines smell like BUTTERSCOTCH, it's crazy!!), and even tie dyed shirts!  A giant THANK YOU to Jen, Heather, Hominee (and your families), my sister and our neighbors for helping to keep things under control, alive, and in the yard while we were out of town. It's tough to leave everything behind, but we are grateful to have friends willing to help us out!  

We ended up cutting our trip a day short to save our garden from some escapee rabbits and a hose that sprang a (HUGE) leak. We weren't too worried about the rabbits since they are quick to kindle. I was more worried about our cabbages that I've been loving on for five months!! Andy and Matilde ran down four bunnies when we got home, Andy found the last one in the morning, and we had harvested the meat of three of them by noon! It's been a busy day for us on our first day back. Aside from the rabbits, we gleaned and raw packed plums from the vacant property behind ours, unloaded the car and put everything away, set up the tent to dry and repaired some tears, ran errands, washed all of our dirty clothes, and smiled at the end of the day! It's good to be back home. :) 

--

Matilde enjoying our walk back to camp from Indian Creek. 

This is a panoramic view from our camp. We tend to set up in the same spot year after year....I bet you can guess why! 

Results

Well, they didn't turn out the way we thought they would, but they're still cool! The girls were impatient and wanted to stick them in the dryer instead of line drying. The jumble of the dryer combined the colors and bled into all of the excellent white from tie dyeing. They're still happy with the results and have talked about doing it again! If they're happy, I'm happy. :) 

(Sorry about the terrible pictures and the messy house!) 

Tie dyeing the natural way.

The girls and I wanted to have some fun this week, so we decided to tie dye some clothes. (Nothing says summer like pots of dye in the yard. :) ) Instead of buying expensive kits, we pulled some beets and picked some blackberries around the block, and grabbed some turmeric and spinach. Basic and bright colors. Red, yellow, and green (although, I'm not sure if the green will work). They will set overnight in the pots and we will ready our fabric with a mordant in the morning. After that, we dye! The clothes will soak a day or two and hang to dry. This is our first attempt at natural dyeing, but I have a good feeling. The girls have been open to learning how people dyed fabrics before the use of artificial and synthetic dyes used today. It's nice to know they now consider the many uses of plants and the natural world around us as something more than just vegetation. 

Whatever our results, I'll post photos soon! 

In Bloom

Cabbage Worms 1 - Smiths 1

Our incessant search for those little green caterpillars paid off. We were constantly on the lookout for cabbage worms and because of our diligence we have a happy, healthy, cabbage! Those tiny green worms eat and eat and eat giant holes in our precious cabbage leaves, so whenever we walk into the house or out of the house we would inspect the leaves and peel the worms off. Most of the time I would collect a few and send one of the girls to the backyard to give the Donnas a treat. Other times, I would just let the greedy little worms meet their demise. 

Last year, we lost this battle. This year we evened the score. 

Blueberry Remix

After picking blueberries and getting some useful advice about rehabbing our own berries, Andy and I decided to get to work when I got home. We were told that ideally our soil's pH should be at a 4, and if it reaches a 6 it can be brought down to a more acidic pH. However, if it reaches a 7, we are outta luck and should start over. Our berries haven't done well after the initial transplant. It had berries while in the pot, but once it was planted in the ground it lost momentum. We tested our pH and what do you know? A 7! Off to the nursery we went. We opted for a 50% sphagnum moss, 25% original soil, 25% finished compost mixture plus a dash of this, that, and love. The plants are looking healthy and great, but it's only been a week or so. We'll get a better picture of our hard work in a few weeks. We'll continue to test and attempt to lower our level if we start to elevate. Hopefully, we can control it and eat our own berries next season. Fingers crossed! 

Blueberry Treats

The girls and I had a great time picking blueberries with Grandma R and our friend, Alix. Our share to bring home was two gallon bags full of large, ripe blueberries. Alix passed along a great cobbler recipe and I found another recipe online for a yummy blueberry lavender butter. Both were super delicious and extremely easy to make! I am pretty sure these recipes are keepers. 💙

However, I may need a canning refresher soon because lately my seals have been leaky and I'm nervous to keep them shelved. The seals "pop," but I still pass the jars along to friends, neighbors, and family to enjoy before they (possibly) spoil. I'd rather share our harvest than suffer from botulism. Wouldn't you?!