Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week. Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.
It's been a pretty rough week, but there were some definite bright spots, like getting about an inch of much needed rain, seeing a bald eagle on the way to the dentist yesterday, finding out that the ache in my mouth I've been ignoring for months isn't my first ever cavity (though the dentist had no idea what actually is causing all the pain), baking some really good scones, working our way through the entire first season of Bones, laughing at little lambs, watching the garden grow.
Lots more photos below. . .
The weirdest thing that happened was that much of the landscape changed from bright green back to brown, after last week's hard frost killed a lot of the new leaves on the trees. It looks so strange. We're down in a little valley, and in this photo you can see how the leaves didn't freeze 'up top.' More photos of Donkeyland here. 
Savory Sharp Cheddar and Chive Scones: Follow this recipe, but replace the feta and scallions with 2 cups (4 ounces) finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup chopped fresh chives. Pat dough into two 1-inch thick circles, cut each circle into 6 scones. Bake at 400° for about 20 minutes. 
We currently have three mama hens and 14 chicks living in three different portable mini pens.
They're being kept very safe by stock dog Lucky Buddy Bear (who loves babies).
And they're always hungry. More baby chick pics here.
Beagle Bert, junior livestock guard dog.
We double planted the onions so we could harvest every other one for nice spring scallions. It's almost time to start thinking about What To Do with 125 Green Onions.
Most of the leaves on the young potato plants froze last week (despite being covered) but are recovering nicely. This is the first year I followed local tradition and planted my seed potatoes in mid-March. Next year I'll go back to waiting until April or May.
Tomorrow I'll start filling our salad bowls with thinnings from this 4'x8' raised bed of direct seeded Rocky Top lettuce mix from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Learn how to grow your own gourmet lettuce from seed here. It's easier than you think!
Dwarf Siberian kale and one big Tuscan kale plant direct seeded last fall on the left, new Swiss chard seedlings on the right. Learn how easy it is to grow Swiss chard from seed here (post includes links to my favorite Swiss chard recipes).
I told you Swiss chard is easy to grow (that's lemon balm on the left). It's also a 'cut and come again' vegetable. These plants are all volunteers from last year. I cut them back nearly to the ground in early December, ignored them all winter, and am now being rewarded with several more pounds of effortless, nutritious, delicious bounty.
Friendly and her rapidly growing triplets.Have a great weekend!
Want a bigger farm fix?
I've been unable to access your site for about 2 weeks. The computer would freeze up over and over. Today my son showed me how to access you using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. It worked great! It's not convenient to change browsers midstream, but I really missed you!! And if you ever need a new home for Bert...
ReplyDeleteHi Dot,
DeleteI'm so glad you're back with us! There have been some weird things going on with both Farmgirl Fare and In My Kitchen Garden lately, and I'm still trying to get to the bottom of it.
The problems seem to be with slower Internet connections, as the sites open in less than 1 second for some people.
I'm so glad your son hooked you up with Firefox! Internet Explorer is notoriously slow and clunky, and Firefox (which is free, safe, and easy to install) works so much better.
I'm trying to get the word out to everybody who is trying to access my blogs with Internet Explorer that Firefox really is the way to go, so I really appreciate your feedback.
P.S. Thanks for the smile about Bert. :)
Google Chrome also works well, and is also free, safe, and easy to install. :)
DeleteThank you again for sharing these wonderful pictures! It's hard to have a favorite photo 'cuz I love them all. (I do love how the dogs are everywhere!!!)
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend - hope things are just getting better for you,
Hi Barb,
DeleteI don't really notice just how much the dogs are a part of everything until I start putting together the Friday Farm Fix. It sure would be lonely without them! :)
Are you under a lot of stress lately? I've had what I thought was a bad tooth twice - SO much pain! But when I went to the dentist he said I was clenching my jaw at night which was wearing my teeth down and causing the pain. He suggested buying a night guard and seeing how I felt. I thought he was nuts - the pain was horrendous!! But after a couple of nights with the night guard, the pain went away. You can buy a night guard at any Wal-mart/Walgreens type store for about $10. Worth the try.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth,
DeleteYou just might be a lifesaver. I actually had a mouth guard made at the dentist several years ago for a different issue, and I'd totally forgotten about it. It's in my mouth now and my fingers are crossed that it helps. Thanks so much! :)
Does Bert ever lay down?
ReplyDeleteHi Jean,
DeleteOnly on his Coolaroo! :)
Great pictures and I really LOVE the cloud picture! Swiss Chard is such a great thing to grow, it just keeps going, and going, and going...
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do with the lemon balm? I've never seen it used in a recipe, and you seem to have quite a bit of it, so I'd be curious to know. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
DeleteI probably don't actually need that much lemon balm (it's starting to take over the greenhouse), but I'm always hesitant to discourage something that actually wants to grow in my garden. :)
Lemon balm is wonderful, versatile stuff that is really easy to grow. I didn't even plant that lemon balm in the greenhouse - it just showed up there one day, even though the closest plant was like 25 feet away. So yeah, some people consider it invasive. ;)
You can read more about lemon balm in this post on In My Kitchen Garden - Lemon Balm: Growing It, Drying It, Using It.
It makes delicious tea, and lately I've been stuffing a bunch of fresh leaves into a half gallon canning jar, filling it with water, and setting it outside to make some really refreshing sun tea.
Thanks for the lemon balm tips. I just transplanted a cluster from my mother-in-law's yard into our herb garden and hadn't yet looked up what to do with it when I stumbled upon Lisa's handy question here.
DeleteI was just sitting here, wondering what to do with my lovely crop of Swiss Chard and - bingo! - here's Susan with some recipes. I'm going to try the pseudo slaw because it works with my low carb fare. My son just commented last night that we seem to be eating meat and cheese a lot, how 'bout some vegetables. Thanks for the rerun.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan,
DeleteBingo, baby! :) So glad I could help. I love that Swiss Chard Cabbage Salad with Garbanzo Beans, Broccoli Stems, and Cottage Cheese. I need to mix up a batch myself!
Wonderful-love this weekly series so much! Agree re comments re mouthgard-worth a try, although often accompanied by unexplained splitting headaches. One other possibility-and this isn't fun-is that you need a root canal and the fracture is hairline and hard to detect. I had one of these, unbelievable twangs and periodic aches, and finally, after two years my dentist decided to open up the tooth and there it was.
ReplyDeleteAh ha, so the tooth/jaw thing could also be causing this terrible headache that won't go away. I've been assuming it's sinus/allergy related because the pollen has been terrible this spring.
DeleteThanks so much for the helpful advice - let's hope this mouth guard works. That root canal thing doesn't sound fun at all. Glad to hear you're enjoying the Friday Farm Fix! :)