Happy Summer Solstice!

Little Bear, all decked out

 Bonfires. Singing and dancing. Drum circles. Trekking to Stonehenge to join in chants of "All Hail the Sun!" All common ways to celebrate the summer solstice, but slush and dogs? 

Slush and dogs is exactly how our newly-made dog park family decided to celebrate the day of birth, sunlight, growth, and joy: the summer solstice. Our dogs played fetch, while we sipped slush, conversed, and even sang a few tunes.

Dogs enjoying dog slush

The slush was really the star of the show. People got creative. The slush menu included brandy slush, watermelon slush, a banana-berry mix slush, a slush for the doggies (made of Braunschweiger and milk), and our rhubarb-strawberry slush. Turns out making slush is pretty easy, and when we returned from the festivities, we made a peach-pluot slush.

Peach-pluot slush

 

 

To make this summer slush concoction for yourself, you need the following:

•  8 cups water
• 4 cups fruit (or to taste)
• 2 packages of gelatin
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1.5 cups of sugar (or to taste)
• vodka to taste
• 7-up to taste

Instructions:
1. Boil water with fruit until fruit turns to mush. Lower heat.

2. Scoop out mush (and save it for breakfast fruit, to add to yogurt, or to give to your chickens!)
3. Return water to boil.  Add sugar and gelatin.  Boil until sugar and gelatin are dissolved. Remove from heat and cool.
4. Add vodka and freeze. We started with 2 cups of vodka, but you could easily add more or less, if desired.
To serve: scoop out desired amount into cup. Top off with 7-up or like soda.

My friend Jennie and I also made dog treats for our best friends.

Za tries to take his treats early

Jennie received the recipes from a friend, and the dogs LOVED them. Here they are:

Cheese And Garlic Dog Cookies :
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups cheddar cheese --grated
• 1/4 pound margarine -- corn oil
• 1 clove garlic --crushed
• 1 Pinch salt
Cream the cheese with the softened margarine, garlic, salt, and flour. Add enough milk to form into a ball. Chill for 1/2 hour. Roll onto floured board. Cut into shapes and bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until slightly brown, and firm.
MAKES 2 to 3 dozen, depending on size.

Peanut Butter Puppy Poppers :
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
•1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 375 F. In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix peanut butter and milk, and then add to dry ingredients and mix well. Place dough on a lightly-floured surface and knead. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes (actually we just made them into balls and pressed them with a fork, like peanut butter cookies). Bake for 20 minutes on a greased baking sheet until lightly brown. Cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container.

Eggs for a Later Date

I'm sitting on my living room floor, eating frozen grapes, drinking iced tea, and enjoying the breeze of a fan. I love heat, so I am not complaining, but when the cooking muse visited me tonight, I had to ponder what I could do in the kitchen without turning on the oven or stove. After all, I didn't want Franklin, the dog, or Carmencita, my kitty-cat to decide to pack his/her bags and hit the road for a house with air conditioning.

I looked in the fridge and realized it was holding 10 dozen eggs. Granted, we'll be making ice cream soon, and we do enjoy the occasional egg scramble, but 10 DOZEN EGGS! I decided that tonight was the night that I would freeze some for later use. In the winter, despite having five hens, I usually have to run to the store for eggs because my ladies are molting. A goal of mine is to never hardly buy eggs from the store. This should help me on my way.

I did some research and found that freezing eggs is really quite simple. I chose to use Ball jars to freeze four or six eggs per jar. All you need to do is:
1. Crack the desired number of eggs into a bowl.
2. Mix until the yolks and whites are indistinguishalbe from one another.
3. Pour into jars. Be sure there is a 1" or more head space. I tended to go with more head space just to be safe and because I like the 4-6 egg quantity per jar.
4. Label jars with the number of eggs and date.
5. Put in the freezer for up to one year.

In total, I froze 40 eggs tonight. I would have kept going, but I ran out of small jars.

The chickens will be excited to get all of those shells in the morning, too!

Easy Peasy!!! Jars of eggs for the winter. Hallelujah!

Cocky Rocky, the Rooster

Rocky and Spinderella (pic from last fall)

Rocky, the rooster, is exhibiting his cockiness a little too frequently. The moment one of us opens the coop door for the hens in the morning, Rocky hops out and waits to say hello to his hens. Each lady peeks out and ponders whether or not the joy of the outdoors is worth risking being Rocky's favorite gal of the A.M. Eventually, each of our lovelies decides she'll face the danger, but what a way to start the day...every day.

Lucy-poo has never fully gotten her feathers back from last fall's molting. Unfortunately, I don't see her feathers growing back anytime soon. Rocky's feet grab onto her sides, exactly where her bare skin is already showing. Her neck is also nearly featherless. And I think her skin is getting sun-burned.

Check our her  neck too.

Up close. Poor Lucy!

What to do?  I called our chicken doctor, and she assured me this is all natural. I guess so, but I wonder if this is really too much. Do I need more hens? Should I separate the hens from Rocky for a while? I've hesitated in doing that because it is summertime, and there is not a lot of shade on either parts of our run.And after all, despite Rocky's exploits, I really do love the guy.

Chicken people and non-chicken people, help! Am I being too sensitive, or should I protect my ladies from their overzealous roo? 

Gardening: Good for the Soul

I'm not going to lie. I had a hard week. Those that know me personally know that I had invested a lot of time and energy in a little Wisconsin election held recently. My side didn't win, and it hit me hard. The first few days afterward, I walked around aimlessly, trying to fight back a sense of hopelessness. Today, I bounced back. I attribute it to the black dirt underneath my fingernails and the farmer's tan I'm currently (proudly) sporting. Today, I realized just how good gardening is for the soul. And as the saying goes, "Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes."

Because of the aforementioned election, I've gotten a bit behind in the garden (and on this blog). Despite our wonderfully early spring, tasks were not getting completed. Nature did not make this any easier: our new soil quickly filled with weeds, transplants got eaten by our resident ground squirrels, and wind gusts knocked out several of our stronger plants. Today, we started many projects anew. 

The silver lining of having some of our planned gardens end up with only withered transplants is that we have FREEDOM to plant whatever we want. I took our large bag of seeds outside and sort of randomly picked what to plant. A lot of my favorites are currently happily germinating. Dry bean plants will soon be crawling up our chicken run netting, and I'll be making kale chips galore.

I recently read a book about the experience of "flow" ~ a state of complete immersion in an experience -- time passes quickly, and despite being tired, you happily persist. I experienced this state today. Pulling weeds, watering, hoeing the soil, planting seeds, pulling, watering, planting, pulling, watering, planting. Finally, twelve garden beds later, I looked up, saw Andy immersed in his own work, and I went in for a glass of iced tea. Content. Free. Peaceful. 


This post is not to over-dramatize this day or experience; rather, I believe quite often harmony comes to us when we simply sit back and do what nature intended. Could another activity bring me so close to the earth? My undergraduate class which involved reading only Thoreau and Emerson is soaring back to me...I think those transcendentalists really were onto something.

First Weeks of Beekeeping

Three weeks into beekeeping

We got bees! Finally! After 1.5 years of a  vacant top-bar beehive, perfectly situated among apple, pear, and mulberry trees, our hive is full of active, working, and -we hope- happy honeybees. Fearful that bees would be swarming our yard, making it unsafe for our puppy or chickens to frolic without getting stung, I am happily surprised that my worst-case scenario beekeeping anxieties have been put to rest. Instead, I find our honeybees working earnestly, going to and fro from fruit trees and flowers to their hive and back again. It is memorizing and inspiring. So focused are these bees. So peaceful is it to sit among them and watch.

Our bees arrived three weeks ago, and like any new venture in life, starting to keep bees required that we did some research. The morsels of knowledge that we gained that we'd like to share are all, in our opinions, important and useful for those wishing to possibly take the bee plunge too.

• First, we decided to get a top-bar beehive. Though there will not be as much honey to extract using this type, it is a model that resembles the natural way a colony of bees would build a hive. In this way, it is said to be a more humane model. 
• Second, your hive should be placed where it will be in the sun in the morning and early afternoon, but in  the shade in the afternoon and evening. Many people place their hives where there are flowers and trees to pollinate. Be sure your hive is not too close to the road. Bees can get hit by cars too! 
• Make sure your bees have access to water. We are currently using a Tupperware lid. Place sticks in the water so that the bees have something to land on.
• Once your bees arrive, check that the queen is still alive. Ours came in a screened box with a candy plug. While the colony adjusts to her scent and accepts her as their queen, they will eat the candy and release her. The hope is that by the time that they eat through the candy, the queen will be accepted and the bees will begin laying eggs and building a comb. 
• Do not release the queen early. She could die. The other bees may kill her. They should let her out within five days.
• Many of our bees were dead when we opened the box. Try to order from the most local place possible. Check with local honey producers. They may have swarms to sell.
• Feed the bees a honey and water mixture twice a week for the first few weeks. You can stop when the bees have established themselves, and there are enough flowers and trees to keep the bees happy and satisfied. 
• NOTE: it has recently been in the news that the chemicals used in corn production could be the cause for some colonies dying. Some beekeepers use corn syrup instead of honey to feed the bees. Because most corn syrup comes from corn that has been hit with loads of pesticides, this is not a good idea for the health of your buzzing little friends. Thank you, Monsanto!

One week into beekeeping

Check out our video of bees, three weeks in!

Just like our venture into chicken keeping, this adventure has broadened our perspectives and put us one step closer to being in tune with all things good . .  and sweet.  Cliche, yes, but sometimes, lying back in the grass on a sunny day, listening to the slight buzzing of the bees, the coos of the chickens, and the dreams of our dog, I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of thankfulness.

Food Finding: A Garlic Mustard Spring Omelet

An Earth Day Omelet

 Sure, garlic mustard is an invasive weed, but it is also a nutritious and delicious early green that you can find almost anywhere that you can find grass and other "weeds" growing, and it's FREE!  Our early March "heat streak" in Wisconsin has given many of us locavores unrealistic hopes about taking early adventures to the garden and leaving the freezer behind. With nothing of substance to pick yet, going to get eggs from the chicken coop, garlic mustard from the yard, and herbs from the garden this morning were quite the exciting ventures to pay tribute to Mother Earth on Earth Day.

Spring chives

If you haven't foraged for garlic mustard before, you should know that it is packed with Vitamins A, C, E and some of the B vitamins, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and magnese.   If you're up for picking it, you're in luck because it's everywhere (hence, many considering it an invasive, annoying weed). It has a light garlicky taste and can be eaten raw in an early spring salad or cooked in such wonderfulness as soup, stir-fries, or omelets. 

Here's what it looks like:

One of the garlic mustard patches

 I've heard of many foragers stopping alongside the road to cut a basketful or hiking through forest grounds to look for some.  We're "lucky" enough to have it growing in our own backyard. For all of our local friends, let us know if you want any -- we have quite the abundance and are happy to share.

Berry Blast: Aronia, Honeyberry, Hardy Kiwi, and Elderberry Plantings

Aronia flowers today

Our bees will soon arrive and will they have plenty to pollinate!  An early spring jump-started our annual trip to Jung's Garden Center, and we had pre-ordered 10 aronia plants from Bellbrook Berry Farm in Brooklyn, Wisconsin, so the yard is buzzing with young fruit plants (pun intended).

To start with, we planted one more rhubarb plant. We've planted one every summer minus one since we've resided here, so we're up to four. We find new and exciting recipes for rhubarb every year and never feel we have the adequate amount come springtime, so who knows, maybe we'll end up with a real rhubarb patch in a few years.

Rhubarb, from youngest to oldest

We also added one hardy kiwi plant. One of ours seemed a little weak after snow and cold this winter, so we'll either end up with three like we intended, or get the gift of a fourth. These guys will soon be trellised up poles that lead to a bat house. More to come on that soon.

Our youngest kiwi plant

Sporadically, we bought four elderberry canes. We couldn't help ourselves. On the way to Jung's, I found this recipe, and with spring fever overwhelming both of us, elderberry canes sounded like something we absolutely had to have. Granted, this recipe is written for the elder tree berries, but we figure both should work just fine.

Elderberry canes

Honeyberry plants also caught our eye, so yes, we planted two of those as well. Honeyberry plants can tolerate extremely cold temperatures, and their flavor is often compared to blueberries, which we cannot successfully grow due to our soil. Plus, they are blue, and blue fruits are known super fruits.

Honeyberry plants, wrapped up due to some neighboring feral cats who like to dig these up

8 of the 10 plants

Finally, the aronia....planting aronia was a mission this year. Weekly, we find ourselves ordering fresh juice smoothies with added aronia from the co-op. No one really sells the fruit anywhere other than if you're ordering food to-go. Aronia has caught a lot of buzz lately as a super-fruit because it contains more antioxidants than other super fruits such as blueberries. Plus, aronia grows easily in a variety of conditions ~ from sandy to clay, from cold to warm. Each bush is said to produce between 20 to 30 pounds of fruit annually. And a bonus, the plants are beautiful. In the spring, they flourish with white flowers, and in the fall, they wear a dark crimson. We purchased two-year-old plants, so we'll be picking fruit this fall!

With all of our super fruits, it is just a matter of time before we become super humans, right?