Monthly Archives: May 2012

Old Fashioned Strawberry Jam

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I just ran out of last years jam about a week ago.  I had raspberry jam, tomato marmalade, and apple butter.  My kids are PB and J eaters at lunch time.  As soon as we ran out, my son asked me to call grandma to see if she had anymore jams or jellies.  When she didn’t, we started to go into panic mode, and by we, I mean he.  I tried to sell him peanut butter and honey, but that was a no go.  He told me I could just go to the store and get some tomorrow.  I assured him if we just wait a few more days the strawberries will be ready.  When I showed him this bunch of strawberries, “Good job, mom” was his response.  Thanks, I appreciate a sincere “Good job, mom”.

Old Fashioned Strawberry Jam

4 cups crushed strawberries.  6 or 7 cups of whole strawberries cut into halves and pulsed a few times in the food processor will do the trick.

4 cups sugar

Sterilize 4 half pint canning jars by boiling water and pouring into clean jars.  Let sit for a little bit (15 min.).  Also throw the rings and ring bands into scalding water and let those sit until ready to use.

Pour the  crushed strawberries into a 5 quart pot.  Stir in the sugar until well blended.  Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.  Continue boiling, uncovered and stir frequently, for 10 to 15 minutes or until it starts to thicken.  The big bubbles are a good indication that the mixture is thickening.  Also, if you stick a spoon in the pot, take it out, blow on it a little to cool it down,  the jam will start to stick to the spoon.

Pour into the hot jars leaving 1/8  inch of head space at the top.  Wipe rim with a damp cloth.  Place lids on jars and screw on ring bands firmly.  Set jars on a towel out of a draft.  Now my favorite part, listen for the pings of the lids when they seal.  Test to make sure all lids are sealed.  Just push the top of the lid and it should not push down.

The base recipe for this jam is from a book I found at a farm auction in a big box of cookbooks and other recipes called Canning Freezing and Drying published by Lane publishing in 1981.  I think I paid $5.00 for the whole box of cookbooks.

The Farm Wife

The Farm Pond

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Our farm pond is one of my favorite things that we have done over the years to improve our over all farm quality.  Ponds can be a bit of controversy as far as the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) and the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) are concerned.  You can take the side that the pond is a disruption of the natural stream that it is built on.  Or you can take the side that a pond is a place where migratory birds can come and stop for a drink of water, the deer have a spot to drink, it is an area where toads and frogs can call home, not to mention the kids love exploring anything and everything around the pond and is an awesome learning subject for them.   Our pond is classified as a wildlife pond.

We talked to the NRCS about helping us out with the cost of building a pond (EQUIP money).  They then have to get authorization from the DNR.  The DNR  has to come and take water measurements to decide flow and quality of the spring and stream.  When those tests are done, the NRCS can start the process of designing the pond.  This process usually takes a year from the time you decide you want a pond to the time the pond is under construction.  When the pond is constructed, it and the land it sits on, is under a program called CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program). We are in a  15 year program and on our 8th year.  What this means is we are not able to touch the land that the pond is on.  We have to let nature run its course.  No prairie plantings, no bird houses, no cabins.  It’s ok because I have 7 more years to decide what I want to do with the area.  Prairie and bird habitat are definitely in its future.

The reason we were able to start the whole pond building process is because we have a natural spring on that particular farm.  Water from the spring comes into the pond (about 50 degrees) and at the other end, water goes  out through a tube at the bottom of the pond and out to the stream on the other side of the damn.  It’s a great design.   I don’t think we will ever have problems with it.  In 20 years, the pond will still be around  and still look the way it looks today.

We have stocked the pond with fish and are able, this year, to start doing some fishing.  Fishing is not my favorite thing to do, but I love watching the kids catch fish.  They think it’s the best thing in the world.  No matter how small the fish is, if my youngest catches it, we will eat it.

The Farm Wife

My Contest Winner

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Thanks for everyone who responded in my fruit identifying contest yesterday.  My winner is Cathy, and since she is a local reader, her prize is a dozen eggs from my chickens!!!   The prize depended on who the winner was.

The answers were:

  • A. Raspberries (more specifically wild raspberries.  Can’t wait until these guys are ready.)
  • B. Grapes
  • C. Blueberries
  • D. Apple
  • E. Cherry

I really enjoyed the contest and I hope everyone had fun reading it.  I had fun coming up with it.  I had many readers yesterday, but they probably figured it was already won so why compete.  Still fun though.

Thanks again and I will think of another contest in the future.

Congrats Cathy your eggs are on their way!

The Farm Wife

Name That Little Fruit

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For our beginning of the week brain teaser, we are going to play the farm wife’s idea of a fun game.

Name That Little Fruit!

Leave your guesses in the comment section.  Common names are fine.  Some are easier than others.  The first with the right answers is the winner.  Good Luck!  All are my own pics and within 5 miles of my farm (nothing crazy like mango).

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

Garden Experiments Revisited

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In February and March, I posted two garden experiments .  The titles of these were Compost Hits and Misses and Spinach Experiment.   Follow the links to get a quick refresher.  Basically to sum it up the compost experiment was to see if an anaerobic compost pile is easier to keep than an aerobic compost pile.  The spinach experiment was testing the germination rate of  mulched seeds.

One was a success, one was… in Myth Buster lingo, we will call it plausible.  We will start with the success.  The anaerobic compost pile.  I was pretty happy with the end product of the pile.  I put in almost all the contents of my “after winter” compost pile.  Which is basically kitchen scraps, pumpkins, landscape material from last fall, all not really decomposed because it sat all winter.  So I took all that plus some manure and made a pile where my herb garden is going to be.  Then I threw a black tarp on top and secured it with rocks.  Every week I would dumped a 5 gallon bucket of water or two on it and once gave it a good stir around with my pitch fork.

This is the anaerobic compost pile after 3 months. It is pretty well decomposed. The farmer ran over it with the tractor.

Pros

  1. The pile decomposed fairly quickly.
  2. Almost no management except adding the water.
  3. Lots of worms when the pile was used.
  4. The pile did not really stink.

Cons

  1. The black tarp was an eye sore in my yard for a few months.
  2. The farmer ran over it with the tractor when we were getting other garden areas ready for spring.

I would use the anaerobic method again.  I would suggest, I guess with all compost methods, put it somewhere out-of-the-way and out of sight.  It was nice to put it on my future herb garden spot, because the farmer just tilled all that compost right into the ground and it is now part of my herb garden.  Over all, a good experiment.

Now the spinach experiment.  I mulched one of my raised beds with hay and made rows to plant spinach seeds.  I did not have a great germination rate.  Maybe somewhere around 50% or less.  Some rows did better than others.  I believe they just did not get enough sunlight to really pop up.  I do have spinach though, and we enjoy a spinach salad just about every night so it was not a total loss.  Also it took longer than normal for the spinach to really get going.  Again, because of the lack of sunlight right when they were emerging from the soil.  I don’t think I will do this again.  I will just plant in rows and hoe in between.  Then when spinach is done, I will do consecutive plantings or if not in the mood just mulch the whole bed, to keep weeds down, until fall when I can plant more spinach.

Since I now read a lot of garden blogs, I have noticed that many gardeners will have an experiment going in one form or another.  It’s just not enough sometimes to hear someone tell you something works or does not work.  You have to see it for yourself.  I had books and others warn me about trying an anaerobic compost pile.  It would stink, it takes longer, maybe I didn’t do it right, but I sort of liked it.  It gave me some quick (3 month) compost.  It’s worth it to just try something and make your own conclusions.  Those are this farm wife’s thoughts on the subject.

The Farm Wife

Tips for Racing

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The Galena Triathlon is this weekend.  I don’t blog about my racing/ training too much for a few reasons.  First of all,  this blog is about gardening and I don’t think my readers really care about endurance sports.  I could start a triathlon blog, but while I do enjoy it I don’t live and breath triathlon so I don’t think I would have enough to say about it to justify a blog.  If you could just indulge me this once, it will be short and painless and you can just say good luck in the comments and we will be done.  Next post, knock your socks off, garden topic.

Since this is my third year racing and, I believe, my 5th  multi sport event, I have learned a few things over the years and would like to share some of my thoughts and experiences.

  1. The majority of athletes are most uncomfortable with the swim.  If you think you’re not a good swimmer you are not the only one.
  2. Multi sport events are not fun to spectate.  If you have someone who comes to watch you race they are truly a good friend and or they love you very much.
  3. No matter how much you would love a good action shot of yourself, the event photographer, will capture anything but the action shot of your dreams.   If your lucky, your making a really stupid face right when he snaps the shutter.
  4. Don’t be discouraged that the winners have already finished, taken showers, and are now ready for the post-race party and you haven’t even started the run yet.  Those people are abnormal, not you.
  5. Someone, no matter what, is worse off than you.  My first year, I thought I can’t do this,  I have my husbands old bike, I don’t know what I’m doing here, everyone is going to be so disappointed when I have to be pulled out of the water.  Then walked up the lady with her wetsuit on backwards.  Yes, I can do this!
  6. Don’t drink 3 juice boxes as fast as you can when you get done racing.  You might think it’s a good idea at the time, but you will pay!
  7. Treat yourself after the race.  For this race, the farmer takes me to Sunday brunch.  My favorite indulgence ever.  Coffee, eggs with hollandaise sauce, champagne and orange juice, cheeses, waffles… I can’t wait!  I could do a blog post just on Sunday brunch, and I will.

The Farm Wife

Dungaree Blue

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Written by my farm wife friend Gail

“Wash my barn clothes would you please hon?  I will need clean clothes for tomorrow.”

Before I even pick them up, I notice a certain ‘perfume.’  Oh yes, today’s farm to do list has checked off: clean the hog house. From the smell and weight of the dungarees, I know everything has been cleaned. The boys and their dad will have lots of stories to tell about the little piglets antics of chasing each other through the clean straw.

Dirty smelly jeans and dungarees may be offensive to some, but for me they are little reminder to say thank you to the Lord for my farmer’s caring hands and heart.  There are always surprises when I reach into those front pockets.  Many times I could tell just how his day went. A thick heavy washer, a bent nail, a small broken bolt or a veterinary needle tell a bit of the many miles he walks as he tends to so many demands in his day.

I can usually tell by ‘pocket treasure’ and amount of grease on the pant legs, either made his day or cost him precious down time. Sometimes his back pockets will be stuffed full of twine. The twine may still have tiny leaves and clover flowers clinging to it but serves as reminders to us of God’s blessings. Each piece of twine show the fruits of his summer labors from the hay it encircled and now that same hay is in the feed bunk for hungry cattle.  The cattle soon will be ready for market thanks to my farmer’s watchful eye.

The pockets and dungarees tell a story everyday and everyday another chapter is added to our farm family’s journey. Our journey is not easy and we are constantly reminded of what is required of us to have dominion over the land.

One night I asked him how he keeps everything he deals with straight in his mind. He said, “I don’t know, I just do” and he rolled over and started to snore. Later I found a verse in Isaiah 28:23-26 that helped me understand.

‘Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say. When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? When he has leveled the surface does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place? Barley in its plot? Spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.’

Ah yes, I should have known.

Garden Install and Mulch

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I learned my lesson a few years ago.  Don’t put your garden in before Mother’s Day.  It’s an easy rule to follow.  A few years ago the weather was getting nice and it was wednesday before Mothers Day.  I thought, what the heck just a few days early won’t matter.  Yes, you know where this story is going.  The night before Mothers Day the evening temp got down to 30 degrees.  I lost all my tomatoes, basil, peppers and eggplant.  I made two mistakes that year.  I planted before Mothers Day and I didn’t watch the weather.

This year I do have my garden in and it is before Mother’s Day, but I am watching the weather.  Since the spring trend has been warm I felt pretty safe in making my move to get my garden in last weekend.  First, I looked at the 10 day forecast, 40 degrees is as low as it’s going to get between now and Mothers Day.  Pretty sure I’m going to be safe.

I was very happy with my newspaper pots, and disappointed in my peat pots.  I think that I will be using newspaper pots exclusively in the future.  Above I have my pots in a egg collecting basket.  This is a farm auction find for $1.00.

Between my tomatoes and peppers they take up 50% of my garden.  The rest is peas, beans, basil, eggplant,  broccoli, head lettuce and cucumbers.  That is my main kitchen garden plot.  I have another plot that is the strawberry patch another dedicated to onions this year and another that is the pumpkin patch.  The farmer is in charge of the pumpkin patch.    This is after everything is planted but before the mulch is put on.  The stick structure is my bean pole.  Here is my mulch.  I used all of this and I am going to need more for touch ups.  Thank goodness we had a good hay crop last year.  We have some to spare.  That is my sons favorite outfit.  I can’t get him to stop wearing it.  He does rotate between two different John Deere t-shirts though.After mulching.  I have more mulch to install I am just going to wait until some plants get a little bigger.This picture shows how thick the mulch is.  It’s probably a good 6″ thick.  This mulch will cut my weeding time dramatically.  I will have to weed in between plants until they grow and form a canopy to block the sun.

These are my tomato cages.  They are bent hog fences.  Don’t waste your money on the dinky tomato cages at Walmart.  There are many other options to try.  I have a friend who ties her tomatoes to a stake as they grow.  Works well.  I like these bent fences.  This idea came from my neighbor Lynn.  I got him the fences and he bent them for me.

Mulched onions.  I have 4 rows of onions I could probably have 6 if I didn’t mulch.  To me the loss of planting space is worth not having to spend all my time weeding.  I also have a lot of garden space so that is not an issue for me.  I enjoy the look of the hay much.  In these pictures it looks real fluffy.  It does compress as the season goes on and it’s easy to walk on with bare feet.  It also shows the kids where the garden aisles are so they are not running through the whole garden when the plants are little.

I’m very excited about my garden this year.  So far it is doing well.  We have gotten good rain and good sunshine days.  God has blessed us to have such great growing conditions.  This is why I love living in Wisconsin.  We can forget about winter for now.

The Farm Wife

Morel Mushrooms PartII

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It is getting towards the end of mushroom season here in Wisconsin.  It has been a great season.  Lots of mushrooms.  I even made wild mushroom soup.  It was absolutely fabulous.  Real creamy, wild mushroom goodness in every bite.  You can’t beat a wild mushroom.  We hate to see the Morels leave us but we can say goodbye with this big guy I just found tonight.

This is the biggest one I have ever found.  Of course I did not have my camera with me at the time.  I was just going out to the field to get my son for dinner who was in the tractor with dad.  When I got out there the farmer says “Rumor has it that there are mushrooms under that tree over there.”  He didn’t have to tell me twice, I was on my way before he finished the sentence.  When we got to the tree there were a few that had been past their prime but this one was still in pretty good condition.  It had flopped over because it’s so big it couldn’t support it’s own weight but man were we surprised when we found it.  What a monster.  This will probably be our last one of the season.  All good things have to come to an end.  They will be back and when that day comes this farm wife will be back out in the woods looking for them.

The Farm Wife

Hummingbirds Are Here

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Get your hummingbird feeders out.

Because of our warm spring, hummingbirds have already migrated into our area and some have been here almost a month or so.   I read recently, I believe it was in Martha Stewart Living the April edition, that the nectar that we feed the hummingbirds in our feeders should only be left out for a couple of days.  It goes bad quickly especially in warm weather and can hurt the little guys.  Only fill the feeder enough for a couple of days worth.  Like any bird feeding, make a commitment to it if you are going to offer food.  Keep feeders clean and stocked.

The nectar I make is 4 cups water with 1 cup sugar.  Bring the water to a boil and add the sugar.  Stir until dissolved.  Wait to put it in the feeder until it cools.  I fill the feeder just for a few days worth and keep the rest in my refrigerator.   I do not add red coloring.  The birds seem to find it just fine and the feeder has red on it.  I sometimes will have 3 fighting over it.

I just put my feeder out yesterday and the kids and I have been keeping an eye on it.  No sign of a hummingbird, but there was a wasp enjoying and sugary mixture.  I grab my towel and am going to hit the feeder to get the wasp off.  Right when I am beginning to swing, my first hummingbird flew near the feeder.  It spots one sight of me in mid swing and high tails it out of there.  I was so angry, I scared my first hummingbird of the season.  Not to worry though, as soon as the coast was clear the ruby throated  bird came back.  I have now spotted it a few times today.

I have been trying to get a good picture of the little hummingbird, but he seems to be a bit smarter than me and wont come near the feeder when I am standing in the shadows with my camera at the ready.  You can just take my word for it that he is here and he is fun to watch.  Better yet,  get a hummingbird feeder at your local hardware store.  Make the surgery mix, and wait for the birds to come and find it.  They are so much fun to watch.  The kids yell “HUMMINGBIRD!” every time he comes to the feeder and we all stop what we are doing and watch it for second and then carry on just like nothing happened.

The Farm Wife