I am back to feeding the calves this week. Over Christmas break My multi-talented husband who is the preferred assistant did the honors. Then half of the calves were gone so it wasn’t worth making my mother-in-law baby sit. More calves have arrived and so I am back to work. I missed it strangely enough. I was thinking about that as I broke ice in the tanks in four degree weather. My fingers and toes were numb with cold as water splashed onto my clothes and face freezing instantly on contact while the rest of me sweated. My arms ached until I thought I wouldn’t be able to lift the bar one more time and I was so happy to be getting some exercise. Or I was thinking that until I broke through the ice and whacked my self on the head with the solid metal bar. Then I just thought owww.

That proved to be some what of a theme for the day.

After feeding we put out new lick tubs out for the cows. Against my better judgement I hoped onto the payloaders bucket with the lick tubs where I clung for dear life during a bouncy ride to the pasture. This seems like a very bad idea to me but every one else does it so I figure it must be alright. I survived the trip out and he sat the bucket down to unload the first tub. I put my back into the unloading attempting to rest a couple hundred pounds of molasses and mineral to the ground. Rocking the tub to its side to roll it out I smashed my fingers between them. Back onto the bucket for a ride to the next unloading spot I looked down to see my dog hunting rabbits between the loader and the wheels. I yelled at her and she ran around to find me as the payloader rumbled forward. She seemed destined to join Zip. Finally she gave up and ran off after other prey.

It was a short trip to our next destination. Having determined that this was the perfect spot for the next tub my father-in-law promptly tipped the bucket successfully unloading me if not the tub. I stumbled back a few steps stopping to look up at him as he continued to tip the bucket. He looked back at me and then at a spot over my head. Looking surprised he stopped the movement of the loader. I looked up to see what was there. Maybe two inches over my head hung the point of the grapple. I think that would have hurt worse than the metal bar.  My formerly much loved husband informed me that he usually just hangs on to the support arm for the grapple and stays in the bucket for this exciting ride. I don’t think I care to try it.

Having no other options I rode back in the bucket. From now on I am not giving into peer  pressure. That was my last ride in the bucket. I suppose that makes us even for the whole calf roping thing earlier.

Well our experiment was mostly a success. Both the sprouts and the micro greens were delicious.

The sprouts were from a premixed bag expressly for the purpose of growing as sprouts. The bag was a little old and not all the seeds sprouted. The ones that did sprouted at different times. In the future I think we will buy individual seed types and most importantly not put near as many in the jar. They doubled in size with one night of soaking and were crammed in tight once they began to grow.

We didn’t try them in sandwiches with hummus or tomato and miricele whip. We didn’t try elaborate grilled cheeses either. We did add them to salads though and they were delicious. I am also rather pleased that we have not died of botulism, always a good thing.

The micro greens worked quite well. Using seeds we had on hand that hadn’t worked very well in the garden, we planted two rows of radish a row of spinach and two rows of lettuce. The spinach didn’t come up. The lettuce is so small it is difficult to harvest. The radish though was beautiful. I tried pulling it root and all first but found the washing nearly impossible. Cutting  the steam with scissors worked much easier. I am going to try pulling the lettuce next time they were to short to cut but maybe they will wash easier than the radish.

The radish greens tasted like radish. They added a nice kick and I didn’t worry as much about food poisoning. We ate them on pizza and in salads. I didn’t try the mushroom and micro-green omelet Martha suggested, hopefully next time.

In the future I wouldn’t start the greens and sprouts at the same time. It was difficult getting every thing used up. We still have greens left which is nice, I don’t feel as rushed to get them used up right away. All in all it was very nice to have fresh home grown greens in January. We will definitely be doing this again.

Not like we sat her in an up right position and she stayed, but as in we laid her down and she did a sit up.

Technically that includes a color so we are sticking with the theme.

I love marigolds. I think they are beautiful, I even like the smell. Properly called Tagetes, the common name is derived from “Marys Gold”. They are an excellent nectar source for butterfly’s, their beautiful orange color can be used for food color but most important here they are supposed to repel insects. Because of that particular attribute they are good companion plants for tomatoes and pepper as well as many others.

We had aphids on the peppers in the green house. The lady bugs were already feasting but didn’t seem to be keeping up. I had some marigold seeds that I had been planning to plant around the house. So I though I would just plant a few in between the peppers. It was so fun to watch them come up. The seedling were so healthy and vigorous. So very very vigorous. They grew and grew and grew. We rechecked the package, it did say Marigold, height 12 to 24 inches. Well that was taller than I had expected I guess I should have been more careful in selecting type.

But they kept growing. Soon they were taller than the peppers and reaching for the ceiling. I suppose we could have pulled them. Gotten rid of the problem altogether. The peppers weren’t doing much any way though and the flowers were pretty.

First it was purple now green, I’m working my way through the colors.

Looking through the latest Martha Stewart Living I found an article on growing sprouts and micro greens. It may be a good magazine to replace  Glamor after all.We have been surviving without home grown greens for so long we thought we would experiment with growing these.

I don’t know what sprouts are supposed to be eaten with or on but there were a couple of recipes included in the article. I do love grilled cheese with tomato. Their suggestion of grilled cheese with bacon, apple and sprouts I don’t know about. Martha may just be to cool for me.

So, sure that we would find some use for them, we began our little experiment it will be fun to see what happens.

I have a subscription to Martha Stewart Living now. One of the kids at school was selling subscriptions and I was looking for something to replace Glamor which I am afraid I have finally out grown. The January issue had recipes for roasting vegetables. We still have vegetables from the garden. I thought “Hey, I could roast the vegetables”. It was quite the epiphany.

So I gathered some garlic, an onion, threw in a couple potatoes and we ventured out to the greenhouse to dig up some carrots. We have been sorely lax in our carrot digging this winter. Fortunately the in-laws are making good use of them. They have dug up nearly half. However upon arriving at the purple carrots they seemed unenthused. We found many large purple carrots strewn about the ground. Maybe people don’t share my enthusiasm for purple vegetables? Someday I plan to grow an entirely purple garden. I have seen purple cauliflower (not that I would ever touch the stuff), purple kohlrabi, purple asparagus, purple potatoes, even purple tomatoes. But I digress.

After washing I tossed all the vegetables in olive oil, added a sprinkle of salt and pepper, then spread the larger ones one a cookie sheet. The smaller ones I saved to add later. They roasted for a good hour. The smaller ones half that. The garlic I should of waited until even later to add.

It was scrumptious. The carrots were chewy and sweet. The garlic we added to the mushroom gravy which we poured over the potatoes and our stakes. The whole thing was delicious, it was so nice to be eating from our garden even in the middle of winter. I would like to try some squash this way too, I wish I had been more careful about bringing some inside instead of letting it freeze.

It was one year ago today that my darling husband proposed. He popped the question on bended knee with his Grandmothers ring at the stroke of midnight  so that his words were the first I heard in the new year. It was very romantic.

My how things change.

Not that he’s not still romantic, when he gets the chance. It’s just more difficult with the small goblin child to keep us company. Last year was an extremely busy year with weddings and babies and unfortunately funerals. I think we used up the gift fund at work.

Looking back through the pictures on my camera I found lots of things that I had meant to write about but never found the time. So it looks like I will have something to write about besides poop. It will be fun to revisit summer in the dead of winter. And so I will enjoy writing about……

I think they time the sending of the seed catalogs nicely, and purposely, to rescue us when winter gets to be to much. They start arriving as the days reach their shortest point in December and continue through the bleak blustery days of January. When the fertile soil of the garden is frozen rock solid and summer seems naught but a cruel dream, they arrive. Bright shiny pictures of vegetable plants and flowers and sun shine.

We will start to pour through them shortly. Comparing their offerings to what seeds we already have. My devoted gardener husband will chose the practical, the tried and true. I will chose multicolored tomatoes, purple carrots and grey pumpkins. With just one of every variety that looks so scrumptious in the bleak mid winter we will be planting far more than we can eat. But the excitement is at its highest point, all things seem possible during those cold dark days of dreaming.

This year, we tell ourselves, this year we will can more tomatoes and keep up with the okra. This year we will keep the weeds pulled and pickle some cucumbers. This year we will gorge our selves on sweet corn until we are sick with it. This year I will smush up the peas for baby food, for that matter I will make all our baby food fresh from the garden. We will cut our grocery bill in half by growing all our own food.

Soon it will be time. One more month. In February we will start the precious little seedlings. With careful water, heat and lighting they will  grow offering hope that spring is on its way.

I got yet another Christmas present today! First I got a new bale feeder for the horses. One that wont rub their manes off. Then we got a new light for Ellys bed room. All my Christmas presents from everybody else, too many to count. Now from my darling husband a box of hot chocolate.

What that doesn’t sound impressive? This isn’t just any old hot chocolate. This is special ordered form California. My absolute favorite kind. Not the kind that you drink ether. It is the Firecracker, a hand crafted dark chocolate bar with hot peppers that explodes in your mouth like pop rocks of old. Or as they put it rather more eloquently, “Sultry sea salt, smoky chipotle, and popping candy exploding in dark chocolate”. He followed that with the Spicy Maya Bar, which, according to them is “the perfect mix of sweet and seductive”. Yum, I am going to be so fat. I suppose I will have to share them with my dearest husband. He is after all the founder of the feast.

It makes me wish though that I had gotten him something. Anything at all really.

Poor guy.

I was looking at their web sight and I think I found next years present for my parents!  The maple bacon bar, because “every thing is better with bacon”.  I think I will stick to chocolate with hot peppers.