Itsumo Mawaru

We are rapidly approaching the end of May. Our weather this month has been quite interesting, with a few days of frosty mornings and now scorching heat and even a thunderstorm warning with hail for my area!

A lot of our time has been taken by gardening, both constructing the raised beds, filling them with soil, and transplanting the plants. We are also watering things by hand for now with a hose, so that takes some of our time each day. However now that these tasks are complete all we need to do is defend against bugs and weeds and provide the required components to let the plant make its fruit.

In general our seed starting adventure was successful. We were absolutely successful with the tomatoes – the only improvement would have been more indoor light, more outdoor time, and more wind to make larger stalks. But they are doing fine in the garden. I gave my mum 5 plants and she has transplanted four of them. We started the peppers too slow, however they are still growing and I will try to grow them indoors for now, and it was good to learn that my seed saving was done correctly (and also that one does not need to dry sweet pepper seeds from peppers bought from the store prior to planting and sprouting them). Next year I will start them very early, maybe even January. My squash seeds were somewhat successful, with the purchased seeds having a much higher germination rate than my saved seeds. Each 6-cell tray had one good growth at least though, so I’m happy, and even some store bought seeds only had one good growth too so I know it wasn’t just my saving. We transplanted all of these and more into our one 10×10 raised bed. I would say it’s probably seeded to the max right now, which means if we want to plant other things we will need to shovel more dirt and till the second 10×10 raised bed.

That said, we do have a Three Sisters plantation going on. We are staggering the construction by a week so that the crops will be staggered by a week for a nice smooth harvest. We dug out four pits approximately 1 meter in diameter and mounded them with nice fresh humus, topsoil, and peat moss. Then the first stage was planted. This stage is the support stage. In the traditional Three Sisters garden this is corn. One of our mounds is a popcorn, two are a sweet corn, but the last one is sunflowers, which should serve the purpose and add a bit of spice to the garden. Seven seeds were planted in each pile and the all but the top 3-4 will be culled in a few weeks time. Then the beans will be planted, and will use the growing corn/flower stalk as a support in its quest upwards. I have high expectations for these gardens, I like their lack of effort in construction, and I’m excited to see one as I’ve never actually seen such a garden before.

Our wild berry bushes are growing at a spectacular rate. The patch near the house has had buds for a week now. We have spotted many bees and bugs flying around the area so pollination is not a concern for me. I’ve been giving them a bit of extra water while out on watering duty. I hope they appreciate it.

The turkeys have grown so much over the past weeks. They have lost their child-like cuteness and have developed a sort of adolescent awkwardness. They are flying all around their brooding area, so it is now time to move on to Stage 3 of their construction. I have the supplies for making a little climbing ladder as well as perches, as they seem to want to perch and play around. I will also suspend a treat such as lettuce or an apple for them to peck at and gain extra nutrients. I have a wonderful idea for a special outdoor lounging area but plans for it have been postponed due to the ridiculous hot weather. Thor, the white turkey, continues to enjoy perching on my shoulder. I secretly hope he/she will want to do this as they continue to grow up. Thor is still the primary candidate for permanent farm residence. As you may have noticed I referred to Thor as he/she, as far as I can see there is no way to tell their sexes apart at this time!

Watching the lambs grow up is such a great experience, I wish that more people could experience it. Power Blaster has decided we are now on his good side again and loves to come up for a snuggle through the fence. He seems to really love exploring, as evidenced by him being absolutely covered in pine sap, but I don’t blame him. Volcano God shows no signs of having horns whereas his brother’s are growing in nicely. Both are still a bit timid to us but I hope that goes away in time.

Last of all, we have learned how easy it is to condition animals, whether intentional or not. We have been feeding our chicken scraps in the backyard, so now everytime we come outside they all rush over and expect treats. Jane, the Muscovy duck, took it an extra step and perches on our deck railing and opens her mouth for a snack. We have taken to feeding her a bit of chicken feed just cause it’s funny to look outside and see a duck peeking in at you! That and it gives us a chance to give her a pet, as much as she doesn’t appreciate it.

I’ve been in a stamping mood recently. At the same time I was finding I wanted a better, more consistent and organized way to remember my yarn details. So I decided to combine the two loves and make a yarn tag stamp.

I love stamp making. It is meticulously fun in the same way eating a pomegranate is. There’s something so rewarding about making a sketch, transferring it onto the rubber, and making it come to life. The stamp always takes on a bit of a personality of its own, and at least at this stage with my skills, my stamps always come out with that extra homemade touch to them.

Since I intend to use these tags for my yarn I will sell from the farm, I wanted to see if I could make it into a rainbow tag. It took a few tries to find the right colors but finally a nice rainbow appeared. A nice black and white yarn cord highlights the prettiness of the rainbow. Best of all, the tags are made with 100% recycled cardboard, aka my cereal boxes.

I am working on a set of other stamps based on my animal sketches. Hopefully I will be able to make prints to sell in the near future.

This post serves to document my first ever self haircut. While it most certainly is not perfect nor really even, I appreciate that I did it myself! Best of all it lets me work in the garden without having my hair or ponytail in my face, and takes seconds to wash in the shower. Double best of all is the money I saved will go a long way with animal feed. Let’s hear it for simplicity!

No related posts.

I haven’t had a lot of time to write due to having to do things like creating a garden and cleaning up in anticipation of lots of visitors! So I will let my camera do the talking.

Visitors have come by to snuggle the newborn lambs and play the “Try to Catch a Chicken” game.

My little Power Blaster is growing up so fast! He’s almost half as big as his mum now. And he has that same chillaxed expression as his mum.

Everyone is growing up nicely in fact. Here’s a good shot to show their differences in shades. I do believe Volcano God will end up grey, and PB might stay black.

I have also decided that Volcano God will be my new herd sire. The temptation of infusing polled genes, great fleece, and awesome patterns to the flock was too strong. Frankie’s fate is now up in the air a bit. While I can always hold onto him for another year, I might be more interested in trading him for some ewes.

Garden 1.0 has finally started. We finished the fencing yesterday and got those plants into the ground. Of course the minute we plant one tomato plant, it starts raining! We are going back out to work on the other raised bed as well as the many Three Sisters mounds we will be planting this year. As always, work is never done on the farm. But you gotta know when to call it quits for a bit!

And finally, did I ever show this to you? It’s my mom’s first ever quilt and she made it just for me&my farm. Yeah that’s my logo right there! And there’s even a little sheep button in the corner. How cute! It is hanging up right in my house’s entrance so that everyone who comes in can enjoy its beauty.

I am very excited. Today is the start of one of my new goals: my first farm offering to you, my readers in the Eastern Ontario area!

I would like to raise some happy chickens for your future dinners. A happy chicken is, simply put, a chicken that gets to live outside all the time and act like a chicken for its life, instead of one that’s kept in a cage and treated like a meat machine. I go into more detail on the HPRF blog.

Right now I’m simply making a list of people who are interested in this, so if you’re interested please contact me! And of course even if you’re not interested, perhaps you know of a friend or two who might be interested, so please feel free to pass on the link.