My Herb Garden

I enjoyed my little perennial herb garden so much this summer. I planted it last fall fall and everything came back beautifully I have Oregano, Winter Savory, Thyme, Sage, Lemon Balm, and Lavender.

Oregano Flowers

Winter Savory

Lavender

The Enchanted Garden Gate

Water Kefir

Tibicos… what a strange word, what might it be anyway? Well, it is fizzy fermented sugar water. Sounds strange right? It is actually quite delicious as well as a healthy alternative to soda. It is also known as water kefir. I first heard about it a few years ago when someone at the Farmer’s Market mentioned it, then a friend of mine started making it. It caught my interest but I didn’t start making any until last fall when my midwife offered me some grains as well as a kombucha scoby(which I also started making and will be another post.) Making water kefir is a very simple process. After looking it up online to figure out the basics here is the method I use. I make mine in a half gallon jar. For ½ gallon of water kefir or tibicos you will need: 10 Tablespoons of water kefir grains 6 Tablespoons of sugar(I use organic cane sugar) 1 small lemon or lime 1 small piece of fresh ginger Helpful equipment to have: Half gallon glass canning jar Cheesecloth Rubberband Funnel Strainer Jars or bottles that seal tightly To make your water kefir measure your kefir grains and sugar into your jar. Fill with water. Cut the lemon or lime into quarter and slice the ginger add to jar. Cover with cheesecloth holding in place with a rubberband. Let sit on counter at room temperature for 1 to 2 days. It should be tangy, with just a little bit of sweetness. Experiment to find how long you like to leave it, the longer it sits the more sour it becomes. I find the time it takes to ferment varies a little depending on the temperature in the house. Next strain out the liquid and pour into airtight jars or bottles. Let sit on the counter another 12- 24 hours. Refrigerate to chill then enjoy! Another variation that I like is adding about 1/3 fruit juice when bottling. It adds extra fizz and flavor! It is also good mixed half and half with lemonade when you serve it. I also want to try making ginger ale syrup to add to it one of these days. To make the next batch simply add 6 more Tablespoons of sugar to the jar and fill with water. After three batches I use fresh lemon and ginger and re-measure my grains, they will keep growing. I keep the extra grains in sugar water in the refrigerator, give them away, or throw them in the compost if there are too many.

My water kefir in my pretty bottles

Ready to sit on the counter

The grains- aren't they pretty?

The grains

The finished drink- so refreshing

Colorful Fresh Salsa

I love summertime when all my colorful heirloom tomatoes come ripe. One of my favorite recipes to use them in is this zesty fresh salsa. It is bursting with color and flavor! It is also so easy to make.

Recipe for Fresh Colorful Salsa

About 2 lbs  of various colored heirloom tomatoes
1 small onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
3-4 hot peppers depending on how hot you like it
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
juice of one lime
salt and pepper to taste

Chop up tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and onion. Add spices and lime juice. Mix all together refrigerate until ready to use.

Grandpa's Truck

Around here we love old things. We love to use classic trucks, tractors, and tools on our farm. We use a Ford 9N tractor to plow and cultivate, we have a white '66 Ford pickup that we drove to market last year, and we have an old Planet Jr. hand cultivator that we use for weeding between the rows. So last fall when the opportunity to buy Andrew's grandfathers truck from his aunt came up, we jumped on it. Around here we love old things, especially if there is family history attached. It is a  teal '72 GMC pickup. Grandpa's brother bought it new in '72 and when he died it was passed along to Grandpa.We bought it last November when we went to the coast for the Washington Tilth Producers conference. We are using it as our new market truck this year. Someday we hope to fix it up and make it look all shiny and pretty. As a side note; I love the color so much that I was inspired to redo our all our banners and signs incorporating it!

David

David On Grandpa's Truck

David and Matthew

Springish Things

Celeste(and Matthew on her back!) transplanting lettuce

Soil growing with lettuce plants

Tiny seedlings emerging through the soil.

The chickens have started laying again!

Looking through the grow room door

Spinach: green and growing

David Paints the Chicken House

We decided that the chicken house would look cute painted red. That was last year. We bought the paint and never got around to painting... til now. Spring has arrived and the warmer weather has motivated us to get projects done outside. David was so excited to help, he talked about it for for days ahead of time. He enjoyed having his own brush to pain with. We got most of it done before running out of paint. We will have to pick up some more next time we are in town!