Water is flowing...thanks to the sun!

Pump House

As temperatures continue to hover close to ninety in Northeastern, PA, we are thankful that we were finally able to get our solar powered pumping system operational for our thirsty one acre organic vegetable patch.

Our start up time was delayed several days thanks most likely to rough handling by UPS (not our driver he's a top notch guy).  Our first solar panel arrived shattered, and then our first pump wouldn't run properly.

We are using a solar powered pump, pressure tank, and drip irrigation.  For you solar energy geeks out there, the specs are as follow:  Dankoff Solar Slowpump 2507 that moves 4 gallons per minute.  Currently, it pumps when the pressure goes below 5 psi and builds the pressure back up to 15 psi before the pump shuts off again.  It has a 1 1/2" diameter PVC intake line, a pressure tank with a 6 gallon drawdown capacity.  The exit piping is 1 1/4"  diam. poly tubing which is set up to attach to a garden hose/soaker hose.

Soaker Hose in Broccoli bed

Movable sheep shelter

Other happenings include the construction of a second sheep shelter that is towable so we can move it around the twelve acres of river bottom pasture on the other side of the road.  The idea is to move the shelter and electric fence netting around so as to keep the animals on fresh pasture.   This will minimize or eliminate the need for de-worming for parasites as they have a two week start up life cycle once the sheep begin defecating on their browse area.  A two week rotation will greatly reduce parasite load and keep us from having to use harsh medications.  We need to be medication free for milking to make cheese for the pizzas we hope to soon be producing in our wood fired bread and pizza oven Dave will be building.

We are also pro-actively using powdered garlic and diematacious earth mixed with their minerals and/or grain to help keep our sheep from getting parasites.




"Massaged" Kale Salad...

Beginning last fall we started making "massaged" kale salads - sounds strange right?    Well the culinary experience is a delight for the palate.  Even our burly hunter friend, Jerry was having thirds last fall and soon after buying kale at his local supermarket.  Kale has one of the highest vitamin contents of any vegetable, but up until we discovered this easy way to make kale tastier by massaging it with olive oil from our neighbor, Pat Sanders, kale was not high on the list for the dinner menu.

Here is Dave's recipe that all our fellow PASA members were raving about at this month's potluck meeting:

LARGE bunch of kale (16-20 leaves minimum of at least 12 inches long)

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup slice almonds

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/3 cup currents

3/4-1 cup diced apples

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup feta cheese

Remove stems from kale and cut chiffonade

Spit or pat kale dry

Sprinkle salt on kale and massage 2 minutes

Put kale in different dish and discard any extra liquid

Add apples, almonds, currents and stir.

Add olive oil, vinegar and toss

Sprinkle feta cheese on top.

Turkey woes...

Heritage breed turkeys enjoy bugs & grass in orchard

We lost several turkeys a few weeks back when we couldn't get the young birds into the coop one night.  All that we found were some feathers a few days later - we suspect a raccoon.  We have since kept the grain in the coop during the day while the birds free range in the orchard.  This appears to be working as they are drawn back to the grain in the evening.

The smallest runt however still seems confused by this process and walks in circles around coop, making the work day even longer this time of year.

Wild Food update...

Wild Elderberry Flowers - amazing in pancakes!

Wild Elderberry Pancakes...   Since we like to share our edible wild food experiences, we needed to pass on a very delicious addition to any pancake recipe - elderberry flowers.  Not only are the berries good for wine, but the flowers are marvelous when mixed into any batter.

Some R & R ...

Farm Manager, Dave Campeau's parents were recently up for a visit and Dave took some much needed time to relax and pick blueberries at a nearby property and do some fishing with his dad at a neighbor's pond.  He also visited what was once a private airstrip - just down the road a few miles.   You never know what you'll find tucked away in the hills of Pennsylvania.

The trout pond has really cleared up nicely and the new upper pond is holding water as well.  We hope to get a couple of Highland cattle next year to beging stripping invasive shrub honeysuckle and autumn olive from our upper pasture.

More projects and photos....

Clearing the old road bed to upper pasture

Fireworks by the fire pit...

Our compost piles are teaming with red worms - we feed some to our trout.

Spotted Efts abound near the falls - an indicator of a very healthy eco-system

Turkey feathers - nature can be cruel

Antique figurine shard found in garden near Dyberry trout stream  (note fish)

Raspberries staked with scrap hemlock from barn construction

garlic scapes, blueberries, beets/beet greens, snow peas

One of our bees gathering asparagus pollen

Keeping watermelons cold by floating them in our springhouse

A big reason to stay the course with a small farm...

Until next time.... stay cool and support your local farmers whenever you can - we all may become a lot more dependent on smaller, local producers in the years ahead as the costs of fossil fuels continue to rise and our clean water supplies continue to be threatened.