It’s early March and Seattle just got snow. It was just a light dusting but it was enough to make me worry about my peach and apricot trees which are in full bloom.

A hard freeze after the trees are in bloom can destroy all hope of those sweet succulent morsels ending up on our menu.

The past week has been a rush to get compost spread, livestock fencing up and other farm chores done. One bit of hard work was an accidental discovery: our nephew was digging in our yard and discovered a boulder which after six men and a few large poles (used for leverage) worked on getting it out of the ground, it became a nice addition to the landscape.

I also started more seed so that we can get an early start on the growing season. We have a nice set up for seed trays to germinate and then receive the light they need to thrive. Our tomato, pepper, and ground cherries have already got their true leaves and are doing well. Seeing them makes me long for warmer weather.

In the greenhouse and cloche there are beets, celery, lettuce, cauliflower, mustards, collard greens and radishes all ready for harvest. We took the bunny tractor out and turned the rest of the cover crop in to the soil but not before eating all we could. Check out our Facebook fan club page to see the conversation on chickweed. http://www.facebook.com/pages/SongCroft/232174564481?ref=sgm

We are getting lots of amazingly rich and butter duck eggs as well as chicken eggs with whites perfect for meringues. I was so inspired by the quality of our eggs that one of the recipes in the upcoming issue of the newsletter will have eggs as a main ingredient. If you subscribe, you’ll get a recipe for a rhubarb tart with a meringue top. This is one of my signature dishes. If you make it for a gathering, people will be amazed as it has a beautiful presentation as well as being incredibly delicious! You can tell them were you got the recipe. http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

High 52    Low 38     Overcast with rain from mid-day on

Okay, so I’m going to blatantly brag about my kid. What can I say, I’m a mom who loves her kids and like most moms, I’m proud of them. So bear with me while we both experience one of my proud mama moments.

First, a little background, our fan club on Facebook has been experiencing a lot of activity lately. Folks have been really getting in to sharing their favorite ways to use different wild plants that are harvestable this season. The creativity has been really fun.

Harvesting wild greens is a fun pastime for the kids and I, so Sofie, our twelve year-old daughter, has been enjoying reading what others are posting on the Facebook wall. She has always been a really creative girl and has become an exceptional cook.

In fact, her cooking skills surpass those of many adults.

While I ran to the market one day this week, she made me lunch. Upon returning, I was pleasantly surprised to find maki sushi awaiting me on a plate complete with wasabi and soy sauce. Maki sushi is the name for sushi that is rolled, typically in a sheet of nori. The presentation was pretty with the black nori, white rice, bright yellow of the egg she gathered from our hens and vivid green sprigs peeking out the end. When I took a bite, I was surprised and delighted to realize that the greens were chickweed.  It was such a lovely fresh combination with the rich egg cooked Japanese style, tamagoyaki, and the brightness of the taste of Spring carried in the chickweed. I ate the whole plate!

It’s always a good feeling to see my children become accomplished at something. It feels great to know that they will not only leave our house with the basic skills of being able to cook for themselves but it is a blessing that they will also know that they can identify, gather and use wild plants from season-to-season. And admittedly, it is sheer pride I feel when I see their creativity and ingenuity manifest itself into something as wonderful as chickweed sushi!

Chickweed is not only delicious but it also is nutritious and has been used in herbal medicine for centuries. If you are interested in more information, check out the SongCroft Facebook page to see what others are doing with this wonderful winter perennial.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SongCroft/232174564481?ref=sgm

High 59              Low 34 The sky was clear blue.

The weather was at a record high for February in Western Washington. The warm air and the bright blue in the sky felt lovely. It was a perfect weekend for having the SongCroft Self-Sufficiency Skills School Classes.

The first year course participants were on the land on Saturday and the second year participants were on the land on Sunday. It was busy and fun.

The first year group spent the day learning about starting their own seeds. We discussed why they would want to start seeds of their own, different techniques for starting the seed and how they would transplant the seed. They planted their own seed trays to bring home and care for as well as potted up some seedlings I had started in advance. It was a very fun day. We had a good sized group but what warmed my heart the most was that my twelve-year-old daughter decided to join the class and start seeds for her own garden. She grows a small vegetable garden each year so learning to start her own seed will build upon those skills she is already cultivating. These skills are part of our legacy.

The second-year course participants, learned about setting fence posts, espalier trees and greenhouses. I demonstrated how to train young fruit tree branches to grow against a fence to create a two-dimensional tree and walked the land showing which wild greens were ready for harvest.

I feel fortunate to be in a place to share the things I know well with others. Life is very good.

Some of our course participants were interested in learning more about the world seed bank. Follow the link for more information.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/26/norway.seeds/index.html

High 56             Low 34

It was a beautiful clear day.

It’s hard to believe that it is February in Washington. In all my years, I have never seen it so warm this time of year. We have peas sprouting in the garden  and it feels like May.

During this early warm-spell, we have been able to get a lot done. Brian has been setting fence posts and I have been cleaning up the fallen branches from winter storms.

I have cleaned the goat stalls in anticipation of kids being born over the next few months and even installed a new automatic watering system. With two less goats, we sold two kids, there is a bit more room. Our buck will be leaving us soon. We will just have three does. Milking time is coming on fast and I relish the mornings where I still get to sleep in.

The winter rabbitry has been cleaned out and made ready to become a brooder for the broilers that will arrive soon. We hope to keep a few from this flock to use as breeders so we can sell them locally. If we have time to prepare their home, we will also raise a few heritage breed turkeys. The heritage breeds are beginning to disappear since they are not as breasty and fast growing as the more common commercially raised turkeys. These turkeys haven’t had the turkey bred out of them.

The henhouse and yard were also cleaned and given fresh straw. We have hens and ducks sitting on eggs and the kids are raising another 13 chicks in the house. We hear the “cheep-cheep” of little ones and it brings smiles to our faces. These chicks will grow to be part of our egg layers. We sell a fare amount of eggs from our flock and occasionally need to raise new girls to replace older girls who stop laying.

Today, our daughter took the goats out for a long walk in the sun. They were all leaping and jumping as they happily went looking for fresh browse. On the way back, they took a diversion and caused some havoc in the garden. Brian is trying to get the fence up as fast as he can. I can only laugh at the thought of the goats biting things as they run off knowing darn well they are not suppose to be there.

It’s only February and the nettle is up, the winter wren is still singing and the frogs have been in chorus. Another song has been written on our croft.

Washington State University Extension has been hit really hard. As a Master Gardener, I know value of the many programs that the extension services offer. In these changing times things are harder for many people. Teaching our communities how to grow their own food, preserve food and food safety are important roles. Helping farmers (new and existing) with new business information, technology and sustainability skills are vital to our food supply. The WSU Extension programs are needed.

Yesterday, another program was cut. Master Food Preservation and Food Safety Consultant. Does this sound like a good idea to you? With all of the issues that have happened with commercially processed food, I doubt that many of us are going to do much worse at home but the reality is that except for in rare cases aunties and grandmas no longer gather to preserve the harvest, where are people going to learn these skills? How will they learn them safely? Will they be forgotten all together or will people get sick following outdated books that no longer apply to the genetically modified foods who’s acid levels have changed?

These are some of the issues that brought SongCroft in to being. Whether you participate in the programs or read the newsletter, we hope to pass on some of these essential practices before they are lost.

If you are interested in food preservation, you can purchase the Fall 2009 issue of the SongCroft Newsletter. There is a lot of good information to be had there.

High 42 Low 39       Light sprinkling of rain in the early evening

I Can Hardly Wait!

A currant ready to burst!

Okay, I know it’s only February but I can hardly wait for Spring! There are tulips up on my front porch and the current buds are swelling so big, I swear I’ll hear them when they burst!

This time last year we still had at least a solid three feet of snow!

Earlier today the children, goats and dogs were all out on the land running, browsing and playing. It was fun to watch them together, all one herd–Human kids and goat kids all umping, bouncing and calling to their mamas.

The latter part of the day was spent measuring parts of our land with Sofie. As I measured, I explained to her what I was doing and why. I sometimes asked her to tell me why I would want to know the distance from this to that.  Mapping and surveying were part of our homeschooling today. She is a bright girl who catches on to things quickly.

We plan to move a few things around (Isn’t that what gardeners do?) and finish some projects as soon as Spring blesses us with warmer weather.

I relocated a few currants and a young cherry tree. I drew plans for new plantings and perused plant catalogs to find a few hard-to-get items.

While in the garden, Sofie rolled a log over and we marveled at the many earthworms that were squirming around in the rich soil. Flipping things over in our garden is almost like looking for crabs under rocks at the beach. No matter how many times you see them, they are still always fascinating.

Tonight I will put my measurements to graph paper and create a more detailed design. I will tell myself to be patient as the sun begins to rise higher each day until Spring and I will dream of hyacinth and flowering currants.

High 49  Low 37  Slight afternoon clearing

This evening I found myself asking my almost teen daughter to turn down the stereo. It’s not an unusual request since she loves music, the louder the better. But tonight, was different. She wasn’t listening to music. You see, ever since our trip down to Oakville last week, she has been listening to Barbara Kingsolvers “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.” http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

Sofie enjoys the story parallels to our own family life and I think she even feels comforted at times. She has commented on Camille’s recipes and commentary, Barbara’s witty way with words and sense of humor as well as her ability to take her thoughts and form them into beautiful and clever sentences. Sofie even chose Animal Vegetable Miracle as an offering for our Mother-Daughter Bookclub because she would like to discuss issues of local food and growing our own with other kids!

Sofie is an amazing artist and I suspect writing may be part of her future.  In the eyes of my twelve year-old, Barbara Kingsolver rocks!

This is not to say that our eight-year-old son doesn’t also listen to Mrs. Kingsolver. He was only halfway listening until he heard her talk about the character who’s other name is “Malcolm You Get Your Backside Over Here or You Aint Getting No Dinner”! After that, he was sold and has been right there next to his sister, folding paper airplanes or rolling cars across the floor, listening to the book on tape.

For me, it is nice to have my kids hear that I am not the only mama who refuses to buy fruit out of season, who does her best to grow or raise most of our food and who might be heard yelling, “You all have 3 minutes to get that stuff off the table or it’s going to the landfill!” (I took secret pleasure in having them hear that!)

Although I normally prefer to read books with my kids rather than listen to them, listening to this one has been a family pleasure. We are on the eleventh disk out of twelve. I wonder what we will do when we’re done with the set?

Any good suggestions?

High Temp 52 Low 40
Slightly overcast with patches of blue sky              

Tuesday January 19th, I took my twelve year-old daughter to Wild Thyme Farm inOakville, WA. It was a great opportunity to spend time around other permaculture enthusiasts and two people well experienced in the herbal world. Michael Pilarski is a well-respected teacher of all things permaculture and herbal. He has been teaching folks in the Northwest for decades. It was a privilege to be able to bring my young daughter to learn from him. Also there was resident Marisha Auerbach. Marisha is an inspiring young woman who is also a well respected permaculture teacher and herbalist. We spent the day collecting Devils Club, Usnea and a several other plants. We worked together to clean and process the what some might refer to as plant material. I consider our harvest gifts from the land. Some would make good potherbs and are great eaten fresh.We brought some home to dry and put in to tinctures and tea. They will become part of our home apothecary. Life is good.

http://www.wildthymefarm.com/

High Temp 52 Low 40
Early shower and clear afternoon

Brian giving apprentices a tour

It’s a beautiful day here on SongCroft. The January sun is bright against the blue sky. It is a sky of optimism after a great start to the 2010 Self-Sufficiency Apprenticeship program.

This past weekend we had a group of excited people here to learn more about how to live more self-sufficiently. We talked about how local dependence and community  are a large part of the equation. The weekends all have themes. We spent one day this weekend going over sustainable housing options. We toured SongCroft and explained the methods and reasoning behind the way we built our home. Cob, strawbale, structural insulated panels, passive solar designs, radiant floor heating, solar arrays and plenty more were included. We showed a slide show of projects we have worked on and places we have visited. Within the month, our apprentices will have garden plans ready for fine tuning and will be returning with lists of what they want to grow.

We are blessed to have an interesting mix of people with a variety of experiences, including three yoga instructors and two teens in our course. This means break times begin with stretches and moments of connection. Does it get better than that?

I cannot express enough how deeply fortunate we feel to have the opportunity to share our knowledge and skills with others. We are also thankful to be on this journey and to have recognized it when it called.

Apprentices touring the land

Our friend Lillan

This month I will be teaching a workshop on Permaculture for Washington State University’s Country Living Expo and Cattleman’s Winter School. The Expo is on January 31st 7:30 am- 5:00 pm at Stanwood High School.

I’m excited about participating in this fun educational event and even more excited to be a contributor. As an attendee, in years gone past, it feels right to me to give back.

So what is Country Living Expo and Cattleman’s Winter School? It is a day-long event where dreamers as well as new and seasoned farmers can all come together to learn about different aspects of country living. It is a lot of fun. I’ve met some interesting folks too.

I hope to see you there!