On-line Garden Planner

It's that time of year again when the garden slumbers and the seed catalogs arrive full of hope and promises.   So many choices and so little space and money.  If you are like me, it is always a chore to figure out what to plant and how much of it will fit.  This year is different!

Southern Seed Exchange has developed a fantastic on-line garden planner.  By using this planner, I can change my plans, plan successions, choose varieties and change my mind, all with the click of a button.  Best of all, I can get a color printout by month or season, with quantities shown.  I can even fast order or print out the plant list, which also includes quantities, time to sow and times to harvest.

Give it a try...the thirty day test drive is free.

Southern Seed Exchange Garden Planner

And what to my wondering eyes should appear....

But some creamy, dreamy Fluffy Butt eggs!   Yes, that's right.  My young Silkie bantams have finally grown up and begun laying.  I am so excited.  This will be my first generation of carefully selected and bred Silkie chickens.  I am so hoping one of the girls will go broody and hatch a batch of New Year babies, but if not, I will be gathering them all up for a New Year incubator hatch.

Here are the parents to be...Chardonnay the rooster, Priscilla and Snowflake.  Please pardon the muddy feetsies, it's been raining off and on all week.  This picture was taken yesterday and today it is raining/sleeting again.  Wish it were light fluffy snow instead!

Out in the run-in, the October and November hatches are growing out nicely.  Love this little Legbar roo.  He looks most promising of all with minimal chestnut coloration...so far.  He's also very inquisitive and friendly.

And FINALLY, I have two crested Legbar pullets (the orange chicks are German New Hampshires).  Can't wait for these girls to grow up and produce more cresties.

Other cresties include my Swedish Flower Hens.  The three I have were added to the Greenfire order of Breda Fowl as filler chicks, but I'm so glad they were.  So far it looks like my three are girls.  If they are, we'll be looking for a nice rooster in the Spring.  These girls are predominantly buff, blue and black with the mottling mille-fleur pattern.

The Breda they arrived with are also doing well.  Unfortunately, we lost one of the black young'uns to a particularly nasty cold snap.  I had to take their sleeping box away so there would be no more pileups.    The chick I'd hoped was a splash looks line a nicely laced blue.  Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl.  So difficult to tell with a combless breed.

In spite of the fact that it's Christmas Eve and three days past the official start of winter (and the non-apocolyse), I'm already anticipating the first fluffballs of Spring and the opportunity to see old friends and make new ones at the swaps.  Please stop by and visit us at the Powhatan Tractor Supply on March 23rd.  We may have some chicks for sale and will definitely have some young Netherland Dwarf rabbits available.

And with that, I'll wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Last Chicken Swap - 2012 Season

In spite of the chilly morning, we packed up the trailer and trucked on over to the Powhatan Tractor Supply Store for the last PCOV swap of 2012.   We didn't anticipate large crowds like we see at the beginning of the year, but it was a surprisingly busy morning for such a cold and windy one.   We brought three silkie chickens who all found a new home, four roosters who will be a nice Christmas meal after some fattening, a Serama hen who lost her mate who also found a new home.   Our Rhinelander doe, Tatianna will have a new Flemish boyfriend but the dwarf bunnies all came home with us along with two new rain barrels and one metal barrel that will be turned into a compost tumbler from our friend Stanley.   All in all it was a very nice morning.    We're already planning our breeding pens and anticipating a nice flock for 2013.  

Lobster Ravioli with Lemon Chive Cream Sauce

No, your computer isn't having a melt down with mis-dated posts; I have decided it will be easier to keep farm posts separate from culinary posts so that they are easier to search.

Now back to business.

I know I'm not the only one who has those kind of days.  You know, the kind when you just can't get it together and you feel like this...

or this...

 

...and even the thought of coming up with an idea for dinner is just too much?   Well, yesterday was one of those days for me.   We'd worked so hard over the weekend, first preparing for, then cleaning up after Sandy.  Then back to work for a game of catch up on emails, workload, etc., etc., etc.   A quick stop at the market on the way home from the office and voila - fresh pack Lobster Ravioli!   

It was the first time I'd ever prepared or eaten seafood ravioli of any kind so I wasn't sure of the appropriate sauce.  A tomato based sauce didn't seem right and a heavy cream sauce not quite there either.   Well the one we whipped up was a hum-dinger....Lemon Chive Cream Sauce!   It was so incredibly simple to  make too.

First gather some fresh garlic chives from the garden and mince, around 2 TBsp.  Brown some garlic (2 cloves minced) in butter - yes, real BUTTER, 2 TBsp.   Then add (while whipping to emulsify) 2/3 cup cream, chives, grated fresh lemon rind (2 tsp), fresh lemon juice (2 TBsp) and grated parmesan cheese; the real stuff, one cup loosely filled.   That's it.  Add sea salt and fresh white pepper to taste and we had a gourmet meal in minutes.     MMMMMMMMMM! Alas, no leftovers.

Now I just need to remember to 1) take pics as I cook and 2) learn how to make my own homemade seafood ravioli!  

The Breda Fowl, a.k.a. Kraaikops, Guelres, Guelderlands

I really am falling for this rare breed.   There is still some undertainty over the original homeland and even the name of this rare breed.  Was it developed in the Netherlands where Breda is the name of a city, or perhaps Holland or France?  Whatever its origin, this breed has become very rare.  It was found in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, but no breed standard was ever recognized by the APA.  Eventually they died out or were replaced by the 20th century commercial breeds and none could be found until Greenfire Farms began importing them a few years back.  The variety they selected are the Blue and Black.  Of course when you breed blue chickens, you also get the splash coloration too.  What we don't have here are the white, mottled and cuckoo varieties.   Below is a picture of one of our black  chicks.

This may be one of those breeds like the Showgirl silkie whose appearance you either love or hate.   They have no comb and a vestigial crest.  Their nostrils are large with two sculptural forms - the spectacle and the saddle.  Breda legs are covered extravagant feathering and they have vulture hock feathering.  The chicks are so friendly, even without treats.  As soon as a human hand enters the brooder they all run over to see what's going on.  The Swedish Flower Hen chicks and the three Legbar peeps follow closely.  It's so much fun when you have chicks that don't rush away in a panic. 

Our Breda are still young, only three weeks old, so I am looking forward to watching them grow and evaluating their pros and cons.  I am hoping for a larger, dual purpose bird.  It will be very rewarding to preserve this very rare and uncommon breed.  We hope to have eggs available next summer.

For those interested in learning more about the Breda Fowl, click on the link below to access a brochure from the Netherlands breed club.  


 http://www.bkuclub.nl.downloads/Brochure_Kraaikop_English.pdf

So Long Sandy!!!

I don't know how we did it, but somehow we dodged Sandy's bullets.   Family in NY and NJ are okay even if they have yet to get their power back.  Family in west central Virginia received a few inches of wet snow.  For some unknown reason, Sandy left the very center of Virginia barely touched.  We feel incredibly fortunate.   Our thoughts are prayers go out to all of those who were not so lucky.

On a happy note, two items I've been saving up for...a canner I can use on my glass top stove and a boullion strainer arrived this afternoon.   After all of the business shut downs due to Sandy, I was certain I wouldn't see them for weeks.  Way to go Amazon! 

The strainer is made in France by Matfer and received a best rating from Cook's Illlustrated.   I can't wait to make some stock and test it out.  Consomme for Thanksgiving!

The Canner, a Presto 23 Quart, isn't a top of the line canner, but its one that can be used on my glass top stove.  Someday I'll finally have that gas cooktop, but for now, we have to make do with what we have.  Tomorrow the Presto goes to the extension office to have its valve/gauge checked.  Then it's time to can!  If anyone has experience, good or bad, with either of these items, please feel free to share.

And last, but certainly not least, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  (Our home grown 'Big Max' and 'Knucklehead' pumpkins.)

The new website is a work in progress; please visit and tell us what you think!     www.girandolefarm.webs.com

A New Beginning

Life is not a straight path from birth to death.  Along the way there are many twists and turns, divergent paths and  retracing of steps.  As is the case for many people these days, our journey has taken a new direction.

For over a decade, John and I have been raising sheep and goats for their fiber.  In 2009 we decided to expand our operations into produce for market, but soon found ourselves trying to grow things we thought the public would want.  In doing so, we weren't true to ourselves or our farm.  Too many of those things didn't grow well here, they needed consistent rainfall, different soils, and more intensive management - not an easy task when we also have full time jobs.  By not growing what we are familiar with, many times we had to waste food we didn't know how to prepare, and we never had enough of what we did like.  That didn't sit too well with me.   Add in the stresses of livestock management, and it just became too much to handle. 

It was time to start working smarter and not harder!  With that epiphany, our focus has changed and we officially closed the old farm business.  Now we will be farming always with the our TABLE in mind.  The only livestock we now manage are chickens and  honeybees.  The flocks free range which is much easier to manage and healthier for the birds.   We selected heritage dual purpose chickens over commercial type layers and broilers.  These breeds were developed with independent homesteads in mind and can forage for themselves through pasture or woodland instead of parking in front of a feeder.

To expand our foodie knowledge in new directions, we have been sharpening our skills through cooking classes at the University of Richmond, School of Continuing Education's Culinary Arts program.  We have have learned to prepare a wide variety of familiar as well as new foods with, taste, nutrition and safety always in mind. 

With this re-birth, we needed a new farm name -- Girandole Farm.

The antique's aficionados will recognize the Girandole as a type of candelabra.  What better to describe our new focus than to name our farm after the illuminating object with many branhes that lights the buffet table?

This blog will not only contain information on Girandole Farm, but the things we are learning along the way, both for gardening and the gourmet, so here is ....

...nel settore del giardinaggio, cucina e essere felice!  (To gardening, cooking and being happy!)