Farmer Jayne

A long stretch of unusually bright and rain-free days is supposedly coming to an end tomorrow, so it was time to tackle fertilizing my leased pasture. Last year Frank, bless his heart, fertlized it by using a walk-behind spreader over all 4 acres! So this year I opened my big mouth and asked if I could borrow the neighbors pull-behind spreader and they graciously consented. Wow, what a blessing that was to be able to just ride along and get the job done in about 2 hours.


This is the field looking to the south. The horses like to rest in the shade of the treeline at the southern edge of the property.


This is from the same spot in about the middle of the long pasture looking north toward our house. There is a driveway between this leased field and our own property that you can't see except for a little on the left. The red shed is our pumphouse and garden shed. The gray thing is our mobile home. To the left just out of the frame is this pasture owner's large shop onto which he had previously built a nice pasture shelter that the boys (Bailey and Little Bit) share nicely. We are very thankful to have found a pasture so close to our house. We will be able to pasture the boys and the donkeys there for a couple of months this spring to let our winter pasture at our place get fertilized and rested. This will happen in early April.


The actual task of fertilizing went fairly well except for one thing pictured above. Molehills!! Molehills from gigantic, mutant moles that push dirt up into big mounds that are tough to drive over, let alone pull the spreader over with its narrow wheel base. I am happy to report that not once did I dump the contents of the spreader, but I came very close. I liked that from the seat of the lawn tractor I could actually reach the spreader bucket and stabilize it if I needed. But the darn mole hills slowed me down and made my spreading uneven, which drives a person like me nuts.


This is a happy picture showing an EMPTY spreader. I can't count how many times I made the long trip back to my van to open another bag and refill it, but my math actually worked out pretty well and I had only about 3 inches left in the bucket when I completed the field. I went back over some of the more grazed down spots to use it all up. I purchased the fertilizer from our local farmer's co-op. They recommended 21-7-14, so that's what I got. It worked well last year so why mess with a proven system!


Here is a close up of the finished job. I sure hope I applied it in the right quantity! This is actually about as thick as the application got; some spots don't have as much. Maybe one of my farmer friends from Draft Horse Village can tell me next time we chat (Hi Ange and Kari especially!), although there is not too much I can do about it now! I am looking forward to seeing the grass get healthy and long and ready to feed my crew until the end of summer. I love being Farmer Jayne once in a while. Maybe someday I'll get to drive a real tractor!

Starting to feel like spring!

Yesterday and today were the kind of days that make you start thinking it's getting pretty darn close to spring! The kind of day where you feel like digging in the dirt and cutting back all the ugly dead stuff on your plants from last year. It was sunny and crisp and in the mid 40's. Wonderful!


So Frank and I decided to tackle the two raised beds we have. We filled them with manure (thanks horses!) and it turned into wonderful 'black gold', but it also cooked down to where they are not full enough any more. Here is the herb garden, with supervisor Katie of course, with the herbs removed so that Frank can move more dirt from our vegetable garden.


Of course our veggie garden is still in its winter phase. You can see where we have dumped some manure (and will continue to dump more) to add more organic material to the soil. Right in front of Frank you can also see the few leeks that are left from last year's crop; and they're still good too! I've been using them all along. Anyway, Frank is mining some good soil to move over to the herb garden. Our neighbor and friend, Eric, will come over with his BIG rototiller (works off the PTO on his tractor) and work it over really well for us in early May.


Of course there is no project on this farm that goes unsupervised. We have discovered that the donkeys are much more adventurous eaters than the horses, so when I trimmed the lavender, I threw it out to them and Lily just munched it down, woody stalk and everything. They also have done an amazing job keeping the blackberries down in their fields. Good donkeys!


We also had digging help as you can see by the dirt on Sandy's nose. Actually, she was digging and sticking her nose into the mole hills. It'd be nice if she'd actually catch one or several, as they are really making a mess of our lawn and pasture. Someone said to try dropping cat turds down their holes. Now that doesn't sound like a fun time to me on many levels, but I'm desperate and just about to try it!


So here's the herb garden put back together. Across the back of the bed we have two kinds of rosemary (my favorite) on each end, and then oregano and thyme between them. We use the front of the bed for early crops like lettuce and peas because they can be planted quite early here, and well before the big garden is even tilled for this season.


These last two pictures show another sign of spring: horse feed and supply quantities that have shrunk over the winter! You might remember (or look back) to my blog entry that shows the hay packed to the rafters. There were 264 bales to be exact, but now there are about 60 of the regular horse hay near the back, and the lighter stuff toward the front is Maddie's teff hay. Those bales are 125 pounds a piece, so I'm not that excited about moving them back even though there is room for them now!

The picture below shows the corner of the barn that holds the pelleted bedding and my extra beet pulp. I bought 8 bags of beet pulp and I'm halfway through the 5th one, so I think I might have over bought as it worked out to using just over one bag a month. Better to have too much than too little! I will not need it past about April 1st when the grass is in. As far as the pelleted bedding goes, I am really happy how my supply has lasted. I started with 120 bags and have 41 left, meaning I've used 2/3's of my supply with only about 6 weeks left before the 4 biggies go outside full time. I should have plenty to get me through the summer with only the mini's coming in at night (so they don't get eaten by cougars!).


One thing I wanted to point out was my new leaf blower! Boy am I having fun with that. Beats the heck out of sweeping the barn and does a much better job! I just start at one end and blow down the aisle to the other end in a corner where I can pick it up! I want to tackle the cobwebs soon, but am afraid of sending big honkin' spiders flying around, so maybe I'll use the vacuum feature instead!

I know that many of my blog readers don't live in as temperate a climate as ours and will be waiting for spring for a couple of months yet. You poor things! Maybe you should come visit! Regardless, I hope you are enjoying your pre-spring weather and dreaming of green things to come.

A Weekend Get-Away

It is amazing to me how quickly time passes, and how soon this blog gets out of date. Again, my apologies. This past week has been consumed with work and the usual chores on the farm. It is lovely to see the days getting longer, finally. Soon the grass will start growing and I can be thinking about starting things for the garden.


We did, however, manage to squeeze a little winter get-away into our busy schedule just last weekend. I was in charge of finding accommodations with the following three criteria: will let us bring our old dog, has a fireplace, and on the beach. We were also focusing on the Long Beach, Washington, area as it was familiar to us and about as short of a drive as we could get to get us to the ocean. It's always a crap-shoot regarding the weather on the coast in the winter, but we totally lucked out and got a beautiful weekend, right up until we had to drive home, which was totally OK.


After much searching on line, I found The Breakers. It is a great place with units that are owned by people who then rent them out when they're not using them. Ours felt homey as soon as we walked in the door! It was a wonderful find. There was also a pool house and a hot tub that I didn't use, but Frank made sure to take a daily soak!


Frank and Sandy also put in lots of beach time. It's the one thing they miss from living in Oregon so they really probably overdid it! Lewis and Clark, while they were wintering in Fort Clatsop, Oregon, made a foray up to this area and there are many historical markers. This is one identifying the location of a giant sturgeon that Clark encountered. Sandy is checking out to see if it's real or not!


On Saturday we ventured up to Oysterville, which used to be the county seat until 'the raiders' from South Bend descended on the town in the dark of night and over the water to steal all the records away. This plaque bears testimony of the bad blood that still exists! Now, Oysterville has about 10 historic homes, a church, and an oyster farmer, who sells to the public as well as restaurants and such.
Going to Oysterville is truly like stepping back in time.


At night Frank would work on some school work and Sandy would do what tired, old dogs do. Mostly she was on her big dog bed that we brought, but occasionally she'd venture up on the couch for a few minutes but it wasn't as good as stretching out on her own bed. We loved having the fireplace (I miss that from our old house) and we ate bad things that tasted really good from the joint across the street. It was then time to go back home and start back up on eating more healthy!

Not much else going on here. We did do our part to stimulate the economy by ordering new carpet for the house. It should be here in the next couple of weeks. We are NOT looking forward to practically emptying the house but it will be so nice to get this crappy old carpet out of here.


I also had a nice surprise when I went out to clean the barn on Thursday and found a large bale of the most beautiful hay just inside the door. Come to find out our neighbor, who works for the state roads department, found it and thought to bring it home for me. What a great guy! Only a horse person could think this was such a wonderful gift! It's too rich to feed to the donkeys or the fat mini, and LB didn't like it (who ever heard of a picky pony?) but Bailey is sure loving this good treat!


Spring sure feels like it's here in the Northwest and I am excited to see how our blueberries and raspberries do this 2nd year after they were transplanted. I am also more than ready to start seedlings for our garden, but it's still way too early. I also need to get Larry's field fertilized soon so I can move the horses and donkeys over there in late March, then fertilize this field and let it rest. There is always something to do on Red Pony Ranch!

The lost art of making bread

I was surprised at the response I got from my last blog regarding the making of home-made bread. More than a few people wanted the recipe, so I thought I'd go one better and devote today's blog to not only giving the recipe, but showing how it's done!


I have to give credit where credit is due. The inspiration from this recipe comes from the book pictured above by Beth Hensperger. Additionally, I would not attempt this recipe without the muscle that Julia, my KitchenAid mixer, provides.


I wanted to point out here that I buy my yeast in bulk in the baking section of my grocery store. It is very economical this way, and also allows me to measure out exactly what I want rather than be restricted to how much might come in one of those little envelopes in the three-pack. I keep it in this airtight cannister right on my counter and it lasts me at least a year. Whatever you do, don't get any moisture in it, or it'll set it off!


The only thing even slightly tricky about this recipe is that it uses a few different kinds of flours and grains that necessitates some shopping prior to bread-baking day. I keep them all together in one container so I can grab just that when I want to make bread. Here's what you'll need to start the sponge:

1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast
2 cups warm water
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup rye flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour


Combine those ingredients and mix very well with your paddle in the mixer. We'll be switching to the kneading hook later, but now is the time for good mixing. When well mixed, just leave it alone to proof for about an hour. There's a picture later of what this should look like before you move on.


When you're done starting your sponge, you'll need to put some boiling water on some grains to soften them to add to the sponge later. Here's what you'll need to put together in a bowl:

1/3 cup corn meal
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup mixed grains (I use a 10 grain breakfast cereal)
1/3 cup barley or bran flakes, or wheat germ
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons butter or oil
2 cups boiling water


This is what it looks like once you add the boiling water and stir it all around. Let me stop here and talk about the grains. I have used different grains and in different quantities. I figure as long as I have about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of grains, and not too much of any one kind, I'll be fine. I actually buy all these things at WinCo in their bulk section in just the quantities I need. If you don't have a WinCo, I bet you can find all kinds of good grains at Fred Meyer's health food section or buy Bob's Red Mill grains in the flour section of most regular grocery stores.


OK, back to the sponge. It should be all bubbly and fluffy before you move on. Once it is, add the cooled, soaked grains and mix well. Now add about 2 cups of regular flour and continue to mix well with your paddle attachment.


Once you feel your mixture is getting quite thick, you can switch to the dough hook attachment. Of course, if you don't have a mixer that has a dough hook, you'll have to switch to a stout spoon and eventually do it by hand. You don't want to burn out a lesser mixer with stiff dough.

Add 2 more cups of regular flour (you're up to 4 total) and let your dough hook work it in. This will take quite a while.


Continue to add in flour until the dough is stiff but still fairly sticky. I usually end up adding another cup or cup and a half. I also eventually end up turning it out on my counter and kneading in the last bit of flour. It is much better for the dough to be softer than stiffer. Here is a picture of it ready to go into the bowl for rising. You can see that it stands up on its own fairly well, but frankly, it is stuck to the counter fairly well too. This is the way I like it. Makes for a softer bread.


You can see now that I have it in the bowl and covered with plastic wrap. I do that so the top doesn't dry out and restrict the rising. Let the dough sit until it doubles in size. This takes varying amounts of time depending on how warm it is. Here, at about 68 degrees it takes maybe an hour or hour and a 1/2. Just enough time to clean the barn and do a few other chores!


This is what it should look like when it's met the requirement of 'doubling'. I've let it go too far before as evidenced by huge bubbles and it seemed quite wet, so I just punched it down and let it rise again. That worked totally fine. So when it has risen well, punch it down in the bowl, then turn it out on the floured counter, then knead a few times to work all the bubbles out.


Take a sharp knife and cut the dough in half. Then shape it roughly into a loaf size and put it into a loaf pan that has been greased or sprayed with non-stick cooking spray (my preference).


Let it rise in the loaf pans for about 45 minutes to an hour. In this picture, these loaves are almost too risen as they're looking a little less smooth and like they want to collapse. I knew from experience if I got them in the oven right away that I'd be OK, but if I let them go any longer I would have needed to punch them down, reshape and let them rise again.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. When it's hot, put in the loaves and immediately turn the temperature down to 375 degrees. Cook for about 45 to 50 minutes.


Take them out of the oven and let sit for a few minutes. Fairly quickly, however, remove them from their pans so they can cool and release some of the moisture that might make them soggy if you left them in the pans. Let them cool as long as you can before you can't control yourself (or your spouse or child) any longer and want a slice of this lovely warm bread. We always have real butter on hand, as well as some homemade strawberry or blackberry jam.


I hope to really encourage you to try to make bread for your family. It is so wholesome and has nothing in it that you can't pronounce! Just grains, yeast, salt, a little sugar and a little fat. And truly, it doesn't take all day. It goes in spurts and you can do lots of things while it is rising. After a couple of times working with this recipe, I found that this bread is incredibly flexible and easy. The best of all it is GOOD! Give it a try!

Enjoying the simple life

We so greatly enjoy our simple life here on our little farm and also get a lot of pleasure from sharing these things with you here on our blog. Today, I had the camera with me all day as we went about our chores.


Here are some of our hens enjoying the soft dirt under our cedar tree. They are loving this sun and reasonably warm temperatures (high 40's) so they can both dust- and sun-bathe. There aren't many bugs for them to chase and eat, but there is still quite a bit of vegetation for them to enjoy.


Here is my favorite hen. Her name is either Bean or Deana. There are actually two of these that I can't tell apart. Whichever one I'm looking at of the two is my favorite! The breed is Barred Rock, or some call it Plymouth Rock. They are big hens, calm, hardy, and reliable layers. They also do not show aggression towards the other chickens like some do. Just very sweet hens.


This is our worthless rooster. I just wanted to show you how pretty he is, because that's all he has going for him! He's too small to make the connection to fertilize any eggs (not that we'd hatch any anyway!) and the hens don't really give him the time of day either. He thinks he's tough though, and quite entertaining, so I guess he's not worthless after all.


The chickens weren't the only ones enjoying the sun today! Here is baby (not a baby any more at 2 1/2 years old!) Daisy and of course her mom Lily is dozing nearby. A couple of years ago we had some sand delivered on that spot where Daisy is laying, and although we moved most of it, I guess it warms up in the sun and makes a nice nap spot. This farm would not be the same without the loving, sweet spirits of these donkeys.


Frank continued pruning all the storm damage off the trees in the mini's paddock. Of course Yak had to be in the middle of things as you can see here. He nibbled on them some, but he was more interested in using them to scratch his nether regions as usually there aren't too many pokey things at just the right height like this!


Of course Frank couldn't resist giving little Yak some love. Yak is a very huggable little horse and is definitely hard to resist. He's a great little nursing-home visitor, too!


Before I went outside to do chores, I started a batch of bread. Maria (our friend and former exchange student from Germany) got me started on this recipe and now I make it fairly often. It's got lots of different whole grains in it, and is not as sweet as most american-style breads. This pile of risen dough is what I found when I got back inside! Better deal with that fast!


It's hard to believe that I punched that dough down and got all that into these two loaf pans. I used to do these loaves free-form (boule's) but it was hard to cut evenly and get into the toaster, so I switched to these pans which make slices that are the right size to fit into our toaster.


YUM!! This is the finished product! I wish you all could smell how good this smells. Nothing makes a house smell like home more than homemade bread (OK, maybe apple pie, but you get the idea).

We truly do lead a very simple life here and wouldn't have it any other way: enjoying each day's gifts that God bestows on us. We love company and sharing all our blessings, so feel free to come visit! Just give us a call!!

Time got away from me!

I can't believe how much time has passed so quickly since I wrote that last blog. I surely apologize to my regular readers and hope to use this time to bring you all up to date with the happenings here on the ranch.


Truly this has been a winter with weather of biblical proportions. Before you panic...this is not our farm. It is a picture of a farm in our area that got flooded out due to heavy rains that followed the gigantic snowfall that I chronicled earlier. Ordinarily we are well prepared to handle a 'pineapple express' that dumps a couple of inches of warm rain a day upon us, but it came when we still had all that snow and flooding was inevitable. Our farm is high and dry, but many people in western Washington suffered greatly and continue to deal with the aftermath. Everyone was thankful when the rain ended, but the ground and air were so saturated that we then got to experience the next plague of egypt:


It's hard to take a picture that shows how thick the fog actually was. I finally found Bailey in the mist and got this one. This fog hung on for about a week and just cleared today. What a blessing to finally have the sun!


This is a picture of the Olympic Mountains that you can see from our house when the sky is clear. As the crow flies, they are about 50 miles from us. It would take about 4 hours to drive there as they are across Puget Sound from where we live.


So Frank took advantage of the beautiful weather to deal with some more of the things that broke due to the heavy snows. There are some trees in the mini's paddock that broke to pieces, so he was tackling getting all the bad branches out of there. Of course, he had plenty of help, and during one trip through the gate to the burn pile, Little Bit decided he wanted to come into the paddock too. This made Yakki's day as then those two proceeded to wrestle, chase, and rear...and thankfully quit 'helping'. Sweet Maddie stood quietly by and observed all that was going on around her, getting pats from Frank whenever he went by her. Of course he had to stop and pet the bad boys too!


I know that earlier I was complaining that the hens were freeloading and not producing, but I take that back now. They are obviously happy chickens and this is what the 12 hens produced in the last three days. Good girls! We did have one chicken funeral recently when "Alzheimers", who had been acting weird since last summer, lost strength and the will to live and went to chicken heaven. So we're down to 12 hens now, and one bad attitude little rooster. The three new girls were a wonderful addition to our flock and I hope to find something similar next fall to make up for the inevitable reduction in egg production as these older girls enter their 4th year. Wow, it's hard to believe we've enjoyed their company that long!


Frank has been enjoying his on-line teaching job and I am doing my usual subbing. We are looking forward to a couple of get-aways: a weekend trip to Long Beach on the Washington Coast in late January, and especially our spring break trip to Indio (Palm Springs area) to soak up some sun and float endlessly in the lazy river at our resort. It's nice to have found a reliable house/horse sitter in Kacey. We are also looking forward to a cross-country trip back to Wisconsin to see Frank's mom as well as meet a few of Jayne's draft horse friends (Ange, Kari, maybe John?) along the way.

We hope you are all doing well and keeping warm this winter. I can already tell the days are getting longer! Spring is not far behind! I'm already drooling over my seed and root stock catalogs! I'm having fun trying to decide what to add to our little farm this year. Last year it was raspberries, blueberries, table grapes, hazelnut trees and a peach tree. Maybe a pear tree? More grapes? It's so fun just thinking about it! Hope you are having as much fun anticipating spring as I am!