New residents at the farm.

Time has gotten away on us in May and June, but we are back at our regular tasks, which includes a weekly blog post.  Want to start out with the new additions to Mistik Acres.  First being, fifty baby chicks arrived May 15th.  They resided in our garage for the first three weeks (in a pen) and since Monday they were moved outside.

The picture below is a movable pen Pat built to house the chickens for the rest of their days with us.  They are moved to new grass every day, which they love.  As soon as we move them to a new patch of grass they run around and explore.  They are all healthy, happy, eating and drinking a lot.  It is amazing how fast they grow in a very short period of time.  Our grandchildren have really been enjoying the chickens, hand feeding them worms they dig for in the soil.
We have not been able to resource any birds for meat that have been raised, watered and fed the way we wish to have them raised, so we decided it was time to take the matter into our own hands.  Along with being raised outside in a pen they can be a bit vulnerable, so they need some extra protection at night.

So, hence our second addition to the farm.  Meet Max, a Heinz 57 mix of Maremma and it looks like a Retriever x.  The family we acquired him from thought he may be a Golden Lab x.  But whatever his ancestry we really lucked out with him.  He is a gentle giant, loves kids,  and is busy keeping the coyotes out of the yard throughout the night.  

The gardens are coming along quite nicely.  There are five gardens planted at this time and we have the field garden to transplant into yet.  Some of the plantings are already mulched, but with the half inch of rain we received yesterday the gardens that are not mulched will have to be weeded before we can lay the straw.  We are taking a few weeks off from attending the Saskatoon Farmers Market this month to stay on top of the planting, weeding, watering and mulching.  Below are a few photos of the gardens.

The garlic is looking great.

Sunflower transplants.  Keeping them spaced 6" apart, so the heads stay small.

The sweet Williams will be ready within the week.

Allium

Iris Smart

Time flies.

I cannot believe it already has almost been three weeks since we last posted.  I always like to post every week, but it has been a few wild weeks around here.  Basically we have been cutting flowers every second day and then delivering them to the city the following day and then at the end of the week we would prepare for market and it would start all over again on Sunday.  There also were a couple of weddings thrown in the mix, but as of Sunday we have now become flowerless (if that is even a word).  We had a frost kill pretty much all of the flowers.  There are a few things that were not affected, but for the most part we can start cleaning up the gardens.  Pat was doing the happy dance Monday morning.  I always have mixed emotions about this time of year, but it has been an incredibly busy summer for us that I, as well, am relieved it has come to an end (in some ways).  I am going to miss the dahlias as they were extra beautiful this year and we were reminded of how nice they were all the time by our customers at the market and our florist customers.

Dahlias, Cosmos and Sweet Peas

The wedding flowers we created this summer were well received and hope to do more of this next summer.  We had a successful crop of corn, along with the celery, both of which enjoy lots of moisture, which was in abundance.  We were able to harvest all the tomatoes, corn, peppers, cucumbers and herbs before the frost hit.   Excellent crops for all the above.  The peppers, jalapeno and cayenne, are full of heat this year and we have started to make salsa and tomato sauce.  As I write this I am munching on roasted cherry tomatoes that have been in the oven for a few hours this evening.  They are like candy, chewy and sweet.  Planning on making a batch of tomato jam, will keep you posted as to how it turns out.  The garlic crop was bountiful, the cloves are large, crisp and very strong flavour.  A little goes a long way.

This week I am going to dig a few varieties of Asiatic lily bulbs to sell at the Saskatoon Farmers Market and will make a few bundles of dried flowers.  Pat made the first batch of horseradish for market sales this past weekend and we sold all but one jar.  He will make more this week and will have the root available to purchase for this weekend.  There will be a few varieties of dried herbs, garlic, fresh celery, green onions, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and hopefully fresh cilantro.

Harvest time.

Garlic drying.

The garlic was harvested this week and it is a bumper crop.  The cloves are large and well formed and the potency of the garlic is very strong.  We will allow it to dry for a couple of weeks before we will offer it for sale.

The onions were also harvested and the crop looks very good.  These will take a little longer to dry than the garlic.

With the hot sunny weather lately all the tomatoes and cucumbers are really producing.  The tomatoes are ripening rapidly and we have started to can what we will need for the winter.  After the canned tomato stocks have been replenished we will start to make tomato sauce and then salsa.  We plan on having our salsa available for purchase, so watch for further updates.  Today Pat dug the first batch of horseradish and as I write he is busy (in the garage, as you require plenty of ventilation) chopping the root to make our first batch of prepared horseradish.  If all goes well we will have a fresh batch available this Saturday at the Farmer's Market.  In any case, if you are only needing the root we will have it available this weekend.

Nasturtiums, showing all their brilliant colours.

This weekend we will have an array of flowers available once again.  Create your own bouquet or choose from a huge selection of ready made bouquets.  Sunflowers and more sunflowers of all sizes.  Leeks will be plentiful this weekend along with Cherry Sunsugar tomatoes, (small, yellow and bursting with flavour), beets, carrots, squash and dried herbs.