http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php In Season & Fresh from the Garden, the Fields, the Orchards & the Woods Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:10:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A month ago, we were under 2 feet of snow with night temperatures in the single digits. This week we garden in short-sleeve shirts and harvest mache, baby lettuce, just-emerging sorrel, baby arugula, escarole and... spinach - lots and lots of spinach. Finally! The spinach was not planted in the hoophouse ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/03/10/on-spinach/ It does roll good off the tongue, doesn't it? or is it just me?... "a gross of tomatoes"... Except of course, they are not yet tomato plants, just 144 seeded cells with the promise of 144 seedlings. Seeded on Februray 22 (although the labels read 2/21 because I meant to do ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/02/26/a-gross-of-tomatoes/ Seasonal madness has started. Seed starting madness that is. There is still snow on the ground - although slowly melting, but this is the time of the year to start seeds for earlier crops. In late January (1/25), I started a few Red Cherry tomatoes, as well as 2 flats of ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/02/22/seed-starting-madness-starts/ We may have two feet of snow on the ground, but the early tomato seedlings have germinated. I do like to pick my first tomatoes in June, so I plant a few seedling in late January. They germinate in early February, and I keep up-potting them into bigger pots until it ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/02/13/planning-for-tomatoes/ 100 feet to clear of snow to the chicken coop cum compound... ... or 1/4 mile up an unplowed dirt road and then 1/4 up the hill - plowing as you go, and don't forget the gates - to bring hay to the cattle? Makes you appreciate all the hard physical labor, ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/02/09/on-relativity/ Cost: $100 (mostly recycled materials).Value? priceless. After a hard day of trampling paths up & down the hill or shoveling the 22" of snow that have graced us since Friday (or plowing snow for Keith, including the road and the driveway of several neighbors), we have worked quite an appetite. Tonight ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/02/07/on-the-value-of-a-hoophouse/ To go or not to go? She went. She is - after all - partly Turkish Van. http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/02/06/post-card-from-up-the-hollow/ A dish of oxtail soup is a thing to share with those you love. Or not. (depends how much you love them) What's not to like about oxtail? It's traditional farm fare, a simple country dish with robust complex favors - many parts of the world have perfectly succulent ways to use ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/02/03/oxtail-soup/ Can you guess which one is the river and which one is the road (and that's less water running through than early this morning) No matter, we are stuck here! And the rain's not over yet. First order of the day was to move the chicken to higher - and drier - ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/01/25/stuck/ They love insects, worms, caterpillars, maggots, larvae, meat if they can get it. They do need animal protein for a balanced and healthy diet - which means also chicken and eggs healthy to eat - and delicious. If anybody ever doubted that chickens are not vegetarians, they should have been here ... http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2010/01/21/chickens-are-not-vegetarian/