Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Ice Cream in a Cup

Well, Milking Season is finally upon us! We have 4 does "on line" and only one more due to kid any day now. Last count was 9 voracious "milk-pire" babies (all adorable and healthy) and roughly 2 gallons of goats milk per day! Cheese and yogurt and cream, oh my! Yesterday, I had my first cup of coffee with goats milk in it since last August - it was like Ice Cream in a Cup! SO delicious. I forgot how absolutely amazing fresh goats milk is. With 2 gallons of milk coming in each day, Ryan is going to be making a LOT of cheese (both soft and hard, now that he has a cheese press!), and I am very much looking forward to all of the delicious varieties that I will get to eat.

My first small asparagus shoot has poked its head out of the ground - very odd to see in February, but I figure the weather has been so strangely warm this year that spring must be coming early. I also noticed my first burdock, pea, and fava beans poking their heads out of the soil. My spinach and arugula sprouts are roughly 2 weeks old and getting bigger each day. I can hardly wait for garden fresh salads in a month!!

Yesterday, I planted 5 "Adirondack Blue" seed potatoes, and I have 5 more that need planting. I have only heard of the "All Blue" potato variety, and am unfamiliar with this type, but I love blue potatoes and am more than happy to give it a shot!

I put out all of my large plastic plant containers and did a head count: 50 in all, which means, besides the raised beds, I will be able to have 50 tomato, pepper, and eggplant plants! YUM! Speaking of which, my germination trays of Black Krim tomato (my personal favorite), Ancho Chile, Eggplant, Habanero Chile, Wood Betony, and Mexican Tarragon are all sprouting, and my Mary Washington asparagus sprouts are getting big too! All of my Walla Walla onion seeds have sprouted, along with my parsley. I love spring!

This past weekend, I finally finished filling up my two most recent raised beds, and in them I planted Garden Sorrel and more Burdock. Yesterday, I began filling up my row boat turned container garden. I didn't realize how much soil that thing could hold! That boat is going to be an enormous planter box!!! I have decided that I am going to turn the boat into another sunchoke bed. Not only will it provide delicious food, but it will also provide a decorative screen to hide the windows of our private "Innkeepers' Quarters." It always makes me nervous to have bedroom windows that guests can easily peer into. This way, I will feel that my "space" is much more private.

The weather report says that it's supposed to be sunny and in the 60's for the next few days - perfect gardening weather! I love being outdoors, playing in the dirt.

1 comment:

LRH said...

I grew up on fresh goat's milk. It's so good for you!