It was REALLY hot!

This mama Mangalitsa pig was enjoying her mud bog yesterday.  Since it was 101, I can't blame her.

Recycling at its best

This cute mailbox is made from an antique outboard boat motor.  Why not use some of that old "stuff" to make others smile?

Purple Potatoes

We grew these wonderful purple potatoes this year (also red and yellow and white potatoes). 

Marvin harvested a few of the purple variety yesterday and I made mashed potatoes. 

Not only are they yummy, they're festive!

Bears on the loose!

Last Sunday, I had to drive down to Malibu to pick up some plants.  This quick trip turned into a 14 hour day and by the time I headed home I was TIRED. 

I was driving on the stretch between Ventura and Santa Barbara and going no faster than 35 MPH thanks to the holiday traffic (4th of July).  I had to take picture of these giant bears in the road just to make sure that they were real and not a figment of my imagination.

I suppose they were headed for a fair or something, but it was pretty fun to see them tooling down the road behind a van.

Preschool Visit

This beautiful group is the Paso Robles Head Start program and they came to visit HZ Harvest Farm on Friday June 15th!

we had 35 children - mostly 4 years old, a couple 3 and a couple 5 years old.  Many have never been to a farm or seen all the animals.

We had clay pots for them to paint and take home and little "prizes" of slinkys and bubbles and jump ropes.

They brought their own lunch and even shared with us a brown sack with a half of bolgna and cheese, a package of baby carrots and a bag of orange slices.  After a few hours with them, the lunch tasted mighty good.

Fortunately, it was fairly cool on Friday, but heated up to 110 on Saturday and 107 on Sunday.  Ugh!  We spent the week end from "you know where" trying to keep everything watered and all the animals alive in the heat.

Remember, try to be as good today as your dog thinks you are!

Home Sweet Home

It's been a while since we connected and I apologize.

Our friends, Tanner and James, just left.  We really miss them.  They were really no problem and helped so much with the farm.   They are 21 and I called them our "puppies" because they had so much energy.  Their attitude was always cheerful and helpful.  Best of all, they put our chickens to bed every night.  This little chore has to happen after the sun goes down.  This time of year, I want to be getting ready for bed at the same time!

We just replanted sod in our yard - what a difference it makes!  I thought you'd enjoy a picture of our little bungalow.  It was built in the early 1900's and has been updated along the way. 

The warm weather is ripening everything soooo quickly.  We have hundreds of ripe tomatoes.  We have celery root and fennel, herbs of every type, beets, radishes, garlic, onions, potatoes, hot peppers of various varieties, bell peppers, red cabbage, green cabbage, zucchini, summer crookneck squash, patty pan squash (the round scalloped ones), cantaloupe, sugar baby watermelons and blackberries.  I may have skipped some, but you get the picture.

We would love to have you come visit and do a little u-pick, but you need to make it early in the morning as the weather is running in the 100's.

Stay cool!

My sister Judy's tips

Hi.  My name is Judy.  I’m one of Kathy’s sisters.  I’m the one who doesn’t live on a farm or ranch.  I don’t ride horses, help mama pigs or sheep with their deliveries, or even know how to collect chicken eggs properly. 

Now that you know what I don’t do, let me tell you what I am good at.  I can make killer jelly and jam, I know a secret for easy juicing of pomegranates, and I freeze tomatoes and zucchini during the summer for winter use.  I also knit, crochet, embroider and sew.  Yep, that’s me – Mrs. Homemaker.

I want to pass on a few of my tips that I have learned over the years.

What to do with all that zucchini?:  Well, don’t let it go to waste or give it all away.  Wash it, grate it and seal it in freezer bags.  Then freeze it.  I know what you’re thinking . . . I’m going to tell you to use it for zucchini bread.  Yes, you can do that, but I also put it in my spaghetti sauce, meat loaf and soups.  It adds some thickening and gets more veggies into the family, stretches the food dollars and adds 2.5g fiber per cup.  It is also a great source of vitamins A, C and potassium.

What to do with tomatoes?:  I put my tomatoes whole into boiling water until the skin starts to split but no more than 30 seconds.  Then put them into ice water to quickly cool them down so they don’t continue to cook.  Once cool, take the core out and the skin just peels off.  Put them on a cookie sheet, not touching, and freeze them.  Once they are frozen you can put them into freezer bags and they won’t stick together in one big messy lump.  Put them back into the freezer.  When I’m ready to make something with tomatoes, I can take out only as many as I need.  These fresh frozen tomatoes and the shredded zucchini become a base for my homemade spaghetti sauce during the winter.  The other bonus is that I didn’t have to can them during the summer when the last thing I want to do is stand over a hot stove all day. 

Another tomato tip:  Buy a dehydrator.  It’s a great investment.  Wash you cherry tomatoes, cut them in half and dehydrate them.  My grandchildren and husband eat them like candy.  The large tomatoes can be sliced and dehydrated.  Experiment on the thickness you prefer but remember that they are much smaller when dehydrated.  To keep them longer, I store them in freezer bags and after they are dehydrated and put these in my freezer.  Yum!

It’s berry season: Wash the berries, put them on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Once frozen I put them in freezer bags.  When I have time during the winter I take them out and make jelly or jam just in time for Holiday giving.   I also dehydrate strawberries got a great winter snack – or anytime snack.

Now, for those of you who don’t have enough zucchini, tomatoes or berries from you own garden, see Kathy at HZ Harvest.  Her garden is abundant and wonderful.

Veggies are ready!

We have lots of ripe vegetables.  Our new vegetable stand is out and veggies are selling.  Squash is growing so quickly the we are in fear of being covered in our sleep!  We are so very lucky to have such great soil here on the farm.  Most people don't have their squash ready yet, but you can see that we have no problems.  It's been very hot here the past few days which only adds to it's success.  We sent some to the Food Bank today to share with those less fortunate.

Bradley has afternoon "air conditioning".  This is the 30 mph winds that blow through in the afternoon this time of year.  This is because there is fog in the Monterey/Salinas area and heat in the south end of the Salinas Valley.  We are lucky to be in between those two.

Farming is an interesting way of life.  It is light at 5:00 am so of course we are up and going too.  At around 8:00 pm, it starts looking late so I begin thinking about dinner.  By the time the animals are put to bed and we get around to dinner, it is close to 9:30 or 10:00.  The days seem to fly by but they are so very fulfilling.

We have a bumper crop of fowl right now.  We are raising wonderful Cornish cross chickens for eating, turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas and chicks for laying hens.

Take care!

The flowers above are spread throughout our vegetables to keep our bees happy.  The added bonus is that they keep us happy too!

We are fortunate to have two wonderful summer helpers - Tanner and James - that are staying at the farm, working hard and learning from us.  They are particularly nice, polite and intelligent 21 year old men.  We couldn't have asked for better farm guests.  The challenge is to remember that things that seem natural to us aren't necessarily things that young men from the city know. 

On Friday night, Marvin realized that the cows weren't in the field above the house as expected.  Marvin has been spending night and day cutting, raking and baling hay.  This hay is in various stages in the east end of the back 300 acre parcel.  Tanner and James have been "bucking hay".  This involves picking up the bales and taking them to the barn to stack them for future use. 

One commandment of country life is that you always leave a gate as you find it (if it's open, leave it open - if it's closed, close it after you go through).  Unfortunately, Tanner and James hadn't been told this commandment yet.  As you've probably already guessed, they left the gate open and all 35 cows found the hay smorgasbord. 

The wind was blowing approximately 40 mph Friday evening.  The last thing these cows wanted to do was to leave their evening meal.  After about and hour we finally got them through the gate and return to the house to begin our BBQ.  It was about 10:00 before we were able to eat dinner.  The boys went back to their room and we fell into bed in a sleep slumber. 

I've always felt that it is normal to make mistakes.  We all do.  Sometimes the best lessons are learned when mistakes are made.  These lessons seem to stick with you better than just being told.  Tanner and James have learned a good lesson.

We took them to the the lake (Nacimiento) last night to BBQ and give them the opportunity to go swimming.  It was a beautiful eventing and we had a nice visit with Marvin's brother and sister in law - Greg and Licia.  A nice evening makes the hard day worthwhile.

I like this quote:

"The fence that makes good neighbors needs a gate to make good friends."



New Piglets!



We had new pig puppies!  These little kiddos were born night before last.  She is a really good mama so I feel confident that we won't have any problems with this litter.  We will leave her pretty much alone for a few days and then check them over to eartag them and list their sex.

Angel jumped in the Kabota last night as if to let us know that she is the princess.  These Great Pyrenees are the greatest dogs.  Very independent, very loyal, laid back normally but relentless with coyotes and big birds (they know they eat their chickens).

We have sooooo many veggies coming on the plants.  The berries are even starting to ripen!  We have 300 blackberries, raspberries and boysenberries.  Of course, everything is grown completely natural with no pesticides, no non-organic fertilizer and no herbicides.

Many more pictures to come!

Puppies for sale!

We are looking for good homes for 6 little darlings (the cute little gal above took one home on Monday).  The mother and father both belong to us.  The mother is a miniature cocker spaniel and the dad is a yorkiepoo (yorkshire terrier and poodle).  They were born April 30th and mom is DONE with them.  They have been eating dry puppy food for around 1 1/2 weeks.  Both parents weigh around 10 pounds.  Give me a call if you are interested (805) 610-1053.

There are just too many beautiful pictures to choose from today!  Things are growing so quickly we are having trouble keeping up with picking them.  I swear that squash can grow 8" in a day. 

We received 100 baby heritage turkeys (poults) today.  These cute little birds will grow to be happy organic full grown turkeys in time for the holidays.

Ready to go!

We have been sooooo busy!  Crops are ripening and orders are coming in.  Yipee!

I don't know what it is about our ground, but I swear our vegetables are amazing tasting.  I guess it's because there wasn't anything planted here for so many decades that the ground is happy.

We have the Bradley School coming for their 2nd annual farm visit tomorrow.  I can't wait to see their faces when they see the baby animals and hear about all the fun stuff that goes on here! 

I went to Washington to see our son James and his family for the weekend a couple of weeks ago.  James is in the army now and is loving it.  He had a very reliable and great career before, but felt that it was his obligation to serve our country.  We are so proud of him.  Marvin and I both miss our grandbabies tremendously, but they are all doing so great there that we can't complain.  The picture above is him with his grandma Fran.

More to come.....

A new member

We have another new addition to the farm.  This beatiful little lamb was born to one of our Navajo Churro sheep.  These sheep are from the early days of our history and have a very interesting story to tell. 

Things are moving and shaking again on the farm (luckily not literally) as we are busy planting, watering, weeding and harvesting.  Call us for veggies!  Of course we use no weed killers.  Our fertilizer is only organic and is used sparingly.  This means I can walk out into our field, grab a carrot and chew it down.  No need for harsh cleaners.

We also have a little shade cover for the kiddes.

Eat well!

Kale & Puppies!

Our cute little cocker spaniel had 7 puppies two weeks ago.  We have several promised, but not sure about the rest.  Mom is a beautiful miniature cocker spaniel and dad is a yorkie-poo (yorkshire terrier and poodle cross).  Both are our dogs and are about 7-8 lbs each.  We can't wait to see them grow!

Things are extremely busy this time of year on the farm.  Our vegetables are growing quickly.  We didn't even think our zucchini was large enough to pick and we already have some that is 10" long!  The tomatoes are setting and the kale is beautiful!  This is an interesting vegetable.  It is supposedly the "wonder food" this year.  I've heard said that there is more protein in a bowl of kale than in a hamburger patty.  I'm not sure about that, but it really does taste great served several different ways.  I did a little research and found out the following:

The Truth About Kale

By Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD
WebMD Expert Column

Move over Popeye and make room for the "queen of greens," kale. Gaining in popularity, kale is an amazing vegetable being recognized for its exceptional nutrient richness, health benefits, and delicious flavor.

Eating a variety of natural, unprocessed vegetables can do wonders for your health, but choosing super-nutritious kale on a regular basis may provide significant health benefits, including cancer protection and lowered cholesterol.

Kale, also known as borecole, is one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet. A leafy green, kale is available in curly, ornamental, or dinosaur varieties. It belongs to the Brassica family that includes cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, collards, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts.

What makes kale so exceptional? Here is why it's a superstar vegetable -- and ways to work it into your diet.

Kale is a Nutritional Powerhouse

One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

Kale’s health benefits are primarily linked to the high concentration and excellent source of antioxidant vitamins A, C, and K -- and sulphur-containing phytonutrients.

Carotenoids and flavonoids are the specific types of antioxidants associated with many of the anti-cancer health benefits. Kale is also rich in the eye-health promoting lutein and zeaxanthin compounds.

Beyond antioxidants, the fiber content of cruciferous kale binds bile acids and helps lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease, especially when kale is cooked instead of raw.

Super-Rich in Vitamin K

Eating a diet rich in the powerful antioxidant vitamin K can reduce the overall risk of developing or dying from cancer, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Vitamin K is abundant in kale but also found in parsley, spinach, collard greens, and animal products such as cheese.

Vitamin K is necessary for a wide variety of bodily functions, including normal blood clotting, antioxidant activity, and bone health.

But too much vitamin K can pose problems for some people. Anyone taking anticoagulants such as warfarin should avoid kale because the high level of vitamin K may interfere with the drugs. Consult your doctor before adding kale to your diet.

Kale might be a powerhouse of nutrients but is also contains oxalates, naturally occurring substances that can interfere with the absorption of calcium. Avoid eating calcium-rich foods like dairy at the same time as kale to prevent any problems.

Eat More Kale

In summer, vegetable choices abound. But during the cooler months, there are fewer in-season choices -- with the exception of kale and other dark, leafy greens that thrive in cooler weather.

To find the freshest kale, look for firm, deeply colored leaves with hardy stems. Smaller leaves will be more tender and milder in flavor. Leaves range from dark green to purple to deep red in color.  

Store kale, unwashed, in an air-tight zipped plastic bag for up to five days in the refrigerator. 

Easy Ways to Prepare Kale

Quick cooking preserves kale's nutrients, texture, color, and flavor. Rinse kale, chop it finely, and add it soups, stews, stir-frys, salads, egg dishes, or casseroles. Or top pizzas with kale for added nutritional goodness. Steam kale for five minutes to make it more tender or eat it raw. You can also substitute it for spinach or collard greens in recipes.

Other fast and easy ways to prepare kale:

·                   Make a simple salad with a bunch of thinly sliced kale, red pepper, onion, raisins, and your favorite salad  

           dressing.

·                                 Braise chopped kale and apples, garnish with chopped walnuts, and add a splash of balsamic vinegar.

·                                 Toss whole-grain pasta with chopped kale, pine nuts, feta cheese, and a little olive oil.

·                                 Cover and cook a pound of chopped kale with a few garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons olive oil for 5 minutes; season with salt, pepper, and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar.

·                                 Make kale chips by slicing kale into bite-size pieces, toss with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt, and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven.

All vegetables are rich in nutrients and fiber, fat-free, and low in calories and are intended to be the cornerstone of all healthy diets. Toss kale into your grocery cart to enrich the nutritional goodness of your diet and help you eat the recommended 4-5 servings of vegetables every day.

 We have LOTS of kale, so give us a call and come pick some up or make arrangements for me to drop it off to you.  (805) 610-1053                  

A little bit of this and that

I have so many things to share with you - I'm not sure where to start. 

Marvin was able to get away for a few days for some R&R.  Of course, that left me to do the early morning and late night chores as well as the Sunday list.

Sunday night I went up the hill to put the chickens to bed.  This means that I close up the hen house so the coyotes don't have a feast during the night.  For those of you that are not familiar with chickens, we let them out in the morning so they can wander about the property and eat lots of yummy things to make their eggs taste good.  When it gets dark, they know to return to the house - no chasing them around.

Anyway.....I had to start the generator to run the lights on the baby chicks.  I always go in to check on them and give them a bit more food (more food - faster growing).  I tripped on a board as I went in the house, totally lost my balance and was trying desperately not to land on top of a dozen or so chicks.  I'm happy to say that I was successful and only ended up with a bruise on my calf.

That crisis averted, I headed back down to turn off the irrigation to the vegetable field.  The faucet had been leaking all day and saturating the ground.  We recently ran a water main to this area and the ground was not really compacted enough.  I stepped onto this area and sunk to my upper thigh!  I lost my new flip-flop in the bottom of this mud pit and was covered in the stickiest mud you have ever seen.  And this was just the first day he was gone!!!!

Since I had nobody else to complain to, I just had to laugh as I was hosing myself off.

Boy am I glad he's home!

Vegetable Season is Here!

Wow!  All of a sudden, veggies are ripening.  Every day, there are more and more and more ready to eat.    We are enjoying so many yummy great things that are good for us too!  We don't use any pesticides or non-organic fertilizers.  The pretty flowers in the picture above help bring in the beneficial insects and the bees that help our plants. 

I will post more later, but right now I need to go clean vegetables!

Quack

Meet our newest feathered babies.  We raised these ducks from 1 day old and recently let them loose in the pond.  They are what they call "exotic" ducks of various types.  I guess I'll have to figure out which type they actually sent me so I can tell visitors.

They are so darn cute paddling around together.  We feed them once a day and they come running up the bank to get it, quacking away.

Give me a call (805) 610-1053 and make a time to come meet everyone.  The vegetables are ready for u-pick and we'd love to see you!

Suprise!

For those of you that are new to the blog, all of our heifers were purchased the past 2 years from the California Mid State Fair. These were all raised by 4H and FFA members as projects.

Our cows have been in the back 300 and are all very fat and happy. We went up to the herd to check on them this morning. Imagine our suprise to see a new calf! We have 15 heifers that calved last summer and fall. In addition, there was one that didn't calf. We were going to check her this spring to see if she was going to calve this year. If not, we would need to sell her. Evidently she just didn't feel like being on the same schedule as all the rest! We are very happy because she came from a real nice ranch with high quality animals.

It's never dull at the farm!

This is an old picture, but I love it so much I wanted to share it.  Ben and Angel are our two Pyrenees that guard the livestock at the Farm.  They are brother and sister and have been together since birth so you can imagine how close they are.

We have learned though that we can't let them run together or they will climb (yes climb) the fence and take off.  Pyrenees LOVE to run.  The last time they took off, we retrieved them 10 miles away.  They ended up on a jobsite and one poor worker went into his toolshed to find Ben sleeping on the floor.

I wish for you a relationship like this!

Our new chickies

We received our new Cornish Cross chicks yesterday.  These are for meat chickens only.  We are raising them as prescribed by Joe Salatin.  Here is a picture of the little darlings at 3 days old (they came from Missouri in the mail).

As soon as they feather out, they will be moved to the chicken tractors and moved throughout the orchards and berry bushes. 

The Cornish Cross Chicken is a cross between the Cornish chicken and a White Rock Chicken. They were developed for the commercial meat chicken market and have been dominating it for the past fifty years. They are a rapid grower and pullets can reach 4 1/2 lbs by 6 wks of age and cockerels 6 lbs by 6 wks of age.

It will be great to have tender flavourful chicken to eat that is grown naturally with no additives.

Our ducks are free!

This is my batch of "rare" ducks that we purchased as one day old ducklings.  We were able to let them go on the pond last week and are they happy!

I love this picture of them with the barn in the background and the morning sun.

We don't have that sun today.  It rained this morning and hopefully will resume tonight.  We need that rain for our transplants as well as the barley and forage hay.

We sat in the hot tub last evening just before dark and watched the owls in the palm tree stretch their wings and check out their landing gear.  Just as it became dark, they flew out to do their night hunting.  It was so fun to see and one actually flew just over our heads.  Only on the farm would we arrange our schedule around that of the owls.

We then had to put the chickens to bed.  I waited by the gate with the dogs and one of the owls swooped down over the fruit orchard so close I could hear its wings flap.  Nothing is as exciting as nature.

The vegetables are really starting to grow.  We have just about everything you can think of planted.  The artichokes are amazing.  I cut off the tips of them and put them in a pan of water with wine vinegar and a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil.  Then I put a generous amount of minced garlic on top, cover and boil until they are tender.  Yum Yum.

We received our new batch of chicks today.  We have some cornish cross in this bunch.  We will feed them and keep them in the moving chicken tractors for 8 weeks.  Hopefully they will be tender and flavorful.

The flowers are blooming and the new bees we just received are happy campers so we should have some yummy honey soon.

Have a great week!