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Scapes galore!

Its June 24th, and the scapes are ready to be 'plucked'. 

If you are growing garlic, pluck off the scapes (the curly ends) once they have made a full circle.  This will encourage the nutrients to go to the actual garlic that you want to eat.

The scapes will keep for quite awhile, and can be chopped up small and eaten raw in your salad, on top of stirfries or anywhere else you want a hint of garlic.

They can also be sauteed, baked or bbq'd to your liking. :)

Next Saturday, I will bring some down to our booth in the Penticton Farmers Market (200 block) for the first lucky customers to bring home with them.

See you there!
xo
Heidi

"We can either pay the farmer or we can pay the hospital."

Check out this kids Ted-NextGeneration speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nndEZBQ9bds&feature=share

"Next time you are at the grocery store:

Think local
Choose organic
Know your farm and know your food."

Frozen Pipes: Why Every Farmer Needs a Hairdryer and How To Defrost the Earth that Marmots Dug Under the Well!

As I type, my lovely hairdryer is currently buried under the earth, blasting hot air under our well to defrost the pipe so that we can get water again. (which...by the way, actually worked!...and we have free flowing water again).

So, here is what happened at our house.


It all begins with the infestation of marmots on our property. I now officially consider them pests. The image above is my husband Gui creating a barrier a few feet below ground so that they would stop making a home under our house. .. and the one below is me decked out in gear to spray a strong pepper spray that might deter them from the garden.


At the time, neither one of us realized how much damage this cute little guys can cause.

In the heat of the summer marmots dig holes under the ground and hibernate for the winter.

This year, they dug holes under our well.

2 days ago, when the weather was its coldest ( - 18 ish) we lost our water. Of course we all feared cracking pipes etc etc.

Turns out the reason the pipes froze is because the holes dug under the well were letting cold wind in and freezing the pipe going into the ground.

So..here is a random post that MAY help somebody in a similar situation, as I never would have thought of it!

How to De-thaw the Ground and Your Well Water Pipe caused by Marmot Holes in Ground

Analyze the situation:

Part 1: You have no water (and it's winter and cold). Here was about -20 C and a strong wind.

(Before we knew about the holes, we checked the well for leaks, broken pipes, system failures etc...and also tried putting more heaters inside the well to heat up the pipes from the inside. Nothing worked! We did not know yet about the holes.

Part 3: If nothing is working, before fearing cracked pipes, investigate for any holes leading under the well. If you have holes there from marmots and it was a cold wind, this is likely why your pipes are frozen.

What to do:

1. Clear away any snow surrounding the well, and then get on your hands and knees and check for holes dug under the well.

2. If you find holes, go to your garage or hardware store and get the following items:

* BBQ coal (2-3 bags was enough for us)
* Lighter fluid (1-2 containers worked here)
* Hairdryer & extension cord.

3. Plug in the hair dryer and position it inside a hole, and under the well aiming the hot air at the ground pipe if you can see it. Use something to block the cold air from coming in again (...foam insulation is what we had on hand.)

4. Spread 1-2 bags of coal around the well walls..we covered a space about 1.5 foot x 4 feet to heat up the ground below.

Safety Note!! Our well has steel sides, so no risk of setting it on fire..if you have wood sides, this may be a bad idea, I'm not sure. In any case, make sure you are around to keep an eye on things.

5. Pour the lighter fluid and light the coals, we needed a bit of dry grass to get things going as well.

6. Wait for the water. Ours took about 3 hours and we got our water back!

7. Now you can let the the coals die down, and turn off the hair dryer. Be sure to put something to insulate the holes from letting air in again (hay, wood chips, insulation of some sort).

8. To keep the pipes from freezing again in the cold cold weather, we now also leave a faucet on with a tiny trickle which I am told will prevent them from freezing again.

... I hope that helps somebody out there. :)

Heidi

Hot Buttered Rum

How to shuck oysters

Learn how to shuck oysters with master shucker Scotland



music by the Walkmen and Bob Dylan.

How to Clean and Prepare Garlic for Planting

Learn in this babka-tips video how to clean your garlic so it is ready for planting in the fall.

This video is a sequel to the video: When to Harvest Garlic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUBLfRJKRV4

We missed showing you a few steps along the way, but stay tuned for more garlic tips coming as we begin planting in the fall.

Note....there are many types of garlic out there, so do your reading for the area you live in and the variety you are planting.

A fun makeshift planter mover solution....

Babka Annie and Momma Janice...

How to Pick Saskatoon Berries in Penticton, B.C.

Music by: Rising Appalachia

Equipment I like to use:

a box
a scarf
gloves
boots
and a large stick living in rattlesnake country

Babkas unite via Skype!

Ok, so I meant to post this way back in December when (I think) it was taken.

As our 36 followers hopefully haven't noticed, since it's summer and everyone is so busy, is that we have not posted a damn thing in months. Shame on us, babkas. To each of our credit though, we continue to cook, garden, learn and always ham it up....even though it's not being documented.

In my own defence, the farm life is much busier than I imagined, and although I would love to be editing Babka videos, my computer time should really be spent working on real work, so I can go back and play outside in the dirt.

Babka-Anny...well she is one busy gal ruling the real estate in the Okanagan, but apparently she has tons of un-edited footage just waiting to be posted.

and Miss Maya....is currently in Portugal, hopefully getting a video or two of some sardines cooked by the Portuguese mamas.

So really, this post is just to say that we are still here!...and hopefully vids coming soon....so don't unsubscribe just yet.

The new plan is to keep 'em short and sweet (no more than 1 min and a half), and just give you the great tips we are learning along the way.

I plan to get some more footage with my Grandma Lily, and the actual harvesting of the garlic this summer..so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Other than that, I love this pic so much because 17 years after we 3 met, nothing has really changed. :)

oooh...but here's a cool little video shout out to Louise about organic sweet potatoes, if you are planning to grow your own:

Love, Heidi