Sadie's Horse Bean

Today I planted some Sadie's Horse Bean seeds(?)  that I ordered from Heritage Harvest Seeds early this spring.  The description in the seed catalogue caught my eye and I decided I really needed to try these.  I hope June 5th is not too late to plant these, but I wanted to wait until the ground warmed up some, and this year things are taking a little longer than usual.

When I opened the package I was in awe of how big and beautiful these beans are.... 

Here are a few left over, some of the beans were white, some purple and pink with spots as well these these brown speckeled beans.

From the seed catalogue:

A beautiful heirloom runner bean that was grown in the same family for over one hundred years! Huge beans have to be seen to be believed and come in a gorgeous mix of colors including pink mottled black, lavender mottled brown and pure white. The pods are also huge and can be eaten as a snap when very young. This bean is truly one of the most ornamental vegetables you can grow. The vigorous vines are covered in a mix of white and red flowers all summer long and also attracts hummingbirds. Simply breathtaking! (110 days for dried beans) Pole.


So I really hope that the Sadie's Horse Bean grows.  I have them planted at our 'crazy' garden next to a large trellis.  This is the spot were all things can grow and get out of control if it wants to, and we have horseradish, rhubarb, peppermint, english mint, chives, lovage and also wild flowers growing.

Posted on Homestead Barn Hop #15

Trip to the Feed Store

A few days ago I was told about a feed store waaaay on the other side of town from me.  I never knew about this particular store, but was told I should check it out as their prices were pretty good.  Before making the long trip out there, I decided to call first and compare prices to the store where I normally purchase our feed.  Well their prices were not only pretty good - they were PHENOMENAL!  He even carries dog food made in British Columbia made with BC ingredients at (get this!) a third of the price of what I currenty pay for dog food (which is not even local).

So this morning Husband and I set out to the feed store with long list in hand....
250 kg of pig grower
2 large dog food
1 bag hen scratch
8 bags layer feed
2 bags medicated chick starter
2 bags unmedicated chick starter
1 bag grit
4 bales of straw

We calculated that we drove home with 3/4 of a ton in the back of the pick up truck (good thing its a big truck), and for all of that we paid $387.68

If I purchase 2 bags of dog food and 8 bags of layer at my regular store I have already spent around $255.00, so I'm very pleased to have obtained so much feed for a very reasonable price, plus the owner was extremely nice and knowledgeable.  It is defininately worth the gas money for the trip out.

So I think we are set in the feed department for awhile and I'm all prepared for our new hatchlings and the chicks which will be arriving in 2 weeks.

Wordless Wednesday

Garden Work

Husband took the week off to work in the gardens and around the acreage. There is always so much to do in the spring and clean up the mess after the snow has melted. It is hard to imagine now that only three weekends ago we still had snow covering most of he garden.

Some things that Husband (and some by me) accomplished:
•Tilled the garden
•Brought tomatoes into the greenhouses
•Hooked up the electrical wiring to the barn
•Installed one of the iron gates at front of property
•General clean up of propery
•Put in bedding plants
•Weeded beds and berry garden
•Planted garden
•Built planter boxes
•Fixed fence around garden
•Planted flower beds and boxes



Garden freshly tilled




Large greenhouse waiting to be planted




Small greenhouse with two variety of tomatoes. (The white cloth is the row covers for the cabbages)




Husband had better luck starting some of the tomatoes this year. The Purple Russian only produced one plant and a few fruit last year. I manages to save a few seeds, and this year started five plants.




Glacier tomato plants all died last year. We had a few seeds put away and were able to start five plants this spring. We are keeping our fingers crossed that all will survive and fruit.




The chicks are three weeks old and it was a nice weekend so I brought them out into the sunshine. Right away they lay down and stretched out their wings to sun themselves.

Gourmet Dinner at Home

This was a long weekend for Canadians as today was Victoria Day celebrating the birthday of Queen Victoria (for our country's British heritage)

Husband, Son and I spent most of the weekend outdoors weeding, cleaning and getting the gardens ready for planting. We took breaks to talk to the pigs helping them get used to us and their new environment. The neighbours also brought their young children over to spend some time with the goslings and to see the piglets... there's nothing cuter then seeing toddlers with animal babies!

Daughter had a project to complete this weekend for her Foods 9 class - to cook and present a gourmet meal. How wonderful to come in after the garden work, have a hot shower and then be served a beautiful meal. Here are the photos documenting her meal... and it was delicious!

Menu



Table Setting

Appetizer

Mozzerella and Sweet Basil Bruschetta

Main Course

Savoury Chicken Bake

White Wine Asparagus Risotto

Cucumber Yogurt Salad

Dessert

Diabolic Cheesecake with Sliced Strawberries

The Pigs Have Arrived!

Thursday afternoon Husband and I drove to the next town to meet up with the people who were selling the piglets. We waited in the Co-op parking lot not knowing who we were meeting, or what they were driving. As we waited Husband made a comment wondering if this is what drug dealers feel like when they're waiting to make an exchange.

After about 25 minutes a silver pickup truck roared up next to us... they has obviously seen the dog crates in the back of our truck with which to transport the pigs.

They had a wire dog crate containing six piglets as they were meeting another buyer as well as us.

Pigs were grabbed by their back legs and ferried over into our crates. We expected a lot of squealing but only one protested... probably because they were fast asleep by the time they arrived at the Co-op.

When we got home and hour and a half later the pigs were fast asleep again. After getting the pig ark filled with hay Husband began to unload the piglets into their new pen, only to have one escape between the fencing slats... they were a lot smaller than he had anticipated when building the fence. So we ran around trying to catch her, looking like a bunch of maniacs I'm sure. Once caught and secured, we had to fix the fencing so that they wouldn't get out again. When all four pigs were in their new home Daughter had names for them all within a few minutes. We now have Boris, Delicious, Bacon and Miss Piggy at the acreage.

The pigs are very skittish but are beginning to slowly get used to us. Son was even able to scratch one's back as he fed them today.

So, our adventures in pig raising has begun!

















 Posted on Homestead Barn Hop #14

Home Tour

I'm so excited!  Our home tour is up on the Home Sweet Home blog... check it out here