This Week at Ramsey Farms 4/13/14

Last Sunday 4/6

• Harvested the remaining kale; left some to seed
  
• Harvested 1/3 of the garlic to make room for the frame for row 4
• Installed the raised beds for Rows 3 & 4
• Big Mama Aloe surgery
• Planted borage seeds in newspaper pots
• Baked sourdough breads
• Made seasoned kale chips to go with hamburgers for dinner - my 4 year old loved these! Pour olive oil in a bowl, season with kosher salt, black pepper, your favorite fresh and or dried herbs and mix. Dip kale leaves into oil-seasoning mixture on both sides getting a good coverage. Place leaves onto oiled baking sheet and bake 5-10 minutes at about 425 degrees. (Watch closely! I burned a batch a while back - smells & tastes like burned popcorn.)



Big Mama Aloe Plants BEFORE Repotting

Monday

• Woke to dark, rainy, overcast day that lasted all day - high was only 56 today :( Come back Springtime!
• Baked cheddar cheese bread which was a big hit with everyone! 
• Delivered sourdough bread to customer
• Made sausage-potato-kale soup for dinner using herbs, garlic, scallions, kale from our garden

Tuesday & Wednesday

• The zinc oxide powder and Tahitian vanilla essential oil I ordered has shipped! Cannot wait for this to arrive! Any guesses as to what I may create?! :) 
• Baked some very sticky and delicious Boston Brown Bread that did not last long. At all. :) 
• Left a few cabbage plants for seed and harvested all the rest of the beautiful, purple cabbage. Cleaned them up and allowed the heads to soak in salted water for an hour to draw out any cabbage worms (there were none). Enjoyed some baby cabbage leaves in our fresh-picked garden salads Tuesday! 
  
• I was blessed to spend time with two "old" friends I hadn't seen in a long while Wednesday. Spent some time walking and talking for three miles with one and another friend popped over Wednesday for a garden tour and some sweet iced tea. It was great to spend time with both of these special women and catch up on life together!
• In the bakery, I experimented with some new recipes. Made a honey wheat bread and a banana-oatmeal style bread! YUM! Both are super delicious and may make the bakery menu for customers soon! :)

Thursday & Friday 

One Aloe AFTER Repotting

• I got three of the four biggest aloe plants repotted! The "Grandma Aloe" will be repotted Sunday as will any of the remaining pieces. I'm going to see if the original, now-cut-off root stem will live and produce more babies. Overall we had about 20 or 21 aloe pups that came off the existing aloe plants. I love using fresh aloe in my lotions and just by itself for burns and boo-boos. Pure aloe from the plant is also excellent for your face to heal blemishes, reduce and heal fine lines, tighten the skin, and improve overall tone.
• For dinner, I made herbed pork chops, baked potatoes, and made some yummy slaw with the cabbage picked yesterday.
• Then I got to make my sunscreen after everybody went to bed! Adjusted my original lotion recipe and added the zinc oxide powder and Tahitian vanilla (OMG it smells soooo good!) The consistency is runny so it needs more adjusting, but I look forward to trying it out this weekend! I used less than 15% zinc oxide (based on volume weight of lotion) so this is about 13-15% SPF. I wanted to go very easy on this chemical, though it is the safest of all the sunscreen chemicals. (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/)
• Baked mega-herb sourdough bread that used about 1 full cup of scallions and fresh herbs from the garden. The aroma was tantalizing during baking and every time you open the bread container the smell is so wonderful and strong it can make your stomach growl and your mouth water!

Saturday

• Made scrambled eggs served with fresh homemade breads and jellies for breakfast. I'm ready to go get more fresh, local hen eggs this week from my new favorite feed-n-seed store!
• Chief Farmhand, Chris was back on the tiller for a good four or five hours. He reworked the unplanted area of Rows 1 & 2, fully tilled row 3, and fully tilled the unplanted "Back 40" section. 
• Added two pick-up bed loads of garden soil into the garden spaces primarily rows 3 and 4.
• Took up all the seed cabbage and have the flower/seeds drying for (hopefully) use next year.
• Weeded all the planted areas, reseeded celery and beets. 
  
• Tested my sunscreen! And though I did get a nice base tan on my arms and face yesterday, I did not burn. I reapplied my DIY sunscreen a few times throughout the day. Zinc oxide is also an active ingredient in many store-bought deodorants. When applying the lotion yesterday, I did apply it to my face, arms, chest, and even underarms. And I must tell you, this may be my new deodorant too. It was super hot and sunny and I worked outside most all day and didn't smell bad in anyway at the end of the day! (You know you wanted to know this! lol)
• My daughter and I made a baked pasta dish for dinner along with the mega herb bread and fresh salads from the garden!
• Don't forget to check out the ever-changing pics of the Garden and the Cold Frame.

I am thankful to the people in my life and grateful to spend my life centered in family. The speed at which modern society lives life may take many people far from the family members they love so dearly. When work and other activities begin to become the center of one's world, it is easy to find oneself off balance. We are human beings not human doings - doing more doesn't lead us to a better life. This week slow down, take a few deep breathes, remember what's truly important, clarify, prioritize, re-balance life. Rather than concern myself what what I think I should be doing this week, I'm going to work on being the person I am and want to be. Simply being. Who are you going to BE this week? Love, Ramsey