Chainsaw Gardening

As I've mentioned, Sir Knight and I are trying something radically different in our garden this year.  After many years of traditional gardening, with less than stellar results, we put in our first "Hugelkultur" raised garden bed.   A Hugelkultur bed is nothing more than a raised garden bed filled with trees, branches and bushes - in other words, bulky organic material.  These beds utilize the composting trees to fertilize the garden, providing a constant source of nutrients for years.  The makeup of these gardens also reduce (or eliminate) the need for watering, and if done right, don't require weeding.  Or, at least, that's what they say.....

Our new garden is a complete departure from what we've always known!  As our Mennonite neighbors till, fence and create perfect rows, Sir Knight and I are busy dragging trees (windfalls from our huge wind storm) up from the woods, digging trenches in our yard and gardening with chainsaws!  While their property looks perfectly manicured and tidy, ours looks - well - like a construction zone.  Their beautiful shrubs pose a stark contrast to our ragged, shaggy pile of dirt!

And so, we will watch with great anticipation as our garden grows and evaluate the merits of chainsaw gardening....

Sir Knight cutting the trees into manageable bites

Sir Knight had to take a minute to help Master hand Grenade fly a kite!

We had a dump truck deliver 12 yards of screened top soil for the top of our garden bed

And clover to plant as a cover crop over the entire garden bed

Our friend digging our garden bed trench

Filling the trench with bulky organic material

And filling the trench with soil

Adding the screened top soil

Our new Hugelkultur bed

Sown with clover seed and 8 blueberry plants on top (we will be planting more blueberries)

Our Hugelkultur bed method:

1.  Dig a 2 to 3 foot deep trench (you can build these directly on the ground)

2.  Fill with trees, shrubs, branches (any bulky organic material).  You can mound the organic material 1 to 2 feet above the ground.

3.  Add manure, chicken coup material or other stinky compost (if you have it).

4.  Pile dirt onto the mound, sod side down.

5.  Pile topsoil onto the mound - up to 5 to 6 feet tall.  Our garden only ended up being about 4 feet tall, but I would have rather had it taller.

6.  Plant trees or small brushy shrubs on top (we planted blueberries) and seed all over with a cover crop (or plant with vegetables immediately), and water well.

We'll keep you posted on our Chainsaw Gardening adventures!

Welsh Cakes...Sweet Perfection

Welsh cakes - even the name evokes images of cozy kitchens, dreary weather and steaming cups of tea.  And, oh, they do live up to expectations! 

Welsh cakes are quick bread cakes that are quickly mixed together and are baked on a griddle (or in a frying pan).  The ingredients are similar to those of baking powder biscuits but the taste and consistency, oh so delightfully different.  The butter to flour ratio is very high, producing a flaky, delicate cake.  Welsh cakes are slightly sweet, but not so sweet that they are reserved only for the dessert course - they are very nice alongside a savory dinner.

These cakes are one of my favorite "emergency" tea treats (someone unexpectedly drives up the driveway - and I mix up Welsh cakes while the kettle heats) that seem to have universal appeal.  And of course the ingredients are basic, so I always have them on hand.  Slathered with butter and served with homemade jam, they are humble perfection.

Welsh Cakes
1 C flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
pinch salt
1/2 C butter, cold
1/4 C sugar
1/3 C currents or raisins (optional)
1 egg
2 T milk
Powdered sugar (optional)

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, nutmeg (if using) and salt.  Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles course crumbs.  Stir in the sugar and currents or raisins (if using).  Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the egg and milk.  Using a fork, mix the ingredients until the dough comes together.  Flour  a work surface and roll the dough out about 3/4 inch thick. 

Cut with a round cookie cutter (fluted is traditional), gathering up the bits and cutting cakes out until you have used all of the dough.  Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat.  Lightly grease the griddle (or skillet) and place as many rounds as will fit without touching.  Bake approximately 3 - 4 minutes on first side (until brown) and then carefully flip over.  Cook for another 3 - 4 minutes (until browned).  Remove from griddle onto wire rack and sprinkle with powdered sugar (if desired), or place directly unto a platter and serve.

Butter added (I always double the recipe!)

Cutting in the butter

Stirring in the egg and milk

On a floured surface

Rolled to 3/4 inch thick

Cut (with a fluted edge!)

Ready for the griddle

Just flipped

Welsh cakes are served!

With Dublin Coddle

We have a tendency to keep it simple when it comes to Welsh cakes.  I rarely put currents or raisins in them (my family aren't fond of either) and I leave out the nutmeg.  Occasionally, I will add nutmeg or cinnamon, just to spice it up, but only if I will be serving them with tea, not alongside dinner.  We love them warm, fresh from the griddle, and cold, with a bit of butter and jam (although lemon curd is quite nice, too!). 

I hope you try these delightful little cakes and find, as we have, that they are bites of sweet perfection!

Carried to Victory....

Watch. This. Video. 

Maid Elizabeth shared this video with me and as I watched it, I wept.  I wasn't weeping for the father or his son (exactly), I was weeping for the beautiful analogy of victory - our victory.

The video I saw was not just the picture of a fathers love, it was the picture of God's salvation.  I saw a Father that carried His precious child through the trials of life, never failing - carrying, pulling and pushing through every obstacle, until, finally - Victory! 

That child is me.  I can do nothing on my own - only my Father can see me safely across the finish line. 

Oh, what a glorious day that will be!

Making Progress?

We have been working on Maid Elizabeth's house and had been making great progress - that is, until we started ripping things out! 

We knew that the bathroom needed to be gutted and plumbing needed to be attended to, but it seems we have delved into even more projects.  We started by ripping up the bathroom and painting the kitchen.  Maid Elizabeth began by painting the kitchen a lovely shade of yellow.  Unfortunately that lovely yellow turned a somewhat mucus green in the evening light - ugh.  Next, Maid Elizabeth painted the kitchen a striking color called Submarine Grey.  With white trim, it promised to be beautiful!  But then......I got a wild hare.....I decided to look under the homely wood paneling.  I pulled the paneling back, lifted up at least 5 layers of wall paper, and discovered the most beautiful ship lap hiding beneath.  After Maid Elizabeth squealed with delight and then tried to decide what she wanted to do, we commenced pulling all of the paneling off uncovering the ship lap.  So were making progress.  I think.

Miss Serenity and Sir Knight ripping out the bathroom

The toilet, tub and floor still need to come out

Princess Dragon Snack and Master Calvin taking the flooring up in the laundry room

Master Hand Grenade hard at work

Yellow walls in the kitchen....

Then grey walls.....

Sir Knight deconstructing!

And now - ship lap!

Maid Elizabeth and Sir Knight are picking up her new wood cook stove on Saturday and her flooring has been ordered.  She is having a work party this weekend and hopes to make some real progress (no more steps backward).  She has lighting waiting to be installed and appliances stacked up in the shed. 

We are indeed making progress!

Spring Work

Things have been busy around the homestead!  As I mentioned earlier, we are putting in permaculture beds as yet another attempt at a successful garden.  We are digging (by hand, I might add!) a rather large raised bed.  We will dig the bed about 2 feet deep (and 4 feet wide), fill it with bulky organic material (branches, shrubs, downed trees) and mound it up to about 5 feet tall with a mixture of compost, sod and soil.  Because our soil is compact clay, we are having 12 yards of screened loam brought in so we can top our beds with good, humus(y) soil.

Digging the bed

One large bed that contours to the north

In addition to the permaculture bed, we built a sun trap out of culvert sections.  The sun trap faces south to catch the heat of the sun's rays and radiate that heat back on itself.  The steel will absorb the heat and continue to release its stored heat long after the sun has set.

The sun trap (before paint)



And after.....

Another addition to the homestead are two fruit trees.  We have tried fruit trees numerous times in the past, to little avail.  This time, after much research and reflection, we decided to plant the trees on a swale, just above a ditch.  We dug a large hole out of the side of the hill and filled it with permaculture goodness.  After filling the hole with branches and shrubs, we turned the sod upside down in the hole and filled the hole with compost and amended soil before planting the trees.  After putting the trees in the ground, we circled them with rock, both to provide heat (in the form of solar gain) and to provide extra stabilization to the roots to compensate for the wind.  We are very hopeful that these trees survive our harsh climate and poor soil.  The trees overwintered, outside, at a nursery about 40 minutes south of our home, so we think that with the proper care they may have a fighting chance!

Preparing for the fruit trees

Adding organic material

Sod, upturned in the bed

Adding soil and other amendments

Newly planted apple tree

More raised (culvert) beds

And so, spring work continues on the homestead.