I decided to write today in part to keep myself awake. There has been a few days of rain and wind here in our part of the world and I woke with some intense allergies this morning. Eventually I succumbed to taking Zyrtec. I am a very sensitive creature so am the kind of person who feels every side effect of anything I put in to my body, and sometimes I swear I have side effects that aren't even known about! Today I may feel groggy but at least the Zyrtec has helped with the allergies.
Regardless of the pollen in the air, it is certainly beautiful outside! I love this short time of each year where the grass is green and all the flowers come to life. It doesn't last long in our neck of the woods. Before long the earth will be parched and we will be begging for rain. I intend to enjoy this spring phase as much as I possibly can.
In a previous blog I mentioned Travis growing produce in green houses that he set up this year. Today I am here to tell you a bit about that. Since Travis has always struggled to keep his weight down, but loves food, he decided to start eating lettuce/salad each night at dinnertime, even when the rest of us are eating other things. That was at least a couple years ago and he is still sticking to it!
Travis adds meats or poultry meats to his salads like steak, pork, chicken. He mixes it all in a grand sized bowl with eggs, bacon, cherry tomatoes, and whatever else he can find to pizzazz it up. He is basically on a paleo type diet. He only allows himself pizza or a few other food choices, one night a week, or perhaps for a special occasion.
With this new, clean, healthier way of eating, Travis of all people knows how hard it is to find good fresh salad or lettuce mixes, and other fresh foods, too. It is frustrating to buy salad greens from Safeway only to realize it went bad before it could all be eaten.
Right at the start of spring, Travis and I went to local area farmers' markets to see what produce they sell, so that perhaps we can offer different choices to compliment the fresh produce that's already available out there to local shoppers. We really didn't see any salad or lettuce anywhere! (But there were lots and lots of tomatoes.) The fact that Travis would love to have his own fresh salad or lettuce is definitely enough reason to grow some, but then adding the fact that other people may be looking for the same thing has inspired him that this is what he wants to focus on growing first.
Travis so far has grown Arugula, Golden Frills, and Tatsoi, which will be a salad mix. Then he also has radishes and a Salvanoa lettuce, as well as a kale mix.
He grew some other things such as potatoes and some of our own tomato plants but I think he planted too early and has to re-start those. (I could be wrong, though. I am thinking he told me his potatoes are doing well, which would be excellent, but I am honestly having trouble keeping up with it all!) He lost about 15 pounds of spinach because the mice got to it. Grr! Those are some pesky critters, and boy oh boy, did they feast! We started setting traps in the greenhouses and anywhere we saw mouse droppings because I was finding them in my hay storage too, and right away, we caught a dozen in the first day!
We have since braved the stores for mice control products. We have various traps and such to try. I'll let you know at a later date how that is going. Hopefully, things will be moving along more smoothly now, so long as we check those traps each day. Of course, Travis has built fences and barriers to keep wildlife out as much as possible, but the mice and bugs are in a different category. We learn something new every day.
Our daughter, Megan, has a cat in the house. She (the cat) takes care of the house mice quite effectively but is a total, "indoor girl."
The cat, who has at least half a dozen different names by the way, but only comes to, "here kitty kitty"... would probably not survive as an outdoor creature. She is bright white with blue eyes so she stands out to predators very well. She absolutely despises to get dirty and is very prissy. Plus, Megan would be distraught if something terrible happened to her precious kitty with six names, so there's that. Let's see...some of the names...there's Snow Kitty, Fancy, Winter (because we got her during a winter snow storm and she is white), Kit Cat, the boys call her Bacon Bits but I have no idea why, and my husband calls her Possum because of the way she likes to lay upside down. In the end...Kitty is her call.
We do not want any barn cats at this time because we already have some wandering strays. We will just have to help the local cat population in controlling the pesky mice.
I hope you have enjoyed this update and little glimpse into our small farm life. Travis shares much of how he grows all of this produce on a mere acre or two of land, if you want to follow along @3cornersfarm on Instagram and/or Facebook. His motto is growing fresh produce in small areas. It IS possible! And this can't come at a better time than now, with the Coronavirus threatening our food sources and changing our way of life. At some point I will do a more in-depth piece of the gardening aspects. Until then, take care, stay safe when going out and about by wearing a mask, and I will be back to share more farm happenings soon!
Ta ta for now,
Amy Darr
3 Corners Farm
Mosier, OR. U.S.A.
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