Five Feline Farm, Author at Five Feline Farm

Three Sisters

Five Feline Farm is planning a garden area on the south end of the property to showcase new crops as well as heritage varieties of familiar crops. In time, a garden shed, marked pathways and dedicated plant beds will be added. Visitors can expect to see this area expand and develop over the next two to three years. Each new variety will be planted in the most sustainable method available.

The central feature for 2014 will be a Three Sisters companion planting. You may recall this referred to in the last post. Three Sisters is an ancient method of companion planting corn, beans and squash. Some accounts or legends associated withThree Sisters suggest this is the method that was taught to the English settlers by the Native Americans. Each plant benefits the other. The products harvested then support a balanced diet for the gardener.

Varieties for the Three Sisters area at Five Feline Farm have been sourced from Native Seeds. Each reflects an ancient culture and are open pollinated.

Three Sisters begins with corn. The sturdy stalks provide a natural pole for the beans to climb. We will use two varieties of corn: Hopi Greasy Head and Mayo Tuxpeño. Both of these are “dent” corns to be dried and ground into cornmeal.

Pole beans are the second sister of the trio. Beans collect nitrogen from the air and impart it to the soil. Nitrogen is a critical nutrient for healthy corn development. In keeping with the Native American theme, Hopi Black Pinto beans are the variety of choice for this planting at the Farm. These beans can be picked and eaten green but also allowed to ripen and dry for long term storage.

The final sister in the planting is squash. We will be using Yellow Crookneck. The large leaves of squash vines shade the ground under the group acting as living mulch to conserve moisture and block weeds.

The Three Sisters are planted in a slight mound with a flattened top. The mound is approximately one foot high and four feet or so in diameter. Corn is started first and allowed to grow to about twelve inches before the beans are started. One week after beans, squash is planted.

Meanwhile as we dream of weather warm enough to start Three Sisters, early seed starting is beginning in the basement. Marigolds, heirloom tomatoes ranging from Cherokee Purple to Roma, peppers, tobacco and herbs will be poking through the germinating mix soon.

As you can see, planning for the growing season, dreaming of warmer weather and starting the garden plants indoors is how we address the winter doldrums here at Five Feline Farm. Post a comment to let us know how you are coping with the cold winter.

Don’t forget to watch the website for an opportunity to sign up for our newsletter for exclusive subscriber content about life at Five Feline Farm. Target release date is January 31, 2014.

Planning for the New Year

January 1, 2014. You wouldn’t think there is much to do on a hobby farm on January 1, but there is always some task underway here at Five Feline Farm.

This is the time of year we start planning the garden and any new plots that will be developed. Not only does this give us a jump start on the planting season, it chases away the doldrums of winter.

2014 will bring an expanded variety of flowers and vegetables in the main gardens. Tomatoes, peppers, onions, radishes, beans, kale, spinach and lettuce will be rounded out with amaranth, barley, oats, wheat, and buckwheat. Most of these seeds will be heirlooms and are already on order from Sustainable Seeds.

Some of the new plots under development will feature Native American corn varieties. Dent corns, Hopi Blue, black popcorn and a glass gem corn are among the possibilities.

Another new garden area will be planted as Three Sisters. For those of you unfamiliar with this native way of planting, let us explain. Corn anchors the planting providing a “pole” for climbing beans. Squash vines encircle the base blocking weeds and preserving soil moisture. This companion planting helps each of the crops thrive and adds to a healthy diet of the gardener.

Along with planning for the gardens comes planning for equipment.

This past summer we added a new and larger greenhouse to the Farm. Final tweaks are needed to make this a fully functioning space for tender plants. Even in the cold days of winter, we are getting to 80 plus degrees during the day but not holding any of this heat overnight. An insulating wrap around the base should help. In addition, we need to run an electrical line and outlet for the new heater. Between these two steps and tightening up some joints, the greenhouse will be up and running.

And who doesn’t want to just sit in a warm greenhouse enjoying the sunshine on a cold January day? As soon as we get a sunny day, we’ll pull out the lawn chairs and soak up some Vitamin D. Perk to having your own greenhouse.

The next major piece of equipment needed for the Farm is a towable tiller. As the planting beds expand throughout the property, a standard walk behind tiller will not be up to the task.

So the plans continue. Every step will be an improvement in this plot of land we call home.

What plans are you making for 2014? Drop us a line in the comments section and let us know what you will be doing this year.

In the upcoming weeks, watch for an opportunity to subscribe to our new email list and get a free gift.

A Letter from Snowball

Five Feline Farm is pleased to host a guest post written by Snowball before he crossed to the Grand Catdom.

Dear Five Feline Farm followers:

If you are reading this letter, you will know that I have gone to a place where my bones no longer ache. I can eat again without choking and have the energy to run and play.

I dictated this to one of my humans so that all of the readers of the Five Feline Farm blog could know my thoughts as my time at the Farm draws to a close.

I have four furry friends who share this Farm with me and the two humans. One is my twin brother, his name is Phantom. Most of the time we fight, but really I love him and I’m pretty sure he loves me.

My best furry friend is Thumper. The humans say we are married which kind of cracks us up, because they only think they know about our feline relationships. Whatever. We go along with it to keep them happy. Thumper and I have talked a lot about what is going to happen with me. I can feel my energy slipping away and I know that soon I will not be living in this dimension. Thumper has agreed that she will take care of the humans as long as she can.

Thumper has a daughter named Sassy. She is a funny girl and I like to watch her pounce on things. We’ve kind of had a love/hate relationship. When we all lived in town, I have to admit I bullied her, but since we moved to Five Feline Farm, she has turned the tables on me. As the humans say, “turn about is fair play”. But from time to time, when Sassy catches a mouse, she lets me have the first crunch. We don’t tell the humans about this.

The youngest in our family is Reine. This fall she started having health problems that Doc says is “diabetes”. Before I lose my ability to speak from the tumors in my throat, I plan to talk with her about doing her part in taking care of the humans. I doubt they will be able to stand two of us moving to the Grand Catdom so close together.

Now a bit about the humans. I love them both. They give me a warm place to sleep, a safe area to play and plenty to eat. I don’t understand some of their rules, like “no cats in the kitchen” but since they pay the mortgage for us, I try to follow these insane rules the best I can.

One of my humans lets me sleep with her, right up on her pillow. This makes me feel special and I can tell that she understands how comfortable it makes me. I don’t really get why she jumps when I check her pulse under her arm in the morning. I just want to make sure that she is ok. But she jumps and says that tickles.

It is hard for me to think about leaving my family, both furry and human. But I know that in time their grief will heal and they will think of me in my youth and my health. I have lived a full life and I am ready to pass through the dark curtain as is the custom for all animals.

I will see you all on the other side.

Love and meow,
Snowball

Note from the humans: Snowball Jacob passed through the dark curtain to the Grand Catdom on December 17, 2013. He was a much cherished member of our family and a charter cat of Five Feline Farm. We will miss you always.

Black Walnuts: A Forager’s Treat

Foraging for food is part of the joy of living in the country with natural resources. Our food supply does not end when the gardens are put to rest. The abundant black walnut trees at Five Feline Farm provide nuts with a distinctive flavor and are one of our favorites.

Harvesting the nuts is a process starting with the easy part: collection. Simply pick up nuts that have fallen to the ground. It doesn’t matter if the outer hull is green or black at this stage, just pick them up and fill a bucket. Collect way more than you think you need. By the time you have hulled, cracked and picked out the nutmeats, a five gallon bucket will yield about a quart of nuts.

The next step is to let the nuts dry until the hulls are completely black and withered. A great place to do this is in the greenhouse. The easiest way to remove the hulls is spread them in the driveway and run over them repeatedly with a vehicle of some kind. This year the riding mower was pressed into service but a pickup truck or car works nicely too.

Step three is sort the nuts from the hulls. Wear gloves for this step. Walnut hulls can be used as a dye and make everything a nice warm brown color. Although this is a wonderful natural dye for fabric and wool, it is not great for skin unless you like an uneven brown tone on your hands. It will not wash off, so plan for a week or more with your hands in this condition. Again, wear gloves.

After picking up the hulled nuts, let them dry again in the greenhouse for several days. The nuts can keep for a significant period of time at this stage. Mesh bags that ten pounds of oranges come in are a nice ventilated bag to store the nuts while drying. After drying, some people wash them off in a bucket of water to remove the additional pieces of hull or dust that remains. You can also just shake the bag to rattle off some of the remaining dried bits of hull. This makes the cracking process a little cleaner.

Now the most difficult part. Cracking the nuts. Black walnuts are one of the most difficult to crack because of the hard shells. Really hard. It is worth the investment to buy a good lever action nutcracker made especially for black walnuts. This will create enough leverage to actually crack the nut without crushing all of the nut meats. Just such a nutcracker is available from www.lehmans.com for about $40.

Lastly pick out the nuts. Black walnuts do not come out in good halves like pecans or English walnuts but you can get some sizable chunks. The flavor is worth every crumb. The best tool for picking out the small pieces is a dental pick which is readily available at most pharmacies.

The flavor of black walnuts is woodsy and earthy, rich with distinctive flavor. Black walnut ice cream is a delicious treat or try adding some to your favorite fudge recipe.

What other recipes would you recommend for black walnuts?