Five Feline Farm Archives - Page 63 of 64

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.

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.

Persimmon Seeds and Wooly Worms

Somewhere in history someone came up with the idea that the color of wooly worms in the fall indicates the type of winter that will follow. The darker the coat the colder the winter. A striped coat means a varied winter. Lighter colors mean snow.

And who started this tradition of cutting persimmon seeds to see what the feature is inside? These little seeds are slippery and thin. Cutting them lengthwise requires a sharp knife, a steady hand and a willingness to risk cutting the pad off your finger to see what type of winter weather is forecast. Persimmon seeds when cut in half, show a fork, knife or spoon in the center. A knife indicates a bitter cutting cold winter. The spoon is deep snow and the fork predicts a light snow.

On Five Feline Farm we take note of signs of the seasons including the folk tale predictions.
So between the wooly worms and the persimmon seeds we are looking at a snowy winter.

Do you think the persimmon matches the wooly worm? Drop us a note in the comment section about your folk tale predictions.

Making Herb Butter

Five Feline Farm produces not only vegetables and fruit but an array of herbs to complement any dish. Unfortunately, the growing season is coming to a close in Central Illinois, so it is time to pick some herbs to be held over for winter use.

Herbs can be dried and stored in glass jars or chopped and frozen in ice cube trays. Both of these methods provide a warmth of flavor to winter meals enhanced by knowing there are no fertilizers or pesticides. The down side to dried herbs is a bit of a change in the flavor. Fresh flavor is diminished and although superior to herbs bought in plastic shaker, it is still a dried herb.

Herbs frozen in ice cube trays offer an advantage of holding onto some of the fresh flavor, but the cubes tend to frost over and stick together in time. Plus the added bit of water can be undesirable.

Both of these methods have a place, but recently I started making herb butters to preserve and utilize fresh herbs. Wrapped in waxed paper and sealed in freezer bags these have kept for several weeks. Since butter freezes well, it seems that herb butters should also freeze well.

To start, wash and air dry the herbs. Select a handful of herbs to snip into tiny pieces. Judge both the size of the pieces and the amount of herb by what you would want to find in your finished dish.

Mix the herb thoroughly in one stick of softened butter.

Spread the butter into a rough log about 2 inches from the edge of the waxed paper.

Fold the waxed paper over the log and lightly squeeze into a log.

Roll up the log in the paper and twist the ends.

Label and store in a freezer bag.

To use, unwrap and slice off the amount desired.

The freezer now contains butters with chives, basil, oregano, thyme, curry and rosemary. The options for using these butters is only limited by the cook’s imagination. A slice of chive butter on a baked potato or a bit of basil butter melting over sautéed chicken breast will warm the winter months with a reminder of summer.

What would you put herb butter on? Drop us a comment with your ideas.