First spring planting

The first sign of spring in our house is the first asparagus coming up.

Unfortunately we can't start eating them this year, they need to have all the energy stored up for next year.  Even so, we are both so thrilled to see this indication that spring is on the way.  (I am preparing to defend the asparagus from Peter, we must give up this year for the next 20). 

This does mean its time to set up the beginnings of our garden.  We tilled up the soil one last time before planting our boxes and the first few rows.

We planted Red Beard Onions, Utah Yellow Jumbo Onions, Walla Walla Onions, Watermelon Radishes, Champion Radishes, French Breakfast Radishes, Blood Turnips, Sugar Snap Peas, and American Flag Leaks. 

We will be able to start pulling vegies out of the garden as early as late April.  (We will also then have to replace each row with something else).

Coming home from work to find . . .

Working late presented a few odd problems.  First when I work late enough all the lights in the office turn off automatically.  Also when I got home Peter had gotten two more chicks.  (Because getting only 14 eggs a week for 2 people we clearly needed more chickens)

We are now officially maxed out on chickens (we cannot get more without asking for a exception to the zoning laws).  We are excited to raise these two from chicks. 

This is Sylvia, she is a Silver Wyandotte.  She will lay on average 4 eggs per week and are generally even tempered birds.  When full grown she will look like this:

This is our Black Sex Linked Chicken, we don't have a name for her yet.  She will lay on average 5 eggs per week and are generally sweet and non-aggressive.  When full grown she will look like this:

We will see how they turn out. 

Planting Asparagus and Grapes

It is time to plant asparagus and concord grapes.  Both of these plants only need to be planted once, early in the year.

Asparagus plants grow naturally in Utah along the Jordan River, however they can also be grown in gardens.  They are one of the few perennial vegetables and will grow for 20-30 years.  When full grown each plant will produce about 1/2 a pound of spears.  They are also one of the first vegetables to come in each year, and are apparently best if eaten the same day they are picked (obviously I don't know about that, I'll let you know in a year).  Unfortunately when you plant crowns you cannot pick any of the spears for a year (and then for a shorter season until the next year) so as to give the plant time to gain enough energy for the next year. 

We received the crowns.  You then need to soak them in water for half an hour.

 
When preparing the soil to plant we added super phosphate (0-45-0) as asparagus uses a large amount of phosphate, and given how long they live this is the last chance to till the soil.  In the end we planted 18 crowns and can't wait for them to come up.

Peter loves eating concord grapes, most people use it for juice.  We planted 12 grapes around our chicken coop. 

 

We hope that these will grow up the fence and provide shade to our chickens as well as providing us with grapes, juice, and (using the pulp from the  juice) fruit leather. 

 

Preparing for Planting

Planting outside will may begin as early as this week.  In order to do this we needed to start preparing the soil and pulling up grass for new plants.  Our garden currently needed to be tilled, and we plan to plant grapes around our chicken coop.  Here are photos of what it looked like prior to our weekend's work.

We are also moving some raspberries to allow them to spread.  Last year we only really had one bush which only produced berries once.  We are moving heritage raspberries which will produce berries all summer.  You can't see from these photos and close ups were too blurry but they are alive and well.

After tilling the garden we allow the chickens to peck up any seeds that the tilling brings to the surface.  (When you till the soil it brings up seeds and allows them to flourish unless you take preventative actions).

  We also pulled the grass and prepared to plant concord grapes around the coop, this will provide shade to the chickens, and also allow the grapes to clime as needed. 

We have also tilled all the soil and are ready to plant the asparagus this week, and additional plants as it warms enough. 

In order for the plants to be ready we need a better and larger grow station.  We have the light, but needed a frame to hold it.  We used wood left over from the chicken coop.

We used this to set up the light.

 



This will help our brussel sprouts, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers to continue growing.

 

We look forward to planting soon.  

Getting ready for spring part II

As Utah continues to warm we have more preparations to tackle.  First we have to prepare the soil.  Generally this involves tilling your compost into the soil, however we are employing the use of our lovely chickens.  By letting them loose in the gardens they pull up the old soil, eat any seeds left in the ground (such as weed seeds) and bugs.  This should lower the bug and weed problems, and mixes the soil as needed.  I will admit its hard to get a photo of this, as Cinnabon always tries to jump wherever you are. 

Here she is visiting us while she is supposed to be working.

This is also the week to start tomatoes and brussel sprouts inside.  We have planted three types of tomatoes: Brandywines, Cherokee Purples and  Blue Tomatoes.  We will be adding yellow cherry tomatoes and roma tomatoes later. 

We are very excited that the peppers and egg plants are starting to come up!

Angel food cake, or a great use of eggs

Now that we have so many eggs we are finding good uses for them, particularly for the whites, so as not to have problems with cholesterol.   Angle food cake is a great way to use some eggs.  It calls for

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cake flour, sifted (you can substitute 1 cup of all purpose flower, less 2 TBS and 2 TBS corn starch)

12 egg whites (the closer to room temperature the better) (you  can keep the yokes for custards or ice cream)

1/3 cup warm water

 Extract of your choice

 

Here are the directions:

In a food processor spin sugar about 2 minutes until it is superfine. Sift half of the sugar with the salt the cake flour, setting the remaining sugar aside.

In a large bowl, whisk to thoroughly combine egg whites, water, and extract. Slowly sift the reserved sugar, beating continuously at medium speed. Once you have achieved medium peaks, sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Medium peeks are shown below.

Using a spatula fold in gently. Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan.

Bake for 35 minutes before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. (When inserted halfway between the inner and outer wall, the skewer should come out dry).
Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan.

This cake is best served with berries of some kind, we used strawberries cut up, smashed and drizzled with honey, similar to how one would prepare strawberry shortcake.