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I'm so excited to see your collection of Robert Lobitz's beans expand! I live about 25 miles away from where all of these beans were developed.

We just butchered a young cow who broke her leg, and our freezer was already full. So we were able to share with family. I'm a little jealous that you will likely be filling those veggie jars soon. I'm just hoping to get into my garden soon! It was still in the 20s at night this week here.

Good plan!

@seedcorn Yes, I'm growing the Oregon Homestead line of Sweet Meat as well. It is an heirloom variety of C. maxima. I got my seed from Restoration Seeds. I plan to try to save seed from it this year. I grow multiple varieties of C. maxima, so I will have to do some purposeful hand...

haha Yes we don't want you left pouting! I bet that this year has to be better than last year. At least I'm sure hoping that's the case for me, because last year was one big mud puddle of a garden. I do try to grow a variety of squash for that reason, but I'm spoiled and have the space...

I typically use squash for anything that calls for pumpkin in a recipe. Do you know any pumpkins that are worth growing for their flavor (better than a good squash)?

I have two sweet meat squashes from last year still sitting downstairs in a cool little room tucked under the basement stairs (not a proper root cellar, but not directly heated). They look perfect. I ate another one about 2-3 weeks ago and it was perfect inside and tasted great. I harvested...

And another concern is if raw milk will just be another trend. Small farmers can't quit their co-ops and change their business model on a whim, its too risky.

Dairy farmers are usually the biggest proponents of drinking raw milk. But most small dairies that I know would never consider selling it simply due to the risk of getting sued if someone got sick from their milk. And sickness can and does happen with raw ingredients, it is part of the nature...

True, but I can take care of a flock of chickens in 10 minutes a day (not every day, but on the days that you just need to check/feed/water). And I've been away from my birds for several days at a time easily since I have fantastic neighbors/friends who can be bought off by the promise of...

Sounds like fun memories! It is always busy, thats for sure! So many of the small dairies are closing up, it is difficult to be competitive with the big guys unless you can do all of the work yourself. Plus not everyone wants to be tied to their farm basically all day every day of the year.

I've also had trouble getting all of the air out of the main body cavity.

Haha! I married into the dairy, but I love all my pretty black and white ladies in the barn! But really, if worse comes to worse, everyone would be at my door trying to get milk or meat. And then they'd see my garden...

Do you notice that the chicken gets freezer-burned/dries out sooner when you skin them? I personally prefer to keep the skin on, but sometimes when parting them out the skin has a mind of its own. And good idea to freeze before vacuum sealing, I think I'll try that this summer!

I always plant my cucumbers outside and I'm in zone 4. So if your starts fail, you should still be fine.

Not good at all! I think we had opposite weather issues last year. Didn't you guys have a drought down there? I had the wettest year on record here, and would have been happy to send some rain and clouds your way. I'm really hoping this year is back to normal. We didn't get enough sunlight...

Me too. If it does freeze off the tops, then it'll set everything behind, and I was looking forward to a longer warm season after last year's dismal growing season.

Those are special...so pretty!

My garlic and rhubarb are coming up nicely and the perennial herbs are starting to green up a little. I hope they don't take a step back after the ice storm last night. Everything is still coated in ice as it didn't get above freezing and was cloudy all day. 24 degrees out now.

Looks like a good variety! Tigerella and Japanese Black Trifele are pretty opposite in taste. Tigerella is on the tart end, and black trifele seemed to be lacking tartness to me. But last summer when I grew it was so wet that the flavor could have been diluted. It would be interesting to see...