Communal Cats

My dad once exclaimed "What kind of farm do you have? Is this the funny farm"? The name has stuck. Our cats fit really well in the Funny Farm. We use to have a cat that would steal other cats kittens. We would look down our driveway and there she would be a kitten swinging from her mouth. This cat also once nursed a bunny and she thought it was one of her kittens.

We also had two cats share kittens. These cats were best friends so they would lie together with each of their four kittens. It was a really strange sight.

Recently two of our cats each had a litter of kittens. One of the cats kittens died so she decided she was going to kittennap from the other mom. She would sneak in to where the kittens were playing, lie down, and start purring. The kittens would run up to her and she would lick them all and start walking away. She would call the kittens to follow her. I kept taking the kittens away from her so she finally decided she would just join the other mom. So the kittens have two moms raising them.

The two moms: Princess (white one), FleckHead, and the three kittens.

Lorissa

The Second Market of the Season June 22

The weather for Saturday doesn't look to promising: Periods of rain and a high of 21.  As a gardener and having groups coming down to the The Scarecrow Forest I tend to watch the forecast like a hawk and one thing I've noticed is that the forecast always changes.  It might be sunny on Saturday, you never know.  Penner Pumpkins tent bite the dust last market so if I can find another tent or have the old one fixed than Penner Pumpkins will be at the market.

I will be selling:

• Rhubarb
• Lettuce
• A couple of pounds of green tomatoes.  The tomatoes are starting to ripen, but the first few always get put to use as Toasted Tomato sandwiches at the Penner house.
• A few zucchini
• Jelly (orange mint, pineapple mint, apple mint, apple cinnamon, jalapeno, hot cherry bomb, a mint of everything, and mint).
• Sweet Zucchini Relish
• Sweet Cucumber Relish
• Handmade cards
• Play dough
• Potted herbs (Sweet Basil, Lemon Basil, Lime Basil, 8 varieties of mint, Cinnamon Basil, Lemon Thyme, etc.).  Check out this blog post for more varieties.
• Potted Tomato Plants (Cherry, Big Beef, Applause, and Early Girl).
• Potted Pepper Plants (Ace, Yellow, Red, and Purple).

Hope to see you Saturday!

Lorissa working in the garden.  This is our small 0.3 acre garden.  We have another two gardens for a total of about 5.3 acres.

This was used in the Steinbach Parade a few years ago.

Lorissa Penner

Minty mint

My favorite herb is mint and I grow 9 varieties of mint and am always looking for new varieties.  There are over 600 hundred varieties of mint.  I love making tea with mint using a tea infuser and my favorite combo is chocolate mint and orange mint, delicious.  If you like a sweeter tea trying adding a fresh Stevia leaf.
I also love making jelly with mint and experimenting with different flavors.  Mint can be used in so many different ways and that is why I love this herb.  Mint is invasive and hence should be grown in pots so you won't have a garden of mint.  Instead of secretly leaving zucchini on your neighbor's doorstep, you will be leaving mint leaves.  My mint plants are $3.25 a pot and my jellies are $3.50/125 ml and $6.50/250 ml.

The varieties of mint I grow are:

Apple Mint – Tall sturdy stems with large, fuzzy, grey-green leaves that smell slightly of apple and has white flowers in summer.

Chocolate Mint – This herb has a dark, green foliage. It tolerates hot, dry conditions and is not as invasive as most mints. A nice desert mint! 

Ginger Mint – Is an ornamental and aromatic mint, with lightly variegated leaves and a delicate hint of ginger. Performs best with protection from hot, afternoon sun.

Peppermint – The most famous of all mints, it requires little care and makes excellent teas and candy. This spreading plant has a sharp, penetrating yet pleasant, mint aroma. It grows 1 to 2 feet high,

Pineapple Mint – Is a very pretty mint and has variegated foliage and a light pineapple scent. Pineapple mint can be used with lamb, fruit salads, and teas. Works well in mixed pots with other herbs.

Spearmint – One of the most intensely fresh mints, milder than peppermint, it is used in sauces, jellies, salads, dips, and teas. This is considered one of the most popular and versatile garden Mint. Spearmint has a fruity aroma and flavor and blends well in many foods.

Orange Mint-  Has a citrusy aroma and flavor, and is slightly spicier than other mints. It makes a wonderful addition to iced tea, fruit desserts, and potpourris. 

English Mint- Has a mild mint taste.  Is really good with meat dishes. 

Mint Mojito

Lorissa

Pineridge Hollow Farmers' Market June 15

Penner Pumpkins will be at the market on Sat.  Our vegetables aren't quite ready yet, but the Penner's are a crafty bunch so we will have for sale:

• Jellies (Orange Mint, Apple Mint, Pineapple Mint, Jalapeno Jelly, Cherry Bomb Jelly (HOT), Apple Cinnamon Jelly, and A Mint of Everything (apple, orange, and pineapple mint).
• Sweet Cucumber Relish
• Sweet Zucchini Relish
• Play dough
• Handmade cards
• Rhubarb
• Tomato plants  (have tomatoes on them)
• Pepper plants (have peppers on them)
• Herbs
• Sweet Basil, Cinnamon Basil, Thyme, a variety of mints, Orange Thyme, Thai Basil, Spicy Globe Basil, Rosemary, and many more kinds

For the most part our garden is doing really well.  It was a really cold spring so that set us back quite a bit.  Our zucchini have one inch zucchini's on them. Our greenhouse tomatoes are loaded with green tomatoes.  The potatoes and peppers are about to bloom and some are blooming all ready. The cabbage and head lettuce is forming heads.

The greenhouse tomatoes. We grow them in soil and when it gets warm we lift the plastic on the sides of greenhouse up.  These tomatoes taste like they were grown in the garden.  They are delicious.

Greenhouse cucumbers.  They are starting to vine and I think by the end of the month there will be cucumbers.  Our garden cucumbers are not in the garden yet.  Hopefully June 12 we will get them in.

We grow tomatoes in the greenhouse because we can get them in earlier and get tomatoes sooner.  Our greenhouse tomatoes always do better than the garden tomatoes.

 Lorissa

Silkie Chicken Confusion

Silkies are an interesting bird. They are really good mothers and they go broody (wanting to sit on eggs and hatch them) really easily.  In April we had two broody hens and now we are up to three.

We had two nests in the box and we noticed two hens were sitting on the same nest (each sat on half of the eggs) so we started collecting eggs and made the other one a nest.  When we feed them they come off of their nest and than go right back on.  That is if they can find the right nest.  We had a hen who would sit on the three different pile of eggs til she found one she liked.  Another favorite thing the hens like doing is stealing eggs.  Some days there are two piles of eggs and others days there are three piles of eggs.  Also sometimes there are three hens in the box and other times there are six hens in the box.

One day we had a group come down and they were so excited because they were finding eggs all over the place in the petting farm.  Our Silkies plop out the eggs were ever they feel like. That day one of our cats gave birth to kittens or as one little girl said "the cat laid some kittens" in the chicken area of the petting farm.  When I went to go look at the kittens I saw an egg under the cat.  The next day the cat was taking a walk so I went to go make sure her kittens were okay and a hen was sitting on the kittens.

The clutch of eggs from April didn't hatch so we have put fresh eggs underneath all three broody hens.  Our hens have never had issues before hatching eggs so we are wondering if maybe our very cold spring had something to do with it.  Two hens have been sitting on eggs since April, but the birds look healthy so we are allowing them to try to hatch batch number two.  It takes eggs 21 days to hatch so I'm hoping we will have chicks June 21st. 

Lorissa