At the beginning of February, I had ordered four "Red Star" and four "Black Star" hens from Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa but, when the shipment arrived, four "Pearl White Leghorns" were in the box instead of the Black Stars. Upon contacting the company, they offered to send me the Black Stars at no additional…

Four days ago, I started planting my early season crops of peas, spinach, beets, radishes, carrots, Swiss chard, and leaf lettuce. I set out to grow a veggie rainbow, so my seed choices consist of organic heirloom varieties not found in the normal grocery store produce aisle. My "Easter Egg Blend" Radishes are purple, pink,…

The former category titled "gardening, chickens, and birds" has a new addition… BEES! Dick and I picked them up this morning at Mann Lake Ltd. in Hackensack, Minnesota. It is too chilly today to set them free in their boxes, so they will hunker down in our basement in this screened box until Monday. The…

After the harsh winter, our eight bluebird houses were in dire need of attention before the arrival of their house guests. Dick removed them from their pole mounts and replaced the board roof on four of them. Next it was my job to scrape and sand peeling paint, apply primer, then a final coat of…

I started the morning by hanging out my first load of laundry this spring season. There are still patches of snow but, with temps in the 50s today, it is melting rapidly. The green grass is a welcome contrast to the landscape’s shades of winter grey. The table at the corner of the inn’s screened…

April 26th and the snow continues to fall… It has halted my garden preplanting preparation, but it is so very pretty! This is only a brief backslide into winter.

I had planned to share a photo of five trellises that Dick and I constructed and set up in our gardens today despite the drizzly chilly day, however my fingers got too cold to tie the strings onto each framework to complete the project. Instead, I moved on to the next project which was removing…

It is my pleasure to introduce you to my eight laying hens. Most days Olga, Pearl, and Flossie are hard at work. Flossie is always sitting on her nest. She takes her job very seriously. A signature breakfast entree, "Flossie’s Eggs on the Rails", is named after her. The recipe was chosen from state-wide entries…

I bought these four varieties of heirloom dry (soup) beans from a neighbor who has a small-scale fruit/vegetable farm business. The yellow eye, soldier, Vermont cranberry, and Jacob’s cattle beans date back to the 1700s and 1800s. I made soup out of some of them with plenty left over for planting in my garden this…

Each year on Mother’s Day weekend in May, Friends School of St. Paul has the biggest fundraising plant sale in Minnesota, perhaps even in the Midwest! Over 1,900 varieties of plants are offered for sale on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I happily discover heirloom hard-to-find plant varieties to supplement the plants that I start on…