Beyond the Fence Farm

01/29/2022

01/29/2022

Good morning Porch Peeps

It's been a little while since I posted. Sooooo much has been going on around the farm it's been a little crazy. Suffice it to say we're back!

Our niece Stephanie and husband Alex came to visit at Thanksgiving. They surprised us and redid our guest bathroom and helped us clean a bunch of stuff annnd installed a ceiling fan in the dining room. I might add it was a ceiling fan I'd had my eye on for awhile. The lights look like canning jars. 👏👏I love it!

While they were here Steph hooked up my aero garden. I probably shouldn't admit this but she gave it to me for Christmas the year before. 😬 Well, this is a fun way to garden. It's aquaponics. The picture you see is about two weeks after we started it. I'll have to post a picture of what it looks like now. It's a jungle. The other day I picked basil for a dish I was making for dinner. So yummy! It came with Genovese basil, dill, Thai basil, mint, parsley, and thyme. The thyme for some reason never came up. The dill is taking over the land. 💕 I will plant it in a pot soon. Anyway, if your interested you should try an aero garden. It is fun and you have fresh herbs right on the counter.

It's kidding season again! I love when the babies are born. It reminds me that spring is coming and there are new beginnings happening. The second picture is Madeline. She is a beautiful little doeling. She is full of sass and a funny little girl who gives her momma, Belle, (and us) a run for her money already at 3 days old. She has found all the escape paths from the nursery pen. But, when you pick her up she just snuggles and gives kisses on your cheek and chin.

I haven't done much with my goats for the last couple of years. There have been health issues and other things that have interfered with farm life. However, we're working on getting things back to doable for us. That means there will be milk and cheese in the near future. Lester is patiently waiting for cold fresh goat's milk annnnd some yummy mozzarella cheese.

One of the things I love about where we live is that you can go into the garden in December and find peppers on the plant. That's exactly what Lester did the other day. Our garden is overgrown and in the winter resting period. But, lo and behold there were these nice peppers. I used one of the jalapeños in some salmon patties and it tasted yummy, a little spice and lots of flavor.

A snack of orange slices is one of my favorite things. And, when you can just walk out to the orange tree in the back yard and pick one it's even better. Our little tree has the best oranges this year. They are good sized and juicy and so so sooo sweet. I hope that made your mouth water. Mine is. 😂

The next picture is kid number 2. His name is Oscar. His Momma's name is Sophie. He is a handsome little fella. Lester said, "of course he's a boy. He's so pretty". We were hoping for all girls this year. But, alas, that didn't happen. There's always next year. Oscar is a sweet heart although a cry baby. His daddy is a big cryer, too. So, who knew that was a genetic thing... we will band him. And, he will be for sale in a couple of months when he is weaned. If your interested let me know.

The last two pictures are the new farm dogs. They are border collie and golden retriever. We love them. I will post more recent pictures soon. They have grown so fast. They are super smart. Learned to kennel the first day we had them. They are funny boys. They eat things like radishes. They love our Girly Girl. Today we are beginning leash training. They aren't thrilled. Last night we had a friend come over to visit and play music with Lester. When she pulled up they used their big bark (not the fun puppy bark) and let us know there was an intruder. I was so proud. That's why we got them...they are farm guards. That and we love dogs. 😜

Well Porch Peeps this has been a long post. I won't wait so long to post again. After all, it's kidding season...new beginnings are happening every day. I'd love to hear what kind of new things or even old things you're up to.

Take time to notice the buds that are forming...that means something beautiful is on its way!

Porch out Peeps

10/05/2021

Good morning Porch Peeps. Ugghhhh! This is what it looks like when a jar of lentil soup breaks in the canner. What a mess!!! I've been busy here on the farm canning and getting ready for the cold weather. Here in Central California our winters are very mild. However, when you're used to many days of hundred plus when it gets down to 50 degrees, we're cold. 🙃 My husband thinks we need a fire in the stove when it's 65. He loves a good campfire. We both enjoy hot soup on a cold evening so I can a variety: Bean and bacon, lentil a few different ways, tomato, beef stew, Portuguese soup, and my husbands delicious chili beans. I'm going to try a chicken vegetable and lasagna soup. Some of these soups are what I call a base soup. Milk or noodles will be added at time of eating. Well, Porch Peeps I better get busy. I hope you enjoy this beautiful fall weather.

08/21/2021

We have honey!! We have 50 lbs to sell. We are selling by the pound. By doing it this way we keep the prices even and down.

The reason for this is the jars. As most of you know jars are hard to come by. We want to keep the price reasonable. Here is the price list: 1 pound (pint) $10, 2 pounds (quart) $15, and 5 pounds (almost half gallon) for $30. Same as last time
The gallon size jars are expensive. So instead of one gallon jar you’ll get two 5 pounders.
Let me know I will be delivering starting this Wednesday.

08/21/2021

Update: Hello Peeps! We have a little more honey.

Honey Inventory on 9/16
9- 2 pound jars for $15
5-1 pound jars
We lost a couple of hives so harvest wasn't as big as we thought it would be. I can deliver it tomorrow if you are still interested.

We have honey!! We have 50 lbs to sell. We are selling by the pound. By doing it this way we keep the prices even and down.

The reason for this is the jars. As most of you know jars are hard to come by. We want to keep the price reasonable. Here is the price list: 1 pound (pint) $10, 2 pounds (quart) $15, and 5 pounds (almost half gallon) for $30. Same as last time
The gallon size jars are expensive. So instead of one gallon jar you’ll get two 5 pounders.
Let me know I will be delivering (if you’re in my area contact me about delivery and to order) starting this Wednesday.

07/12/2021

04/22/2021

Hello Porch Peeps

Today’s pictures are of our Sitka. On April 11th she crossed over the Rainbow bridge. I’d like to tell you a little about her.

We have to go back 15 years. Do you hear the fade back music 🎶? Lester and I had gone to visit our daughter Natalie Bock in Alaska. When we came back we were eating lunch and looking at The Thrifty Nickle. I saw an advertisement for wolf hybrid puppies. Alaska made me think of wolves and wild things. So, I say to Lester, “I want to see a wolf puppy. we should go see these. “ So away we went to Corcoran to see puppies.

When we got to the place the guy shows us the puppy he has left. She was so stinkin’ cute. He hands her to me and she felt weird. Bumpy. I pulled her hair apart to see her skin and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Her skin was covered with ticks. And I mean covered! I told Lester to hold her. He didn’t want to. He thought I was trying to sucker him into buying her. She was adorable. I convinced him he should hold her. 😉 he gave me a look of “what the heck”? Checked her skin and saw the same thing I did.

We had not come to buy a puppy. We left. Not too far down the road, we turned around and went back. And yes, we bought that puppy. Lester will tell you he couldn’t leave that adorable puppy there like that. He started picking ticks off her while we paid the man and met the puppy’s father. He was a huge black wolf with gold eyes. He was a little aggressive and a pretty scary, but, quite amazing. Lester kept picking ticks off of her all the way home. He quit counting at 100. I think that’s why they had such a special relationship. She was his dog from day one. We named her Sitka (after the town in Alaska). She was 4 weeks old. The guy lied to us and said wolves mature faster and she was ready to go. Ha! We had to teach her to eat. Wolves don’t mature faster.

She was always protective of us. She didn’t like it when we were in different places. She would run back and forth from each one of her people. And, at night she would go from room to room to check on all of us. Sitka liked most people. However, there were times she would be wary of someone. We trusted her instincts. So, we were watchful and careful of those people.

One time Sitka became very ill. The vet came and looked her. She gave her medicine but it wasn’t helping. The vet had done everything she could for her. We thought she was going to die. On a whim the vet called and said Lester should sleep outside with her because he was her guy. We had tried everything else so he said why not. He took his cot out to the dog run. She laid by him while he just tested his hand on her. The next day she was a little better. Within three days she was well. She was Lester’s dog from day one.

Sitka was different. She had a wild side that never went away. When she would chase a rabbit there was no stopping her. We took her to the mountains and she was in such sensory overload we had to keep her on the leash. She also had a side that was not what I would call a normal wolf behavior. She loved cats. She had her own cats throughout her 15 years with us. He first cat was Cali. Cali was dropped off at our place when she was a kitten. That crazy girl slipped through the fence into the dog run. Scared us half to death. However, Sitka acted like she was hers. They slept together and ate out of the same bowl. Then, Cali got too big to squeeze through the gate into the run. So, they would lie next to each other, one on each side of the fence. Always touching each other through the wire. ❤️ Cali was the first of many.

I could go on and on with story after story. But, I shall end it here. She lived a good long life. When she got to the place where she was no longer living a life of quality (she was blind, deaf and was lost most of the time. The vet said her belly was full of fluid which meant her heart and/or liver had quit working.) we made the hard decision to put her down. We held onto her and talked to her to her very last breath.

All of her life Sitka was a regal, alpha female wolf hybrid. She changed our lives. She will be missed. Lester says, “she was one of a kind and there will never be another one like her. “ He is right.

Good bye our faithful Sitka.

Hug your pets and remember they are a part of your family. 🤗🤗🤗

Porch out peeps.

03/10/2021

Hello Porch Peeps

I’m sitting on the porch soaking up the peace. We have been working hard on getting things back in shape around here. We had a rough couple of years. Let things go. Now, we’re getting back on track. I’m thankful for new days and new beginnings.

The first picture is my view from the porch right now. The babies have been playing hard and are now napping. It’s funny because they were trying to stay awake but their little heads just kept bobbing until they dropped off to sleep. So dang cute! We ended up with 5 babies this year, 2 bucklings and 3 doelings.

Everything is blooming around here. Most of the fruit trees are in full bloom. The peaches, the nectarines, the plums and the almonds are full of blooms. We have been pruning some trees. And, yes, I know now is not the prime time for that but this is when we are able.

The chickens have started laying again. Hip hip hooray! I really don’t care for the taste of store bought eggs. I’m sooooo spoiled. 🙃 We have a plan to get some chicks this year. I want to add more Buff orpingtons to our flock and possibly some Aruacanas or Americana’s. Love those green and blue eggs.

I have been planting cuttings from lots of different plants (thank you Cheri and Jeff). Lavenders and rose of attar geranium from Cheri and oregano, sage, peppermint and some artichokes started from seed from Jeff.

I now have several different lavenders. So excited for them to bloom. Lavender is one of my favorite plants. The smell is amazing. The flowers are beautiful!

Yesterday was our son Jeff’s birthday. To celebrate, we all went to lunch at an amazing little coffee/sandwich shop in Springville. It’s called Wild Oak Coffee House. If you get a chance, go there! We sat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed delicious sandwiches and drinks, talking and laughing. My favorite part was the homemade ice cream. Oh, and if you order a combo, you get ice tea or soda, a bag of chips, and ice cream with your sandwich. I had the honey lavender ice cream. I can’t even describe how amazing it was, a taste sensation.

Planning for this canning season has begun. Canning season has actually taken on a different meaning these days. I am canning year round now. I will still be canning during the picking seasons but I am also canning meats and soups and the like in the “off” season. I canned a chicken “noodle” soup base for Lester (he loves chicken noodle soup. I don’t like all the sodium and stuff they put in it. ). He loved it. I don’t put the noodles in at canning time just the meat and veggies. He adds the noodles when he heats it up. It’s versatile in that you could add rice or noodles of your choice. Also did a bacon and bean soup that was quite delicious. I’m curious about what you might can. Please share some of your favorite things to can. You can even share the recipes if you’d like. 😉

Speaking of recipes, would you be interested in some of mine? Let me know if you are and I’ll work on posting some yummy things.

Well, Peeps it’s getting cold out here on the porch so I’m going to go in and check on dinner. I’m also going to have a cup of delicious hot tea. If you haven’t checked out Plum Delux tea you should. ❤️👍

Peeps enjoy this time. Set aside the past and focus on the present. Enjoy the blossoms. Enjoy lunch with a friend. Give a gift to someone who doesn’t expect one. Plant a seed.

Porch out Peeps

01/18/2021

Good morning Porch Peeps.

I hope that this new year finds you all counting your blessings. Here on the farm we have been doing just that. It has been interesting times that is for sure.

The first picture is just Our oldest cat Izzy Bizzy. She was rescued and bottle fed by some friends and I fell in love with her the first time I saw her. Her real name is Israel but if you’ve followed this page for very long, you know all the critters have two or three names here. So Israel is Izzy, Izzy Bizzy or just plain Izz. She is a beauty. She’s also quite bossy...such a cat...her way or the highway...pet me right now...no petting today, sorry. We love her!

Lester has had quite a battle with his health this last year. He is doing well but has had to figure out how to do some things differently. Gardening is one of them. Because of that, we have been blessed with a young man named Drew who comes and helps us out. He has been cleaning out the garden area. I wish I had before and after pictures to show you. Let me just say that when he first started coming we couldn’t even walk in the garden. Everything was so overgrown. It was terrible and a bit overwhelming. Let me add a little advice here: take baby steps and do a little at a time. That’s what we are doing. Our garden area is looking sooooo good.

The second picture is soon to be the sugar snap pea area. We took recycle, reuse, repurpose to heart here. My brother, Timmy had brought home this rack from work well, years ago now. He thought it would make a good trellis in the garden. Well, he was right. We used pvc pipes that were given to us by Sara Horton when she took apart her aquaponic setup. They are the supports on each end and the middle of our trellis. We also used hay twine to tie the posts and rack for a more sturdy trellis. That’s a few things that will not end up at the dump and we’ll get to eat sugar snap peas! 👏👏👏. Win, win,win.

Next picture: I really do thank God for the love of animals. As I sit here on the couch with my little dog snuggled up next to me and the big old dog laying on the floor near me I smile because of the little sounds they make while they are asleep. I wish you could hear my little dog snore. It really is the cutest sound. 🥰 When the big old dog dreams I just know she is young and running fast again, that, too, makes me smile. When Gordy, our donkey, starts braying out there in the pasture I laugh out loud every time because it sounds like he’s laughing. Animals truly are a blessing.

I will probably be making a sign like the one in the next picture. We have two bee hives on our property. They belong to our neighbors. Talk about a blessing, they are. (The neighbors and the bees) We have been discussing what to plant just for them. We will let the dandelions grow. They are some of the first food for bees in spring. There are two loquat trees here on the farm. They bloom in December and January. It is so cool to walk by and hear the bees buzzing as they pollinate those trees. Free bee food and plenty of it. 👍👏👍

I love the dancing sticks. I got that off Facebook also. My neice Stephanie aka the eclectic ecologist loves things of nature. This made me think of her so I saved it. I hope that you all enjoy it too and that maybe you’ll dance a little today hopefully outside and to your own music.

The violet is a plant I bought off what we call the dead plant table at Lowe’s. It was only $1. It was in pretty bad shape. I brought it home and took off all the injured/dead leaves and put it in the window with some water and I did give it some violet food in its water. After a few weeks of growing healthier it gave me this gift of a beautiful pink flower. I didn’t know what color it would be so I was pleasantly surprised. I’m still waiting for the other one to bloom. I’m hoping for a purple flower on it. I’ll keep you posted.

This next picture is what happens when you accidentally break off a piece of your big cactus and you can’t bring yourself to throw it away. So, what’s to be done except stick it in some dirt in a pot. It took root, grew and is now blooming. Here’s the weird thing. The cactus you see in the background of the picture is the mother of this baby. Notice the colors of the blossoms. They are different! I would have thought they would be the same, but here they are different.

The last picture (also from fb) is just something new I learned and thought I’d share the knowledge with you. Until recently I didn’t realize there were different kinds of “Christmas” cactus.

Well Peeps it’s time to get to work. Today we are building chicken guards for our raised beds in the garden. I’ll show you picture when they’re done. Have to keep those free range chicken out of our food! Don’t worry I’m sure those crazy birds will get a share of the growth. 😋

So, today dance to your own music and be blessed by petting an animal (or two).

Porch out Peeps!

09/11/2020

Good afternoon Porch Peeps

Today is all about thrift shopping. I love thrift shopping and yardsale shopping. Some of my favorite things have been someone else’s “junk”. As I sit here (alas not on the porch due to severe air quality) looking around my front room I see so many treasures that were found at shops and sales. Lester’s comfy recliner Goodwill $35 on half price day. There are too many picture frames to list. A cute little shelf from a yard sale ($2) graces one wall filled with little treasures (including trinkets found at yard sales and thrift shops, like a beautiful red wine goblet and the cutest little hen. ). Ahhhh these things make me smile.

I’m all about Recycle, reuse, repurpose. I love to see what creative things people do with other people’s junk. Lester is one of those people who can turn junk into something quite amazing. An example of his creative bend is one of our covered feeding areas. He built it out of an old above ground pool and some garage door pieces. Who’d of thought?? Talk about repurposing. I bought some jarred mangoes at Costco. I love mangoes but I really just wanted the jar. It will soon host some fermenting veggies. Oh, I also bought a jar of olives for the jar. 😂 The olives were delicious but the jar is soooo cool.

Okay, okay onto the pictures of the day. The first one is three bowls I found at thrift shops. I was actually looking for a lazy Susan, which I have yet to find. If you know anyone who has one they want to get rid of I would love to chat with them. Anywho, back to these bowls. I have been watching lot of YouTube how-to videos lately. Because of those videos I realized I needed some bigger bowls than what I had. I really wanted a big Pyrex bowl and a huge stainless steel bowl. Well, I went into Threads of Love on Kern here in Tulare and lo and behold there was a big glass Pyrex bowl for $5. Score! As I continued looking for a lazy Susan, I spied the other bowl. Yes it is an old olive green patterned Pyrex bowl. It was $3. Super score! Now, my Peeps I was tickled to find those bowls for $8. But, when I went to pay, they were only $4 because all the kitchen stuff was half off that day. Mega, super score!!! I love the old Pyrex bowl. I don’t know if this is how it is supposed to be used or if I’m just being super creative in my thinking 😉 but, I discovered you can use the handles for pour spouts. That’s right, you read it right, pour spouts. Love it. Did you hear the 🎶?

Now, onto the next find, still looking for a lazy Susan, went to Rescued Treasures on Mooney in Visalia. Alas, no lazy Susan but, while cruising the store I find that huge stainless steel bowl. I have to admit I did a little happy dance in the store. It was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t see a price tag so I didn’t know how much it was. Can’t hurt to ask though can it? We continued our hunt for that lazy Susan. And I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spied a big beautiful roasting pan for $10. This brings us to the other pictures.

As you can see my old roaster has seen better days. She actually came from my mother in law. I don’t know how many years my mother in law used her. Lester can’t remember a time his mom didn’t have it soooooo, she could be very, very old. I’ve had her 20+ years. She has held many a delicious meal while they cooked. And, I have to be honest I am sad to retire her. I have decided to make a planter out of her. So she will continue on.

Back to the new roaster. She is awesome! She is larger than the old girl. I have actually been looking for a new one for a few years. However, I didn’t like most of the new ones because they were light. They didn’t seem to have the substance of my old girl (like many things now). When I picked this one up, I knew this was it. Lester peeled the tape back so I could look inside. You never know 🤷‍♀️. It was perfect no chips to be found. Yahoo!

Up to the check out stand we go. Remember the bowl with no price tag?? Well as we are waiting in line I see a sign that says if it’s not priced we won’t sell it no matter what. 😢 Well, I wasn’t giving up that easy. So, I asked if there was someone who could price it for me because “it’s exactly what I need”. 😛 As the checker was getting ready to say no (she was already shaking her head no) Lester says, “Babe there’s a price tag right here “. I totally had missed it. Smh. Well, it was $14. More than I really wanted to pay, however, “it’s exactly what I need“. I wasn’t sure if it really was a good deal so I looked it up when I got home. They have these bowls on amazon for $39.99. So I think I got a good deal. And, it really is “exactly what I need“.

All this to say, I hope that you will take a gander (not the goose type 😉) and check out your local thrift shops and maybe even a yard sale or two. You never know what you will find...a treasure or exactly what you need.

Remember recycle, reuse, and repurpose.

Porch out Peeps

08/29/2020

Good morning Porch Peeps.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!!!

That’s what’s it’s been about this week. My friend Frankie introduced me to this place: Abe-el Produce(Abe-el.com). I bought tomatoes from them because our gardening this year was non-existent due to some health issues. Not to worry we’ll be back. Anyway, they are located in Orosi Peter and his father are very nice and great to deal with. They do wholesale and veggie boxes. I will be ordering more from them next week. Also, if you order from them tell them Tammie Bock recommended them.

The tomatoes were beautiful. Prices were great. The first picture is what I canned. We got 8 quarts of whole stewed tomatoes, 8 pints of yummy salsa (We probably would have had 10 but we ate a bunch of it for lunch and dinner. 😳), and 3 pints of a Rotel mix. It was delicious also. Lester ate some like soup. I also have 9 cups of lovely tomato juice in the fridge. Was going to can it also but I don’t think it’s going to last that long. 😂. We also have just eaten several of the beefsteaks.

I have been walking laps in our pool. While walking I watch/listen to YouTube videos. I have discovered a couple of channels I really have found useful and would like recommend them to you. Mary’s nest has great videos. She does a lot of fermenting, sourdough, and canning. Another one I just discovered is Unemployed redneck hillbilly creations. Even if you’ve been canning a long time you can still learn new tricks.

The last two pictures are the pot of lovely peeled roma tomatoes and a bowl of tomato skins. One of the videos I watched talked about saving the skins and dehydrating them. Wellllll, my new stove has a dehydration setting. Soooooo, I am going to give this a try.

So, here’s the scoop. First you save the peels from your tomatoes. Second, you dehydrate them. Third, when they are totally dry and cool, you pulverize them. And then you have a jar of lovely powdered tomato. This can be added to soups and stews or I think dips and beans would be yummy also. You can just go crazy with it. 😂

Well Porch Peeps it’s time to clean the kitchen the crazy canning lady made a mess. 🤷‍♀️

I hope you get to enjoy something delicious today!

Porch out Peeps