Our 2010 herd sire Mystic Hollow Geronimo

We are pleased to introduce our 2010 herd sire,  Mystic Hollow Geronimo, a registered Nigerian Dwarf buck. He was added to our herd last fall as the primary buck for our dairy does. He successfully bred our four miniature dairy does as well as our Oberhasli doe producing a first generation miniature Oberhasli with that breeding. We just received word that his sire Copper Penny MTB Money To Burn "Burnie" just received 2010 Best in Show at the Mega Buck Show. Good bloodlines through and through.

'Mo' has to be the friendliest buck I've encountered. He's easy to handle, has a great disposition, and a cutie besides. We have five sets of his kids on the ground and are pleased with everyone...7 doelings and 2 bucklings. Not a bad ratio at all either.

Asparagus

This week has been marked by our first asparagus harvest.  Probably due to the fact that I took a little time in early February to cut down the old fronds, pull some major weeds, and drag a little compost over the bed, the asparagus is looking marvelous.

It looked so marvelous in fact that my neighbor who happened to be outside stopped me and asked if that was really asparagus. I walked over to the fence to show him and asked him if he wanted a taste. He asked if it could really be eaten raw, at which point I couldn't actually remember eating it raw myself, but replied, "Sure," and popped some in my mouth as well.  It was so sweet and tender, I began to wonder why I even cook it at all.


Needless to say, I now only lightly steam my garden asparagus. Last night's was served with a little squirt of Bistro Sauce from Cash and Carry which has just enough horseradish in it to make it interesting.  Oh, so good.

 They say you can harvest an established bed for up to eight weeks.  I can only hope I've kept the bed even somewhat vigorous for a harvest even half that long.  Checking OrganicGardening.com for their asparagus gardening tips it would seem I'm on the right track...removing dead fronds before the growing season, keeping the bed as weed free as possible, and mulching in early spring.  As I didn't get any fertilizer put down this spring other than the composted manure, I will be sure to add some after the main harvest is over in order to strengthen the plants for next year.

Any way to coax more asparagus out of the ground each spring will be high on my priority list from now on.

Pruning Butterfly Bushes

I tackled a fairly easy job yesterday, but one that some years I don't get around to...pruning back my six butterfly bushes. Last year was one of those never-got-around-to-it years, and those bushes had grown to about 10' tall I'd say. Now, they are back to their more respectable 2' stumps.

The first year I followed the pruning directions for butterfly bushes and pruned them back to their first sign of growth, no matter how low on the branch, I was sure I was going to kill them. There was no way that ugly stump could grow enough in time to produce the bountiful elongated blooms that the books promised. I was wrong. They had no trouble at all. And the biggest benefit of all was that their rapid flush of growth produced more branches at eye level on which the blooms are produced. Last year the blooms were sparse and were mainly located only at the tippy top.



This year I needed to use loppers on them as the branches have become too thick for simple pruning shears, and the stack of branches removed will make the beginnings of a great burn pile after the goats have had their initial fill of leaves.

Pruning seems to be one of those tasks I tend to neglect and then pay the price later in the season. So therefore a goal for this year is to keep up with the pruning jobs that need done. Today's job...getting those branches hauled away to clear the view. I want to be able to watch those bushes grow!

Beretta and Ruger - Our Mini Aussie Pups

Well the puppies are here. Head over to the link at SixInTheNorthwest.blogspot.com for the full story.

Mini Australian Shepherd Puppies

Our two miniature Australian Shepherd puppies are coming this weekend. Follow this link to SixInTheNorthwest.blogspot.com to see how we plan to follow Cesar Millan's pack-leader training. It should be fun.