Spring happenings on the farm

Spring has finally arrived in our neighborhood and with it come all of the normal things that have to be done on a farm: cleaning ditches, burning weeds, taking care of chickens, planting garden. Of course, some of those things can end up being difficult, humorous and even disastrous. 

Most of the ditch burning went well this year with no near disasters except for a few days ago when I decided to flame kill the kochia weeds around our mailbox. I started flaming, and soon I realized that the fire was running pretty quickly under the growing grass and was headed towards a power pole. I have had some history with power poles and I sure didn’t want to repeat burning one off so I quickly got the fire under control. I was thankful that I had a sprayer full of water in my pick-up. I was able to use it to get control and keep it. 

Second happening is that I did it again. I ordered way too many onion plants and sets. I had set aside eight tubs for onions, but soon realized that I didn’t have enough tubs prepared. So Rick has been out mixing dirt with some manure to fill two more tubs for the rest of the onions. It also entailed the moving of the fire ring, and the seat logs so that there is a place to put all of the tubs. 

Being the experimenter I like to be, I am trying potatoes in laundry hampers this year. We will see. I am also planting sweet potatoes in tubs. Again, we will see. Sometimes my experiments work and sometimes they don’t. I will report back later. 

This afternoon I heard the chickens making a racket and checked it out by looking out the window. I didn’t see anything at first but a little later I saw a small buck deer walking down the driveway. So I guess I have watchdog chickens. 

So now I face the planting of the rest of the garden, then on to controlling the weeds around here. Up until a couple of years ago, we had livestock that grazed around the house and kept the weeds under control, but now that we don’t have any livestock except the chickens, the weeds can get out of control. Rick has put the string mower on priority to get up and going so I have something to keep the jungle under control. I am kind of looking forward to playing in the jungle this summer. 

White Chicken Chili

2 tablespoons oil

1 medium onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breast cut into small pieces

3 (14½ ounce) cans chicken broth. 

2 (15 ounce) cans northern white beans, drained

8 ounces chopped green chiles

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon dried cilantro

Seasoned salt and pepper to taste 

¼ cup Monterey Jack cheese for garnish.

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add onions, garlic and chicken. Cool until chicken is done. Stir in remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Pour into bowls and garnish with cheese, either shredded of diced into chunks. For more heat and kick, add jalapenos or Serrano peppers.