Why did the grape stop in the middle of the road?

........Because he ran out of juice...... ah mom jokes.

I am on a mission to try out as many grapes as possible on our property. I have a dream of building a gorgeous gazebo that acts like a grape arbour out by our pond. I imagine having brunch out there with a wonderful glass of wine, surrounded by grape vines - just like a winery. My little home away from home.

In order to get there, I need to figure out which grape vines grow the best on our property. Being in this Zone 3b coulee in Alberta, we have pockets of very cold air. I figure that if I can get some vines established, then when I take cuttings and continually propagate them over the next decade, I should find that magic grape that we love to eat && grows well.

As I have only recently planted 6 grape vines, I don't have much experience with them yet. We have the first 6 planted on the south side in a protected area against our lean to. The new ones that I am bringing in for 2019 will be planted on the west side of the lean to, snug against the raised beds (which should provide a bit of a wind break to their roots).

Planted in 2018:

Valiant Grape

Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 2b
Height: 10 feet
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Royal Blue
Harvest: Late Summer to Early Fall
Usage: Fresh Eating, Preserves, Juice-Making
Notes: Grows fast, should live for 20 years.
Read more about it here: Millcreek Nursery 

Paul's Grape

Amount: 1 Plant
Zone: 3
Height: unknown
Spread: unknown
Colour: unknown
Harvest: unknown
Usage: unknown
Notes: Purchased this from Saskatoon Berry Farm, it is named after the owner of the farm.

Marquette Grape

Amount: 3 Plants
Zone: 3b
Height: 10 feet
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Deep Purple
Harvest: Mid Fall
Usage: Preserves, Juice-Making, Wine-Making
Notes: Grows fast, should live for 20 years, self-pollinating.
Read more about it here: Millcreek Nursery 

Planting in 2019:

Frontenac Grape

Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 3a to 4a (depending on plant reference site)
Height: 8 feet
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Navy Blue
Harvest: Mid Fall
Usage: Juice-Making, Wine-Making
Notes: Grows fast, should live for 20 years, self-pollinating.
Read more about it here: Millcreek Nursery 

Magenta Grape

Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 4 (3 with good snow cover)
Height: unknown
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Red Seedless
Harvest: Mid Season
Usage: Fresh Eating
Notes: Self-pollinating.
Read more about it here: Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery 

Brianna Grape

Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 4 (3 with good snow cover)
Height: as high as its supports
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Green
Harvest: Mid September
Usage: Fresh Eating, Wine-Making
Notes: Grows at medium rate, Self-fertile but better with pollinator.
Read more about it here: Double A Vineyards 

Prairie Star Grape

Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 3 (2 with good snow cover)
Height: as high as its supports
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Green
Harvest: Late September
Usage: Fresh Eating, Juice-Making
Notes: Self-pollinating.
Read more about it here: Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery 

Kay Gray Grape

Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 3 (2 with good snow cover)
Height: as high as its supports
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Green (almost golden)
Harvest: Late August to Early September
Usage: Fresh Eating
Notes: Impressive disease resistance and cold-hardiness, self-pollinating.
Read more about it here: Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery 

Somerset Grape

Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 3
Height: as high as its supports
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Red seedless
Harvest: Late August to Mid September
Usage: Fresh Eating, Juice-Making
Notes: Better than store grapes, self-pollinating.
Read more about it here: Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery 

Wishlist (Will obtain as soon as I can find them):

Hogan Grape

Desired Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 3
Height: unknown
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Blue
Harvest: Late August to Early September
Usage: Fresh Eating, Juice-Making
Notes: Extremely productive and very tasty
Read more about it here: Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery 

Beta Grape

Desired Amount: 2 Plants

Zone: 3

Height: 9 feet

Spread: 3 feet

Colour: Deep Purple

Harvest: Early Fall

Usage: Preserving, Juice-Making

Notes: Don't use for wine. Like a concord.

Read more about it here: Calgary Plants

Bluebell Grape

Desired Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 3
Height: unknown
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Blue / Black
Harvest: Early Season
Usage: Preserving, Juice-Making, Fresh Eating
Notes: Disease resistant.
Read more about it here: Double A Vineyard

Edelweiss Grape

Desired Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 4
Height: unknown
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Green
Harvest: Early Season
Usage: Fresh Eating, Wine-Making, Juice-Making, Preserving
Notes: Fast growing.
Read more about it here: Double A Vineyard

King of the North Grape

Desired Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 3
Height: unknown
Spread: 8 feet
Colour: Blue / Black
Harvest: Mid Season
Usage: Juice-Making, Fresh Eating, Preserving
Notes: Very fast growing.
Read more about it here: Double A Vineyard

Minnesota 78 Grape

Desired Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 3
Height: 20 feet
Spread: 3 feet
Colour: Red
Harvest: Mid September
Usage: Juice-Making, Wine-Making
Notes: Significant fruiting starts at 4 years.
Read more about it here: Sage Garden Greenhouses

Swenson Red Grape

Desired Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 4
Height: 6 feet
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Red
Harvest: Early September
Usage: Fresh Eating, Wine-Making
Notes: 3 years to fruit.
Read more about it here: Jung Seed

Worden Grape

Desired Amount: 2 Plants
Zone: 4
Height: unknown
Spread: 6 feet
Colour: Blue / Black
Harvest: Early Season
Usage: Preserving, Juice-Making, Fresh Eating, Wine-Making
Notes: Good disease resistance.
Read more about it here: Double A Vineyard

Resources:

Growing Grapes via MGGA
Grapes Zone 4 and Colder

2018 - The Year of the Rooster

2018 may have been technically the year of the Dog, but on this homestead and neighbouring ones, it really seemed to be the year of the rooster.

We hatched out 5 of our own chicks, bought 7 Swedish Flowers and 12 Easter Egger day olds. In the end, we lost one chick, 14 ended up being roosters, leaving 9 as hens. Other farms in the area were seeing a 2 to 1 ratio of roosters to hens, crazy year for roosters it seems.

What to do with all these roosters? Usually we only have 1 or 2, as we do small hatches, so I usually give those guys away to local farms that are looking to add a boy to their coop. This year I decided that we would put them in our freezer, as a) practice for our meat birds this summer and b) because they should make great soup.

This is how the process worked out in my head/on our homestead:

Step 1, We purchased a plucker from Amazon, and it arrived right before Christmas. The YardBird Plucker has wonderful reviews and is quite well built. It was super quick to assemble and very well packaged. Have you seen the video of them testing their package - they definitely pack them well: https://www.facebook.com/yardbirdchicken/videos/225486131159766/.

Step 2, Wait for the cold weather to dissipate. This took a couple of weeks. During that time we lost our oldest girl, Ticklish, as she was trampled by the roosters trying to mate with her one day. Poor girl, she was our favourite one. Once she was gone, they soon redirected their attention to another smaller hen. Can't wait for that warm weather to come to rectify this situation.

Step 3, Celebrate that the warm weather returned (above 0c), so that we could run the water outside for the plucker, etc. Our first weekend we took out 5 of the meanest roosters, calm started to return to the coop. This whole process took a few hours, getting used to the processing method and getting quicker each time. The plucker worked like a dream, followed everything to the T (look at that beauty below). It was so satisfying putting those first 5 roosters in the freezer after letting them chill in the fridge for 2 days.

Step 4, As the warm day quickly was replaced with below 0c temperatures again, we had to wait another 7 days. This time we did 10 roosters (9 of the remaining "newbs" and 1 of our older boys). Our day was so chopped up with running errands, running out of propane for the scalder, making lunch, making supper, etc that it took longer than expected to start the processing portion and the bodies became very stiff. Stiff bodies vs. scalding and a plucker do not mix. I highly suggest you strictly set aside the time to do everything from start to finish with minimal interruptions. This took a total of 6 hrs 45 mins when adding together all the different tasks that took much longer than they normally would -- ie: too hot of scalding water which ruined the skin for plucking, the ones that were scalded properly didn't lose half of the feathers due to the rigidness of their bodies, etc. Stick to the rules when doing chickens, make sure you get those critters into the scalder immediately after butcher time, that way they will be nice and limp for the plucker.

Step 5, Sit back and enjoy that there are 10 more roosters in the fridge, chilling... waiting to nourish the family. Off to the freezer for 9 of them 2 days later. The 10th went right into the Instant Pot, which I will write up a post on later -- all I can say is yum, as I slurp up the rest of the soup while typing out this post.

Step 6, Rethink the plans for meat birds this spring -- a) don't need as many as originally planned due to the Roosters making it in the freezer and b) plan an appropriate amount of processing days and take into account not to do too many each day.

Oh, For the Love of Seeds....

I will be the first to admit it, I have a problem... my problem is that I don't have enough seeds. Or is it that my problem is that I have TOO MANY seeds. Is that even possible??? Well, our latest order came in. We got our parcel receipt in the mail, I asked the munchkins if they would be up for going to the post office to pick up our seeds and they quickly agreed. They clung on to that box all the way home, arguing about who got to hold it. Once home, they both eagerly gathered around the box, waiting for it to be opened.

Ah, the opening. So many glorious possibilities in such a small box. In total, we have 52 packages of seeds that arrived. That is nuts, eh? Well my kids thought so too as they sorted through them. I then reminded them that this was just our new seeds, that didn't even include our old seeds from the past years. This new buy was mainly concentrated on beans and flowers for our new bees that we are getting later this year. So what plants are we attempting this year? Not on this list will be my last minute purchases at the big box store, like Sweet Peas.


Beans:

1. Beurre De Rocquencourt
2. Black Turtle
3. Blauhilde
4. Calima
5. Cantare
6. Chinese Green Noodle
7. Contender
8. Golden Wax
9. Henderson's Black Valentine
10. Meraviglia Di Venezia
11. Old Homestead
12. Purple Teepee
13. Red Swan Bush
14. Roma II
15. Soybean - Chiba Green
16. Sunset - Runner Bean
17. Tendergreen Improved

Beets:

1. Bull's Blood
2. Chioggia
3. Cylindra
4. Detroit Dark Red
5. Early Wonder
6. Golden
7. Ruby Queen

Brassica:

1. Broccoli - De Ciccio
2. Broccoli - Rapini
3. Broccoli - Romanesco
4. Brussel Sprouts - Catskill
5. Cabbage - Brunswick
6. Cabbage - Cour Di Bue
7. Cabbage - Mammoth Red Rock
8. Cauliflower - Early Snowball
9. Cauliflower - Erfurter
10. Chinese Cabbage - Hitton
11. Chinese Cabbage - Pai Tsai
12. Kale - Blue Curled Scotch
13. Kale - Dwarf Siberian
14. Kale - Ornamental Fringed
15. Kale - Russian Red/Ragged Jack
16. Kale - Scarlet
17. Kale - Toscano
18. Kohlrabi - Delicacy White
19. Kohlrabi - Early Purple Vienna

Carrots:

1. Amarillo
2. Black Nebula
3. Cosmic Purple
4. Little Finger
5. Nantes Scarlet
6. Purple Dragon

Celery:

1. Chinese Pink
2. Chinese White
3. Paris Golden Self Blanching
4. Tendercrisp

Corn: 

1. Art Verell's White
2. Atomic Orange
3. Painted Mountain
4. Papa's Red
5. Simonet

Cucumbers:

1. Beit Alpha
2. Improved Long Green
3. Lemon
4. Lyaluk
5. Marketmore 76
6. Mexican Sour Gherkin
7. Miniature White
8. Modern Early
9. Monika
10. National Pickling
11. Richmond Green Apple
12. Tendergreen Burpless

Flowers for the Bees:

1. Agastache - Arcado Pink
2. Agastache - Rose Mint
3. Agastache - Texas Hummingbird Mint 'Heather Queen'
4. Ageratum - Mix
5. Aster - China Gusford Supreme
6. Aster - Giant Perfection Mix
7. Bachelor's Button - Black Boy
8. Bachelor's Button - Blue Boy
9. Bachelor's Button - Classic Artistic Mix
10. Bee Balm - Lemon
11. Bee Balm - Red Colors
12. Bee Friendly Wildflower Mix
13. Buckwheat - Takane Ruby
14. Butterfly Milkweed
15. Calendula - Pacific Beauty Mix
16. Cosmos - Bright Lights
17. Cosmos - Candy Stripe
18. Cosmos - Sensation Mix
19. Echinacea - Purpurea
20. Hollyhock - Dwarf Mix
21. Hollyhock - Nigra
22. Hollyhock - Zebrina
23. Hyssop - Anise 
24. Hyssop - Blue
25. Hyssop - Korean
26. Hyssop - Korean Golden Jubilee
27. Lupine - Russell Mix
28. Marigold - French Marigold Sweet Mace
29. Marigold - Giant Bicolor
30. Marigold - Sierra Formula Mix
31. Marigold - Red Cherry
32. Monarda - Bergamo
33. Monarda - Spielarten Mix
34. Mint - Marvelous Mix
35. Nasturtium - Alaska Red Shades
36. Nasturtium - Dwarf Jewel Mix
37. Nasturtium - Empress of India
38. Phlox - Twinkles Dwarf Mix
39. Poppy - American Legion
40. Poppy - Blue Breadseed
41. Poppy - Flemish Antique
42. Poppy - Red Peony
43. Sage - Blue Monday
44. Salvia - Queen Mix
45. Salvia - Sirius Blue Sage
46. Schizanthus - Angel Wings Mix
47. Snapdragon - Mix
48. Snapdragon - Tax Deluxe
49. Sunflower - Autumn Beauty
50. Sunflower - Paquito
51. Sunflower - Russian Black Seeded
52. Sunflower - Short Stuff
53. Sunflower - Teddy Bear
54. Zinnia - McKenzie's Best Dwarf Mix
55. Zinnia - Giants of California

Flowers - Other:

1. Bells of Ireland
2. Celosia - Pampus Plume Mix
3. Cockscomb - Dwarf Coral Garden Mix
4. Coleus - Rainbow Floral Strain Mix
5. Pansy - Swiss Giant
6. Pansy - Winter Flowering Hiemalis Mixed
7. Petunia - Balcony Mix
8. Strawflower - Tom Thumb Mixed

Fruits and Nuts:

1. Asparagus - Mary Washington
2. Fruit Cocona
3. Ground Cherry - Aunt Molly
4. Peanut - Tennessee Red
5. Strawberry - Alexandria
6. Strawberry - White Soul

Greens:

1. Amaranth - Chinese Multicolor Spinach
2. Amaranth - Mix
3. Corn Salad or Mache - Verte A Coeur Plein 2
4. Greens - Arugula
5. Greens - Pepper Cress
6. Greens - Red Orach 
7. Lettuce - Bronze Beauty
8. Lettuce - Buttercrunch
9. Lettuce - Devil's Ear
10. Lettuce - Grand Rapids
11. Lettuce - Tom Thumb
12. Oriental Greens - Extra Dwarf Pak Choy
13. Oriental Greens - Purple Lady Bok Choy
14. Oriental Greens - Shanghai Green Choy
15. Oriental Greens - Suzhou Baby Bok Choy
16. Spinach - Bloomsdale
17. Spinach - Monstrueux De Viroflay
18. Spinach - Strawberry Spinach
19. Swiss Chard - Bionda di Lyon
20. Swiss Chard - Lucullus
21. Swiss Chard - Rainbow

Herbs:

1. Basil - Italian Sweet
2. Basil - Sweet
3. Basil - Mammoth
4. Catnip - Nepeta Cataria
5. Cilantro
6. Cilantro - Slo Bolt
7. Dill
8. Lavender - Munstead Strain
9. Lemon Balm
10. Lemongrass
11. Parsley - Single Hardy Italian
12. Rosemary
13. Stevia
14. Sage - Broad Leaf
15. Tarragon - Russian
16. Thyme

Melons and Squash:

1. Cantaloupe - Minnesota Midget
2. Gourd - Crown of Thorns
3. Melon - Metki Painted Serpent
4. Pumpkin - Jack Be Little
5. Pumpkin - Taken from Store Pumpkin
6. Squash - Butternut
7. Squash - Desi
8. Squash - Flat White Boer
9. Squash - Lady Godiva
10. Squash - Patissons Panache Blanc Et Vert Scallop
11. Squash - Spaghetti
12. Watermelon - Beni Kodima
13. Watermelon - Blacktail Mountain
14. Watermelon - Cream of Saskatchewan
15. Watermelon - Crimson Sweet
16. Watermelon - Katanya
17. Zucchini - Dark Green
18. Zucchini - Golden
19. Zucchini - Nimba

Onions and Leeks:

1. Leek - Carentan
2. Leek - Giant Musselburgh
3. Onion - Evergreen Bunching
4. Onion - Tropeana Lunga
5. Onion - Yellow of Parma

Peas:

1. Alaska
2. Asparagus (Pea)
3. Chickpea - Winnifred's Garbanzo
4. Cowpea - California Blackeye
5. Laxton's Progress
6. Sugar Daddy
7. Sugar Snap
8. Tall Telephone

Peppers:

1. Aji Chombo
2. Bell Color Mix
3. Brazilian Starfish
4. Canary Bell
5. Craig's Grande Jalepeno
6. Fish
7. Grandpa's Home
8. Habanada
9. Habenero
10. Italian Pepperoncini
11. Jalapeno
12. Lipstick
13. Maule's Red Hot
14. Mini Bell Mixed
15. Napadeno
16. Piccante Di Cayenna
17. Serrano Tampequino
18. Yellow Monster

Radish:

1. Cherry Belle
2. Chinese Red Meat
3. De 18 Jours
4. Easter Basket Mix
5. Malaga

Tomato:

1. Amana
2. Balcony Charm
3. Barry's Crazy Cherry
4. Black Vernissage
5. Blue Cream Berries
6. Bush Beefsteak
7. Chocolate Pear
8. Douchova Pepper
9. German Lunchbox
10. Glacier
11. Green Vernissage
12. Legend
13. Lucid Gem
14. Minibel
15. Purple Russian
16. Roma
17. Rosso Sicilian
18. Sophie's Choice
19. Sub Arctic Plenty
20. Sweet 100 Hybrid
21. Tigerella
22. Tumbler F1 Hybrid

Turnips:

1. Purple Top White Globe
2. Round Red

Did you count how many types of plants we are putting in the ground this year? 255... now that may be enough (once I figure out what types of Sweet Peas I am going to plant).

Homesteading in Beautiful Alberta

When I first started "blogging"... wait, who am I kidding, blogging means to consistently produce content. Having only 6 posts over an almost 11 year period does not fit this. I always wanted to share my journey, but life is crazy busy when you have 2 amazing kids (between school and events), move houses, setup an acreage, work from home, so on and so on. Somedays I wonder how my sanity is still somewhat here, but then I walk outside, observe my children running around and playing with the animals and bam, there it is, my sanity. Nature, it does wonderful things for us and I wish more people could spend time outside enjoying it.

We purchased our acreage in Southern Alberta during the fall of 2015. We live in a lovely coulee and our yard is very prairie like, mostly just flat ground and grass with very limited trees. The area is supposed to be around a Zone 3B, but I can now declare that we get much colder down here than that based on what we have seen over three years. When we first toured this property, I would get lost in my dreams of everything we could and would do here. The house we knew would require a lot of work (little did we know that our inspector missed a ton of stuff, but it is still worth it). Our neighbours are amazing. It is truly like a little community here, reminds me of when I grew up on a farm before moving to town.

My goal with this blog is to create a running memory for myself of what we have done with our yard and homesteading trials and what the successes/learnings are each year. If this is something that interests you, please feel to follow along. If not, thank you for the time for reading to this point :)

Talk to you later,
Zone 3B Dreamer in Southern Alberta