About three weeks ago, Ed planted "Johnny Oaky" in our front yard by the road. Johnny Oaky is a new oak tree that was a gift from Ed's...

Pint of Apple Butter (left) and Pint of Apple Sauce

One benefit of apples is that they can last for a while un-processed. When the weather cools off a bit more, I look forward to pressure...

Last summer, I did learn that the common / wild / invasive Daylily plant is entirely edible (not the more modern and engineered version...

I've been doing a bit of pressure canning lately; however, today, I steam canned 12 pints of wild raspberry jam (no pectin). It was...

Ever since Thursday, I've been harvesting our wild raspberries. The bushes are scattered throughout our property (mainly along the hedge...

This is not a paid advertisement - at all. But I did list our land on HLRBO about a week ago. I listed it as a Bow Season Only Hunting...

For fifteen years or more in our city house, I would plant flowers galore in our back yard and in attractive large pots on our patio. ...

Five-thirty Friday morning brought some unexpected "excitement" to Blackhammer Acres. About a week ago, our neighboring farmer said he'd...

It has been a cold spring, even by Wisconsin standards. We have not even had 'fool's spring' yet. The cold weather has not been kind to...

Picking a date to tap maple trees for syrup is tricky. The sap runs on days when the temperature is above freezing but the nighttime...

Writing '2022 feels odd', but time marches on. Come March, we will be entering the fourth year of working on our property. It is hard to...

I am closing in on completing what has been a decades-long project. Many years ago, I thought it would be fun to build a weather station....

We are not farmers and yet we live in farm country with a mix of both hayfields and woods. We do lease our hayfields to a neighboring...

On her periodic walks this week, Maggie noticed wild raspberries ripening along our fenceline. I had not realized they were there until...

Most people take vacations to relax. They lay on a beach, or golf, or drink at the cruise ship bar. My 9-day vacation this spring did...

I traveled to Grandview Orchard on Friday to pick up our order of fruit trees, raspberries, and honeyberries. The last thing I did Friday...

While taking a hike this afternoon, I saw my first Maypples of the spring. Ahhh... There's always something to make me smile!

I was 2-3 minutes too late in taking this picture and those 2-3 minutes made a world of difference in terms of the overall red sky...

The spiles are pulled and the buckets are washed and put away. With this week's warm temperatures came the end of our maple syrup season....