Harvest Time

I am finally getting some veggies from my garden.  And, surprise, surprise, I actually have ripening tomatoes.  For the last two years, I have had problems with my tomatoes.  Two summers ago, I had a ton of tomatoes on my vines, but not a single one ripened.  There's only so much fried green tomatoes a person can eat, but I couldn't let them go completely to waste.  Then, last summer, they would start turning, but would stop short.  I had a lot of orangeish tomatoes that ended up worm ridden.  I came close to having no tomatoes this year.  I really didn't want to have to use the Sevin dust this year, but the homemade pesticide and manually picking the bugs off the plants was not working.  All my leafy veggies- kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts - were almost gone and the tomatoes were showing signs of infestation.  So, I had to break down and use it.  But, as always, I use it sparingly and hope that getting it under control will allow me to use my home recipe. 
I have managed to pick quite a few cucumbers this year already.  I have six pints of bread and butter pickles already put up.  I used my grandfather's recipe.  Hopefully, the family will actually use them this year.  My cantaloupes are coming along.   The vines I laid down are popping this year.  There are about 20 melons out there right now.  Just waiting for them to ripen.  My luck, they'll all ripen at the same time and we'll have more than we can eat.
I have learned my lesson with my beans.   My husband told me to use tepees to hold the runners up, but I went my own way as usual and tried a trellis system.  Only, the garden twine has not been strong enough to bear the weight of the vines and I didn't have enough trellises for the vines to grow up.  So, now, I have a mess of vines that aren't allowing much sun to penetrate and ripen the beans.  Plus, It's difficult to find the few that have appeared.  So, I have already purchased the bamboo poles to use next year and allowed my husband to gloat and tell me he had told me so.  It is just in my nature to have to see for my self.  He'll learn eventually.

My carrots could drown

It has rained a lot this week.  On the way into town, Otter Creek was edging up its banks and preparing to bust out all over the road.  Normally, this is not such a big deal, but we've already had extensive flooding this year and people have had to move from their homes that were destroyed by this normally very dry creek.  Fortunately for me, the creek just creates issues getting home.  If the road floods, I'm stuck at home or in town.

However, even though my home is way above the flood plain, all this rain is threatening my garden and yard.  I am very glad I built up raised beds this year.  My husband doesn't think they've helped any because he thinks the yield is down.  But, he doesn't work the garden like I do.  Yield for this time of year is down because I was late planting stuff.  And, last year, we had nearly as much rain as this and the garden was so waterlogged I lost onions and my tomatoes never ripened.  This year, though, even with all the rain, my garden is not a swampy mess in which my shoes are sucked off my feet when I walk in it.

Now, the trick is to see if the raised beds retain water in drought years.

Days away

I went camping with my Cub Scout den and son last week.  I left very simple and detailed instructions for my husband and daughter.  Of course, because my husband is working during the week, the burden of the work was supposed to be completed by my daughter.  I should have known very little would happen.  She did, thankfully, feed and water the new chicks and the old chickens, but when it came to picking cucumbers and the occasional weed, nothing was done.  The darling man did go and brave the blackberry thorns for me and pick just a few more off canes that are starting to show signs of the dreaded June bug.

So, now I'm home and there is so much to do that I am tired before i even start and I come up with excuses to stay out of the garden.  As a result, it is starting to look a little ragged.  It doesn't help that the yard between the house and the garden hasn't been mowed in three weeks.  We have somebody do the mowing because the type of mower required to safely mow our acreage is extremely cost prohibitive. If I ever win the lottery, a commercial mower will come right after a tractor.

Anyway, I just went out to the garden to pick some cucumbers and check on everything else.  I finally have beans (YAY!).  But, my pumpkin vines are doing the same thing they did last year.  A few pumpkins will get started and then the vine dies before they get any bigger.  I think I need more water as the days are hot, but the ground under the cucumbers is very wet.  The point being, using the sprinkler would wet everything and not just what needs it.  I have a soaker hose, but the plants are such a mess, getting a hose in the right place is very difficult.  My good intentions each day to get up early in the morning before the heat of the day makes it dangerous to work outside always seem to disappear at 6 in the morning as I'm laying in bed trying to convince myself to get up.  I don't understand how I can get myself up for a job each morning when I had one, but can't get up for my own benefit.  A good spot for character development :)

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Here come the blue and green eggs.

I have new chicks.  After the slaughter of over half my flock by the neighbor's dog, I decided to bring in some more chicks and create a little diversity.  So, I ordered 10 Araucana chicks from Healthy Chicks.  The thought of getting blue and green eggs intrigued me.  Plus, the adults look really neat.  But, I'm not sure if I have Araucana or Ameracauna chicks.  Both lay the blue and green eggs and the order form didn't specify.  But, the box had Araucana written on it.  So, I assumed that's the breed they are.  After looking at the photos of the chicks, I'm not sure now.  They look more like the Ameracaunas.  I guess I'll have to wait until they're grown to know for sure.  There are supposed to be differences.  The Araucana chickens have ear tufts and hte Ameracaunas have muffs and beards.  Either way, I have more chicks!

The heat is on

Well, after last week's beautiful weather, the heat is back.  We have heat advisories in KY this week.  Of course, this is supposed to be one of my heaviest work weeks outside.  I was going to buckle down and get some things done.  Little girl was going to learn to work instead of lounging around all summer.  Now, we'll have to limit some of the activity to early mornings and maybe late in the evening.  I'll have to prioritize to get what has to be done finished before taking my boy to Webelos camp.  Hopefully, I'll get the brooding pen done before our new chicks come in.  And maybe even the chicken run. 

The end is in sight.

It has taken me three months to get this far. If an individual labels me a procrastinator, it definitely does not illustrate any great insight or perception. This is my most obvious trait. In any event, the chicken run is almost done. I just have to wire up and then hang the gates so we can get into it. Maybe then I won't have to run the weedwhacker up by the barn. It's my hope the chickens will keep the weeds down.
Unfortunately, the gates will stop the horse from entering the fenced area. For some reason, our old Paso Fino has gone out of his way to enter pasture in the area I've fenced for the chickens. It's odd because he has an acre of hillside to do this, but at a certain time of the day he likes to come up to the barn and walk through the gate area and graze. I'm still working on some way to let him in with the chickens and still keep them safe from marauding neighbor dogs. If I can swing it, I'd like to let them into the barn for their run, too, so I won't have to build a shaded area to keep them cool during the summer. But, that will probably involve cutting into existing walls and I'm not handy enough to feel comfortable cutting up Dad's handiwork. Knowing me, it will happen. One day, I'll just look at it and get disgusted that I haven't figured out something and just do it. And it won't be as bad as I have feared.