The State of the Garden

Mia having some outdoor time.

This sums it up...a lot of weeds :-).  I just can't seem to get ahead of it. Even with this dry spell we are having, the weeds continue to grow.  The veggies are still growing. It's just hard to find some of them. I have almost totally lost the leeks. I found the row, but there aren't very many there. I think I pulled some as weeds. Carrots are also a problem. A few weeks ago, I weeded a partial row, the rest are lost in there somewhere. It all started by going on vacation for a week followed by an intense garlic harvesting. The weeds just got out of control. You know, if you get them while they are little, it is easy to chop them with a hoe. When they are a foot tall, you need a machete :-). So I have been pulling & chopping away every day, making some headway. I can now see the cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, basil, oregano, pinapple sage & parsley. Some of the corn is visible along with the potatoes & squash.  Speaking of potatoes & squash, I have had bug problems. First was the potato bugs. Lots of them. Then the squash started wilting & the leaves turned yellow on a few hills. That was caused by the vine borer. I dug them up & put them in a plastic garbage bag to cook in the sun. Hopefully, the rest of the plants will be okay.  I do have three cantaloupe on a vine which is a first. I have never grown it before. I hope the lack of moisture doesn't affect it. We have harvested a few potatoes (there is nothing like fresh hash browns for breakfast), lots of cherry tomatoes (red & yellow), about 6 large tomatoes (they are just starting to come in), a dozen or so peppers, peas, cilantro, basil, oregano, thyme, chocolate mint, orange mint, only a few cucumbers & zucchinis (not sure what's up with that), a few summer squash, lettuce, spinach, radishes, onions and of course, the garlic. On my list this week to pick is beets. I have never canned beets before, so I intend to learn how. I also need to buy some sweet corn from the Amish down the road to freeze. I am growing corn but not enough to do anything with.
On the fruit front, I have picked loads of strawberries and Nanking cherries, a fair amount of blueberries. A smaller amount of raspberries & about a cup full of jostaberries. Almost ready to pick are the blackberries & elderberries. Apples will be next after that, then the rose hips.

I have purring kitten on my lap now. He has been such a joy to have around. That's what we think, not Mia. She is having a terrible time adjusting. I know it takes a while. I have never heard such a low growl out of her before. Growls & hisses every time Tigger is near.  She is camping out in the bathroom now with her water, food & litter box.

Tigger playing in the window.

Tigger out hunting bugs :-)

Vinnie & Brutus (neighbor's dog) got into a big fight today in the basement. We have a bank barn so you just enter the basement through the garage doors. Well Brutus wanted a drink from Vinnie's bowl & Vinnie showed his teeth & barked. Brutus didn't back down so they were biting each other. Steve broke them up & sent Brutus home. The problem is (I think) is that they are both alpha dogs. Not knowing the history of Vinnie, we can only guess at why he is the way he is with Brutus. Vinnie guards the house & his bowls from other dogs. People are fine.

Vinnie in front of the garlic bed.

Besides the animal disharmony, we had a nice weekend. It was my birthday on Saturday. Steve took me out to eat Friday night & I gardened on Saturday while he shingled the chicken coop. We ordered pizza & made a strawberry-chocolate malt for desert. Yum. Then we sat in the lawn chairs and watched the sunset while Vinnie, Mia & Tigger played outside. 

Sunday, putting the hardware cloth around the bottom of coop.

Today we put the hardware cloth around the bottom of the coop. The screens made of hardware cloth & chicken wire for the run are laying on the ground in front of the coop. That is next week's project. We might finish it yet.
Steve brought up the last cabinet for the kitchen. My favorite cabinet. Worth waiting for...

The new "hutch" cabinet

It is a beautiful piece of furniture. I love the three small drawers. As you can see, I have already started to fill it up :-).
This week I'll be in the garden for more weeding chores & am starting on the wood flooring. It all needs to be scrubbed & dried then stacked in the house to be installed this fall or winter. I am still working on a garlic description & price list for sales coming up. I did sell another 15 pounds to the restaurant in town on Friday.

Another awesome Driftless sunset!

Time to get to bed..have a great week!

Time is just flying by! Lots has happened since my last post. Three days after our neighbor told us about
Vinnie, he knocked on the door holding a kitten.

Meet Tigger. Our newest addition. He weighed under 2 pounds when Dave brought him over.  Someone had dropped him off on our road :-(. He is a sweet kitty, part Siamese, I think. Has a huge appetite & won't leave my keyboard alone :-). Vinnie & Tigger get along great. Mia is very unhappy. She hisses & growls at both of them, especially Tigger.  Hope she adjusts soon. I feel sorry for the old girl.
Vinnie got his teeth cleaned & groomed & looks like a different dog.

He is much cooler now. He had 3 pounds of fur taken off! He is adjusting so well. He barks when he should and puts up with Tigger pouncing on his tail.
I finally found homes for the two roosters. It was a struggle. Craigslist and other online forums didn't work. Finally I tried FreeCycle (thanks Karen!)  The coop will be done in a couple weeks. Steve has worked so hard on it, putting all the other projects on hold.

I finished painting it tonight. I'll have to check in the morning to see if it needs another coat of red. We still need to make the ramp, put the screening on the windows and put up the outdoor run, which is already made except the door. I ordered three "predator lights" the other day. They are solar & have a red blinking light that is supposed to scare off bad beasts.  They are set up by height of the predator. That is why I got three of them. We'll try different heights for coyotes, racoons and deer. No, deer are not predators of chickens, but the orchard is behind the coop & I thought it would be good to keep them away from the trees.
On the garlic front...I sold some to The Driftless Cafe a couple weeks ago. We ate there Saturday night & had the garlic appetizer plate. It was very cool to eat our garlic at our favorite restaurant. I am gearing up for individual sales of garlic for seed or eating too. My final total of garlic dug was 1,470.
It was a huge amount of work, then add in the 90 + degree weather and high humidity. But it is done. All hung up and most of it is dried already. We mowed the garlic bed this weekend, put composted horse manure on it, then neighbor Jim tilled it in yesterday. Today I seeded it with buckwheat that will be tilled in a couple weeks before I plant the next batch of garlic. I also ordered two more kinds of garlic. That comes to 32 different kinds for next year.
Last week I visited Kristin, Tim & Jaelyn. It was so much fun. I love playing with Jaelyn & hanging out with them. Soon, very soon, there will be another little one to play with. September is approaching fast. The baby's room is almost done. Here are a couple pics from last week...

 It is getting late...next post will be about the garden & what I am preserving.

He's a Keeper

Mia & Vinnie co-existing

Last night went great. Vinnie slept on the floor next to the bed & Mia slept on the bed. He lets me know when he needs to go out & while I was working in the garden he was always close by. He met Brutus (the neighbor's dog ) this morning & acted like he owned the place.  Brutus accepted it & they took turns sniffing each other.
I am going to research how much food Vinnie should be getting a day & start him on a gradual weight loss diet. I also made an appointment for a teeth cleaning & grooming next week. I brushed him a little today & got a bagful of hair. He will be so much happier (esp. with the heat that is coming) with a good grooming. He should work out fine.
Angie asked how old he is...the vet thinks around eight.

This morning I took the Subie in for a brake job & after that, back out in the garden to harvest more garlic. So much more to do. The rest of the garden is looking neglected. I have been picking blueberries & raspberries, chocolate & orange mint, basil, thyme, oregano, a few cherry tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, spinach, chard, Nanking cherries and a few strawberries that are slow to ripen. I think I might be winning the war on potato bugs, too. I have never seen so many as I've had this year. Many of the plants were stripped by the time we got home from vacation. Have you every been squirted in the face with potato bug goo? Yuck!
The other night Steve & I were sitting outside watching the sun set & decided to let Bubbles (the biggest rooster) outside with us. He was very timid. He pecked at the small weeds in the driveway for a while & then he jumped into my lap! So funny! He sat there for a while & then (I knew it would happen sooner or later) he pooped on me.
I'll leave you with a laugh...time for bed.

Vinnie: A New Member of the Family

Hi. My name is Vinnie. My owner couldn't keep me anymore because it was too hot in the trailer we lived in and there wasn't enough room for me to get enough exercise. Barb's neighbor came over this morning & told her about me, so she drove to De Soto to see me. I looked as handsome as I could when she got there and she took me home with her to see how I would do. So unless I really mess up overnight, I have a new home! So much room to run & play and good food to eat, too. She took me to the vet today & I have an ear infection. They cleaned them & gave me medicine to take home so I will get better. I also weight about 15-20 pounds too much (Barb thought it was all fur), so she will put me on a diet so I live a long life. My toenails were really long too, so they cut them while we were there. I will be a good watch dog. I bark when buggies come up the driveway & when I hear other dogs bark.

I think this will be my favorite spot.

Now that Vinnie is done talking...
I'm sure you are wondering about Shep. He is still around but refuses to stay here. He won't budge on a leash and is very nervous inside. We talked about it & decided that we couldn't take him. I will try to help them find a new home for him, but I bet they keep him. Lizzie really likes him.
The chickens are growing bigger every day. Still no home for the two roosters though. We did add on to the chicken condo inside this weekend. We also worked on the outside coop. It is insulated now & the fascia boards are up.

An addition to the condo

Garlic field with coop in background

I am harvesting a lot of garlic right now. Ever since we got home from vacation I've been non-stop. The weeds are high in the rest of the garden, but I have weeded around most of the plants so we can find them :-). I have over 1300 heads of garlic to dig and clean, all together. Close to 600 are done. Long way to go. I will have them all done by the end of next week. They are looking great, though. Large and medium heads for the most part. With 30 different kinds, I decided to make a spreadsheet to keep track of how many I harvest, any bad ones (ones I cut with the shovel), and how many are small, medium or large. I am enjoying the work, but can't say I won't be glad to be done. I feel muscles I've haven't felt for a while. We decided to hang them in the attic to dry. Here is a pic from the other day...

We stapled coated clothesline along the rafters. The windows will stay open as long as no rain is forecast & we have two fans circulating the air. So far, so good.

Daughter Kristin is doing great pregnancy-wise and Jaelyn is getting to be such a big girl. I look forward to spending some time with them in a couple weeks.

Excited by the horses at the race track on vacation.

 Before I go to bed, I want to wish our daughter Amy a quick recovery. She spent a couple days in the hospital, but is doing better now.
I better get to bed. Who knows how the animals will get along during the night and then there is the 5am wake up from the roosters ...

Harvesting & a Little Craziness

Well, there wasn't any severe storms after all. Which was great. It has been very cloudy & rainy for the past two days, though. I have still been able to get out in the garden to weed garlic, blueberry bushes & strawberries. They all have straw around them, so it is safe to step around them. Today not only was strawberry picking day (again), it was garlic scape harvesting day. I thought I had a lot last year...

This is this year's haul. Seven and a quarter pounds!  So today I've made roasted garlic scapes, which are so good & easy, garlic pesto...

Pesto

and tonight I blanched and am in the process of freezing scape pieces for later use. I decided to freeze them on a cookie sheet first, then put in a bag. Then I can take them out as I need them. They are great in stir fry, omelette's, pesto, on the grill and pickled. Any place you would use garlic, use scapes. The flavor is milder, but definitely garlicy.

Cut up & blanched scapes, frozen in baggie & ready to go in the freezer.

Scapes will be given away, too. I am bringing some to The Driftless Cafe tomorrow. I hope they can use a bunch. Of course, I was still freezing & giving away strawberries today too. :-)

For a couple days, I've been "playing" with the chickens :-). So now, they will sit on my shoulder nervously for a few minutes. I really want them to be totally comfortable around humans. When I put Bubbles on my shoulder & was bending down to let him hop on the perch, Wilma (or Betty, not sure) jumped on top of my head. So here I was, sitting on the edge of their cage with birds on my shoulder & head.  I wish I would have had my camera in there. Yes, I am a crazy chicken lady :-). I decided to get a picture with Phoebe so we walked to the bathroom & took this. Yes, my hair is a mess. Yours would be too if you had just had a bird on your head. :-).

I also separated Henry ( the white rooster) from the rest. Bubbles is starting to pick on him, so it's time. Henry seemed upset until I put Hanah in with him. Now they are fine.

The new home is a dog cage, up high enough so they can see each other.

We will be on vacation for a while...have a million things to do before then...have a great week!

Another Storm on it's Way?

We had a very noisy night Saturday through Sunday morning. I think a huge cloud parked over us & stayed for hours. We ended up getting about five inches of rain and constant lightening, some being very, very close. And with the heavy rain running down the hill behind us, our driveway sustained some damage again. Very heavy rutting throughout. It is a good thing we don't have the Mini Cooper any more. We could lose it in a rut. :-(. At least we didn't get the winds or hail. That will come tomorrow they say. They being the weather men, who, I think, like to scare the bejeesus out of everyone. But after last years storm, I will cooperate and be scared. There is a big red box around our weather forecast for tomorrow evening on The Weather Channel. So I won't be sleeping tomorrow night or if I do it will be in the basement on a cot with my new weather radio that Steve bought me last week. It went off early Sunday morning due to a flood warning. Kinda scary sounding, but it works. There is a tone first & then the NOAA computer voice tells you what the warning is. Tonight it will be on the nightstand next to me since we might get severe weather in the early a.m.
In other news...Steve worked on the coop Saturday...

The walls & roof are up.

Now we need to add insulation & siding, & tin to the roof. There will be two windows in front and the bottom opening is their door to get out. The opening on the side (there is a matching one on the other side) is a clean out door. We can open one side & push all the litter into a wheelbarrow, then transport to the compost bin. In the back will be the nesting boxes. Last week we built the screen walls that will go in the front of the coop for their safe outside area. I really like the feeling of the coop. We can see it out the windows and it doesn't block any views. Can't wait to see the peepers out there :-).
Speaking of the chickens...I placed an ad for the two other roosters today. :-(  I wish we could keep them but they will get very aggressive toward the hens with three of them competing for some female companionship. So Henry (formerly Henrietta) and Cassidy (formerly Cassie) will hopefully have a new home soon. It is really cute though when Henry imitates Bubbles whenever he crows. I will be sad to see them go.
The garden survived the rain and is producing an enormous amount of strawberries. Last night I made strawberry jam.

See that bowl? Every day I pick two or more bowlfuls that size. I have been freezing most of them and will be making more jam soon. We love smoothies and have one almost every day, so we should have plenty to last us the winter. Next, the blueberries will be ripening. I have been weeding around them every day a little so I can cover them with netting. I really don't want to share too many with the birds.
Being healthy eating vegetarians (and trying to get back to eating more raw food) means we consume a great deal of veggies & fruits. We also like nuts for protein & are hoping the hazelnut trees will start producing soon. With a hundred of those planted, we will have plenty :-). Nanking cherries, Josta berries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, gooseberries, aronia berries, etc. etc. etc. we are finally producing from what we planted. That is exciting! Soon we will have our own eggs too:-). I love the thought of having a full pantry & freezer. It is so nice to make meals from what you have on hand.

That's all for now. Have to get to bed so I can get some sleep before the storms.

Is That a Tiny Crow I Hear?

Well, Bubbles has been crowing for a couple weeks now & is getting a deeper adult voice. What did I hear today after the throaty crow? Yes, a baby crow. Oh no. I think I have another rooster. Henrietta may be Henry after all. Out of all the chicks, she has the most prominent comb. Sometimes they say you can't  tell by that. But now the little crowing noise....

Henrietta now Henry?

Cassie (the youngest) a rooster too?

I am hoping that I am wrong. Most roosters don't get along with each other. In that case, I will have to find a new home (one that won't eat them) for the roosters. I hope someone will want to adopt the rare white & black Javas.
This weekend, instead of working on putting the coop together, we decided to expand their indoor living accommodations so they will have enough room while we are on vacation in a couple weeks. That way our pet sitter doesn't have to worry (and neither do we) about the chickens being outside.
This is how it looks now...

There is a door to get in on the side where Shep is. A couple higher perches make for happy chickens.

We also worked on the outside walls of the chicken run (screened in porch :-). That took most of the day Saturday into Sunday morning. Good thing we are providing the screened area. Tonight while looking to the west, I spotted an owl sitting in the bird tree. (a dead tree that the birds love to perch on). That and all the other predators around (eagles, hawks, coyotes, racoons, etc.) make me a bit nervous about letting them free range. I will of course, but not until they are older.

Here's Steve installing brackets on the corners after putting together the frame. After that we stapled hardware cloth on the bottom portion & chicken wire on the top.

 We're getting there. Who knew (except Judy ;-) that it would be so much work to build a coop.

We left early for home for a graduation party for our niece Lindsay. She graduated from high school & is heading for college to study veterinary medicine. Congratulations Lindsay!

Yesterday I weeded the garden, worked on weeding the blueberries which are overgrown with weeds & put up one last trellis for the peas I planted. I think I'm done planting now. The potatoes are growing great & I found my first potato bug last week. Yuck! It was a huge one, too.

Today it rained most of the day so I worked on some inside stuff. Froze the first batch of strawberries, cleaned the brooder, etc. There was a beautiful sunset thanks to the storm clouds breaking up...

This is the "bird tree" that the owl was in later on.

Have a great night...