It’s been a while, gardening updates

Time is slipping away as usual. The food is growing fast and furious and we seem to not have enough time to get everything done. The weeds are taking over, it’s their time.  The chickens are surviving without much supervision (thank goodness) and the “list” seems to be growing…we knock one thing off and add two more 🙂 it’s how we roll.

I have a thing for trying (note the “try” part of this) to make things pretty and organized. I braided the 230 bulb garlic harvest…one or two attempts and I’m happy with the results plus  they will dry well and be easy to store. The harvest made 5 large braids that will dry for the next 4-5 weeks, then it’s planting time again.

In the continuing attempt to maintain pretty, I worked all day on weeding the front bed, and W came in to edge the whole thing…a good job done and we don’t look like hicks from the road anymore. Not overly important but it bothered me every time I sat on the couch and looked out, for me personally…you can think I’m  hick any time you wish. We work hard and sometimes pretty gets lost for food and necessity.

The jelly tree has been harvested, one wind storm too late. It is the jelly tree because it has yet to produce a clean fruit. Two years of trimming and dormant spray for bugs and they are still ugly. I was lucky to get the 4.5 pounds of apples needed for a single batch of apple jelly. They don’t have to be pretty, just not completely bug eaten. Between the tent caterpillars and the rain/wind storm one batch of jelly is what is happening.  Give them a quick chop, boil for an hour and drain the juice, add sugar, lemon juice and boil…apple jelly.

From here there was also bread and butter pickles to make. The cucumbers finally grew and 28 cups later…we have pickles.

We use our mandolin to slice to 3/16th of an inch , add 3 cups peppers and 9 cups onions, a 1/3 cup course salt, soak for 4 hours in ice, then make the sugary brine and boil.

This is one of the reasons I truly believe we need to invest in a 6 burner super large stove.  The BBQ works for now but it’s getting silly how many times it gets used.

The hot mix gets put in sterilized bottles and hot water bathed for 10 minutes. The end result is pickles for us for the year and Christmas giving to those we know in the community that don’t have family.

Everything we do is to build our food stores, build our seed stores( always let a plant go to seed for next year) and to ensure we have enough to give freely to those who will appreciate our home grown goodness. If you have abundance it is your obligation to share it, whether it be vegetables, love or money. We have two of these and thoroughly enjoy them.

The vertical  gardening is going well. The sugar pumpkins are coming along well with lots of cucumber blossoms waiting for their special purpose. Mustard pickles are next and pickled beets.

There are herbs drying along with the garlic. We have herbs hanging in doorways, off curtain rods, in the greenhouse, and on the cover deck behind the garage…anyplace in a storm.

There is so much happening every day my cyber life is taking a back seat. Dirty hands equal a happy heart…my heart is happy.

May you be so busy doing what you love that you lose track of time; suspended in joy, it’s a good way to live.

Chamomile Tea, the beginning

 The sweet smell of Chamomile wafts, even if you don’t see it, you know it has happened. We planted the chamomile by the roses, lemon thyme and oregano for a pure sensory banaza.

I used two gathering methods; bouquet and finger combing. The bouquet gets tied and hung to dry.

Finger combing is as simple as it sounds. Run your lightly spread fingers through the blossoms, plucking multiple heads as you go. This should allow for a second bloom too. The finger combed blossoms get spread over the screen and toasted in the sun. 

Now it’s time to wait. When we are feeling ill or just can’t sleep we will have our own chamomile tea to sooth us. One more thing we grow for ourselves.

Branching off into the world of flowers, never saw that coming.  

Pumpkin in the sky

Our love of tunnels continues in summer as well as winter. Our first attempt at vertical gardening seems to being working. It does require daily walks through to tuck stray vines back where we want them. Darn, forced to go to the garden daily…how will we handle it?

It is a lovely sight to behold, this canopy of green that will be food. The pumpkin are first to the top on the left, zucchini on the left being squeezed out by monster peas. We planted the same pea seeds last year and got 1 foot spindly things, happily this year they are crazy and next year we will plant them further apart just in case they are crazy again. Here’s hoping anyway. Love crazy peas.

The crazy monster peas…a little over kill but we will start harvesting and pressure canning bottles soon. The new top soil and local year old manure compost is making a huge difference. We will plan for more in the fall to build the soil again. Healthy soil gives you huge plants, go figure.

The other tunnel is slower. It contains two different types of cucumber. One is for making mustard pickles and the other is for bread and butter pickles, basically a straight 8″ and a smaller one.

The Amish ox-heart paste tomatoes are about 5ft tall outside now. and the ones in the greenhouse are tied to the ceiling…I had no choice, it’s where they were heading.

It’s getting to be a jungle in here. Between the ox-heart tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, organic tomatoes(not doing so well), bell peppers and Jalapeno peppers there is little room to maneuver.

One little pepper, of many, is starting to turn red. The joy of a small successes.

Have a great day and may your garden be overflowing with food.

Garlic Scapes, be still my beating heart

The Garlic have sprouted their scapes. They have to be cut off in order to allow the garlic to focus on growing the bulbs we love. We experimented last year with leaving a few on and the difference in size of the bulbs was crazy. The ones with the scapes on were tiny-tiny. Lesson learned. We chop the scape into 1 inch pieces, place on a parchment lined baking sheet and toss in the oven at 275 until completely dried. From there they are run through the food processor and then the coffee grinder we have for herbs, if needed.  We use the scape powder like you would use garlic powder. It’s lighter flavored and a touch more onion flavored and knowing we made it makes all the difference to us.  I want to try making a garlic scape pesto, as I love pesto…we’ll see. If I get to it you will know. We haven’t gotten around to the solar dryer building yet but it’s coming. There are so many things we want to dry: tomato, garlic scape, raspberries, strawberries, herbs, plums, apples… 230 bulbs of garlic growing in the ground…happiness and maybe a little bad breath and indigestion…but it is glorious!

Strawberries

They may not be the biggest or brightest but they are our very first strawberries from our own patch.  We planted 125 plants last year, plucked the blossoms off as instructed, to wait for this years crop. It was painful but we had to have faith.

We picked them this evening, to get in before the raccoons have their midnight snack. We truly thought we would not get any and this is only 6 cups crushed and bagged for the freezer, almost a double batch of jam.

We will make jam later. There is something glorious about making jam in November or December. The smells are awesome and we have time on our hands then too.

Next year we hope to have our raccoons under control.There is currently a family living under our back deck. Our well pump house fell in with the spring flooding and has to be rebuilt this year. Once rebuilt there will be no way in( so we hope) and therefore no hungry family of really cute little ones. They are so bloody comical and interactive but I want my food more than I want to be entertained by them.

Bird Water Bath

Saturday morning, when not overwhelmed by projects, is yard sale time. Today’s finds included two cookie sheets to use as water trays in the green house,two divider bins for the deep freeze, a  small white colander with a strawberry motif, and a couple of ceramic pie plates destined to be remade into bird baths…and all for $5.00.

We were taking a day off, lolly-gagging around the farmer’s market, stopping at yard sales and doing a much needed clean up of the yard when we got home.

We tend to leave things were we used them last. That means tools, wood, wheel barrows and  buckets get strewn around. It’s all clean again, we look civilized. Onto the project.

Three simple holes drilled in the edge of the pie plate. We started with a small hole drilled from the underside and changed bits to get a hole that fit the S hooks. He drilled while I diligently poured water to keep everything cool.  Next, a little chain from the chicken coop heat lamp, it’s been too long for too long, and into the tree we go.

Hoping the birds appreciate the new water source. We have been filling a large mixing bowl in the grass for them but it was time to step up our game and treat them as the outdoor pets they are.

Seeing how to re-purpose ordinary objects into something new is fun for us. We both grew up in the “Mr.Dressup” era where you didn’t throw anything out. We keep everything, buttons, nails, trim, hinges, ribbon…you name it, we keep it, just in case. There is usually a use for it…eventually.

Walkway Wow, and garden progress

The center of my universe has been constructed with more love than I knew existed. I will be very careful when stating I like something in the future. He has a deep need to create all that I desire…I could get used to this. Plus the fact that he creates things I never envisioned or knew I wanted. He is my very own super hero. Welcome to the green house walkway built from old chimney bricks and a grinding stone from the woods…

The fence and new privacy lattice are being stained a deep chocolate brown. It is taking forever in the heat, but it looks lovely.The berries are coming around as well. We have had to hang some bird deterrents as we are loosing green berries everyday and they are ending up on top of the chicken run roof. Hope we get some ripe strawberries before it’s all over. It took every last scrap of ribbon I had been hanging onto in my sewing basket…
The peas are blossoming beyond expectation, The squash/pumpkin/cucumber/zucchini have all survived and are making a go of it.

The tomatoes are doing better inside the greenhouse but are doing ok in the garden as well.

The meat is growing well. We have lost three birds for a lack to thrive, glad they threw in 2 extra to cover possible loss. We have secured a humane processor that I will help with, nice to have found someone with facilities we approve of.

The 5 types of potatoes, fertilized with chicken s#%t tea, are thriving. We add the coop cleanings to the large barrel you see at the back, fill with water and wait two days. Then it’s ready to spread on the garden. It smells to high heaven but works really well. The stink stops after the first day.

The Peonies are in full bloom, smell fantastic (enough to over whelm the chicken tea stench).And the finch are hanging out with their sweet song, adding a touch of yellow to the day. Between the fragrance, the song, and the growing green food, life is soothingly glorious.

Things are progressing well, we are on a push with warm weather predicted for the next 6 days. Make hay while the sun shines, as it were.

Bug spray, sunscreen and a big hat…everything you need.

Have a happy Monday.

The privacy, it’s here.

And there it is, the privacy lattice and post toppers are on. It’s been a year. Neighbors have stopped their vehicles to ask,”What’s the plan with the fence?”. The 6 x 6 posts were left all willy-nilly in heights until we determined what we were doing; threw some for a loop I guess. Now to edge the flower bed, add some Iris and cone flowers for later blooming color and I think we can call it done.

The Maples are holding their own after the beating they took this winter, the middle one is gone, another is now half sized and the last one is held together with tape trying to heal a bad bend.  Will replace the middle emptiness this fall with a last of the season bush sale, apparently we are not supposed to have 5 maples, 4 will do.

Everything takes more time than you planned for and is never quite what you thought it would be, but it’s pretty none the less. Flexibility in all things, go with the flow…whatever you call it, it makes life more enjoyable. We are challenged to not only accept but appreciate what we are given.

Now to stain it and lay bricks for a walkway. The list is getting shorter 🙂

A typical Tuesday.

This morning started with Backyard Bunny while the chickens where being let out and laundry being put on the line. Mad dash into the house for the camera, there were two but one hopped off. I think he’s cute only so long as he eats grass, when he rips limbs off the new trees I dislike him immensely.

Then on to the project list.

First the civic address sign post which will have our Forever Green Homestead sign hanging from it when we get around to making it…

The Bees needed a check in.

They seem to be doing OK with the open frames we gave them. They are building out comb, making new bees and storing a bit of honey. We removed the queen extruders as they seemed to be restricting all activity to the lower two boxes. The season is late this year so hoping for a proper harvest by the end of August.

Then onto the new perennial flower garden with late bloomers for the bees. Laid the edging stones, planted and mulched.

There was also a screen door built for the coop and a new mail box post built and cemented into it’s new hole. We do  a lot of digging in a day.

A little sit down was required to bird watch. Our beautiful Humming Bird gladly obliged with a photo shoot sitting at the top of the maple, very kind of him really.

It is a full moon and a clear sky so a fire pit with marshmallows and hot dogs was in order. We use wood pellets (no sparks) in a grill pan on the deck so we don’t burn down the new deck or the house.

It’s been a long day but we found time to relax as well. It was our first fire of the year, I think we missed last year altogether. We are trying to remember to indulge a little in the simple things that give us joy and trying to reserve enough energy to do it. Today we did.

The list will still be there tomorrow and we will tackle more then.

It’s all done but the…

Piece by piece it is getting done. This year one of our goals is to actually finish all of last year’s started projects. We are getting there, and along the way starting new ones as we are certifiably bonkers. It’s the only explanation.

The inside of the greenhouse is done. My love of this space is boundless. The hoosier cabinet was a partially stripped find in need of repair that ended up in the basement for a couple of years. This is what it was waiting for. The color is copied from it’s original and yes, that is the gallon of paint I spilled on the floor. It’s a nice color for shoes too apparently?? It’s all clean and finished now; the focal point of my sanctuary.

In the center is a singer sewing machine base with a high gloss varnished butcher block. It sits under the solar chandelier.

The potting table is an auction find that was grouped with something else to sell. Works well for our purposes. Many little things have found their way into the greenhouse. The nail barrels are convenient holders of stuff and door stops, the butcher paper dispenser holds twine, and the wooden fold out step stool finally has a home where it is useful.

All available floor space is given over to the tomatoes. Some have proper pots and were started in the house in February from seed from an organic farmer’s market tomato. The others, Amish ox heart paste tomatoes, are in ice cream buckets that we drilled drain holes in . The containers were gladly donated by our local ice cream parlor, she thought our reason for wanting them was interesting.  The red peppers, jalapenos and cherry tomatoes live on the metal racks. These are my back ups in case something bad happens in the garden.

The outside is all done but the shingling, painting, eaves troughs…when the rain stops it’s first thing on the list. 

We started the, soon to be, picket fence around the berry patch. The pickets are coming off pallets we have collected.We used the old posts from rebuilding the side deck…oh, we redid the side deck,sort of. It’s the first thing we hired out and it freed us up to do the fence, until it rained. W couldn’t completely let the side deck get built without him so he assisted for a couple of days. It is lovely to  have our early morning coffee spot back.

W also  laid out the basic idea he wants to do for the brick walk way step. The center is an old grinding stone. I approve. 🙂

It is currently far too muddy to be able to do more so it’s off to town to get privacy lattice to complete the front fence project so we can be done thinking about it. Another carry over that is going to get done this year.

I’m kidding myself if I truly believe we will ever be done. What would we do with our time?