Attacking the Garden Again

Hello, farm friends. We have been making progress in the vegetable garden. Strong wind and too much rain have slowed us down a little.

 Adam's been digging out his potato beds and now has them lined in metal like the other beds. He has white potatoes in one bed, and the sweet potatoes are coming this week in the mail.
This next area is the old compost pile (grass clippings). 

 He may plant corn there this year after he digs out worms and puts them into his worm bin.
Other happenings in the greenhouse and garden:
Tomato seedlings - Matt's Wild Cherry on the left and Amish Paste on the right:

 Basil, which I sold at the market this morning:

 Those onions I have no idea what to do with:

 Oregano seeds did not germinate well. These are all I have.

 The wind blew under the greenhouse plastic and left a mess!

 The thing growing best in the garden beds is the horseradish, sigh. We've tried to get rid of it.

 Someone gave us a nice yellow squash plant today.

I would show you the peas, lettuce, kale, collards, spinach, strawberries, and asparagus, but that means I'd have to show you how weedy those beds are, and I just can't do it. We will address the weeds after Easter. Been a bit busy around here lately, and the garden has taken second fiddle.

Hurricane Florence ripped up our chicken pen cover. Branches and leaves fell on it, and then the cords broke. Adam pulled it all off and put new netting overhead, plus a new center post to hold it all up. Old:

 New:

The netting looks like somebody's wig.

 Adam got four massive truck tires for free to use as planters for a new elderberry bush and some lavender. 

Elderberry bush:

 I've had no luck with lavender at all. These are varieties that supposedly do well here.

My broody silkie mama hatched three chicks. They are so adorable, peeping away. She is wonderfully attentive.

 They haven't yet left the end of the coop that is their brooder. Those other eggs in the photo were duds.
My other silkie hen likes to pretend she's broody. She sits in one of the laying boxes all day long, on the other hens' eggs with her eyes at half-mast like broody hens do. But if given half a chance, she's outa there, taking a dust bath, also known as chicken spa.

 There's a children's story in there somewhere.

I'm still painting the gourds I grew last year.

 The Lady Banks Rose is lovely this year.

A friend gave us a box of fresh local strawberries which we topped and put into the freezer. I'll make jam later. The fig trees are looking promising this year. Adam and I aren't quite as quick and spry regarding farm work as we were nearly 4 years ago! But we will get around to it all. Thanks for stopping by!

Weary August Farm

This was a hard summer for gardening. Way too much rain (about 35" so far), too much heat in June, but 3 weeks of drought thrown in there too .... I must admit, it didn't help that I was emotionally unmotivated! But amid the knee-high weeds, a few things are still alive out there. Here's what I found this morning:

 Sunflowers! At last!

 The verdict is still out on the loofahs this year.

 

My gourd hill is doing well.

 I picked one and have at least eight more on the vines. I'll let them dry there.

 The only part of the garden that looks loved right now is the potato row. Adam planted the little potatoes from the first harvest back in, for a second harvest this fall ... we hope.

 

A handful of small carrots. A few last tomatoes.

 I threw some overripe cukes to the chickens. 

All in all, an exhausting summer and a less-than-encouraging garden yield. I didn't even can or freeze a single tomato; I still have some frozen from last year! But the farm is still a beautiful place to live, and if we can get our spirits up, and our "mojo" back, we may have a fall garden yet. Adam plans to clear out all the beds. (He is doing better in the motivation department than I am.) I would be happy to see a few fall/winter crops there and tend to them in the cool of the year.

Farm Update: July 3

I haven't done a farm post in nearly two months. I have various excuses: rain, rain, and then a bit more rain. A wedding. The outrageous heat. But truthfully, I had energy for one blog, not two. There you have the unvarnished truth.

For future reference, here are a few stats:

*3 chicks survive from the May clutch. I think two are hens, but unsure still. They are nine weeks old today.
*Ethel is broody on four Ameracauna eggs, one week in. 
*It's a bad tomato year. I have about 25 plants in the garden, but the Mini Orange plants are performing badly because of excessive rain - rotten fruit. The 2 plants in pots with drainage did better.

*Matt's Wild Cherry tomato plants are doing okay. The 3 plants that overwintered on the porch have done extremely well. I should try that again. I had abundant cherry tomatoes all through June, which is early. The rope trellising is not a good solution for tomatoes. We need a new plan. Cages are too short for vining varieties.
*Cucumbers are bearing very well. The pickling variety turn yellow quickly. But the rope trellising is perfect for cucumbers. We will do that each year.

*I started my Blue Lake bean plants too late. I have 8 plants in a bed fenced against rabbits. Difficult to weed. Pepper plants also in there, and growing well.
*The greens bed was fabulous. We could not eat or sell even a majority of it.
*Babies' Breath and Chamomile did not grow well. Heavy rain destroyed the first and heat/weeds destroyed the second.
*Carrots appear to be growing well. No sign of orange root yet. I sowed seeds on March 29.
*A good year for onions, which were put in as sets last fall. At the end of June their tops were down enough to pull them. They're curing on the front porch. Then I think we'll store them in the frig.

* Each year our potato harvest improves. Adam harvested them today. He'll brush off the dirt and we'll store them in the spare bedroom.

*I've had decent farm sales at the market, selling nearly everything. 
*I have so much tomato sauce left over from last year that I'm cooking it down and turning it all into tomato paste, which Adam uses most readily in cooking.

Reduced by half, after simmering for a day

*We ate some peas this year, but did not freeze any. We don't tend to remember what's in the deep freezer, and garden produce sits there for a long time, uneaten. Need to improve on that.
* I made a batch of tea tree soap in February, one of lavender in March, and just made a mixed batch last week. I've steadily made batches of Healing Herb Ointment, Bee Balm, and Insect Repellent Lotion Bars, all of which sell well. I'll make a bit of ointment for ourselves today because we use it so often.
*Herb beds are doing very well, if weedy. I made a large batch of herbal tea (mint, lemon balm, tarragon, lemongrass), and sold the first tin of it at the market on Saturday.

*Adam's willow tree starts are doing extremely well. Thicker wands have grown better than thinner ones. 
*My seven loofah vines are looking very good. They won't bear until autumn. I sold almost all of my last year's loofah scrubs.

I think that's about it! If you want to know more about what's happening in our lives -- the roof, the wedding, the dogs -- skip on over to my other blog, Through a Glass Darkly. Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Morning Doings

I told Adam a minute ago that we accomplished a lot for a Monday morning! It helps that the new puppy, Trixie, gets up at a bodaciously early hour. Today that was 4:30 a.m.
Adam started by putting a trellis on the front of the house porch.

 I know, I know -- it's not very "fancy." But we're not fancy folk! It's a trellis for a particular plant to grow on, so I'm hoping it will eventually be covered in lovely green foliage. This will give privacy, and I can remove the shower curtain that's presently hanging there. See? That trellis is an improvement over a shower curtain! :)  
You see, I've had this silly plant for ages - I posted about it before -- a creeping fig. I planted half of the plant I divided at the base of the trellis:

 Creeping Fig is hearty in zones 8 and warmer. We are zone 7B. But I did see it growing in a warm, protected spot at the doctor's office, remember? The trellis is on the south side of the house, facing into sun, protected from north winds. We will hope. If it dies, I still have the other half of the plant.

Two purple coneflower plants will keep it company.
Well, half-way through the trellis project, the puppy woke up again (It's like having a baby, I kid you not.), so Adam switched to a project where he can tie up Trixie nearby. He made more cement leaves. This batch, he's using concrete (instead of masonry mix) with fiberglass in it. Plus he's putting a sealant on the leaves. And he's also etching the leaves, and we love the softened look it's giving them. Here's one he etched and painted:

Here are some with the sealant. These he will be able to sell before Christmas.

While he was doing that, I started processing our sweet potatoes. They've been curing on the front porch for about 2 weeks. So here are some photos that show the shocking transformation from ugly tubers to luscious, creamy mashed sweet potatoes.

 The outside is scary ... until you peel them.

 

Who would think that, under that ugly exterior, is this perfect, peach-colored potato?

 

I cubed them roughly and steamed them on the stove top. Then I mashed them in the mixer and put them into quart ziploc bags, and then into the deep freezer.

Adam also dug the last white potatoes in the garden. They were planted from old potato ends. Not a very big harvest. Here are about half of them:

Oh - I forgot to add that on Saturday he caulked the eaves on the side of the house where we've been having a leak.

Now we're off to do "church work" for the afternoon. Rain is coming tonight (at last). We will hope the repair job is what was needed. One never knows with mysterious leaks - stay dry and warm wherever you are!