The chickens are laying! We found 2 eggs in the nesting box yesterday! Boy was I surprised. I knew it was coming soon. But the fact that it finally happened and that they even layed in the nest were both huge surprises.
We bought and stacked about 2 1/2 tons of alfalfa this past week and also purchased most of the wood we will need for the next few years winters. We bought 3 cords of lodgepole and 4 cords of juniper.
We've found that burning a combination of hard and softer woods makes our fires just right.
We still will need to rent a log splitter since the lodgepole is still in rounds.
Most of this work was done by Milton with some help from the girls.
The golden raspberries are on right now. I picked 3 quarts on Thursday. The boys have been wolfing them down. They love to be next to me while I'm picking because I let them eat as many as they want. If I was making jam it would be another story. But right now I'm just trying to keep up with the berries.
I'm starting to rethink my canterbury bells. They are just to tall and need support and don't look very nice in the front flower bed I put them in. While the Malva behind them look gorgeous and are standing up tall and nice.
I'm thinking about pulling them out. And that makes me sad since they are biennials and I started the seeds last year. So this is the second year I've had these plants and i'm sad I don't love them. I think they would look better in a pot. With more support.
Did I mention I have more in the garden for next year? Not sure what I'm going to do with them now.....
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
Overwhelmed by Peas!
We have been eating peas for the past 2 weeks. Every day. So many that a few days ago I was at the grocery store and the very thought of peas made me feel sick. So I'm taking a break now. LOL.
The lettuce is finishing up. It has been a great season and it could still keep growing as long as it doesn't get to to hot. Usually what happens is that it stops growing and then in the fall we have some come up again from when the lettuce went to seed. Although I think only the spinach went to seed this year. I guess we'll see.
The bak choy was a huge failure this year. It seems like the minute we put it in the garden it went to seed. We finally gave up and pulled the plants a few days ago.
We have been enjoying zucchini and summer squash in our salads this past week. Its just starting, but we've found if you pick them when they are about 8 inches long they are still tender and yummy for the dishes we like them in.
We've had several incidences with Ned pulling plants out and putting them in the ditch. Luckily we've rescuing them. but it always puts them in shock when they're in their overnight. Its happened to some tomato plants, pepper plants, butternut squash, and strawberry plants. Not good. It always seems to happen those days I'm transplanting something. Ned has a fascination or something.
The golden raspberries are going crazy. We've had some rainy days that have kept us from going outside a few times this week and those are the days they get overwhelming. the boys love it and would eat and eat and eat out there until they are gone (and they have) but it may be time for jam.
The corn and potatoes are growing like crazy and the weeds in that area are too. Not to bad though. Just really big. They do pull out easily though. Its just taking the time to pull them.
the chickens are pretty independent these days. They have a waterer that has to be refilled once a month, and their feeder just needs a little attention every day. Its a gravity feeder, but for some reason the feed doesn't come down well on its own. So a couple of swipes at the food in the feeder and a check for eggs everyday and my chicken chores are done!
The cows are growing well and are doing fine eating the grass down. they love freshly mown grass from the lawn the best, and will take down the electric fence if I forget to turn it back on after watering day (don't want to get zapped while messing with the gated pipe). Luckily its not a hard fix.
Speaking of the gated pipe, it has its ups and downs. Its not entirely water tight (a headgate issue) so it does get leaky but we've put in a small ditch that is taking care of the swamp we had going on. Overall though, its not a bad set up. The biggest learning curve was that we have to water the potato and corn while its still small until the roots reach far enough down for the ditch water to irrigate it properly. We may have made our ditches to deep. We will try more shallow ditches next year.
The lettuce is finishing up. It has been a great season and it could still keep growing as long as it doesn't get to to hot. Usually what happens is that it stops growing and then in the fall we have some come up again from when the lettuce went to seed. Although I think only the spinach went to seed this year. I guess we'll see.
The bak choy was a huge failure this year. It seems like the minute we put it in the garden it went to seed. We finally gave up and pulled the plants a few days ago.
We have been enjoying zucchini and summer squash in our salads this past week. Its just starting, but we've found if you pick them when they are about 8 inches long they are still tender and yummy for the dishes we like them in.
We've had several incidences with Ned pulling plants out and putting them in the ditch. Luckily we've rescuing them. but it always puts them in shock when they're in their overnight. Its happened to some tomato plants, pepper plants, butternut squash, and strawberry plants. Not good. It always seems to happen those days I'm transplanting something. Ned has a fascination or something.
The golden raspberries are going crazy. We've had some rainy days that have kept us from going outside a few times this week and those are the days they get overwhelming. the boys love it and would eat and eat and eat out there until they are gone (and they have) but it may be time for jam.
The corn and potatoes are growing like crazy and the weeds in that area are too. Not to bad though. Just really big. They do pull out easily though. Its just taking the time to pull them.
the chickens are pretty independent these days. They have a waterer that has to be refilled once a month, and their feeder just needs a little attention every day. Its a gravity feeder, but for some reason the feed doesn't come down well on its own. So a couple of swipes at the food in the feeder and a check for eggs everyday and my chicken chores are done!
The cows are growing well and are doing fine eating the grass down. they love freshly mown grass from the lawn the best, and will take down the electric fence if I forget to turn it back on after watering day (don't want to get zapped while messing with the gated pipe). Luckily its not a hard fix.
Speaking of the gated pipe, it has its ups and downs. Its not entirely water tight (a headgate issue) so it does get leaky but we've put in a small ditch that is taking care of the swamp we had going on. Overall though, its not a bad set up. The biggest learning curve was that we have to water the potato and corn while its still small until the roots reach far enough down for the ditch water to irrigate it properly. We may have made our ditches to deep. We will try more shallow ditches next year.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
A Visual...
Since my wife gave me props for all the projects, I thought I would share a before and after video of one of the major projects. Revamping the garden.
Before:
After
Before:
After
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