Wildflowers & Chanterelles

Hello, friends.  With all the recent rains, the chanterelles have been popping.  I harvested some one day, to add to the fried potatoes and peppers we were having for dinner.  The basil has begun to want to flower.  I cut it back, and what wasn't used in pasta sauce, was frozen in cubes, to use in future sauces.  The first blueberries have begun ripening, and are being gathered, along with some blackberries and mulberries.  The shade bed was cleaned up, and areas of the garden were weeded.

In the garden, I harvested yellow squash, zucchini, cabbage, cucumbers and broccoli.  A new broccoli salad was tried, and the remaining broccoli was frozen.  Some of the cabbage was used to make a new to us slaw.  J has been brainstorming some new garden ideas.  If any of it comes to pass, I'll let you know.  A young couple moved into the community a year or two ago.  They've set up a farm, which uses lots of permaculture principles.  After the fact, two weekends ago, I noticed they had set up at the local bakery, which the wife opened.  This weekend, when I saw that they were set up again, J & I went to check out their farm stand.  I bought beautiful salad greens and some beets.  We're happy to support them.  The bakery goods look amazing; not just sweets, but beautiful quiches, breakfast biscuits and other delights.  I'd be supporting the bakery too, if I wasn't gluten-free and vegan these days.  

the wildflower patch

For several weeks, we've been enjoying organic strawberries from Aldi, and cherries for $3.99# from Food Lion.  It's really nice to have them both available and reasonably priced.  Late spring and summer fruits are one of the pleasures of seasonal eating.   The pups were bathed in the outdoor shower.  They were both such good, cooperative boys.  I'm sure the treats helped.  My main concern was a wasp that was staring me down the whole time.  Thankfully, it left us alone.  I repotted a geranium, and fed it and a number of other plants with liquid seaweed.  Like a lot of the country, we're experiencing the heat dome this week.  Take good care, and stay cool out there.

Gardening Challenges

 

Hello, friends.  J and I have been discussing how gardening might change as we grow older, and with recent garden disappointments and challenges, we're pretty sure we won't be gardening as we currently are, with two large row gardens, in future years.  We're not sure exactly how it will look, as we've tried most of the possibilities... raised beds, hoop house, containers, and many ways to improve the soil... compost, manure, ash, biochar, natural fertilizers and teas, chop and drop, with less than the hoped for results.  We are considering building a walapini, attached to our old root cellar, but would only be able to grow certain things in there.  Certainly no large, rambling plants.  But, it's a possibility.  Growing a large portion of your food organically is a lot of work, and with multiple challenges each year, we're looking for alternatives to what we're doing.  We both really enjoy gardening, and having fresh food, but the amount of work, and the many challenges we're up against, are making us rethink things.  

We pulled a few onions, all of which were small.  I harvested zucchini, cucumbers, yellow squash, a cabbage, basil, rosemary and broccoli.  Much of the broccoli looks like it's close to bolting, so I harvested the largest heads, and froze enough for quite a few meals.   I plan to keep an eye on the smaller heads, and harvest them when needed.  It turned out there was a little over 20# of potatoes harvested.  I cooked up some of the "need to be eaten" batch, and forgot to weigh those first, but the harvest was better than what we initially thought.  The smallest potatoes were canned.  I found and transplanted another kale volunteer.

Dear McNibs has been having more issues.  The most concerning one was when he just keeled over, looking just like someone who passed out.  I was right behind him, heading to the mail carrier's vehicle, when he fell back, then onto his side, like a sack of potatoes.  He seemed alert as soon as I got to his face, and not in distress.  Thankfully, where he fell was a shady spot on grass, as it was a hot day, so I just grabbed a chair and water, and sat with him.  He sat up in a few minutes, got up in 30, and hasn't had a recurrence, which I'm thankful for.  There were also good things.  On one of our walks last week, he trotted/hopped up the hill (due to his mass), trying to keep up with Guinness, when he had just been doing a slow plod for the past few weeks.  I'll take the good wherever I can get it.  

first hornworm of the year

I cleaned and decluttered the floor of my closet, after getting another shoe rack to help organize.  I've started going through my recipes, of which I've got entirely too many.  I'm shredding any with ingredients I can no longer have, like eggs or dairy, or just don't sound as good as they used to.  I hope to get them organized again, so I don't have to search through a large pile to find what I'm looking for.  Two quarts of hummingbird food were made, and golden paste for the pups.  The gardenia bushes are blooming, and smell so sweet.  The lilies too.  The coming week ushers in the summer solstice, with the longest day of the year.  Wishing you peaceful, sweet days.

Blooms & Garden Bounty

Hello, friends.  The garden has been getting busier.  Last week, I harvested yellow squash, zucchini, blackberries, mulberries, oregano, cabbage, broccoli, lambs quarter, and the first cucumbers.  Laundry was dried on the line.  A dozen kale volunteers were transplanted to their own patch in the garden. Volunteer tomatoes were transplanted to bare spots, mostly where I had planted chard, with no luck.  J put up string for the tromboncino squash, and a trellis and string for cucumbers.  New blooms in the wildflower patch include plains coreopsis, and black-eyed susan whose petals turn rust-colored towards the center.

I redeemed 2150 Swagbucks for a $25 GC, taking advantage of a GC sale and a 50 SB discount.  A double batch of hummingbird food was made, as I'm seeing more at the feeders.  As I'm typing this Sunday evening, there's none left in the fridge, and I need to make another round.  I used the Merlin ID app several times, and was surprised to see so many birds I had no idea were here.  Some new to me birds were different flycatchers, red-eyed vireos, and though I've seen indigo buntings in the area, usually along the fencerows, I've rarely if ever seen one on this land.  Now I understand the excitement people have over this app.  

I spent time in the pond garden Sunday morning, weeding around the orchard trees, and harvesting lambs quarter.  I noticed most of the potato plants were dead, and dug a couple of mounds.  After J got in, we dug the potato patch.  The potatoes hadn't thrived there.  There were fire ants in a couple of places, who love to eat them, as well as the usual roly poly's and other assorted critters.  I spread the potatoes out on the porch to dry, and believe we got something over 10#. I plan to weigh them before putting them into storage.  Our Sunday dinner was produce from the garden... broccoli, yellow and zucchini squash, cabbage and cucumbers.  We were noticing, while digging potatoes, that the onions looked like they'd soon need harvesting, so they may be next.  May you have a most bountiful week.

The First Tomato

Hello, friends.  The first chanterelles of the year have been foraged.  They were added to mushroom gravy I had planned for that day's dinner.  Last week, I harvested lettuce, peas, lambs quarter, the first yellow squash and zucchini from the garden.  We've had a few blossoms, and I was excited to find the first tomato forming.  A shirt was mended.  Early in the week, there were cool, rainy days.  These inspired me to start on some spring cleaning.  It worked out well.  Though we did have a fire in the woodstove on Monday, surely it will be our last of the season.  Heating with wood is such a messy thing, I try to wait until we're done having fires to do spring cleaning.  I'd love for things to stay clean for at least a little while.  I've continued making progress through the week on more deep cleaning.

I replanted swiss chard and kajari melon seeds, in spots where they hadn't come up.  More zinnias and hyacinth vine were planted.  The kajari melon and hyacinth vine seeds were shared by the lovely Daisy.  We've gotten plenty of rain this week.   The kitchen composter has not been drying it fully for some time, and started leaving a thick layer of material on the bottom of the bucket, which makes the paddle stop working.  I'm waiting to hear back from customer service, but in the meantime, I powder coated the bucket, as the non-stick coating had worn away in spots.  It seems to have helped slightly, but is still not working the way that it first did.  I expect my use is harder than most, with running it daily.  Hopefully, they'll help get it running optimally again.

Ronde de Nice zucchini

I've been consistently doing the mini-move stretches, and now have added a workout my sister shared with me, and have already noticed a difference.  So happy about that.  Bird suet and hummingbird food were made for the wildlife.  On a rainy day, all the house plants were moved from the porch to their summer spots.  I plan to continue deep cleaning, as often as I have time this week.  I hope your week is a good one, in the ways that matter most to you.

Wildflowers & Wildlife

Hello, friends.  It was a good week on the homestead.  One morning, I was met by this lovely sight, when opening up the chickens.  They're a pair of cecropia moths, the largest in N. America, members of the giant silk worm family.  Researching that they typically lay eggs in one to two days, in host trees, when I found them still there the next evening, I moved them out onto trees.  Being nocturnal, I hope they found safe places that night.  I harvested and dried comfrey, oregano, and lemon balm.  Batches of golden paste, ketchup, and curry blend were made.  I freeze the ketchup in 4 oz. jars, and defrost a jar as needed.  With J being allergic to several spices, including turmeric, I began making our own curry powder blend a few years ago, so we can be sure what's in it.  I dehydrated GF bread and made bread crumbs.  Lettuce, peas and mulberries were harvested.  The chickens got bolting lettuce several days on their new treat feeder.  

wildflower patch

Temperatures have cooled off, and as usual, I began looking for heat-producing chores.  One of the days, I canned all the vegetable scraps into broth, which removed 7.5 gallons from the freezer.  Besides running the dehydrator a couple of days, I baked sweet potatoes one cool morning, and left the oven door open afterwards.  Regular potatoes were baked another day, and a new GF muffin recipe was tried.  Water was boiled for hummingbird food.  We've got little summer squash, cucumbers and kiwi in the garden.  Lots of marigold and tomato volunteers came up in the garden.  Many have been transplanted, and marigolds, iris and tomato seedlings were shared with my massage therapist.  A red bellied woodpecker has been enjoying the fruits in our largest mulberry tree.  

wallflower

All the houseplants were taken out onto the porch.  They'll be moved to their summer spots in the next couple of days.  The grow station was moved out of the house, and into storage.  I brought peas to shell on our skoolie trip, and needle and thread to mend a shirt.  I did these while relaxing with the pups in their fenced area.  At home, I mended a favorite flannel shirt, while sitting on the porch, on a lovely day in the low 70's.  The wildflower bed in our garden is doing beautifully, and makes me smile whenever I see it.  Several new to me wildflowers were researched, which included wallflower, sweet William catchfly, and flowering flax.  There are several colors of bachelor buttons, including a pretty one with two blues.  I hope you have a most lovely Memorial Day.  

And Isn't That Life?

our view out the dinette window

Hello, friends.  Well, I'll say our first trip didn't go quite as we expected.  The bus itself did well.  There were several issues, but nothing that stopped us.  The mini split leaked water when we turned corners, but did great when we were sitting still, with outside temps in the upper 80's.  It's set up as our heat and air, even while we're driving down the road.  The oil pressure gauge wasn't working properly.  Joseph's already replaced it, and it's working fine now.  The operating temperature got higher than he would prefer, and he's working on that issue.  The power steering has a leak.  The drinking water pump over-pressurizes, due to the small faucet size, which makes it start and stop, instead of continuously flowing.  He's going to create a bypass system to fix this.  This is exactly why we're doing local shakedown trips, to make us aware of issues, and fix them, before we take off on longer trips.  

ducks strolled by a few times a day

Our biggest challenge was with McNibs.   We'd been wondering if he might be getting some dementia, and this trip made it clear.  Away from his usual cues and consistencies of life on the homestead, the poor boy seemed lost.  He paced almost the entire first night, despite multiple walks through the night, and me sitting up with him.  His bathroom habits got all off, and he went inside the bus almost every time through the weekend, often shortly after coming in from long walks.  He just wasn't his usual happy self.  Thankfully, back home, he seems back to his usual self, though as the weeks go by, he's obviously slowing down.  I'm waiting to hear back from our holistic vet, and making an appointment with an animal communicator, to see if there's anything more I can do to help.  Joseph may take more shakedown trips, but for now, I'll be staying home with him, and not putting us all through that again.  I sure love that silly boy.  

There were some bright spots to the weekend.  The two campers closest to us were two sisters and their husbands.  They've been meeting up for years, and traveling together.  We enjoyed talking with them.  One of the husband's was an engineer, and noticed how robustly things were built on the outside.  They wanted a tour of the bus, which Joseph happily gave them, while I kept the pups outside, so there was room to move around.  There were lovely places to walk, around a large pond with ducks and geese, and through the woods to a large field along the river.  I noticed several native wildflowers that we don't have on this land, and enjoyed learning about them, including fire pinks and partridgeberry.  In the days before we left, I finished the needlepoint pillow.  So, despite the down side, there were good things too.  And isn't that life?

A Quick Update

Hello, friends.  I hope you've been enjoying these recent days.  Well, we finally did it, and took our first skoolie trip.  We just got back today (Sunday), so this post will be short and sweet.  I plan to put up a post on Friday about our trip.  Other than the usual homestead happenings, a neighbor we shared sweet potato slips with gifted me several petunia seedlings, of different colors.  Petunias are something I've never grown, and I'm excited to see how they do.  So far, they all seem happy, though a few are being chewed on by something.  Another neighbor gave me a chicken treat hanger.  Before we left, I put a bolting head of lettuce on it, to give them some amusement while we were gone, as I left their screened porch closed to their yard, to keep them safe.  I gave them another head of lettuce when we returned today.  I'd say the feeder is a hit.  We have some great neighbors!