Hello, friends. When I rounded the corner the other day, and saw the view above, it made me smile. Between the borage, marigolds and sunflowers in the new bed, and the mullein, bee balm, homestead verbena, yarrow and bachelor buttons in the one behind, I thought it was a lovely combination. Our culinary sage didn't make it through the arctic blast last winter, so I recently bought more. I always look for containers that have extra, and found a 4-pack with 6 plants. I planted them out, under fruit trees and berries. Nothing happened with my last planting of lettuce, or possibly the insects ate it when I wasn't looking. I decided to try planting a container near the house. It's pretty shady, but gets some sun, so I'm hoping it will be happy and safe there. We were having cooler than usual temperatures, so on a day with a forecast of 68, I decided to can up the last of the winter squash. I thought about canning sweet potatoes, but J said they were keeping so well, to just leave them for now. While I was in the kitchen watching the canner, I put five of the potatoes in the oven to bake.
I was delighted to notice the first tomato through the garden fence, on one of the Italian Pear tomatoes. Though it's been pretty muddy in there, with the recent rains, I ventured into the garden on Sunday, and found another plant with three tomatoes. In previous years, it's been August before we got ripe homegrown tomatoes, but I'm hoping with the Amish method I tried this year with some, we may get a few in July. We've always bought a few tomato plants, so we'd have some sooner, but not this year. We're sticking with what we grew, and the Amish ones are quite sturdy plants already. I've harvested the last of the peas, mulberries, blackberries, blueberries, lettuce, oregano, the first cucumber, and gathered the lavender.
A good part of a day was spent on mending. When I emptied another feed bag, I planted a potato in it, and placed it with the others. I think I'll continue to plant more as I can, for a while yet. On Tuesday, I began noticing some of the chickens hanging out near the fence, close to where the game hen was sitting on her nest. It made me suspicious that the chicks were starting to hatch, and I started keeping a closer eye on her. On Wednesday, I heard her do a little clucking, which really made me think she was sitting on some chicks. Thursday morning, sure enough, I saw two little heads peeking out from under her. We were expecting it to be difficult to move them into the coop, partly because she was surrounded by lots of briars, and also because she'd always been very flighty. But Thursday, we were supposed to get a good amount of rain, and then they put out a flood watch, so we knew we had to try. It went wonderfully well, with J handing me the hen across the fence. I held her and three chicks, while he gathered the rest of the chicks and eggs in a basket, and handed it to me. She had six chicks then, and hatched another on Friday. She's doing so well with them.
We finally broke down, and ran the a/c Sat. evening. We had been out of town since the evening before, so didn't get to open up and take advantage of the cooler nighttime and early morning temps, and when we got in, it was 79 and stuffy in the house, and still hot and humid outside. It's definitely the latest in the year that we've turned it on for the first time. We opened back up again at bedtime. It does look like some higher temps are headed our way, including some days in the 90's. Besides the energy usage, I mostly miss the quiet, when we're using a/c. As we heat with wood, the majority of the year, we don't have to listen to a system switching on and off, which is so much more peaceful. We do adore our peace and quiet here. That reminds me, I've mentioned before that we don't watch TV. We do have Netflix, the type where they mail a CD to your home, and we average three a month. As we don't often agree on movies, we just watch them on our respective computers with headphones on. I recently got the first disc of the Outlander series, and love it so far. I know it came out in 2014, so I'm a wee bit behind the times there.
I've been meaning to check our peach trees, and did while walking by them this weekend. We're apparently down to the last peach :o(. I'm guessing the only reason it's remaining is because it's at the end of a very spindly limb, too thin to support a squirrel. Sheesh. Here's hoping the peach makes it until it ripens. If so, it will be precious indeed. Same story with the tromboncino. J has planted seeds three or four times now. I found five seedlings eaten to a nub this morning, likely by pill bugs, with only one remaining. This is a most challenging place to garden. Now that the days are beginning to feel more like summer, the outdoor shower was turned back on. Our homestead has a great many little systems that keep it going, and I endeavor to record the workings of it, in the event J got ill, had to be out of town for a time, etc. I haven't done all that well with this project, but I did take pics and make notes of the shower process, along with the reverse process for the fall (slightly different), and added it to my homestead manual. The pups inaugurated the outdoor shower season, both getting "baths". I've never seen them both so eager to have one, which made it delightfully easy. Wishing you the little joys of the season you're in.
8 comments:
A beautiful scene indeed! Just look at all the life out there!
I also look for "extra" plants when I buy a cell pack. Why wouldn't you, right? ;0D
It's a great idea to take notes on all of the systems. Maybe a video as J's explaining how they work? I have found YouTube so helpful with so many situations.
Yes, it looks like summer is here. The only good thing about the heat it brings is there are a ton of Japanese beetles to hunt for the chooks. They love 'em! And every time I bring a container to them, I'm decreasing the damage they do to the plants on the property.
Enjoy these cool mornings, friend!
It has been a wonderful spring. I agree that it was nice to not hear the AC humming. Despite the nice spring, our garden was put in late this year. Jeff scaled it back as well. The battle of the bugs really did him in last year.
You must be disappointed that Netflix is ending the DVD by mail service. We got DVD's for many years and did switch to streaming only awhile back. We have an antenna with good reception but rarely watch "over the air" broadcasts.
Daisy- YouTube has definitely been helpful to me, and J as well. I'm sorry you've got a ton of Japanese beetles. It's interesting they're still less here, but I'll take it, with everything else we deal with on a regular basis.
Michele- we haven't been told they're ending the Netflix DVD's! Oh boo. That probably explains why recently, all of my requests that they didn't know when they'd be available went away. We tried streaming once, but the sorts of things we like weren't offered, so we went back to DVD's. The battle of the bugs is real! This area seems especially challenging to garden.
Daisy, I meant to tell you we planted some of your kajari melons. Excited to try them (hopefully...:o)!
Such a beautiful view of your plants. That's exciting about the tomatoes. I have some on as well. Cherry tomatoes. This is the earliest, I think, that I've ever seen them. And you harvested a cucumber! I won't see those for a few weeks.
So happy you were able to move the chicken and chicks and that they've adjusted. I bet that was a relief.
I've always wanted an outdoor shower. I can imagine it is so handy to have all summer long. Great idea to try and note how it goes together and gets dismantled. I've been trying to improve at thinking about things each of us does that the other has no idea how to do and adding to a notebook. Hopefully we'll never have to worry about it, but we should be prepared just in case.
Have a wonderful week!
I'm harvesting cucumbers, thanks to the store bought plants! Thank goodness, we're not waiting on our starts, which are constantly being eaten. I hope I never need the homestead manual either, but as you say, it's good to be prepared. I've also thought it would be wonderful to give the next owners, down the road. Our place isn't like any other, and it would be good to pass on all its' quirks and procedures.
Mama Hen looks quite protective of her babies. The clucking sound they make is so sweet and the babies seem to understand her language.
Your lettuce looks delicious! I have started my seeds on the porch and the seedlings have popped up. Now I'm rethinking putting them out in the garden since the hot weather has arrived. Perhaps it would be better to cover them with a hoop house like you have done in your picture. Any suggestions about what I should do would be welcome.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
They are sweet sounds between mama hen and her babies. I don't have the lettuce game figured out, but have been trying to stagger plantings the past couple of years, to have more of a season. It always seemed sad to have to buy lettuce when the tomatoes start coming in. The cover does seem to help, but even so, with a lot of heat, I'm sure they'll start bolting. I planted three varieties in a container 10 days ago, and there's no sign of them yet. Oh well, you can only try.
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