The good, the bad, and the ugly

I love my life, really I do, but things go wonky all the time and I end up with chickens in the bathtub... I'll start with the ugly and work my way to the good so we end on a good note here.

 The Ugly:

You can just see him in there

•    Last weekend I sent Aislyn out to give the bunnies food and water. She came running in the house saying that there was a snake in the cage and the babies were dead. I ran out there (after grabbing my camera) and, sure thing, there was a snake in the nest box. It was just a medium, garden variety snake, but it was big enough to eat one baby and kill the other 3. The mama bunny was cowering in the far corner and practically jumped into my arms when I opened the cage door. Mike followed closely behind me, shotgun in hand. Then he proceeded to poke the snake with a stick, repeatedly, until the snake tried to climb out of the cage. Of course, it couldn't get out, there was an entire half-grown bunny rabbit in it's belly, but it sure tried. While it was stuck there Mike shot it. 

•  Yesterday morning I gave the Maran and Blue Amercuana chicks fresh water. As I walked away I forgot to drop the shade cloth back into place. About 8 hours later, when it was 108 degrees, 14 of the 21 babies had wedged themselves into a small corner behind a cardboard box, where there was a bit of shade, and smothered to death.The survivors were quickly moved into the bathtub to cool off and recover. I can't tell you how bad I feel about it. 

 The Bad:

Sad sad zucchini

•  Squash bugs have killed all my zucchini and yellow squash and are now working on the patty pan and cucumbers. I've pulled most of the plants and I'm going to try again in a different bed. I've heard that planting radishes all around the seedlings might help, so I'll try that.

Get a room!

•  Grasshoppers are everywhere right now. I can't walk anywhere without flushing out whole clouds of them. They don't seem to be too interested in the garden yet, but if they do decide to munch on my veggies there are enough to wipe everything out. They are also busy making lots of baby grasshoppers... everywhere I look there are grasshoppers getting busy.

We're letting it dry before we give it to the animals

•  The corn has succumbed to a terrible earworm infestation. We're going to put in a new crop in a few weeks. Luckily, the chickens don't care if there's worms in the corn and the goats like the crunchy dry stalks, so it's not a total waste. I am sad that I didn't get any sweet corn for 4th of July though.

•  Gabe has been sick. It's nothing major, just a virus, but it's awful when he's sick because he can't express himself very well. He's been sleeping a lot and Turtle is more than happy to keep him company during naptime. 

 The Good:

Aislyn, Ian, and Lily

•  I'll start with the best thing. The pool!! The Nanas went out and found us the biggest above ground pool they could. It keeps the kid occupied, which keeps the bickering to a minimum. If it weren't for the pool the kids would have to stay inside when it gets really hot out. Plus, it's huge, so there's plenty of room for the grownups too. My favorite thing to do late at night now is to go float in my ring, watch the stars, and enjoy the quiet. 

Dehydrated tomato paste

•  I have tons of tomatoes. Yesterday I stopped counting the cherry tomatoes I was picking when I got to 100. I've made a few jars of tomato sauce, lots of dried cherry tomatoes, and (my favorite) dehydrated tomato paste.We had amazing BLTs the other night and there is a big bowl of cherry tomatoes on the dining room table for snacks. 

Mama and babies

•  Miss Broody wasn't having any luck hatching out her eggs, so I took them from her and gave her a few of the babies I hatched in the incubator. After dark I snuck out there with 4 babies and switched them for the eggs. The next morning I went out to check on the little family and all seemed well. The next day she let them come out of the nestbox and explore the coop. Now they're running around after their mama and she's teaching them that the compost bin is the best place to find tasty tidbits.

Buddy likes to be in the middle of things

•  Buddy the duck was delivered to my a door a couple of weeks ago by one of the (semi) local members of my gardening forum. He needed a new home, and I have the space for him. The other ducks gave him a bit of a hard time when he first arrived, but now he's part of the group. He's a crested Khaki Campbell and a very handsome guy. I think some of the Pekin girls are sweet on him.

That's it for today. It's time to have some lunch and then go swimming. Blessed Be...

Tomatoes and other good stuff

 I got my first ripe tomato from the garden this week and more are starting to change color!! This is what I've been waiting for since February. I did share too, even though I didn't want to. I probably should have let it go for another day or 2 to get even riper, but I just couldn't resist. It was still a million times tastier than a grocery store tomato.

This is going to be the second ripe tomato of the year

Small Red Cherry tomatoes are almost there

I got rid of the blossom end rot I was fighting on the Romas

Beefsteak

My German Green tomatoes are blooming

 Aside from that I've been getting tons of summer squash. The patty-pan are the best producers so far, but the zucchini are doing pretty good too. The yellow squash are just doing so so. I've made squash fritters (they were amazingly yummy), squash pickles, fried squash, sauteed squash, squash in soup... Well, you get the idea. I got a great recipe from my great gardening friends at The Easy Garden Forum for a summer squash chocolate cake that I'll be making and feeding to Ian (aka: Mr. I Hate Vegetables) to see if he likes it.

Lily likes to help harvest 

The rest of the garden is doing well too. I've harvested okra, radishes, wax peppers, and pickling cucumbers which, along with some squash and some tiny onions, all got made into pickles. It was my first try, but everything worked the way it were supposed to and they look pretty.

The pink ones have radishes in them

 The winter squash are starting to produce little fruit and one watermelon plant has a teeny tiny melon on it. The corn is also starting to get ears, which means we'll have plenty of time to get another crop in after this one is done. Peppers and tomatillos are also doing well.

Itty bitty watermelon

Winter squash (it's about the size of a baseball now)

An ear of corn starting to develop

Wax peppers

 In other garden news, Mike has enlarged the garden enough to add 16 more watermelon hills. He just mowed the area as short as he could and then dug up the hills and added bunny poo to each one before planting the seeds. We might also put some corn in this area this year, if we can get the tiller fixed or borrow one.

The new watermelon area

 On the animal front, I hatched out 13 new chicks last weekend and they are outside in the brooder. One of my Buff Orps has gone broody and is sitting on 6 eggs, so I'll have more chicks in a couple of weeks. The rabbits are getting bigger and we should be able to process them in a couple of weeks. I lost 2 of my ducklings to a predator this week, it happened during the day and both the dog and the cat were in the house, so I'm thinking a hawk. Now we just have Duck, Goose, and Jill, but I may be getting some Pekins this weekend to add to my flock. And our kittens are adorable and into everything these days. I may have a home for one already.

My favorite is the black one in front

They're hoping I have treats

Here's all 5 ducklings a few hours before Duck and Jack disappeared

Looking for trouble to get into

Miss Broody (since I don't name my hens all broody chickens get called Miss Broody)

 That's it for now, I gotta go check the tomatoes for hornworms and maybe fold the mountain of clean laundry that's trying to take over my living room.

 Blessed Be...

Veggies

Good morning everyone! I have just been out in the garden and I am so happy with the way things are coming. I do have a few problems though. Cabbage moths have wiped out my brassicas. I didn't get a single cabbage or broccoli, and the collards are waving the white flag as we speak. I'll be pulling those and putting in more carrots and beets. Oddly enough, the Swiss chard is doing fine. I tasted it and discovered WHY none of the bugs want to eat it...it's nasty and bitter. I'll be pulling that out too. The spinach is hanging on, but just barely, so I think it's time to pull that and put in some more cucumbers. I've come to the conclusion that the cool weather crops will need to go in in the fall here, spring just doesn't last long enough this far south.
 My other problem child in the garden is the eggplant. I'm pretty sure that flea beetles are eating them up. I'll be going out and dusting them with DE later today to see if I can knock the bugs back and give the plants a chance to recover.

Sad, sad eggplant

 Now for the good news. My tomatoes are doing great. Every plant out there is either blooming or already has fruit on it. I spend a good part of my day out there WILLING the fruit to ripen so that I can eat one. Gabe is having a hard time waiting too, every time he goes out there with me he tells me' "Want a tomato!" I have to keep a close eye on him to keep them from picking the green ones.

This is the first tomato I planted this year in the herb bed

One of my cherry tomatoes,  it keeps growing new suckers on the ends of the fruiting branches

Roma, Aunt Ruby's German Green, and Beefsteak tomatoes

Beefsteak tomatoes

 The peppers and tomatillos are also doing well. Some of the plants have fruit. So far, the ones that are doing the best are the Hungarian Wax peppers, Seranos, and the Jalapenos. I planted the Habanero from seed, so they are still tiny, but since our season lasts until October or November I'm not too worried about getting a harvest from them.

Hungarian Wax pepper

Jalapeno

Tomatillo 

 All of the squash seem to be doing well too. I harvested my first zucchini today, and one of the patty pan will be ready to be picked in a day or two along with some of the yellow squash. My acorn squash and pumpkins have started vining and I even have two tiny acorn squash forming already. In the herb bed I have a couple of Nest Egg gourds, they have gone crazy. There are about 20 fruits on them and they look more like pterodactyl eggs than hen's eggs, I don't think I'll be fooling any chickens with them, they'll probably run, screaming if I put one in the nest box.

This isn't even the biggest Nest Egg gourd

Tiny acorn squash

My first zucchini!

Pattypan squash

Itty bitty pumpkin

And they're off, the pumpkins are vining

I have harvested a couple of cucumbers already, too. They were pickling cukes, but they still tasted yummy. I can't wait until I have enough to make my first batch of pickles!

Pickling cucumber (or as Gabe calls them "little pickles")

Let's see...what else is doing good? Oh yeah, the sunchokes I planted last week are starting to come up, which excites me. I've wanted to try them for awhile. The okra is flowering and even has one pod on one plant, I'll have to learn to make gumbo soon. The onions are bulbing up and we have pulled a few to use, but most will stay in the ground until they get bigger. My bush beans are flowering, so I should be able to start harvesting in a week or so. The pole beans take a little longer, they are just starting to vine, but they will produce through the summer. And, last, the corn is doing well. It's about halfway between my knee and my hip. I can't wait to have fresh corn on the cob to grill. It's the veggie that makes the biggest difference between homegrown and store bought. No corn in a store will ever be as good as corn fresh from the garden.

Sunchoke

Okra

Onion

Bush beans

Pole beans

Corn

Anyway, that's it for today. I have tons of chores to get done. Blessed Be...

Homesteading class

 On Thursday I started my 3 day Homesteading course at The Ploughshare Institute For Sustainable Culture. It was a birthday gift from my wonderful Mother-in-law and Grandmother-in-law (thanks again Nana Cindy and Nana Debbie!) and I was so excited. When I walked into the classroom I was greeted by a huge pile of goodies. They had seed catalogs, magazines, trade publications, and a giant notebook with the curriculum for each student. The classroom itself was an old house from the 1800s that had been taken apart, piece by piece, and moved to the property from Missouri (I think!) There were 11 other students in the class. About half of them were from Texas, but the rest were from New Mexico and Colorado.

Our schoolhouse

  The first day our wonderful teachers, Butch and Aaron, covered selecting land, water sources, and organic gardening. There was a lot of information about remineralizing our soils, beneficial soil microbes, companion planting, and composting. We walked through their gardens, got a demonstration of double digging, learned how to build a proper compost pile, and everyone asked a million questions.

Aaron explaining how double digging works

Butch and our beautiful classroom 

Part of the garden, along with the greenhouse

The perennial, edible landscaping section of the garden

 The second day of class (which was my birthday) started off with raising poultry. We talked about the best chicken breeds for our areas, ducks, turkeys, and the importance of free ranging for the health of the animals and the people who eat them. We also touched on predator control and we all agreed that hawks are a pain in the butt and that we should be able to shoot them when they eat our chickens. Next we went to their herb garden and talked about planting herbs, medicinal uses of herbs, dividing herbs, and every other herb related topic you can imagine. I didn't take any pictures, because I was too busy picking their brain for information, but their herb garden is beautiful! Next came row crops like grain, dried beans and market crops. Towards the end of class one of my wonderful fellow students, Melissa, brought out a carrot cake that she had bought  and the whole class sang Happy Birthday. I wasn't expecting it and was very touched.

 That night when I got home the kids were waiting for me with ducklings! Each child gave me a duckling and told me "Happy Birthday, Mama!" While I was giggling and getting tons of ducky love Mike brought out the present he got me, a pressure canner! It is an older one (maybe from the 60's) and needs a couple of parts, but it is super sturdy and he was able to order the parts online. I'm so excited that I'll be able to can meat and veggies this summer!! With the water bath canner he got me for Christmas I can now can anything I want! Then we had dinner and German Chocolate cake and ice cream. 

Duck, Duck, Duck, and Goose

My pressure canner

Mike insists on a candle for every year, it got a little scary for a minute

Gabe loves birthdays, even if they're not his

 The last day of class started with dairy animals. I got to milk my first cow. I have to say that it is quite a bit different than milking a goat. For one thing, my goat weighs less than I do and a cow is HUGE. I do believe it was the first cow I've ever been up close and personal with. I did manage to get milk out though. Next came dairy goats. I got some great information on natural medicines for worms and fly repellents. After lunch we talked about berries, orchards, and vineyards. Aaron explained how to prune fruit trees and grape vines and told us his favorite nursery for buying trees and vines suited to our climate. Then we got a very short lesson on bee hives, and how they relate to every other part of the homestead. The last part of the class covered pasture management. This was a bit over my head, but I took lots of notes, hopefully Mike will understand it better than I did.

Everyone got to try to milk the cow

Here, the professional shows us how it's done with the goat

Blackberries and grapes

 All in all, it was an amazing weekend. I'm sure I have forgotten some of the stuff they covered, because I don't have my notebook next to me as I write this. If you are interested in homesteading, though, I highly recommend this class. The school offers tons of other classes too, everything from organic gardening to horse farming (farming with draft horses, not raising horses.) The cheese classes are next on my list. 

 So that's it for now, I have tons of chores to catch up on around here. Have a great week everyone, Blessed Be...