What a summer

I didn’t realize I hadn’t written in a month.
Seriously.  What a summer.   August was nice so what’s left of the garden is producing well. The tomatoes that haven’t been wiped out by late blight are doing well and ripening.  The potatoes didn’t fare as well. It killed all of them but I think they had [...]

Early May

I feel like we’re a little bit ahead in spite of the long winter.  The peas are up.  I haven’t checked the rest of the seeds outdoor but will this morning.  It’s warm enough at night to not have heat on in the seedling house.  I’ve used a third of last year’s propane by waiting [...]

Moving Right Along

I’m being lazy today. I had errands to run earlier but I’ve been home an hour and a half and accomplished none of my physical work.  Emails have been answered, a little research done but not one seedling has been potted up.  Not one plant in a greenhouse watered, picked or one inch of ground [...]

New Plans

I’m settling in to Steve’s pending unemployment. It hit me hard even though I knew it was likely to happen.  Rather than let it sink in and catch my breath I jumped into action.  Then I sat back and wondered what I’ve done and a whole list of “holy crap!” worries.  It’s ok now. [...]

Food To Do’s

Thanks to WordPress giving us a “stickie” for posts I can keep this on the front page and keep updating.
Pick today before frost tomorrow:

tomatoes
peppers
tomatillos
eggplant
zucchini
summer squash
cucumbers
corn

make and can stewed tomatoes (8 pints)
can tomatoes (picked Monday.  I can’t get the damned pressure canner open to get the first batch out.  I hate pressure canning.) I got [...]

I should write something

I should write something.  I know I haven’t written in a while when friends email to ask if I’m ok.  I am ok.  Last week was crazy.  The work week started late because of Labor Day.  Tuesday got away from me.  Wednesday and Thursday were busy but I don’t remember why now.  Friday took me [...]

Coffee, Trout & Tomatoes

Not a recipe. This is where I have my first sips of coffee in the morning. I no longer dare put off checking the greenhouse. I’m out of bed and in the seedling house around 5 am these days. I take my cup of coffee with me. The heater is [...]

April 17, 08

It’s hard to believe the month is half over already.
I screwed up and didn’t turn the heat on in the greenhouse two nights ago. Most of the cauliflower seedlings are dead. I’ll reseed today. The only good thing about this is that cauliflower isn’t one of my biggest sellers. Tammaro’s will [...]

This Week: April 14

The impossible To Do list this week: all regular chores and

seed cucumbers, more tomatoes
work with decayed bark in gh
clean seedling house
clean propane heater in seedling house
order propane?
seedlings to the seedling house, getting second leaves
fill six packs
order more six packs?
start potting up seedlings – broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage are starting to get true leaves (time consuming)
get greenhouse [...]

It’s time to start shoveling…

Quick note about the moldy compost in the gh. I added rabbit food (alfalfa pellets) to the pile to heat it up after Snuggles died. Alfalfa will get a pile going in no time. Before I move the pile tomorrow I’ll clean out the mold and dispose of it. I don’t [...]

Today’s Weather

No joke. 4″ of snow last night; fog and rain today.

Little stuff

Nothing significant this morning, just little stuff.  The tom turkeys are very interested in mating but the hens have a headache.  They aren’t laying eggs yet.  Mr. and Mrs. Mallard have decided to move out of the barn and take up new digs some where else.  I think they’re in the old duck house.  Each [...]

Showing off the Undies!

Normally I wouldn’t show off undies on the blog but these are worthy of an exception. These undies will make you smile.  I didn’t make these.  My friend Jan makes them for her Waldorf dolls.

Motherly Advice

I wasn’t going to blog about this but changed my mind this morning. This is related to farming. Monday was a very bad rough awful please God make it stop day. I was overwhelmed. I’m a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, vegetable grower, shit shoveler, dog exerciser, poultry watcher, egg collector… [...]

Dial Up

I’m on dial up for a few minutes this morning.  I haven’t been able to get a signal from the tower since 5:45 pm yesterday.  Peas didn’t get planted yesterday because of the wind.  Nothing like having your raccoon face sand blasted by granular snow. I’ll get them planted today and when the server gets [...]

Natural Springs

We went snowshoeing yesterday. There are several trails across our property.  They interconnect and lead out to the heath at the back of our property.  More pics later – I need to get the plant stand out of the rabbitry and into the house before the seedlings get leggy.

Hearing stupid statements like “plant your peas [...]

Germination!

The spinach is germinating. It hasn’t broken the surface yet. The Haukeri turnip and pac choi I planted January 31 saved themselves by popping up over night. I was going to replant them today. If it hadn’t been for the rain in February they’d have germinated earlier. Three inches of [...]

Another Must Read

Cathy at Maternal Gardens has a through provoking blog today.  I’ve paid close attention to Cathy’s entries because she’s accomplished so much in so little time.  She is one very determined woman.  When the idea of ducks came up the ground was frozen.  Bill thought she should wait on the ducks until she could set [...]

Sunrise

Frustrated

In the 1950’s the USDA told farmers they should get big or get out.  Fifty years later many people still believe this.  A lot of farmers did get big.  They buy and/or rent big acreage, have big equipment, big fertilizer bills, big pesticide bills, big stress, big pressure, many have really big subsidy checks.  They [...]