Seed Saving

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Yesterday we tried to collect up as many seeds from our garden as were available. We had so many failed crops that we did not get the seeds I was hoping for, but we got a few.

These are the very last peppers from the garden. It has frosted twice and the plants are now dead.





We also harvested some plantain for drying.













And the last bit of grapes, we are going to keep, since we did no spraying later in the season for this second crop.





Decided to try to dry some chives. No one recommends it, as they seem to lose a lot of flavor, but I buy dried chives at the store, and these would go to waste anyhow.





I can never get enough of the sky.









The fall colors are beginning to be well noticed.









The first thing we did was plant the Jerusalem Artichokes a friend sent me. They arrived with the grains. I've always wanted to try them, and even ordered them once, but they were never planted. So this was a special treat.

You dig a trench about 5 to 7 inches deep.





They say that anything under 2 ounces will not grow. That, in combination with the fact that in the lower 1/3 of the country, they do not thrive as well as the upper 2/3, I went ahead and spaced out the larger ones, and then used the smaller ones as possible filler.





We made two rows, each about 6 or so feet long, and dropped them in.





We shall see what comes up in the spring.





Next we decided to save these marigold seeds. I have no idea if they come up true to form, or if these are hybrids, but I hate letting seed go to waste. There were a lot of seeds on the ground, so I wonder how well these reseed themselves?





Michael is turning into such a man. He gets in there, studies the situation, and comes to me to help me with what he has figured out. I appreciate that so much. Here he's showing me how he found to pull the seeds out more quickly. We saved three colors in three different bags.





We bagged up Cosmos Bright Lights seeds. Again, I have not looked these up to see if they are hybrids. I am guessing they are, so the offspring may be a surprise.





Lovage is a biennial. These should overwinter, flower and seed in the spring. It is the roots that you harvest, for the most part.





The Fernleaf Dill.









Next was the cilantro which has already reseeded somewhat.













And the fennel.





We pulled one, to see about the bulb. But you have to get the bulbs early, as they are above the ground, not below. This one is beginning to grow new stalks, but I suspect it will be killed off before we get new bulbs. Maybe I'll cover the bases of a few and see what happens.





Then the broom corn we'd cut down a few weeks ago. I took most of it for a holiday decor vase, and we saved some seed from the rest.





Basil seed. We'll need to shake these out once they get just a bit drier.





A store-bought pie pumpkin that had not been made into pie yet. I'll save the seeds.





And letting the seeds air dry a bit more in the house as rain is coming again.





I have a craving for scrambled eggs and bacon, biscuits and gravy, fried potatoes with peppers/onion/bacon, sausage, waffles, and a huge glass of orange juice.

Guess I'll go eat an apple. :o)

~Faith

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Ha-HAH! It's fixed!!!!

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Happy dance! Happy dance!

Yes! My beloved Flock browser is fixed. I can't tell you what an awesome browser this is.

Look, I can drag and drop pictures once again, quick as a flash!

Drying more peppers.





Three gallons of blackberries in one day from our Doyle Thornless.





Figs, just beginning to form.





Fennel, with bulbs below.





And, IF I were so inclined, I could put pictures into several social networking places at the same time. But I'm not that social. LOL

Anyhow, thanks to the generosity of dear friends, we have moved up from 512 MB to 2 GB of RAM, and thanks to the job we did this week, we have on order a 1 TB external hard drive. So my computer will be happier, and my browser is patched.

I do like the borders and watermarks on the photos, I think I'll pursue that.

It's a good day. :)

~Faith

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Dad, Mystery Squash, Summer, and Measuring Day

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Happy SUMMER! OK, we're hot and humid enough for me now! :) Rains last week, heat this week. Missing that pool already!

My dad has taught me more than any other person in existence. From him I got my work ethic. He knows how to do so many things and I voraciously am trying to learn as much as opportunity allows while he is here.

I respect my dad. He is a man of integrity. A man of God.

Last night, we went to his home to fix a Father's Day dinner for him. As usual, he had done more for me than I could do for him.





He even made this so that it could be dismantled and taken to our place to use if we desired. Amazing.

We sat outside as lasagna, summer squash casserole, and bread baked, and we fixed a table together. That's my mom, who is having a harder and harder time due to Alzheimer's.





At this point she does not like to go anywhere, and she does not do a lot around the house except for basic housework and a little cooking. She gets easily upset and frustrated by any thing that goes unexpectedly, even if something is in the wrong spot. She spends a lot of time on the computer game Bejeweled. She no longer wants to work on her genealogy hobby.

Dad is having to adjust to all this. Things are quite different than what he has been used to with her his whole life. But they are still going strong at 55 years of marriage. :)

Where in the world is Michael?









Isn't this interesting?









Here are some pictures of volunteer plants, which are doing better, of course, than the ones I've worked really hard on.

This one looks vaguely like a little scallop, but the plant is growing like something else, kind of like a muskmelon, so we'll see what changes occur.









This one is likely a cross between a zucchini and pumpkin, but I'm not sure yet. I actually love how those taste and call them Zuchins.









Here was our first harvest of wild blackberries on Saturday. I brought them up and shared them with Michael. It's going to be a TERRIFIC wild blackberry year, with all the rain we have been blessed with just before ripening time!





And, in comparison, here is the progress of the Doyle Thornless Blackberries we've got coming. What... maybe a week behind?





The progress of the baby birds. At my parents house yesterday, we determined that they are likely mockingbirds.





The parent birds in front of the neighbor's house, trying to distract Michael as he's getting the shot.









The first day of each new season has always been Measuring Day. I have carried a 2 x 2 with me and each of my kids was marked to measure growth. Michael grew another half inch through the spring. I also noticed that, for the first time, his foot is longer than mine! And I wear a size 9 or 10!





For a get together with friends on Friday, what fun it was to slice up cucumbers from the garden, and head out to the herb garden with a basket and sheers to trim just a bit of basil and fennel to mix in.

Are you like me? Does it just make you feel wonderful to tread across the grass in your bare feet, skirts swinging about your calves, carrying a basket filled with what you've grown? There is something real and beautiful about it. :)

The salad was tasty, crisp and refreshing.





On our day of rest Saturday, we also had some fun designing a dream outdoor kitchen.





Imagine a pavilion roof, stone floor and cabinetry, brick BBQs and oven, stainless steel. And gas burners for now, but the ability to use all wood if necessary. Everly Brothers. Dree-ee-eeam. Dream, dream, dreeean, dree-ee-eeam. Dream, dream, dream. LOL

I've been wanting lavender to make all sorts of wonderful things. Here is one of my folk's plants. I tried to use the Obamenomics logic to convince them that they had more than their share and should dig some up and give them to me, but no dice.

I will need to learn cutting techniques for them.





The dental office cleaning job took quite a while this weekend. I had to polish the formica countertops. I've never done that before and I had to figure out how it was supposed to be done, then all the extra elbow grease. I can't say I noticed a difference really...

Today - a GIFT! A friend is coming to work on the farm with us all day, just for the experience. :) And she's going to stay the night so we can stare at stars. Michael is always too tired and ready for bed, so it will be nice to have a star-gazing companion.

I hope it's not cloudy! :)

~Faith

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