Swiss Chard Harvest, Greenhouse Construction, Movie Night

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We never did get to those tomatoes, and it won't be today either. Yikes!

The day began with finding out that the reason I've not heard anything about my divorce for several months is that my lawyer never sent the papers off to be served after the judge signed them.

I was a little frustrated by this. As far as I know, once he has been served and the papers signed my support is supposed to kick in. That means two months of support have vanished into thin air, while we try to scrape by on what little he feels like sending and we work nights and weekends trying to support ourselves and make ends meet.

However, all things are in God's timing, so I'm not really worried. Mostly curious as to how this will all pan out.

So Michael did more mowing yesterday morning while I began weeding the garden. I wish I'd taken pics AFTER weeding instead of before. LOL

Mowing around the garden itself was needed as you can see in this photo. The Three Sisters area of the garden is finally showing visible signs of some success.





The whole problem with this has been the corn. We planted it three times and each time was a significant failure. I suspect it is bugs. Ants, possibly, chewing up the roots. They must get them when they are sprouts, and if they manage to get any higher, they chew through the stalks and they just fall over.

So the pole beans and the winter squash kept getting put off for a long time.

The other half of the garden, where I will be doing some weeding.





Seed saving is something I hope to do a lot of. I hope to buy very little seed next year, so I bought 98% of my seed as open-pollinated. Here are the pods to the sugar snap peas, drying nicely.





The next huge project in the garden, getting those tomatoes back up. I planted them too thickly, and the rains and lack of wire held us back from adding wires above the first and second ones. Now it's a mess.





Peppers are finally growing.





Swiss chard, which we decided needed to be harvested. And in there are the sweet potatoes.





Scallions, onions, leeks. Only showing leeks here, I think.





Artichokes.





More peppers.





Summer squash.





Something is wrong with this and one other summer squash.





The rain washing through the garden disturbed a lot of the melon hills.





Our biggest competition giant pumpkin vine.





Cukes that we just lifted and tied up the day before.





Broom corn and peanuts. You are supposed to hill peanuts like potatoes. If I get a spare minute, I'll do that.





Okra. Neither of us like it. But when we were aiming for a market garden we chose to plant some. No market after all, but we need to learn about it's quirks in tandem with our garden quirks, so we planted some anyway.





With the Three Sisters planting being so difficult, I decided to make an experiment plot. I simply planted all three - corn, beans, and a cucurbit all at the same time. I believe I put in small warted mix gourds. I will keep you updated.





Thinning the squash, gourd, pumpkin plantings at every other hill of corn and beans.





Then my mom and dad came by to help with the greenhouse construction project. We had been planning on digging out one of the hoops and burying in a new hoop post holder. But dad made this nifty thing.









First, drive the new, straight hoop post into the ground in the proper spot. This was ingenious. Dad got a metal rod, put body building weight clamps on it, and used it to insert into the pipe and pound it down.













Then put this crane above the old pipe.





It has an eye hook at the top.





Put on a winch.





Add a chain.





Drop chain down into the pipe.





Secure chain with a bolt.





Begin winching pipe out of ground.









Fill old hole with sand, slowly, so you don't accidentally get a pocket.





Awesome! Thanks, Dad! That really saved us a lot of work!

Michael wanted to save this volunteer, but it also has a wild rose bush there, so it got mowed down.





Bad Japanese Beetles. Scourge of the garden.





The field competition giant pumpkin. The ants got this too. We are down to one in this spot, and I'm wondering if it will survive.





Always looks so much better around here when it's mowed.





Harvesting Swiss Chard.





I left more leaves on some than others, to see how they do. I learned a lot about them yesterday. For ourselves, we don't think we need this much, but it will make a great summer substitute for salad greens, growing so much more easily then than lettuce.





Rinsing the Swiss chard leaves and hanging them to dry on a ball return net. We did not want to blanch and freeze, so we're going to dry them for use this winter in soups.





We left to visit friends and help with projects, but they were all done. So they graciously fed us dinner.

We enjoyed the progress of their lasagna style garden.









Visited their new horses, who had been rescue horses about 4 years ago. The mare has never been able to put on weight. I suspect she has organ damage and can't metabolize all she needs.









And then we all took off and enjoyed Night at the Museum 2 at the theaters. It was really good. We enjoyed it.

We stopped by my folks to pick up some lavender clippings, borrow canning books, and visit until 10:30, so we didn't get home in time to bring in the swiss chard leaves. I'll have pics on those and the lavender cuttings tomorrow.

Taking off to go pick up a used pool!

~Faith

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The Joy of Working With Friends.

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We had a really nice day yesterday. Here is Leah, being introduced to Kohlrabi. :)





We got up, did our usual morning stuff of straightening up, Bible study, prayer; then we went out to begin working. Leah came by around noonish and we worked outdoors until dark, with a brief interlude during some showers when Michael played his pirates game and Leah and I watched "The Belly Button Song" on YouTube, an interesting video about prophecy and possible ties to eclipses, and studied up on some herb questions we had.

The Japanese Beetles are not bothering the vineyard too badly, since Michael sprayed it, but they'd moved over to the Doyle Thornless blackberry row, so that got sprayed. We had to removed some of the grape clusters, due to Black Rot, but not too many. We've got more grapes than we've ever gotten before, but I've been ruthless in cutting off, pulling off, and spraying. Next year, I can't wait to eat grapes!

Mowing took hours again, so did weeding the herb garden, pruning and tying up blackberries and grapes, and tying up cucumbers. Then it was dark. LOL

For anyone who does not know kohlrabi, it's a brassica, so it tastes remarkably like broccoli. However, you can serve this at parties and not worry about having broccoli stuck in your teeth. That is note-worthy in my book!





Just cut off the exterior, slice, chill, and serve these crisp and crunchy bulbs with veggie dip.





We have so much to begin picking right now. The broccoli is about ready.





The cauliflower is making an appearance.





The piricicaba is showing up.





The piricicaba is getting away.






Piricicaba ~ There's something funny going on in the broccoli patch.

Working our way downhill, we were planning on documenting the progress of the Mockingbird chicks, but when we got to the sunflowers, look what we found.





It sat there for the longest time, exhausted, I'm sure, from learning to fly. It's parents sitting up on the overhead wires, were quite concerned, but knew there was nothing they could do. They probably gave up hope, but after we all just looked at each other for a while, we got back to work.





We stayed up til about 1 am, trying to see stars. Michael stayed up with us. With the light cloud cover and the two-doors-down neighbors yard spotlights, it was difficult to get good viewing, but we had fun playing games, making up limericks, and imagining all sorts of odd adventures in between clear spots.

We never made it to the tomatoes, so that's first on the list this morning. I may be able to gather my first sunflower bouquet, I'm hoping. And I need to make pickles. The counter is absolutely COVERED in cukes.

Later today we are going to help some friends with some chores, then hopefully, go the the movies together. We've not been to the movies in a while, but the theater is having discounts on Tuesdays, so if they are showing Night At the Museum 2, we'll go.

I better check the movie schedule!

Have a great day! Humidity is supposed to be lower all over. Yay!

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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Shop Til You Pop

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If it can be done, I sure hope I can find it! I'm giving it a shot, anyhow!

FreeCycle
Craigs List
Newspapers
Word of mouth
phone calls
emails

and doing searches online for hours now, trying to line up some way to either purchase or fabricate a pool wall.

They just don't sell the walls any longer. You have to buy an entire kit.

I kid you not, I have even been emailing Chinese manufacturers and importers of rolled and coiled sheet metal.

No dice.

We are picking up a pool wall someone had on FreeCycle that is a 3 by 12. It will be welcome to have to cool and splash in until something larger makes itself available, but I'm wondering about hooking up our huge filter system. LOL If the wall can take it, it ought to filter that whole pool in about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, I'm going to try pickles, I think. We have a lot of cukes. And we had zucchini for breakfast. ;)





That was three days of rain on the garden. Lots of mud. But they clean up just fine.





CANNING ADVENTURES!

Here's what I've got so far...





Gooseberry pie filling, gooseberry jam with no stems, and gooseberry jam WITH stems.

I planned on making jelly from the frozen gooseberries, but didn't have enough sugar for the whole lot of them. So I decided to do the 1 1/2 gallons of black currants I still had.





I did not follow directions. I wanted to see if using my juicer would give me juice to make the jelly.





It did not. I stopped after only doing about 1/3 of them. My juicer clogged up and I ended up with puree. I should have remembered that this juicer will not do soft fruits at all.

So I put the whole thing into a pot and cooked it til the remaining currants had broken down, then tried to strain it.






Kept trying...





And then tried leaving it for a long time...





It was not use. That stuff was not going to let go of the juice. So I ended up making black currant jam.





Isn't this little guy cute? I think he got too much nitrogen. I hope I don't have a problem. The plants absolutely would not grow until I gave them some later, but it may have been too much.





Having just gone through the cupboard, I'm short on some pickle spices, so I may have to put that off until I go to town tonight and can get some.

Michael is out taking down the massive amounts of grass growth we've had since the rains. We'll be raking it up and putting in the compost pile, it looks like. Too thick to leave there. We ended up with nearly 5 inches of rain this week! We, like so many of you, have been dealing with drought conditions (weird for me to say, as I'm from CA in an area that 15 - 20 inches was a good year) here for a few years. The top of the landscape is good, our lakes are good, but the water table way down deep is still a bit low. I'm hoping this week has brought it close to where it's supposed to be. :)

One bad thing from the rain, is that all the last herbs we put in, that were soooo tiny, got buried by runoff. Next year will be better. If we have the greenhouse going, we can get an earlier start and be able to put plants in that are not tiny, but maybe 6 inches tall. What a blessing that will be in so many ways!

The Tomato Garden

An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden , but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard.
His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison.
The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent:
I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, papa

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Pop:
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love, Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.
That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Pop:
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie

It is going to be hazy-sunny today and 95 degrees!

~Faith

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Ooh, a SAD day!

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We got home late last night. Michael went out to do chores and came in doing his best not to cry.





Yes, it had given way while we were gone. :-(

Gratefully, I had prayed, when we had our first and only swim together before the rains came, that when it gave way, it would be when Michael was not in it. That prayer was answered with a yes. :) Also, the filtering system was not damaged either, so that's a plus.

But we are very sad. This has been such a blessing to us and a highlight to our days of work. We work all day long, but look forward to dipping into that cool water and relaxing as we enjoy the afternoons and evenings of rest after a long, hot, sweaty day of work.

You can see where it gave way first, right where the biggest duct-taped hole had been.





A chair blew in. Looks like someone was cooling their feet.





I hope the grass does not die. We had just superchlorinated it two days prior. You can see how far down the water carried the chlorine dispenser.





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But, before all that took place...

After trying to can more here, we packed up to head to my folks' house, just as another gully washer was coming.









And I had thought we were going over to use my mom and dad's kitchen, but dad had been working on a plan.

He bought a range top at the thrift store, rewired it, put it on a base and we canned outside. Til dark. In the rain. Using the van as a prep area...













I don't think I will do it that way again. LOL But with my mom's alzheimer's, it is upsetting for her to have her kitchen messed around in. Dad says I can borrow the stove top any time. It has a broken and tilted large burner that adds a challenge, but it worked OK.

I am confused on several aspects of jelly making/canning. This has turned into quite an ordeal. Still, I am glad I am learning, and looking forward to being able to share with others what I have learned, when I get there. LOL

It was good to visit with my dad. He's always got great ideas. The rain just made it a bit tedious, and not having counter tops.

I've got jelly left to make, from the frozen berries from last year. I'm going to do small batches today, I hope. That and figure out how to clean up the pool mess.

Life remains an adventure!

~Faith

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