Hi Everyone,
I am so sorry that I did not journal last week---I know that some of you were wondering if we were okay. I know that for a fact, because I got emails from you. Truth be told, we were doing just great. Our Pastor and his wife invited us home for dinner last Sunday after church, and we didn't get home until a little after 9:00 that night. I quickly sent out the Larder email, but since it takes me a few hours to journal, I surrendered to the magnetic pull between my head and the pillow. Journaling Monday or Tuesday was not a possibility, for life has been super busy with Fall gardening preparations.
"TO BE, OR NOT TO BE"
About a month ago we started planting the Fall garden. The first things that we planted were Pak Choi and broccoli. They both came up sparingly, and both are having growing problems. The little bit of broccoli that did sprout is trying it's best to dodge the beak of the turkey, and the holes from the skunk. Mom ended up putting the strawberry wire cages over the broccoli rows to protect what was left. Where the Pak choi did not come up, the self-seeded zinnia's and sunflowers from the spring garden did come up. Now everyone around here knows that I LOVE flowers, and classify them as top priorities in the garden, and only consider them weeds when I absolutely have to. I have already pulled up fifty or more baby zinnia plants, and about ten or so baby sunflower plants. It makes me cringe, and I almost have to do it blind-folded. I have been able to leave some---like the sunflowers in the sweet potato patch, or those growing in the walkway between the okra and the sweet potatoes. Then there is the beautiful red zinnia that is blooming---it is nice and lush, and growing right on the edge of the place where I needed to plant rutabagas. I made Eli weed around it, and I had him build the bed around it. I should have flowers till frost! In order to plant the green onions, I had to treat a bunch of zinnias as weeds. I have to do the same where the kale and lettuce will be planted. So you will understand that when the zinnias and sunflowers began to grow up in the bed where I had planted the Pak choi, that I just could not pull myself to pull them up. When Eli and I were working in the garden on Tuesday, he saw the green patch and asked what was growing there. I told him Pak choi---and flowers. He wisely counseled me that I should pull them up so that the veggies would grow properly---but I told him that I just couldn't. He laughingly said that he would not say anything about them in front of Mom---for everyone knows that she shows no mercy for flowers that are growing as weeds. Poor Eli and Steve, all too often I will be speaking in their right ears, "Don't destroy that flower!" and Mom will be talking in their left ears, "Pull those up, chop that down, or weed wack it!" Sometimes I will walk up on a weeding party and poor Steve will look so guilty as he realized that I just saw him pull up a weedy flower. A few weeks ago though, I was sick with horror. Eli and I were weeding in an herb bed, and Mom was over weeding in one of the rose beds. I looked up just in time to see that Mom had pulled up a large three foot wide marigold. I couldn't believe my eyes---but I was informed that the massive piece of beauty was killing the moss verbena, and stunting the growth of the rose bushes. Now, I did not plant that marigold, but it volunteered itself from some marigolds that I had growing their last year. Sigh! I can find encouragement in the fact that when we get the butterfly section of the garden all done---then flowers can grow when and where and how they please, for I am looking forward to a hodge podge of different flowers---the wilder the better. Mom and I truly do balance each other out well. I can be on the wild side, and she can be on the orderly calm side. Somehow though, I am going to have to find a compromise with the Pak choi bed. I do not want to lose all my chances of having beautiful vibrant zinnias and sunflowers blooming until frost!
DODGING STORMS
Two Mondays ago we got some carrots and the green onions planted. Last Tuesday was the day to plant the misato rose winter radish, three different kinds of beets, a bed of rutabagas, and some Irish potatoes. The potatoes were from our spring harvest. We had gotten one box canned, but every time I mentioned canning the second box Steve and Mom would always come back with, "But the weather outside is so pretty, let's go work in the garden. We will can on a rainy day." Well, either the rainy days never came, or the potatoes were forgotten when they did come. A few weeks ago when I checked on them I found them sprouting. So, I decided to take a chance and plant them in hopes of getting a Christmas harvest--it will all depend on how soon winter begins. In order to get all these veggies planted though, we had to get their beds weeded, and the fresh compost dirt dumped on the beds. We worked as much as we could on Monday, but the rains kept coming---so we packaged eggs. I was told that the chance of rain on Tuesday was 60% and that it was supposed to rain all day. I protested---I wanted better news than that, for Tuesday was the last day to plant the root crops. Tuesday morning dawned sunny and beautiful---but the "To Do List" was a mile long. Mom had to head to town to run a few errands and to get a few yards of compost. I needed to make kombucha, therefore, Eli milked the cows by himself---well, not exactly by himself, for Moises was there to feed the cows and bring them in and out of the milking parlor. Steve did his chores, and then he started weed eating around the house and barns. Once the kombucha was done, I put together some of the Jacksonville orders, and then I headed to the milk house to bottle the kefir. I finished that just as Eli walked in to help bottle the milk. When Mom got home, she jumped on the lawn mower---for Tuesday's are mow the lawn day. Her goal for the day was to mow the lawn, my goal for the day was to get the garden planted. So, Steve and Mom worked in the yard, and Eli and I worked in the garden. We weeded, we measured and marked out the beds, we filled them up with dirt, and leveled them off. I planted seeds, and we watched the clouds build in the sky, as the winds picked up and the sky grew blacker and blacker. I could see it raining across the neighbors pastures, on the other side of the road---but the cloud definitely had the moving format of a "Tropical Storm", and I could tell that it was circling around us, and so I hoped and prayed that it would miss us---and it did. Then the sun came out bright and hot again. We pushed on, getting everything planted but the potatoes. We were working in the potato bed when the sky began to get dark again, the winds were picking up, and across the field we could see the rains coming. This time we knew that we had better head in quickly. As we traveled across the field in the Gravely, a white wall of rain was quickly approaching. We made it to the house just in time. The rain was good timing---it was 2:00, and we all desperately needed to eat lunch. Plus, I had yogurt to make. After lunch, the rain had stopped, and we all headed to the garden. Nut grass is our worst nightmare in the garden---no matter how thoroughly you weed it out, it still comes back---and very quickly! The potato bed had quite a bit of it, and we were pulling it up by the buckets full. Finally, we got the beds and walkways all weeded, and measured out, and we began to load them with compost. Once again the skies were growing black---but we just HAD TO get those potatoes planted. There were four beds, three rows in each, with 33 potatoes planted in each bed. In the end, we were planting in the rain, and we just lightly covered them up. Come Thursday morning we went back out, and covered them with four inches of the compost dirt. Now we need to get some wood chips to top that off. I rejoiced though---the root crops were planted!
Tis the Season for Purple Marbles
Tuesday night we got a call from the neighbor saying that the grapes are in, and wondering if we wanted any this year. Boy did we---but the question was, "When would we find the time to pick them?" We work from 8:00 to 4:30 outside with our workers, then it is time for evening chores and dinner. A plan was devised though, and we have been happily harvesting. Thursday and Friday mornings, Mom is free while Eli and I milk. Therefore, she spends her mornings gathering grapes. Then after Eli leaves in the afternoon, Mom and I both head over to the vineyard to gather grapes for an hour before we come back and help Papa separate the calves, and cook dinner. Saturday we were blessed to have some friends come up from Ocala. The oldest daughter, Sephrah, and her two brothers used to spend a few weeks every year working on the farm with us. We had lots of fun, and they were such willing and helpful workers. It all began when Sephrah was asked what she wanted for her 15th birthday. Her answer was, "A week working with the Street's on the farm." So she and her brother Thaddeus came for the first week. Then as the years went by, their other brother Octavius would join them. One summer the boys spent a week a month on the farm helping us out. They had no complaints the night we served blackberry cobbler and homemade ice cream for dinner---after a long hard day of butchering chickens. We ate a late, and big, lunch that day---and while Mom, Dad, and I were not too hungry, we knew that two teenage growing boys would be. They couldn't believe their eyes when they realized that cobbler and ice cream were dinner---they couldn't wait to talk to their family and let them know what they had for dinner--at the Street's house where they eat healthy! They are grown up now, and have jobs, so we do not see them very often---matter of fact, it has been two years. We were delighted to have the family come for a visit. While the boys were off someplace else, Sephrah brought her Mom and two younger sisters. After a great big "Hello!" hug, Sephrah announced that she had come to work, and asked what could they do to help. We had just finished milking, so she and one of her sisters bottled the milk, while the other sister and I packed the Gainesville order. After a lunch of the all-time favorite Saturday afternoon Kefir Shake (kefir, frozen bananas, frozen strawberries--from our garden, and honey), we sat around and talked for a little bit, and then we all headed next door to the vineyard and picked grapes. With six sets of hands picking grapes, our bags filled up quickly. So far we have been blessed to harvest 200 pounds of grapes, while half of them go to the owner of the vineyard, the other half are going to the freezer until we can find the time to juice them. The muscadine juice is so delicious!
One Strange Chicken
Eli couldn't come to work on Wednesday, and since it was our delivery day, we asked Steve to come in and do his normal field chores so that Mom and I could focus on cleaning house and milking the cows, and Papa could focus on his chores and packing the ice chests for the Jacksonville delivery. While we were milking, Steve came over and told us that there was one really strange chicken in the chicken hoop house. He said that it was very different, and very strange----and that it was "meowing." The tarp on the roof, was beginning to tear on the backside, leaving two hole pockets on the back wall of the hoop house. For some reason, my cat, Catapus, climbed up the wire mesh, and found herself inside with a bunch of chickens. Everyone had heard a cat meowing throughout the morning, but no one could find the cat---until Steve went to feed the chickens. Catapus was just sitting in the front corner meowing---looking like she was not enjoying her jail mates. She was very grateful to be let out, and headed straight for the garage to eat her breakfast. Why she couldn't just climb the wire mesh and go back out the way she came in, I will never know---except that most animals only know how to get on the other side of the fence, but have no idea how to do it in reverse.
Fence Panels to the Rescue
We have until next Thursday to get the rest of the garden beds prepared in order to plant the leafy veggies of the fall garden. We will be planting collards, kale, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, and cauliflower. Later in October we will plant some spinach. Most of the garden beds are fenced in---since we had Porky and Pig living in them, weeding last winter. The caterpillar tunnel bed was not fenced around though, and since I have a turkey nesting in the pumpkin patch, we knew that we needed to have a way to protect all the new sprouts from one curiously hungry turkey. Now this turkey is downright dumb---she has no eggs in her nest, but is moving around the pumpkin patch nesting beside different groups of pumpkins. She is an older turkey, and must just be dreaming of days gone by. Anyway, we were not sure how to fence around the tunnel---and still be able to put the tarp over the top of the tunnel and raise the sides up and down when the days are warm and the nights are cold. I came up with the idea of putting the hog panels on the inside of the tunnel attached to the metal pipes that make the shell of the tunnel. Thursday afternoon, Papa went and bought us some panels while we weeded, measured off walkways, and Mom transplanted the baby strawberry plants. Friday morning we spent installing the panels---well, Mom and Eli did most of that work, I helped a little, but spent most of my time weeding the okra. They got one side done---and then they ran out of electrical ties. It was lunch time anyway, and I had twenty yogurts to make. Papa was going to go to town to get us more, but since it was 3:00, we decided that we had better get the rest of the eggs packaged for the week. Papa got the electrical ties on Saturday afternoon, so we should be able to finish the project tomorrow.
Yes the race begins tomorrow---we have three days to weed, fill the beds with compost, and plant the seeds. All has to be done by 4:30 on Thursday. So tune in next week to see how it all pans out.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare
I am so sorry that I did not journal last week---I know that some of you were wondering if we were okay. I know that for a fact, because I got emails from you. Truth be told, we were doing just great. Our Pastor and his wife invited us home for dinner last Sunday after church, and we didn't get home until a little after 9:00 that night. I quickly sent out the Larder email, but since it takes me a few hours to journal, I surrendered to the magnetic pull between my head and the pillow. Journaling Monday or Tuesday was not a possibility, for life has been super busy with Fall gardening preparations.
"TO BE, OR NOT TO BE"
About a month ago we started planting the Fall garden. The first things that we planted were Pak Choi and broccoli. They both came up sparingly, and both are having growing problems. The little bit of broccoli that did sprout is trying it's best to dodge the beak of the turkey, and the holes from the skunk. Mom ended up putting the strawberry wire cages over the broccoli rows to protect what was left. Where the Pak choi did not come up, the self-seeded zinnia's and sunflowers from the spring garden did come up. Now everyone around here knows that I LOVE flowers, and classify them as top priorities in the garden, and only consider them weeds when I absolutely have to. I have already pulled up fifty or more baby zinnia plants, and about ten or so baby sunflower plants. It makes me cringe, and I almost have to do it blind-folded. I have been able to leave some---like the sunflowers in the sweet potato patch, or those growing in the walkway between the okra and the sweet potatoes. Then there is the beautiful red zinnia that is blooming---it is nice and lush, and growing right on the edge of the place where I needed to plant rutabagas. I made Eli weed around it, and I had him build the bed around it. I should have flowers till frost! In order to plant the green onions, I had to treat a bunch of zinnias as weeds. I have to do the same where the kale and lettuce will be planted. So you will understand that when the zinnias and sunflowers began to grow up in the bed where I had planted the Pak choi, that I just could not pull myself to pull them up. When Eli and I were working in the garden on Tuesday, he saw the green patch and asked what was growing there. I told him Pak choi---and flowers. He wisely counseled me that I should pull them up so that the veggies would grow properly---but I told him that I just couldn't. He laughingly said that he would not say anything about them in front of Mom---for everyone knows that she shows no mercy for flowers that are growing as weeds. Poor Eli and Steve, all too often I will be speaking in their right ears, "Don't destroy that flower!" and Mom will be talking in their left ears, "Pull those up, chop that down, or weed wack it!" Sometimes I will walk up on a weeding party and poor Steve will look so guilty as he realized that I just saw him pull up a weedy flower. A few weeks ago though, I was sick with horror. Eli and I were weeding in an herb bed, and Mom was over weeding in one of the rose beds. I looked up just in time to see that Mom had pulled up a large three foot wide marigold. I couldn't believe my eyes---but I was informed that the massive piece of beauty was killing the moss verbena, and stunting the growth of the rose bushes. Now, I did not plant that marigold, but it volunteered itself from some marigolds that I had growing their last year. Sigh! I can find encouragement in the fact that when we get the butterfly section of the garden all done---then flowers can grow when and where and how they please, for I am looking forward to a hodge podge of different flowers---the wilder the better. Mom and I truly do balance each other out well. I can be on the wild side, and she can be on the orderly calm side. Somehow though, I am going to have to find a compromise with the Pak choi bed. I do not want to lose all my chances of having beautiful vibrant zinnias and sunflowers blooming until frost!
DODGING STORMS
Two Mondays ago we got some carrots and the green onions planted. Last Tuesday was the day to plant the misato rose winter radish, three different kinds of beets, a bed of rutabagas, and some Irish potatoes. The potatoes were from our spring harvest. We had gotten one box canned, but every time I mentioned canning the second box Steve and Mom would always come back with, "But the weather outside is so pretty, let's go work in the garden. We will can on a rainy day." Well, either the rainy days never came, or the potatoes were forgotten when they did come. A few weeks ago when I checked on them I found them sprouting. So, I decided to take a chance and plant them in hopes of getting a Christmas harvest--it will all depend on how soon winter begins. In order to get all these veggies planted though, we had to get their beds weeded, and the fresh compost dirt dumped on the beds. We worked as much as we could on Monday, but the rains kept coming---so we packaged eggs. I was told that the chance of rain on Tuesday was 60% and that it was supposed to rain all day. I protested---I wanted better news than that, for Tuesday was the last day to plant the root crops. Tuesday morning dawned sunny and beautiful---but the "To Do List" was a mile long. Mom had to head to town to run a few errands and to get a few yards of compost. I needed to make kombucha, therefore, Eli milked the cows by himself---well, not exactly by himself, for Moises was there to feed the cows and bring them in and out of the milking parlor. Steve did his chores, and then he started weed eating around the house and barns. Once the kombucha was done, I put together some of the Jacksonville orders, and then I headed to the milk house to bottle the kefir. I finished that just as Eli walked in to help bottle the milk. When Mom got home, she jumped on the lawn mower---for Tuesday's are mow the lawn day. Her goal for the day was to mow the lawn, my goal for the day was to get the garden planted. So, Steve and Mom worked in the yard, and Eli and I worked in the garden. We weeded, we measured and marked out the beds, we filled them up with dirt, and leveled them off. I planted seeds, and we watched the clouds build in the sky, as the winds picked up and the sky grew blacker and blacker. I could see it raining across the neighbors pastures, on the other side of the road---but the cloud definitely had the moving format of a "Tropical Storm", and I could tell that it was circling around us, and so I hoped and prayed that it would miss us---and it did. Then the sun came out bright and hot again. We pushed on, getting everything planted but the potatoes. We were working in the potato bed when the sky began to get dark again, the winds were picking up, and across the field we could see the rains coming. This time we knew that we had better head in quickly. As we traveled across the field in the Gravely, a white wall of rain was quickly approaching. We made it to the house just in time. The rain was good timing---it was 2:00, and we all desperately needed to eat lunch. Plus, I had yogurt to make. After lunch, the rain had stopped, and we all headed to the garden. Nut grass is our worst nightmare in the garden---no matter how thoroughly you weed it out, it still comes back---and very quickly! The potato bed had quite a bit of it, and we were pulling it up by the buckets full. Finally, we got the beds and walkways all weeded, and measured out, and we began to load them with compost. Once again the skies were growing black---but we just HAD TO get those potatoes planted. There were four beds, three rows in each, with 33 potatoes planted in each bed. In the end, we were planting in the rain, and we just lightly covered them up. Come Thursday morning we went back out, and covered them with four inches of the compost dirt. Now we need to get some wood chips to top that off. I rejoiced though---the root crops were planted!
Tis the Season for Purple Marbles
Tuesday night we got a call from the neighbor saying that the grapes are in, and wondering if we wanted any this year. Boy did we---but the question was, "When would we find the time to pick them?" We work from 8:00 to 4:30 outside with our workers, then it is time for evening chores and dinner. A plan was devised though, and we have been happily harvesting. Thursday and Friday mornings, Mom is free while Eli and I milk. Therefore, she spends her mornings gathering grapes. Then after Eli leaves in the afternoon, Mom and I both head over to the vineyard to gather grapes for an hour before we come back and help Papa separate the calves, and cook dinner. Saturday we were blessed to have some friends come up from Ocala. The oldest daughter, Sephrah, and her two brothers used to spend a few weeks every year working on the farm with us. We had lots of fun, and they were such willing and helpful workers. It all began when Sephrah was asked what she wanted for her 15th birthday. Her answer was, "A week working with the Street's on the farm." So she and her brother Thaddeus came for the first week. Then as the years went by, their other brother Octavius would join them. One summer the boys spent a week a month on the farm helping us out. They had no complaints the night we served blackberry cobbler and homemade ice cream for dinner---after a long hard day of butchering chickens. We ate a late, and big, lunch that day---and while Mom, Dad, and I were not too hungry, we knew that two teenage growing boys would be. They couldn't believe their eyes when they realized that cobbler and ice cream were dinner---they couldn't wait to talk to their family and let them know what they had for dinner--at the Street's house where they eat healthy! They are grown up now, and have jobs, so we do not see them very often---matter of fact, it has been two years. We were delighted to have the family come for a visit. While the boys were off someplace else, Sephrah brought her Mom and two younger sisters. After a great big "Hello!" hug, Sephrah announced that she had come to work, and asked what could they do to help. We had just finished milking, so she and one of her sisters bottled the milk, while the other sister and I packed the Gainesville order. After a lunch of the all-time favorite Saturday afternoon Kefir Shake (kefir, frozen bananas, frozen strawberries--from our garden, and honey), we sat around and talked for a little bit, and then we all headed next door to the vineyard and picked grapes. With six sets of hands picking grapes, our bags filled up quickly. So far we have been blessed to harvest 200 pounds of grapes, while half of them go to the owner of the vineyard, the other half are going to the freezer until we can find the time to juice them. The muscadine juice is so delicious!
One Strange Chicken
Eli couldn't come to work on Wednesday, and since it was our delivery day, we asked Steve to come in and do his normal field chores so that Mom and I could focus on cleaning house and milking the cows, and Papa could focus on his chores and packing the ice chests for the Jacksonville delivery. While we were milking, Steve came over and told us that there was one really strange chicken in the chicken hoop house. He said that it was very different, and very strange----and that it was "meowing." The tarp on the roof, was beginning to tear on the backside, leaving two hole pockets on the back wall of the hoop house. For some reason, my cat, Catapus, climbed up the wire mesh, and found herself inside with a bunch of chickens. Everyone had heard a cat meowing throughout the morning, but no one could find the cat---until Steve went to feed the chickens. Catapus was just sitting in the front corner meowing---looking like she was not enjoying her jail mates. She was very grateful to be let out, and headed straight for the garage to eat her breakfast. Why she couldn't just climb the wire mesh and go back out the way she came in, I will never know---except that most animals only know how to get on the other side of the fence, but have no idea how to do it in reverse.
Fence Panels to the Rescue
We have until next Thursday to get the rest of the garden beds prepared in order to plant the leafy veggies of the fall garden. We will be planting collards, kale, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, and cauliflower. Later in October we will plant some spinach. Most of the garden beds are fenced in---since we had Porky and Pig living in them, weeding last winter. The caterpillar tunnel bed was not fenced around though, and since I have a turkey nesting in the pumpkin patch, we knew that we needed to have a way to protect all the new sprouts from one curiously hungry turkey. Now this turkey is downright dumb---she has no eggs in her nest, but is moving around the pumpkin patch nesting beside different groups of pumpkins. She is an older turkey, and must just be dreaming of days gone by. Anyway, we were not sure how to fence around the tunnel---and still be able to put the tarp over the top of the tunnel and raise the sides up and down when the days are warm and the nights are cold. I came up with the idea of putting the hog panels on the inside of the tunnel attached to the metal pipes that make the shell of the tunnel. Thursday afternoon, Papa went and bought us some panels while we weeded, measured off walkways, and Mom transplanted the baby strawberry plants. Friday morning we spent installing the panels---well, Mom and Eli did most of that work, I helped a little, but spent most of my time weeding the okra. They got one side done---and then they ran out of electrical ties. It was lunch time anyway, and I had twenty yogurts to make. Papa was going to go to town to get us more, but since it was 3:00, we decided that we had better get the rest of the eggs packaged for the week. Papa got the electrical ties on Saturday afternoon, so we should be able to finish the project tomorrow.
Yes the race begins tomorrow---we have three days to weed, fill the beds with compost, and plant the seeds. All has to be done by 4:30 on Thursday. So tune in next week to see how it all pans out.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare