The Squash Blob!

"Well it's kind of a - kind of a mass. It keeps getting bigger and bigger."  The Blob, 1958

We planted Upper Ground Sweet Potato Squash this year. It's supposed to be a good squash for the south and the fruits are only supposed to be 4-6 pounds, at least that's what I read. It is also supposed to do well in unfavorable conditions. So, with that in mind, how do you think it has responded in my environment?  You can click the photo for a better view.

This was taken from the roof of Nate's workshop, and believe it or not, there are two 4x10 raised beds under that jungle.  Okay, I really don't have alot of real estate to devote to something like this, but it just seemed to take on a life of its own, and I didn't have the heart to try to contain it.  I mean, could the blob be contained?  

 

"I think you should send us the biggest transport plane you have, and take this thing to the Arctic or somewhere and drop it where it will never thaw."  The Blob, 1958

 

 



These photos show one of the squashes before it ripened, but the perspective with Nate's hands is good.  They ripen to a light creamy orange and the flesh is about the color of a sweet potato.  I cut the first two ripened squashes off the vine last weekend, and they each weighed 40 pounds!  I just went outside and counted 9 more on the vine that are almost ripe.  The ones left are not as large as the first two, but pretty close to it. I would say probably 30 pounds each.  We did lose a few more to the chickens pecking them when they were very young and soft, and I found two this weekend that had become separated from the vine before they ripened and were starting to rot. 

 

This weekend I cut open one of the harvested squashes and managed to shred 19.5 lbs of squash for the freezer.  And, the first recipe I tried was one of my favorites for zucchini.  It turned out delicious.

 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/connies-zucchini-crab-cakes/detail.aspx

 

So, even though I'm a failure with summer squash because of the vine borers, I have totally redeemed myself with this winter squash.  I'm super excited to try more recipes with it.

 

Happy homesteading,

 

Candace

 

 

Watermelon for Dummies and Blog Award

What do you do when you can never tell when a watermelon is ripe?  Grow Golden Midget.  It turns yellow when its ripe.  Don't believe me?  Check this out!

Now folks, this is my kind of watermelon. 



About a week or so again, Carolyn at Krazo Acres Farm honored me with the award above.  I am deeply touched that she would include me on her list.  Part of the deal is that I have to tell you seven things about me that you may not know and then pay this award forward to ten more blogs. 

1.  I hate peas.

2.  I don't like dogs.

3.  My favorite bands are The Smiths, The Cure, and I wouldn't be an 80s girl without loving Duran Duran. 

4.  My favorite book is "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell.

5.  I have read the LHOTP series more times than I can count.

6.  I'm addicted to ice cream.

7.  One of my favorite meals is a hamburger and onion rings. 

I have a dilemma when it comes to choosing ten blogs to highlight.  You see, I hate to say it, but I have not ventured into the blog world lately.  I stay so busy that I tend to read the same blogs without expanding my horizons.  I need your help.  Please, please, please comment and give me some good blogs to consider and I'll hold off naming my ten choices.  I hate to cop out on this, but I really need some help.  Of course, all of the blogs on my blog roll are great, but I need some new blood, and most of them have strong readerships.  Not that having a low readership is a requirement for getting this award, but I know there are some blogs out there that are just starting out that are worthy of some attention.  Please feel free to toot your own horn if you're a reader with a blog.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Happy homesteading,

Candace     

Top 20 Tasks That Have Been Keeping Me Busy

1.  Shovel dirt to fill the four new raised beds in my kitchen garden section.
2.  Cover the strawberries with bird netting after realizing the berries I stepped outside to pick were gone!
3.  Shovel dirt.
4.  Move perennials from the kitchen garden section to other parts of the yard to create a clean slate and to clean up the mess created when one flower overtakes another.
5.  Shovel dirt.
6.  Spend five minutes staring at the cute baby bunnies.
7.  Shovel dirt.
8.  Inventory my seedlings and start to plan what is going where.
9.  Shovel dirt.
10.  Dehydrate dill for future pickle-making.  I'm actually proud of myself on this one.  My dill always goes to seed before the cucumbers are ready to pickle, and I have to resort to purchased dried dill to make them.  That is senseless and wasteful when I grow dill every year.  I'm stoked to have my homegrown dill dried and ready for pickling season.
11.  Shovel dirt.
12.  Spend five minutes staring at the cute baby bunnies.
13.  Sand and paint old windows for a trellis project.  Three down and three to go.
14.  Shovel dirt.
15.  Start to direct seed some veggies into the garden.  Normally I don't put any summer items out until the first week in April, but this year has been so warm that I'm taking a chance.  I don't see any frost potential in the next week or two, so I'm jumping the gun by a few weeks.
16.  Shovel dirt.
17.  Research irrigation ideas for the raised beds.  This is what I think I'm going to do.  http://homestead.org/BruceAndis/The%20$8.16%20Do-It-Yourself%20Garden%20Irrigator.htm
18.  Spend five minutes staring at the cute baby bunnies.
19.  Shovel dirt.
20.  Wonder with all of the dirt shoveling going on why those blasted beds aren't full yet.

Happy homesteading,

Candace

Seed Organization and Garden Planning

I've mentioned before that I like things organized and tidy.  It helps me make good use of my time, and I"m sure you would agree time is something very precious.  It also keeps my OCD/ADD brain from going wacko.  I get distracted too easily, so I need order to keep myself focused and on task. 

To that end, I started thinking about seed organization and garden planning lately.  Last year I had my seeds in little plastic storage containers, which didn't work for me at all.  So, this year, I decided to try something different.  I had a stack of note card envelopes on hand, and the see packets fit in them perfectly.  I decided to write pertinent information on the outside, such as variety, from where and when I bought them, whether they were an annual or perennial (This mainly applies to flowers and herbs.), companion planting information, and a log of where, when and how many seeds I planted, as shown here:

Then, I took all of the envelopes and stuck them in a plastic container alphabetically.  It is better than what I had, but I think it can be improved even more, such time of year to plant and reminders to plant certain seeds in succession, such at lettuce.  I've seen systems that utilize a notebook and photo album pages, but I can see the seeds spilling out of the top of the photo album pages.  And what do you do with the big fat seeds, such as beans?  I don't think that would work for me.  My friend, L. has designed her own system with hanging folders and ziploc bags.  She even worked up a spreadsheet to attached to each hanging folder.  It's pretty eloborate, so I look forward to hearing how it works for her.  Just this morning, she sent me this link for seed organization, which I think is probably the direction I may take with some tweaks.  I'm generally on the same path already with my envelopes.

http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2010/05/organizing-seeds-and-planting-records.html

As if organizing seeds isn't enough to tackle, now is the time to start planning my garden for the year.  I already have some things sprouting, but the bulk of the garden is still to come.  I have several raised beds, so square foot gardening is the path I take for those.  I generally get some graph paper and draw out my beds, but a few days ago I came across this online garden planner.  There are several garden planning programs out there, but this one is free, and there are several things I like about it.  You can set the square footage of the bed you're planning, such as 4x8.  You can move plants in and out of the squares, and as you move a plant into a square, it automatically generates how many you can plant per square foot, such as 16 radishes per square foot.  Also, as you select plants for the bed, basic planting information for that plant pops up at the bottom of the page.  You can even rename the plants once you place them from say, tomato, to Black Krim tomato, and when you print the final version, the name changes show up on the print version in each square.  There are other features as well that I have not explored.  I'm going to give it a go for my garden planning this year and see how it works.  I would love to hear what you think of it. 

http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KGPJS#clearbed

Now, for you big project planners, Better Homes and Gardens has a project planning program on its website as well.  This program approaches a broader scope than just a vegetable bed, and it has many interesting features.  It is also free. 

http://planagarden.bhg.com/planagarden/

Well, I hope this helps you get an organized jump start on your gardens this year. 

Happy homesteading,

Candace

   

   

New Additions and Progressing Projects

One evening this week, Nate built my raspberry raised bed, and now I just need to get buy the composted dirt to fill it.  I am trying to decide if I should dig up the canes and replant them once the bed is full or back fill the bed and let the canes root themselves.  My experience with the blackberries tells me they will root just about anywhere they touch, so I imagine they will root if you backfill the bed with dirt.  My fear with transplanting them is that they won't survive.  Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?  The bed is probably a foot to a foot and a half deep, and you can see the canes peaking over the edges.



We finally got started on the fencing of the bottom half.  Having received no significant rain lately, the ground is like concrete.  Nate tried to pound in one t-post, and it was evident that post was going nowhere fast.  He thought it would be great is he could find an auger that attaches to a drill, and he did.  It's called a bulb auger, and it attaches to a regular drill and drills about two feet into the ground.  It made mincemeat of the clay, and we can't believe we've gone all this time without knowing about it.  

Lately I've had my mind on meat rabbits, so I started searching for a breeding pair.  I found a breeder of Champagne D'Argent rabbits about 30 minutes away, but he didn't have anything for me, and he said his doe ate her most recent litter, so he doesn't even have any for himself.  I've searched Craigslist, the state Farmer's Market Bulletin and the internet for breeders near me, but haven't had much luck.  Most of the breeders I find are hours away.  I finally found a breeder who lives about 2 hours away, but she only had a Beveren buck available.  Beverens are considered a critical heritage breed.  Even though I really wanted to find a pair of rabbits that were either breeding age or close to it, I was seriously considering getting the buck, so at least half of my search would be over.  I told the breeder I would let her know by this weekend, and I even went to TSC on Saturday to get a cage for him.  While I was in line I noticed the lady behind me had rabbit feed on her cart.  I started talking to her and found our she has a mini farm/animal rescue.  She told me she had a pair of Chinchillas and a pair of New Zealand Reds for sale.  We drove out this morning and got the Chinchilla pair.  The doe is 6 months old and the buck is 8 months old, so I have about three months before I would breed the doe.  They look pretty healthy, but they are still being quarantined until I can access their health.

While we were at the farm today, Nate walked up to me and the lady and said, "Look what I caught; it's a pocket rooster."  In his hand was a tiny banty rooster.  The lady said we could have him, and Nate suckered me into letting him take it home under the condition that if it is too loud, it's going back.  The lady agreed to take it back if we decided we couldn't keep it.  I have a strong feeling it will be going back.  In the meantime Nate has named it Napolean.  I've been calling him Nappie because he looks pretty nappy right now.  I can tell he's been picked on because he's missing some body feathers, most of his tail feathers and his comb is scabby.  I didn't really pay too much attention to him at the farm because I was focused on the rabbits, but when we got him home I also noticed some discharge coming from one of his eyes.  I made some chamomile tea and used the tea bag as a compress against his eye.  I put ACV and garlic in his water, and we crushed up some feed pellets for him as well as gave him a big pile of weeds and grass.  I doubt he's ever tasted green food as there wasn't any green in site where he was kept, but he devoured the greens we gave him.  He is in quarantine like the rabbits.

Happy homesteading,

Candace



   

A Day at Home

While the weather here is still in the 90s, I can feel a change in the air.  The temperatures are more tolerable in the mornings and evenings, and the heat index is not as extreme during the day.  At least it seems that way to me.  The humidity has been unreal with afternoon thunderstorms threatening daily but no rain.  The afternoon clouds have been a nuisance because I've been wanting to use my solar oven more than I have.  If the sun goes behind the clouds, I can forget keeping the oven above 200 degrees.  Plus, I want to be home to monitor it since I'm not an expert user.  Today the sky looked fairly cloudless, so at lunchtime I took a chance and put some vegetable chowder in the oven to simmer.  The oven got up to 300 degrees at its hottest, and since this is the first time I've cooked a meal in the oven, I put a thermometer probe into the soup pot to monitor the temperature.  The soup rose to 200 degrees and maintained between 190 and 200 for about 3 hours.  That should be closely equivalent to a slow cooker on low.  After about 3 hours, the clouds rolled in and the oven temp started to drop.  Not wanting to risk unsafe conditions, I took the soup out and all the veggies were done.  I still need to finish it with milk and cheese, but I think I'll have to do that on the stove top since it's pretty cloudy now.  At least the bulk of the meal was cooked by solar energy.

Today, I also started planning my fall garden and in anticipation of some seed starting, I cleaned out the greenhouse, which has been ignored since spring.  I'm not adept at succession planting yet, so I haven't really done much in the area of seed starting this summer.  If I didn't work, maybe I would get better, but there are only so many hours in a day.  I also did some general garden bed maintenance by getting rid of some plants that are not really producing to make room for new ones.

On my way out to the greenhouse, I found this:

   













This is my lazy form of composting, and I found Thelma and Louise going to town on the bugs and worms today.  These are two large trashcans with holes drilled in the bottom edge for drainage and the top for aeration when the lids are closed.  I just keep dumping yard and kitchen waste into them and turn the top layer with a pitchfork once a week.  Eventually one fills, and I start in the other one.  It works for me.  The chickens did a great job of turning it for me today, and to them it was like a buffet.

I have some big plans for the fall, so stay tuned!

Happy homesteading,

Candace

Party Hardy, Dude!

"But I always say one's company, two's a crowd, and three's a party"  Andy Warhol

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!"  Unknown

I have a major birthday happening this week, and Nate and my friend, N., decided to throw me a party.  Unfortunately, I'm not a "sit back and watch while others plan things" kind of girl.  I'm a control freak and don't like to sit on the sidelines.  I freely admit it, and those who know me well may not like it, but they accept it and sometimes love me despite it.  I'm a Leo, after all.  Changing this part of my personality would be like trying to take the stripes off a zebra.  Nate just said, "Tell me what to do."  That makes me laugh.  N. said, "I can't wait to see the party I planned."  That makes me laugh too.  With that said, they have been great and have definitely participated in the party planning and preparation.  I have a wonderful friend and husband! 

In planning the menu, it was important to me to use as much from the homestead as possible, so the menu developed based on what I have this week in the garden.  Everything we're serving has at least one item that was either grown, foraged or produced by us.  I've been prepping each day so there won't be much to do on the day of the party.   

Party Menu:
Carrot Cake
Chips and Salsa
Jalapeno Dip
Brie with Fig Jam
Cubed Melon
Pasta Salad
Egg Salad Sandwiches
Eggplant Dip

That's it for today, folks.  I have stuff to do for the party, so until next time, I leave you with one of my favorite birthday songs by Cracker, "Happy Birthday to Me."   



Candace

A Pickin' and A Cannin' and A Backyard Garden Tour

Sounds like a song at a hoe down, doesn't it?  Well, it isn't.  I've been a pickin' and a cannin' peaches since my first peach post here.  That was two weeks ago, and I have been absolutely buried in peaches.  I'm only one person, and I work, so it has been a massive project for me to tackle.  I've had to manage my time and squeeze in bits and pieces of canning prep work and canning in addition to the chores of necessity, such as feeding me and my husband as well as taking care of the animals and trying to keep up with the garden.  My house is in severe disarray, and I don't even want to know what's going on in the bathroom.  But, the peach tree would hear no excuses.  It reminded me I have been praying for peaches year after year.  Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.  The squirrels were held at bay and the additional sunlight from taking trees down came together to give me 127 lbs., 12.5 ozs. of peaches from one tree.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I have processed almost 128 lbs of peaches in the past two weeks.  At the grocery store this weekend, organic peaches were selling for $4/lb.  What a return one tree has made to our budget!  Now, what did I do with all of those peaches you may ask?  In addition to fresh eating, this is how I tackled them:

Peach Chutney:  1 pint, This was an experiment with green peaches, and it is delicious.
Green Peach Cake:  This was also another experiment, and it turned out great as well.
Frozen diced peaches:  9 quarts
Peach Sauce (for pancakes, ice cream):  8 quarts + 1 pint
Peach Tomato Salsa:  4 quarts + 14 pints
Peach BBQ Sauce:  4 pints + 9 12 oz. jars + 1 jelly jar
Peach Cardamom Jam:  6 pints + 13 jelly jars

I really wanted to try out the peach peel and pit jelly, but I just didn't have it in me.  I am one tuckered girl.  But, there's no rest for the weary because the figs are coming in, so onward I go. 

Here's a photo of the peach tree as well as a few shots of the top portion of my backyard.  It's a constant work on progress to be sure.

Happy homesteading,

Candace

   

Roll Call

So, I'm stealing Jenna's idea at Cold Antler Farm for a roll call.  I hope she doesn't mind, but it's such a great idea, and it's a fun way to see and appreciate where you are on your journey.  Feel free to sound off.

1 girl

1 boy

3 cats

5 hens

1 bee hive

2 angora rabbits

Fruits:  blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, 2 fig trees, 1 meyer lemon, 1 orange tree, 4 blueberry bushes, 1 peach tree, 2 apple trees, 1 loquat tree, 1 banana tree

Garden:  spread all over my front and back yards:  eggplants, yellow squash, zucchini, garden huckleberries, ground cherries, peppers, swiss chard, cucumbers, pole beans, lima beans, mexican sour gherkins, winter squash, various annual and perennial herbs, beets, melons , carrots, , tomatoes

Happy homesteading,

Candace

Wool Dryer Balls and Squash Vine Borers Round Two

Recently I discovered wool dryer balls, and while right now, I line dry as much as possible, we do use the dryer as well.  These dryer balls are supposed to lift and separate your clothes in the dryer to help them dry faster, and they act as dryer sheets as well.  It's recommended you use 4-5 balls in a normal load.   

I thought making dryer balls would be a great way to use up some of the junk wool I get off of Olivia and Blue Moon.  So, I took a sock and stuffed it with wool until I had a pretty good looking ball, and then I used a twist tie to close it up.  I threw it in with the laundry, and it felted.  I added more wool and washed it again.  Now it's about the size of a tennis ball.  I haven't tested it yet, but I'm anxious to see how it works.  I'll keep you posted.

Now I need to get some more junk wool together and make 3-4 more.  Do you have any experience with wool dryer balls?

Here's a pic:

The battle with the squash vine borers rages on.  I've seen her several times since my last post.  She is a diligent moth, and she has more time than I do to hang around the garden.  The only thing the neem oil seemed to do is burn the leaves, and the DE did nothing as well.  So, I have been faithfully checking each plant daily and manually removing the red sesame seed size eggs.  I find them on the leaves, in the nooks where the leaf grows from the stalk above and below, and at the base.  The eggs stick pretty well to the vine, and they have a hard crust, but I have been able to scrape them off with my fingernail.  Once I get them off the plant, I've been piercing them with my fingernail.  It sounds tedious, but it really only takes about 10-15 minutes a day.  This morning I didn't find any eggs, and I spotted my first zucchini developing.  Let's hope this year is better than last!

Happy homesteading,

Candace

Around the Garden

And my favorite one because I caught one of my girls hard at work.

I'm trying to add more color to the garden, and I have several old window frames without glass and some leftover paint.  Nate wanted to get rid of the window frames, so I had to come up with a plan to keep them.  I decided to paint them different colors and hang them along the fence.  It's simple, but I like it.  This is my first one. 

Happy homesteading,


Candace

Garden Update

I've been a busy beaver lately.  In addition to work, I've been diligently amending and shoveling this

into this.

This terraced bed will hold asparagus in the upper level and strawberries in the lower level.  I planted strawberry transplants and asparagus roots, so I'm anxious to see the asparagus make an appearance. 

I've also been planting my summer garden.  Just about everything is in the ground, and now I need to go back and mulch.  Mulching every year helps tremendously with weeds and keeping moisture where it belongs.  Once the garden is mulched, I hardly ever have to weed.  It's wonderful.   

So far this year I've planted raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, radishes, carrots, beets, onions, garlic, garden huckleberries, ground cherries, several varieties of tomatoes, peppers (bell, anaheim, jalapeno, habanero and chinese five color), zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, swiss chard, amaranth, pole beans, bush beans, long beans, cucumbers, mexican sour gherkins, watermelon, winter squash, french melon, jelly melon, lettuce, snap peas, shelling peas, potatoes, cilantro, parsley, basil (Thai and sweet), and dill.  This is a very ambitious garden for me.  I've never planted so much, and I'm proud to say I've started almost everything from seed, which is also a first for me.  Also, many of these are new to me, such as the garden huckleberries, amaranth, long beans, jelly melon, sour gherkins, and ground cherries.  Laura Ingalls Wilder mentions ground cherries in Little Town on the Prairie, so when I saw them in the seed catalog, I just had to try them!  We'll see what happens! 

The blackberries I trellised have some pretty good blossoms on them and two of my four blueberry bushes are covered with blueberries.  I'll have to get out the bird netting soon.  My peach tree is once again covered with peaches as it is every year, but the tree rats, I mean squirrels, are always an issue.  I have tried everything I can find online to keep them from eating my peaches, but nothing has worked.  My next move is to buy a pellet gun.  I'm serious.  Year after year, I see beautiful peaches develop, and they eat everyone of them before they can ripen. 

What are you planting this year that is new to you?

Happy homesteading,

Candace   

Spring Flowers

I get so excited to see the flowers start blooming in the spring. 

I just love the crisp white of this Iris,

and the Phlox and Dianthus are pretty in pink.

The Bugleweed is not in full bloom yet, but I couldn't resist.  It was given to us last year so this is the first time it's bloomed in the yard.  I just love it!

The Azaleas are just starting their parade of color, and soon our yard will be filled with color, front and back.

Lastly, I must apologize publicly to my hydrangeas.  I'm embarrassed to admit I've neglected them lately, so I spent a considerable amount of time pruning them this weekend.  I have ten throughout the yard, so it was no small task.  They are so low maintenance it's easy to forget about them.  It may not be the appropriate time of year for pruning, but it was easy for me to see the buds and know which ones to leave alone.  Plus, I was motivated, and the weather was not too hot and sticky yet.  I'm ashamed.  Look how dense this is; you can barely see through it.

  

















This after picture doesn't do it justice, but there is a world of difference now. 

Don't be like me!  Prune your hydrangeas and keep them happy.

Happy homesteading,

Candace

Stuff Me Baby!

My pepper plants have been so fruitful this year, and today I harvested some that were screaming to be stuffed! So, I made a "Mexican" concoction if you will of rice, diced tomatoes, corn, black beans, ground beef, cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, and various seasonings and proceeded to stuff about 40 jalapenos for various shindigs and these beautiful bell peppers. The jalapenos have gone to the freezer and will be roasted as needed, but the stuffed bells were topped with salsa and more cheese and baked. They're what's for dinner!



Happy homesteading,


Candace

Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers

I've had a glorious year of peppers, especially jalapenos. They just seem to keep coming, and I've done my best to utilize them in as many ways possible. Yesterday, this was my harvest.



Today, these are the products of this harvest, 14 pints of pickled peppers and 6 jars of pepper jelly.



I love stocking my pantry with homegrown homemade products!

Happy homesteading,

Candace

Sometimes

While I would like to tell you growing your own food and trying to build an urban homestead is all peaches and cream, the truth of the matter is it's hard work and sometimes very frustrating and disappointing. Sometimes I wonder why I continue on this path, and then I see my chickens free ranging in the yard and I collect my eggs that weren't laid in a cage in a building with artificial lights, and I know for me, it's the right thing to do. I am determined to continue to grow and learn and take the good with the bad. However, sometimes we focus so much on our perceived disappointments and failures, we fail to see what we've accomplished and be thankful for it. So, I thought I would take a moment to look back on some things I'm proud to have accomplished this year. We added two new chickens to the flock, bringing it to four. We built the fabulous GA State Henitentiary, moving the girls from the chicken tractor to larger digs. We continue to get 1-2 eggs a day from Pearl and Vanilli and look forward to getting eggs from Thelma and Louise starting maybe the end of August. We started two bee hives, and while not a complete success, a valuable learning experience indeed. We added a rain barrel to the front of the house making it easier to water the veggies up front. We built and planted 7 raised beds in the front yard for vegetables. I have canned Fig Cognac Jam and Pepper Jelly. I have dried numerous trays of peppers, hot and sweet, and figs. Our blueberry bushes, planted last summer, gave us a decent harvest, enough to make some muffins and to throw some on cereal in the morning. I have frozen numerous cubes of basil from the garden, the wild blackberries we were able to pick in the spring and pureed figs. I've made and frozen several jars of jalapeno pepper sauce and bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapenos. Several jars of refrigerator pickles sit in the refrigerator as well.

By our standards, wow, what a list, with five months left to go in the year.

There are other non farm-related things for which I'm am thankful as well, but that's another post.

Happy homesteading,

Candace

Weekend Recap

We had a busy weekend, and I couldn't seem to find any time to write a post, so I thought a weekend recap might serve to highlight some of the happenings at our little urban farm. In addition to garden maintenance and cleaning the coop, here's what you missed.

My zucchini plants were attacked by squash vine borers, and since this has never happened to me before, I caught it too late. I have one zucchini plant that is barely hanging on and a few squash plants that don't seem to be affected. So I replanted some zucchini seeds and hope for a late summer harvest. Late is better than nothing, so we'll see what happens. I was fortunate enough to be given some zucchini by a co-worker last week, so this weekend I made the most of it. I used some of it to make veggie burgers for the freezer. We love these burgers, and they are WAY better than the frozen burgers at the store. They have saved my life more than once for a quick fix when I'm too tired to cook. The rest of it I used to make zucchini cakes one night for supper and also an ingenious recipe for mock 'apple' pie. Amazingly this pie, using zucchini, tastes like apple pie.

The same co-worker also gave me some cucumbers, not enough to go to the trouble of canning, but just enough for some refrigerator pickles. If you've never made refrigerator pickles, you should give them a try! Easy to make and delicious to eat!

My jalapeno plants are rocking right now, so I sliced up at least a couple dozen peppers and threw them on the dehydrator. I could have canned them, but I dried some jalapenos last year to see how I would like them, and they worked wonderfully for many recipes, so I think drying them is the way to go for me. Plus, I put the dehydrator outside on my deck and it doesn't heat up my kitchen like canning would.

All work and no play makes me a dull girl, so we hit the town Saturday night and went to the ASA BMX Big Air Triples Competition. Wow, seeing a double front flip on a BMX bike is amazing. This kid did 3 or 4 double front flips throughout the night and each time made it seem so easy. And he's only 15. I wish I had that much talent going for me at 15.

We got up early to go wild blackberry picking on Sunday. We have a couple of places we go, but our favorite is a huge field full of blackberries canes. This is what we found when we arrived.



THE CITY MOWED THE WHOLE FIELD TO THE GROUND! Add on the fact that it has been extremely hot and dry lately and the disappointment mounts because most of the berries we did find were dried up. We have been able to pick about 2 quarts, but that is nothing compared to what we usually pick. I put them in the freezer for now and will use what little I have from last year to make some blackberry jam.

We checked our bees last night, by ourselves, without our mentors. Going solo with no supervision is a big deal in our book. We took our time and looked at each frame for signs of queen cells, new eggs being laid, and capped brood and honey. Everything seems to be going smoothly. It was definitely very intimidating as the population has grown with new bees hatching daily. It seems like we have a good productive queen though.

Who says cats and chickens can't get along? Here, OP2 and Pearl share a leftover biscuit from breakfast.



Until next post, happy homesteading,


Candace

Mystery Seedlings

This is the first year I've tried to start most of my garden from seeds. It's really the first year I've concentrated on having a productive garden with enough to dry and can for later. Prior to this year, my gardening was done from transplants that came from the local nursery. I didn't have much garden space in the back because of shade, and I wasn't organized early enough to get seeds started, so transplants worked for me. As I starting learning more about urban homesteading, I also discovered heirloom seeds and the importance of preserving food diversity. After we put raised beds in the front yard and I started planning my garden for this year, I knew I wanted to focus on supporting seed companies that were doing something good for the world, not trying to monopolize it. Plus the variety of heirloom seeds amazed me. Happy was the day when my seeds arrived. I planted them in starter pods, made a grid of what I planted and waited for them to sprout. Sad was the day when one minute they were on the tray in my hands, and the next minute they were on the kitchen floor. I picked them up and salvaged what I could, realizing at the same time, they were now all jumbled, and I didn't know what was what anymore. Even after they were slammed to the floor, some still sprouted. I moved those to a mini-greenhouse on my deck. I planted new seeds, made a grid, and put them in the greenhouse with the few seedlings I had saved from the kitchen disaster. To my dismay, Nate and I came home one day and the wind had knocked over the greenhouse. Seed pods and seedlings were all over the deck. Once again, I picked them up, and hoped for the best. Some of the young seedlings survived and some of the seeded pods sprouted. I now have 10 tomato plant seedlings, 12 eggplant seedlings, 14 pepper plant seedlings, and I don't know what varieties they are. It's a wait and see game. Of the tomato plants, I do hope I get at least one Cherokee Purple and one Black from Tula. Some Thai Long Green eggplants would be great too. I had to buy transplants to flesh out the tomatoes, eggplants and peppers I needed, and I direct seeded many of my other plants, like squash, watermelon, beans, and cucumbers, from my seed stash. While I didn't start everything from seed like I hoped I could, overall I'm happy with my success. In the meantime, I can't wait to see what develops from my mystery seedlings!