2014 Garden is Started

On Sunday it was in the 60s so I planted over 300 onion bulbs (red, yellow and white), 3 apple trees, 2 peach trees, about 10 gooseberry bushes. This week I will get in some lettuce and radishes and the following week I will put in beets, peas, carrots and potatoes.  I started my tomato seeds last Friday so I am pretty much on time with this years garden.  The big problem is the weather.  Spring needs to come and stay and not just visit 1 or 2 days a week.

Canning Season I'm Ready for You

Someone brought in 34 dozen regular mouth canning jars seals, still in their boxes, all unopened and gave them to Ron.  I am almost ready for gardening, have all my seeds, onion bulbs and seed potatoes and will purchase a few plants.  In the next week I will get in some lettuce for me and the chickens and get the onions in the ground.  After that comes the Yukon Gold potatoes, beets and peas then the warm weather crops will have to wait a while yet.  Then the best part comes, the canning and I am ready for it.

The Calendar and Mother Nature

The calendar says it is Spring but Mother Nature says it is still winter.  The temps for the last couple of days and the next couple of days say winter is still here.  The light snowfall last night says the same. 
It is time to get my onions in the ground and also some lettuce but it is going to have to wait until about a week when the ground is ready for me to get out and work in it.  I am ready but Mother nature is not.

Leather Britches

I am making leather britches the modern way and have my dehydrator full of green beans right now.   Leather britches were done years ago by taking a nice strong piece of thread.string, tying a knot on one end and sticking the needle through one end of the green bean.  After your piece of thread/string was full you would hang it in an airy spot out of direct sunlight until they were completely dry.  You would then store them in an airtight container until ready to use.
After mine are dry I will put them in quart of half gallon Ball jars and use them in soups.  I also will try them by cooking them just like I would fresh beans and add some onion, bacon or ham and potatoes.  We are not a can green bean family, we eat them fresh or in vegetable soups.

Yard Work Monday

I was up and outside yesterday at 8 AM to start my yard work yesterday.  I first started out using the new weed whacker we got a couple of weeks ago.  It has a non pull attachment that you put on a drill and it starts it.  I do not have enough energy to pull the cord to start it and decided to purchase one I could start.   We also got a straight gas model which is a little heaver than a gas/oil model.  My arms are really sore today.  After 3 + hours on the weed whacker it was time to get out the mower.  Got the yard done WITHOUT getting stuck in any ditch.  Then I picked tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden.  When I finished it was 3 PM and I was filthy dirty.
We desperately need some rain.  The garden is pretty dry and the grass is starting to turn brown.  I would rather have to mow the grass and have it green than to have it brown and not have to mow it.  I love having a yard that looks like a park

Potatoes Dug and Ready to be Canned

I planted only three 8' rolls of Yukon Gold potatoes and dug them early this morning.  I got about 20 lbs and will can them tomorrow or Wednesday.  I then picked some cucumbers and tomatoes and took some to the Post Office to share with the gals there.  We have a very small Post Office (village is only 250) and there are some very nice ladies.
We got a little rain today not that much to do any good but every drop I guess helps.  Picked several green peppers yesterday and hopefully we should have some eggplant by Saturday.
Going to have super nachos with some of the items from the garden tomorrow night, onions, peppers, tomatoes.  Love eating from the garden.

Second Planting of the Garden Done

This past week I planted beets for the second time this year and also green beans.  I canned 10 pints of pickled beets and got nothing from the green beans.  The rabbits enjoyed the green beans instead.  Ms Kitty has been working on the rabbits and so far I know she has had 3 of them.  She might have gotten more but 3 is what I know for sure.  When the beans start sprouting and I see any evidence of them being eaten Ron will put up some chicken wire around the area where the green beans are.
The cucumbers are coming on really heavy now and before long I will have more than we can eat.  There are a couple very small egg plants and several small peppers so it will be a couple of weeks before we get any of that.  I love summer eating from the garden.  In the summer we eat the same things several times a month while they are in season and fresh.
My onions will need pulled soon.  Most have worked themselves out of the soil, there are some mighty nice size ones and hope they keep better than last years did.  I have red, yellow and white onions with red being my favorite.
Looks like we are heading for a week of some very hot humid days which means a chance of rain almost everyday this week.  With every weather change the girls change their egg laying, slow day today.  Some must have remembered it was Sunday and a day of rest.  Looks like we might cull our first batch of hens next weekend.  Just going to do 3 or 4 and if everything goes good we will do several hens and some broilers the following weekend.  Out of the 12 adolescent chickens I'm pretty sure there is only one rooster.  We will keep a couple pullets so we can replace several of the older hens.

Peas are Out of the Garden, Green Beans are Next

The spring peas were done so I pulled the vines and picked what I could salvage.  I gave the vines to the chickens and am dehydrating the peas to use this fall when I make mixed vegetables for soup.  Not a huge amount but I will also plant a fall batch and see how much I can get from them.  We ate creamed peas several times and buttered peas twice.  You have to eat what is in season and if that means eating a lot of one thing that's OK with me.
I will give the ground a couple days rest and will try some more green beans.  I had 2 rows in but the rabbits ate them.  I said to my husband the other day that I hoped they found something else to eat so I can have some green beans.  Well I guess Ms Kitty heard me and this morning I heard a couple thumps in the garage so I got up and carefully opened the door and there in front of the door was a small not living rabbit.  I scolded the cat picked up the rabbit and put it in the trash.  About an hour later I went out to collect eggs and there was Ms Kitty in the back yard finishing off a small rabbit.  I don't know where she is getting them and I know that is part of their nature but I hate when she kills off the wildlife.    

I'm Still Here

I am very disappointed in myself for not keeping up on my blog this year.  It has been a crazy year so far with not feeling the best for several months and with having my Etsy store and selling on eBay I have been busy.  These are just excuses I keep telling myself.
My grandson Brandon who inspired me to start this blog sent me an email early this morning:

So I was just wondering why you haven't posted anything on your blog in 3 weeks exact. I'm just saying your blog is like my nightly newspaper, and I haven't gotten a paper in 3 weeks so I decided to contact the company (you). 
So could you please start posting funny and interesting stuff again? Please.  

So here I am, June has been a nice warm and wet month.  I harvested my beets last weekend and canned 11 pints of pickled beets.  We've had creamed peas with new potatoes twice and buttered peas once.  I have one more picking of peas then they will be pulled up and green beans will be planted.  I put in 2 rows of green beans early this summer but the rabbits ate them.  Hopefully the rabbits have found something different to eat and I will get some this time.  Yesterday I put in the second planting of beets and hopefully I'll get a third planting in.
My tomatoes are going wild, my daughter Renee said they look like they are on drugs.  No ripe ones yet but it is still early.  Cucumbers are loaded with baby cucumbers so I should have cucumbers soon.  I have a couple green peppers and the egg plants are blooming.  We've had plenty of rain this year and I love that.

Chickens: 33 laying hens, 6 new pullets and about 30 adolescent chickens.  Several of the hens, several adolescents and the 6 pullets came from Renee and Brandon.  I sent for some leg bands for the birds and am going to band this years layers so I know for sure what ones to cull next year.  I will be culling several of the ones I have now and replacing them with some I hatched this year.  By winter I want to be down to 30 layers.  The older chickens will be canned for soup, noodles and casseroles while the ones hatched this year will be ground and the breasts frozen for meals.  Of course I will not waste the bones and will can plenty of chicken broth.
Turkeys:  I am planning on culling Ted and Thelma after I get some questions answered on them.  I am new to raising turkeys and need to know if they will be good to roast.  Thelma is 4 and Ted is 6.  If you have an answer for this please let me know.  I have 5 adolescent turkeys and will keep some of them for next years breeding stock.  I want to end up with one male and 2 or 3 females.  I keep trying to hatch Thelma's eggs but am not having any luck.  I have only one turkey from them.  I've lost 6 or 7 when they were just a couple of days old and most of the eggs have not been fertile.

I will be more diligent in posting and hopefully won't bore you.

Went on a ride yesterday and saw this old house.  A good strong wind and she will be no more.

Brandon's Evening in Pictures

Pea bloom.

Birdhouse Brandon and Ron made several years ago.

Flower bush out front.

Egg sign on the tree.

Garden that is doing wonderful.

Onion beds.

3 chicks that are about 3 weeks old.

Chicks that were born this weekend.

What is that crazy Brandon doing?

No I'm not smiling.

I did not know for sure how many hens I had so we went out and counted them.  There are 33 hens and 1 rooster.  Some of the hens are on a roost on the other side of the coop.  Please note that you can not see them but there are 2 more roosts below where they are all crowded together.  Chickens by nature will sleep as high up as they can.

Broiler turkeys and chickens. 4 turkeys and 12 chickens so far.

Garden and Yard Work

Yesterday I planted my yellow wax beans, green beans and cucumbers.  The only thing I want to add yet is 2 egg plants.  Would like to add a few other items but have run out of space.  I also took some scrap fencing  and made a trellis for the cucumbers to climb.  It is rather unique looking and will have to take a picture of it. The garden is doing very good and the weeds are few.  I think I'm going to love this "Garden of Eden" thing.
Today I mowed the grass, took 5 1/2 hours.  Have a lot of hand mower work and because it did not get mowed last week it was rather long.  I bag my grass and the bagger needed emptied a lot and the grass shoot kept getting clogged so that is what took me so long to get it done.  Ron did the weed whacking when he got home.
I put the bagged grass between the rows of things in the garden.  This will add nutrients, keep down the weeds and keep the soil moist.  I also did give the chickens some, it is good for them and makes their yolks a deeper yellow/orange.

Peppers and Tomatoes are in the Ground

After delivering 10 dozen of eggs to a new customer, packing up several Ebay and Etsy orders and taking them to the Post Office I came home and worked outside.  We have rain in the forecast for the next 5 days so I thought I better get it done.  I put in 7 pepper plants and 6 tomato plants.  Sure hope we don't get too much rain because I'm not sure they can do the backstroke.  Next week I will put in a roll of green beans, half a row of black wax yellow beans and some cucumbers.  The only other thing I want to get is a couple egg plants.
While I was out I decided to bring out the babies (3 weeks old Friday and Saturday) and put them in a portable yard cage we got at a garage sale.  At first they did not know what to think but after a while they had a ball.  They got to stay out for about 5 hours.  Doesn't look like they will get to go out again for a while because of the coming rain.

Over the top is a piece of black netting to protect them and to keep them in.

The 4 black ones are turkeys and the rest are 12 chickens.

Picture when I removed the netting.

Aren't they so cute.

Yard Work, I LOVE Yard Work, Really

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I worked outside all day long.  I started on the front yard first and part way through I managed to get the mower in a ditch in the front side of the yard.  I managed to get it buried up to the axle of the back wheels.  In my defense I usually use the lawn tractor to do that part but with all the rain the ground was way to saturated and the more I tried to get it out the worse it got.
I called my husband at work and asked if I ever got the lawn tractor stuck how would I pull it out with my vehicle.  He said no way could I do it and said it was almost lunch time and would come home and get it out.  He came home put a chain on the front of the tractor, hooked it to the back of his truck and in less than 10 seconds it was out.
While I was waiting for him I put together some recycled, re-purposed yard art flowers and put them out by my Fresh Eggs sign.  I thought it needed a little bling.
After the flowers I then went back to mowing and finished everything I could with the lawn tractor and then got out the push mower and finished the places I could not do with the tractor; like the ditch.

Today I pulled the few weeds from my garden beds, I have onions, radishes, beets, 2 kinds of lettuce and peas up. The potatoes should be coming up in a week or so.

My sign with my flower art.

Copper decorative bowl and jello mold on green rods with old spoons pounded flat for the leaves.

View of the front of the house, check out those neat straight mowing lines.

Side yard, the bush to the right is a lilac bush and next to it is the little ditch I got the mower stuck in.

View of my "Garden of Eden".  Potatoes are in the front end, big empty space for tomatoes and whatever, radishes, lettuce, beets and peas at the far end by the blackberry bushes.

2 raised beds of onions with some chives and other herbs in the bed on the left.  That is my guard rooster who watches over everything.

Spring Planting Done

After almost 9 long hours I have my spring planting done.  This is my first year planting in my "Garden of Eden".  I started out with planting 4 8 foot rows of peas.  I used the spade to dig the rows, it's like when Moses parted the Red Sea, you have to dig a trench to plant.  After the peas I planted 3 rows of beets and 1 row with radishes and 2 kinds of lettuce.  I dug these 4 rows by hand with a hand spade.  Then came 3 rows of potatoes which I dug with the shovel.  Then I started 15 containers of Cabin Tomato seeds that a fellow blogger sent me.  They are a heirloom tomato and are huge.  Really anxious to grow them.
I then came in at 2:30 for my breakfast/lunch break.  Went back out about 3:00 when Ron got home and he dug up the 2 beds for the onions and then Ron helped me plant them.
Done until it gets warm enough to put out the rest of the stuff which should be about 6 weeks.  I think I have more things I want to plant than I have space for.

4 rows of peas, I will add wire between the poles for the peas to climb on.  That is my blackberry bushes at the end of the garden.

3 rows of beets and 1 row with radishes and 2 kinds of lettuce.

Empty section where tomatoes and whatever else I decide.

3 rows of Yukon Gold potatoes.

This is where the peppers will go, I will put them in early and cover the frame with plastic  for my mini green house.

2 raised beds filled with onions, white, yellow and red.  Notice the huge rooster who is guarding the area, I bought him with our Christmas money from Tony and Renee.  I've wanted him for a couple of years and finally got him.

Beautiful Fall Sunday

This weather is beautiful.  The sun was out, a little breeze occasionally and the trees are starting to turn colors.  This morning Ron and I cut up all the veggies I am going to use to make vegetable soup mix tomorrow.  Thank goodness for my KitchenAid and the attachments; they made the job of cutting some of the stuff easy.  We then went into town to deliver some eggs, a quick trip to the store and then back home.  I went out back and planted my garlic and then let the chickens out to roam the yard.  Ron and I sat out and watched them while they roamed around.  Why is it that the 2 places, garlic bed and pea bed, I didn't want them in they insisted going?  After a few times getting them out they went about eating grass and scratching around to find some goodies.  They got to stay out for a couple hours and then the fun began.  Close your eyes and picture this; Ron standing at the gate to the chicken yard with a hoe in his hand and me chasing the chickens with a long pole trying to get them to go back in their yard.  After several minutes, well maybe more than several minutes I was successful in getting them back in and locked up.  I don't know about them but I was tired after the chase.

Sunday in the Midwest

I will take a whole year of days like this; sunny, temps in the 70s.  Got up early and finished washing the canning jars and then we went on a "Sunday Ride".  One of those drives when you come to a T in the road and you take turns saying which way to turn.  We saw a lot of farmers in the fields picking corn and saw a couple trucks filled with pumpkins heading to the Libby plant.  I'm surprised at the amount of fields that are already picked.   I planned on taking my camera and getting some early fall pictures but left it at home.
Tomorrow morning I will do the russet potatoes and hopefully I will get the yard mowed in the afternoon.  I would prefer to cut it first thing in the morning but with the heavy dew we have been getting it doesn't dry out until after 10:30.   On Tuesday the high is only going to be in the low 60s and going to get down to 40 that night.  It is cooling off way to fast for me.
Ron picked a lot of peppers when I was washing the jars so after supper we cut them up and I have 5 trays of them dehydrating in my Excalibur dehydrator.  I still have a lot of peppers on the plants and am still getting tomatoes and zucchini.  I picked a few green beans yesterday and will cook them tomorrow, I will be able to pick them again the end of the week.    Now I need for my peas to start blooming.  The extended forecast looks pretty good for the next 2 weeks so there should be plenty of time for them to produce some mighty fine peas.  I guess I need to think about getting my garlic in the ground soon.  There is never a shortage of things that need done.
Later, take care.

Beautiful Sunday

Today was absolutely beautiful out.  The temps in the low 70's, a little breeze and the beautiful sun was out.  We went into town I got my hair cut, picked up a few items at the store and then back home.  I then put a Pepsi can chicken on the grill and made some baked beans to go with it.  It turned out really nice and just fell off the bone.  Tomorrow for supper we will have leftovers from yesterday and today.  We have leftovers at least once a week for supper; I refuse to waste good food.  The rest of the day I just sat and looked up some recipes on the internet.  Tomorrow I will start working on canning bacon.  I have the jars washed and everything out and ready.  It will probably take 2 days to do the bacon; the canner holds 7 qts and each load takes 90 minutes processing time.  So each batch will take about 3 hours and I hope to do 3 batches tomorrow.

Our delicious Pepsi can chicken. 

The bees and butterflies were all over my sedum plants on this beautiful sunny day.

My peppers are still doing wonderful.  I got my first pepper on May 31st and they still are producing.

House Cleaning Day

It took me 5 1/2 hours but the house is clean, the wash is caught up and everything I canned is put up.  Canning all day for 3 days put a big strain on the amount of work I was able to accomplish around the house.  After cleaning I was able to sit out back and enjoy the nice day out.  I sat out back and looked at some cookbooks and gardening books on my Kindle.  I also picked some eggplant that I cooked for supper to go with the BLTs.  I have a couple zucchini that will need picked tomorrow along with some tomatoes and by the end of the week I will have some peppers that need picked.  My fall peas are up and so are my green beans.  The extended forecast looks pretty nice and there is also a chance of rain.  The cooler weather is a welcomed relief after the horribly hot summer.
Later, take care.

Zucchini/Potato Pancakes

For supper to go with the BBQ pork we were having I made up something new for us.  I grated 1 medium zucchini, 2 small Yukon gold potatoes, added 1 small chopped red onion, 1 egg, salt, pepper, garlic and about 1/2 c of flour.  Mixed it up and dropped by spoonful into hot olive oil.  These were wonderful and Ron even liked them and ate several.  I used the zucchini, onion and potato from my garden and the egg from the "girls".  I love when I can use so many items from the garden in 1 meal.
Now I need to think what else I can put with grated zucchini.  If you have any favorite zucchini recipes please share.

Zucchini/Potato Pancakes

Beautiful Sunday

It is absolutely beautiful out today.  We received a little over 1/2" of rain yesterday and the front brought much cooler weather, it is only 84.  There is a nice breeze and the sun is shinning.  I planted 4 eight foot long rolls of peas today.  I put 2 rolls in the raised bed that I grew potatoes in and 2 rolls I put in my new "Back to Eden" garden.  The green beans that I planted last week are up.  I will plant garlic in September and also some lettuce and that will be it for this year.  When I was out in the garden I picked a few tomatoes and a couple zucchini.
We had ham today for lunch, ham is Ian's favorite meat and it was to celebrate his getting a car.  There is a lot left over so I am going to can some quarts of split pea and ham soup tomorrow.  I also plan to dry some cherry tomatoes for tomato powder and grate the zucchini that I picked.
Later, take care.