August Harvest Totals

 August was a good month for the garden.  The cantaloupes were divine!  A lot of my plants are done now, and I didn't do a good job of succession planting, so harvests will be smaller going on, but I still will have some things coming in, and September will see the meat birds harvested.  Plus, the sweet potatoes are still growing well, so those will be harvested either late September or early October.  Fewer hens were broody this month than last month, although I've had a stubborn one broody nearly all month. 

Here is the August report:

Beans, green - 7.8oz (these were either Provider or Blue lake, but only a couple of plants)

Beans, dragon - 4.9 lbs

Butternut squash, mini - 3

Cantaloupe - 11

Carrots - 24

Corn - 10

Cucumbers - 27

Eggs - 379

Jalapenos - 2

Pepperoncini - 12

Tomatillos - 13.5 oz

Tomatoes, Eva Purple Ball - 13

Tomatoes, red (various types) - 38

Tomatoes, San Marzano - 61

Zucchini - 6

Also, cherry tomatoes (not as many as I'd hoped), cilantro, dill, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, mint, basil (lots!)

Meat Birds

Before Malachi left for college, he got the outdoor pen ready for the meat chicks.  They are quite happy in their new set-up.

 

They are just over 3 weeks old, and it is plenty warm enough for them outside. These birds are more curious and active than some meat birds I've raised.  They are quite fun.  We have 26 of them.

August Craziness

August, as usual, has been pretty crazy.  I was in the middle of canning peaches when I got the call from the post office that my chicks were here, so we now have 26 meat birds living in the shop.

Lydia was in Canada on a trip with her friend and her friend's grandparents.  They were supposed to come home Sunday night.  Three canceled flights, delays, and multiple travel changes later, they managed to struggle home at 4:30 am on Wednesday morning, which was also the first day of school.  Needless to say, I let her sleep.

She did, however, share a photo of a marmot with me:

Over the weekend, Nathaniel and I had to go pick up our hog from the butcher, so we took the younger boys and made a day of it.  We went to Harrodsburg, where we enjoyed the fort and of course spent time on my favorite tree:

We didn't stay as long as we probably could have, partially because we needed to get to the butcher, and partially because Emry's legs are still broken, and he couldn't fully explore the tree.

Now it is Thursday, and Lydia and Emry are at school while Gyunay is homeschooling. Nathaniel is back in Missouri, but he should return to us tonight. Malachi's car broke down, so they plan to work on it later. Pilot has the day off, and Elijah is at work. I am trying to adjust to the new school year while keeping up with my garden and all the craziness around here.

 

July Harvest Totals

 The garden really got going at the end of July.  

Beans, dragon - 6.6 Oz

Beans, green - 3.7oz

Cabbages - 2

Carrots - 20

Corn - 6

Cucumbers - 26

Eggs - 356

Peppers, ancho - 1

Peppers, pepperoncinis - 7

Potatoes, fingerling - 1.6 lbs

Potatoes, Kenebec- 7.3 lbs

Potatoes, red - 5.4 lbs

Rutabagas - 1

Tomatoes, Eva Purple Ball - 7

Tomatoes, reds - 41

Tomatoes, San Marzano - 83

Zucchini - 6

Plus cherry tomatoes and herbs - basil, dill, oregano, mint, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme

I made and canned a batch of salsa for the first time in 2 years.  It's so nice to have ripe tomatoes!

And hopefully,  August should bring cantaloupe!!!

June Harvest Totals

The garden is looking good, but it is just starting to produce.  The chickens are laying well, except that we have a few that keep going broody, and therefore don't lay for a while. Still, there has been no shortage of eggs.  We've had plenty for us to eat and to share.

Beans, dragon - 2 oz

Carrots - 1 lb 7oz

Cucumber - 1

Eggs - 341

Garlic bulbs - 44

Garlic scapes - 42

Potatoes, Fingerling - 1 lb 10 oz

Potatoes, Kennebec - 1 lb 5 oz

Potatoes, Red - 7oz

Radishes - 2

Rutabagas - 8

Turnips - 4

Zuchini - 1

All in all, it's not too bad.  I made some delicious cheese and garlic scones with the garlic scapes a couple of times and still had some for stir-fry. The carrots are so delicious raw. The potatoes roasted up wonderfully. We will have lots more potatoes, and the zucchini and cucumbers are just getting started.  I have some green hot peppers and lots of green tomatoes. The cantaloupes are full of blooms.  Hopefully, we will have lots more to harvest.
 

Modifications

The garden is looking pretty good.  I have lots of blooms.  There are some small green tomatoes. I've harvested several carrots and potatoes, which were delicious. I'm making notes on changes for next year, but overall I am pleased with how it's going.

The chickens are doing well.

I have to get new bedding for their yard.  We had some torrential rains that flushed most of it downhill. I still have 2 broody hens, but I'm hoping they get over it soon. 

We have had a lot of modifications to our summer plans this year.  Emry needs some kind of physical challenge, and Gyunay has been avoiding the outdoors, so I made them go outside and shoot some hoops. 

Emry is not allowed out of the wheelchair, and Gyunay has to chase down the ball.  They take turns shooting. It works pretty well, for a short amount of time, anyway. 

 

Round Here

I am happy to see I have tomatoes growing.  Maybe I'll get a red one by the 4th of July!  That was always my Papaw's goal.  I have reached it here, but not often.

We have 3 broody hens.  This one is super sweet.  I'd let her hatch eggs, but they aren't fertilized.  We don't have a rooster now, for the first time in forever. 

These guys went golfing with their dad this weekend. They've been enjoying summer break from college, even if they are working 5 days a week.

And Emry and I completed a puzzle together:

We've been doing lots of sitting activities.  He is frustrated that he can't play sports at all this summer, so we have tried to mix up the activities.

Lydia spent some time earning a bit of cash for painting for the grandparents:

Soon she will start her job at Starbucks. 

 

May Harvest Totals and Crazy Golf Weekend

First, the totals:

Bok Choy - 1

Eggs -373

Radishes -11

Route - 2

Turnips -4

And I haven't posted about Memorial Day weekend, which is usually the kayak trip weekend.  This year, Nathaniel planned an epic golfing weekend for his cousins and etc, with many of them staying at his parents' house.  Eric and kids still stayed with us. The golfing started Friday morning and didn't finish until Sunday evening. Add to that the aunts, uncles, and cousins who came along just to visit, Emry in a a wheelchair, and the general craziness of the family, and it was obviously a lot. So on Monday, after most people left and it was down to Eric and us, we went to the zoo.

The weather was great, and Elijah pushed Emry around, so it worked fine.  Later that day, we took the obligatory stair picture:

 

Elephant and Piggie

Now onto more pleasant news!  Nathaniel bought this elephant for my garden:

while Lydia and I were buying this pig for my mom for the cabin:

I think they are both adorable.  

The hens are doing really well.  I had three broody hens, but that is down to one now.  We are still getting lots of eggs, and they have been staying put in their yard since Elijah fixed it. They are getting lots of greens to eat, and they enjoy that (although they would love more kitchen scraps than they get!).

 

The garden is coming along.  The potatoes are in the back left:

And here they are up close:

I've been busy planting lots of seeds for cantaloupes, corn, watermelon, and pumpkins.  Most of the plants I started have been transplanted out, too.

And I made loads of noodles!  I had so many eggs, and we do love pasta.

April Harvest Totals and Etc

April Harvest Totals:
Eggs - 430

Radishes - 3

We are in full swing for track seasons right now.  My parents came and watched both Emry and Lydia in meets, and Gyunay at swimming.  They got this great shot of Lydia pole vaulting:

I also made a big batch of chorizo:

This is before cooking.  I usually make about 7 pounds at a time, and then freeze most in about 1 lb portions.  We love chorizo. 

Pilot is home from college, and Malachi will be joining us soon, after his finals are done. Summer is near!

 

March Harvest Totals and Gardening!

 March Egg total - 462!

And great news!  Elijah spent four hours this weekend securing the chickens, so now I can garden without them ruining it!  I'm so happy.  They are staying safely in their yard, and I can plant my garden.  We have 18 hens now (one disappeared and likely died in someone else's yard, since we never found her).  I have been transferring compost from the chicken yard to the new garden, and Gyunay has been helping me plant.  So far, we have planted about 20 potatoes, a row of peas, and we transplanted small broccoli and bok choy plants to the garden.

I have lots more plans, but it is still too early to plant most things out.  Our last frost date isn't until around April 22.  I will plant more potatoes next week, though.  I hope to have a really good crop of those, now that I have room for them.

We also celebrated Elijah's birthday recently!

As usual, I made a chocolate trifle for him.  It's still his favorite dessert, and he really looks forward to it.

 

Melting

The snow is mostly gone in town, but we still have quite a bit here.  Buddy Bean loves the snow, but he also loves his tunnels, so now is the best of both worlds for him.

There's still snow around the edges of the deck, but the center is melted so he can move his tunnels around!

As you can see, I'm going to have to come up with a way to keep the chickens out of my garden this spring:

Inside, I've started some seedlings.  Mamaw gave me these cute little seed starting pots:

Gyunay helped me plant some seeds:

 

January Eggs!

 We got 387 eggs in January!  By far, that is the most we've ever had in a month.  I've given away several dozen, and various egg dishes have been on the menu.  I've made souffle, deviled eggs, fresh pasta, breakfast burritos, scrambled and fried eggs.  I think I'll have to make brownies, just because my recipe calls for 6 eggs :)

Finally

After 2 weeks of sickness, and missing out on all the Christmas festivities, we finally felt mostly well on New Year's Eve day.  So 6 of us went bowling at the oldest bowling alley in America.

We had a great time, although I was completely worn out after bowling 2 games.  

Also, I never mentioned it, but our hens are laying well!  We went from 24 eggs in November to 141 in December, and the numbers are way up already for January.  I got 14 eggs today from our 19 hens, so I'm pretty confident that they are now all laying.  Some of the eggs are still little, but many are full sized now.  We have been loving having fresh eggs again.

 

Eggs, Decks, and Basketball

The other morning, I collected 3 eggs from my hens.  Later that afternoon, I went back to find these: 

This means that at least 2 of my baby hens are laying!  Last month, I had 24 eggs total.  So far, I have 10 eggs this month!  I'm finally going to have eggs again!!!!

We're having some outdoor work done.  We got new decking on the deck.  

We got 4 inches of snow, but the deck is now finished, and they have started working on replacing our fence boards, which are mostly rotted.  

Emry has been playing lots of basketball. He had 3 games this week.  Today, he had to dress up for school:

And I wanted to post these little guys we made over Thanksgiving:

They were made with air dry clay and accessories. Lydia, my mother-in-law, my niece, and I made these.  

 

November Harvest Totals

 Eggs - 24

Rutabagas - 2

Tomatillos - 1.7 lbs

Turnips - 1

Obviously a small harvest, but I discovered that I love rutabagas, and so I have moved them into the garden plan for next year.  I've been having fun making my garden plans for my new big garden space.  I have big plans!

On eggs, the three hens have been laying about an egg a day, but there is hope on the horizon: today, I got three eggs!  I think one of them is from the pullets, but I'm not 100% sure.  I hope to find even more eggs this week!

Updates and Such

The chickens are doing great.  

Years ago, I bought Lego silicone molds for a Lego birthday party.  I'm still using them pretty regularly.  These are elderberry gummies, which the younger boys absolutely love.

Here are the two Halloween pictures I couldn't get to upload earlier in the month.

And here are Acorn and Maple just looking cute: