Donuts, Black Rabbits, and Gardens

 

Nathaniel, Lydia, and I went yardsaling a couple of weeks ago, and I saw this donut puzzle.  I did one that is very similar a while back, with either 500 or 1,000 pieces, and I really enjoyed it, so I decided to buy this one. It is the first 1,500 piece puzzle I've ever done.  I enjoyed it very much, but I don't think I'll make a habit of doing more that big. 500-1,000 pieces are more my speed.

Nathaniel and I had a date night last weekend, where I took his picture with a black rabbit:

Speaking of black rabbits, can you see Buddy Bean in the sweet potato vines?

He loves hiding in them, and eating them.  Fortunately, they are safe for bunnies.

In other garden news, I have been working on layering compost and wood chips on beds that are done for this year. The tomatoes are the center bed here, which are still producing little ones. To the rear and the right, you can see the beautiful Mexican sunflowers. Hummingbirds and butterflies visit daily. There are also some weeds back there that I need to clean up.

Here is the other side. Not much still growing here, some zinnias and zucchinis.  You can see Nathaniel's fancy new air conditioner in the back.

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!)

Garden Beauty

The sweet potatoes have continued their incredible growth. At the end of the row, you can see one of my Mexican sunflowers, which has so many visits from hummingbirds and butterflies.  If you look closely at the sweet potatoes, you can find little hidden flowers:

I also have these pretty zinnias in my main vegetable garden:

I like to plant some flowers among the veggies.

 

Cantaloupe!!!

I have long loved cantaloupe. Every August I can remember involves me eating copious amounts of it. I am a bit of a cantaloupe snob. I require really good cantaloupe. You won't see me eating it at the buffet, or out of season, or - God forbid!- mixed with other fruit. The best cantaloupe has always been Posey County cantaloupe (which may be grown in Posey or Gibson County, Indiana), although the Barkley Lake area also produces really good cantaloupe, as does most of the area along the Ohio between Indiana and Kentucky. However, I have not had the most luck growing any, between the lack of space and the interference of the animals, who also enjoy perfect cantaloupe.  But this summer - o glorious! - I have a cantaloupe patch, and it is producing abundantly.

Most of the cantaloupes are between 3 and 4 lbs, and they have all been good, but today, I had a perfect one. It's nearly gone already, because I can't resist perfect cantaloupe, but there are two more waiting to be cut up on the counter, and the garden has lots of green ones growing, so whatever else may grow or not, this has been my greatest gardening accomplishment ever!

Now, to eat more cantaloupe....

 

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!!!

Garden Explosion and a Surprise

Time to step away from travel posts for a minute and talk about how my garden took off while we were gone.

I am now getting plenty of tomatoes for fresh eating, and I am close to having enough paste tomatoes for a huge batch of salsa.

On the way to let the dogs out, I noticed something new.  Actually,  I heard it before I saw it.

Yes, while I was gone, my friend came over and installed a fountain for us!  It was a surprise,  and I burst out laughing,  because I knew exactly what had happened.   My dear friend Jennifer had offered me the fountain a few weeks ago, but I didn't think I would get around to painting it and installing it, so I turned her down. So she did it all for me!

The sunflowers started blooming!  And my beloved Mexican sunflowers, too!  Some can be seen behind the yellow sunflowers, and there are some at the end of the picture below:

The sweet potatoes have gone crazy.  They are spilling out everywhere,  including onto the deck:

They are quite pretty.  I hope they are developing underground as well as they are above ground. 

 

Fermentation

I've been fermenting a lot lately.  I made this fermented salsa, which I puree when it's done.  It's a big hit with Emry and Lydia. I started making it last year, and it's fast, easy, and tasty.

This next one is a mixture of turnips, beets, and dill.  It's from a fermentation book by Shannon Stonger, and I decided to try it since I had a lot of beets and turnips, and my dill is ready but my cucumbers are not. It's good, but I will probably be the only one eating it.

This last one was a bit of a whim.  I planted a pepperoncini plant for the first time, and several were ready at once. I decided to ferment them to use on salads and pizza. They turned out well. I will also be the only one eating them, but that's ok.

And Gyunay got new glasses:

He had to pick from the adult-sized ones this time. He was not as happy with the color choices, as the kids' sizes had more and brighter blue options, but he ended up happy with these glasses.  They are blue, of course.

 

Yum

I was thinking about whether or not to bother with corn next year, because I will not be getting much, and I had some germination problems.  Then I ate some.  We will be growing it again!

I got a load of mulch!!! I finally got a load through Chip Drop, so this lovely pile cost $40. It has mostly already been spred on the chicken yard and some in the garden, thanks to lots of help from Nathaniel, Elijah, Lydia, and Emry.

My cantaloupe patch is being visited by all the pollinators! I have a few tiny ones growing. There are some watermelons at the end, too, but you can't see them in this picture.

I have lots of green tomatoes, but I'm mostly just getting a handful of cherry ones every other day or so. I think they will all turn red while I'm on vacation.

 

Happy 4th of July

Emry wanted a silly picture:

Nathaniel decided to get patriotic for the fireworks tonight:

Gyunay likes taking pictures of the animals:

And his sister:

I got my first ripe tomato today, on the 4th of July!  Of course, it was a cherry tomato, specifically a yellow pear:

No full-size tomatoes are close for me yet, so I bought some at the farmer's market.

Yesterday we celebrated this 14-year-old:

And I harvested the rest of the potatoes, about 14 more pounds.

 

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. 

 

Summer Time

Gyunay and Emry enjoyed a library program this week, where they made these guys.  They had a lot of fun. We are doing lots more arts and crafts, since Emry can't do any sports.  In the photo, you can also see some of the potatoes I harvested last night. Most of my potatoes are still in the ground, but I pulled up about 3lbs of red and fingerling potatoes.

I've been out and about in the garden this week, and I'm enjoying seeing all the growth. Summer is really here, and I've got blooms on my cantaloupes, watermelons, cucumbers, zucchini, etc.  My calendula started blooming on the deck cart:

Honestly, I never noticed before now how much the photo looks like a dandelion.  In person, it is a much larger bloom than a dandelion, but just as pretty. 

I am recovered from Bible school week, and although my iron is low again and I'll start infusions next week, I'm feeling pretty good.  The key is to not do too much in a row.  

 

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.