The smoke/haze has returned. Actually it arrived on Sunday. SW Washington is now at the Unhealthy rating. Isn't that just the best?! Doesn't matter though, still gotta get out and take care of the critters.
I also had some time to get some soil blocks made and sowed an entire tray of Sweetheart Beets (free to Seed Savers Exchange members). I picture fermenting beets in my future :)
Now I have two trays started...let's see what will germinate!
During my daily walk through the garden I spied this for the first time:
To be honest, I wasn't expecting to get anything from the corn. I mean really, it was June 14 when we created the mounds and a day or two later when we planted the seeds. Not bad for a couple of months of growth!
Sunday evening I decided it was time to bring in some flowers to enjoy in the house:
Shaye Elliott of the Elliott Homestead recently post a video on putting together a flower bouquet. I've never been that great at arranging flowers in a vase, but I'm not terribly concerned about how things look a lot of times I guess I'm partial to the "organic" feel/look of things.
As I wandered through the few flower plants that I have in the garden, I decided to stick with the little things Yarrow and Globe Amaranth. I clipped a couple of Cosmos blooms and a sprig of Rosemary and some greenery from the Bachelor Buttons that have been topped off by a critter and therefore is not producing flowers.
My first thought was to use one of my small clear vases that are meant for place settings, but I must have gotten rid of those as I couldn't find them. So, while looking in my built-in where I keep my old Fiestaware I spied my itty-bitty Fiestaware pitcher - PERFECT! This little arrangement is on the windowsill in the kitchen and it brightens up the sink area. I love it!
Okay, so if you love gardening and hate cancer here is something for you. I follow Sustainable Seed Company on Instagram and this past weekend they had a post in regards to one of their employees who is fighting cancer. The company is offering a variety of "Cancer killing seed bundles" to help raise money for Juan. Check out the company and the goods HERE. I ordered a $40 bundle which no longer is available - there is a different $40 bundle in its place. Actually, there is more than one $40 bundle available...hmmm...I wonder what I'll be getting after all. Check it out and make a purchase, it's a good cause.
TUESDAY
Nothing terribly exciting happened today.
The little meat birds are getting quit hefty for their size and we still have a few weeks left until harvest weekend. They are pretty happy little birds right now and I believe that we are now over the premature death hump that we have been experiencing in the last couple of weeks.
The one chick that was looking a little sickly finally decided that it couldn't last any longer. Seriously, he/she was hunched over quite a bit and usually had her feathed puffed out whenever I saw her. This was in contrast with all of the others that were hopping around and scratching and at the ground and finding bugs to eat. Until Sunday afternoon I wondered if she would be the next one to die.
Planted another tray of seeds - Chard, Tatsoi and Spinach. Checked on the other two trays...and saw this:
Nearly all of the Romanesco and Kohlrabi seeds have germinated. We'll see how many seedlings I will have to transplant into the fall garden.
My plan is to sow some lettuce seeds into a tray on Wednesday.
WEDNESDAY
The Air Quality in our area has not improved and I'm starting to feel the affects of being out in it everyday since the haze/smoke has returned. Therefore, I spent the morning indoors and Tom did the critter chores. I also did not do my regular Wednesday Walkabout. I'm a little sad.
After dinner I did get to go out and do some wandering through the garden and checking on the critters. My goose companion, Lenny, was happy to have me come out and give him and his pal (who had his little girlfriend nearby) some bread. After giving the chickens some scratch and getting the ducks some extra food I went out to the garden and explored a little.
What I found out...
That the mystery squash really isn't a squash afterall. I'm detecting a melon of some sort...looks cantaloupe-y to me.
After messing around with tht Rangers
Thursday
Spent another morning inside. I actually had to use my inhaler this morning. So really, that's not too bad considering we have had the smoke/haze hanging around since Sunday.
OMG OMG OMG
I just looked outside and there is sunshine! We haven't seen sunshine in a few days...like really, no haze sunshine.
We are not guaranteed to have nice clears skies. I should know that by now, but oh my goodness...seeing bright light is sooooo nice!
The Rangers are officially 6 weeks old! 5 more weeks and it will be harvest day!
One more of the Freedom Rangers died over the weekend, but we have been holding steady so far this week. I'm confident that the 16 that are left will make it through the next 5 weeks to harvest day. They are all pretty feisty and active, so that's a positive.
Since the smoke and haze moved on I spent some more time outside with the critters and checking out the garden. The fresh air was needed and I was happy to not be cooped up inside.
We have had a couple of broody hens...again. It has been at least a week, maybe two since they started taking up residence in a couple of the nesting boxes. One of them is a Java and she is pretty serious about being broody. She starts to growl and squawk even when we are just walking by the egg cart. Nevermind taking a look at her...
This girl, she has an attitude!
Nothing special happened today other than being able to go out and spending more that 15-20 minutes outside. It's been a long week being at work in the office by myself - not totally by myself, but certainly the only office staff all week.
I did receive my order from Sustainable Seed Company yesterday, Thursday. SO EXCITED!
This seed bundle is a fundraiser for an employee at Sustainable Seed Company. There are still several bundles at different price levels for most budgets. The bundles are called Killing Cancer Seed Bundles - pretty clever huh. As a cancer survivor myself, I felt compelled to make a purchase.
This was from the original $40 offering which has fewer items than what the current bundles have. I love it though! I got 7 packages of seeds so that will be fun to try out next season. If you want to make a purchase there is still time. The goal is to raise $7,500.00 to help Juan Kick Cancer's Butt!
Even with all of the smoke from the wildfires this week, the week has been fairly good. I'm hopeful that we are past the smoke for the time being. It looks like we are back in the "yellow" which is moderate...but not by much. Hopefully there will be some wind soon to help blow things through the area and the number will go down.
No matter what...
Farm Life is the BEST Life!
No comments:
Post a Comment