When the Garden is Done

The garden that produced so much for us and is still actually producing some stuff is finally winding down. Last weekend we started to pull up plants, harvest Sunflower heads, clean up some hardware and then let the feathered creatures come in and enjoy some gleaning.

For weeks, I had been trying to get Walter & Leona to come into the garden and root around for stuff. They had a chance to come in a few weeks ago, but found it too intimidating I guess because they wouldn't follow me in.

This was the one and only time this summer that we had waterfowl in the garden:

At that time they just hid out behind the Three Sisters corn and when it was time to get them to go, they showed how stubborn they can be, very stubborn.

The geese are so veggie-centric that I KNEW that they would have to stay out. Until now.

Gus & Greta can't believe their good fortune

When they first walked into the garden, they just stood there not understanding what they should do. Then they saw the bean plants and that was it...they started to nibble on the leaves. This is a surprising thing about these two, they are not 100% into the bean leaves, but they LOOOVE the beans. Lenny was the opposite, loved the leaves and couldn't understand that the bean was food too. Since the weekend they have been able to come and go into the garden whenever they please. Of course that is available while we are home.

The other day I suggested to Tom that they be corralled into the garden when he has to leave for an extended period of time. That works out well because it is a sad sight to see them in their house and when they are in with the ducks the ducks are unhappy. This is the perfect solution. Well, until the garden is planted again.

The only thing that I will put in the garden this fall is the garlic when it finally is delivered. The season between the fall stuff and getting the spring/summer crops in can be a little on the longer side. This way we won't have to put the chickens in the garden...not just yet anyway. The chickens do great at tilling and spreading things like compost around.

I do like to put tarp down over the garden to smother weeds that have come up and give the garden a chance to recover during the late winter, so the critters will have to stay out. I might put down some cover crop after all of the plants are out, but I haven't decided for sure just yet.

Anyway, the feathered critters have been enjoying their smorgasbord of leftover beans and some sunflower seeds and corn stalks. The geeses REALLY like the corn stalks. I'm not sure what it is...maybe they like the feel of the leaves. They are so weird...they try out everything!

All of the waterfowl including Betty

Betty and the duckies she hatched

There are a couple of Butternut squash still on the vine, so I'll have to wait until they are appropriately ripe before pulling up the three sisters plants. I would like to dry the corn stalks and maybe line the rest of the fence with them. We'll see.

This time of year is always a little sad, but I still try to grow something during the Fall and Winter. Then I'll start planning my 2020 garden!

Farm Life - growing food for people and animals!

End of the Week...YAY

A few weeks ago a friend of ours who had just stopped by our house reported to me that there was a bunny in the garden.

oh fine.

I had specifically gotten a short fence to go around the garden. For a while it was working just fine. No bunnies that I could tell. There were deer, but there wasn't much for them to feast on.

Now that we were aware of the bunny I started to realize that I really would like to have a green bean harvest. The beans were really the only thing that was being eaten. I'm not sure if the bunnies were doing the damage or the deer.

Hmmm...what should I do?

Solution: Use a few of the bamboo hoop things and use some netting to keep the bunnies out. Ran into a problem though, I ran out of netting after covering up 4 of the plants.

Well , dadgum.

Off to Parkrose! A bag of popcorn and $10 later I was back in business....got home and finished up my project.

This should do it! The netting doesn't show up, but it's there. In the week that since I got this done the beans have been looking really good. There might even be some beans to pick for dinner this weekend.

Tonight was a no outside project time for me. Had a couple of friends come over for games, but we ended up walking outside and doing a farm critter update. Then into the house the three of us went - Tom stayed outside and did some work.

We shared a big bottle of Two Towns Hard Cider - so good! And spent about an hour visiting. Didn't get to that game after all. It has been a while since we last were together to just connect. It's just what we all needed.

In other farm news...

The remaining 17 Rangers are doing well, there are a couple of little ones, but they will perk up soon enough. They may just be late bloomers. I am hopeful that we'll make it to 11 weeks with 17!

Oh, during my lunch break with Tom our neighbor from across the street happened to come into Starbucks. We visited for a couple of minutes before I mentioned that we wanted to talk to them about putting his older boys to work and having them take care of the pigs and poultry so we could get away for a night or two sometime. He said the boys would love it and that when they come back we could chat some more.

SCORE! It's time to plan a coast getaway!

What would life be like if I didn't have to go to work 40-hours a week.

Farm Life is the Best Life!!!

Dreams Do Come True!

I know...it's been a little while since I was here last...I've been enjoying what we have been blessed with!

The idea to transform our property into a small farm was probably most definitley my idea. I usually have some sort of crazy idea brewing in my head. It doesn't help that I watch homesteader videos and think that we can do some of the things that "those" people are doing!

Having pigs was my dream (so I am told). Before we made the trip out to Cascade Meadows Farm I had envisioned where I wanted the pigs to be eventually. Underneath these pear trees. They are old and fairly ugly. The tree on the left actually had blackberry canes growing around it and up into the tree. It was a MESS!

This is from January 14.

Ever since that visit I had been anxious to get our piggies home, but first we had to prepare the space for them and get some basic supplies. Figure out how to house them etc. Most of all I just needed to be patient and wait.

Now that they are home we have had such a fun first month with them and have been acquainting ourselves with their personalities. They are really sweet and are so affectionate. They like most people that come to visit and they REALLY like seeing us coming toward the paddock. We are, afterall, the chuck wagon!

The Kids Waiting Patiently

It may seem like Rex is being frisky with Fiona in a rather familiar way, but I think he was just goofing around - especially when he head-butted her back end! She is fairly tolerant of the little dude, I hope that when it comes to breeding that they will be successful!

These two bring so much joy to my heart (especially after losing our Mr. Decaf a couple of weeks ago)...our farm really is complete with them. The space they are in right now is now complete and they now have a couple of trees to rest under when the summer heat arrives.

These are just a sample of the things Fiona and Rex do while we are out with them.

Really Rex? You couldn't walk another 5 feet to the pool?

Rex seems to be napping everytime I turn around!

I'm not kidding! Alway snoozin'

Farm Life Is The Best Life!

Could have been...

a Farm Cat?

Maybe, but almost 14 years ago when this little fuzzy kitkat came into our life and made a place in our hearts we did not have a farm.

The one reason that we got him at all was because at the time Mr. Decaf joined us as I was going through chemotherapy for an Anaplastic Astrocytoma - the fancy scientific term for badass brain tumor and I wanted another cat.

We even had a name for him long before he came to us. One afternoon we were at Starbucks with some friends and we were going through the menu and commenting what coffee drink names would make a good pet name...you know - mocha, latte...frappaccino. Naaah...then I said DECAF! Oh yeah...that was it! Since I had a name and I wanted another cat we just needed to figure out where the cat or cat baby would come from.

Fortunately for us, our good friends wanted to let one of their cats get preggers and have babies. Score! The only thing that I was insistent on was that the kitten needed to be a boy. Later in the year there were kittens and ONE boy! Oh yeah...there we go!!

It was several weeks until all the kittens were weaned and we brought Decaf home on New Year's Eve (2004).

Since then he had been the best cat...EVER! Once we introduced Riley to him, Decaf decided that Riley would be easy to dominate. And boy did he ever. Constantly attacking the big orange puff ball. That lasted for a little while, they eventually were able to coexist - although I don't think that Riley truly accepted having to share his home with an unruly younger "brother."

Here we are thirteen and a half years later. This week we thought that he was just suffering from another UTI - granted it had been quite a while since his last infection. He started meowing and howling not long after and Tom was able to get him into the doc this morning. The doctor determined that it didn't look good for Decaf and he would not have much time left. The bottom line - his kidneys had shut down. At that point it was a no brainer - to not let him suffer anymore than he already had.

I am heartbroken because of the joy that our little buddy brought to everyday life, even with all of the pippish things that he would do like barf now and then and pee and poo far away from his litter box.

Overall, he was the most fun cat we could have ever hoped for and was quite the little clown. He had favorite things, his most favorite was a blanket that Tom has had since forever and it was ratty and had holes in it. It had the perfect texture that made it fun for playing while on the couch on his bed etc. He also especially loved playing with his feather toys while that blanket was out. He was also quite fond of paper - he would chew on whatever newspaper we might have been reading and tear it to bits. When Tom would get the fireplace ready for a fire Decaf would help out by charging the paper that was sitting on the floor and try to get underneath it. 

We have so many more memories of this little dude. Memories that definitely bring a smile while we feel so low. I will definitely miss every little thing about Mr. Decaf, but feel fortunate that we got to be his "parents."

From Cold to HOT...

In no time flat!

Early last week was pretty chilly then by the end of the week and into the weekend we jumped over twenty degrees - which is just wrong. How are we supposed to function when the clouds go away and there is blue sky to be seen? Fortunately for me, I didn't have to be stuck indoors all day everyday last week. My goal was to get gardening stuff done. It took all week, but we got it done - well, started.

A couple of weeks ago, the weather wasn't so bad so Tom rototilled the area that was mostly "free range" last year. The area is approximately 24' x 55' at least that is what I am remembering. My plan is to just have rows that are 30" wide by around 15' long. Well, the length went longer the further down we went. Doesn't matter, I'm not going to be all weird about the garden. Well, not totally.

By the end of last week this is what we had - this is the side that is closest to the house.

By late morning on Saturday we had all of the raised beds dug out! That would be thirteen total. Yep THIRTEEN! It was a lot of work, but we got it done and the planting could begin!

On Sunday after returning home from church I got to work! It was pretty warm by the time I got started - so I took a lot of breaks.

The whole thing is a work in progress with pretty much everything being an experiment. The dimensions will be a new thing for us and I'm hoping that all will work out. If not, we just call it a learning experience and move on the next season.

Anyway, with 13 raised beds I have a lot of space to grow all sorts of stuff! The first day of planting was all about the tomato plants that I started earlier this year. I ended up with 15 tomato plants with 4 different varieties. Each variety occupies space in one of the raised beds. Each bed will also have plants that will play well with the tomatoes (i.e. Borage, Onions, or Greens). Since we had rain for almost all of the spring, I am hoping that the sunshine will be with us for an extended period of time. Some rain will be nice so I don't have to water as much, but more sun wouldn't be a bad thing.

Here is the break down of the varieties/plants that are in the beds so far:

• Mortgage Lifter (4) - a favorite from last year. A nice slicing tomato which kind of took it's time to finally produce fruit, but once it did, we had a lot of them!
• San Marzano (4) - this is a new one for our garden this year. This is in lieu of the Roma Tomato that we had in the hoop house. I wasn't disappointed with the romas, I thought I would try something a little different, but kind of the same.
• Blush (3) - this was a variety that I got last summer from Johnny's Seeds. Go HERE to check it out.
• Garden Peach (4) - this was too interesting to pass up. From Uprising Organics. Check it out HERE

The planting went well ONCE I got the goose to stop trying to nip at the plants.

It's hard to stay upset with these little creatures - they are too stinkin' cute!

Once I was able to deter his little bill from nipping at the plants, he decided to settle in nearby and just watch. He may have been plotting, it's hard to tell.

The other thing that I was able to get done was the potatoes. Those were purchased a few weeks ago and just sitting in the fridge until it was time. I was pokin' around on Pinterest one day and found a very interesting method for growing potatoes - laundry baskets. We have done a couple of different ways - the traditional dig a trench, drop in a piece of potato and cover with soil until new growth and cover. With the potatoes actually being hilled up at least six inches or more. The first time would be way back when we lived in a rental house not far from our current home. We had potatoes galore! A couple of years ago after reading an article in Mother Earth News or the Farmer's Almanac magazine we thought we would try to grow them under straw, but that wasn't nearly as successful and there were only a few potatoes. Last year we used a bulb planter which worked great - we didn't dig a trench, or maybe not much of a trench. The harvest was pretty plentiful, but once we got through all of the plants, we kind of wished we had planted more.

I'm not sure how well the laundry basket method will work, but I have a lot of extras which will be planted in a traditional manner just to be sure we have a decent crop of potatoes.

I just can't bear to get rid of good seed potatoes - I have quite a few pieces that have eyes that have sprouted. We'll put those in the front yard that needs a second rototilling.

The weather has been cooperating, however it is a little warm. Too warm really - I am not a heat loving person. I like the sun, but I would happily do without the heat of anything above the high 80s.
The temps have cooled the past couple of days which has been very pleasant in the evening. Which makes for an enjoyable time of sowing seeds and putting plants into the raised beds.

This week I have been working on getting the other Tomato friendly seeds or plant into the garden and thinking of what to plant next. I'll be trying succession planting this year and even starting seeds for the Fall/Winter garden at a more appropriate time and not at the end of summer like last season. I think that with our garden season just now starting up I'll be starting new things for later this year in a couple of months.

The dudes will be much bigger and possibly no longer free ranging with me in the garden. It will be harder to keep Mr. Lenny away from the plants. I supposed a little taste here and there wouldn't be  a problem though.

as of today these two are 29 days old!

We DID It!

Black Jersey Giant Babies

After visiting Thrifty Feed & Garden during my lunch break yesterday I thought it would be best to contact Pioneer Feed Co. in Ridgefield, just 5 miles from our house. I had hoped that they would get back to me with the information I was looking for, but they did not. I ended up doing a little research of the chicks that they had received and made an informed decision once I saw what was available.

It only took me a few minutes to change out of my work clothes and we were off!  There were 4 different breeds available and a big ol' tub of turkeys. In addition to the Black Jersey Giant chicks there were Welsummers, Black SexLinks and some meat birds and Bronze and White Turkeys. According to the schedule on the website the BJG chicks arrived on the 14th, however she said that they were a week old and pretty hardy, so I'm wondering if the schedule on the website is a little off. It really doesn't matter because the point of the trip was to find way young chicks and not 3 or 4 week old chicks - ones that have almost no chickie fuzz anymore.

So after a brief answer and question time (Tom had questions) I wanted to know how old they were and that was about it. We (I) decided that we should get 10 chicks (as opposed to Tom's 6 or 8) I figure that if we are going to go all in with the chickens let's be serious and get a double digit amount. OMG - they are SO cute!!

We arrived home and got them all set up in their super spacious deluxe accommodations and spent some time watching them and making sure that they "found" their water and feeder. Once one finds one, most of the others will figure it out. Well, except for the ones that are already starting to scratch like an adult and move their bedding around. Dinner happened and then I did my hoop house chores before watching the babies a little more. So fun!

I got over them a little quicker than Tom did and went in to get into my evening routine while he stayed out to observe them a little longer.

I'm so glad that he is excited about these little ladies (hoping for a rooster). He watched as they were sunning themselves under the lamp and how one would tunnel underneath the huddle and pop up in the middle of the bunch. Then just their little antics be-bopping around the brooder. He even went out to check on them when he got up this morning. I have to be honest here, I woke up and thought about them and hoped that they were doing alright, but then I went right back to sleep!

These little ones will definitely change the morning and evening routine for us, but in the end when they finally start to lay eggs it will totally be worth it!

This is what I have learned about this breed:

• They are slow to mature, so they could start laying eggs as early as 6 months, but could take longer.
• They are a dual purpose bird. Once their egg production slows down we'll process them. 
• They were originally devleoped to replace the turkey as a table bird.
• Roosters can reach an impressive weight of 15 pounds.
• Hens can get up to 10 pounds.
• Jersey Giants can lay during the winter season.
• They are docile

Overall, this was a good choice...and really the only choice since we wanted young chicks. There are some 2 month old pullets available from a family not far, so we plan to get a few of those to make sure that we achieve our goal of having egg layers this year!

But first...

This needs to be completed. Soon...it will be soon. Maybe even by the end of the month, if the wheels arrive in timely fashion. Come on Northern Tool!!

Friday Foto

Itty-Bitty Amphibian

Was walking through the yard after inspecting my veggie boxes and noticed that there was something (other than the wind) fluttering through the grass.

This little guy was LITTLE! I doubt that he was even and inch long from snout to butt. I tracked him a little before he made his way into the lawn and out of sight.