An unwelcome guest

Snow.

Well not yet.  The forecast for the over night low has been fluctuating between 32° and 38°F.  The meteorologists have agreed on 70% chance of precipitation, but not on what form.

Prepare for the worst, right?

We picked all tomatoes that looked 1/2 way ripe.  All the green bell peppers.  A dozen medium sized Trombetta Squash.  All the cucumbers.

The popcorn is not ready, nor is the Golden Bantam sweet corn.  Nothing we can do about that.  If we lose those crops it will be silage for the hens.  The pole beans are going to seed, but they will have the same fate if they are not fully formed.

But the purple tomatillos (I am dying to make purple salsa with them and the similarly colored bell peppers) and the chilies.  The other non bell peppers.  The melons.  These we covered.

Savers yielded us 7 flat sheets to make tents of sorts for these plants.  Also the cucumbers and a volunteer winter squash (a hubbard type I think) that sprouted in the Blue Jade corn patch.

But still I am thrilled with this year's garden.  Chris and I have have been more serious about growing than any other year.  Even if the bush beans I planted as part of a fall garden die, this is the first year we have planted a fall garden (also carrots, turnips, cabbage and spinach which may do fine)

Our pantry will be filled with homemade pasta sauce and tomato soup.  Applesauce and apple rings.  Apple cider.  There is tomato paste in the freezer along with bell peppers and corn.  And we have pickles of cucumber, bean and cauliflower.

In fact, I will use the last of my canning jars this weekend.

Fall approaches

French Charentais Cantaloupe under row covers.

It is predicted to hit a low of 50° tonight.  We just got our first rope cantaloupe yesterday with a dozen or so still on the vine.  So from today forward all the melons will get tucked in for the night.

I am not ready for fall.  With all the rain we have gotten this summer the temperatures have rarely gone above the mid 80's.  I have been thrilled with the rain, but everything is growing so slowly.  Only two bel peppers have turned red and none of the tomatillos are even close to ready.   I figure that we will have every horizontal surface of the studio covered with slowly ripening tomatoes.

But this year I pickled both cucumbers and beans.  And enough corn and beans to freeze.  We got heads of red iceberg lettuce.  All of these are firsts, so I can't really complain.

Rhiannon next to the covered "Honey Do" melon and
Icebox Watermelon.

This is what 3000 square feet looks like

Early spring harvest

I was cleaning up the back parking area/alley.  (Canadian thistles to dig up, trash and dead vegetation etc.)

The Jerusalem artichokes I had planted last spring failed to bloom and the stalks I had left standing for winter interest (read: garden clean up laziness) now looked sad and forlorn.  So I started pulling them up, hoping new ones will grow, but feeling pessimistic about their chances.

But attached to nearly every fibrous stem were little tubers!  I shall roast them this weekend with sage and bay leaves.

Window starts

Using a SAD lamp for happy plants.

What a girl wants

I've always said that if my husband bought me a diamond I would be annoyed 'cause I'd rather have a greenhouse.

I guess he was listening.

Taste the rainbow

What happened to September?

The season has changed.  Chris and I pulled up the roma tomato plants this morning bringing home both the green and red fruits.  Interestingly the Heatwave tomatoes, which we chose for there ability to flower and produce when the weather is too hot for the other tomatoes, are still growing strong.  We had quite a few plants of various heirlooms this year give up after only 1 or 2 ripened fruits (black krim, mr stripey, cherokee green) and our brandywines are large and uniformly unripe, the plants still vigorous even in the cooling weather.  Green tomato pickles are in our future I suspect.

Some of our peppers are alternately scorched or scabby - and others are perfect.  The chilis are still going strong.  Yellow squash is still trying to produce, despite the powdery mildew covering the leaves.

Rhiannon and I picked 4 ripe Long Island Cheese squash this weekend, the vines were wilted and ghostly looking.  Indica's Flat White pumpkin is still vigorous in its attempt to take over the hill it was planted on.  She has picked 2 pumpkins so far - there may be more in the sea of green leaves covering 1/3 of our Ppatch garden.

With the 2 green Long Island Cheese we found I took a page from The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder and made green pumpkin pie filling.  The squash was peeled, seeded and sliced thin and tossed with a mixture of sugar and spiced usually reserved for apple pie.  This was then frozen for later as Rhiannon & I are only on The Banks of Plum Creek and still have another book to go before getting to the chapter about said pie.  We will bake it then.

The rabbits are ready to be processed, but Chris and I have decided to wait another couple weeks to let them get a little larger before butchering.  Luna should kindle any day now with her new litter.

The hens are all laying now.  The new Amerucana's eggs are extra large, a couple have had double yolks.  The Welsumer, with its dark brown shells, are also extra large.  But I realized we have no white egg layers.  Rhiannon's silver Campine was found dead of unknown causes the other day.  She was saddened, but stoic, admitting that the chicks she purchased are somewhere in the ambiguous area between pets and livestock in her mind.

There are 20 quarts of Chicken stock along with 12 pints of apple butter in the cupboard.  Our 7 cu ft freezer is 1/2 full with whole tomatoes awaiting the colder days of November to be canned.

Two of the four $5 apple trees in the Ppatch survived the summer - we don't know yet about the 2 rhubarb plants Mom brought us from MN.  Both fruit trees I got for my birthday survived, although we will move one in the spring to a better spot.

Today at the P patch

yellow squash, green beans, bell peppers, country gentleman sweet corn, carrots from saved seed and Cheddar cauliflower

Basil and tomato

5 kinds of chilies, pimento and Italian stuffing pepper

Bees like corn

The air in the corn "field" is abuzz with activity.  Each tassel has at least a dozen workers, their legs mined with yellow pollen, swarming drunkenly.  They don't even notice me pushing through the stalks to weed.

lack of follow thru

It is not like there is nothing going on around here.

Indica's white pumpkin is trying to invade the rest of the garden

But sitting at the desk on the laptop is the last place I want to be these days.  The early morning is spent at the Ppatch, battling (in vain, it seems most days) the bind weed and other irritating plants
that seem to be growing faster than any of our vegetables.    I walk, as Chris is at work and Riley needs a walk anyway, and the six blocks or so takes some of the time.  And then I can only stay an hour or so, as the coffee I poured myself before venturing out has me wishing the city put in an outhouse.  In any case, I usually have to work and need to get home to shower before biking in.

They no longer look like naked mole rats

Once home the livestock must be fed and well watered before the heat of the day sets in.  The weeds I did pull are spread between the poultry and rabbits - with the best and tastiest going to Luna.  Her 4 kits (short for kittens - who knew?  Baby rabbits are not bunnies) are starting to open their eyes and are moving around instead of sleeping all day in a tiny white pile of ears and noses.  Their fur is white so far.  Mostly they are left alone by their mother which did send me to Google in a panic.  Only to find out that mother rabbits avoid their young except during the nightly feeding or 2.  Apparently this is so predators are less likely to find the nest of defenseless snacks.

If I have time then the sprinkler is put over various areas, but usually I don't and waterings are sporatic.  By the time Chris gets home the heat of the day has set in and he and the girls prefer inside in front of the fans.  

The quail are laying eggs in a clutch that I suspect will not hatch.  At the end of the month I will toss all of them into the bottom of a new garden bed to be covered with ALOT of compost.

The pullets have started laying, all except the silkie - who turned out to be a cockrel.  He awoke me before dawn yesterday.  The consequence of which that I stomped out to the chicken yard in my bathrobe, sans shoes or glasses and stuck him in a cat carrier.  He may be dinner tonight.  My only thought before going back to bed (after a foot wash) was that I hope the silkie I sold at the poultry swap in June was a pullet - I had completely forgotten that they were sold as a straight run.

There has been some egregious failings on my part.  I have killed most of my potatoes.  One just never quite got watered well enough at the Ppatch.  At home, desperate to hill them up, but having no soil, I used chicken bedding that I convinced myself had been composted well enough.  It hadn't and with in 24 hours all of them were cooked.  One of the apple trees never got planted, and many of the flowers my darling brought home are still sitting forlornly in their pots.  I forget to water the Jerusalem artichokes and raspberries regularly.  I never planted kohlrabi or sweet potato.  Argh.

But I have had a lovely Mr. Stripey tomato and fresh basil (the few that got planted are HUGE) pizza on homemade wheat crust.  We continue to harvest the swiss chard and kale, who have just enough shade to keep them from bolting.  Most of the celery is thriving.  I will have yellow bush beans with dinner tonight.  I even (miracle of miracles) have picked more zucchini than ever in my history of gardening (less than a dozen - but my previous record was 5).  The morning glories at the Ppatch are going up their trellis instead of attacking all plants around them - Chris and I have kept up with pulling the starts that are not where we want them.  The cabbage and cauliflower look good, and I continue to be hopeful about the brussels sprouts.

So all in all things are well. 

the beginning of the end

This is Hallie's Comet.

Or as yelled when she is in the strawberries - Hallie.

She is the reason the hens are no longer free range.  All of the other hens stayed out, initially of any fenced or raised area (i.e. the strawberries, potato, celery, cucumber and flower beds)  But no fence keeps her out and eventually others follow.  When chased out, she immediately tries to skirt around me back in.

It reminds me, fondly, of a young cousin of mine who didn't listen too well when my Dad would tell her to stay out of the cow pen, pig pen, oak tree etc.

Hallie is a golden comet hen.


Golden Comets are a cross between a Rhode Island rooster and a White Plymoth Rock hen, although some hatcheries use New Hampshire Roosters instead of Rhode Island Reds OR They use a White Leghorn Hen instead of a White Rock.  This is the chicken version of an F1 hybrid plant.  I got her 'cause I had never heard of them before.  But I have since learned they are known by other names (Red Star, Comets, Golden Sex Link, Isa Brown & Red Sex Link)

But what makes this Golden Comet different for us is that she is the only one of the newly laying pullets that has a name.   

The hens are moving even further into livestock status.

He brought home more

Plants that is.

Overwhelmed

 Now that Chris has been working at the local garden center for a few weeks now, I am used to him bringing home a plant or two destined for the trash heap on a regular basis.  But yesterday he brought home an entire van full of root-bound annuals.  As is, in their pots, they were turning brown and dying and the boss said get them out of here.

Some I am thrilled to have, 2+ flats of french marigolds.  Something has been eating the leaves of all the marigold seedlings at our Ppatch and I
had asked him to bring me a six pack or two to replace them.  (Really, what insect eats Marigolds?)  And all of the flowers will be great in the yet unattractive perennial bed also at the Ppatch.

But the time!  While the girls are gone I have plans to finish a table, fix the front steps, rewire Indica's room, etc.  But all I can see in our future is planting.  And more planting.

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but I feel faint at the thought of it.

But I am thrilled.  I almost never buy flowers, preferring to spend our limited budget on plants I can eat.

Manual Labor

Mom and Bob thank you.  The Ppatch looks 100% better.

Trendy vegetables

"Right now, kale is the trendy kid with an ironic tattoo, skinny jeans, and a fauxhawk, and I kind of want to push him down the stairs.  The second anyone describes a vegetable as a 'superfood,' it goes into my own personal time-out corner."

Amanda Cohen, owner & chef of Dirt Candy in NYC

I still love my kale, trendy or not

Poultry Swapped!

Hey, Indica here.

So, today we went to this place, and did this thing, and it was fun... and I suppose you want the details. It starts here.

Rhiannon and I made a menu. With my 30 different colors of Sharpies we decorated the most eye-catching poster board ever! And the menu read...

Chickens

Hens -  $5

Pullets - $20

Tomato starts - $3

The hen you see is Tweedle Dee

Yes, we were selling our chickens. Not all of them, just 5 hens and 6 pullets. Our 28 chicken flock is just a little to big. Just a smidgen. And we had extra tomato plants so why not bring them along?

Meanwhile, Mom catching the extra chickens and putting them in containers.  She used Riley's dog crate, a critter cage and two cracked laundry baskets zip tied together, then she loaded the crates and our old Radio Flyer wagon that we have had for, like, ever. (aka, since I was born)  into our minivan and Mom, Rhiannon and I were off to Earthdog Denver before 9am.

We arrived at Earthdog at about 9:30. But not for doggy daycare, but the Poultry swap! (Much more enjoyable in my opinion. I mean, wet, loud  dogs or chickens and bunnies?) We have been there before, but always as a buyer and I was excited to be on the seller side.  The swap doesn't start until 10, but already people were milling about.

Me with the Iowa blue and our fabulous menu.

We unloaded the minivan onto the flatbed wagon and pulled it near one of the other 6 sellers already there. Then mom left Rhiannon and I with the chickens and went to park the car. As soon as mom left, people began swarming the dog crate full of hens. I felt a little like a new hen added to an old flock.  Both buyers and sellers were crowding around us, craning their necks to see what we had.  Nobody else, it seemed had come in a minivan.  All the people here had trucks with real cages displayed in and around the open hatch.  And there we were with laundry baskets that had been destined for the garbage can.

Turkeys

But we must have looked okay  because when mom came back less than 5 minutes later, all the hens were already being strongly considered!  And one person already had cash in hand.

It is true, $5 for laying hen is cheep (get it? cheep?) -  ours were between 18 and 24 months and will lay well for another year or 2.  But it was either sell or butcher and I was on Team Sell.  (I like Sell better than Edward and Jacob COMBINED!)

Muscovy Ducks

During the transfer to new owner, Sonja escaped.  Of course it would be her, the smallest and fastest of all the hens.  Mesha stayed at our spot while Mom and I tried to catch her before she reached the street.  But the new owner (a seller himself) was the best chicken wrangler EVER.  He dived around her front while she was escaping our pursuit from behind (we were now nearly a 1/2 a block down from the parking lot)  She was quickly stuck in a cardboard box with another hen and he took them to his area.  (of course HE was one of the truck people)

The second we arrived back at our area a woman walked up and asked about the other 3 hens. She was more cautious, wanting to know about the eggs and what we fed them, and why we were selling them.  After 5 minutes, yes, SOLD!

So we now we have an empty dog crate, 6 cute pullets, a butt-load of tomatoes, and we hadn't even been their an hour! We were off to a good start.

It was a little slow after that. (for like ten minutes - Jenn)  More sellers showed up, and new buyers. We milled about, holding pullets in our hands. (Bear with me if this part is boring, this part of the swap kinda was too)  (Again - this was 10 minutes, but after the initial excitement it was a let down for the girls I think - Jenn)

Around this time  Rhiannon and I were getting a little bored and wandered to the other vendors. While Rhiannon found a group of girls her age to giggle with, I tried to find meat and/or fiber rabbit pairs. Unfortunately, there were none. But it was not yet 11 and we were planning to stay until the bitter end (2pm) to sell the pullets.

Lionhead Bunny

The silkie went first.  Our price for 16 week old pullets was average, with some as low as $15 and up to $25.  After about 1/2 hour, only the Iowa blue was left.  One woman bought 3 pullets, and we sent the makeshift laundry basket cage with her.  We had an escape during that transfer too, and the same seller as before caught the rogue Welsummer.  Even more vendors were showing up. On one side of us was a woman with a Barred Rock hen and a crippled and very docile Polish Crested cockrel. On the other, Lionhead bunnies! We asked, but mom said no.

Rhiannon with one tiny bunny

A 1/2 hour crawled past. The Iowa Blue had not been purchased.  Mom said if she did not sell she was okay bringing her home again.  I think she was just having fun watching and talking to people.

Then a couple brought out a pair of sibling bunnies, both the size of a pear.

That brought the squeals. And another no from mom.

The next hour was spent begging. But the answer was no. No to the potbelly pig, no to the turkeys. No to the Snowflake Bobwhite, no to Muscovy ducklings.

Pot Bellied Pig

After a while, I came running over to mom while she was (finally!) selling the Iowa Blue to a young girl.  I knew how she felt, as she took her own money from her purse.  Mom boxed up our last pullet just as I got to her.

"There are black and white New Zealands!" I squealed.

Mom nodded and stood up.  She gathered all of our animal stuff together. The tomatoes were on the crate, but everything else was empty and neatly stacked behind it.  Next to us the woman with the Polish was still holding him.  He sat quietly in her hands, obviously used to such treatment.  He was so pretty feather white and cream.  I bounced nervously.  In front of us people were leaving the swap with livestock, and I didn't want to go home with nothing.

I dragged Mom to a 4H girl with a black doe (named Luna).  4 months old and of breeding age. Mom said yes.  Then she bought a 6 month old white buck from another seller.  We had a pair!  The dog crate and the critter cage again had occupants.

Then a woman asked if mom wanted to barter for some tomato plants.  She traded us 2 raspberry canes and a small black current for 4 tomato plants.  I could see that mom was thrilled.  Then after the woman left Mom leaned over to the woman with the Polish and offered to buy him.  I looked at her funny, another rooster?  Mom just smiled.  "He needs a home," she said.  The woman said his name is Gary and she was so happy he found a new home.  Even though he is only 2 months old, she felt it was better to find him one now rather than upset her neighbors later.

With all of our stuff back on the Radio Flyer, and me holding the box with Gary in it, we looked around for Mesha.

She was nowhere in sight.

"Great," mom said quietly.  "I bought a rooster and lost my daughter."

We found her playing charades with other girls behind a vendor with really nice chicken tractors.

I texted Dad.  He said he was okay with the rabbits and Mom was crazy to buy a rooster.

She just laughed.  "Remember Cadbury?" she asked "Your Dad would have bought him too."

"But," she considered, "where are we going to put 2 rabbits - we only have one spare hutch."

It's what's for dinner

Green onions (regrowing in the kitchen window), Swiss Chard, Garlic Scapes & Eggs from the backyard.

Two Peas

All of our pea seeds are old, and I guess it was inevitable that not all of them were viable.  Of the two rows planted in April, only 2 came up.  Rhiannon helped plant them while I transplanted celery into the raised bed in the backyard.

We were going to go to the Ppatch this morning, however sleeping in is what happened (7:30!)  So now the plan is for after dinner.

Still Preparing the Ppatch

The Ppatch is slow going.

Today I removed all the straw bales from the hill and replaced them with leftover and warped 2x4's from my neighbor.  It looks so much better, as the photo shows

Then I packed the straw back in and plan to top it off with compost when more gets dropped off.  In the meantime I transplanted some of the Ozark strawberries from the hill of the new plot to the top terrace in front of the apple trees and mulched them with straw raked up from the floor of the local feed store.

No money involved, but plenty of sweat equity.

And sunburned arms.