This is the end

So save for Cucumbers - I officially call the 2015 season closed.

If we had to survive on what we grew, we would starve.

It is our own fault, not going into weed in the early morning and late evening.

Skipping weeding, and watering.

Granted, Chris and I have both been under the weather for most of the summer.

But I'm glad we won't starve.

Blogging

I've been reading a lot of farm blogs lately, while the sun is hot and I can't bring myself to go outside.  There is one thing that frustrates me about these gems of information.

They end.

No warning,  I'm happily reading about how a family of four got into raising goats from 2011.  I move forward in the blog to learn more.

There is no more.

I would like to say I have been too busy doing to write about it, but I really haven't.  The 2 hailstorms in the beginning of this years growing season took the wind out of our sails, as did May's continuous rain.  We were thrilled to have so much moisture, but didn't feel like planting in it.

So this year there are no squash or melons.  But bush beans are producing and we got our first tomatoes (Rutgers)  And we have onions for the first time.

I will take pictures soon.

Aftermath

At Home

These poppies were in full bloom yesterday

1/2 melted hail still on the ground

Greenhouse

Most of the tomatoes made it though

Down at the garden

Strawberry plants

Strawberries severed from the plant

2 of the five tomatoes may make it

None of the five in this row will

Snow Peas

Hollyhocks - I'm not sure if they will be able to flower

 This is the second hail storm we have had in two weeks.  I am not sure how much more they can take.  The rhubarb plants have to stems or leaves anymore.  1/2 of the onions are broken just above the bulb.  You really need to be an optimist to garden

Up all night

The weather forecast said "violent storms" this evening.  Chris said he saw the clouds to the north of us swirling and changing color before dusk had set.  We heard the patter of rain and the whistle of wind as we fell into sleep, comfortable in the knowledge that the storms seemed to miss our community.

About 1 am the hail was hitting the roof so loudly, it woke us up.  Rhiannon came running in scared.  The hail was pelting her west facing windows so hard I half expected to hear them crack.  They were about the size of a large marble, and the clear center of them were nearly as hard.  Standing on the back deck we heard the roof panels of the greenhouse break.

After checking on Indica (sound asleep in her basement room) we all went back to bed around 2.  Sleep was long in coming

Winter

Front yard after shoveling for the 4th day in a row

After glorying in our upper 60's weather while it seemed the rest of the country endured storm after storm, we finally got ours.  It hasn't been a lot, but it has been regular.  I haven't ridden my bike to work in over a week as the snow has never quite left the roads.

Chris shoveling paths so I could reach the rabbit hutchs

Chris and I shovel the cars out at night, then I finish my car before leaving for work at O'Dark-thirty.  He does the walks and the rest of the driveway before I get home.

Our water feature, barely recognizable 

The rabbits in the upper yard are covered with old comforter overnight, lifted to let the sun in during the day.  The lower yard rabbits in the chicken yard are protected, but in the shade.

Rustabelle and one of her young

Rustabelle's litter in the hutch

All seem to be doing fine.

But Chris and I - we are so over it.

Winter has arrived

(vintage filter used by mistake)

Summary of February so far

The weather app assures me that we are going to get a taste of what is like in New England.  An inch an hour the local news outlet predicts.  It is snowing now light but steady.  

Inside the house it is warm and smells like the sandwich bread I just took out of the oven.  French Bread is raising to eat with dinner.  

The garden is started. Onions and a little lettuce in the greenhouse window.  

Tomatoes under lights.

Rustabelle's litter are eating feed and hay and have discovered the water bottles.  She is an unusual mother for a rabbit, checking on her young regularly from birth.  Most does ignore their litter except for the twice daily feeding.

Chris says he has been hearing foxes at night after I am asleep.  The once frightening sounds are now a comfort.  The fox population was infested with mange a year ago and the rodent (wild rabbit, mice and rat) grew as the disease decimated the population.  We sold off all of our chickens last summer because of it.  But with the return of the predator, I am hopeful.

Good thing too, since I picked up the first batch of day old chicks in Elizabeth yesterday.

(Color is bad with the heat lamp)

2 of each Mottled Java, Dark Brahma, Araucana & Buckeye.  They are living in the unused shower in the basement.  They will move to the small chicken coop when they feather out in about 4 weeks, just in time for the next batch to arrive.