What we did on our summer vacation!

We've had a pretty busy garden season this year.  While the winter squash and tomatoes didn't produce very well, the other fruits and vegetables did pretty well. Here's a run down of what we did this summer:
Canned goods:  dill pickles 3 quarts, blackberry jelly 4 1/2 pints, apples 64 quarts, blueberry jam 4 pints, strawberry jam 4 pints, red cherries 2 quarts, black cherries 4 quarts, pears 4 1/2 pints, peaches 19 1/2 quarts, yellow pickles 4 pints, grape jelly 12 pints, pickled beets 8 pints, tomato sauce 16 pints.
Frozen goods:  blueberries 2 gallons, stuffed patty pans 2 gallons, beets 5 gallons, green beans 16 gallons and counting, zucchini 1 gallon, yellow squash 6 gallons, corn 3 gallons, peas 1 gallon, pea pods 1 gallon, green peppers 1/2 gallon and countin, patty pans cubed 1 gallon, butternut squash 1 gallon, pumpkin butter in process, sweet potatoes still in the ground.
Still growing goods:  fall crops of turnips 9 rows, mustard greens and kale. 

We had a patty pan escape our notice and it grew to 2 pounds while the average patty pan we picked was about 5 ounces.  We made patty pan parmesan and it was good!!  Think we'll do that again; on purpose this time!

Tired? We are!!!  But we are still working on the gardens, and will be probably until the end of the month.  The chickens are producing 7 to 8 eggs a day average.  They are yummy! 

We also started composting this year.  We built a wire compost bin and we fill it with kitchen waste and chicken poo dirt along with branches and some leaves and rotting wood pieces.  Hopefully, we'll have good compost for the garden next spring.  I just love projects!!!

EGGS!!!

Today, July 13th, our ladies began laying eggs!  We had two today.  The first was cracked, but usable (and we ate it for breakfast).  Unfortunately, the second one took a leap from the run ramp and broke.  Hopefully, they will learn to lay on the ground or in the laying boxes - we'll see.  They are also now eating big girl chicken feed for laying hens.  That should make the shells a little firmer.  The gardens have been producing for about 6 days now.  We have harvested cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, patty pans, kohlrabi, lettuce and, today, beets!  We had about 14 or so that were about 3 inches in diameter - best crop ever!!!  Stir fry vegies have been on the menu along with really good salads!  Also, the blackberries have been pretty good along the road, so tomorrow we'll be making jelly along with yellow squash pickles and pickled beets - YUMMY!!!   We've also done cherries, canned as just cherries for pies and cobbler, strawberry jam and peach slices!   Tomorrow also should be the beginnings of green bean pickings!!  They are getting larger every day and should be ready to pick in the morning.  Our corn is chest high now, the tomatoes are forming and growing very well as are the peppers and peas.  The sweet potatoes are vining out very nicely and the winter squash vines have gone wild!!  We also managed, so far, to save a few branches of peaches from Mr./Ms. Squirrel!!  We hope to pick them sometime next week and finish ripening them inside before the wildlife gets them all!  So far we have almost 1/2 gallon of blueberries picked and frozen.  We may end up with about 3/4 of a gallon.  So at least one more year down in Sparta to pick blueberries.  (Blueberry buckle, and blueberry muffins rock!)  We've had a lot of rain this week after last week's really HOT weather.   We went to Charlotte last week and it was 107 degrees when we left but only 92 up here on the mountain.  The chickens did really pretty well with the heat, they just need frequent water changes and some ice cold watermelon in the afternoon.   It's going to warm up this coming week, so with that and the sunshine we should have vegies rolling in!

It has been a busy, busy week in Cowland.  After waiting for the seeds to pop, we have nearly complete poppage!!  Rows and rows of vegies!!  The tomato plants, sweet taters and peppers are all doing really well.  The eggplants had a little bit of a bug disaster - but we still have one plant without lacey leaves.  All in one day little black bugs ate their way through the leaves.  We think we saved the other one which was in a different part of the yard, with Sevin Dust.  Time will tell.  The two houses got baths earlier this week; all the green algae stuff is gone and the porch railings have been cleaned.  The front porch got a patch paint job on the floor and the back and side decks have been stained - and then it rained........  At least it had time to dry really well.  We put two grape vines in on the fence in front of Mom's house.  Green grapes and the plants had a little time to grow at Lowe's so the vines look pretty good stretching up to the first rail.   The chickens are doing well, still growing and eating and pooping.  Their sleeping habits have changed again - see the picture posted.  We are growing some sprouts for the chicks, hope they like them.  We went to Ikea on Wednesday and got a few things for the bedroom - curtains, duvet cover and some room accessories.  Sometimes it just needs a little updating....

The Garden Is In

After a slight delay due to rain, rain and more rain; the garden is finally in.  We spent day #1 of the planting putting in the black cow and peat and day #2 planting the tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes.  As of today, we have poppage!!  The cucumbers have broken ground!  We hope to see more coming up by the beginning of next week.  I'd post a picture, but it would pretty much be just dirt to look at..........  Once the garden was in, we returned to the spring weeding and made some pretty serious inroads on that.  Just to be outside.....  Made some more mozzarella today and we are brining some more corned beef.  (I make lots of dishes)  The peaches are coming along very nicely.  Hopefully all the little bags of mothballs will trick those nasty squirrel noses and they won't find them.  Blueberries are looking great.  They are beginning to have a little blue tinge to the berries.  The chicks are growing like crazy and developing some funny traits - like feeding frenzies at weed-feeding treat times and greeting us for the daily poop scooping.  They like to stand on the trowel or lay down where I am scooping poop - so cooperative!  They have begun sleeping together on the top rung of the roost - all 8 of them!

What a week it has been!  We had wanted to plant our garden on Tuesday or so, but we had too much rain and tilling was going to be impossible.  So, plans are now to try to till in the black cow and peat tomorrow and plant and get the last fence up on Saturday....  We'll see how that goes.  The tomato plants and pepper plants are sitting and waiting.... as am I.  We had lots of good company since last weekend.  Since the ground was too wet, we went to downtown Galax and did a little junk shopping.  It was fun!  The chicks are still amusing us greatly.  They love their run.  I woke them up this morning at 8:30 - all eight were still on the roost!!!  Of course, once the door was open, out they ran and flew and ran and ran some more.  Then it was breakfast time - attack of the Cracken on food!!  So, dirt tomorrow, maybe a little planting... keep your fingers crossed!

A Wet Week

We've had a lot of rain this week, so yard work has been slowed up a bit, although the rain did help with the weeding of the flower beds.  We did get both gardens tilled and weeded.  They are ready for the Black Cow and Peat Moss which hopefully will go in early next week.  The fencing of the newly enlarged back garden has begun.  Kirby got the gate moved and set as well as the wood poles for the fence.  The fencing will go up after the final till.  Then --- PLANTING - and my nervousness over "poppage" will begin.....  The chickens are doing really well in their coop.  They are eager to go out every morning and come in at dusk to settle in.  They are eating and pooping great!  Once again, our peach tree is loaded and hopefully we'll see the peaches this year. We put up the mothballs to ward off that peach scent from Mr/Ms Squirrel(s) and trimmed back a few trees to hinder the jumping of said squirrels.....  Every spring - great hopes of good things!!!

What a busy week we have had.  We began with a long weekend trip to Florida to see Tim and family in their new home.  They have a beautiful piece of property with so much potential.  Tim and Maddie went fishing and a fish was actually caught!  It was a 14 to 16 inch long bluegill.  Catch and Release!!  Okay, so I tried sushi....  It was really good.  We had a wonderful time, got to go to Publix - catch the awe and aura about the name....  ooohhhh!  Also did some clothes shopping and got some wonderful deals on summer stuff.  Frankie did really well on the trip - gas cost was just about $60 for the round trip - and was very comfortable.  Thanks Tim, Rebecca, Cris and  Maddy for a great visit.  Especially to Maddie for giving up her bed for two nights.  While there, Maddie informed us that one of her chicken names is Olivia.  She also did some beautiful chalk drawings and had great fun swimming with Grandpa and Daddy.  Also got to see Katie and her boyfriend, Matt.  Upon return, we released the Cracken sisters from the coop and after some coaxing finally managed to get them out in the run.  They spent several hours there and had to be helped back in the coop.  The next night and tonight, no problem - it was roost time, so in they went and up to the third rung of the roost.  It appears to be the most popular spot for night time.  They are really having fun scratching for bugs, but worms are still the most popular treat.  (yep, we have to dig for them......)  Today we finally got to mulching up the winter's sticks supplied by our trees and mom's leaves - we got nearly 10 bags of mulch done.  Not nearly enough for all the flower beds, but we still have trees to trim up (of stuff that didn't fall yet).  Next week is tilling in black cow, peat and then fencing in the newly expanded garden (as the Cracken sisters have taken over the old back garden).  But, first off to drive Frankie on the Dragon by Knoxville with Dan, family and Pugsley................