A Hodgepodge Update for Mid-August

Rather than leave you hanging without a weekly update, I decided to give you a hodgepodge of the little things going on. 

 

Caleb is enjoying his second grade curriculum.  I was quite impressed with him the other day when during his math lesson he insisted we had the same flowers in our yard as the flowers in the lesson.  He went out, picked the flower, and came back in with a flower identical to the picture. 

Mid week, we lost our sweet little goat, Cupcake.  She became hypothermic and was unable to maintain the temperature on her own. 

I processed the quail Thursday morning and put them in the refrigerator until last night when I prepared Smothered Quail with Onions and Mushrooms.  

I noticed yesterday that my loofah gourd is FINALLY in bloom.  I am anxious to see if these plants actually produce a decent loofah or two or three. I have been trying for years to grow loofah. 

I harvested several zucchini from the garden and dehydrated them.  

I had every intention of preserving some eggs by dehydration, but the trays I ordered for liquid were warped.  Since the order was made back in April, I had to reach out to Nesco who was prompt to send out a replacement for the faulty items. So, I was only able to dehydrate about 10 eggs.  If you are curious, these are reconstituted by using 1 tablespoon of egg powder to 1 1/2 tablespoons of water. 

Yesterday I did some work in the garden and harvested some of those strange gourds I am growing.  I didn't intentionally grow these, but they are beautiful.  I am unsure if they are able to be eaten.  

While in the garden, I discovered a major infestation of squash bugs.  I pulled a dead vine out, but stood pondering my options to eliminate the pressure. It was overwhelming to say the least.  I sprayed neem and dishsoap, but it did nothing.  So, I did the next best thing: hand picked what I could.  (I want to mention, there were so many squash bugs it appeared the ground was moving after I pulled out the half dead vine and another gourd vine.)   I probably removed a hundred or so bugs. 

There really isn't much else to update on the garden since the fall garden only recently was planted.  When those things start taking off, I will definitely update.  

The cats, Sully and Max, are in quarantine for ringworm.  They just received their second dip today.  I have also started dipping Smokie, the young kitten we found.  The kids said they saw ringworm on his foot, but I didn't see anything.  Regardless, he is being treated as well.  The other two cats, Bob and Molly, are safe for now.  I see zero evidence of ringworm, probably because they are the adventurous ones and stay to themselves in the great outdoors.  Max and Sully, on the other hand, are brothers and spend so much time with each other that they both have evidence of the sores.  

The whole family has had varying amounts of ringworm as well.  We are trying to rid ourselves of this ridiculous fungus, but the spots, although not contagious, do hang around for quite some time.  It is simply a matter of being faithful with cleanliness and keeping the spots that may appear covered with a bandage and anti-fungal cream. Oh!  And the constant amount of laundry!! 

Well, I hope the week goes well for all of you.  Forgive any errors in my writing.  

Fall Garden Planting

I had a moment earlier this week when my heart just felt so broken because my efforts in the garden weren't producing what so many other people's gardens are.  I cried.  I asked Yah why.  I felt like pulling it all out and quitting for the year.  What did I have to show for it all?  A friend comforted me with words about how sometimes Yah tests us in such things to see what we will do.  Do I not believe He will feed me and care for my family?  I do.  So I will not fear.  I will not be dismayed.  

This morning, I got out and started cleaning up the garden a little so work could be done and more could be planted.  The weather appears to be cooling down just a tad and it doesn't look like there will be any days over 95 for a while.  

Caleb and I harvested the larger sunflowers so the seeds could be dried for chicken feed.  (It was nice to see the yellow finches eating the seeds from the smaller flowers while we were working in the garden.)  I need to get a string put up to hang them from in my milk room.  The last of the sweet potatoes were harvested and then I moved soil to the edge of a garden bed where I could plant into the soil. I pulled some weeds and grass, then put chicken fertilizer down to replenish the soil.  

Later in the morning, I went back out with my packets of seeds to see what I could do to get a fall garden in. 

This is the garden bed where some of the sunflowers were.  We only removed the larger flowers and those which didn't have seeds in them any longer.  To the left of those remaining sunflowers, I put down soil and fertilizer, then I put in some Kalibos (purple) cabbage.  To the right of the sunflowers, I planted half a row of Red Russian kale and half a row of Dinosaur Kale (Lacinto), just to the right of that is a row of Chinese cabbage. My pathetic peppers are in the next row.  Then the row of summer squash (lemon squash and white scallop) I planted about three weeks ago.  The chard is doing great (planted in the spring), and the final row is where I planted Golden Acre cabbage.

This bed was also home to some mammoth sunflowers prior to this morning.  Only one flower stands after the remaining were harvested.  These flowers didn't grow near as large as they should have, but I will blame the soil.  This bed also has my watermelon which isn't doing very well, but I will wait to see what happens. Finally, my absolutely pathetic tomato plants are still hanging on.  I hope that later they will do better with producing tomatoes, but I have not been able to harvest any tomatoes yet.  

The kids' garden still has a few cucumber vines that are producing a rather small amount of fruits.  The flowers are doing great and their tomato plants are also hanging in there.  Caleb has a small cantaloupe plant in the corner of his and Abby has some dill (in the foreground). I planted some turnips in Alexandra's section and some lettuces between Hannah and Caleb's sections.  

In this raised bed, I have some tomato plants and Thai basil.  I planted some more turnips in it since Alexandra said she likes pickled turnips.  I haven't had any tomatoes from these plants either. 

In another raised bed, not shown, I have six jalapeno plants, and I just planted radishes in the other half. 

The two pots in the foreground are those that were doing better a month ago.  They ran out of nutrients and therefore have started to yellow.  There is one large cantaloupe hanging from one of the pots.  The other cantaloupe are growing in the bed beyond and they are doing absolutely wonderfully!  It was so amazing to come home and see the transition the different vines made.  The bed to the right is the second planting of cucumbers.  These seem to be doing really well.  

Before leaving for Kentucky, I planted green beans in the area the potatoes were.  They seem do be doing pretty well, but I need to water them with some fish emulsion.  

Just down the hill in the same garden are the winter squash, spaghetti and delicata varieties.  These are the ones that survived the vine borers and the squash bugs.  They aren't near as vibrant as the squash in the next picture.  

Aside from some funky gourds I grew accidentally because I saved seed from a store bought squash, the remaining plants should be pure seed. I am not sure what some of them are, but I think - THINK - they are the Canada crookneck and the zucchini rampicante.  Yes, these plants do have squash bugs, but they are doing fabulous despite the pest pressure.  

Then, there is the front garden.  I have a very healthy grey zucchini plant that I was sure I killed when I transplanted it.  But...I guess it LOVES the goat manure it is in.  

The butternut squash that I am saving for seed is doing pretty well.  The leaves are bit wilted from the heat of the day, but there are a couple fruits on it as well as A LOT of squash bug eggs and bugs.  I will get to that soon enough, but butternut does do better with such pest pressure than some others. 

My mini-corn variety, Orchard Baby, is doing quite well.  It has reached it's full height and now the ears are forming.  I am hoping this crop will make it and provide us with some delicious ears of corn to eat for dinners.  I probably should protect the investment and spray them with BT to deter the caterpillars (if there are some).  The herbs (in pots) are doing well.  The bed that I planted carrots failed, so I will be planting something else in it instead.  

The purple pole beans, I believe Blauhilde, are doing well and working their way up the trellis.  The space under the trellis will be a good place for broccoli or cauliflower.  I haven't decided yet. 

And finally, our turkey hen has hatched out half of her eggs.  The other half are still in the nest and we will wait a few more days before we dispose of them.  Meanwhile, she has six adorable little turkey poults that the kids carefully pulled out of the main turkey pen and put into a cage for safety.  Yes, the little poults can escape, but they will likely stay close to momma.  

Our other turkeys have migrated to the same pen where our older turkeys are.  So total, we have about 14 turkeys in the main pen. (Yes, you do see two white chickens in the turkey pen. They flew over to the turkey side.  We will bring them to the chickens soon.)  Then of course we have the hen in the other pen with her brood. The large gray tom, Arnold, is our planned Thanksgiving meal.  We will choose a set of breeding birds for next year.  

As for other birds on the property:

• The quail are quickly outgrowing their brooder and will need to be moved to their proper cages once assembled.  I also need to process the seven males from the garden tractor. 
• The one male duck we have (White Peking) has decided he doesn't like our White Peking female duck. He runs her off all the time and she is always alone.  So we have plans to take her to a friend's pond to live with some other White Peking ducks...hopefully with better results.
• The pullets we bought from Tractor Supply back in May ended up having a rooster in the mix.  
• The hens and roosters are now free ranging throughout the day.  Yesterday was the first time and they all went back to the nest boxes to lay.  Granted, we have over forty hens and we only get about 2 dozen a day, but processing them would prove to be difficult since it is hard to tell which are the ones laying and which aren't. 

Spuds, Ground Beef, and The Ark Encounter

Yesterday, I was able to start processing potatoes. I didn't grow these, but purchase a 50 pound bag from Azure. So I was able to get 20 pounds processed on Tuesday.

Then this morning I started processing the remaining potatoes. I canned 20 more pounds and took the remaining 10 pounds and put them in the dehydrator. 

When the potatoes were finishing, I started on the ground beef. I had 16 1/2 pounds and was able to process 18 pints with another pint left over in the refrigerator. 

The Ark Encounter...

My honest review is that the focus was lost. If this was a mission to provide people with the truth of creation, then it needs to be more affordable. It is a tourist trap with exorbitant prices. While the younger two were free, the older two were not. There is no way they could possibly get to all the information even if the place wasn't crowded. 

While the morning was relatively calm, as the day went on, there were so many people it was a constant dodging around to even see or move.  

The outside park area had some animals, but fossil finds, camel rides, and other things cost extra, robbing children of the extra thrill of the creation of animals. 

I guess my camera was set to panoramic in order to fit it all in. The kids look so tall!

Oops, forgot this one. It was obviously taken before we got to the stern of the ark. 

The kids wanted to sit down while my dad went to find a scooter for my mom. The amount of walking was too much for her. She was a trooper though, determined to do it. I told her to get a scooter because she couldn't even make it to the entrance with out pain. (I must say, I am glad the Ark offered these despite the crazy rental fees.)

I didn't get many photos inside since there were so many people, but one of the best moments that made me smile was my kids trying to remember the sounds for the Egyptian hieroglyphics. 

Bad picture because Alexandra moved, but I love how they were pointing and talking amongst themselves as they tried to remember.

Tomatoes and The Fungus Among Us

After two weeks at my parents house, it is time to get started with farm life again.  

I won't lie...

It's been hard.  It's not so much that I don't want to work, but that there is so much work it overwhelms me.

I just need to prioritize.

Which I have been. 

I came home with 100# of tomatoes I purchased from my parents' Amish neighbors.  On Friday I got started canning tomatoes and managed to process 7 cans of whole tomatoes.  I also got a large pot of tomato sauce started, but had only managed to get through a little less than half of the tomatoes. 

So, today I picked up where I left off.  I pulled out the pot of sauce which was in the refrigerator and got that onto the stove to reduce.  Then I got started on a batch of salsa.  While the salsa simmered, I processed the tomato sauce.   Meanwhile the roaster was filled with tomatoes to cook down.

The salsa went into the canner after the sauce.  Then I went to milling the tomatoes and putting them in with the other sauce that didn't fit into the first load.  

So now the sauce is simmering and I am resting for a bit.  Al has been out in a neighbor's field baling hay.  Caleb has been out with him though I am sure he isn't offering much help.  

In other "news", the kids and I contracted ringworm, but not sure where we got it.  So we are working hard to stay on top of it and knock it back.  Caleb ended up with three spots on his face today.  He already had a few spots on his arm.  It is he that makes me nervous since he always has his fingers in his mouth.  He is a smart kid, but lacks common sense which is not easy when it comes to parenting. 

I think in my own case, the hardest spots to stay on top of are on my thumb, forearm, and my jaw by my ear.  The forearm rests everywhere I lay my arm.  My thumb can't be wrapped because I am always using my hands and washing them.  I guess washing will have to be treatment for my thumb.  I try to keep spots covered when in public, but I am allergic to the adhesive in bandages which leaves a rash on my arms. 

As for the garden, the weather has been so hot that the majority of the spring plantings have died.  There is so much I have to do in the garden to get it ready for fall planting, but I think I will start seeds in pots first in order to give me more time.  The cucumbers were pulled out Friday since they were no longer producing,  The corn died - which doesn't surprise me considering I am not good at growing it anyway.  I am hopeful the second planting will do better.  So far the second planting of beans is looking promising.  

Most of what needs doing is clean up.  Sunflowers, flowers, cucumbers, as well as the kids gardens.  Then after everything is cleaned up, I will add compost and plant again those things I plan to grow through the fall.   I hope to be able to grow some cabbage and broccoli, but we shall see.  

Well, I guess that wraps this up.  I do have some picture of our trip to the Ark Encounter, but I will save that for another day.