Garden Clean Up

Today was garden clean-up day for us.  It desperately needed some edging and mowing.  The grassy strip between the garden and sheep pen also was over knee height in grasses and weeds.  I couldn't get to my grapevines unless it was trimmed.  

So this morning I started pulling up the electric fencing in order to allow the mower to get as close to the raised beds as possible. 

It is amazing how different it looks when we aren't wrestling with the overgrowth. The weeds weren't everywhere because I had cleaned up a lot of it the other day. Al had also gone out and trimmed some of the tall grass since the push mower couldn't cut through the thick growth. 

Al and I were able to get the larger tractor put together and the breeding quail were put in.  When we put the fence back up, we made room to accommodate a larger tractor.  We used the bottom half of a dog kennel for their shelter from wind and rain.  We are hopeful that the males won't attack each other now that there is competition.  

I forgot to mention that Caleb and I did some work in the garden in the late morning.  We trimmed the tomato plants and harvested some produce.  Caleb even cut some flowers to bring to the house. 

I was able to harvest my first tomato yesterday.  One.  But I am thankful none-the-less.  This morning, I noticed a lot of worm damage on the tomato vines and Caleb and I started pulling off what worms we could find.  I have never noticed cut worms on tomatoes before, but they are very much there this year.  I did pull off about six horn worms as well. 

Caleb and I were able to harvest a large bag of green beans with promise of so many more, Yah willing.  The plants don't look the greatest because there are bugs nibbling the leaves.  Regardless of the damage, the plants are producing quite a bit of green beans.  

The cantaloupe patch has proven to be one of our greatest producers this year.  With four more left in the garden, we have harvested 15 so far out of 6 plants.  To be totally honest, the two plants in the pots, have only produced one that was harvested and there are two small ones still growing. The remaining 14 have come from four plants. 

The kitchen garden is doing amazing despite pests eating all my broccoli starts as well as my cauliflower.  It is quite discouraging, but it just wasn't meant to be.  The baby bok choy are nearing time for harvest.  We have never eaten bok choy, so it will be a new try for us.  The seed was free, so it won't be a big deal if we don't like it.  Lettuces seem to be growing after months of struggling.  There is also a raised bed of more green beans that are looking very lush and green.  The zucchini plant?  It is HUGE! I was quite surprised to see I had three zucchini this morning.  

The trellis has purple beans on it and there are young beans already growing.  And can I just say the butternut vine is WOW!??

 I mean look at it! It is even growing outside of the fence.  I have it growing here because I only had two seeds left when I planted.  So I wanted to save the seed.  I am impressed that despite the squash bugs, it just keeps growing, and growing.  Just this afternoon, I looked in and noticed that a few brown leaves had swarms of squash bugs sitting there waiting for me to dump them into a bucket of soapy water.  So I obliged.  They are no more. 😂

The loofah perked up after I added a shovel of goat manure to the pot.  It was looking pretty lame for a while.  Can you see the loofah gourd in there?  I am so excited!  If I can grow enough of these, I won't need to buy those lame dish scrubbers any longer.  Instead, I will have something I can throw into the compost when I am done.  

Meanwhile, I have some seedlings on the porch slowing growing.  I need to get them into the ground, but worry that the heat this week will demolish them.  (and the worms that eat my seedlings)

Meanwhile, we have been harvesting a lot from the garden and are thankful for His blessings of provision.  It is a lesson of thankfulness and learning to like the food put in front of us.  

 

In my research, I have found there are certain types of squash that can handle the squash bugs better than others.  We have definitely found that butternut squash does.  We are trying the lemon squash and white scallop to see how they do.  Last night, I prepared three different types of squash to see what the kids enjoyed. (lemon, white scallop, and I believe the other was a crookneck) Alexandra liked all of them.  Abigail and Hannah liked crookneck and the lemon squash.  Caleb didn't like any.   I liked all of them, but preferred the crookneck.  Al didn't try any but the crookneck, but said he liked it.  

I processed another 50 pound box of potatoes.  That makes 100 pounds of canned potatoes for the pantry.  One quart is what we eat in one meal.  I was able to can 28 quarts and 9 pints of potatoes out of 50 pounds.  It was so nice to have Alexandra join me in peeling and cutting most of the potatoes.  

I have also been working on making jams and jellies for the shelf using what we have in the freezer and garden.  With the Pomona pectin, I am able to make jams with far less sugar which is a win for me.  So far I have made cantaloupe jam (which I call cantaloupe lemonade jam), zucchini bread jam, spreadable blueberry, and an interesting orange banana jam.  All are delicious!  

I have also been fermenting some foods.  Our neighbor brought me some peppers and tomatoes from his garden (I gave him eggs and cantaloupe).  So I made a half gallon of fermented salsa and a quart of fermented banana peppers. The cucumbers are from our garden, so more pickles!  The other day I made a fermented jalapeno hot sauce.  It is simply a jar of jalapenos with some garlic.  We enjoyed it on our turkey tacos tonight.  Spicy, but soooo good!  

And of course there is sourdough bread.  I'm still working on making a good loaf.  I am also trying to get my recipe adjusted for regular whole wheat bread that doesn't use as much oil or honey.  So far, I have had trouble although all the bread is devoured by the family despite it not being the same. 

And...what else could I add?

The weather is cooling and we look forward to celebrating our fourth Feast of Tabernacles coming up in October.  We have some more work to do out back to prepare the yard for the festivities.  When the trees were felled months ago, the grounds took a beating.  The fire pit was destroyed even though it was just a ring of rocks.  The kids have done some work getting sticks picked up and even hefted the stones out of the way so the leaves and debris could be removed.  

I think I am going to wrap this one up.  It is long and I have said enough.  Love to you all.