The Garden

One week of garden-exclusive meals

2011-03-22T11:50:00.002-04:00

Something I've always wanted to attempt is to go for a month only eating foods that I grew, raised, or foraged. Never done it until now, though. I'm going to wait until the summer (when the really good stuff is here) to do a full month in earnest, but this week (Tuesday, March 22nd to Tuesday, March 29th) I'm going to get a practice run in. I have some things I canned last year (beets, tomato juice, okra, jalapenos, and pickles), things I froze last year (carrots, spinach, turnip greens and beet greens), and things I dried last year (tomatoes and plums). In addition to that I have fresh mustard greens, cress, and spinach in the garden now, eggs, pecans from this past fall and four chickens that I butchered last month in the freezer. Looks to me like that will take care of my vitamins and minerals with all the vegetables and the eggs, pecans and chicken will give me the protein and fat that I need. Will be a low-carbohydrate week, but that will be healthier in itself.

I'll post my menus at the end of each day.

Kill-a-watt

2011-02-23T21:37:00.002-05:00

I bought a Kill-a-watt EZ Electric Usage monitor the other day to try and see where we may be able to cut back on some of our electric bill. This is a really cool device that you plug into the wall and plug your electrical device into. It tell you the kWh the device is using among other things and if you program your electric company rates into it (ours is $.1093 for the first 800 kWh, and .0875 for any after that) it will tell you how much the device costs you to run for the hour, day, month and year. The longer you leave it plugged in, the more accurate the reading because it calculates the time the device is unplugged into the total cost. For instance, when you first plug the device in and turn it on, the reading will be high because it hasn't accounted for the time the device will be off. A good example of this would be our computer and monitor. When I first plugged the Kill-a-watt in, the computer and monitor were being used so the meter read that they used 14-cents a day, but as the monitor and computer went into power-save mode and used less electricity, the meter went down to 11-cents a day because it calculated the downtime. Pretty fun to see how much energy stuff uses, but at the same time it confirmed that water heater and heat pump are the main energy hogs. Sick of $250-300 electric bills, I became adamant about turning the computer and other devices off when we weren't using them, sure that would be the answer to all our problems. Turns out that I'm only saving us around around $2 a month doing so. Worth doing, but pretty small.

The problem lies with our thermostat....a problem that I WILL solve....

Collards

2011-02-21T18:39:00.001-05:00

Planted collards today.

Urban Homesteaders Action Day

2011-02-21T08:33:00.003-05:00

Although, I'm technically a Rural Homesteader, I am posting this in solidarity with comrades who are upset with the recent actions of certain poeple in trademarking terms that they did not originate and can not own. Also in solidarity with the homesteaders who have had their Facebook pages shut down and businesses disrupted because of this.

I am an Urban Homesteader!

Planting begins in earnest...

2011-02-19T18:43:00.002-05:00

This evening I planted a 4' x 8' bed of beets, a 4' x 4' bed of Parris Island Cos lettuce, and a 4' x 4' bed of mesclun mix. I had an 8' x 4' bed of spinach that was very sparse on one side, so I dug up and moved the stray spinach plants and planted half of that bed with yellow onions that my mom gave me today. Also cleaned up around the garden / chicken area.

Leaf pile

2011-02-19T14:36:00.002-05:00

My parents had a ton of leaves in the goat lot, so I rounded up three tarp-loads and dragged them across the road. Hoping to get a big low-maintenance pile I can just let sit and rot for some good compost in a few years.

Sifting compost

2011-02-19T11:27:00.004-05:00

I wasn't very careful while cramming stuff in the compost pile late last year, so I ended up with some very nice compost with some very big chunks of vegetation throughout.

No worries. I made a screen out of the cage that supported the Mexican Sour Gherkins last year and was able to sift it pretty well into a garbage can.

The girls helped.

Pepper Preparation

2011-02-17T21:59:00.005-05:00

Started pepper seeds today. Cutting the "8-10 weeks before last average frost" a bit close, but I'm impatient. I haven;t had too much luck starting anything in the house early, but this is going to be my year. I can feel it. I will grow fish peppers!!

This year I'm planting the following varieties:

Chablis Hybrid (from Totally Tomatoes...I guess my mom ordered these because I know I didn't)
Serrano Tampequeno (Free seed packet from Totally Tomatoes)
Chocolate Habanero (from Totally Tomatoes)
Fish Pepper (from Totaly Tomatoes)
Fish Pepper (Last year's seeds from Baker Creek)
Red Marconi (Last year's seeds from Baker Creek)
Chinese Five-Color Pepper (from Baker Creek)
Ancho (Last year's seeds from Pinetree)
Anaheim (Last year's seeds from Pinetree)

I started out by soaking the seeds in ordinary tap water for about 8 hours. Peppers aren't easy to get to germinate and from what I've read, this seems to help.

Later I put the seeds in some containers I got from work (the ones that grape tomatoes and strawberries come in) and Claire watered them.

Peppers need higher temperatures to germinate well, so I may have to take these to my grandmother's. Our house stays too cold. We keep the thermostat on 65.

Later today we also planted a 8' x 4 ' bed of peas. I know you'll be happy to hear that, Jo!

Noah's covenant

2011-02-17T11:10:00.002-05:00

Spent the morning fulfilling Noah's Covenant. Did four birds this morning, which is more than I've ever done at one time. Took a little under three hours, which is better than usual, but still not as fast as I'd like to be. Plucking feathers still proves to be a chore. I read on a site a while back about a method of simply skinning the bird which sounds promising. Four birds provided 17 lbs 13.4 ounces of meat.

American Seed Company

2011-01-28T22:01:00.002-05:00

Finally found an American Seed Company rack! I've been checking at Wal-mart and Big Lots with no luck, but I finally found some at Dollar General today. The packaging has changed and they were three-for-a-dollar, which is more than usual, but still very cheap and extremely worth it. A lot of reviews on the internet look down on these cheap little seed packets, but I can't see why. Maybe because they don't feature long back-stories attesting to the distant exotic origins of the seeds and the fact that by planting them we are suddenly greener-than-thou eco-warriors who will singlehandedly save the earth from Big Ag, or because they don't come out of a full-color glossy catalog filled with pictures of smiling hipster / farmers, or maybe just because they are so cheap and are sold at mass market discount stores. But take it from me. These seeds are very inexpensive, have good variety, and most importantly....THEY COME UP!

Today I picked up the following seeds (all for 33-cents a pack):

Carrot (Chantenay) (x2)
Collards (Vates)
Squash (Waltham Butternut)
Squash (Early Yellow Straightneck)
Cucumber (Sumter)
Radish (Sparkler White-tip)
Salad Blend (Italian Mixture)
Tomato (Beefsteak)
Squash (Table Queen)
Eggplant (Black Beauty)
Beet (Detroit Dark Red) (x2)
Radish (Cherry Belle)
Lettuce (Parris Island Cos)

All for just $5.00

Spinach and Greens

2011-01-28T10:18:00.003-05:00

The spinach, mustard and creese that I planted appears to have survived the winter so far. Hopefully as soon as it worms up a little I'll be able to start harvesting some.

Downsizing...

2011-01-20T21:40:00.003-05:00

Today I got rid of:

- A colossal weight-training machine (Free-weights, calisthenics and body weight resistance training is my thing nowadays)

- a bag of clothes

- two surf fishing rods

- around 40 gardening / self-sufficiency magazines

- around 150 comics

Seed orders for 2011

2011-01-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

I decided last year that this year I would try and scale back on the seeds I purchased. I'm usually a very smart shopper, but I'm afraid seed catalogs, with their full-color glossy photos of all the exotic, interesting and unusual varieties sometimes impair my judgement and I'm left with a bunch of seeds that underperform (if they come up at all) or generally fail to impress. Seeds from catalogs cost too much to do that.

This year I'm sticking mainly to seeds I already have, seeds I get from friends, and the old reliable American Seed Company, the ten-to-twenty-five cent seed packages that can be found at Dollar General and other discount stores. Great seeds at a great price that I've always had tremendous success with. See an old post about them here.

That being said, I did order a few select varieties from catalogs. What I have coming is as follows:

From Totally Tomatoes:

Chocolate Habanero - $2.45
Fish Pepper - $2.35

From Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds:

Arugula - $1.50
Chinese Five-Color Pepper - $2.50

From Pinetree Garden Seeds:

Daikon-Minowase Radish - $1.25

Total harvest for 2010

2011-01-01T10:14:00.000-05:00

Produce

79 lbs 3.1 ounces Tomatoes
34 lbs 11.3 ounces Cucumbers
19 lbs 5.8 ounces Jalapenos
14 lbs 14.8 ounces Sour Cherries
14 lbs .8 ounces Apples
12 lbs 7.4 ounces Watermelon
11 lbs 11.7 ounces Pecans
9 lbs 9.2 ounces Cantaloupe
9 lbs 7.8 ounces Carrots
8 lbs 2.2 ounces Beets
8 lb 0.3 ounces Grapes
7 lbs 15.9 ounces Red Onion
7 lbs 14.7 ounces Yellow Squash
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Turnip Greens
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Spinach
6 lbs 4.7 ounces Okra
4 lbs 9.2 ounces White Onions
4 lb 10.8 ounces Cherry Tomatoes
4 lbs 10.1 ounces Potatoes
4 lbs 9.2 ounces White Onions
4 lbs 3.7 ounces Dewberries
4 lbs .3 ounces Daikon Radish
3 lbs 11.7 ounces Black Beans
3 lbs 4 ounces Canary Melon
4 lbs 11.8 ounces Sour Gherkins
2 lbs 10.7 ounces Wild Stwberries
2 lbs 4.5 ounces Turnip Roots
1 lb 15.3 ounces Mizuna
1 lb 13.5 ounces Beet Greens
1 lb 12.8 ounces Radish
1 lb 8.8 ounces Sweet Peas
1 lb 5 ounces Dandelion Greens
1 lb 2.9 ounces Mâche
1 lb 1.5 ounces Ancho Pepper
13.2 ounces Kiwano Melon
8 ounces Arugula
6.3 ounces Spring Onions
5.4 ounces Anaheim Peppers
5 ounces Garlic
4.9 ounces Leeks
3 ounces W. Strawberry Leaves
2.3 ounces Cherokee Wax Beans
1.9 ounces Royal Burgundy Beans
1.7 ounces Daylily Blossoms
1 ounce Dandelion Blossoms
.5 ounce Escarole
.4 ounces Dewberry Leaves
.3 ounces Sage

Total - 311 lbs 9.4 ounces

--------

Meat & Eggs

11 lbs 5.6 ounces Chicken
1006 eggs

Pig Troubles

2010-11-22T22:12:00.003-05:00

Thanks to our unseasonably warm autumn, the spinach, cress, and mustard greens are growing far better than I had anticipated. The pig has destroyed the better part of 3 raised beds, but the damaged beds are still supporting life, albeit less than they should. The pig has only gotten into the wooden beds and not the cinder block beds, which probably saved a lot of spinach.

Eggs have slowed to a veritable halt, with maybe only one egg every other day.

Headphones

2010-11-22T19:15:00.003-05:00

My new $4.00 headphones appear to have a short in the cord near the jack. I've had them just a little over a month. A testament to our disposable society. However, rather than replacing them, I believe I can fix them, so maybe I can keep from being just another cog in the work-consume-work machine for another month or two.

Stupid pig...

2010-11-15T21:22:00.003-05:00

My sister's pet pig has gotten loose and wrecked two beds of spinach....I can smell bacon in the nearby future....

Rayovac Pre-charged Rechargable Batteries

2010-11-13T22:11:00.011-05:00

I'm not tech-junkie by any stretch of the imagination, but one modern device that had enhanced my enjoyment of life is my MP3 player. I use a Magnavox MSA2025 2 gigabyte MP3/WMA Digital Audio Player that I bought my wife two years ago for Christmas and have somehow inherited. I load it with weird podcasts and Grateful Dead concerts and I'm good to go in the car or at home. I have an old adapter in the car that lets me hook it to my cassette deck in my car and in the house and for the rare occasion that I listen to it in the house after everyone's gone to bed I use headphones (which I discuss in this post). It's a really neat device, and it's pretty good with batteries, but I still go through a couple of AAA's a week. While not exactly breaking the bank, that still adds up to around $1.00 a week (or $52 a year) using the Dollar General brand that I usually get.

I used to use rechargeable batteries years ago and was very happy with them, but for some reason I just started getting the plain old alkalines again. I was picking up a pack of AAA's tonight when I decided to give the rechargeables another try. They were $7.38 for a pack of four (at Wal-Mart, I'm sad to say), which seemed like a pretty good deal. They come precharged which was nice, and the package claims that they are rechargeable using any charger, so I can use the old one we have. The package also says that the batteries can be recharged 500 times. I know that some of the later charges will not last as long, but still, that's pretty good. Basically, if the product lives up to it's claim this $7.38 package of four batteries is the equivalent of 2000 conventional batteries, which even using the Dollar General brand would set me back around $1000; a savings of $992.62. They should also last (at the rate of two charges per week) 19.23 years.

We'll see.....

Grocery List 11/03/2010

2010-11-03T21:12:00.002-04:00

Meals this two weeks; Chicken w/ rice and vegetables, Chicken Fajitas, Chili, Salmon w/ vegetables & Baked Potato (twice), Split Pea Soup, Tacos, Spaghetti & Meatballs, Rosemary Potato Soup, Shrimp Salad and four "fend-for-yourself" nights.

Grocery list:

Food Lion Split Peas - .99
Smart Option Sandwich Bread - .99
Calidad 30-count White Corn Tortillas - .99
Food Lion Canned Diced Tomatoes (2 cans) - $1.98
Bush's Refried Beans - .99
Chef Boyardee Beefaroni (2 cans)- $2.00
Smart Option Mac & Cheese (3 boxes) - $2.07
Food Lion Good For Children Cereal (2 boxes) - $1.98
Food Lion French Dressing - $1.50
Food Lion Cheese & Garlic Croutons - $1.59
Capri Sun Roarin' Waters - $2.07
McCormick Imitation Bacon Bits - $1.65
Smuckers All-Natural Peanut Butter - $2.99
Del Monte Pineapple Chunks (3 cans) - 2.07
Food Lion Taco Shells - $1.59
Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce - $1.49
Food Lion Dark Red Kidney Beans (2 cans) - $1.38
Food Lion Ground Turkey (Two 20-ounce packages) $5.98
Holly Farms Boneless Chicken Breast (about 2 lbs) - $4.12
Frozen Salmon Fillets (four) - $3.56
Gwaltney's Great Bologna - $1.59
Shrimp Skewers 41/50 - $4.49
Dole Bagged Spinach - $2.39
Iceberg Lettuce - .99
10 lb. Bag Russett Potatoes - $2.99
Smart Option 1% Milk (4 gallons) - $12.92
Pagoda Chicken Eggrolls (two packages) - $5.00
Hot Pockets (3 packages) - $7.50
Smart Option Cheese Singles (2 packages) - $1.98
Food Lion Mild Shredded Cheddar Cheese (16 ounce) - $3.50
Food Lion Sour Cream (16 ounce) - $1.50

Total with Tax: $88.59 for two weeks groceries.

Egg #1000

2010-10-26T18:50:00.002-04:00

Got our thousandth egg today. That's 74,000 calories, and 6300 grams (14 lbs) of protein. Thanks, chickens!

2010-10-23T10:02:00.001-04:00

Grocery List 10/20/2010

2010-10-20T20:40:00.002-04:00

When I tell people that my family of four buys groceries for $150-160 a month people gasp in disbelief, so in order to show what we're doing I'm going to list our grocery expenditures on here along with what meals we have out of it. If something is listed in a meal but does not appear on the grocery list it is because we have the item on hand already. We have usually a few dinners a week together, but since my wife and I eat differently (she likes a substantial meal every night, but a lot of times I'll have just a salad or an apple) we have a few nights of "fend-for-yourself". This week our meals together are; Grilled Chicken Breast with vegetables and baked potato, Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs with vegetables and rice, Split Pea Soup and salad, Vegetable Stew and salad, Slow Cooker Potato soup with salad, and Chicken Fajitas. Notice nothing special just for the kids. That's because they eat what we eat. No spoiled young'un's here (for the most part) Also, if the meats seem a bit cheap it's because I usually buy meat after it's been reduced for being close-dated. Freeze it after buying and it lasts a good long while after the expiration date. For those who notice the absence of fresh fruit from the list, please understand that we have apples and pears from our trees and a freezer full of peaches, blackberries and cherries. And an awesome, huge bag of pecans from my aunt.

Grocery List:

2 lbs Perdue Chicken Thighs (marked down) - $1.35
1.5 Lbs Perdue Chicken Breasts (marked down) - $3.04
1 lb Chicken Tenderloin (marked down) - $2.05
Four Food Lion Ginger Ale 2 liters @ .88 each
Nabisco Reduced Fat Cheese Nips - $1.50 each
Food Lion Cheese on Cheese Crackers - $1.79 each
Food Lion Dried Split Peas - .99 each
Calidad 30-count White Corn Tortillas - .99 each
Two Smart Option Sandwich Bread @1.09 each
Two Food Lion Canned Pineapple Chunks @ $1.25 each
Capri Sun Roaring Waters 10-pack - $2.07 each
Four Frozen Salmon Fillets @ .99 each
Two 5# Bag Russet Potatoes @ $1.39 each (Big MVP discount)
2# Bag Carrots - $1.69 each
Large Green Pepper - .69 each
Four Gallons Smart Option 1$ Milk @ $3.39 each
Four Lean Pockets @ $1.67 each
Pagoda Pork & Shrimp Eggrolls @ $2.50 each
Don Miguel Frpzen Beef and Bean Tacos 10-pack - $2.50 each
Food Lion Rising Crust Pizza - $3.79 each
Food Lion 16oz Sour Cream - $1.89 each
Food Lion Shredded Mild Cheese 16 oz - $3.50 each
Food Lion Blueberry Waffles - $1.50 each
1 lb. Food Lion Cooked Ham - $3.20 each

2010-10-19T20:00:00.002-04:00

The spinach, creese, and mustard are all coming up in spite of the wild garlic attempting to take over. I spent a while clearing the raised beds of this nuisance today. It'll just come back up, but at least it'll be kept at bay for a little while.

Shifting gears...

2010-10-19T10:39:00.003-04:00

In addition to gardening and attempting to be as self-sufficient as possible, one of my other interests is reducing how much I buy and limiting my participation in a system that I believe is far too dependent on Consumerism. Advertising convinces us that we need things that we do not and as a result many of us have become more interested in what we can have versus who we can help and how we can better ourselves. We buy cheap junk and when it breaks we buy more cheap junk to replace it. Here I'm going to document purchases, and see how long they last under regular use. Since not many people read this blog anyway, and it serves as basically a record for my personal use, I think it'll be appropriate here. So...without further ado...

I bought a pair of earbud headphones at Dollar General tonight for $4.00. The earbuds themselves had ridiculous fake diamonds adhered to either side that I promptly removed. Made in China, of course, and distributed by a company called LG USA in Secaucus, New Jersey. I can't find very much information about this company other than several court cases that it has had to defend itself from. Interestingly, the side of the box lists detailed technical specifics, which you don't usually see on cheap equipment from discount stores. Power handling capacity (10mW), sensitivity (116dB/mW), frequency response (18-20kHz)...it's all there. They look pretty sturdy (much more so than the Jelly Belly headphones which were $1 more). I'll primarily be using these to listen to podcast and things like that rather than music, so I went with the cheap ones.

Mustard is coming up

2010-10-16T20:56:00.001-04:00

The mustard that I planed Sunday is coming up. It's been kind of cold, but maybe I can get a few leaves before growing season ends.

Getting Cool Outside

2010-10-14T18:46:00.002-04:00

Cooling off outside, so soon the birds will be hunting for food. Victoria made this bird feeder at her last Girl Scout meeting out of a used soda bottle and it should work nicely.

While Victoria filled the feeder, Claire got some quality time with our "community dog", Abby...

And spent some quality time lying on the ground. Better not let any of the old people around here see. They're convinced that lying on a cold ground is a sure-fire way to catch cold. Of course, most grown-ups think that almost anything outside in the winter is a sure-fire way to catch cold.

Pecan Score!

2010-10-12T19:30:00.004-04:00

The girls and I were playing outside with my aunt, uncle and cousins and I mentioned how well the pecan trees were bearing. My aunt said she had a bunch left over from last year and asked if I wanted them. Didn't take long for us to accept! That's a bag of pears and a bag of pecans in one day just for visiting family !

My great-grandfather planted these trees years before I was born and we're still enjoying them. Trees are a wonderful legacy. Every year we enjoy pecans, apples, pears and cherries that my great-grandfather planted. He's been gone for almost 25 years, but we can still feel his love for us in a very real way because of what he's left us.

Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism said it best.

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."

Pears from Grandma's

2010-10-12T13:42:00.003-04:00

Claire and I picked a bunch of pears from Grandma and Grandpa's trees today. I don't know what kind of pear these are, but they sure are good. They stay crunchy like apples, but are very juicy and sweet. They don't get soft and mushy like other pears.

Claire and the Chiddies

2010-10-11T18:05:00.002-04:00

Claire loves to go out and see the chickens (chiddies, as she calls them). She was afraid to go out for a while after she was attacked by the roosters on two different occasions ("Chiddy bite you" she would say) , but since they're gone, she's becoming more comfortable around them.

Planting and reorganizing

2010-10-10T21:08:00.003-04:00

Today I tore down two of the four raised beds by the smaller chicken coop. Those were the first four raised beds I ever built and they did right by me for the last five years, but sadly they'd began to decay to the point they weren't useful, not to mention the fact that they were a pain to mow around. Today I condensed four into two and I'm left with two 4' x 4' raised beds, full of rich soil and a nice wide space that I can get the lawn mower through to keep things hopefully neater than they have been.

Started building cold frames for those two beds so I can maybe grow some lettuce this fall.

In the 4' x 8' raised beds in the top of the garden I planted spinach (Giant Noble) in 3 of them, Cress (or Creasy Greens) in two of them and Mustard Greens (Jiu Tou Niao from Baker Creek Seeds) in one. It's much later than I had planned to plant these, but I'll hope for the best.

Also got a lot of cleaning done along the wood line. Junk from both completed and abandoned projects and things I haven't found a use for yet were making the edge of the woods something of an eyesore. Looks much better now.

Hay Ride

2010-10-09T21:26:00.003-04:00

My daughter's girl scout troop took a trip to Isley Farms in Burlington, NC today for a hayride and trip to the pumpkin patch. It was my first time visiting this farm, which is sad since I've been driving past it at least every week for years. Very nice operation. All organic and run my a family that has worked the same land since 1790!

The whole time we were being taken on a hayride across the property I was thinking "Man...I have to go home and get to WORK!!" Hahaaha.

Victoria has already decorated the pumpkin she got.

Last Rose of Summer

2010-10-08T20:44:00.001-04:00

European Hornet

2010-10-07T11:59:00.003-04:00

Picking apples today I noticed a lot of rotting apples on the ground were covered with all kinds of insects. Paper wasps, ants, yellow jackets and these guys:

European Hornet (Vespa crabro). When I was a kid I remember being warned about these things in such certain terms that I knew if I ever got stung by one I would surely die. Probably a good plan by my parents / grandparents. When I finally actually did get stung by one of these in my 20's it was pretty painful. My family always called them "Japanese Hornets" which was incorrect, as the true Japanese hornets are actually much larger. At my parents house there was an old tree who's trunk was a nest for these things perennially. Nothing we did could get rid of them, so my sister and I just stayed away from it. In my early teens my cousin and I used to sit on the back porch and bullseye them with BB guns. From a safe distance of course.

At any rate, these things were all over the ground while I was picking apples today, but none of them attacked me, lending even more credence to my theory that a wasp or hornet with a full belly is much more likely to tolerate you than a hungry one.

Tough old bird

2010-10-06T21:30:00.003-04:00

Tried to bake chicken legs tonight, but they were extremely tough. Scarcely edible. I forgot how old the bird they came from was. Oops. Looks like it's going to be slow cooking for this tough old bird. Putting the legs (and might as well put the rest of it too) in the crock pot overnight.

Jalapenos!

2010-10-05T18:28:00.003-04:00

9 lbs 13 ounces of Jalapenos today!

I made it a point to grow plenty of jalapenos this year because I love the Mount Olive Pickled jalapeno rings, but the store bought ones have way to much sodium. These I made have no salt at all. Just vinegar and peppers.

This is the last harvest of jalapenos this year which leaves my final total at 19 lbs 5.8 ounces. That's from just four plants! Next year I'll grow 6 or 7 so I can have enough to make pickles and some to give away.

Should have enough to last till next year

Roosters

2010-10-04T13:21:00.004-04:00

Two of the larger roosters were butchered today. Total weight was 7 lbs 8 ounces with one bird being 4 lbs 5 ounces. I had a slightly more difficult time processing these for some reason. There were small feathers that were hard to get a grip on while plucking that I don;t remember being present on any of the other birds I've done. Maybe it's the time of year.

Cut the larger up and put it in the freezer and the smaller one is in the crock pot as I type this with apples and sage from the garden. Smells delicious.

September Wrap-Up

2010-10-02T18:38:00.000-04:00

Here's where we stand at the end of September:

Produce

79 lbs 3.1 ounces Tomatoes
34 lbs 11.3 ounces Cucumbers
14 lbs 14.8 ounces Sour Cherries
12 lbs 7.4 ounces Watermelon
9 lbs 9.2 ounces Cantaloupe
9 lb 8.8 ounces Jalapenos
9 lbs 7.8 ounces Carrots
8 lbs 2.2 ounces Beets
8 lb 0.3 ounces Grapes
7 lbs 15.9 ounces Red Onion
7 lbs 14.7 ounces Yellow Squash
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Turnip Greens
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Spinach
6 lbs 4.7 ounces Okra
4 lbs 9.2 ounces White Onions
4 lb 10.8 ounces Cherry Tomatoes
4 lbs 10.1 ounces Potatoes
4 lbs 9.2 ounces White Onions
4 lbs 3.7 ounces Dewberries
4 lbs .3 ounces Daikon Radish
3 lb 15.3 ounces Apples
3 lbs 11.7 ounces Black Beans
3 lbs 4 ounces Canary Melon
4 lbs 11.8 ounces Sour Gherkins
2 lbs 10.7 ounces Wild Stwberries
2 lbs 4.5 ounces Turnip Roots
1 lb 15.3 ounces Mizuna
1 lb 13.5 ounces Beet Greens
1 lb 12.8 ounces Radish
1 lb 8.8 ounces Sweet Peas
1 lb 5 ounces Dandelion Greens
1 lb 2.9 ounces Mâche
1 lb 1.5 ounces Ancho Pepper
13.2 ounces Kiwano Melon
8 ounces Arugula
6.3 ounces Spring Onions
5.4 ounces Anaheim Peppers
5 ounces Garlic
4.9 ounces Leeks
3 ounces W. Strawberry Leaves
2.3 ounces Cherokee Wax Beans
1.9 ounces Royal Burgundy Beans
1.7 ounces Daylily Blossoms
1 ounce Dandelion Blossoms
.5 ounce Escarole
.4 ounces Dewberry Leaves
.3 ounces Sage

Total - 279 lbs 15.4 ounces

--------

Meat & Eggs

3 lbs 12.6 ounces Chicken
930 eggs

?????

2010-09-11T19:01:00.000-04:00

August Wrap-up

2010-08-31T16:12:00.002-04:00

Here's the total as of August.

Total comes to 55 lbs 15.1 ounces of produce for August.

Produce

79 lbs 3.1 ounces Tomatoes
34 lbs 11.3 ounces Cucumbers
14 lbs 14.8 ounces Sour Cherries
12 lbs 7.4 ounces Watermelon
9 lbs 9.2 ounces Cantaloupe
9 lb 8.8 ounces Jalapenos
9 lbs 7.8 ounces Carrots
8 lbs 2.2 ounces Beets
8 lb 0.3 ounces Grapes
7 lbs 15.9 ounces Red Onion
7 lbs 14.7 ounces Yellow Squash
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Turnip Greens
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Spinach
6 lbs 4.7 ounces Okra
4 lbs 9.2 ounces White Onions
4 lb 10.8 ounces Cherry Tomatoes
4 lbs 10.1 ounces Potatoes
4 lbs 9.2 ounces White Onions
4 lbs 3.7 ounces Dewberries
4 lbs .3 ounces Daikon Radish
3 lb 15.3 ounces Apples
3 lbs 11.7 ounces Black Beans
3 lbs 4 ounces Canary Melon
2 lbs 11.8 ounces Sour Gherkins
2 lbs 10.7 ounces Wild Stwberries
2 lbs 4.5 ounces Turnip Roots
1 lb 15.3 ounces Mizuna
1 lb 13.5 ounces Beet Greens
1 lb 12.8 ounces Radish
1 lb 8.8 ounces Sweet Peas
1 lb 5 ounces Dandelion Greens
1 lb 2.9 ounces Mâche
1 lb 1.5 ounces Ancho Pepper
13.2 ounces Kiwano Melon
8 ounces Arugula
6.3 ounces Spring Onions
5.4 ounces Anaheim Peppers
5 ounces Garlic
4.9 ounces Leeks
3 ounces W. Strawberry Leaves
2.3 ounces Cherokee Wax Beans
1.9 ounces Royal Burgundy Beans
1.7 ounces Daylily Blossoms
1 ounce Dandelion Blossoms
.5 ounce Escarole
.4 ounces Dewberry Leaves
.3 ounces Sage

Total - 277 lbs 15.6 ounces

Toby (2001-2010)

2010-08-28T21:29:00.000-04:00

We're all going to miss you, boy.

Getting ready for fall...

2010-08-27T13:20:00.004-04:00

Cleared out the raised beds today. Eleven in all. I was surprised at how easy it was even though it took me a couple of hours. Pulled up all the tomatoes and cucumbers and now the only things standing are the Jalapenos and Mexican Sour Gherkins. The weeds were mostly pretty big so I just had to pull them up in clumps rather than pick out little weeds like in the spring. Now I have to figure out what's going to go in them for the fall.

Summer's twilight

2010-08-24T18:56:00.002-04:00

While not over yet, we are all aware of summer's impending twilight. Today's cool weather has reminded me that maybe I shouldn't have been so hasty in wishing for cooler weather after all. I told myself in the winter that I didn't care how hot it got this summer I wasn't going to complain about the heat, but sadly, week after week of 90+ degree weather took it's toll on even me. This is probably the hottest summer of my lifetime and the energy-sapping heat and humidity made even this hearty farm-boy spend more than a few lazy days in the air conditioning, rather than out in the dirt and weeds. Tomatoes that grew so tall and bushy and gave us so much are now tired, brown and frail. Once tender okra pods, in one last push for survival have grown woody and hard. Squash and pumpkins have fallen to the insects. Only the jalapenos and gherkins have any fight left in them and the two of those are bearing beautifully, giving me plenty of heat for chili and soup this winter. Gherkin pickles will make interesting hors d'œuvres for our annual Superbowl party and will hopefully remind everyone of summer when we first got to sample the weird little things. All the strange little creatures that kindly allowed me to photograph them this summer are scouting places to hole up for the winter, bringing to a close another successful summertime of eating and reproducing, like they've done for millions of years.

I'm don't have to work this weekend, so I'm planning to pull up tomato plants and clear out most of my raised beds to make way for fall's crop of carrots, lettuce, radishes, spinach and peas. I'll be devoting some space to onions also; an investment for next summer.

I'll keep you posted. ;-)

Kiwano Melon

2010-08-12T18:56:00.003-04:00

Kiwano's are FINALLY bearing! I planted these things MONTHS ago and they were very slow growing and didn't even start blooming till recently. I was about to pull these up when I noticed tiny yellow blossoms forming. I left them alone and now I have little kiwanos. These exotic little things are found in grocery stores, usually for around $5-6 each! I've had them before and they taste almost as interesting as they look. A very faintly sweet / tart cucumber. Nice and refreshing.

I should have read more about them, though. The plants have tiny little needles like a cactus that I guess I didn't see and I got impaled on around ten-thousand or so of them. Very uncomfortable. Guess I'll have to break out the dishwashing gloves when I harvest these.

Today's harvest...

2010-08-04T18:43:00.002-04:00

With today's harvest of Tomatoes, Cucumber, Jalapenos, Mexican Sour Gherkins, Grapes, Okra, Cherry Tomatoes and Watermelon we've now passed out total of 228 lbs from last year. The fact that it's only the beginning of August and we still have apples, grapes, squash, pumpkins to harvest, not to mention our fall crops of carrots, lettuce, spinach, and whatever else we decide to plant. Will we hit 300 lbs of produce this year? Looks pretty encouraging!

July Wrap-up

2010-07-31T18:22:00.002-04:00

106 lbs total for the month of July.

Here's where we stand as of the end of July:

65 lbs 8 ounces Tomatoes
32 lbs 3.7 ounces Cucumbers
14 lbs 14.8 ounces Sour Cherries
9 lbs 9.2 ounces Cantaloupe
9 lbs 7.8 ounces Carrots
8 lbs 2.2 ounces Beets
7 lbs 15.9 ounces Red Onion
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Turnip Greens
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Spinach
5 lbs 9.7 ounces Yellow Squash
4 lbs 10.1 ounces Potatoes
4 lbs 9.2 ounces White Onions
4 lb 13.2 ounces Jalapenos
4 lbs 3.7 ounces Dewberries
4 lb 7.2 ounces Okra
4 lbs .3 ounces Daikon Radish
3 lbs 11.7 ounces Black Beans
3 lbs 4 ounces Canary Melon
3 lb 2.7 ounces Cherry Tomatoes
2 lbs 10.7 ounces Wild Stwberries
2 lbs 4.5 ounces Turnip Roots
1 lb 15.3 ounces Mizuna
1 lb 13.5 ounces Beet Greens
1 lb 12.8 ounces Radish
1 lb 8.8 ounces Sweet Peas
1 lb 5 ounces Dandelion Greens
1 lb 2.9 ounces Mâche
1 lb 1.6 ounces Sour Gherkins
1 lb 0.2 ounces Ancho Pepper
8 ounces Arugula
6.3 ounces Spring Onions
5 ounces Garlic
3.4 ounces Apples
3 ounces W. Strawberry Leaves
1.9 ounces Royal Burgundy Beans
1.7 ounces Daylily Blossoms
1.4 ounces Anaheim Peppers
1 ounce Dandelion Blossoms
.5 ounce Escarole
.4 ounces Dewberry Leaves
.3 ounces Sage

Total - 222 lbs .5 ounces

Big Day!

2010-07-19T21:27:00.001-04:00

10 lbs 3.9 ounces of produce today!

Ants on Okra Blooms

2010-07-15T19:50:00.000-04:00

Topped last year's total!

2010-07-14T19:02:00.001-04:00

Today's tomatoes pushed me over last year's total and I've still got a bunch more on the vine!

Squash beetle

2010-07-13T17:49:00.002-04:00

New Pictures

2010-07-12T09:48:00.003-04:00

Australian Butter Squash and Sparkler radishes (going to seed)

Homemade trellis with Mexican Sour Gherkins.

Yellow Squash

Cantaloupe

Acorn Squash

Been lazy...

2010-07-11T20:52:00.003-04:00

I don't know what it is about July that makes me want to stop blogging, but I suppose it's hit me again this year. Of course, I don't know what it was about 2007 and 2008 that made me stop blogging, but that's another thing altogether.

So what's going on? Most of the black beans have been harvested and I still don;t think I'm going to grow them in the future. I love them, but there's just too little yield for the space and work involved. Okra is coming in nicely and I've made a couple of jars of Okra Pickles. I already have more cucumbers this year than last year which is encouraging. Made some Habanero pickles with them. The Acorn and Yellow Squash that I planted near the end of last month are coming along nicely. I think waiting so late was really instrumental in preventing a squash vine borer infestation. I should have some yellow squash in a couple weeks or so. Tomatoes are coming in, but slowly. The plants aren't flowering due to extreme temperatures but as soon as it cools down a bit maybe I'll see some more buds. Still have a lot of green tomatoes waiting to ripen. The Mexican Sour Gherkins are coming in nicely as well, although I have no idea what to do with them other than put them in salads. They're ok, for a novelty and would make a nice addition to a flower garden (which I may do next year.) Jalapenos are doing quite well, albeit not as hot as I would like. Anchos are doing ok, but are getting leathery brown spots before they ripen.

Pictures will come tomorrow.

June Wrap-up

2010-06-30T20:14:00.002-04:00

Here's where we stand at the end of June.

Produce

17 lbs 12.7 Cucumbers
14 lbs 14.8 ounces Sour Cherries
9 lbs 7.8 ounces Carrots
8 lbs 2.2 ounces Beets
7 lbs 15.9 ounces Red Onion
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Turnip Greens
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Spinach
4 lbs 10.1 ounces Potatoes
4 lbs 3.7 ounces Dewberries
4 lbs 1.6 ounces White Onions
4 lbs .3 ounces Daikon Radish
3 lb 12.4 ounces Tomatoes
3 lbs 8.3 ounces Black Beans
2 lbs 10.7 ounces Wild Stwberries
2 lbs 4.5 ounces Turnip Roots
1 lb 15.3 ounces Mizuna
1 lb 13.5 ounces Beet Greens
1 lb 12.8 ounces Radish
1 lb 8.8 ounces Sweet Peas
1 lb 9.9 ounces Okra
1 lb 5 ounces Dandelion Greens
1 lb 2.9 ounces Mâche
13.4 ounces Jalapenos
8 ounces Arugula
6.3 ounces Spring Onions
5 ounces Garlic
3.6 ounces Mexican Sour Gherkins
3 ounces W. Strawberry Leaves
1.7 ounces Daylily Blossoms
1.3 ounces Cherry Tomatoes
1.2 ounces Ancho Pepper
1 ounce Dandelion Blossoms
.5 ounce Escarole
.4 ounces Dewberry Leaves

Total - 116 lbs 5.2 ounces

--------

Meat & Eggs

3 lbs 12.6 ounces Chicken
719 eggs

--------------------------------------------------

That's 76 lbs of produce and 120 eggs. Last year at this time I had 58 lbs of produce and 512 eggs, which means I'm up 58 lbs and 207 eggs over last year!

Kimchee!

2010-06-28T21:17:00.003-04:00

Made Kimchee today with the Daikons. I'll wait and see how it turns out and I'll post the recipe. Smells terrible, so I know it's going to be GOOD!

Need rain...

2010-06-25T12:16:00.001-04:00

Need some rain badly. Planted yellow squash in two of the 4' x 4' beds in the bottom of the garden. I hope waiting later helps with the Squash Vine Borers because I had a terrible time with them last year. I hope by planting them late I miss their life cycle completely.

Radishes out....Butter Squash In...

2010-06-24T21:11:00.004-04:00

Pulled up the radishes (mostly...I'm letting a few go to seed to have some to plant later) and planted Australian Butter Squash in the space. I'm hoping to get a lot of these to eat over the winter because I really enjoyed having roasted pumpkin this past winter. Nutrition and calorie-dense and mighty tasty. Plus, I could almost taste the summer in them.

I had a few Acorn Squash seeds and planted them on the edge of the bed where the carrots were. Daikons should be ready to harvest any day now.

Digger Wasp

2010-06-22T12:52:00.001-04:00

Bunches of Beets!

2010-06-16T20:07:00.003-04:00

Daikons

2010-06-16T09:04:00.000-04:00

50 lbs.

2010-06-14T10:08:00.001-04:00

We hit the 50 lb. mark today. A lot earlier than last year, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to really outdo last year's yield.

Garden Photos

2010-06-13T18:44:00.001-04:00

Here's what the garden is looking like these days...

Victoria's Kiwanos

2010-06-12T23:33:00.002-04:00

Kiwanos melons in Victoria's tire-garden are looking good.

Claire and Radishes

2010-06-10T19:00:00.002-04:00

A Roof Over Our Heads...

2010-06-10T10:37:00.002-04:00

Here's the shed with the roof on.

Tonight's Salad

2010-06-09T21:36:00.006-04:00

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When the garden gives you 1.3 ounces of radishes, 1.7 ounces of carrots, 1.9 ounces of Red Onion, .9 ounces of jalapenos and 3 eggs, you make this salad.

Got the roof on the shed today. Will post pictures tomorrow. Going to put 3 walls up as soon as time and finances permit.

New Shed

2010-06-08T21:54:00.003-04:00

Dad and I broke ground on a new shed today. I've been needing one badly.

Hopefully we'll be finished tomorrow and I can post some pictures of the finished product.

Proud parents

2010-06-07T15:21:00.005-04:00

I can't for the life of me figure out why I haven't written about this before, but a few weeks ago I took some pictures of a caterpillar and posted it on the blog. Here he is:

I neglected to mention that I found two others and put them in a nice big jar with some fresh carrot leaves with the intention of raising butterflies. Well, the project was a success and we've just released three brand-new Parsnip Swallowtail Butterflies (not Anise Swallowtails as I incorrectly identified the larvae)

Here they are when they first pupated:

And here's one now!

It was amazing to watch these guys go from caterpillar to butterfly right here in the kitchen. It was kind of sad to see them go, but we were proud to watch them fly away knowing we helped take part in their growing up and becoming what they were meant to be. Here's Victoria seeing one off.

Last Jar...

2010-06-07T15:14:00.003-04:00

I've been saving the last jar of tomato juice from last year, but since I'll be getting tomatoes in a couple of weeks I suppose I can go ahead and enjoy it today.

It's On!!

2010-06-06T20:04:00.002-04:00

Picked the first four cucumbers of the season today! Looks like there's many more to come. I staked up a trellis for the tomatoes in the row today and finished making cages for the tomatoes in the raised bed. Total cost for the stakes, wire for cages and 100 lbs of chicken feed? $70! I need to get a farm subsidy loan. Haahaa

Tomatoes & Grapes

2010-06-05T11:58:00.007-04:00

Tomatoes

Grapes

Watermelon

Planting Squash / Garden Pictures

2010-06-01T12:51:00.006-04:00

Planted Australian Butter Squash in the unused row in the row garden. I'd planned on waiting until July, but I think I'll be ok as far as Squash Vine Borers. I lost almost all my squash (winter and summer) last year to them and I was crushed. Hopefully this year, I'll have better luck by planting later; after the SVBs life cycle is over.

I dug up the Mache and planted cilantro in that bed and planted Watermelon Radishes in between the Jalapenos. I've been pretty dissapointed with the Watermelon Radishes I got from Pine Tree Seeds. They germinate well and have beautiful leaves, but they never bulb-up and I haven't gotten the first radish in two plantings. Maybe third time's the charm.

In the meantime everything else is doing great. Starting to see a few little tomatoes and cucmbers, the carrots are doing great, melons are sprawling more and more everyday and I think I'm going to have some HUGE Daikon Radishes if the size of the plants is any indication.

Here are some shots of part of the garden, but I caution you...I REALLY NEED TO MOW!! Haahaahaa. I actually weed-eated (is that a word?) with the machete today so it looks a bit better around the beds.

January through May Wrap-Up

2010-05-31T18:16:00.002-04:00

Here's where we stand for January through May...

Produce

14 lbs 14.8 ounces Sour Cherries
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Turnip Greens
6 lbs 11.2 ounces Spinach
2 lbs 10.7 ounces Wild Stwberries
2 lbs 4.5 ounces Turnip Roots
1 lb 15.3 ounces Mizuna
1 lb 5 ounces Dandelion Greens
1 lb 8.8 ounces Sweet Peas
9.7 ounces Carrots
8.2 ounces Beet Greens
8 ounces Arugula
6.1 ounces Radish (F. Breakfast)
5 ounces Garlic
3.6 ounces Mâche
3 ounces W. Strawberry Leaves
1 ounce Dandelion Blossoms
.5 ounce Escarole
.4 ounces Dewberry Leaves
.2 ounces Jalapenos

Total - 40 lbs 9.2 ounces

--------

Meat & Eggs

3 lbs 12.6 ounces Chicken
599 eggs

Not bad considering my total last year this time was just over 13 lbs.

Nature's Fury

2010-05-29T08:01:00.001-04:00

Big storm last night wrecked a few tomato plants. I'm going to try and root them in another spot and see if I can salvage them. Got some nice rain, though, unlike last year at this time.

Painted Lichen Moth

2010-05-26T23:31:00.001-04:00

Painted Lichen Moth (Hypoprepia fucosa)

New Chicken, Tomato Cages and Hesitant Peppers

2010-05-26T21:09:00.004-04:00

Today I picked up a chicken from my niece that had gotten too aggressive for her to enjoy as a pet. She got a few chickens for easter and had them in a little coop out behind her house. Unfortunately, one of them was one of the big Cornish meat birds and it soon outgrew all the other birds and ultimately killed them all. I don't like these birds at all except to use specifically for meat purposes. They're bred to eat ravenously, grow fast and die young. In fact, if they live longer than 10 weeks, they get so heavy they sometimes break their legs trying to walk, not to mention they also have heart and liver problems. I'll keep this guy isolated, comfortable and happy until he gets big enough and then he and I will fulfill Noah's Covenant together (for lack of a better way to put it).

I dismantled the previous duck encampment Tuesday which gave me a roll of ragged dogwire just sitting around, so I cut it up today and made tomato cages out of it. They're pretty sturdy, actually. Probably more so than actual tomato cages one might purchase at a garden center or something similar. The wire had too many holes and torn spots to really be of any use containing animals, so this was a good repurposing, I think. Couldn't have come at a better time either, as the tomatoes are getting a bit out of hand with all this lovely rain we've been getting.

I mentioned a while back that I planted a few pepper seeds directly in a raised be a couple of months ago. Nothing came up for weeks, so I planted tomatoes there, but I noticed a couple of weeks ago that a few had started to come up. I didn't figure they'd survive, but they appear to be doing well. I transplanted a few in the bed where I planted the second batch of Mexican Sour Gherkins on Tuesday. Hopefully there will be enough room for both. Also, hopefully some of the peppers will be the Fish peppers that I was so excited about earlier this year.

Bean Beetles and Garden Layout

2010-05-24T11:27:00.006-04:00

Pulled up the mizuna today as it had gotten too bug-ridden to eat. I planted a 1'x1' space for Cherokee Wax Beans, using Mel Bartholemew's Square Foot Method (16 bean plants in one square foot. The rest of the bed was planted with sugar beets.

Saw a bunch of Bean Leaf Beetles of the black beans today. Wasn't able to get a picture, but you can see one here.

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/coleoptera/beanlb/beanleafbeetle_composite.html

If anyone's interested in what I have in the ground right now, I made this little map to sort of give you an idea of the basic layout right now. Click to enlarge:

Goodbye peas...hello carrots!

2010-05-23T20:54:00.002-04:00

Pulled up the peas today and planted carrots (Scarlet Nantes) in the space. In the space where I thought I had cumin coming up, I planted Mexican Sour Gherkins. I planted a couple in with the cucmbers, but they don't appear to be doing too well. Maybe this batch will do better. I was looking forward to trying these.

I looked in the seed box, and saw a package of French Breakfast radishes and got excited, only to find out that there were only three seeds in the package. I took those three and planted them in one of the tires in Victoria's garden and I'm planning to let them go to seed so I'll have some for later.

Brown Donacaula Moth

2010-05-22T23:00:00.003-04:00

Brown Donacaula Moth (Donacaula Rosciellus)

(I think)

Rainbow Scarab

2010-05-21T21:10:00.005-04:00

Rainbow Scarab (Phanaeus vindex) - female

Goldenrod Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus)

Paper Wasp with nest and larvae (Polistes metricus)

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle

2010-05-21T15:21:00.006-04:00

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis). These were introduced to North America from Asia to help control aphid damage to crops.

From Wikipedia (accessed on May 21st, 2010):

In the U.S., the first attempts to introduce it took place as far back as 1916. Repeated efforts were not successful. In the early 1980s, aphids were causing significant problems for growers of pecan trees, so the United States Department of Agriculture again attempted to bring the insect into the country—this time in the southeastern United States, using beetles brought from their native region in northeastern Asia. After a period of time, USDA scientists concluded that their attempts had been unsuccessful. However, a population of beetles was observed near New Orleans, Louisiana around 1988, though this may have been an accidental introduction event independent of the original, planned efforts. In the following years it quickly spread to other states, being occasionally observed in the Midwest within 5–7 years, and becoming common in the region by about 2000. The species was also established in the northwest by 1991, and the northeast by 1994, in the former case quite possibly involving additional introductions, rather than reaching there from the southeast. It is reported that it has heavily fed on soybean aphids (which recently appeared in the U.S. after coming from China), supposedly saving farmers vast sums of money in 2001.

Lema Daturphilia

2010-05-20T22:04:00.003-04:00

I guess my Field Guide to Beetles is a bit out of date. I was researching the Three-lined Potato Beetle (pictured a couple of posts ago) and the book (a 1983 edition Peterson Field Guide) has it listed as Lema triliniea, but evidently the current name is Lema daturphila.

Glad I was able to clear that up...

Oops...

2010-05-20T21:09:00.003-04:00

Yeah, so the plants I've been watering, picking bugs off, and caring for that I thought were cumin plants turned out to be just weeds. Haahaahaa. They came up so uniformly I was sure they were cumin plants. Guess my dream of growing a complete pot of chili will have to wait another year.

Rain...finally!

2010-05-19T19:00:00.002-04:00

We got the rain, thankfully, but now we need the sun to come out. Here's hoping. (and praying)

Three-lines Potato Beetle

2010-05-18T16:41:00.002-04:00

Three-lined Potato Beetle (Lema daturaphila) on cumin leaf.

2010-05-17T19:04:00.001-04:00

Got our 500th egg of the year today.

Raining.

2010-05-16T22:48:00.000-04:00

Thank God.

Night before last it rained 1/10", and last night it rained 1 and 1/10". Nice to see after such a long dry spell.

North Carolina Entomology Lesson #2

2010-05-16T09:50:00.007-04:00

I saw a Carrion Beetle Nicrophorous orbicollis on a cat that was unfortunately hit by a car on my road yesterday, but wasn't able to get a picture.

Anise Swallowtail (4th instar larvae) (Papilio zelicaon) on carrot leaves.

Seven -Spotted Lady Bird Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) on beet leaf. It doesn;t have seven spots, but I've been informed by the good people at Bugguide.net that it's probably due to damage during emergence or a genetic defect.

Unidentified grasshopper on cucumber leaf.

2010-05-15T09:41:00.001-04:00

Kimberly's lilies are blooming. The girl grows some pretty flowers.

2010-05-15T08:32:00.003-04:00

Claire having fun in the chicken tractor.

Got a nice rain last night. Rained pretty hard, but not for very long.

North Carolina Entomology Lesson #1

2010-05-14T22:56:00.007-04:00

Podabrus Soldier Beetle (Podabrus rugosulus) on Pea Vines.

Long Legged Fly (Condylostylus sp.) on Daylily.

Pill Bug (Armadillidium vulgare) on bricks.

2010-05-13T20:42:00.001-04:00

Picked a half-pound of peas today. Looks like the dry weather is going to make for a lean pea season, sadly.

At my mom's suggestion, I went to the horse pasture with the machete and chopped down a bunch of "broadleaf" (not the actual term for it, just what we've always called it) to bulk up the compost. This stuff grows very thick in the horse pasture and it's good for nothing and very invasive. The taproot is about a foot deep. I never thought of composting it before.

2010-05-13T09:36:00.002-04:00

Encountered what I believe to be Elm Leaf Beetles eating the leaves of the cumin plants, so I guess I'll have to check those plants and remove the pests in the mornings. Luckily, (but not unsurprisingly) the chickens love them.

Picked just under 2 lbs of wild strawberries this morning. I saw what I think was a tortoise beetle while crawling around on the ground.

In case you were wondering I've been getting interested in entomology as of late. One of my life's goals is to be able to identify all the animals and plants in my neck of the woods. So far I've become pretty familiar with most of the trees, and now I'm moving on to the insects.

2010-05-12T19:16:00.001-04:00

The spinach was about to bolt, so I pulled it all up and salvaged the remaining leaves for salads. I may be able to stretch today's harvest out for a couple of weeks before my summer salads become "spinach-less". I learned that planting spinach in the fall is a definite plan for the future, as I had tremendous results with the planting I did in October of last year.

I'm probably going to plant radishes in the now-empty raised bed that spinach was in. Hopefully I can get a good crop before I need the space for pumpkins and squash.

2010-05-12T13:25:00.004-04:00

At work today we came across this little fellow outside the automatic doors. A Common Yellowthroat. He didn't appear to be able to fly at first, so one of the cashiers decided to take him home and rehabilitate him. He was put in a small box, and soon surprised us when he decided that he could fly and proceeded to cruise the store most of the morning. A little later I was able to ensnare him and release him into the wild. I'm sure he'll tell his kids about his adventure today.

2010-05-12T13:05:00.001-04:00

The pumpkin we cooked yesterday (plus a couple of fresh eggs, brown sugar and a little milk) made an excellent Pumpkin Custard. I used Garam Masala instead of cinnamon and ginger so I guess it was a Morrocan-Style Pumpkin Custard. Wish I'd taken a picture, but it's a bit late now.

Here's the recipe (to the best of my memory).

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked pumpkin
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon Garam Masala

Pre-heat oven to 350-degrees. Put all ingredients into blender and puree. Pour mixture into a pie crust or dish and bake for an hour (or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean)

2010-05-12T12:47:00.006-04:00

The existence of garlic on earth is just one more thing to remind us that even despite that whole "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" deal, God truly loves us.

I Guess It Had to Happen.

2010-05-11T15:13:00.001-04:00

If I go collect eggs and there's just a couple I have a habit of just sticking them in the pocket of my big, baggy gardening pants while I walk around surveying the garden, feeding animals, or what not. Every time I put them in there I say to myself what a bad idea it is, but I haven't broken any. Until today.

Yuck.

Oh well...I put three eggs from the Rhode Island Reds under the broody hen today.

Last Pumpkin

2010-05-11T12:45:00.004-04:00

The last pumpkin from last fall's harvest is being cooked today. I'll have to resist eating all the seeds so I have some to plant in a few weeks.

They way I cook a pumpkin is as follows:

1. Turn oven on 350-degrees.

2. Cut the pumpkin in half ans scrape out the seeds.

3. Put in a shallow pan and put in about a quarter to a half inch of water and cook for 60 minutes.

4. Peel the off the skin and enjoy.

5. Don't forget the seeds. Seeds from smaller pumpkins have shells that are a lot less woody, so you can eat them shells and all.

Finally got some rain today (although not much), so maybe we'll see some nice growth pretty soon.

2010-05-10T19:58:00.002-04:00

One of the Orpington hens has decided to go broody, so I'm going to see if see if she will brood a few eggs. My mom had some success with this a few weeks ago, so I'm interested to see how they do.

The hen who's broody is also the one I think may be blind in one eye. I'm not sure, though. Her eyes just may be two different colors. Either way, she's a very protective mama. Throes a fit when I get eggs out from under her.

2010-05-07T20:48:00.000-04:00

Twenty percent chance of rain tomorrow morning. Not good odds, but at least there's hope. Garden is dry, dry, dry.

Score!

2010-05-06T23:05:00.000-04:00

Our electric co-op clears brush and trees from powerline right-of-ways (or is is rights-of-way?) every summer and a few years ago I asked if I could have the shredded bark, wood and brush to use as mulch. They were happy to dump it with us and I had a good supply of nice hardwood mulch. I emailed them this year and asked if they would do the same this year. They were really nice and said that they would be close to us in the late summer and they took down my address and phone number and said they will drop it at my place when the time comes. Score! I really need to mulch the space between the raised beds, but it'd be too expensive to do it with anything other than free materials. Looks like I have a project for late summer / early fall!