Snap Your Fingers

And it was just like that I felt the seasons change.  The sun is not as high in the sky, and its light is not so bright. The heat of the day is not as intense, and the leaves on the trees are drooping and losing their lustre.  This morning the dew did not dry off the grass till almost 1:00 pm. 

Today I worked in the forest garden "chopping and dropping" as Geoff Lawton says to clear the pathways and fill the swales with mulch.  I was both delighted and amazed to see all the beneficial insects that were buzzing in the golden rod and other "weed" flowers.  I tried to be careful and not unduly disturb them.  I cleared the path around the black and red currants from one garden entrance to the other.  It doesn't look like much was done, but at least it is a start. Using only a hand sickle gave my arms a work out!  I uncovered the spearmint and lemon balm, and I will transplant clumps of each to the raised bed herb box as I don't want to see them get lost in the taller grasses.  When all the pathways are cut out I will take some pictures for you.  The new apple trees I planted this spring are all doing very well, and there are even some grape clusters on one of the grape vines I transplanted.  When the grapes are a bit riper I will take some seeds and start some new vines.

So far I have collected lots of cilantro, chervil, and dill seed.  The pole beans will be harvested for dry beans so they will stay on the vines till just before we get a hard frost, and I have lots of radish pods to hang and dry, too.  The tomatoes are just coming on and I expect I will have to pick most of them green.  I have harvested the hot red Thai peppers and have them in the dehydrator along with lavender and rosemary stems, nettle seeds, and summer savory.  Lara's fig tree suffered in the greenhouse when we had the recent heat wave.  It does not look happy.  I hope to move it into Lara's room some time this week so it gets used to being indoors before the cold weather comes.  I hope it will perk up.  The little lemon trees are all growing well. 

Lara and I made it to the farmers market in Phillips once so far.  We had our little onions and garlic, some carrots, zucchini, pickling cucumbers, and lots of collard greens.  I also bought some horseradish roots.  I sold all the carrots rather quickly, and even managed to get some people to try the collard greens.  I have a few customers that like my little onions and garlic, but there were no takers for the horseradish.  That's ok; horseradish for many is an acquired taste.  I do wish more people would at least try eating collards; they are so very nutritious.

If Tom plants any cucumbers next year I think I'll have a fit! I have canned enough pickles to last us 10 years.  I'm sick of pickles.  What I'm looking for is beets and green beans, and so far I haven't been able to find any.  I still hope to get some from my late planting in the garden boxes, but time is running out.  Hard frost cannot be far off for us.

Speaking of canning, I discovered that my water bath canner had somehow warped after nearly 40 years of use, so I bought a new pot.  It is a good 40 quart, stainless steel brew pot that I can also use for brewing beer (after I get my hops yard back in order!). It weighs 20 lbs. so I have to put it on the stove and fill it with water there or else it is too heavy for me to lift.  It also takes longer to heat up so I get it heating first thing when I know I'll can. The pot holds 12 quarts at a time.  A large inverted pizza pan works just fine as a bottom base on which to set the jars.  I'm very pleased with it and bought it through Amazon .

 

Tom harvested his cabbage last week so you know what I did --

Making Sauerkraut 2013

Using the water seal suggested by a commenter on my old making sauerkraut post (scroll down the right side of this blog to find the link) worked very well last year so I am using it on both crocks this year. You guys make great comments.  Isn't it wonderful how people from all over the world discussing a subject can enrich us all?  I wish the habit would rub off on certain people, don't you?

We should have about three more days of clear weather so tomorrow I plan to start cutting the grass in the field and will check on my potatoes, winter squash and pumpkins. I am glad to have the BCS tractor back!

The chicks are growing quickly.  Thankfully,  I have not lost any more chickens to predators since the wolf came through.

I am studying hard for the General class ham radio license exam.  I hope to take it the middle of this month down in Wisconsin Rapids at the McMillan Library, but I must confess I'm not sure I'll be ready.  I am finding all the different math formulas quite intimidating. I guess I just don't learn things as quickly as I used to do.

Well, it's getting late and I have to go lock up the chickens.  Blessing to you all!

Grandpa Ott's Morning Glories

Working Feverishly

It took me two days to build the three new garden boxes and three days to dig and sift dirt from my "dirt hole" to fill them.  What I did was lay a thick layer of paper to cover the inside bottom of each box.  That was followed by a layer of poultry bedding.  And finally, the rest of the box was filled with dirt.  Talk about sweat equity!

The dirt hole deepens

The dirt hole doesn't look very deep, but I figure it is nearly 5' deep.  You should have seen me dig out that big rock.  I'll leave it in the hole until I figure out how to get it out without hurting myself.  By the way, this is the source of most of my rocks -- remember my ubiquitous rock pile? Conveniently it is next to the dirt hole. (In the background you see two of the new garden boxes already planted for a hopeful fall garden.)

My Rock Pile

In the new garden box next to the greenhouse I have planted Provider green beans and yellow wax beans.  If I am lucky I'll get some beans.  In any event, I'll turn the plants under and add some aluminum sulfate because that box is intended as a permanent blueberry planting for Tom next spring. 

Future Blueberry Box

Tom and Ed are making a dent in the big wood pile.  They cut and stacked these three rows and added a fourth one today.  Tom says he wants to cut one more pile and that should be it for next year's wood. We'll see.  Making maple syrup burns up a lot of wood.
 

Next Year's Firewood

It took two days for me to freeze four gallons of collard greens from Tom's garden, and today I canned one batch each of kosher garlic dill pickles and sweet pickles. I would rather can food than freeze it because of the way the power goes out up here.  If we have an extended power outage I don't want to do double the work by having to can food I have already processed. But I agree with Tom that frozen collards taste better than canned.

I always forget it takes my back a while to get used to canning each year.  I have tried different work heights, but my back still aches so I suppose it is the repetitive nature of the work that causes the problem.  I do love to can so I tough it out until my back stops complaining.  Looks like I need to buy a new water bath canner because the pot I have used for the last 35 years has finally warped.  It was one of the first pots I bought when Tom and I got married.  I think I'll buy a good stainless steel pot that can double for making home brewed beer and use this one for making maple syrup.

The chicken saga continues!  My sister stopped by last week and told us that Dad saw a wolf jump over the fence she had around her chicken coop and gobble up six of her chicks, feathers and all. It then jumped back over the fence and dashed off into the woods.  She said that since I erected the second fence around my chicken coop the critters thought her chickens were easier pickings.  Not so!  Tom went for a walk the other day after supper and surprised a fox that was running around the coop terrorizing the chickens.  The fence held that time, but yesterday the wolf came and terrorized a chicken into hopping in the space between the two fences.  It literally tore the outer fencing off its posts and snatched the chicken.  When I went to lock everything up I found a torn up fence, five rattled hens, and a pile of feathers.  What was so unnerving about the incident was that Tom, Ed, and I spent most of yesterday working outside and we didn't hear or see a thing.  I can't figure out when the wolf made his attack.  So, this morning before I started making the pickles I fixed the fence and put some cement blocks down around the base.  I ordered some deer fence stakes from A.M. Leonard Tool Supply, too, as they are currently on sale.  Of course, like eagles, it is illegal to shoot the damn wolf.  Can you see the steam coming out of my ears?

The garlic and onions are curing in the garage, and I hope to make it to the farmers market next week with them and some of Tom's collards and cucumbers, dill and chervil, and my spring planted carrots.  I'll take a run out to the field to check on the potatoes and squash.  Maybe I'll find some patty pan summer squash.  Last week my pie pumpkins and winter squash were just starting to run.  There are very few tomatoes on any of the plants.  I planted lettuce, beets, and beans for the fall to go with the potatoes at the market.  It seems I have better luck with a fall garden these last few years than I do with spring planted veggies.

We have already had some very cool nights in the lower 40'sF and even one night that got down to 38°F.  Not good for any sort of fruit set.  So far I have flowers but no beans on the Kentucky Wonder Homestead brown pole beans and Scarlet Runner beans that are twining up the ladder fence trellis surrounding the forest garden.  I have had poor blooming on Grandpa Ott's morning glories, too.  Still, the fence is very pretty and I'll leave you with some pictures.  I'm tired.

Kentucky Wonder/Old Homestead Brown Pole Beans

Scarlet Runner Beans and Grandpa Ott's Morning Glories

The Worm Fence

Peace Be and God bless you all!

Year Three in the Forest Garden

I am really enjoying my forest garden experiment.  It is so interesting to observe how this garden progresses in time.  This year, the dominant plants are raspberries and ferns.  Now ferns like moist areas, so I wonder if my digging swales throughout the garden earlier this spring are a factor in the rise of the ferns.  Raspberries also produce better when given extra water, and the bushes are loaded with berries.  They have just started ripening and I have already picked a quart of berries. 

raspberries ripening

Year of the Ferns

What I notice this year is the lack of insect damage.  Remember in the first year of the garden when my red currants and gooseberries were chewed down to nubs by nasty little worms?  Well, the following year I had wasp nests everywhere.  This year there are no wasps and no insect pests.  I discovered that wasps are great beneficial insects.  Most of the plants in the forest garden are healthy and growing wonderfully.  You should see the black currants! While there were no wasps this year, I did have a tremendous number of dragonflies that ravenously munched on our pernicious mosquito hordes.  I was very grateful!  All of the fruit trees, including the new apples planted this spring and the pears, which are very iffy in my location, look great.  I notice that the ferns and raspberries like growing around the fruit trees.  Perhaps this growth pattern helps protect the trees from marauding four-legged foragers.

 I have come to understand what "progression" means in a forest garden. Some of my herbs that did so well the last two years are now being crowded out by other plants.  I will need to move them to the new raised bed herb box.  For example, the oregano and peppermint can be found only by walking on them and I can smell their delightful fragrances.  The lovage definitely wants to be somewhere else.  Valerian on the other hand seems to have acclimated quite well to its location atop a rotting stump.


Determined Chocolate Mint

Unhappy Lovage

As I strolled through the garden yesterday picking raspberries, I wondered what might be the dominate plants next year, and it occurred to me that I noticed little trees growing strongly everywhere underneath the raspberries.  My guess is that trees -- maples, basswood, cherries, and yellow birches, as well as others, will take off next year.  If so, they will be the trees I dig up and transplant down by the creek buffer zone.  Transplanting my own trees will save me loads of money otherwise spent at a nursery.  The only trees I want to buy now are butternut trees.

Wild and Wooly in the Forest Garden

All in all, the forest garden looks wild and wooly, but if you know what to look for you can see the pattern of it.  Perhaps the hardest part of monitoring this garden is resisting the urge to take pruners in hand and make it "neat".  I have disciplined myself to cut only walking paths throughout.  I think the garden likes that.