Cabin Crafted

Category: gardens

  • Changes

    We have had a couple of “mild” relative to last week, days. I sat on the south facing deck stairs in the sun this morning and had a phone conversation with an old friend. It was only 32 f but the wind was calm, the sun warm and no coat was required. By the time we left for our walk, it was in the low 40’s, but thick cloud cover had taken the sunshine and it felt much colder. Tonight through Friday morning, we will get the rainy edge of the winter storm moving northeast and our temperatures will again return to winter with the chance of ice or snow on Sunday. We still have snow in the woods and in more sheltered areas from the last storm. This is Virginia, not Vermont, Maine, or Colorado, snow never lasts this long. The paved rails to trails path we frequently walk was only about half cleared in the last storm and there are still areas of ice requiring you to leave the trail and walk in the grass on the edge. Much of the path is still only about half width with ice on the edges, making passing others going either direction a challenge, the path is only about 8 feet wide when fully cleared. We always drop into single file when we see a bicycle or approaching walker or jogger, and it amazes me how many people walking two or three abreast don’t both, eliminating any distance between you and them or even requiring us to step off the trail where possible. We don’t want to be aggressive and stand our ground, but the though has occurred to us and we wonder if they are so oblivious that they would walk into us.

    Though it is still cold, definitely winter, when I went in the Natural Foods store today, their spring garden seed rack is up. I’m still trying to decide what I want to plant this year and what seed I still have on hand. After going in Tractor Supply last weekend to get pet supplies, chicken feed, and wild bird seed and seeing how elevated the prices have gone, I may use more of my garden to grow some dent corn for the chickens and sunflowers to save the seed for the wild birds. I often give the dogs an egg in the mornings, provided by the hens, but don’t like the smell of eggs cooking in the morning, so I had become lazy about preparing them until I accepted it was much more economical than the various supplemental feeds we could purchase. To get around the smell issue, I steamed half a dozen last night while preparing dinner and put them in the refrigerator to use for several mornings.

    While sitting on the back steps, my friend was amused that I kept having to chase off chickens that came up on the steps to visit while I was talking. Those birds are really imprinted on me and come running anytime I am outdoors.

    Ooops there goes another … repair. I don’t like messing with electricity and it has been more than 25 years since I installed or replaced a fixture, but as I was setting the table tonight and turned the dining room lights on, they flashed on then off. I replaced a bulb and tried again and nothing, though the fan works just fine. That light doesn’t appear to be on it’s own circuit or even one with the dining room wall outlet, so it must be connected to a kitchen circuit as it is one room. I guess I will have to figure out which one during daylight hours and go buy a new light fixture for the fan and have a go at it. Definitely not something I want to tackle, but better than having to replace the entire fan and light unit. I hope I can match the finish or get a light that doesn’t show it’s trim very well.

    Last night as I was preparing dinner and watching for it to be dark enough to go lock up the hens, the light in the fields was an odd color. Stepping on the back deck, this gorgeous red sky was the reason.

    There was no red sky tonight, just thick clouds signalling the beginning of the upcoming round of wet weather. I guess there will be no walk tomorrow unless we can dance between the raindrops.

  • Begin Anew

    The first day of a new year. A positive attitude, or at least an attempt to make each day positive. A new calendar on the refrigerator. Before breakfast was ready, the Christmas decorations were all packed up. The shelves dusted, the floors vacuumed.

    It is both sad and cathartic to remove the decorations after nearly a month of cleaning around them, and giving the shelves and floors a good clean up finally.

    We begin the new year each year we are home, with Huevos Rancheros. Then after breakfast settled, we took a walk. Today is reaching for 70f (21c), cloudy, it rained last night and will again later, but we got a walk under broken clouds. We enjoyed being outdoors without heavy coats, hats, and gloves. Monday the high might reach freezing with very cold nights. Our goal has been to try to get a brisk walk of at least 2.25 miles each day and we have begun the new year with that.

    The coop was nasty, 13 hens in a coop not designed for that many hens fouls quickly. The usual deep litter method doesn’t work with that many birds, so after the walk, it got a good cleaning and deep straw added back in. They are starting anew as well.

    They are so nosey, they have to see what is going on.

    Because of their scratching and the recent rain, the exposed soil just inside the gate and just outside the front of the coop was quite slick, so fresh hay was forked down as well. And since I was out and about with the hay fork, the wet leaves were cleared from the uphill side of the culvert and I realized that the road gravel has the culvert filled about 2/3 full again. I either have to try to shovel it out or put in another work order to VDOT, but the last two I have submitted have been ignored, maybe three’s the charm.

    While I was working outside, the garden was checked. The winter greens bed is thriving. I harvested radishes, spinach, komatsu. There are healthy kohlrabi greens, and kale too. I will cover them, but I need to purchased another sheet of plastic tomorrow to make that happen.

    I have never since I started gardening, havested this late in the season.

    So the new year begins with a clean house, clean coop, a positive attitude, and about 20 pounds less than I began last year.

    Happy New Year to you all.

  • Weeks go by

    In the past week, our family celebrated three birthdays and Thanksgiving. One of the birthday’s was mine, entering me into the beginning of my 75th year. Unlike last year when we were all locked in and isolated, we were able to share. We are all vaccinated and the adults all boosted. Last year I took an outdoor hike with daughter and her kids, all of us masked because they hadn’t decided that outdoors was safe without a mask. We drove separate cars because of Covid. This year we took a couple walks with family here for Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday and the next night for a Mexican feast.

    This year we even went into restaurants for two of the birthdays, but wore masks except to eat. Last year we had Thanksgiving alone, this year we had some of our family together to enjoy the fellowship of preparation and dining.

    It is concerning that there is yet another variant to the virus, not knowing how it will impact. Travel is still out for us, except short car trips to visit family.

    My focus has shifted from so much crafting to prepping for the holidays. Yesterday and today spent wrapping a birthday gift for Daughter and the Christmas gifts that have been accumulating for the past month or so. I like to have the shopping done, whether in person or online prior to the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and post Thanksgiving madness. Now that Daughter has had her birthday, we can begin to pull out some of the Christmas decorations. Fortunately I did a deep cleaning prior to Thanksgiving, so daily vacuuming and light dusting are all that is necessary.

    There is still some spinning being done for the Breed Blanket and always having a small spindle in the car. I knit a couple of Christmas gifts, one I’ve shown here, one a fiddly knit, then discovered a pattern for Gnomes. They are quick and fun, so adorable that several have been knit for the Christmas Barn Bazaar this coming Saturday.

    Time permitting, another one or two will be knit before Saturday, but I have another square for the blanket to knit so I’m not in a bind trying to finish it in December by the end of the month deadline.

    I have been waiting for a warmer day to finish putting the garden to bed for winter. The asparagus tops need to be cut down and a bit of weeding done behind that bed. The tomato, pepper, and tomatillo vines never got chopped up to expedite their breaking down into compost and the greens didn’t get covered, but still seem to be hanging in there. The salad hydroponic was restarted with new salad greens during Thanksgiving weekend and the herb one is producing way more than I am using, so some are being cut and dried for later use.

    While Son 1 was here, he and GS3 tackled a couple of big projects, repairing the basement ceiling where the failed dishwasher last winter damaged the drywall, rebuilt a section of the walled garden that had collapsed, and made significant progress on a stone patio off the back deck. Hubby and I had hauled 1500 pounds of sand, six 50 pound bags at a time over a couple of weeks. The rest will be delivered and dumped loose on a tarp to finish back there. Once the patio is done, a dump truck of topsoil will be added to the walled garden to bring the soil level up to the top of the wall and the edge of the patio. That will require digging up the perennials back there long enough to spread the soil as the garden will be 6 inches to 2 feet deeper. The chickens keep digging up the bulbs and scratching around the plants. I can’t keep them out of there and when the soil level is to the top of the wall, it will be worse. Today because the past 3 days, there have been fewer eggs, they were left penned up with a deep layer of hay in their run and a scoop of scratch to entertain them. I am trying to determine if I have one or two hiding eggs or if it is just attrition due to the shorter daylight hours.

    The bed along that back garage wall above needs to be redefined, weeded, and mulched, but again, the chickens just scratch it off into the grass, so a means of keeping them out is necessary.

    A few nights ago when I went to lock the hens up, I brought their feed bucket back to the garage and filled it, returned it to the coop and turned around to find this.

    Pepe Le Pew was between me and the house and headed for the open side garage door. Fortunately he changed his mind and scurried off across the front yard to the cedar thicket. I was amazed at how fast they can move and thankful that spraying only happens when you really harrass them. Though I have smelled them near the house before, that is the first one I have seen.

    This was really just a checking in for those of you who keep up with our goings on here. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

  • Holiday’s approach

    November is birthday month in our family, two grands, stepmom, nephew, daughter, and me, plus Thanksgiving. November and early December are the months that various Holiday Craft Markets occur, ones I participate in and ones I visit looking for gifts. I hate to shop, maybe abhor is a better word and some years I have a genius idea for the grands, not this year. They range in age now from 16 to less than a month. I have done fleece blankets in favored themes with books, hoodies and books, hand knit hats and books, but I’m out of ideas. I don’t know interests of them all and I’m trying to match age to known interests and still keep a reasonable budget. I am at an age where I don’t want more stuff in the house and have been making regular donation runs, and a shared yard sale with daughter, so I’m no help in answering the “what do you want” question to me. I want my family around me. I want visits to and from them, I want to know they are all healthy and successful, that they are achieving to their abilities.

    In the spirit of the holidays, I will have two of our children and two of our grands for Thanksgiving dinner, right in the middle of the birthday week. And I am preparing for the only Holiday Market in which I am participating this year. My soap supply was basically depleted and to make some more holiday festive, I made three batches this week, actually 4, but one was a nightmare failure that set up too quickly and the colorant did weird things to the round bars. There are squares of goat milk, oatmeal, and honey soap with a “frosting” layer of finely ground roasted cacao blended in to a little, round bars of rosemary scented soap with a bit of green colorant blended unevenly (on purpose), and traditional shaped bars of peppermint scented soap with red colorant marbled in. I am working on a buttoned cowl in light mint green Merino handspun wool, and over the past week infused comfrey I grew into Avocado oil and made tins of salve to add to the other salves available. There will be hats, fingerless mitts, a couple cowls, some mittens, and a couple shawls and scarves available for people to purchase as gifts.

    Along with these efforts, I am knitting a little stuffed frog to go with a book, spinning wool for my Breed Blanket Challenge, and actually cooking and prepping in the kitchen, not just making products. At Farmer’s Market last week, I purchased 3 good sized Daikon radishes, a white, a red, and a purple and they are fermenting on the counter for kimchi, my favorite kind of kimchi.

    The peppers tented with heavy plastic did not survive the three nights in the mid 20’s, the greens are hanging in there, maybe they should be tented later this week when the temps are again going to plunge. It is nice to be able to pick some fresh goods still from the garden and salad and herbs from the hydroponics. Some of the lettuce is beginning to get bitter, so I should restart those cells with a new batch of seed. Winter is coming, life moves on, I am glad to be able to still preorder some produce from the Farmer’s Market at least until the middle of December, and get meats, breads, some cheese year round. Projects need to be done, so back to work.

  • First freeze

    The forecast warned me and I took heed. Late yesterday afternoon, a few tomatoes, radishes, and all of the mature Jalapenos and red Seranos were harvested when I went to gather hens to their pen and bring in their eggs.

    While there, I also picked some komatsuna (mustard spinach) and isn’t it gorgeous. The spinach, komatsuna, kohlrabi greens, and remaining radishes would fare fine over night in the deep wooden box. The peppers were given a cover for the night in hopes of a few more in our future.

    Upon waking, the world was glittering with frost, the cover on the peppers frozen in spots. It is now hanging to dry and I am going to look for some heavy plastic today to make a tunnel over them and to cover the tunnel ribs over the greens. Tonight and tomorrow night are supposed to be even colder. According to the weather blogger in our local newpaper, this is the third latest first freeze on record.

    In the cold this morning, the hens coop was refreshed, a very cold, very dirty egg found under their night perches and a warm fresh egg in a nesting box. Fresh warm eggs are great handwarmers, but I needed two. I will have to start wearing work gloves and the barn coat in the mornings for a while.

    Later today, when it warms up a bit, the tomato vines will be pulled and added to the compost pile, the hedge clippers used to snip them and the tomatillo plants into bits small enough to break down, perhaps turning the pile to put them in a deeper layer. The garden will rest for the winter, the solar charger turned off. The asparagus tops cut back soon. It is time for rest for the winter ahead.

    Some of the produce from last night was used to make me a bowl of soup. Son 1 recently introduced me to doenjang, a fermented soybean paste. A broth was made with crushed Szechuan pepper corns, garlic, and onion sauteed in sesame oil with chicken broth added and simmered. Diced yams were cooked until nearly tender, then chives, parsley, komatsuna, and a couple teaspoons of doenjang added until the greens wilted and the paste dissolved and blended in. The soup was poured over a sliced raw radish and a sliced serano pepper. It was delicious, warming, and headclearing. There was only enough left over chili for one bowl that was served to hubby and I enjoyed the soup. Once the weather chills, I could live on soup twice a day, good thick potato, Mexican soups, beef stew, chili, and the various Asian creations based on what is on hand. The Asian creations can be made a bowl at a time in 15 minutes and can have noodles, rice, or quinoa with the veggies, sometimes a boiled egg added. Hearty, warm, and filling.

  • Autumn left, winter arrived

    For a few days anyway. Yesterday we got our walk in right after lunch, just in time for the front to roar in with wind, falling temperatures, and rain, much rain. We missed the tornado threats, thunder, and lightening that happened a couple counties to the east. Fortunately, we recently got the garage cleaned up and organized enough to put both cars in, so we didn’t worry about blowing branches or the threatened hail that never occurred. Today is 22 degrees (F) colder than yesterday, the wind is howling, it has alternately been thick and gray with light rain and partly sunny, but not long enough to plan anything outdoors. To go out for a few minutes, a jacket and wool hat were added to the wool tshirt and wool sweater I already had on. It is going to stay very cool and mostly wet for the rest of the week. We have seen our high today, 49 f (9.4c) and we may see our first frost before next week ends. It is well past the average for here and the garden is done except for a few winter greens that can be covered easily.

    The cooler weather has me knitting and spinning. A new very soft cabled Merino hat was added to the shop, an ear warmer cabled headband is being knit from the remainder of the skein. Most of a braid of Ruby Red soft BFL wool has been spun and it will probably become a scarf.

    Another 4 ounces of an alpaca/ coopworth blend is also being spun, but I don’t know what it will become.

    I did update the photos of the fingerless mitts and the “sideways” gray hat in the shop photos, see the link at the top of the blog. I still haven’t warped the loom to weave the wide scarf/shawl with the Calypso colorway skein I spun on the wheel to figure out how long it takes to spin 4 ounces.

    It should weave into a gorgeous garment with the navy flax warp.

    There are more squares to add to the breed blanket, but I think I want to do one more before I add another row. That will leave only one row of 6 squares to get done in November and December. I wish it was easier to crochet them on the blanket as it would be nice to have it in my lap with the chill of the current weather.

    We are seeing some color change in the leaves, but the wind is ripping them down like rainfall. Another two or three weeks and the trees will be bare until spring. Such is the progression of the year.

  • The End is Nigh

    The past few days of early summer like weather is in the process of ending as we speak. A strong cold front is moving through with rain, some wind, and much lower temperatures. Last night’s low is today’s high and by next weekend, we will begin to see night time temperatures in the 30’s. We have passed our average first frost date, but it is rare to see frost yet.

    The garden still hasn’t been fully cleared, some tomatillos and tomatoes are still out there, some dry standing corn stalks and a single Hubbard squash still on the vine, the rest have been brought in. The winter greens bed has nice rows of seedlings of radish, spinach mustard, spinach, and lettuce. They will be covered with row cover by the end of the week and later by heavy plastic as real freezes are forecast.

    I decided to bring the spider plants in after all. There are two hooks in the utility/panty room with north and south facing windows, though heated only by leaving the door open to the main house. There is a wall installed space heater, but it is noisy and expensive to run. All of the baby shoots were removed from the plants and a flat of Jiffy Peat blocks started with a dozen tiny spider plants. They will be planted in the hanging pots to fill them in once they have roots. I figure they won’t all take. If they do, some will be potted in one of the various empty pots around the house and they can adorn a step or table next spring.

    I couldn’t resist bringing in the begonia that has sat on the front porch table since the porch was restained and decorated last summer. It was just too pretty with it’s sunny yellow blooms to not enjoy for a while longer.

    The jungle of succulents joined the pothos and Thanksgiving cactus that spent the summer on the shelf at the end of the kitchen counter, with the second shelf they had spent the summer sitting upon on the front porch.

    The large Dracena that also summers on the porch is in a less sunny part of the living room.

    The hydroponics are already producing salads and herbs, though the spinach and the rosemary are not germinating. The rosemary in the herb bed outdoors generally survives the winter tucked up against the southwest facing stone wall and I can cut from it as needed.

    The season is ending, always a relief and a disappointment. The garden is in good shape to start next year. The paths that I so carefully covered with cardboard and mulch are mostly grown over with grass again, but the paths are wide enough now to use the line trimmer to keep it short. The coop needs another clean out once the rain ends and that spoiled straw will be added to another bed to hold down weeds and feed the bed during the winter. That will be an ongoing project all winter as they spend more time in the coop. The shortened day length is beginning to show in egg production. Last night there were only 8, the least I have gotten from the hens since they all began laying in early summer. They may stop altogether for a while, or maybe there will be enough to keep me in eggs through the winter, we will see.

  • Another Autumn Day

    It is hot again, not mid summer hot, but warmer than I prefer when out walking or working in the yard. It is delightfully cool at night though and sleep with a window open above the bed is routine. Often in the late night, we hear coyotes (coywolves, coydogs) or whatever roams the woods and fields at night. About a week ago, I was awakened by one calling to distant ones, but it was right under our window, It must have been close up to the house, which was a bit unnerving. This morning, after it had dawned and the sky was already lit with morning sun, we heard them again, closer to the house than the woods beyond our fields.

    With 13 hens in a coop designed for about 9, even with being free range hens all day from morning til dusk, they foul the straw so quickly. We purchased 2 new bales a few days ago and after a convenience center (trash) run and our daily brisk walk, I donned the “go to do dirty work, jeans” and rolled the wheelbarrow over to the coop. The dirty straw that will make hot compost was forked out and spread on one of the beds that were weeded last weekend. It will break down over the winter, the hot fertilizer will feed the soil, the straw will add compost and help keep the weeds from coming back up before frost. Since the coop is requiring more frequent mucking out, there will be plenty more to add to the other beds. The hens are so nosy. As soon as I begin doing anything over there, they all gather to see what is going on.

    I noticed that the comfrey plant that is outside the fence has again gone under the fence. It will have to be dug out again. The leaves dried for salve and soap making. The bed in the top right corner of the photo is the fall greens bed and there are 3 rows of seedlings up. The Spinach Mustard has not come up there or in the hydroponic garden. So much for free seed samples.

    Last night I finished the second pair of mitts that I was test knitting. I used my handspun yarn and went down a needle size, knit an extra inch on the cuff on this pair.

    And as the month is closing on the September spindle challenges, I did a Breed Blanket assessment. I have spun 20 different breeds of wool and knit 37 squares for the blanket. Though not all of them are attached. The next 3 months will be dedicated to darker wools to provide some balance to the whites and light grays that have accumulated and layed out around the already joined squares to get a pleasing appearance.

    Tomorrow, I will assess what was spun and knit for the month for the 15 minutes a day challenge. I have fulfilled that one so far with today and tomorrow to go.

    October will be here and some knitting must be done if there is going to be any stock for fall and winter markets. I really want to get my loom warped and weave a scarf from yarn spun the past couple of months.

  • Autumn is here…

    at least this week, though it is going to warm up next week, not to summer temperatures but much warmer than this week. The winter squash were all harvested and some pumpkins and gourds purchased at the nursery along with a mum, just beginning to bloom. The fall decorations in storage were brought out.

    A bit of fall decorating was done with the winter squash, some beeswax candles, and mum.

    The past few mornings have been in the low 40’s f (4.5) c and we awaken to heavy fog and glistening dew.

    The asparagus look frosted. A quick trip into Lowe’s for a tarp showed me small bundles of dried corn stalks from Canada, about 4 stalks for almost $10 each. I should go out and cut our stalks and bundle them to add to the decorations in front of the house or at the corner of the garden. I must have $100 worth out there.

    Because of the chilly nights, the houseplants that spend the summer on the front porch are being brought inside after spraying the bugs and spiders off of them with a jet of water. The move back inside also resulted in some pruning and transplanting.

    The two largest house plants and the two hanging spider plants still need to be sprayed and brought inside.

    I went out to use the line trimmer this afternoon and it is missing the bump ring, so it wouldn’t function. I am going to have to purchase a new one. I want to repair the wood wheelbarrow that my Dad made for me about 2 decades ago and fill it with fall color.

    A nice afternoon walk away from town today showed lots of fungi and greenery that benefitted from the rain this week.

    I was happy to see several patches of running cedar (Diphasiastrum digitatum) or fan clubmoss growing in the woods. Though it lacks legal protection it is becoming more rare due to destruction of it’s habitat and over gathering.

    This morning, I began the second test knit of the mitts. I went down a needle size and extended the cuff on this pair. The gray handspun yarn is showing off the design much better.

    My knitting gauge must be much looser than the pattern designer.

    It is nice to be beyond the hottest weather, but I’m not looking forward to the cold months ahead. Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons with the milder temperatures. The nursery today had fig plants and mine that I transplanted into a half barrel wasn’t looking very good. I had hoped to bring it in to the garage for the winter, but it was already so pot bound, that I dug it in to the walled garden below the southwest exposure of the stone retaining wall. I will shield it with heavy gauge plastic and mulch when freezing temperatures are expected. It formed about a dozen and a half figs this year, but none of them came to maturity. Maybe it will be happier in the ground in the sheltered location where it will get regular watering during the summer.

    The hydroponic gardens are sprouting.

  • A little processing

    Yesterday afternoon before dinner prep, we set out to do a walk. My energy and blood pressure had been in the dump all day and I was hoping it would help. We generally walk two figure 8 loops around the double pond, so about 2-2.25 miles, and I only managed one. As a result, I never went back out to the garden in the evening.

    This morning, while it was still cool and the sun low, the fall bed was planted with spinach, spinach mustard, kohlrabi, and radishes. Last night I planted the two hydroponic gardens on the kitchen counter with spinach, spinach mustard, mesclun mix in the 12 cell one, and an herb garden in the 6 cell one and set my alarm clock for 6 a.m. to go down and plug them in. At 6 a.m., I was sound asleep deaf ear up and didn’t hear the vibrating alarm go off. I turned them on when I did get up, but will have to try again tomorrow to get them on a reasonable schedule so the lights don’t keep us awake at night staying on too late.

    We decided that we needed a day off from our walks, hubby had a bad calf cramp that has him sore. And I called the primary care Doctor to get my access to the portal reset to see my results. My RBC, hemoglobin, and hematocrit are unchanged from the morning I left the hospital inspite of eating dark leafy greens, meat, eggs, or seafood at least one a day, and taking the probiotic and multivitaminn with iron suggested by the hospital releasing physician. I expected a call from the P.C. Dr. as he said he would call when the results were in but I haven’t heard from him.

    Because we weren’t breaking up the afternoon with a walk, I decided after lunch to process the bucket of apples as many were going bad, and the basket of Asian pears that were very ripe by making apple/pear sauce. We found a 4 pack of pint jars with lids last week and I had 1 remaining lid, so jars were put in the canner, the fruit cut from the cores and chopped to cook down until it could be run through the food mill to remove the skins. I ended up with 4 1/2 pints of fruit sauce to add to the shelf and with the metal lids, heard the satisfying pop of each lid as they cooled.

    Don’t you love the unpaper towel they are sitting on. They are made by a friend with an Etsy shop. I love her stuff and no, I don’t get a cut for advertising for her.

    The hot peppers from yesterday were brined and stored in the refrigerator for use later in the year.

    That was about all I can manage in one day, so I will sit and spin for a while.