Blog

Payback Day

Yesterday I played, all day. After the spin in and potluck, I came home and finished the last few yards of the Finn X Jacob roving and started plying it with the Red Tunis. I ended up with 230 yards of lovely yarn to add to the 202 that I had previously spun.

Today Jim took off on his motorcycle around 10:30 a.m. and I started on some house cleaning, trying to rid the house of a few pounds of dog hair. I took a break for lunch and then tackled outdoor chores. Mowing first on the tractor around the house and between the house and barn, then with the lawnmower to get closer to the house, around the garden and chicken pens and also around the fruit trees. The tractor will do most of the orchard, but not close to the trees.

Yesterday at the spin in, one of my friends gave me a handful of sweet potato slips, both white and orange and I put them in water overnight to perk them back up.

I wasn’t sure where I still had space in the garden and I still hadn’t planted the Seminole Pumpkins and the winter squash and while I was working I had a flash of inspiration. Last year when I started raising chickens and bought straight run chicks from Tractor Supply, I ended up with more than my share of cockrells and needed to do something about them until our eldest son could come build the chicken tractor. I lined one of my 4 compost bins with chicken wire, put a tarp over the top and fenced in pen in front of it. I was delighted that they cleared all of the weeds out of it. This year when I got the 10 Buff Orpington chicks and divided the coop into keepers and culls, I again employed the compost bin idea, but put the chicken tractor in front of two of the bins then used two sides of the coop run as two sides of the cull pen and added some more fencing to give them a run too. Again, they cleared all the weeds for me. There is still more than a foot of good composed horse manure mixed with chicken manure. I moved the chicken tractor parallel to the coop, changed the fence arrangement, taking away some of their space, but still giving them a good grass area and two compost bins to scratch in.

This opens up the two compost bins that they have so kindly cleared for me, leaving me only two young pokeberry and one burdock to dig out. The bins were forked deeply to blend the chicken manure into the compost and to turn any seedling in and planted 14 sweet potato slips in one bin and the pumpkins and winter squash in the other.

Two more 5 X 5 foot beds instantly with nice rich soil. Now hopefully, the flea beetles will leave the sweet potatoes alone and the squash borers will leave the pumpkins and winter squash alone. They will all be nice additions to the fall harvest. The chickens are doing a nice job of breaking up some large stalks in the other two bins and dispatching the weeds. I do need to dig out some pokeberry and burdock in them.

Tomorrow, I am finally going to put the tomato starts and most of the pepper starts in their beds.

For now, I’m tired. Tomorrow is another day I can work the garden while Jim rides his motorcycle to meet our youngest son and maybe his family for lunch a couple of hours from here.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

May 25, 2014
Food and Fun
Today was the Spunster, my spinning group’s annual Spin In and Potluck located in a beautiful valley in our mountains at the home of our delightful hostess and host. We get to sit around and spin on the lovely porches, socialize, and eat and our significant others are encouraged to participate with us for this event. An afternoon of crafting, walking the woods, touring their business, Strauch Fiber Equipment (http://www.strauchfiber.com/) and enjoying the delicious food contributions.

Today, I contributed two salad favorites.

Ranch Pasta & Potato Salad
- 6 small Red Potatoes with skins on cubed 1/2″
- 6 oz spiral pasta (approx 2 c) {Gluten free is fine}
- 1/2 c chopped red bell pepper
- 1/4 c chopped green onion, bulb and stem
- 8 slices bacon cooked crisp and chopped
- 1/2 c mayonnaise
- 1/2 c Ranch dressing (I use the light version)
Boil the potatoes for 3-4 minutes, add pasta and cook about 9 minutes til pasta is soft cooked (not al dente). Rinse with cold water and drain well. Toss with chopped vegetables. Blend dressing and toss into salad with bacon. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

This makes about 8-9 cups of salad. I got this recipe from my daughter, who got it from a friend, who got it from ???? I have seen variations of it on the internet, so I don’t know where to give credit.

My other contribution was:

Three Bean Salad

I think this one came off a can of beans many years ago, maybe…
- 1 each 15 oz can of Red Kidney, Cannelini, and Garbanzo beans
- 3 c chopped vegetables ( I use the other half of the red bell pepper, carrot, onion)
- 2 Tbs Olive Oil
- 1/3 c wine vinegar or Apple cider vinegar
- 2 finely minced gloves of garlic
- 1/2-1 tsp Italian Seasoning (I don’t buy mixed seasoning, so I use basil, oregano, thyme, parsley)
- 2 Tbs Parmesan cheese
Drain beans and combine with chopped vegetables. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Blend Olive oil, vinegar and herbs well in blender or with wand blender and pour over bean mixture. Stir and chill several hours.

This makes about 7 cups of salad.

There was a lot of yarn spun, some knitting done, much eating, socializing and a beer or two consumed. It was a delightful afternoon with a wonderful group of friends.
May 24, 2014
A Week on the Farm – May 23, 2014

Garden weeded and mulched with spoiled hay.

The big burn.

Tree sparrow feeding time.

Lazy barn kitties in the sun.

New delux grill on sale just in time for summer cook outs.

Life is grand on our mountain farm.

May 23, 2014
Questions answered

My favorite local organic farmers harvested a bumper crop of salad for their local restaurant and natural food store deliveries and I scored a pound of their “extra” that was delivered to my door for the same price I would pay if I went to the farmer’s market for it. Two of my hen gems are boiling, a few chunks of cheese are cut, some leftover cooked asparagus and I am about to have a late lunch fit for a tired queen of the castle.

While he was here, I asked about the mystery weed

that was threatening to overtake the garden. It is Smart Weed and it does have pretty little flowers a bit later in the spring. It does spread, but is relatively easy to pull.

This morning I went out to finish mulching the garden with the spoiled hay. There is now a good thick layer in the paths, around the grapes and around the berries. Hopefully this will keep the lambs quarters, smart weed, henbit, deadnettle, horse nettle and oxalis at least reduced. For now it looks neat and tidy and I am still picking splinters out of my hands. Yes, I know that I could wear gloves, but I never garden in them.

A few days ago, when I was away from the house and Jim had been off on his motorcycle. He had left the garage door open as it is difficult to close headed up the gravel driveway on his bike. When he came back, he passed two adolescent males walking up our driveway and we wondered why they had been down here. The house is secure with the two big beasts that live inside and I saw nothing amiss in the garage or the chicken pens. Today, I think I discovered what mischief they wrought. The end of the big round bale of spoiled hay that was going on the garden and had been used in the chicken coop until it molded is charred on the end away from the house. Fortunately it didn’t catch, I guess they left it smoldering and it went out, thank goodness. It does make me a bit concerned as we don’t know who they are or where on the mountain they live. None of our close by neighbors have kids or at least kids that age.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

May 21, 2014
Garden Day

The afternoon had a 60% chance of rain and after lunch it was mostly overcast. It seemed a good idea to at least attempt to finish getting the garden cleaned up and planted for the season. Between yesterday’s burn and today’s 4 + hours in the garden, I should have my quota of Vitamin D, however, due to a prior bout of skin cancer, I stay totally covered with a wide brimmed hat, long sleeves and long pants. Much crawling around on my aging knees and rooting around in the dirt with bare fingers, the weeds are cleared.

Cleared beds and a ground eye view of the raspberry bed as I inched along that path pulling weeds. After my efforts, 4 rows of black wax bush beans, 1 row of lemon cucumbers, 1 row of spacemaker cucumbers, a small patch of carrots, and several hills of yellow squash have been planted. I still need to transplant the pepper and tomato starts and get a thick layer of spoiled hay in the paths to try to keep the weeds down and to get a bit more around the raspberries and grapes. I still have a space between the garden and the chicken run that is full of tiny stones and some weeds that needs attention, but I gave out and it was dinner prep time. Wouldn’t you know that the rain chance has diminished to 40% without a shower and the sky has alternately cleared and clouded while I worked.

The chickens love my efforts as I take armloads of weeds and bugs to them to peck through. Everytime I go to the fence they come running to see what the load contains. They particularly like when it is full of chickweed or if I dig up a grub or two. I was rewarded with 7 eggs collected in my hat as I quit for the day.

My hope is to try to stay ahead of the garden this year and not be faced with a later season weeding as I usually have to do. As soon as the garlic is harvested, a second planting of bush beans and a fall planting of kale and cabbage will be planted in those two beds. I still haven’t figured out where to plant the pie pumpkins and winter squash, but I am leaning toward putting them near the berries and let them run where they can’t do any harm.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

May 20, 2014
Farm Chores and Relativity

For several years, we have had a burn pile of scrap wood collecting near a huge nut tree and a rock pile. It makes mowing that area difficult and haying that area impossible. A couple of years ago, I placed a Craigslist ad for free lumber and siding and had a few takers that reduced the size of the pile some. Two years ago, the neighbor that hays our fields came over and removed cedar trees that had grown up in the hayfields that we had just been mowing around and while here, he stacked the scattered parts of the pile more compactly and cleared up some rocks that were also an impediment to the mowing and haying. Every time we think to burn the pile something gets in the way. You have to dedicate an entire day to the job as it has to be watched constantly and a hose needs to be nearby to squelch any errant flames. We will plan the burn after a heavy rain only to have several days of too much wind. Today was perfect. I had mowed two brush hog widths around the pile, a couple hundred feet of garden hose were connected to each other and the yard hydrant and we set the pile ablaze.

The burn was a little slow starting but once the two sides merged, we were a bit concerned as the flames leapt dangerously close to the lower branches of the nut tree.

We hosed and watched for hours as it burned down, never both of us leaving at once. Unfortunately, much of the wood contained nails, screws and large fasteners that hold our logs together, so now that the fire is out, there is much cleanup to do so we don’t pop a tractor tire on a spike. We also discovered a pile of large rocks under the burn. They are perfect to use for the retaining wall at the end of the garden, but it will take both of us and the tractor bucket to move them and they need to cool first.

I have oft mentioned the pups. Big dog, little dog. Ahh, no, Big Dog, Bigger Dog. The Shepherd weighs about 75 lbs., the Mastiff a slight 210 lbs. She is the dominate one. She can run under him, grabs him by the legs and pulls him down, but he is so gentle and tolerant of the behaviors.

May 19, 2014
Sunday Thankfullness

A beautiful day.

A visit with a friend at her shop with another cloud of Tunis to spin. When I am done there will be enough to make a rib warmer vest for this fall.

Cloud shadows on the mountains.

A motorcycle upright in a ditch thanks to VDOT’s lousy maintenance that was resolved with no harm thanks to the aid and ingenuity of neighbors and friends.

Glad I haven’t planted the peppers and tomatoes in the garden, we have a frost warning for tonight.

May 18, 2014
First Harvest

The first harvest from this year’s garden, a mess of curly kale cooking with some of last year’s garlic. Yum.

May 17, 2014
Critters and Weeds

We had almost 2″ of rain yesterday. The creeks are roaring and the low spots are soggy. After a few hours of dry out this morning, I attacked more of the garden, prepping it for seed and baby plants within the next couple of days. It amazes me how quickly the weeds grow. Just a few weeks ago, I dumped a tractor bucket of compost into one of the beds to spread it around and build up the bed where it was dumped. This is what it looked like today.

Lambs quarter, jimsonweed, oxalis, wild geraniums, Bermuda grass and these two I can’t identify but they are generous contributors to the disarray.

This is what a couple of hours of work have accomplished with muddy knees and grubby nails.

Ready for an assortment of hot and sweet peppers. A bed that wintered covered in straw wasn’t as bad and the few weeds that did emerge were dispatched and will be planted with carrots, bush beans, cucumbers and summer squash tomorrow. The tomato bed was also covered over the winter and needs only a little work, but there are still 2 1/2 paths that need effort. In another few days, the garden will be cleaned up, planted and just maintenance required until harvest. I have pumpkins and winter squash seed, but can’t figure out a place to put them. Maybe they can be planted on the edge of the grape bed and trained into the adjacent path.

My efforts kept Mr.and Mrs. Bluebird upset and I had to keep moving away so they could feed their littles,

but I did sneak a peek before I left the garden. I can’t tell how many are in there, it is too high to peek in. One time when I walked away to let them feed, I went over to collect eggs and stumbled on this fellow.

I encouraged him to move on. I like them in the yard, but not quite so close to the coops.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

May 16, 2014
Progress and memories

Today we had summer time with heavy rain and cooler temperatures tomorrow. We will then have a series of cooler, more seasonable days and not much rain. We trekked off to my favorite local nursery and bought 2 blueberry bushes. The first batch I bought several years ago were purchased from a website. They were tiny, bare rooted and have been a very poor purchase. Last year I replaced three of the originals with bushes from this nursery and over the winter another of the originals died. That one was replaced and the second one today went on the end of the row, making a nice collection of early, mid and late season varieties. Before they could be planted, however, the berry beds needed significant attention. The rainy spring has encouraged a plethora of wildflowers where they aren’t wanted (aka weeds); chickweed, dandelion, burdock, thistles, fleabane and several I can’t remember. The berry beds make up about 40% of the garden. The weeds had to be pulled, the volunteer raspberries that had escaped from their bed had to be removed, the two new bushes planted in the warm rich soil and watered in well and finally, a hefty layer of old hay spread over the areas of the bed where it was needed.

After tomorrow’s rain, while the soil is soft, the south end of the bed is going to be terraced with logs and stones to make maintaining the steep two foot slope easier. Then the young peppers, tomatoes, basil and tomatillo plants will be planted along with seed for bush beans, carrots, cucumbers, sunflowers and squash and the rest of the weeds pulled and aisles deeply mulched with more old hay. The hay is too moldy to use in the hen house, so it is perfect to use as mulch.

The cabbages, kale and chard plants that were planted a couple of weeks ago are thriving. The garlic is beginning to form scapes, so some garlic scape pesto is in order. The grapes need a better trellis. I can’t decide whether to try to build one or see if I can find a commercial one that appeals to me. In my weeding today, I carefully left every volunteer sunflower plant I saw. I love their look, the birds and chickens love their seed. I think sunflowers may be my favorite summer flower.

Within the garden are two birdhouses. My efforts today kept disturbing the bluebird that has occupied one of the boxes as she does each spring. Her young have hatched but not yet fledged as she flew in repeatedly with food for them. The other box seems to be housing a tree sparrow which seems odd to me as a nesting box is generally not their preferred spot, but I love watching them dart and fly over the garden catching insects on the wing.

After my efforts and a thorough clean up, there were some errands needed in town and as I was out and about, I saw this

As my first car was a 1958 VW convertible, this really amused me. I asked permission to take the photo and told the owner, a couple near my age that I loved their car.

Life is good on our mountain farm. I continue to love the changing seasons, the beautiful views and of course the mountains.

May 14, 2014