even kitty is cold
winter is setting in,
time to wrap up things in the yard and settle in
More Goings On
I’m currently on a canning stint, trying to get thing ready for winter. I didn’t plan on doing much canning as my garden was not very active this last season. However, what I didn’t produce myself, my dear friends have made up for.
This week I put up: 14 pints of salsa, 4 quarts of corn, 7 quarts of applesauce, and 6 pints of grape juice.
Goings On
Put up 7 pints of apple butter. And picked up 11 new hens. 2 banties and the rest are first year pullets. They were gifted to me by someone who is moving to Florida. I’m keeping them locked up for now.
Construction in the Snow
We finally had our septic system replaced. I didn’t do dishes in the yard the whole time, but for at least a month.
They had to tear a whole in our fence and our lilacs.
But they went right between my peach trees as promised.
Here’s the new tank going in. That big CAT shook the ground a lot when it rolled by. The children thought the building might fall down just from the vibration.
The children worked on school work in the hotel one of the days.
I’m glad to, finally, be able to do laundry at home.
Now I just hope the ground freezes soon.
4h Fair 2010
I’ve been gone from the blogosphere for a long time. With preparations for a long trip, the trip, preparations for the fair and the fair, I’ve been hopping. Here are a few pictures from the 4h fair.
My daughter showing Josh. She won Fifth place for Showmanship (her first show). Josh won First place for Quality in the Feeder Class for Market Goat. He was 2 lbs. shy of making weight so that he was shown in the feeder class. The judge thought he looked good enough to be auctioned even though he didn’t make weight.
My 9 yr old showing her Black Silkie to the judge.
She won Second in Showmanship and Grand Champion Reserve for Quality.
My two younger children watching the livestock auction.
9 yr old auctioning Josh.
This post is linked to Saturday on the Farm at Linda’s Lunacy.
Broccoli
A pathetic cutting from 4 plants. The sudden hot weather caused 3 of my 4 plants to try and bolt.
Now that’s a little better.
The little florets are off the 3 plants I first harvested a couple weeks ago.
Garden Tour
Click for larger pictures.
Potato Patch
Pumpkin and Winter Squash
Corn
Onion and Garlic with Parsnip on the edges
Onions
More Onions and Chard
Lettuce and radishes and lettuce sprouts.
I had planted some really old spinach that never came up so I reseeded with lettuce.
Carrots
Peppers
Tomatoes
Cabbage
Zucchini and Cucumbers
Cole Crops
Kidney Beans
Black Eyed Peas
This was originally Snap Peas, but only a few came up. So I replanted Beans and Cucumbers.
This post is linked to Tuesday’s Garden Party.
On Leading Goats
I want to share with you something that has made my life so much better.
It’s called a halter.
Growing up in town and moving to the country, I find that I know very little about much of anything. And any rudimentary knowledge is hard bought.
I love the halter.
This post is linked to Saturday on the Farm.
Gardening
Here is a picture of my extra large leaf spinach. This is where my spinach went to seed last year. I’m letting it grow so I can collect the seed. This areas is currently the kitty restroom.
The spinach is regular spinach, it’s just amazingly large. The plants have done so well I’m hoping to plant next years seed in the fall.
I put this cloth over my corn. I haven’t had a good corn turnout since my first year at this house. I think the reason is birds. I have many many birds in my garden and more than enough worms to share. But I wont share my corn! I saw some people use chicken wire. But I already had this cloth and it’s easier to set up. When I worked in an organic market garden we called the cloth remay, but that isn’t what it was called when I ordered it. The cloth lets the light and water through and also warms the soil.
Here is some that my children planted in their garden. I had to space the staples every foot to hold up in heavy winds.
Here are some of the Cole crops I planted last week. I picked off most of the outside leaves and placed a cut worm collar around each plant. The cut worm collar is a piece of newspaper 2 inches by 3 inches wrapped around each plant. By the time the newspaper breaks down the stem is big enough that cut worms don’t bother it. My mom always used cut pieces on aluminum cans. I planted my cabbage and kale 3, 2, 3 in a wide row and everything else 2, 1, 2.
The strawberries are starting to look really nice.
See more gardening posts at An Oregon Cottage’s Tuesday Garden Party
Taming a Wild Apple Tree
I finally got up the nerve to attempt to tame the apple tree. It had never been pruned before. When we first moved in the apple tree was not producing at all. I didn’t know what to do, so I just thinned the branches. The following year we had apples.
As I studied the branches this spring I got a little nervous, what I was about to do was drastic. So I had my gardening expert friend to take a look. She agreed with me.
Yikes! I hope it works.
Oh Dickie!
