Our morning walks have been slowly getting darker and darker. I love summer, so I’m sad to see the days shortening. But I do enjoy seeing the sun rise over the fields rather than heading out when it’s already up. The change of season is coming.
How are you starting your days as the summer winds down? Is anyone else a bit sad that summer’s coming to an end?
Since moving to the farm, I’ve discovered a few new favourite tools. One of these is the chainsaw. However, in our house the chainsaw is Matt’s and he’s the one who wields it. Due first to Matt’s broken arm and then to a hole in the oil tank on the saw, we’ve been chainsaw-less so far this year.
Matt’s arm is healed and almost back to full strength. He and his Dad fibreglassed the oil tank back together. And over the weekend he finally fired up the saw.
Low hanging branches, small trees that sprouted up in unwanted spots, dead wood have all been trimmed. Best of all, Matt went through the meadow and down to the pond.
My view to the pond is continuing to clear. It seems like as soon as I abandoned hope of clearing the pond shore this year, that’s when we finally started this project.
A few hours of work netted us the biggest burn/brush pile I think we’ve ever had. A tractor-size one. We also left a bunch of brush down at the pond to burn there.
Collecting the brush was Mr. B’s favourite part. Or the trailer ride to get the brush was.
How was your weekend?
Today we’re keeping it real. I haven’t shared much about the vegetable garden this year. Mostly because I felt like it’s not good looking or full of food yet. But weedy, slow-growing, buggy… whatever is happening in the garden is what you’re going to see today.
Like the hose that fell off the fence that I haven’t bothered to fix yet.
Honestly, I love our garden. I’m very proud of it, and I think overall it’s doing well this year.
We got a late start, so all of our produce is behind. This might have been to our advantage, though, because our spring was super rainy. By the time we put things in the soil, the rain had mostly passed, so our sprouts and seeds survived.
We’ll start in quadrant #1. This is the area where I planted our winter rye cover crop last fall. We never turned the rye in the spring because I didn’t know what I wanted to plant here. So I just mowed the rye.
We had a surprise when a whole row of Russian Blue potatoes popped up through the rye. Last year, this quadrant was home to all of our potatoes. I have no idea how we left so many potatoes in the ground last fall–and apparently in a perfect row. But we’re taking the volunteers and I’ve been carefully mowing around them.
Quadrant #1 is also home to our zucchini. I didn’t know where to put them, so I stuck them in the middle of the rye. The plants are a little crowded and spindly as a result, but I’ve harvested two zucs and there are more to come–which will be good as my sisters and people at work have all been asking for them.
As we rotate around the ring, we come to the blackberry and raspberry rows. I planted five new blackberry bushes in the spring, and they are all alive, which feels like a great victory.
In an attempt to combat weeds, we laid some wood chips between the blackberry and raspberry rows. They’re not working quite as well as I had hoped–weeds are the story of the garden this year.
The red raspberries were plentiful–in fact, they completely got away from me. I couldn’t keep up with the picking, and so I let the raspberries go. We enjoyed lots of them though before I gave up. I’m looking forward to pruning the canes this fall. I think it will tidy up the row and hopefully improve the health of our plants.
The one issue is that the raspberries have fallen victim to Japanese beetles. So even if I didn’t like picking berries, I need to get back in the canes and pick beetles.
Quadrant #2 on the other side of the centre axis of the berries hosts this year’s potato crop. A whole quarter of the garden devoted completely to potatoes. You can see the weeds at the back edge of the quadrant, but the potatoes have managed to thrive despite the invaders. And we’re actually really close to harvesting. I think the red potatoes are ready. The rest are not far behind.
At the far edge of the garden, our grape vines are climbing. After the vines were decimated by strange little worms in the spring, everyone has bounced back. The vines are tall and leafy. I did cut off any grapes that sprouted in the spring so that the plants could focus on growing big and strong. Things are looking good and my fingers are crossed that a year from now we will have fruit.
Spinning around into quadrant #3 we come to our late bloomers. This was the very last quadrant we planted. We have a row of decorative kale (it’s supposed to be in different colours, not for eating), my favourite yellow bush beans, my other favourite beets, some parsley and a mix of lettuce–oh, and more weeds.
I really like the arrangement of the ring of raised beds around the outer edge of the garden. These are home to our perennials like asparagus, grapes, rhubarb, blueberries and hollyhocks. They also have all of our herbs. My favourite is rosemary. I’ve laid a few springs down, trying to encourage new bushes to root.
Opposite the raspberries the other arm of the centre axis is our squash A-frame. Half is butternut (my favourite) and half is acorn (Matt’s favourite). Because we planted so late, they haven’t climbed very high, but they’re working on it. I love how the A-frame helps to keep the squash contained. Otherwise, they would absolutely take over the whole garden.
Our final quadrant, #4, is probably my favourite. Remember back when I said I wanted to try a straw mulch to deal with weeds? I have decent layer on straw on this quarter, and it’s been very helpful at suppressing weeds. This quadrant is growing onions, red and jalapeno peppers and three rows of tomatoes–one more than last year.
Our cherry tomatoes–which are all volunteers–are the first to ripen. None of them have made it into the house yet. I love having a pre-dinner snack right in the garden.
So that’s the garden so far this year. Not the prettiest and not the most productive–at least not yet–but ours, and I’m satisfied with where we’re at.
How is your garden growing? What are your tips for dealing with weeds? Do you have any favourites that you’ve planted this year?
We’re deep into summer, which means the gardens are at their peak (well, they should be… ours is a bit behind as you’ll see later this week). However, Sarah’s garden is going gangbusters in Illinois.
My garden is in full swing. I think the pictures can mostly speak for themselves.
Cherry Tomatoes! Wow!
Side note on my tomatillo: this is my first time ever growing a tomatillo. The plant looks very green and healthy however, I have not seen anything that resembles any fruit. I only see blooms. I was at first worried that maybe it didn’t get pollinated, but the other day I saw a little bee working hard going from bloom to bloom. I really hope something comes of this little plant!
So what am I doing will all of this produce?
Quite a bit is eaten fresh in salads and snacks.
Sometimes I roast it for a delicious side (my favorite way to eat green beans).
And finally, I am learning to can. We brought my mother-in-law over to show us the ropes in canning and so far I have canned:
Ten pints of hot peppers.
Nine quarts of tomato juice. And there will be many more to come. The tomatoes are just now ripening.
And finally 24 quarts of green beans.
I am learning a lot about canning.
For example, when the directions suggest using rubber gloves when canning hot peppers, DO IT!
I am also learning vegetables ripen quickly and all at once. So just because you thought you didn’t have anything planned for the evening, one trip to the garden will change your plans to a late night over a steaming stove top.
And finally I have learned that the small area we had set aside for the few things that my mother-in-law had canned in previous years is way too small and will require new shelves and storage area and a minor remodeling of our laundry room. But of course, that is material for another post.
What do you do with a large harvest? Do you can? Freeze? Dehydrate? Any suggestions on how to use 10 pints of hot peppers?
What an awesome harvest already, Sarah. Well done. I think canning is a necessary part of gardening. We turned most of our tomatoes into ketchup last year, and Matt’s talking about salsa this year. We also pickled a lot of beans. I was skeptical, but I really liked them.
Freezing and dehydrating are also good. My secret with the cherry tomatoes came from Chiot’s Run: garlic, olive oil, roast overnight in a low temperature oven. They turn out almost like sundried tomatoes. Then I toss them in freezer bags and into the freezer. Really good with pasta or pizza.
Remember when I overthought my way into adding a composter behind the house? It’s been really handy having the composter so convenient to the kitchen (the picture below is from when I first put the composter in place two years ago).
However, it was apparently a little too convenient for someone else too. And we apparently were composting some overly delectable food stuffs (and I apparently haven’t weeded the patio yet this year). Side note: For about the third weekend in a row rain started as soon as I hung up the laundry. So annoying.
Someone tunneled into the composter, spreading food around and tilting the composter.
So compost clean-up was required–boy, you’re in for a glamourous post today.
I had been hoping to defer this area until the fall, when I can deal with all of the weeds behind the house, pick up rocks and seed new grass–basically what I’ve already done on the other side of the concrete steps. I’d do it all in one shot, level things out–and over-complicate a simple composter installation yet again.
But the composter was too tilted to use, and the smell of compost was making its way up to the kitchen window.
So I decided not to over-complicate things and to just fix the immediate problem.
I picked up the composter and set it aside. It’s light plastic and easily lifted off the ground. Then I scooped the compost that was strewn about into the wheelbarrow and went about releveling the area.
Along the way, I did end up extracting a bunch of rocks–what else is new–but I tried not to get too carried away. It still took Matt and Wiley three trips to take them to the rock pile behind the barn–and these are only from an area that’s about 3 feet by 4 feet. So ridiculous.
Then I was able to set the composter back in place and put the compost back inside. The compost looked really good, and I considered just spreading it right on the gardens, but there was enough food that was still whole that I just dumped everything back in the bin. Soon enough.
I piled a bit of dirt around the bottom of the composter and then spread some grass seed to hopefully help hold everything in place.
So it’s not glamourous, but it looks better–and the kitchen no longer smells like compost.
Still to come, the rest of the back of the house.
Do you have a composter at your house? Have you had any issues with animals getting into your compost pile? How long does it take for your compost to decompose?
Vegetables are slowly growing in the garden. Some of the hay fields have been cut for the second time. Lilies are blooming in the flowerbeds.
Summer goes on at the farm, and I’m enjoying it.
I’m going to take a week off from the blog to savour some more of my favourite season. I’ll be back next week.
Remember how clearing the pond shore was my one and only outdoor home goal for this year? And how at the mid-year report I said it wasn’t going to happen?
It’s happening, people.
Our keen 17-year-old nephew who loves being at the farm had a day off from his summer job, and he wanted to learn how to drive the tractor. If you’re driving the tractor, you might as well learn how to use the front end loader, the new rotary cutter and tow the trailer.
So I went through the basics of a hydrostatic transmission and what levers did what. We hooked on the rotary cutter and I pointed him at the pond.
Here’s how things were looking after last weekend’s mowing of the meadow. I swear there’s water on the other side of all of that grass and brush.
I was super impressed with our nephew. He was calm and confident and careful.
A morning of work cleared about half the shore on the east side. The remaining thickets are hiding all kinds of logs and stumps. So we have more work to do, and I need to set Matt loose with his chainsaw, but the progress is awesome.
This vantage point still doesn’t show you much of the water, but I swear it’s there.
This deep in the summer, the pond is a little mucky, but it’s still my favourite part on the property.
Our nephew totally made my summer.
Sarah in Illinois has been chicken farming for about a year. And in case you haven’t guessed from her previous posts, she’s enjoying it. Now she’s expanding her flock, and she’s here today to tell us all about it.
I have mentioned a couple times that I would like to add to my flock of chickens. After a couple weeks of phone and email tag, I finally picked up 4 new hens last weekend. I bought them from a family farm and CSA that is not too far from where I live.
I had very few requirements when looking for new hens. I wanted chickens that were no longer chicks but still young, commonly called pullets. I was not particular on breed, I would have chosen a couple Leghorns if available, for their white eggs, but other than that I really didn’t care.
This farm had only Red Sex Link which meant that they were Rhode Island Red crossed with another breed. The person that I picked them up from was not sure what they were bred with but since I have no interest in breeding chickens of my own and purely wanted them for the eggs, I really didn’t care what breeds they were.
The chickens I picked up are 9 months old, which means they are already laying. And after a day off from all of the trauma of relocating and meeting my older hens, they started laying right away.
Speaking of meeting my older hens, I had done a little research and randomly had a conversation with one of my customers at work on the best way to integrate the new tenants.
It is a good idea to keep them segregated but within view of each other for a while so that they get to know each other without causing many battles. I have also read that it is a good idea to put the new hens on the roost at night when the older hens are resting for the night. Then when everyone wakes up in the morning they are more accepting of each other.
Basically, we did none of that.
I did keep them apart for a short time, but then Steve got in the run to be referee and told me to put them all in together. It was quite comical to watch him reprimanding chickens but honestly it worked pretty well.
Since I brought them home early on a Saturday morning we were able to work in the yard and keep an eye on them all day both Saturday and Sunday. That way if there was a serious injury, we were right there to be able to intercept.
Another distraction was Blitz. He was quite entertained by the new chickens and ran back and forth along the run. I think it was helpful. The chickens were more worried about the 80 pound dog than picking on each other.
I was prepared for more serious injuries. Chickens do have a pecking order and when they assert their position they are likely to peck and injure each other. However, once a chicken is bleeding it is more likely to be picked on by the other hens. So I purchased a lotion that not only helps heal injuries, it dyes the blood a different color so they are less likely to be drawn to the injury. I am very thankful so far I have not even opened the bottle.
As I write this, the chickens have been together one week, and I can say I think everyone is getting along very well. I still occasionally see an older hen dash across the run and peck a newbie for no reason whatsoever, but overall, I think things are going very well.
I am consistently collecting 5-7 eggs every day. It is also exciting that the new chickens’ eggs are much darker than the older hens. They are actually quite pretty. Hmmmmm…maybe I need to start looking into Easter Eggers…
I’m so glad that your new chickens have integrated well with your older ones, Sarah. I’ve heard it can be very challenging. Glad to see that Blitz is still helping out around the farm. I love the colour of the beautiful dark eggs. I think you definitely need to explore more colours.
Today is Civic Holiday here, so Ralph, Baxter, Matt and I are doing our civic duty and taking it easy. In that vein, I’m keeping it simple today with an odds and sods post.
Happy August everyone.
A big ancient apple tree stands right in the middle of the meadow. Now that we’ve mowed some of the grass, I can actually get to the tree to see that it’s loaded with little green apples.
We have apple trees sprinkled around the farm, but we’ve never done anything with the fruit. Maybe now that this one tree is accessible this will be the year.
My friend made an amazing apple butter for us last year that Matt went bananas (does that even make sense?) for. Plus, apple sauces and butters and jellies don’t care how pretty (or, let’s be honest, not) our apples are. And these are pretty homegrown looking.
Although I don’t think I can take any credit. This tree has been doing very well all on its own.
Do you have any apple trees at your house? Any tree care tips to share? What about favourite recipes?
Home on 129 Acres 