Day 99 of 365

A sunny, pleasant, and dry day.

• Low: 42 F
• High: 74 F

Dan sank the t-posts for pea trellises, 3 rows worth. After that I composted the peas and mulched.

Composted the comfrey and applied dolomite. I've learned that comfrey likes a rich, sweet soil and I'm going to try harder with my plants this year. Almost all survived the winter, which is good news.

Planted:

• Amish paste tomatoes & marigolds (direct sow) in the pea rows.
• Borage in the strawberry beds. Saw an almost red strawberry!

Transplanted:

• a few random volunteer potatoes
• a volunteer horseradish plant in the potato bed

Harvested:

• lettuce
• also gathered cleavers & chickweed for my goat mineral mix

Dinner:

• lettuce salad
• poached eggs on sourdough bread toast
• butter
• kefir tea
• parsnip cake for dessert

Ap. 29 - May 5, 2012

Temperature Range:

• lows: 55 - 67° F
• highs: 83 - 87° F

Rainfall: sprinkle

Planted:

• tomatoes, Amish Paste (Sustainable)
• borage (Pinetree Gardens)
• marigolds, antique (saved seeds)
• BOSS (boughten bird seed)
• cucumbers, Marketmore 76 (saved seeds)
• Eggplant, Florida High Bush (Seed Savers)
• soup beans, Dwarf Horticultural Taylor (Sustainable)
• buckwheat

Harvested:

• strawberries (just a few)
• lettuce
• broccoli
• carrots

Egg Counts

• Sun. 8
• Mon. 7
• Tues. 7
• Wed. 10
• Thurs. 8
• Fri. 7
• Sat. 8
• Week's Total: 55

Observed & Accomplished:

Sunday

• day of rest
• days are getting hotter
• potted ginger is sprouting

Monday

• pulled all but one collard cabbage for seed
• did a lot of my spring planting

Tuesday

• raked up hay and cut more
• Dan tilled part of this summer's corn patch
• ordered barley & flax seed

Wednesday

• magnolia is blooming
• planted buckwheat near the almond tree where the old landscape cloth isn't pinned to the ground
• brought house plants outside
• scales on Meyers Lemon (scraped & washed off)
• compost worms seems sparse in that big bed, but they're there
• starting to get hot. I'm not ready for that

Thursday

• scythed & raked more hay
• Dan finished tilling the corn patch
• repotted banana tree

Saturday

• Dan finished scything pasture for hay

May Wk 3: 15 - 21

Temperature Range:

• lows: 47 - 61
• highs: 60 - 88

Rainfall: only sprinkles

Planted:

• sand cherry bushes (Burgess)
• butternut squash (saved seed)
• borage (Pinetree Gardens)
• field corn, Truckers Favorite (Shumway)
• black oil sunflowers (feed store)

Harvested:

• peas
• Swiss chard
• yarrow
• calendula
• comfrey leaves

Eating our own:

• fresh strawberries
• fresh peas (in salad)
• fresh Swiss chard (in salad)
• fresh goats milk, including:
• yogurt
• cheese
• whey
• fresh eggs
• canned strawberry jam
• canned sweet potatoes
• canned Swiss chard
• canned green tomato salsa
• canned dill pickles
• canned cucumber relish
• canned pizza sauce
• frozen bell pepper
• dried wild onions (in rolls)
• dried figs (in cake)
• stored pecans & hickory nuts (in salad)

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 5
• Mon 6
• Tues. 5
• Wed. 4
• Thurs. 5
• Fri. 5 + stash of 3
• Sat. 5
• Week's Total: 33

Accomplished:

• mulched early potato beds
• finished planting corn field
• watered main garden

Observations:

• fall garden is a weedy mess