Day 171 of 365

Overcast all day with a drizzle of rain after lunch.

• Low: 74
• High 81

Rainfall: not enough to measure

Haiku

Digging potatoes.

Sky grey, air thick, drops of sweat

Was that a raindrop?

Harvested:

• cabbage
• potatoes

Finally dug the last potato bed. Still muddy but it had to be done. Scant harvest and some of them were soft and rotting, I'm guessing from sitting in too damp of soil for so long.

Weeded the bottom-most garden bed as well. It's way to wet to till and the ground is too soft to even "weed" with the lawn mower, but everything pulled out easily by hand.

Made cole slaw and sauerkraut with the cabbages. Made carob ice cream for dessert.

Day 160 of 365

Overcast and light fog in the morning, clouds off and on for the rest of the day.

• Low: 70° F
• High: 91° F

Haiku

Garden smells of dill.

They're volunteers for pickles.

Hurry cucumbers!

Harvested:

• potatoes, 15 lbs 13 oz from 2 of 3 beds (planted total of 10 lbs)
• sand cherries, a few
• dill

Seeds collected:

• kale
• collards

Watered the strawberries, table tomatoes, and green pepper plant with rainwater. Goodly pressure for my little one piece sprinkler. The diameter of the circle of water was about 6 feet, perfect for my beds.

Day 151 of 365

Tuesday

• Low: 70° F
• High: 83° F

Rainfall: 0.4"

Wednesday

• Low: 69° F
• High: 85° F

Harvested:

• some potatoes
• some peaches

Potatoes have blight. I dug the ones that the plants had died back. Not many but they look pretty good.

Peaches are few this year. The trees just didn't seem to produce the fruit.

This year's first chicks started hatching! I sneaked the mail order chicks in under mama just a bit ago. Hopefully all will be well in the morning. 

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

Day 94 of 365

Shades of summer (without the shade).
Thunderstorm in the late afternoon.

• Low: 63° F
• High: 84° F

Rainfall: 1.0"

Finished planting the potatoes. That's 10# of Red Norland seed potatoes in three beds. Also found a few potato plants around the garden to transplant. I find I do fairly well transplanting things if I get a good ball of dirt and the roots are never exposed. Rain later helped.

Also planted flax seed.

Made mozzarella, and figured out why the last batch wasn't as stretchy as usual; I misread "tbsp" as "tsp" and didn't add enough citric acid! This batch was much better. Yield: 1 lb. 2.6 oz from 1.5 gallons raw goat milk.

Day 93 of 365

Humid and cloudy
this morning it looked like rain
Then the sun came out.

• Low: 60 F
• High: 79 F

Planted: Red Norland potatoes, 2 beds, with seed potatoes leftover for more. The ground is really too wet but we have rain forecast for every day this week with a 70% chance on Friday.

One bed is with the cabbage I transplanted. The cabbage was looking a little purplish, but responded beautifully to the rock phosphate I added the other day. I mulched the beds with compost as well.

Gave the strawberries a good dose of compost.

Weeded some.

Mulched the mangels I'm letting go to seed.

Harvested:

• parsnips

June 24 - 30, 2012

Temperature Range

• lows: 60 - 76° F
• highs: 87 - 103° F

Rainfall: 0.3"

Planted

• Barley, Burbank Hulless (Sustainable Seeds)
• pumpkins, Orange Bulldog (UGA)
• potatoes, Red Pontiac (stored)

Harvested:

• cucumbers
• multiplier onions
• yellow onions
• blueberries
• rose hips
• grapes

Preserved:

• blueberry pie filling, 7 qts
• blueberries, frozen, 4 qts
• cucumber garlic relish, 6 pts
• sweet potato puree, 2 pts from stored

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 5
• Mon. 4
• Tues. 7 + 6 (see note for Tuesday below)
• Wed. 6
• Thurs. 6
• Fri. 6
• Sat. 8
• Week's total: 48

Observed & Accomplished
Sunday

• day of rest
• harvested 1st cukes

Monday

• watered the garden
• harvested the rest of the onions
• canned blueberry pie filling
• afternoon thundershower

Tuesday

• cooler temps & lovely cool breeze this morning
• 2 cuke plants have mosaic virus. Pulled & discarded these
• planted experimental patch of hulless barley; added dolomite & bone meal
• planted pumpkins in amaranth bed
• half soaked in whey
• half not soaked
• the broody hen was off the nest after lunch. Actually she was standing over 3 eggs in another nest. In hers, were the 3 I'd given her and 6 more white ones. My suspicions about Mrs. Mean are correct. All 6 eggs passed the float test, but I'll give the 2 oldest ones to the dogs.
• sprinkled dolomite in comfrey bed

Wednesday

• bagged frozen blueberries (2 qts)
• froze more (about half gallon)
• 1 baby chick hatched!

Thursday

• weeded herb beds (worked on)
• dolomited herb beds
• mowed weeds in corn & cowpeas
• watered elderberries & red raspberries
• watered comfrey
• soaked old storage potatoes in whey & water

Friday

• planted potatoes
• added dolomite & bone meal to bed
• only one baby chick
• very hot today (103° F)
• stored sweet potatoes sprouting
• made a sweet potato pie
• froze 2 pints of sweet potato puree

Saturday

• canned relish from what we grew: cucumbers, onions, & garlic
• have started to hear a wood thrush singing
• made 1st blueberry pie of the season
• noted Meyers lemon is blooming!

June 17 - 25, 2012

Temperature Range:

• lows: 60 - 70° F
• highs: 83 - 94° F

Rainfall: 0.05"

Planted:

• amaranth
• black oil sunflowers
• sweet potato slips

Harvested:

• potatoes
• peaches
• blueberries
• yellow onions
• multiplier onions

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 7
• Mon 6
• Tues 6
• Wed 6
• Thurs 9
• Fri 6
• Sat 6
• Week's Total: 46

Observed & Accomplished:

Sunday

• day of rest

Monday

• picked blueberries
• harvested onions
• harvested more potatoes

Tuesday

• finished harvesting potatoes
• weeded
• 1st cukes will be ready to harvest soon
• I think Mrs. Mean might be laying her eggs in the Broody's nest!

Wednesday

• latest garden post on my homestead blog
• weeded
• planted amaranth in old potato beds
• planted BOSS with cucumbers
• applied 4 cups dolomitic limestone and 3 cups bone meal to each bed
• picked about a gallon of blueberries
• 1st day this summer we broke 90°
• light rain, welcome after planting those seeds

Thursday

• weeded front herb bed; near impossible because of all the wire grass growing there

Friday

• froze blueberries

Saturday

• finished planting sweet potatoes
• applied dolomitic limestone to both sweet potato beds
• weeded tomato aisles
• noted some beds are muddy, some beds are dry as a bone
• picked blueberries (almost 2 gallons)
• other hens keep laying in the broody's nest. She has 5 or 6 eggs now; only supposed to have 3
• late afternoon thunder & a sprinkle

May 27 - June 2, 2012

Temperature Range:

• lows: 55 - 69° F
• highs: 74 - 84° F

Rainfall: 0.65"

Planted: nothing

Harvested:

• peaches
• sand cherries
• potatoes, Red Norlands

Preserved:

• 14 qts carrots (store bought organic)

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 6
• Mon. 10
• Tues. 4
• Wed. ?
• Thurs. 8
• Fri. 5
• Sat. 7
• Week's Total: 40+

Got really behind on my observations and record keeping this week. 

April 1 - 7, 2012

Temperature Range:

• lows: 45 - 62° F
• highs: 64 - 87° F

Rainfall: 1.45"

Planted: nothing this week

Harvested:

• asparagus
• broccoli
• kale
• lettuce
• carrots

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 8
• Mon. 7
• Tues. 9
• Wed. 7
• Thurs. 11
• Fri. 8
• Sat. 4
• Week's Total: 54

Observed & Accomplished:
Sunday

• Day of rest
• all the trees are leafing out

Monday

• postcard from Kinsey Ag, they got my soil sample

Tuesday

• weeded
• hilled potatoes
• lots of volunteer potatoes coming up too

Wednesday

• light rain

Thursday

• got an egg from everybody, except someone laid theirs in the middle of the goat barn & it got broken
• made yogurt from frozen milk
• cleaned out chicken coop
• raked out manure piles in back field
• spread coop cleanings in the back field too, in the bare spots
• rain

Friday

• Dan cut the grass & weeds at the bottom of the garden with the scythe
• cut between the patches of wheat too
• something has been in the wheat, knocking it over

Saturday

• cut kudzu & fescue to dry for goats
• worked on worm bed bedding

Mar. 25 - 31, 2012

Temperature Range

• lows: 52 - 62° F
• highs: 66 - 83° F

Rainfall: 0.25"

Planted:

• potatoes, Red Norland (TSC), 5 #
• elder bushes, 2 (Shumway), 1 York, 1 
• strawberries, 25 Junes, 25 evers (Shumway)

Transplanted:

• strawberry plants

Harvested:

• broccoli
• kale
• lettuce
• asparagus

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 7
• Mon. 9
• Tues. 8
• Wed. 8
• Thurs. 8
• Fri. 9
• Sat. 9
• Week's Total: 58

Accomplished & Observed:

Sunday

• day of rest
• sprinkle of rain

Monday

• planted the rest of the potatoes
• planted the 2 elders
• discovered that the 2 I planted last year weren't dead
• apples, cherry, & pears blooming

Tuesday

• sent soil sample of back field to Kinsey Agricultural Services for a detailed soil test
• Dan built the frame for our worm bed

Wednesday

• planted 50 strawberry plants in lettuce & multiplier onion patch
• weeded herb beds

Thursday

• pulled all but 2 cabbage collard plants for seed
• fed pulled plants to goats
• transplanted strawberry plants being choked out by wiregrass 
• shredded cardboard & paper for worm bedding

Friday

• made yogurt from frozen milk
• newly planted comfrey blooming
• potatoes coming up

Saturday

• a little bit of rain

Mar. 18 - 24, 2012

Temperature Range

• lows: 56 - 63° F
• highs: 73 - 82° F

rainfall: 0.85"

Planted:

• potatoes, Red Norland, 5#

Harvested:

• kale
• lettuce
• broccoli
• collards
• cabbage collards
• mangels

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 10
• Mon. 10
• Tues. 7
• Wed. 5
• Thurs. 9
• Fri. 6
• Sat. 8
• Week's Total: 55

Observed& Accomplished:
Sunday

• day of rest
• more rain!
• peas up
• wheat heading
• crabapple & sand cherries starting to bloom

Monday

• weeded some in garden but soil very wet
• tulips blooming

Tuesday

• pulled more weeds
• spirea blooming
• found 4 surviving comfrey plants from 2010

Wednesday

• worked on weeding strawberry/asparagus patch
• decided where to transfer the strawberries
• strawberries beginning to bloom
• Came home from TSC to find a hawk circling over the chicken yard just above the pecan trees. Cowboy had all the hens huddled safely together under the cedar tree.
• bought 10# Norland potatoes from TSC
• also bought 2 more sand cherry seedlings

Thursday

• planted the sand cherries
• planted half the seed potatoes
• 1st bed full of ants!
• noted quite a few volunteer potatoes growing too

Friday

• more rain
• strawberries & elders arrived

Saturday

• noted lots of vetch growing around the place

Nov. 6 - 12, 2011

Temperature Range:

• lows: 31 - 54 F
• highs: 54 - 68 F

Rainfall: 0.05"

Harvested:

• rugosa rose hips
• sweet peppers
• green tomatoes
• broccoli thinnings
• calendula flowers
• volunteer potatoes

Gathered:

• pecans
• persimmons

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 1
• Mon. 1
• Tues. 1
• Wed. 1
• Thurs. 0
• Fri. 2
• Sat. 1
• Week's Total: 7

Accomplished & Observed
Sunday

• day of rest
• picked up several pocketfuls of pecans
• found a few more persimmons
• gathered rugosa rose hips
• noted fresh deer tracks in the garden

Monday

• sorted and packed sweet potatoes

Tuesday

• finished scattering compost over wheat
• 2nd patch of wheat sprouting
• processed persimmons with food mill & froze pulp

Wednesday

• still picking up pecans
• cleaned out goat stalls & started new compost pile
• thinned broccoli & steamed for dinner

Thursday

• a sprinkling of rain
• gathered more pecans & persimmons
• started shelling popcorn

Friday

• killing frost this a.m.
• harvested all the tomatoes, peppers, & potatoes
• found 9, gallon glass jars at the thrift store for $1 each

Saturday

• made mozzarella out of 1 gallon. Didn't turn out so put it in the press

Aug. Wk 1: 31 - 6

Temperature Range:

• lows: 68 - 76
• highs: 89 - 100

Rainfall: sprinkle

Harvested:

• green beans
• okra
• watermelon
• cowpeas
• green nutmeg melon
• tomatoes
• Hutterite soup beans
• summer squash
• elderberries
• fingerling potatoes
• black oil sunflower seed heads
• figs

Preserved:

• dehydrated watermelon, 1 pint
• dehydrated figs, 3 pints
• froze 1 ice cube tray of whey
• chicken/okra gumbo soup, 11 quarts canned
• chicken/tomato soup base, 2 quarts canned
• tomato/veggie juice, 10 quarts canned
• okra, 2 quarts frozen
• mozzarella, 6 pizza's worth frozen
• scallop squash, froze 1 quart

Seeds Saved:

• dill
• green nutmeg melon

Egg Counts:

• Sun: 4
• Mon. 2
• Tues. 5
• Wed. 3
• Thurs. 2
• Fri. 4
• Sat. 3
• Week's total: 23

Eating Our Own:

• fresh eggs
• fresh tomatoes
• fresh figs
• fresh cabbage
• fresh carrots
• fresh okra
• fresh green beans
• fresh scallop squash
• fresh watermelon
• fresh nutmeg melon
• goats milk including:
• mozzarella
• yogurt
• sour milk (cake)
• frozen bell pepper
• lacto-fermented dill pickles
• lacto-fermented Swiss chard
• canned pickle relish
• canned blueberry jam

Accomplished:

• Sunday
• day of rest
• chicks hatched
• placed mail order chicks under Mama Hen
• Monday:
• picked
• watered main garden
• started more tomato juice
• made mozzarella from 2 gallons milk
• Tuesday:
• made & canned chicken okra gumbo
• canned surplus broth as soup base
• had to go buy more quart canning jars
• made yogurt
• froze more whey
• veggies through food mill for tomato juice
• watered raspberries, blueberries, elderberries
• Wednesday:
• dug potatoes (2nd bed of fingerlings)
• picked okra, toms, squash
• picked figs
• watered new pumpkins
• harvested BOSS heads
• canned tomato/veggie juice
• froze okra & ate some fresh
• chopped & froze 4.5 qts figs for jam making later
• Thursday:
• grated & froze Monday's mozzarella
• made more mozzarella from 1.5 gallons milk
• Friday:
• picked green beans, okra, soup beans, toms
• harvested dried dill heads for seed
• set melon seeds to soak for saving
• watered popcorn
• watered comfrey
• Saturday:
• helped finish goat fencing
• grated & froze scallop squash

July 3: 17 - 23

Temperature Range:

• lows: 65 - 75
• highs: 84 - 96

Rainfall: sprinkle

Planted:

• buckwheat

Harvested:

• oregano
• thyme
• rosemary
• okra
• strawberries
• beets, volunteers
• potatoes, volunteers, red pontiac
• potatoes, fingerling salad
• carrots, volunteers, Scarlet Nantes
• turnips, volunteers, purple top
• tomatoes, Romas
• cucumbers, Marketmore 76
• melon, green nutmeg
• blueberries
• cabbage
• cowpeas
• green beans (1st few)

Preserved:

• tomatoes & okra, 10 qts canned (fresh tomatoes, frozen okra)
• pizza sauce, 5 pints canned
• okra, 1 qt frozen
• mozzarella, frozen 5 pizzas worth
• whey, 1 ice cube trayful
• summer squash, shredded, frozen, 2 quarts

Seeds Saved:

• carrots, Scarlet Nantes
• lettuce, Romaine, & mixed

Eating Our Own:

• fresh eggs
• fresh blueberries
• fresh cabbage
• fresh carrots (volunteers)
• fresh tomatoes
• fresh cucumbers
• fresh okra
• fresh melon
• fresh strawberries
• fresh turnips (volunteers)
• fresh beets (volunteers)
• fresh goat milk
• yogurt
• mozzarella
• whey
• ricotta
• canned blueberry jam
• canned figs
• canned pizza sauce
• canned cucumber relish
• canned pickles
• frozen blueberries
• frozen cantaloupe
• frozen bell peppers
• dried cantaloupe (last of)
• dried watermelon
• lacto-fermented Swiss chard
• lacto-fermented cucumbers

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 3
• Mon. 2
• Tues. 5
• Wed. 4 
• Thurs. 2
• Fri. 2
• Sat. 3
• Week's Total: 21

Accomplished:

• tilled fall garden
• mulched
• weeded

June Wk 2: 12 - 18

Temperature Range:

• lows: 59 - 67 F
• highs: 82 - 91 F

Rainfall: 0.95"

Planted:

• dwarf basil blend (Shumway)
• popcorn, calico (Territorial Seed)

Harvested:

• turnips (volunteers)
• potatoes, Red Pontiac (volunteers)
• lettuce, Romaine (volunteers)
• onions (leftover from last year?)
• peaches
• strawberries
• calendula flowers
• cucumbers

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 4
• Mon 4
• Tues. 2
• Wed. 4
• Thurs. 5
• Fri. 4
• Sat. 7
• Week's Total: 30

Eating Our Own:

• fresh turnips
• fresh peaches
• fresh strawberries
• fresh eggs
• goats milk including:
• yogurt
• whey
• cottage cheese
• hard cheese
• yogurt cheese
• stored potatoes
• canned blueberry jam
• canned green tomato salsa
• canned dill pickles
• canned apple butter
• canned pizza sauce
• frozen green peppers
• frozen okra
• dehydrated watermelon
• lacto-fermented Swiss chard

Accomplished:

• seeds from turnips, broccoli, and radishes sorted and labeled
• tilled most of fall garden & wheat patch
• mulched spearmint & horehound
• continued mulching main garden
• made two new permanent beds

May/June Transition Week

Temperature Range:

• lows: 63 - 76 F
• highs: 88 - 97 F

Rainfall: sprinkle

Harvested:

• oregano
• catnip
• thyme
• wheat

Preserved:

• 1.5 gal goats milk as 1.8 oz hard cheese

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 3
• Mon. 4
• Tues. 3 + stash of 7
• Wed. 3
• Thurs. 3
• Fri. 6
• Sat. 4
• Week's Total: 33

Eating Our Own:

• goats milk including
• yogurt
• cottage cheese
• cheese
• whey (in baking)
• fresh eggs
• frozen blueberries (smoothie)
• frozen cantaloupe (smoothie)
• frozen okra
• frozen broccoli
• frozen basil pesto
• frozen sweet pepper
• stored potatoes (last of)
• canned dill pickles
• canned green beans
• canned sweet pickles
• canned pickled beets
• canned sweet potatoes
• canned pizza sauce

Accomplished:

• cultivated field corn
• compost to cukes & melons
• mulched cuke & melon beds
• raked more leaves for mulch
• compost & mulch on Romas
• watered herb beds
• weeded herb beds
• watered comfrey & strawberries
• watered fruit trees & shurbs: apples, pears, cherry, elderberries, blueberries, raspberries
• moved Meyers lemon tree outdoors

May Wk 4: 22 - 28

Temperature Range:

• lows: 60 - 68
• highs: 73 - 93

Rainfall: 0.8"

Planted:

• pole beans, Kentucky Wonder (in the field corn)
• pumpkins, Small Sugar (in the field corn)
• sweet peppers (2nd try), Chinese Giant
• yellow cosmos

Transplanted:

• dill volunteers, to sweet potato beds

Harvested:

• peas
• 1 lone potato
• garlic
• yarrow
• sage
• oregano
• thyme
• Swiss chard

Seeds Collected:

• radish (variety unknown)
• shell peas, Wando
• calendula

Preserved:

• 6 pints strawberry jam

Eating Our Own:

• canned green beans
• canned green tomato salsa
• canned sweet potatoes
• canned pizza sauce
• canned Swiss chard
• goats milk including:
• cheese
• yogurt
• yogurt cheese
• whey (in muffins)
• fresh eggs
  
• fresh peas
• fresh strawberry jam
• fresh Swiss chard
• stored potatoes
• stored carrots
• stored pecans
• frozen blueberries
• frozen cantaloupe
• frozen strawberries
• frozen bell peppers
• frozen eggs
• dried herbs

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 4
• Mon. 5
• Tues. 5
• Wed. 5
• Thurs. 0
• Fri. 6
• Sat. 5
• Week's Total: 30

Accomplished:

• watered herb garden & corn field
• watered fall garden & Brandywines
• cardboard mulched side of garden by corn field fence
• tried bunches of sage as fly repellant
• tried bunches of thyme too, but the goats ate them
• scythed part of hay field
• transplanted volunteer dill plants to sweet potato beds

Observations:

• daylilies, daisies, & hydrangia blooming

May Wk 2: 8 - 14

Temperature range:

• lows: 46 - 67
• highs: 77 - 88

Rainfall: several days worth of sprinkles

Planted:

• potatoes, Red Pontiac (saved)
• sweet potato slips, Porto Rico (saved)

Harvested:

• English peas
• strawberries
• yarrow
• comfrey leaves
• poke root
• broccoli

Egg counts:

• Sun. 5
• Mon. 5
• Tues. 4
• Wed. 4
• Thurs 5
• Fri. 4
• Sat. 5
• Week's Total: 32

Eating our own:

• canned pizza sauce
• canned strawberry jam
• canned sweet pickles
• canned dill pickles
• canned turkey/sausage gumbo
• fresh carrots
• fresh strawberries
• fresh carrots
• fresh broccoli
• fresh peas
• fresh eggs
• fresh goat milk plus
• yogurt
• yogurt cheese
• whipped cream
• cheese (1st attempt)
• frozen okra
  
• frozen chicken

Seeds saved:

• turnips, purple top
• lettuce from mesclun blend

Observations:

• magnolias blooming

April Wk. 2: 10 - 16

Temperature Range

• lows: 44 - 61 F
• highs: 63 - 83 F

Rainfall: 1.65"

Planted:

• fingerling salad potatoes
• cabbage plants
• marigolds, mixed Brocade
• cow peas, Ozark Razorback
• tomato plants, Roma
• tomato plants, Brandywine
• petunia plants
• chicory seedlings

Transplanted:

• calendula

Harvested:

• lettuce
• broccoli
• beets

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 5
• Mon. 5
• Tues. 3
• Wed. 6
• Thurs. 6
• Fri. 4
• Sat. 5 (+1)
• Week's total: 35

Eating our own:

• fresh eggs
• fresh lettuce
• fresh broccoli
• fresh beets
• frozen okra
• frozen green pepper
• canned blueberry jam
• canned apple butter
• canned applesauce
• canned dill pickles
• canned figs
• canned green tomato salsa
• canned pizza sauce
• dried cantaloupe
• dried apples
• sauerkraut

Fed to chickens & goats:

• amaranth
• broccoli plants
• sunflower seed heads
• cabbage plants
• rose bush prunings
• weeds

Accomplished:

• tilled annual rye in
• weeded strawberries
• working on permanent beds
• pulled old cabbage, broccoli, & Swiss chard plants
• cleaned out goat shed & started new compost pile

Observed:

• Mourning doves calling in the evenings
• heard an owl back in the woods
• poison ivy taking over again (sigh)