theDeiters

Summer lovin

 

We have a few of these pictures with the cousins eating popsicles.  It never gets old!

What was I thinking??

 

Dill.  Lots and lots of dill.  I originally planted this dill to make pickles from all my cucumbers coming out of the garden about now ... only I never got around to planting any!  Now all of this dill is drying in a closet in the basement.  It looks like a Christmas tree is hanging in there! 

 

We harvested 1/3 of our white potatoes this past weekend.  I estimated that it's about 30 pounds.  We still have 2 more varieties of white pototoes that are almost done and then a bunch of sweet potatoes that should be done in another 6 weeks or so.  We will plant another round of potatoes to be harvested in the fall.

Normal?

 

Sometimes I wonder if my kids are normal.  They can spot something new in the house within 5 seconds of waking in the morning.  They have new toy radar or something!  It doesn't have to be a *toy*, but in their eyes anything new can become a toy with a little creativity and tape.  Unless I have said, "Don't touch/jump on/throw/roll around in/eat  ________." then it will most likely be used in a way that was not intended.

These packing materials came in a box with some birthday gifts for myself.  First they wanted to jump and pop all of the little air pockets, but created this "bonkin" game instead.  They said that they could "bonk" each other and not get hurt.  This coupled with the hulk boxing gloves made a fun game for the boys.  Maddie likes to pretend that she can hang with the boys and their wrestling, but she usually taps out after one hard "bonk".

Turkey Run is Done

The turkeys have been cooped (ha) up in a 10x10 shed for about a month while we've been working on their separate run.  Chickens can carry a bacteria that is fatal to turkeys so we decided to play it safe and separate them.  Unlike chickens, turkeys can fly so they need a top to their run to keep them where we want them.  We strung nylon string back and forth over the top of their run and then placed a lightweight bird netting on top of that.  I hope they like their new home!

 

 

This is the view walking in the door of their shelter.

 

First ripening tomato!  Now I have to decide what to do with about 200 tomatoes that are ripening fast!

Carrot Harvest

We pulled this carrot a couple of weeks back and knew that they were pretty much ready to harvest.  We had planted 4 different varieties and I wanted to have a taste test before they were all mixed up. 

 

Varieties are (from left to right): Tendersweet, Rainbow Mix, Danvers 1/2 long, Scarlet Nantes

Tendersweet - mild and sweet
Rainbow Mix - the purple was excellent!
Danvers 1/2 long - strong carrot taste, less sweet
Scarlet Nantes - mild carrot taste and sweet

They were all tasty but my favorite orange carrot was the Scarlet Nantes.  The purple carrots were the sweetest but I'm not sure if that variety can be bought outside of the "Rainbow Mix".  I ordered these seeds from Gurneys. 

 

 

You can't see it, but there is a 5 gallon bucket underneath this pile full of carrots as well!

 

After all the tops were pulled off, we harvested one bucket full of carrots.  I selected the largest and the knarliest ones for the chair.

Cleaning and scrubbing took a while, but isn't it pretty?

 

The boys loved this one.  This one "walked" around our house for a day or two.

Garden Update #4

Well, the handful of blueberries that have ripened on our tiny bushes have been excellent.  We look forward to our future harvests.

 

Teeny tiny green bell pepper.

 

First jalapeno.

 

Corn patch.  Sweet corn was planted about 3 weeks after these on the right.  We should have 6 rows of corn.

 

Tomatoes.  I need to get out there and do some weeding!

 

The apple tree that looks pretty dead.  Pre-inland hurricane it was flourishing and had fruit this year.  Post-storm it was almost lying on the ground from the winds.  I don't know if will make it.  We also have two peach trees that aren't doing so well.

 

We should have blackberries soon.  These also took a hit from the storm but it was mainly the 1st year canes that were uprooted. 

 

Cabbage and broccoli.  These seem to take forever to grow!

 

One of the good 'ol hens.

 

Our roosters are getting pretty big and are starting to fight.  The only hen in the picture is the white one.

 

Turkeys in their temporary home.  We are fixing up their outside run and we should be completed in about 2 weeks.  The most difficult thing about turkeys is that they need a covered run (because they can fly).  Depending on which you have more of, time or money, a turkey run can be expensive or time consuming to cover.  We chose cheap and time consuming with us fabricating our own *net* for the top of the run.

Peas, please!

Our 4 short little rows of regular peas (not the snap peas) are heavy with fruit! 

 

We picked the ones that were the fattest and had this much to shell. (Update: we had about 2 more harvests like this one before the peas plants were done.)

 

Out of all those pea pods, we only shelled enough for about one meal.  Let me tell you that they did not make it until dinner.  Fresh peas are my favorite vegetable of all time and I think I have 3 others that might say the same.  I have no problem getting them to eat their veggies when they are straight from the garden.  I actually have to limit them on how much they can eat!

 

If you've never had fresh peas I encourage you to grow some or get some from a farmer's market.  They are delicious!!!

Garden Update #3

 

 

Snap peas are being harvested and eaten on the spot.  Even Maddie loves to eat them!

 

Our apple trees had a few little apples on them.  We are picking all fruit on our trees this year to promote tree growth instead of making fruit.

  

The potatoes are growing like crazy! 

 

All but 1 or 2 of the tomato plants made it through the storm.  I can't say the same for the pepper plants. 

 

Corn!

We have a few blueberries on our young bushes. 

 

We should have a bunch of blackberries this year.  If... we don't have anymore hurricanes!

Happy Mother (Nature) Day!

I guess what we experienced last Friday night was an "inland hurricane".  We thankfully survived 110 mph sustained winds without personal injury or any remarkable property damage.  Praise God!  I can't say the same for some of our trees.  Most of our surrounding area has been out of power since Friday around noon.  When the watertower was drained we were out of water too.  We had water late Saturday night and power came back on today (Sunday) around noon.  There are many people still out of power and most won't be back to normal until Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

The kids have loved this "adventure".

  

 

 

The storm ripped off the pool cover and whatever was on top fell into the pool.  After the sun went down we started to hear frogs in the pool.  They were as loud as an airhorn!

 

Here is one of dozens of frogs in the pool.  How did they get in there so fast?

What's up doc?

Before work Henry saw a furry little bunny hopping across the yard.  He ran in for the .22 and when he came back inside he proudly announced that we would be having rabbit for dinner.  We decided to use a combination of boiling and frying for the final product.  Served with home-grown salad, fresh baked rolls and a side of fruit. 

 

I can't say that I want to eat wild rabbit again anytime soon, but it did make the day more interesting!