The weather news, Facebook, and any other place the weather report shows up has been driving me crazy. It is Winter people! It is supposed to be cold and snowy. Spring doesn't even think about arriving until mid-March. In all reality we just started on the journey called Winter. All the hoopla about how cold it is and how much snow we are getting is a little over-blown. Now, power being out or people getting something like 3 feet plus in snow in a day or so I see as news worthy weather. But, come on. It is supposed to be cold this time of year in the Northern hemisphere. Personally that is part of what I like about it up here.
This time of year is one for being inside. Working on inside repair projects, needlework, reading, watching movies, planning the garden, and lots of other things. Summer is for the hectic outdoor season. I don't know about anyone else, but by the time Summer is over I am ready for a break. I am usually ready for Spring and Summer too by the time Winter is done but I really enjoy Winter. Besides, most people really don't have Winter for all that long. A few months of some yucky weather that isn't great for driving.
I must say a few months isn't too bad. Where I grew up Winter was more like a nine month affair. Snow on the ground from October to the end of May usually. Gardens consist of peas, potatoes, and carrots unless you have a heated greenhouse. My mom gave up on the garden after she had her peas, potatoes, and carrots freeze in about July. There were years that there was at least a small snow storm on the Valley floor every month of the year.
Growing up like that means that in all reality I love Winter. Skiing, sledding, walking through the snow, playing in the snow, looking at the snow, and all manners of winter sports. I kind of miss having more Winter to be honest. Now, there is hardly a reason to own cross-country skis let alone anything like a snowmobile. I do love skiing. We would ski in to get our Christmas tree. We would go snowmobiling on the weekends. Christmas day we would go skijoring (skiing while being towed) behind the horses. We were all pretty happy about Winter.
Now it seems all people do is grumble about it. Too bad. I think I'm going to go enjoy some snow and Winter weather now.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Winter Weather Continues
Rightly so too since it is January. We survived Christmas and it is just about time for my boys to return to school. Monday they go back. I say survived about Christmas but it was a lot of fun. We had company and I was realizing I think it is the first time we've ever hosted Christmas. I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed not travelling over the holidays.
One of our best Christmas presents was that we started getting eggs from the chickens. I started keeping a light on for them and they started laying. Hooray! No more buying yucky store eggs. I got to introduce my in-laws to farm eggs too. I think we have some converts. :)
I'm hoping we don't get too hammered with the cold weather that is moving through. It is a royal pain keeping waters thawed and we need more firewood. I'm never excited about calling anyone about firewood. We also need to get a chainsaw because I do have a couple of small trees that are dead that need to come down. Little by little we'll get this place in shape.
Today is the start to really getting my office/work studio set up to where I might actually be able to accomplish something. Plus I'd like my bedroom to not be such a big mess. I'm not good at keeping things contained so I'm hoping to corral myself.
I also need to go through my seeds and see what I have and what I need. I actually have a pretty good plan laid out for the garden this year. Not that I'll really stick with it. I never do, but it is a good place to start from. Now I just need to have more seed catalogs get here. I love browsing through them. I seldom order but they are great for ideas and for planning.
Also, we need to get our site picked out for our apple trees. We got four for Christmas. I'm excited to get them in and going. Every little bit helps us get a little closer to the goal of providing as much for ourselves as practical.
One of our best Christmas presents was that we started getting eggs from the chickens. I started keeping a light on for them and they started laying. Hooray! No more buying yucky store eggs. I got to introduce my in-laws to farm eggs too. I think we have some converts. :)
I'm hoping we don't get too hammered with the cold weather that is moving through. It is a royal pain keeping waters thawed and we need more firewood. I'm never excited about calling anyone about firewood. We also need to get a chainsaw because I do have a couple of small trees that are dead that need to come down. Little by little we'll get this place in shape.
Today is the start to really getting my office/work studio set up to where I might actually be able to accomplish something. Plus I'd like my bedroom to not be such a big mess. I'm not good at keeping things contained so I'm hoping to corral myself.
I also need to go through my seeds and see what I have and what I need. I actually have a pretty good plan laid out for the garden this year. Not that I'll really stick with it. I never do, but it is a good place to start from. Now I just need to have more seed catalogs get here. I love browsing through them. I seldom order but they are great for ideas and for planning.
Also, we need to get our site picked out for our apple trees. We got four for Christmas. I'm excited to get them in and going. Every little bit helps us get a little closer to the goal of providing as much for ourselves as practical.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Winter...
...has closed in on us. Almost Christmas and we've come through quite a cold spell. We had roughly a week where the thermometer never even made it close to going above zero let alone getting up to the freezing mark. I was very glad the only critters I have at the moment are the chickens, dogs, and a cat. It has been tough enough keeping their water thawed. At least our incredibly cold temperatures seem to have broken and now we are just getting cold at night.
I figure my root crops that I left in the ground are goners. We had such hard freezes for so many days in a row that there is no way the veggies made it. Especially since I hadn't mulched them. Oops. Such as life. Now I'll have to buy taters and carrots. My onion stash is holding up okay. I should be alright through Christmas. I've had some losses due to improper curing. I think I rushed some of the harvests into storage. I seem to remember we had a couple of storms that rushed me a bit. I'll have to be more careful next year. I'll also be planting about double the number of onion sets. I did 200 this year. I have garlic in too. I hope it does well in spite of being frozen solid for a week.
I have four new beds dug and two more to dig for the spring planting. I think I'll have enough tomato cages. I need to be better about actually pruning them. I had a little trouble with blossom end rot in a few of the plants this year. Next year I'll be trying a pile of tomato seeds I got from my mother-in-law. They are from an exotic seed company in Germany. I will probably still add a couple of my favorites into the mix as well as the new ones. The Beefsteaks seemed to do really well here last summer and the Super Marmandes did alright. The Brandywines were okay but the bugs got them in a hurry and the Amish Paste were the ones with the blossom rot. I'll change where the tomatoes are going and I'll make sure there is plenty of mulch and compost there. I may even throw a Tums in when I transplant them to make sure there is calcium. We'll see if I remember.
I'll be interested to see if the grapes fair okay over the winter. I mulched like crazy knowing they are on the north side of a fence and the snow builds there and melts very slowly. Hopefully the snow will actually help insulate them to an extent. In addition to the grapes I am hoping to get a small orchard planted next spring. We go through so many apples that we are going to need to grow our own. And I want to try pears and some plums for a little variety.
There has been talk from my son of possibly wanting to do a market garden too. I may plant enough of a few things that he could bring some to the farmer's market with me on occasion. We'll see though. I'm hoping I start seeing seed catalogs here soon. I think I'm finally ready to start really thinking about the garden again now that I've had a break. During harvest I was very ready to be done. That is something I like about the garden. Just when you are about ready to go bonkers from too much of one thing the season changes and you move on.
Let's see, what else? In the back of my mind I keep thinking that I may want to try supplying a new grocery store with herbs. Or I might take herbs to market. I haven't decided yet. I do know that I need to be better about cutting and drying for myself next year. I never did get my parsley put up so I'm almost out. Dang! I'll have to make sure to stay on top of that stuff and get a dehydrator sometime in the next six months or so.
I'm off to work on that never ending to-do list since Christmas is barreling toward us and picking up speed.
I figure my root crops that I left in the ground are goners. We had such hard freezes for so many days in a row that there is no way the veggies made it. Especially since I hadn't mulched them. Oops. Such as life. Now I'll have to buy taters and carrots. My onion stash is holding up okay. I should be alright through Christmas. I've had some losses due to improper curing. I think I rushed some of the harvests into storage. I seem to remember we had a couple of storms that rushed me a bit. I'll have to be more careful next year. I'll also be planting about double the number of onion sets. I did 200 this year. I have garlic in too. I hope it does well in spite of being frozen solid for a week.
I have four new beds dug and two more to dig for the spring planting. I think I'll have enough tomato cages. I need to be better about actually pruning them. I had a little trouble with blossom end rot in a few of the plants this year. Next year I'll be trying a pile of tomato seeds I got from my mother-in-law. They are from an exotic seed company in Germany. I will probably still add a couple of my favorites into the mix as well as the new ones. The Beefsteaks seemed to do really well here last summer and the Super Marmandes did alright. The Brandywines were okay but the bugs got them in a hurry and the Amish Paste were the ones with the blossom rot. I'll change where the tomatoes are going and I'll make sure there is plenty of mulch and compost there. I may even throw a Tums in when I transplant them to make sure there is calcium. We'll see if I remember.
I'll be interested to see if the grapes fair okay over the winter. I mulched like crazy knowing they are on the north side of a fence and the snow builds there and melts very slowly. Hopefully the snow will actually help insulate them to an extent. In addition to the grapes I am hoping to get a small orchard planted next spring. We go through so many apples that we are going to need to grow our own. And I want to try pears and some plums for a little variety.
There has been talk from my son of possibly wanting to do a market garden too. I may plant enough of a few things that he could bring some to the farmer's market with me on occasion. We'll see though. I'm hoping I start seeing seed catalogs here soon. I think I'm finally ready to start really thinking about the garden again now that I've had a break. During harvest I was very ready to be done. That is something I like about the garden. Just when you are about ready to go bonkers from too much of one thing the season changes and you move on.
Let's see, what else? In the back of my mind I keep thinking that I may want to try supplying a new grocery store with herbs. Or I might take herbs to market. I haven't decided yet. I do know that I need to be better about cutting and drying for myself next year. I never did get my parsley put up so I'm almost out. Dang! I'll have to make sure to stay on top of that stuff and get a dehydrator sometime in the next six months or so.
I'm off to work on that never ending to-do list since Christmas is barreling toward us and picking up speed.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Catch up
You'd think I'd know better than to try to maintain four different blogs on top of everything else. Nope. I'm a glutton for punishment. I do apologize though. It means somebody gets neglected. It just happens to be that this particular one is my neglected blog. If you want to see lots more of my posts then you can visit me over at Two Bit Acres or Little Hawk Yarns or Adulthood. See? I'm kind of crazy. I think it is more that I have a lot to say and my kids and husband can only listen to me say those things for so long before they need a break.
So, now that I've done the blogging no-no of apologizing I will play a bit of catch up here. The garden is doing very well. Despite my total lack of weeding. I even left it to fend for itself in June for 3 weeks. I had some serious weeding to do when we got home. Luckily my mom and a friend of hers came to visit and they did most of it. I couldn't believe how much they got done. I'm seeing that I need to get out there and attack things again.
I cannot believe the number of weeds this place has. Granted I don't think it has been gardened like this before so we are turning all sorts of weed seeds to the surface that lets them germinate. I figure it will be a couple of years of being a royal pain before we get the weeds under control. It would be a lot easier if I were willing to just blast the herbicides, but I'm not. I will use them but very carefully. I'd prefer to be totally organic but I'm not about to let things like puncture vine come in. I am feeling very overwhelmed with the weeds but I know one of the best things will be to get grasses in to take over and getting the pastures grazed. Although I don't have cattle or sheep at this point I may offer my neighbor some graze. He has cattle and a couple of horses.
I wasn't sure what would come in this spring after the lack of water we had last year. I'm seeing a lot of cheat grass, Russian thistle, and other nasty weeds. So, we mow, we spray, we seed grass, we pull weeds and this next spring if the money works out we'll pick up something to graze. Either that or we'll rent the pasture.
My worry with getting our own critters is that I don't really have shelter for them or a place to store hay. Even more so we don't have the financial where-with-all to just build that either. As a result I'm working on the little things first. Chickens. I have 3 hens (I hope). I just got them about 4 weeks ago. They are quickly growing and are about to go to their outside coop. I'm in the process of building them a protected run/tractor that will attach to their coop or be free standing. I'm also putting in a gate between the garden and the side yard where I'll keep them. I need to keep my dogs out of them along with the coyotes and other critters.
Little by little we are getting this new place of ours in shape. I have to keep reminding myself that we haven't even been here a year yet. We are installing a wood stove this fall. That should help with heating bills and will keep us in heat should the power go out. My to-do list is miles long. Everything always needs cleaned. Especially since we have two little kids, two dogs, two cats, and three chicks. We need new carpet/flooring but we aren't going to do anything there until the two-year old and the pup are both fully potty trained. No sense in it.
Besides all that and entering into the harvest season in the garden I've started selling my hand spun yarn at our farmer's market. So much fun. Let's see, I'm also helping out occasionally at a co-op grocery that is due to open soon, and I'm starting a Farmgirl Sisterhood Chapter. For those that don't know it is a local group that is tied in with Maryjane's Farm. You can check that out at www.maryjanesfarm.org
I think we are mostly caught up here. Probably not truly but I'm seeing how much I need to get done so I'd better get started.
So, now that I've done the blogging no-no of apologizing I will play a bit of catch up here. The garden is doing very well. Despite my total lack of weeding. I even left it to fend for itself in June for 3 weeks. I had some serious weeding to do when we got home. Luckily my mom and a friend of hers came to visit and they did most of it. I couldn't believe how much they got done. I'm seeing that I need to get out there and attack things again.
I cannot believe the number of weeds this place has. Granted I don't think it has been gardened like this before so we are turning all sorts of weed seeds to the surface that lets them germinate. I figure it will be a couple of years of being a royal pain before we get the weeds under control. It would be a lot easier if I were willing to just blast the herbicides, but I'm not. I will use them but very carefully. I'd prefer to be totally organic but I'm not about to let things like puncture vine come in. I am feeling very overwhelmed with the weeds but I know one of the best things will be to get grasses in to take over and getting the pastures grazed. Although I don't have cattle or sheep at this point I may offer my neighbor some graze. He has cattle and a couple of horses.
I wasn't sure what would come in this spring after the lack of water we had last year. I'm seeing a lot of cheat grass, Russian thistle, and other nasty weeds. So, we mow, we spray, we seed grass, we pull weeds and this next spring if the money works out we'll pick up something to graze. Either that or we'll rent the pasture.
My worry with getting our own critters is that I don't really have shelter for them or a place to store hay. Even more so we don't have the financial where-with-all to just build that either. As a result I'm working on the little things first. Chickens. I have 3 hens (I hope). I just got them about 4 weeks ago. They are quickly growing and are about to go to their outside coop. I'm in the process of building them a protected run/tractor that will attach to their coop or be free standing. I'm also putting in a gate between the garden and the side yard where I'll keep them. I need to keep my dogs out of them along with the coyotes and other critters.
Little by little we are getting this new place of ours in shape. I have to keep reminding myself that we haven't even been here a year yet. We are installing a wood stove this fall. That should help with heating bills and will keep us in heat should the power go out. My to-do list is miles long. Everything always needs cleaned. Especially since we have two little kids, two dogs, two cats, and three chicks. We need new carpet/flooring but we aren't going to do anything there until the two-year old and the pup are both fully potty trained. No sense in it.
Besides all that and entering into the harvest season in the garden I've started selling my hand spun yarn at our farmer's market. So much fun. Let's see, I'm also helping out occasionally at a co-op grocery that is due to open soon, and I'm starting a Farmgirl Sisterhood Chapter. For those that don't know it is a local group that is tied in with Maryjane's Farm. You can check that out at www.maryjanesfarm.org
I think we are mostly caught up here. Probably not truly but I'm seeing how much I need to get done so I'd better get started.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Tis the busy season
Spring gets busy when you garden. There is so much I want to do and need to do that it can get a little overwhelming. At least today and yesterday I'm getting a forced break. It has been raining. Although, despite that I've gotten lots of weeds pulled. The soft ground makes for easy pulling. Good thing too because boy do I have bindweed here! Oh my. I will still take that over puncture vine but bindweed sure is invasive stuff.
The worst is that not a whole lot can be done about the bindweed. When you pull it the dang thing actually seems to propagate more. Any little piece of root can grow more. The seeds can lay dormant for close to 30 years and still germinate. Ugh! The weed killer chemicals will take care of it along with everything else around it, but I'd rather not use the chemicals. You can get rid of it with persistence but it does take a year or two of pulling, spraying, cutting, burning, and whatever else you come up with to get rid of. Oh, good example of how resilient it is: I saw some growing in the tire tracks of our gravel road the other day. Tough stuff.
It does have some good points. You can use the vines for ties in the garden and apparently you can use it for dye. I will be trying this.
So I've been trying to get rid of weeds, cutworms have gotten one of my tomatoes, I keep planting more seeds and plants as I get them, and I've been trying to stay dry.
Busy times but I do love Spring.
The worst is that not a whole lot can be done about the bindweed. When you pull it the dang thing actually seems to propagate more. Any little piece of root can grow more. The seeds can lay dormant for close to 30 years and still germinate. Ugh! The weed killer chemicals will take care of it along with everything else around it, but I'd rather not use the chemicals. You can get rid of it with persistence but it does take a year or two of pulling, spraying, cutting, burning, and whatever else you come up with to get rid of. Oh, good example of how resilient it is: I saw some growing in the tire tracks of our gravel road the other day. Tough stuff.
It does have some good points. You can use the vines for ties in the garden and apparently you can use it for dye. I will be trying this.
So I've been trying to get rid of weeds, cutworms have gotten one of my tomatoes, I keep planting more seeds and plants as I get them, and I've been trying to stay dry.
Busy times but I do love Spring.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Gathering of Thoughts
I keep kicking myself. I was going to go to an auction on Saturday and I completely forgot. You are probably asking what this has to do with the garden. Well, it was a landscaping company's auction. They had trees! And I missed it! Doh! I didn't even realize I had forgotten it until Sunday when I was finally getting around to reading Friday's paper. Oh man.
Such as life. It does save me money to not go but still... It would have been really nice to get our apples. We want to start an apple orchard. I guess we'll have to go about it some other way. Of course we need to decide where we want the orchard first and we should probably dig out the sage brush.
I am about to go ahead and dig out my other four beds. I'm seeing I'm quickly running out of room. I still have about 20 tomatoes, 6 Brussels sprouts, several Walla Walla sweet onions, rhubarb, garlic, spearmint, lavender, sage, and I want to add a pumpkin area for the kids too. On top or our stuff I'm doing a half share in one of our local CSA (community supported agriculture) farms. I'm going to be canning like mad. Yippee!! I need to keep an eye out for a dehydrator too.
A few supplies I need to get for the summer growing season:
A hot plate/burners - I have a flat top stove and it doesn't work for canning
Jars, lids, and rings
Dehydrator
Lid rack for my jar lids
Probably another shelf set up for the canned goods
With the CSA I can also get milk. I don't know if we'll go in on that full time. I'll find out if the kids and us even like raw milk before we dive in and/or commit to anything there. There are also opportunities for flour, honey, meat, and fruit. I'm thinking I'll like having this in addition to our own garden. I'm also considering the Co-op that is trying to open in another little town close to us.
I'd better see if I can get some digging done this morning. Also, I just realized that my husband had said he was going to work on putting the chicken coop together this afternoon. I'd better get my cinder block set up for the feet. I also need to clean up some more of the tumbleweeds back there and work on the new gate.
Such as life. It does save me money to not go but still... It would have been really nice to get our apples. We want to start an apple orchard. I guess we'll have to go about it some other way. Of course we need to decide where we want the orchard first and we should probably dig out the sage brush.
I am about to go ahead and dig out my other four beds. I'm seeing I'm quickly running out of room. I still have about 20 tomatoes, 6 Brussels sprouts, several Walla Walla sweet onions, rhubarb, garlic, spearmint, lavender, sage, and I want to add a pumpkin area for the kids too. On top or our stuff I'm doing a half share in one of our local CSA (community supported agriculture) farms. I'm going to be canning like mad. Yippee!! I need to keep an eye out for a dehydrator too.
A few supplies I need to get for the summer growing season:
A hot plate/burners - I have a flat top stove and it doesn't work for canning
Jars, lids, and rings
Dehydrator
Lid rack for my jar lids
Probably another shelf set up for the canned goods
With the CSA I can also get milk. I don't know if we'll go in on that full time. I'll find out if the kids and us even like raw milk before we dive in and/or commit to anything there. There are also opportunities for flour, honey, meat, and fruit. I'm thinking I'll like having this in addition to our own garden. I'm also considering the Co-op that is trying to open in another little town close to us.
I'd better see if I can get some digging done this morning. Also, I just realized that my husband had said he was going to work on putting the chicken coop together this afternoon. I'd better get my cinder block set up for the feet. I also need to clean up some more of the tumbleweeds back there and work on the new gate.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Changing weather
That snow moisture is helping us now. It has turned hot. I mean mid-70s pushing toward 80 degree hot. You'd never know that 2 weeks ago we had 4 foot drifts of snow in the yard.
I've been planting like mad and need to plant more. I need to get my Brussels sprout seedlings in. I don't think they are hardened off quite yet but I might plant them out with some cloches anyway. I'll make them a mini cold frame. I need to make sure to get the rest of the areas with grass seed watered today. I got a good portion last night. In doing so I also got the grapes, apricots, and ponderosa seedlings that just went in. You can check out my other blog at http://lazymomgardner.wordpress.com for pictures of those.
I need to figure out what I'm doing with my gardens. I have 20+ tomatoes that will need space, I want strawberries (I don't have them yet), and I want flowers and herbs. I just need to figure out how it will all fit in. Of course I need to get things like the strawberries. I think I'll go see if anyone needs some strawberries thinned.
I've been planting like mad and need to plant more. I need to get my Brussels sprout seedlings in. I don't think they are hardened off quite yet but I might plant them out with some cloches anyway. I'll make them a mini cold frame. I need to make sure to get the rest of the areas with grass seed watered today. I got a good portion last night. In doing so I also got the grapes, apricots, and ponderosa seedlings that just went in. You can check out my other blog at http://lazymomgardner.wordpress.com for pictures of those.
I need to figure out what I'm doing with my gardens. I have 20+ tomatoes that will need space, I want strawberries (I don't have them yet), and I want flowers and herbs. I just need to figure out how it will all fit in. Of course I need to get things like the strawberries. I think I'll go see if anyone needs some strawberries thinned.
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