(DF) ARE YOU ACQUAINTED WITH YOUR FOOD?

Do you know what you eat?  This may sound like a silly question, but I am totally serious.  This is not a question of whether you know the difference between beans and broccoli.  Though there is the possibility of eating bacon or sausage that tastes like pork but is really turkey, or eating prepared foods with hidden additives, most people have a general idea of what they are eating.  More accurately, this is a question of whether or not you are actually acquainted with the food you eat, and if so, just how closely acquainted.

Anna and I are constantly reading labels on food packaging in the interest of a better awareness of what is really in the foods we eat.  The awareness we gain allows us to make better decisions where food additives are concerned, hopefully leading to better health.  With this in mind, consider that yesterday, I ate some really nice peanut butter with a very short ingredient list (peanuts and salt).  In a sense, I know this food.  I know what it is, what it is made of and that it tastes great.  As a bonus, I also know that it is not supposed to have any additives.  What I do not Know, since I didn't grow the peanuts, is what kind of soil the peanuts grew in, what fertilizers and/or insecticides were used, or how they were processed.  In short, I know something of this food but I am in no way acquainted with it.

By contrast, the eggs in my refrigerator came from my own chickens.  I know what these chickens eat, how healthy they are and some of them even hatched from eggs laid by my own chickens and hatched in my incubator.  I also know when the eggs were laid and which hen laid each of them.  In short, I not only know this food, I am closely acquainted with it.  This also goes for things like the fried chicken and okra Anna and I ate on New Years day.  The chicken was raised here on Dave's farm, hatched from an egg laid by my hen, raised to adulthood and prepared for cooking.  I handled the whole process here.  The okra grew on Anna's farm where she worked up the soil, planted the seeds, watered the plants, picked the pods then cut prepared and froze them for our use.  As you can see, we were very well acquainted with that meal and enjoyed it all the more for that acquaintance.

Anna and I will continue to read labels, but more importantly, we will continue to be fully acquainted with more and more of our food until, eventually, we may not have to read labels at all.  With all the food additives and poor processing practices in the industry today, I strongly encourage you to consider getting better acquainted with your own food.

DAVE IS SICK

HELLO to all of our wonderful and beautiful readers! No, we didn't get lost and we didn't forget about any of you. You are on our minds a lot, in very good ways. And we have certainly been missing talking with all of you.

This will have to be brief for today, but I will do my best (no promises) to get back on here this week and give you a much better (and way longer) update. It has been so crazy around here, it will probably take quite a few posts.

Dave has been without Internet for awhile, now. His was getting to where it just wasn't working out there in his neck of the sticks, and a newer, much better Internet system is coming to his area. (Fiber Optics)  He applied well over a month ago to have it put in, and he is still waiting. They talked like they would put it right in, but you know how that goes. They keep saying that they will lay his lines when they work over his way, but nothing, yet.

At the moment, though, Dave is too sick to stay up long enough to use his Internet. He is making great improvements but still on a scary edge.  He has at least 3 more weeks of being bed bound and on an IV, and he is so weak! Just a few minutes of being up and he has to go back to sleep for awhile. And let me tell you, Dave is NOT one to be kept down! This has been so emotionally hard on him, as well. I am so relieved, though, to finally be hearing some strength coming back into his voice.

If you all don't mind, we could really use all of your prayers for Dave's healing that we can possibly get. Here is a hug and a BIG Thank you in advance!!

I will do my best to get back on here and give you all a much better update and explanation later this week. Right now, I need to get off of here and tend to our garden. Fortunately, we had planted most of it over here at Anna's Farm this year, and now, with absolutely no helpers, it is taking every minute I have to tend to it. Going to have to water tonight. It has rained everywhere in the area this week, except out here. But I will have to move slowly as it is still near 100 degrees this evening, with a heat index well over 100 F, and I got up today not feeling very well. I am still praying and hoping hard for rain before the evening is out. We are going to need the bounty of this garden more than ever this year.

Love and miss you all! Hope life has been treating you all very well.

(DF) SPRINGTIME BABIES.....JUST BARELY

Yes, it is springtime, though the weather calls the calendar a liar.  Fact is, whatever the weather is doing, the vernal equinox has passed making it officially springtime.  As circumstances would have it, the first day of spring was fairly nice here, with sunshine and a gentle breeze.  Be that as it may, we haven't had a nice day since.

With that in mind, it was really good timing.  My milk goat took advantage of the nice weather to have her babies, and with them being born on the vernal equinox, you can probably guess the name of the little billy..  This is the only milk goat I have ever owned or knew of who would not wait for cold or stormy weather.  So far she has always picked a nice afternoon to give birth, a trend that I hope continues and is passed on to the offspring.  This time, as usual, she had twins, one male and one female.  They are large and healthy, thriving well on all the milk they can drink (at least until they are penned up part of the time so I can have a share).

It is always encouraging to me to see springtime babies.  As with all the other beginnings of spring, it serves to re-affirm for me the natural cycles of life.  Simply put, it reminds me that the good things of life always come back around.  Soon wild foods and fruit blossoms will be popping up everywhere and the garden will be all fresh and new.  I can hardly wait.

(DF) WHERE HAS DAVE BEEN HIDING?????

For those of you who have been wondering where I've been hiding, what I've been doing, or worse yet, haven't thought of me at all, I am still here.  Yes, I have been lax in posting, but I am still here behind the scenes while Anna is working hard to hold the site together.  THANKS HONEY!

While I have not been posting, there have been a few things going on.  OK! quite a few things going on.  In short, I have been busier than a cat covering sh__, meeting myself coming back and so on.

During my apparent absence, I have continued to work at the previously mentioned large, corporate department store in order to keep paying the bills.  At this point, I no longer work in the garden center.  I transferred to the claims department at the first of the year.  Lots of new stuff to learn, better pay and a better schedule.  My days off are no longer on weekends when Anna is tied up with her business, so we can actually spend time together getting things done.  The only real drawback (other than having to be there at all) is the blatant, shameful (and yes, I will say it), SINFUL waste of this world class corporation.  It is appallingly clear to me in this department and frankly, it sickens me to the depths of my soul.  Sorry about the soap box ------ ok, sorry is much too strong of a word.

I am not sure that I mentioned that I am a massage therapist.  My practice fell off sharply a few years ago through circumstances (and people) beyond my control, and for some time now I have only had a few clients who only schedule a couple of times a year.  Recently, business has begun to pick up quite unexpectedly, giving a glimmer of hope that it may actually pay the bills at some point in the future.  Though rebuilding a practice takes some time away from the farm, it is helping fund some projects and could eventually allow for far more time at home instead of feeding the corporation.

The forge here at Dave's Farm has also been up and running recently.  Believe me, it feels good t be pounding hot metal again.  As an added bonus, a young co-worker is anxious to come out and learn the basics.  Always good to see young people wanting to learn old ways.

Yes, of course, and absolutely, I am still working toward self-sufficiency.  The first order of solar cells arrived a couple of days ago.  Now we will see if I am smart enough to put together panels that will really work.  This will be my first attempt, so maybe we will all be able to learn something from my fumbling.  I will try to post pictures of this process.

If by now, you are asking when I find time to see Anna, I must confess that I don't know how I find that time, but thank goodness I do.  We don't get to spend near enough time together, but what time we have together is quality and very precious.

When you add to all of this, the efforts to prepare the garden for planting, preparation of high quality compost, clearing fence rows for goat fencing, and many other projects, it isn't hard to see some reasons for my lack of posts.  While I can't promise that I will have a great deal of time to write, I do apologize for being so lax in posting.

Meanwhile, thank you for supporting our site with you views and comments.

(DF) HOT, DRY, BUGGY, ETC.; but we are still here

As you may have noticed, Anna and I have not posted recently, so I wanted to take this opportunity to say that we are still here, still alright, and most importantly, still together (we just celebrated the first anniversary of our relationship on Thursday).  Though it was not the celebration we had planned, we did get to spend it together and it is wonderful to look back at the year that has so quickly passed.

Now for reasons (not excuses) why we have not posted recently.  To begin with, Anna's computer is still down and her stone-age laptop, like my stone-age desktop, just doesn't handle working in temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.  By the time either of us is forced by the heat to take a break,  it is already to hot for the computers to work.

Time and energy are other factors to be dealt with.  With the long stretch of record breaking heat and record low rainfall in our area, most of our time is being spent watering plants, trees and livestock.  No, we are not getting a lot of production, but in this heat, the goal is to just keep things alive until it cools off and rains.  Today is wonderfully cool by the way, at least so far.  It  has just passed the 90 degree mark, and though quite humid, is still better than the 100 degrees plus that it has been this time of day for awhile.

Between the heat, drought, and what I jokingly refer to as a grasshopper plague of near biblical proportion, it is amazing that anything is left to do here.  Actually though the grasshoppers are most plentiful, they aren't quite on a biblical scale.  However, it looks like the small apple trees will have to be replanted thanks to the grasshoppers eating all the bark off of them.  Managed to keep the deer off them just to save them for the bugs.

On the up side of the situation, my tomatoes have been producing up until the last few days, and okra is still going.  I have actually had a chance to can and dry some tomatoes and have dried a bit of okra.  As an added treat, I found a wild plum tree which I didn't know was there and was able to make several jars fo plum butter, which will be great this winter.

Bottom line is that it could be worse, we have a lot to be grateful for and there is hope for more production in the fall (if the drought breaks in time for a fall garden).  We are keeping notes and taking some pictures so we can bring you all up to date when it cools off and rains so we aren't spending all our time hauling water.  
We are learning lots of things to help us through such times and are making some interesting adjustments, all of which we well share soon, so please bear with us and check back from time to time until we are back to our regular posting schedule.

(DF) LARGE HUNGRY GARDEN PESTS: kinda like bugs only BIGGER!!!!!!!!

By the time I got back from Anna's place Tuesday, it was almost dark, giving just enough time to feed the animals, so I didn't check the garden.  Wednesday morning found me heading for work before daylight, so as soon as the time clock hit 3:00pm, I was headed home to check on the veggies.  What I found was disappointing to say the least.  Take a look at the picture of my beautiful sweet potato vines.  If you are asking what vines I am talking about, that is my point exactly.  They were eaten off to stumps.  They are still alive and quite capable of growing back, but it is a major setback to say the least.

When I planted the sweet potato slips, I knew there would be a bit of expected bug damage.  Even a bit of a run in with rabbits was expected (and dreaded).  This blatant attack hadn't crossed my mind, though it should have (I do live in the woods, after all).  Judging from the tracks in the second picture, the culprit was obviously a deer, a fair sized doe, judging from the track characteristics.  And this fine doe didn't stop at the sweet potatoes.  She thoroughly pruned the tall stalks of lambs quarters I had left in the garden for seed, nibbled at the onions and didn't help the carrot crop either.  She even taste tested the cucumber and pumpkin vines, though they apparently didn't taste that great, as they were mostly intact.

As I said, I should have expected this, but old habits die hard.  Deer are common enough here in my area now, but it wasn't always that way.  Growing up, the only deer I saw in this area were the ones my uncles would hang up at my grandparent's house after a hunt an hours drive away.  There just weren't deer in this area at that time, so nobody even thought to protect their garden from them.  It wasn't until I was a teenager that I saw my first wild deer in the area, and it was certainly an amazing spectacle.  With less hunting pressure over the past thirty years, and efforts (both official and unofficial) to re-introduce deer into the area, they have now become "large bugs in my garden"

My grandmother's consideration of planting three times as much garden as needed (one third for the weather, one third for the pests, and one third for the family) was certainly not calculating for hungry deer, so I will have to do something to prevent the loss.  Repellents are a possibility, though they have to be replaced after it rains, assuming it does that often enough to be an issue.  I am also a bit skeptical of repellents, as in the past, my best efforts in this area didn't keep the deer off my young fruit trees.  Noise makers only work until the deer get used to it, then they are simply ignored.  Looks like when I am building goat fence around the pasture, I may have to make a slightly taller version around the garden, to keep the cute little devils out.  This is just one example of how things have changed since I was a kid, and a reminder that we have to always be ready to adapt with the constant changes.

And of course, this fall, I will have to make an effort to get my veggies back in the form of venison.  More on that option later, I suppose.

(AF) Wooo Hoooo! It's RAINING!!!

   

HAPPY DANCE ..... HAPPY DANCE!!!!  It's RAINING!!!!  

 I sure hope it makes it to Dave's Farm, too! The last two times it rained here, it didn't at Dave's. It is so dry here that, by today, my weeds were badly wilted and beginning to get crunchy! So I can't even imagine how dry the plants and pasture are over at Dave's! Besides it being too long since it last rained, the high winds we have had have further dried things out. I gave my cucumbers a little drink today (Monday - had to haul it to them in the wheel barrow) but they really needed a lot more. They said we didn't have a chance until at least tomorrow night.... I'm so glad they were wrong. Course, I was out there a midnight bringing in things that I didn't want to get wet (had planned on doing that tomorrow). But I am not going to complain so long as all gets watered and the hail misses us.

My power keeps flickering so I should probably get off of here and just kick back and enjoy the crackles and rumbles of the storm, the fresh, clean air breezing in the windows, and the soothing sounds and wonderful fragrance of the falling rain as I drift off to sleep...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz   WAIT! Drift off to sleep? I hope not until after it is over because I don't want to miss it. I really enjoy a good storm that ISN'T tornadic or damaging. How about you?

(DF) SWEET POTATOES IN THE GARDEN: FINALLY!!

On May first, Anna talked in the "Tightwad Tuesday" post about starting sweet potato slips from sweet potatoes purchased on sale earlier in the year.  A few days before she had discovered that there were a few sprouting. Anna found one sweet potato she had forgotten about from the year before.  It was starting to sprout so she gave it to me to start slips from.  I promptly buried it in a pot of compost and proceeded to keep it watered.  Sure enough, there were soon leaves popping up in the pot.

As the next few weeks passed, the growth in the pot became very nice and it was soon time to plant them out.  Saturday was the most likely time for me to get time to plant, but I took the opportunity earlier in the week to dig up a bed in the garden, which I believed would be enough space for the amount of slips from one sweet potato.

Saturday came and I eagerly dug compost into the bed in preparation for planting.  With great anticipation, I removed the slips, compost, potato and all, from the pot.  I knew there were some roots (quite honestly, I had peaked a little) but was not at all prepared for what I saw.  Roots had filled the pot almost to the point of being root bound.

I have started sweet potato slips in the past, by burying the potato in dirt, in sand and by submerging the sprouting end in water, and all of these methods worked well.  This was the first time I had used straight compost, and the resulting root mass was far more than I expected.  You can bet I will be using compost to start slips from now on.

That one sweet potato produced a full dozen lovely plants which gave me no choice but to dig up another bed to accommodate.  If the age of the original sweet potato means anything, these slips should produce some real keepers which can potentially keep us in slips for years to come.  Now we will see how well they produce.

(DF) GETTING WHAT YOU PAID FOR? REALLY??

As the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for".  But do you really?  Is it always as advertised?  Not likely, at least not always.  There are many things that are not exactly as they appear or are advertised, and in many cases (unless we are very observant and read the labels carefully) we may not even know that we paid for something we didn't get.  It happens all the time with food labels, phone service, clothing and at least a bazillion other things that don't come so readily to mind.  But what about things more simple and straightforward, like garden plants?

Have you ever bought a tomato plant and found that it was really a pepper plant instead?  Me nither, but they look enough different that it would be hard to mistake one for the other.  What about one variety of tomato or pepper that turned out to be another?  This is something that could happen often and in most cases, most people would not be sure of the mistake.

Look carefully at the photos.  You will notice that the tomato is small and red, some variety of cherry tomato to be more precise.  Anna purchased this plant which was clearly labeled as a "Lemon Boy", and had a nice picture of medium yellow tomatoes on the vine.  The tomatoes it is producing are certainly not "Lemon Boy", or anything close.  The pepper plant is one I bought.  You might think it is a bell pepper, judging from the shape of the peppers.  In reality, the peppers are smaller than bell peppers and, though still green, they are obviously hot.  They appear to be a variety called "Cajun Bell", but whatever they are, they are absolutely not the "Cayenne" that they were clearly labeled to be, complete with pictures of beautiful "Cayenne" peppers.

If the tomato had been a different yellow variety than the one labeled, would we have known?  If the pepper had been similar to what was expected, would we have made the connection?  The answer is, probably not.  While surprises can sometimes be good, this disturbs me.  Not only because the varieties are different than advertised (in fact, I feel it is always good to try different varieties) but more because of how such little "mistakes" could be used.

Now to my main point.  It is no secret that the seed companies (among other entities) are always pushing their hybrid seeds, and would like nothing more than for the open pollinated, heirloom varieties to disappear.  It is also no secret that they are constantly developing genetically modified varieties and trying to push them on the consumer.  My question is simple.  At some point, how much trouble would it be to simply substitute a hybrid or genetically modified variety with similar characteristics to the one you think you are purchasing?  The frightening answer is that it would be quite easy to do, very hard to prove and a big chunk of the population would not know the difference for at least a year, and only then, if they saved seeds and planted them the next spring.  This would solve the seed company problem and our problems would begin in earnest.  The really scary part is that if someone like me could think of it, we can't expect that they haven't thought of it too.

I don't think of myself as paranoid, and I am certainly not trying to say that anyone is "out to get us".  The fact is simply that they are looking at the bottom line and if we save our own seeds, they can't sell theirs to us.  This gives me more incentive to grow heirloom varieties and save seeds.  I strongly encourage everyone else to do the same, if for no reason other than keeping the old varieties that our grandparents and great grandparents grew, from being lost forever.  Once you have saved those seeds, I encourage everyone to in some way, share them with others, whether it be giving a few to the neighbor down the road, swapping those you have for those you want, or selling your surplus to those who are having trouble finding them.

If you have purchased plants or seeds that are not what you expected, have fun with the surprise and we would love to hear the stories.  If you have heirloom varieties, we would also love to hear about the ones you enjoy. 

(DF) SPIDERS IN THE GARDEN ....natural pest control at it's finest

As you may have noticed from other posts, I REALLY don't like pesticides.  There are many reasons for my thoughts and feelings on this subject, but a deep appreciation of bugs eating my garden is certainly not one of them.  In fact, I find few things more disappointing than going to the garden and finding my beautiful veggies chewed up by bugs.  With that said, bugs are still more welcome than poison.  I will go deeper into my reasons in a future post, but for now, please trust that there are serious reasons.                                                                                                              
With the consideration of catching and smashing each and every one of the nasty little creatures by hand being less than practical, if not totally impossible, some help is needed.  This is where the spiders come in.  Yes, I did say SPIDERS. Spiders are wonderful creatures, which, with few exceptions, are harmless to humans.  They do, however, spend their lives eating relative large numbers of insects ....... insects that are not necessarily welcome guests in the garden.  Granted, spiders can't eat all the bugs that come into the garden, and they do also eat some of the beneficial insects that we would like to see more of. When you consider that pesticides don't quite kill all the bad bugs and the good ones are generally more susceptible to toxins than the pests, the spiders are certainly no worse.

Pesticides have not been used in my garden since long before I bought the place, and in the absence of toxins, bugs thrived.  At least they thrived at first.  With an ample food source, spiders soon began to come into the area.  These spiders are among a group known as wolf spiders because of their behavior of stalking their prey rather than trapping it in a web (they are also known as grass spiders).  After a few years without toxins and with the presence of plenty of food, the population of a couple of the smaller species of these spiders exploded.  As a direct result, the population of insects in the garden dropped.

The spiders in question come in several sizes ranging from a leg span of smaller than a dime to larger than the average tarantula and with a bit of color variation.  Most of the ones in my garden are small, the size of a dime or slightly larger and light colored (as shown in the picture above), though some are the darker variety.  They are seldom seen and are in fact a little hard to find during the day, but at night they are out in force.  To shine a bright flashlight on my garden at night reveals many pinpoints of light reflected from their eyes, showing that the night crew are on the job, taking care of the unwanted pests.

Thanks to these hungry predators, a garden at Daves farm is possible, and without killing off all the other creatures that are more welcome (or better yet, important to production).  Unlike pesticides, they don't kill off all the pollinators such as bees.  As evidenced by the other two pics, they also leave some of the other beneficial insects and small creatures in the garden (though you can't tell from this pic, the turtle is a baby, only the size of a quarter).  As an added bonus, they are entertaining to watch, if you are morbidly fascinated by predator/prey relationships.  Alright, I know that I am easily amused but it saves money on movie rental. 

Yes, there will be more bugs in the garden without pesticides, but I personally believe it is worth the difference in light of the dangers of pesticides.  I will go into the dangers of pesticides to humans and the environment soon, in a future post, but for now, please be kind to the spiders.  They are our garden friends.

TIGHTWAD TUESDAY - Stretching the Gardening Dollar

I had to run into our local retail store yesterday to purchase a 9-volt battery. The one in my soap making scale finally died and I just don't trust making soaps that I sell at market without measuring precisely. But oh, how I do wish there was some way to make those darned batteries last longer! Is there a precision scale that doesn't require batteries or electricity?

Okay, I am straying from my own topic. While I was in the store, I of course had to take a few minutes to see what new plants they might have gotten in in the garden section. I am on the search for a German Johnson tomato to try. They didn't have any, yet, but they did have the Bradley and the Mr. Stripey heirloom tomatoes. They look yummy and I really want to try them. I tried them last year, but our extreme heat and drought zapped them before they ever really got started, so I am going to try them again.

I also found a mini White Eggplant that looked interesting. I have yet to find an eggplant that I like, but they are so pretty that I still like growing them. I especially like the blooms.... they make a beautiful flower, even if you don't like the veggie that follows, and you can always find someone that wants the veggie part. But this one said that the skin stayed tender and it never got bitter. Wow! Those are the two things that I don't like about an eggplant. I like it when I first bite into one, but I don't like the toughness and I especially don't like the bitter whang. So I got one to try.

So.... how do I pick my plants, you might wonder? Of course, I want the most for my money ... so I fumble around all the plants to find the ones that have the most in them, especially the tomatoes as they are easiest to separate and promote new root growth.

I don't remember how much, exactly, the eggplants were, I think around $2.99. Yes, a bit much, but it is really getting too late to start them from seeds and I managed to find a pot that had 4 plants in it. So that is less than a dollar a plant, MUCH better than that price for just one annual plant! (I am hoping they separate easily. I have never tried to separate any before). Although that still sounds a bit pricey, if I can save the seeds from them (hoping they come back true), that will be the only time I purchase them. Since seeds for specialty plants run around that much, and these are already up and growing, I figure it is still a pretty good deal.

Then there were the two tomatoes. They were in the $1 plants (actually they said 98¢ but rang up at the register as $1). They were all one plant to a pot. But I was determined to find one with more than one plant, so I took my time, gently inspecting all the pots (I am sure those behind the surveillance cameras got a kick). There use to be several plants to EVERY pot, but the growers are much more careful about it now, snipping off all the excess plants (such a waste!!!) to be sure and keep those sales up, because people like me will only buy one if we can find one with several in it. Actually, I would still only buy one, but I prefer one with more if I can find it, stretching my dollar as far as it will go. And, as luck had it, I found what I was looking for on both tomatoes. Tucked away in the back, hiding up under all the larger leaves, was one of each of the two types of tomatoes with 4 plants each in them! Yea!!!

Those tomatoes look really close together and impossible to separate, but they aren't, really. You do have to separate them carefully, and you will lose some roots, but tomato plants put on new roots (further up the stem) fairly easily. As long as they have quite a bit of roots on them, it works great. Once they are separated out (may have to use a knife tip to gently help separate them), you remove any lower stems there might be (pinch them off), plant the the plants half-way or more up their stem leaving at least one leaf set above the ground, and new roots will form all along the buried portion of the stem, creating a very strong plant. So, with 4 plants in each $1 pot, that is only 25¢ per plant! I think that is pretty good!

But it gets even better. Those two tomato plants are heirlooms (Bradley and Mr. Stripey), meaning that any seeds from them will come back true. So if I can be sure to successfully save seeds from both of them (assuming the heat doesn't get them again), I will not have to purchase this variety of tomatoes again. I will have all the future tomatoes of these varieties for as long as I garden, for just $2. The plants are already up, growing good, and even better, their cost is much less than the price of a package of seeds. *whew... takes a breath*  So, where some people might see three plants sitting there in that pic, I see not only a full row, but many, many future rows full!  And to carry this one final step further, my savings will be even greater if, at some future date, I can swap seeds from these for seeds of varieties I don't have. What a wonderful bounty!!!

(DF) GARDEN DAY RAMBLINGS (part 3) ....... mosquitoes in the grass

       "We must take care, old chum.  Great hoards of voracious, flying creatures may well drain our bodies of life giving fluid, leaving little more than  mere husks of our former selves, to be blown about like leaves in the wind."

                            from 'Pickery Hudson on Mosquitoes and Gnats'


For several years, I have found that there seem to be more mosquitoes here than I consider reasonable, considering there is no swamp or large body of water nearby.  The closest such body of water would be my neighbor's pond a few hundred yards away and this time of year, the evening breeze tends to move them in another direction.  This was a bit of a puzzler for a while, until I did a bit of research and found that the prevalent species of mosquito that plagues me can actually raise in patches of damp, tall grass.

Anyone who has seen this place in summer in recent years can vouch that I tend to be negligent when it comes to cutting the grass.  In fact, most often, it gets quite tall before I cut it with a scythe and let it cure for goat hay.  No need wasting perfectly good hay, right?

Most years the mosquitoes, though plentiful, are somewhat tolerable, so the trade off is worth it.  This year, however, the mosquito population has exploded to a proportion comparable to that of any swamp or river bottom.  In fact, the last time I encountered such a huge number of loud, hard biting mosquitoes was when I camped out on a little backwater in the Mississippi river valley in July a few years ago. 

Mosquito numbers of this level tend to take the fun out of gardening.  Alright, they don't take out all the fun, but one does begin to wonder how much blood loss it takes before you get weak and light headed, and the fact that they are so intent on getting in eyes and ears adds to the problem.

As I worked in the garden, fought mosquitoes and certainly looked quite insane and hilarious to any onlookers, with my swatting, flailing of arms and slapping myself about the head and neck, I couldn't help wondering what could be done about this nuisance.  Before figuring out what to do about such things, I needed to know where they were coming from in the first place.  Lets face it, if they were coming from the neighbor's pond, it would be most un-neighborly of me to start putting insecticide in the pond where his cattle drink.

A few of the day lilies

After a few days of pondering and fighting these nasty creatures, I figured out where they are coming from.  Years ago, a sparse row of day lilies was planted along the south end of the garden.  Yes, it is the same day lilies that I mentioned spreading in part 2 of this post.  This spring has been ideal for the lush, moist, green growth of these wonderful flowers, which have over the years, spread and thickened into an absolutely impenetrable mass of vegetation.  Upon inspection, I found that underneath this mat of green was a wonderfully wet place, perfect for mosquitoes and other water loving creatures (even toads and smaller types of frogs) to reproduce.

Now the question becomes one of what to do about them.  My first thought was to cut down the day lilies, a thought which horrified Anna, and on second thought would be a little extreme (though we don't need so many of them).  Diatomaceous earth would probably do the trick but, as with anything else that would kill them, there is the problem of how to get it through the vegetation.  I am absolutely against the use of commercial insecticides as a matter of personal ethics and respect for the earth.  Anna has done a bit of research on natural pesticides and came up with an oil emulsion based possibility that we will be trying, hoping the oil emulsion will follow the leaves to the ground below.  We will certainly let you know how it works.  Any ideas or experiences you can share will also be very much appreciated. 

Stay tuned for a mosquito update, and good luck with your own pests.

(DF) GARDEN DAY RAMBLINGS (part 2) ....... machine age farming, or not

While I was working in the garden over the weekend, and considering the "weeds" I talked about in part one of this post, my thoughts managed to wander a bit farther astray, to the consideration of how the garden got in such a mess in the first place. My father (if he were still alive) would not be happy with my considerations but, like it or not, things are what they are.

At this point, I will pause from my ramblings to give a little background, as this post actually begins many years ago. My father was the first "machine age farmer" in the family, buying a tractor when he was a young man and tractors were not common place. His father, on the other hand, was quite an excellent farmer but not at all a "machine age farmer". He worked with a team of draft horses for as long as he was able to farm. My grandparents always had a wonderful, rather large garden which was plowed using the team and cultivated using garden hoes, and sometimes, grandchildren. It was in that garden, by the way, that I learned to plow with horses, but that is a tale for another time.

Enough background for now, so it's back to the ramblings and the garden at hand. My place was purchased from my parents who acquired it about forty years ago and lived here for a few years. When they bought the property, the garden was already here, though it had not been worked enough years to be fully established (such things take time and work). However, it was a reasonably good garden and quickly became quite productive. There were a few small patches of Johnson grass scattered here and there which had to be kept in check, but nothing serious, just a minor annoyance. Then dad got a good deal on a garden tiller, which he was convinced would cut garden time in half and up production.

Early in the spring, I was set to the task of working up the garden with said garden tiller. The garden was normally plowed with a tractor, but this was supposed to be a better machine for the job. After about a half day of hard work, the garden was worked up, my hands and arms were numb from the vibration and my nerves were jangled from the incessant roar of the engine. This was, as I say, early in the spring and at planting time, we covered the surface with compost and I tilled it in. It looked great. The perfectly straight rows were laid off, a bit farther apart than usual, to accommodate the tiller, and the garden was planted. By the time the garden seeds had sprouted and grown large enough to be worked, the entire garden (no longer small patches) was showing a good stand of Johnson grass. Back to the garden with the tiller, and soon it all looked good again. This theme was repeated continually through the summer until the first hard freeze killed everything in the garden.

Springtime came around and this time, the garden looked more like a hay meadow. More tilling and something that resembled a garden was made, but with more effort than the previous year. Within five years, my mother had made a small kitchen garden near the back door which she refused to allow the tiller near.

Please don't misunderstand, I am not really against all farm machines under all circumstances. In some types of soil, garden tillers are quite effective, and depending on the physical condition of the gardener, they are sometimes necessary. Though I don't own a tiller, I do own an old, rusty tractor which works well and I use for many things here on the farm. In fact, the garden has been plowed with it several times in the interest of working the soil deep enough to make it possible to reclaim it as a garden (it had not been used as a garden for quite a few years because of the Johnson grass). Plowing with a tractor is preferable to using a tiller, in my opinion, though the plow will move things around a bit. One plant item in particular, the day lilies at the south end of the garden (which figure heavily into a future post), are no longer just at the south end, thanks to roots being carried by the plow. Now they are along the west side, at the north end and scattered here and there in the middle.

My preference for working the garden up with a shovel and hoe are not only considerations of weeds and such. There are always considerations of fuel and repair parts. There are even environmental considerations. There is also the fact that my gardening method of deeply dug beds, doesn't work well with machines. But for me, there is also the rather large and important consideration of peacefully working the soil, as it has been worked for thousands of years, with the sounds of nature and tools working the earth, and the smells of fresh, damp garden dirt. Besides, it lets my mind wander much better than working with machines.

For those who ARE "machine age farmers", there is nothing wrong with that. This IS the machine age, after all. I am just really grateful that there is still room in this fast paced machine world for those of us who choose a less mechanized way.

(DF) NOT the biggest turnips I've ever seen

As you can see from the photo, these turnips are not nearly so large as the ones Anna was talking about. They are the same variety, just smaller. As you may imagine, there is a reason for the difference in size.

While I have no idea how the larger ones were grown, I can point out a few reasons why these, which grew in my garden, are so small. First of all, I must say that the soil needs amended with compost and/or manure to offset the heavy clay in this part of my garden. Add to this, the fact that they were planted much later than I would ordinarily recommend (late September instead of mid August), and you start to see the picture. They were also planted very thick in the row, and never thinned. By very thick, I mean there may have been 1/4 inch or less between them, with the intention of thinning them to 4 - 6 inches apart when they were up and growing. I didn't get around to pulling dirt up around them either.

Had they been planted a bit earlier, in richer soil, thinned properly and dirt pulled up around them, this picture may have been a bit different. Honestly, when the first hard freeze hit and killed everything else in the garden, I wrote the whole thing off as a lost cause and went about other business. My mistake! As you can see, they made turnips in spite of the extreme lack of attention. I can also point out that even through the recent cold weather, the tops are still great for greens and the turnip below is as solid and tasty as I have seen.

Now to my real point for writing this post. I truly believe turnips are getting a bad rap. In reality, they are not only nutritious and delicious but quite easy to grow. As an example, if they will make even such small turnips in such poor soil, and with no care whatsoever, think what they will do with even a little work. And to top it off, they are a great food source for farm animals. Not many things in the garden can boast such qualities and still stay in the garden until we are ready to use them.

Next time you are thinking of planting a versatile, easy care fall crop in the garden, keep the lowly turnip in mind. You won't regret it.

(AF) Blasted Chickens!!

It was far too hot this past summer for tomatoe plants to do any more other than sit there looks scraggly and try to stay alive. But as Fall set in and the rain came, they perked up, began to bloom and started setting loads of tomatoes. But as the tomatoes began to get up to any size, the frosts came. So, determined to get at least a handful of fresh, home grown, vine-ripened tomatoes, I have been going out there every time it even hints of dropping below freezing and lovingly covering my big, beautiful tomato plants up with thick blankets, carefully tucking them in.

I have one plant in particular that I have given extra attention to as it was a Cherokee Purple (heirloom) and I not only was drooling at the thought of munching on a few tomatoes from that plant, but I wanted to make sure I got at least one good one to save back seeds for next year. They may be ugly tomatoes, but the flavor just can't be beaten! I have even covered the plants over with netting to keep my free range chickens and the wildlife from bothering them.

But when I went outside this morning to check on my beautiful little tomatoes, those blasted chickens had managed to get up under the netting and pig out on two of my very best ones!    I have three sets of chickens, each to serve a different purpose. Two of those sets are already in pens, but the third have been free-range. I am working on refurbishing an old pen to move them to so they will leave my veggies alone, but I got side-tracked from it. I only had a few things growing at the moment so the chicken pen got pushed to the bottom of the list since I didn't think I would really need it much until next year's growing season was here. Looks like I will either have to put a rush on getting that pen finished, or pull the remainder of the tomatoes and let them ripen in the house. Judging by next week's predicted nightly temps, I probably better just pull my tomatoes off and let the chickens continue to clean the yard of ticks so they don't overwinter.

Although free-range chickens produce even more nutritious eggs, I think mine are going to have to all go in pens most of the time so that I can also have fresh veggies. I will just have to make it a point to feed them a variety of scraps.

Look at all those big, beautiful seeds I missed out on!

(DF) HAPPY CHICKENS

No self-sufficient farm is complete without chickens. There is just no substitute for fresh eggs from free range chickens. There is also no substitute for the frustration of watching that big tomato, day after day, until it is almost ready to pick, only for it to be pecked by a chicken.

It was just such an occasion that prompted me to build a chicken pen before garden planting time this spring. It is a reasonable size pen for about a dozen hens and has a wire top to keep them in and predators out. The only problem is that they are not out in the garden eating bugs and weed seeds. This raises the feed bill and lowers the egg quality.

With the garden harvested or frosted, (except for a row of late turnips), I decided to let the chickens out during the day. They are in a habit of roosting in the hen house, so it will be no problem shutting them up in the evening to keep critters out.

They will have to be penned up in the spring, before the garden is planted, but by then they will have eaten a tremendous quantity of bugs and weed seeds that would have over wintered in the yard and garden.

With the added protein, the eggs are sure to be better and more plentiful. I am really looking forward to increased egg production, and it is truly a pleasure to see the chickens so happily scratching about.

(DF) GARDEN PLANTING TIME!!! ...........ALREADY????

Of course, everyone knows it isn't REALLY garden planting time, but never hurts to get the ground ready early; right? And the early bird gets the worm etc. Ok, I'll get to the point.

A few days ago, I came across what was left of this year's pitiful potato crop. I had completely forgotten about the small box of spuds that hadn't rotted in the ground. I know, me forgetting about FOOD of all things is hard to believe but work with me on this. When I found them, they were seriously sprouted, more than ready to plant. As things happen, the next day, I read a post about the importance of planting potatoes early, on a blog I view occasionally.

No, I don't think they meant they should be planted THIS EARLY, but it got me thinking. With my naturally curious nature and a background in research, this situation was ripe for an experiment. I have always been inclined to push the limits a bit and test the tried and true methods, and this seemed like a prime opportunity.

At this point, a little background might be in order, so please bear with me. Several years ago, (in the mid-80's), I read a magazine article on a gardening method which involved digging up the soil in small beds, turning the top foot or so of soil and digging up the foot or so below that. I believe the article was in The Mother Earth News, if memory serves. I tried it and compared it to the conventional method of plowing the garden and planting rows. The comparison was interesting, and the beds tended to produce more vegetables on less ground with less watering and weeding. Since that time, I have moved to where I now live and have finally gotten enough rocks out to actually use a shovel.

Back in the here and now. With thoughts of digging up the garden in preparation for spring gardening, reading posts about planting potatoes, and finding potatoes already sprouted, the research experiment wheels started turning. The beds need dug anyway, never too early to add compost, and the moon phase being just past third quarter, (my preferred phase for planting root crops), and the potato sprouts won't last another couple of months. Obviously nothing to lose and knowledge to gain.

So today, it was off to the garden with a pick and shovel. I dug a hole in the garden about three feet by six feet and about eight inches deep, then used the pick to dig up the bottom of the pit about a foot deep. I then placed the potatoes on the bottom, and yes, I know they look very close together but, because the soil is worked up so deep, the roots have plenty of room to grow downward instead of sideways. I then covered the potatoes with compost a couple of inches deep, (it took about a contractor's wheel barrow full). Finally, I put the top layer of garden dirt back in.

Yes, I know the mound looks suspicious, but keep this in mind for fall decorations. A garden full of these beds and all that is lacking is tombstones and cobwebs.

I will certainly keep you all posted as to how this planting compares to later plantings, and it is my hope to plant one bed each month for comparison. Please let me know in the comments, what you think, or better yet, what your experiences have been. And wish me luck on a good potato crop.

(DF) FREE COLD FRAME?

Maybe not totally free, if one considers the time and a little work as a cost. The materials were, in fact, about as free as it gets. The blocks are some of those I spoke of in a previous post on salvaging blocks, the only money spent was for the amount of gas to drive the tractor less than a half mile. The glass, (one tempered glass panel from a sliding patio door), was free for the taking, simply because the previous owner did not want to pay someone to haul it away after replacing it with a new one. Even the prop stick for the glass, (the broken handle from my wood splitting maul), was free.

The hardest part of construction was getting the blocks level. I had to dig down a few inches on one end because of the hill. The blocks had to be leveled in both directions so the glass would sit flat on top. With the digging done, stacking the blocks was quick and easy. I stacked them without mortar, (in case they ever need moved to another location). The joints are offset for stability.

After digging in a few inches of composted hay, I placed the glass on top and the cold frame is ready for seeds. The addition of the broken handle allows for the glass to be lifted on hot days so there isn't too much heat build up.

Now if I can just find some kale and/or Swiss chard seeds, (or some of the lettuce seeds Anna has left over), to go with the green onions, it could be Christmas salad in the making.

(DF) No Longer Just Frost

This morning found frost, not light or patchy this time, but serious frost at my place. By the time the animals were taken care of and the ice broken on the goat water, the remaining plants in the garden were looking a bit limp. The smell of frosted vegetation filled the air with it's pungent aroma and it was pretty obvious that the growing phase of gardening had ended for the season. The only plant unaffected is the pepper which had a bit better protection than the others.

With the forecast calling for warmer temperatures for a few days, I will let it warm up a little before potting the pepper. I have it on good authority that peppers will produce throughout most of the winter in the house and then start over in the spring for a head start on production. What I know absolutely nothing about, is how well full grown pepper plants transplant back into pots. With this in mind, I will try to give it time to adjust to one shock at a time, if the weather allows of course.

Now looking ahead, it is time for all the wonderful winter activities, in and out of the garden. We mustn't forget that spring will be here before we know it.

(AF) FROSTY NIGHTS

I spent Tuesday evening doing the Cake & Ice Cream thing with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday, so I was greatly relieved that the frost Dave got that night missed me. At only an hour's drive apart, the ever so slight temperature difference in that distance made all the difference in the world. My plants looked cold, but they all survived with no apparent damage.

But over in my neck of the woods it was forecast to go down to between 28° and 32°F last night so I spent yesterday getting all my valuable veggies and house plants prepared. None of my veggies produced during our record heat this summer, but as soon as it finally cooled off my veggies finally began to bloom and set and I am not in the least ready to let Jack Frost have them!

I had quite an assortment of houseplants outside, all of which badly need repotting. But I had to just bring them inside to warmth for now and worry about repotting later. My Aloe Veras are still in the ground. They loved the hot dry summer and multiplied really well so I just put a heavy cardboard box over them and hoped for the best. I will have to dig and pot them up sometime next week.

Early in August I had planted tomato seeds in peat pots in the shade, hoping for great Fall weather to set them out into a Fall garden. But the heat and drought continued on so I only put a few of them into the ground and several into very large pots. Now, as freezing temps approach, they are growing beautifully and putting on loads of tomatoes! It will be a lot of work, but I am going to do everything I can to get at least a few tomatoes off of them. Often times I just pick all the greens ones off when a freeze approaches and either fry them or make pickles out of them, but this year I am going to attempt to extend their growing season as long as possible.

Quite a few of the tomatoes in pots I brought into the house. Now my hallway looks like a forest with a small path in the center to walk down. I kinda like it! Now, if some of those little tomatoes would turn red, and a few stay green, I will be ahead on my Christmas decorating, ha, ha, ha. That is a very tempting idea and would definitely be a Christmas the grandkids would remember.

As for all the rest of my plants .... some in the ground and some in pots too large and heavy for me to lift by myself, I dragged out every old blanket, large heavy boxes, and thick feed sacks I could find and spent the afternoon and evening covering everything up. Until we have a harder freeze for several nights in a row, it is better to cover up the plants in the big pots anyway, rather than drag them in and out of the house.

We have a chance of a light frost again tonight so I am just going to be lazy and leave everything covered up today, then uncover it all tomorrow morning. After that, we are suppose to have at least 6 days of beautiful, warm weather before any more chances of frost. If all of my coverings keep them toasty and safe through these two frosty nights, my little Fall garden will have another whole week to grow and thrive before it is in danger again.