Doing the Can-can

We are getting lots of tomatos , peppers, eggplants, cantalope and rhubarb.  It sure is keeping us busy because what we can't eat, we have been canning.  We've "put up"  rhubarb, veggie sauce, tomato sauce, salsa and loads of pickles. 

While we have been keeping busy, we are looking forward to cooler weather so we can get out there and clean out that house.

Ant or Grasshopper??

It seems I am at the garden about every other day harvesting.  That means that every other day I am chopping, canning, freezing, cooking and dehydrating.  I hope that come winter all this work will pay off and we will be more like the ant than like the grasshopper.  We dehydrated a ton of peppers now I am looking for some pepper recipies.  Today we harvested our first eggplants.  mmmmm

Summer time harvesting

After being gone for nearly 3 weeks,  the garden looks fantastic.  We stopped by on our way home before we even went to our house.  There was almost no weeds and the veggies are out of control.

We are getting a steady harvest of zucchini, squash, cukes, and beans.  I have made both dill and sweet pickles and can't wait to taste them.  The pumpkins and gourds are taking over.  I pruned them back as soon as we got back in town,  but they are ready for another pruning.

I am very impressed by the grapes.  Most are now tall enough to reach their trellis.  Two more years and we'll have a crop.  The tomatoes are suffering badly from blossom end rot.  I have got to get some calcium into the soil to remedy that.  Only the romas seem to be affected.  The big slicers seem to be thriving well.  There are a few eggplants showing up,  the fruits are about 4-5in long already.

Photos below are wild raspberries, Grape vines and general garden view.

This week we also did some general cleanup of the yard.  We cut down a bunch of trees and started a firewood pile.  We have a long way to go to be prepared for winter.  We also tried to repair more of the driveway, but got our 3rd flat tire on the tractor.  Uugh

GROW GROW GROW

I went to the garden this morning and pulled a few weeds and  harvested broccoli & strawberries.  The birds were singing, the sun was shining, it was like being at church.

This morning I planted my companion plants, amaranth, borage, cilantro, radish, onion, garlic and stevia.  Hopefully it will help keep the pests away and keep things organic.

Below are some spring photos from around the property.

Peonies:

The Catalpa trees are so cool in bloom, then they get those long bean pods in fall:

Grapes and general garden shot.  These 2 photos were taken 10 days ago.

I also have to send out a huge thankyou to Heidi for the 65 gallon water tank.  It is so cool, it fits in my car and holds enough water for the entire garden, however, the last time I went to fill it, the hose fell out of the top and filled my car instead.  I am still drying out the car and the boys no longer want to ride in my car because it smells terrible.  Anyone have suggestions?????

Lazy Days

We had lots of rain both Saturday and Sunday, but we did manage to make it out on Saturday.  I planted sweet potatos, raspberries and sun flowers.  We also picked up straw to put down between the beds. 

The big news is that Chris passed the electrical inspection on his first try!  Now we are just waiting for Dominion power to hook it up.

Chris had another big win this weekend when the riding lawnmower broke.  It would start but wouldn't go.  He proped it up on a muck bucket(accident waiting to happen!) and crawled underneath. Just one trip to the hardware store later and he made it work again! That sure saved us some dollars.

Ahh, Rain

Another rainy Monday!  WooHoo,  it is so nice not to have to haul water for the garden. 

I have been going out a couple of days a week to do the weeding and watering.  The Lateglow strawberries are about the size of marbles,  it is so exciting to see progress.  We got pumpkins and gourds and rhubarb in last week, just waiting for them to poke out of the soil. 

Chris spent a good part of Saturday finishing up his temporary electrical pole.  He is ready for inspection this week.  Then it will take the power company about 3 weeks to get the service hooked up. 

We had lots of visitors this week.  Heidi dropped by for a garden tour on Thursday,  she thought we should hire some of those workers who stand outside 7-11 to help clear things away.  Damian, Elsie and Brent came by on Saturday and had lunch with us.  Brent told us there is no way we would get this cleaned up by ourselves and we should find some cheep labor to help out(7-11 guys??).  John, Mary and Michelle are the first family members to come by since we made the big purchase.  We gave them a tour on Sunday and I think they left in shock and awe as well ;)  Michelle went home with a lovely granite parting gift.

It has been a quiet couple of weeks lately. Now that the garden is in,  I am happy to just stay in that area of the land, where it seems very civilized. 

Bring on the Rain

As I write this I am so thankful it is a rainy Monday.  We planted the garden yesterday. My little seedlings totaled 60 tomato plants, 30 peppers, 4 artichoke, 8 eggplant, 12 watermelon, 12 cantalope.  We also planted beans, cucumbers, squash, and zuchinni.

Chris spent the entire weekend working on a pole for temporary electrical service.  He got the pole up, secured, several boxes mounted on the pole(don't aske me what they are all for), and two 8 foot grounding poles pounded into the ground.  Is is almost ready for the inspection. 

I have my fingers crossed that with electricity, we will be able to get water from the well.  I have been hauling water from home to the few plants we have in the garden.  It has not been without it's problems.  Jackson and I had several milk jugs full of water and were stopping by the grocery store, when rounding a corner we heard "thud" then the unmistakeable "glug, glug, glug" of milk jugs emptying.  When we got to the store,  we were leaving a trail as the water leaked out of the door jams.  When we came out of the store,  there was a puddle under my car.  That was a week ago and now my car smells like fungus! Eeewwwwww