Today’s blessing #5 Flowers with fragrance and with a riot of color. The roses are still blooming and this one has a lovely fragrance, though because it was planted by someone else, I don’t know it’s name. The Dahlias are completing with the red blueberries leaves that have their autumn color, the green grapes and the lavender.
Blessing #4: Mary and her grandson came over for a short visit. Tristan is 10 months now and enjoyed seeing the sheep and dogs.
Blessing #3: 2/3rd of the garden is now covered with straw. We need another beautiful day to get finished, but the bulk is done.
Blessing #2: 3 tons of fresh hay in the barn for this winter. I love the smell of hay and I am so thrilled to be able to get it into this barn this year. It brings back so very many good memories.
Blessing #1: Sheep to feed. Yes, I love the sheep as well, even when they are having trouble obeying.
These are a few of the many blessings that I am enjoying today. Plus, the Sabbath is starting, so a whole day of rest is ours. I pray that each one of you is likewise blessed.
Tomatoes are having a bit of confusion this year. It often freezes around October 15, but look at all those new sprouts – they are volunteer tomatoes. Of course, eventually, we will get a freeze and they will all go down, but what a strange time to be sprouting.
This is the kale we planted last spring. It has been giving all summer and still going strong. We have planted new kale, but I’ll show that after it has been thinned out some. I’ve not kept up with the garden or much of anything lately like I would have liked to. But we did get all the hazardous waste – paint, chemicals, etc. in the trunk of one car to get it to the proper place on Sunday. We filled the trunk, so will be using the other car until it is emptied and aired out.
These are the “new lambs on the block”. These brown ones, Zoe and Zola, were born April 14 and have just arrived. It’s fun to watch how quickly they realize they are in with other lambs and warm right up to each other and still they are closer to their siblings when they come together.
Here is another photo of all 5 of the ewe lambs so far. 3 more are expected next week. Then we’ll sit tight for the winter and let them grow up. The brother to the little black one on the left is in another pen with a ewe. Just can’t take a chance.
The table runner is now ready to quilt. I modified the pattern to fit my table by adding another design unit and the triangles on the ends. For “batting” I used the Teflon fabric that is made for pot holders, so that when something hot is placed on it, the table will still be protected. I don’t even trust myself not to forget.
Then it was time to do some of those mundane tasks – like cleaning out the refrigerator. These chores never take care of themselves.
And the garden is still producing, so I picked and cleaned kale. There are still more foods (beets, parsley, peppers, celery, etc.) to pick and though some will stay for the winter, some need to be taken care of – maybe tomorrow. And to my surprise there are dozen of volunteer tomato plants 2-6″ high. But the freeze will take care of them.
I brought the Meyers Lemon tree and the lime tree into the house as I’m not sure when the first freeze will be, but usually by mid October and we are there. Since the lemon is blooming, I’m anticipating wonder fragrance from this little plant. The little lime tree nearly died, but I see it is coming back. I promise to take better care of it. See all the parsley near the bottom. Will that grow in the house throughout the winter?
This little house with a detached garage on 4 acres with it’s own well and septic tank,
this 36 x 48 horse barn,
and this hoop house are what have been taking so much of my time lately. The property adjoins ours. The owners were not in good enough health to keep things up, therefore there is a lot of work to be done as you can easily see. After a lot of negotiating and biting our tongues, we signed the papers today and will take possession either on Monday or Tuesday, when the sale is recorded by the county. We have a potential tenant (I have had to check out as well as one can), who with his wife is excited about doing the yard work and painting. They will only rent the house, not the land, barn, or hoop house. The barn and land are for the sheep. The plan is to put the garden that is currently on the steep hill, between the barn which is on the lower side of the trees and the hoop house. It is much flatter and will be so much easier to garden. So there are more garden boxes going in this winter. And probably less quilting as well.
Another hour of sewing and bit by bit, the quilt is progressing.
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Goal #1: The hoop house is nearly weeded (one more aisle to go) and lettuce has been planted for the next round. Most of the spent plants are out. It looks almost bare. But the big sweet potato plants are trying to make up for all that
Goal #2. Then we tackled the job of moving sheep into different groups so the girls would get bred with the guys we chose. Fortunately the ram Shetland sheep have horns which help us to be able to grab them. So my helper made a door in the fence and a divider between the two sides of the night area, and we separated Zillow and put him in with Juliette (a Quessant sheep) and her daughters. The new Shetland sheep coming will go in with them. Then new ram, Stormy, will go into the area where Zillow was. Oh happy day, no one will be breeding his relatives. There are still the three Cormos which DH would like me to sell. I will put that on my must do list. Such a toss up caused by breeding time!
Then moving on, I found a sew along project to share with you. It is a bear patch quilt in 4 different sizes from SEW FRESH QUILTS. I’ll be making mine in the crib size which is 47 x 47″. The page (click the red word) is for the introduction and fabric selection. The bear paws are half square triangles which means they will be easy. Yes, I will be making it – just a matter of when I can get started.
Goal #3: The next quilt is now mounted and waiting for me to quilt.
Your turn: I have a question for you. I started the blog to encourage myself to get more done. I find now that I’d really like to be more help and encouragement to you? Would you like to be able to make a list of what you plan to accomplish this week/month? Would you like more information on how I do something – anything related to homesteading would be in this list? Or do we need an exercise encouragement or weight or what? I really need your imput into this to be able to have a better blog and not waste your time. Maybe I can find out how to make a poll. Does anyone of you readers know how to do that? Have a good day and we’ll meet again soon.
Since tomorrow is the day to post our knitting this week, it is time to show that some progress has been made. These were started mid August, so my goal will be to finish them by the end of September. Since I’m on the foot, I should be able to achieve that (pending interruptions in the schedule)
This is what I wrote yesterday. “So tomorrow’s goals are to finish weeding the hoop house, make bread, pick apples, and finish the quilt and to make applesauce” . So who thinks that actually happened? Instead, this is what happened.
The olive bread and rolls were made and another sponge is started. The apples, hoop house and quilt were untouched. They go on tomorrow’s list.
Instead, today the 9 huge zucchini called to me, and I made 18 cups of relish,
30 patties from a recipe my sister sent me. Most of these are going into the freezer. There is a large kettle of grated zucchini in the refrigerator that I will cook into soup for the weekend and 16 cups of grated zucchini is now in the freezer. There are only 2 very small zucchini left and they will go into a salad. There will be no more zucchini this year as I pulled the plants.
These peppers
and these carrots, along with some previously picked onions were part of today’s ingredients. I did can 7 pints of applesauce out of previously picked apples.
This was a lovely small sugar pumpkin until the chickens found it. They also enjoy doing this to carrots and beets. So we just plant enough for both of us.
Tonight I get to crawl into nice clean sheets to dream about the new adventures awaiting me tomorrow.
Then we picked corn, green beans, beets, and carrots with which to play tomorrow. And we must not forget to pick the apples before the raccoons and deer get to them.
Just 10 – 15 minutes here and there can make a big difference in a project. Most of these blocks were made with minutes here and there. Here I have laid out the blocks that were on the board in the order that I wanted to sew them.
Then I gathered them into piles with each row kept separate to sew them together.
With just half an hour, I was able to put this strip of pale green down the sides and
here they are waiting on the ironing board to be pressed and cut apart when I have a few more minutes. In this way, I can get much more done, then if I have to set aside a larger space of time.
They are cut apart and are being put back up on the wall, waiting for the next step.
Yesterday the pumpkins were picked and some headed home with daughter and her husband. They don’t look all that big in this photo, but that post is an 8×8. There were 6 large, 6 medium, and 6 small. The plants did a great job of producing some of each.
Today. the hoop house received new skin and the vents were moved down low to better suit our needs. This has been an all day job, with two men working all day, another doing odd jobs and part of the day, I played go-fer.
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After lunch, we went after straw. It makes a huge difference in how easy or difficult the garden is to plant in the spring. We use organic straw and the co-op has had a difficult time getting it this year. The farmers are tilling it back into the soil for water retention.
Since it was raining so hard, we just unloaded it and shoved it down the stairs. On a better weather day, we can distribute it.
I really needed a spinning area as the fleece and spun fibers are creeping across too many surfaces and this closet hasn’t been used for much.
They are already filled. Doesn’t this make the most perfect spinning area for what I want at my fingertips? Yes, there are many more fleeces, but they are not taking over my bedroom like these items were. I am so pleased to get this done. Thank you, Lisa, for the idea. Now I need another closet like this for the knitting supplies that have no home. And now that the table these were on is mostly cleaned off, I have room to spin again.
After exercise this morning, I picked, seeded and lay peppers on the dehydrator shelves. My hands and nose are still burning tonight. Perhaps I should have worn gloves and a mask.