I just love the bright orange among the green leaves in the garden.
And there are about a dozen of these pumpkins.
Category Archive: Garden
We were also able to harvest 15 ears of corn today. I’m trying something new. I put 8 in the freezer still in their little jackets. I hope this will keep them until we get around to eating them. The ones we did eat were excellent.
Dreamweaver quilted
The quilting is DONE!. Dreamweaver from the Strip your Stash book is couch size at 60×80″. It still needs a binding but that will happen in time.
Other than that, I picked raspberries and apples today.
End of August
The heel flap is done and next comes the heel. Progress is slow. The summer is winding down and maybe when the weather turns cold, I’ll be more interested in hand work. But right now, I want to be outside enjoying what summer is left. My guess is that we may get an early fall.
Today we took the shade cloth off the hoop house. Something is enjoying my peppers just before they are ripe enough to pick. Tomorrow promises to be a very nice day and then the rest of the week is forecast to be showers and rain. And we definitely need that!
System shutdown
These are something new that I found interesting. There were 30 little bulblets in the package and are now planted in the hoophouse. Many will be transplanted outside in the spring as they have to be planted a foot apart.
My laptop and the chainsaw weren’t working yesterday so we took both in to have looked at and with minor adjustments, both work now. And since we were out at noon, we made a stop at Panera’s for lunch. Out of the last 5 times I have been there, 4 have had mistakes in my order. No wonder I don’t eat there often. Yes, they fix them, but it is inconvenient.
When we came home, I collapsed, my body wouldn’t go any farther, so I listened and napped.
This afternoon, I watched a webinar with Lindee G on applique and am hoping tomorrow I will feel refreshed. Does your body ever just quit on you?
August = harvest month
The morning started with mending 2 pair of pants. These turned out surprisingly well for daughter. Then it was off to give a bit of supervision to someone who was going to help me today. He did get the “wee barn” swept out and the sleeping area for the three sheep all cleaned. It looks and smells good in there now.
Look at these silly ducks. Why would you go outside the fence to be able to put your head inside to get water? Silly, silly ducks.
I asked my new helper to dig up the potatoes. The ground is hard, but there are about 100# of potatoes in a 30′ space. We had a lot of potatoes that didn’t get eaten in time this spring, so we just planted them. And had the best harvest ever. I think we’ll get another 100# out of each of the two rows we have left to harvest. No we don’t need that many, but we won’t starve. Well, he dug about 30#, decided it was lunch and came and asked for his money after lunch. Ah, help is not perfect these days. So instead of sewing or quilting, I dug potatoes, picked tomatoes, picked a few raspberries and a couple cabbage. (but you are probably as tired of photos of these as I am of taking them). Then it was time to fertilize and water the hoop house and the raspberries which are looking rather shriveled from lack of water. Next the front yard and driveway plants were watered and supper was simply leftovers. There was my day and when did I sew or quilt?
But winter (sewing/quilting time) is coming and the way this harvest has been going, I won’t be spending much time at the grocery store. I was lucky that all the running around took care of half of my steps for the day – I’m over my 10,000 goal, and yes I did work in 5 minutes on the elliptical. I need that exercise to be able to do the other things. Who has time to grow old?
HARVEST
We spent most of today watering and harvesting. The temperature kept creeping up and by 2 PM, it reached 92 and we were all for staying in the house and resting.
Included in the harvest were tomatoes, kale, Swiss chard, parsley, corn, zucchini, and about 75# potatoes. Now I just have to figure out what to do with all of this. Some will go to a daughter but most will be eaten or frozen or even stored for winter.
Hectic life
Today’s raspberries totaled just over 2 cups. Chickens helped me pick them.
Then a bag of string beans and 2 more zucchini and 4 ears of corn of which I forgot to take a photo.
Then a trip around the neighbors property they are wanting to sell. We sold it to them about 16 years ago and were interested in having it back – BEFORE we took the tour.
Now it’s out to pick tomatoes and water the hoop house. I’m still resting from my giant day yesterday. In the morning, we go look at sheep, Wednesday is a Sew fun day, Thursday is an all day class involving the quilting machine. Friday may just be a collapse day. Temperatures here are in the low 80s and predicted to be low 90s starting Friday. So the blog may be very brief this week.
Quilting class and garden
We were each given a sample pack of quilting stabilizers and batting when we arrived for class.
These were some of the quilts hanging on the wall and laying across the table – all created by Alex Anderson of quilting fame. And yes, we were allowed to touch them to see how soft they were using these products. This is a whole new line of quilting products by R & K distribution specifically to make quilting easier. There was so much information that the best way for me to give it to you is to give you their website where they describe each of the products and how to use them. I was impressed with how soft the appliques were especially as that is one area, I’ve have had trouble getting the softness I wanted when I use a fusible product. The glue in these products wash out when your done, so the stiffness is gone. Go to: http://www.quiltersselect.com/video-gallery.php. There is also a list of times where you can attend seminars on-line for free. Some of these products can be used with the creative cutting machines.
I thought you might like to see how the personal sized cantaloupe are doing. There are about 20 of them now. These 3 are about softball size but not ready to pick just yet.
The peppers are coming along nicely, but none have colored up yet. And most of what I planted were the orange and red.
This is my first try at sweet potatoes. Can you see where I lifted the leaves back? They are trying to take over the aisle and they are getting tall as well. However, when I reached around one of them by the stem, I don’t detect any underground potatoes. Should I? Have any of you ever grown them? I don’t know if I’m just wasting fertilizer and water and time or if they will actually give me some potatoes.
A successful day
I started the morning by opening an email that I should not have opened. Then I waited for the Geeksquad to remove the virus or whatever from my computer so I could again use it. After that a phone call to Handiquilter and I believe my machine may be more cooperative.
In between those chores, I did get a pattern copied onto pattern pellon for a jacket. I even was able to get the main pieces cut out of this cotton fabric. It will be a loose, lightweight cotton jacket using the new serger. However, I do not have the right thread, so will pick that up tomorrow.
Off to the grocery briefly for a couple very good watermelons and out to the garden. We picked the funniest shaped carrots. Next year the ground will have to be worked deeper. These poor carrots just could not break through the hardpan. Still they are delicious.
There always seem to be so many odds and ends that don’t take a lot of time after one gets “to it” I picked about 3 cups of raspberries this morning. We are between the first and second crop.
We brought in 2 boxes of potatoes about 3 weeks ago, so I sorted them today for any bad ones. We probably have about 3 times this many more to dig and bring in. I’m just procrastinating, hoping they will last longer through the winter.