Category Archive: Garden

2014
12/07

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Dec gardening

The weather this week has gone from freezing temperatures up to a balmy 48 degrees today, which means that today and tomorrow while it is not raining, we had to go spread hay I planted some garlic (still more to plant) and some sunchokes. As you can see, we brought 8 bales of old hay up for mulching and will finish spreading it tomorrow.

The chickens did not want to be left out of this act, so as fast as we put the hay down, they scratched and made sure that no insects were left behind. They really had a great time.

Here is Beau contentedly chewing a bone and keeping his eyes on things while we worked.

Kati & Zach park their boat here for the winter and they brought it today. Then we went in and enjoyed popcorn and hot apple juice with spices.

We’re a bit tired but I feel good about the mulch. We will finish spreading it tomorrow after Bill puts the rest of the bricks in place to keep the dirt from slipping down the hill. Then the rains will take care of decomposing it and eventually it will nourish the soil.

It’s still early December and today felt like spring But then I think the weather gets a bit mixed up in these parts. February, it will without a doubt be very cold and windy. Then we’ll get a long, cool spring. which is why it’s great to have a hoop house. I can get a jump on summer, by planting in there and have many plants ready to go outside when the weather finally cooperates. Then there will be some plants which will stay in the house all summer. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any heat, so it does freeze when it freezes outside.

2014
10/21

Category:
farming
Garden
Life
Sewing

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8 Flannel receiving blankets + busy day

I like to start my day with a list – even a mental one – and do the least desirable first. Today, that was emptying out the bee water. I didn’t suit up as these are such gentle bees and it was barely 60 degrees out, so there weren’t a lot of bees out. I removed the roof, flipped off the water unit, and quickly covered them again. Since I forgot to go back and get those water containers after the bees left them, that’s where I’ll start tomorrow.

That project done, I proceeded to the greenhouse where I lopped the banana trees back to about a foot high and used their foliage for composting them. I learned these are Musa Bajoo which are a Japanese hardy banana plant. They are strictly ornamental and can survive to 5 degrees below 0 F. So this winter I’ll think of a nice place where they will get lots of sun and plant half of them outside in the spring. I have really enjoyed the tropical atmosphere they give in the greenhouse. I might even put a start in a pot and have a house plant.

For that I rewarded myself with lunch, then finished putting the last of the pears on the dehydrator. They will do done tomorrow and I can bag them and clean all the stickiness off the trays. Then off to the sewing room. Well, I tried, but the turkeys don’t like sleeping on the ground and I covered their night enclosure so they can’t go over and be some coyote’s dinner, so they didn’t have a perch, but they do now, though a low one. (that window is screened in)

Then the alpacas needed their dishes moved out of the rain into a building. That was easy as I only needed to do a bit of cleaning out and put two pallets in there. I’ll know in the next couple days if that really works, or if they knock the side out of the building pushing the pallets through it.

Then, I was free to sew the baby receiving blankets.

Hint: before and after I leave an opening to turn, I like to sew from the edge of the fabric to the seam. This makes the seam line up much better after the item has been turned as the open area wants to turn in to match the seam.

And corners are another item that many of us have had trouble with. So this is how I get a nice sharp corner: First I sew the 90 degree corner, then fold it over on the seam line.

Next I fold the top seam down over this and hold it all with my thumb and index finger.

Now take the back fabric up over this seam being held with the thumb and finger.

It took a bit of practice the first time, but now I get a nice sharp corner. I turn all the corners this way, then pull the blanket right side out. Press and topstitch.

Here’s a photo of the blankets. Some were different on each side and some were the same on both sides.

2014
10/10

Category:
farming
Garden
Life

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Winter prepping

I just couldn’t put it off any longer. The large tomatoes which were on this side had pretty much quit producing, so it was time to chop that forest out of there. I had let them go without pruning the last part of the summer and some of those vines were a good 12′ and more long, working themselves into the next tomatoes. So it was a big mess to remove. But gone, they are. Next week, I’ll finish cleaning out this box, add some slug bait, and cover it with cardboard for the winter.

There is plenty to do to get ready for the cold and wet season. This is the building where the animals spend the night. The alpacas use the shed on the left with open doors. The sheep go into the left side of the building behind the feeder, and the chickens go inside the door on the right side of the building. Their is also a human door between the sheep and the chicken building. The human door goes into a small room that holds feed etc., then into the chicken house where they spend the night. The sheep area wraps all the way around the chicken house and is enclosed in fencing with plastic on the outside, which helps keep them shielded from the weather.

Today, we finished putting brown tarp over the front/outdoor part of the chicken area, so that they (including turkeys, ducks, and geese who do not go inside the house) can all eat in a dry area and spend the night there as well.

I’d love to here about some of your winter weather projects. Just use the comments section.

2014
10/05

Category:
Garden
Life
quilts
Sewing

COMMENTS:
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The end of a beautiful day

We cleaned what we wanted out of the garden beds. Now the areas between the beds will be finished by the hoof stock and chickens this week, then we will put cardboard on the beds for the winter, That is the end of the gardens except for the greenhouse. I think I’ll just put the garlic in pots for the winter.

In addition to the gardens, I canned another 10 pints of tomato sauce and did a good amount of sewing. Another red “I Spy” quilt top is finished and now hanging in the waiting to be quilted closet. It is amazing what can be accomplished when the car doesn’t move out of the garage.

2014
10/02

Category:
Garden
Sewing

COMMENTS:
2 Comments »

100 Pillowcases

All 100 pillowcases for children’s hospital are finished. I tucked the last threads in tonight after this photo. These are the last 15 that I finished today. Because it takes me this long, I know to start early. I like to get them to the hospital by Thanksgiving and we still have purple hats to do.

Now I will treat myself to making something totally different, work on the quilts, start a new pair of socks, do some spinning, or maybe I should put the gardens to bed first.

I did work in the greenhouse for two hours today. I’m thinking I would like to make several spots bare, then add slug bait and fertilizer and put cardboard over that to keep the weeds down so it will be all ready to go in early spring. It would be so wonderful to just lift whatever cardboard that hasn’t disintegrated and start planting. However I’m still in the thinking process on that.

2014
09/21

Category:
Foods
Garden
quilts

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More food and Pat Sloan quilt bom

It seems during the summer that the week starts in the garden – most likely because we didn’t check on it the previous day. We went to the garden with the intention of picking tomatoes, however, 17 of these personal sized cantaloupes filled the 5 gallon bucket. They are incredible sweet and juicy.

So a second trip to the garden brought in some of the tomatoes. I canned 7 quarts. Now here is the problem: with all the jars of beans, salsa, jam etc which was well over 150 jars, I only had 2 that didn’t seal. With these tomatoes, out of 7, 3 did not seal (yet) and I don’t know why. They will get a chance to go back into the canner tomorrow.

Did you know Safeway delivers? After a two unsuccessful attempts to use my personal special price they emailed to me, in the store, I called their delivery customer service rep. She was very patient and we got it all set up and the first delivery is free. After that there is a small charge – she thought about $6. The driver arrived with the bananas just as the tomatoes started boiling and brought them into the house where l ‘ll be working on them – probably Wednesday as they are green. The reason I wanted this many bananas was because we use at least 2 daily. I wanted to be able to freeze some and dehydrate some for snacks. It was also good I checked the bill as they had charged me $1.09/# instead of the .69, I was supposed to be charge. When I called it to their attention, the fellow was really sweet about it and refunded the difference, saying he didn’t understand how it happened in the first place. I met two lovely people on the phone and have the organic bananas that I want at the good price. All worked out in the end.

I was tired by now, but this blog is supposed to keep my fiber adventures motivated so, I put together this September block from the Pat Sloan Trip around the World BOM.

This is the placement photo. We are now done with the large X interior block and all the small ones around it. So we will probably beginning the sashing between the blocks next month.

2014
09/18

Category:
Foods
Garden

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Pillowcases and more canning

I woke up early this morning so was able to come to the sewing room and work on more pillowcases before I needed to make breakfast. I think there are about 15 here.

I ended up canning another 20 pints of salsa and 4 of string beans (that’s the end of the beans – bushes are pulled out of ground). There are still probably 10 gallons of tomatoes in the kitchen, most of which can wait until Sunday and those that can’t will get refrigerated. I only have 15 pint jars left and still have applesauce to make, so I’m thinking another trip to the store to see if they still have them on sale.

I’m guessing that I will need to pick more tomatoes and raspberries tomorrow. Oh, and I forgot about grapes. I do have another 2 weeks for those, don’t I?

Someone contacted me about what to do with extra tomatoes. She said that the food bank doesn’t accept them. Do any of you know what’s up with that?

2014
09/16

Category:
farming
Garden
Life
quilts

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“Tell it to the Stars” quilt top + garden

This is the finished “Tell it to the Stars” quilt top. It took parts of three days to assemble it, but it turned out to be a nice masculine quilt top. It has a green edge all around it, which is difficult to see because my quilt wall is a bit small.

And these are the garden boots and shoes I could not get a colored photo to show you yesterday. I did want you to see how pretty they are BEFORE the mud season.

So after finishing the quilt top, I went outside to pick food. Here is the first thing I saw. Yes, this bantam outwitted us and has two small chicks.

So back to picking veggies. 5 cantaloupes – personal size

2 gallon bucket of tomatoes

and more tomatoes

and a few beets

two gallons of green beans

about 2 quarts of raspberries

and not shown about 40 pounds of apples. We will pick more in 2 weeks or sooner. It was a full day.

2014
09/10

Category:
Garden
Knitting
Life

COMMENTS:
2 Comments »

A new pair of socks and some weeding

This pair is all wool, so they will need to be hand washed.

The wool is some of my oldest and I purchased it in Australia about 14 years ago. As you can see by the label it says it was on sale for 1.19. At that time one American dollar was worth two Australian dollars.

Between knitting and other chores, I did take a look at the garden which has so outrun me.

And I did actually get most of this side weeded. Maybe after my appointment in the morning, I’ll be up to more, but since I’m having a toe worked on, I may have to just sit and baby my foot. What do you think?

2014
08/29

Category:
Garden
quilts

COMMENTS:
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Produce time

Picking produce was very high on my list today, so I picked tomatoes and canned 5 quarts

The small ones were roasted for tomato sauce.

The green beans are waiting in the refrigerator until Sunday for their turn – except for the ones we had with lunch. They were so tender and delicious..

Can you see these small cantaloupes? Oh, I do hope they will get big enough. I didn’t really think they would grow, but planted them anyhow.

There were two quarts of raspberries that didn’t get their photo taken as they went straight into the freezer. While turning over a bit of ground to plant garlic Sunday, I found that we had missed some of these red potatoes some of which were consumed at lunch.

Category Archive: Garden

Then, I was free to sew the baby receiving blankets.

Hint: before and after I leave an opening to turn, I like to sew from the edge of the fabric to the seam. This makes the seam line up much better after the item has been turned as the open area wants to turn in to match the seam.

And corners are another item that many of us have had trouble with. So this is how I get a nice sharp corner: First I sew the 90 degree corner, then fold it over on the seam line.

Next I fold the top seam down over this and hold it all with my thumb and index finger.

Now take the back fabric up over this seam being held with the thumb and finger.

It took a bit of practice the first time, but now I get a nice sharp corner. I turn all the corners this way, then pull the blanket right side out. Press and topstitch.

Here’s a photo of the blankets. Some were different on each side and some were the same on both sides.

Today, we finished putting brown tarp over the front/outdoor part of the chicken area, so that they (including turkeys, ducks, and geese who do not go inside the house) can all eat in a dry area and spend the night there as well.

I’d love to here about some of your winter weather projects. Just use the comments section.

In addition to the gardens, I canned another 10 pints of tomato sauce and did a good amount of sewing. Another red “I Spy” quilt top is finished and now hanging in the waiting to be quilted closet. It is amazing what can be accomplished when the car doesn’t move out of the garage.

Now I will treat myself to making something totally different, work on the quilts, start a new pair of socks, do some spinning, or maybe I should put the gardens to bed first.

I was tired by now, but this blog is supposed to keep my fiber adventures motivated so, I put together this September block from the Pat Sloan Trip around the World BOM.

This is the placement photo. We are now done with the large X interior block and all the small ones around it. So we will probably beginning the sashing between the blocks next month.

I woke up early this morning so was able to come to the sewing room and work on more pillowcases before I needed to make breakfast. I think there are about 15 here.

I’m guessing that I will need to pick more tomatoes and raspberries tomorrow. Oh, and I forgot about grapes. I do have another 2 weeks for those, don’t I?

Someone contacted me about what to do with extra tomatoes. She said that the food bank doesn’t accept them. Do any of you know what’s up with that?

This is the finished “Tell it to the Stars” quilt top. It took parts of three days to assemble it, but it turned out to be a nice masculine quilt top. It has a green edge all around it, which is difficult to see because my quilt wall is a bit small.

And these are the garden boots and shoes I could not get a colored photo to show you yesterday. I did want you to see how pretty they are BEFORE the mud season.

So after finishing the quilt top, I went outside to pick food. Here is the first thing I saw. Yes, this bantam outwitted us and has two small chicks.

So back to picking veggies. 5 cantaloupes – personal size

2 gallon bucket of tomatoes

and more tomatoes

and a few beets

two gallons of green beans

about 2 quarts of raspberries

and not shown about 40 pounds of apples. We will pick more in 2 weeks or sooner. It was a full day.

This pair is all wool, so they will need to be hand washed.

The wool is some of my oldest and I purchased it in Australia about 14 years ago. As you can see by the label it says it was on sale for 1.19. At that time one American dollar was worth two Australian dollars.

Between knitting and other chores, I did take a look at the garden which has so outrun me.

And I did actually get most of this side weeded. Maybe after my appointment in the morning, I’ll be up to more, but since I’m having a toe worked on, I may have to just sit and baby my foot. What do you think?

Picking produce was very high on my list today, so I picked tomatoes and canned 5 quarts

The small ones were roasted for tomato sauce.

The green beans are waiting in the refrigerator until Sunday for their turn – except for the ones we had with lunch. They were so tender and delicious..

Can you see these small cantaloupes? Oh, I do hope they will get big enough. I didn’t really think they would grow, but planted them anyhow.

There were two quarts of raspberries that didn’t get their photo taken as they went straight into the freezer. While turning over a bit of ground to plant garlic Sunday, I found that we had missed some of these red potatoes some of which were consumed at lunch.

Sunday will be another garden day, but weeding this time.

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