I now have 30 out of 150 of these blocks complete. They are not difficult, but it does require I sit at the sewing machine. I would like to get this quilt done by the end of summer, but I’m going to have to spend more time sewing for that.
Today I pulled 2/3 of the garlic. It is early, but we had a good spring and because I didn’t have an outside garden ready, I put them in a corner in the hoop house. They will lie here for a week curing before I braid or otherwise store them.
I picked these zucchini while they are smaller so I can use them raw.
Have you ever eaten the big leaves that grow around the cabbage head. We have found them to be very good – much like collards – only better. DH likes them better than the cabbage head.
After washing and stemming them, I slice them the long way
then crosswise. You could just slice ribbons if you prefer and sometimes I do. I then boil them for a few minutes and we like them with vinegar over them.
I’ve been knitting this euro cowl as I really like how the colors are moving in the scarf. I’m now about 1/3 done. The other nice thing is that one knits until the last 4 feet of yarn and then the bind off, so when you are done, you don’t have left over yarn either.
This wisteria would like to claim the deck as its home. These are last years branches and it has already started on this years. However after researching their habits, we decided to stop that now. so I cut the branches down and now we’ll put copper in the ground which is supposed to kill the roots.
And today I say a thank you to those of you joining the challenge to lose any amount of weight in June. I went to the grocery store from the chiropractor. It was 12.15 and I was hungry. I picked up a goodie to eat on the way home, thought of you, and put it back down. I waited until I got home for lunch. Thanks for helping me by taking the challenge. And there is still time for you to join if you are one of the ones who hasn’t yet taken the challenge. You decide how much you want to lose during the month and we’ll check each week to see we are on task. Our reward will be at the end of the month when some piece of clothing is not quite as tight. (you never have to reveal your weight)
Safely enjoy your weekend.
My fall seeds are in the ground now for cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. I planted a few green beans bush style on the left side. I think this year we will forget the pumpkins and squashes as we just didn’t get them done. I’m very happy with this now. The peas on the sides are nearly done, and I will replant for the fall. In the outside area (no photo), the potatoes and onions are coming up nicely.
This little lady greeted me when I entered the hoop house this morning.
I picked this up when we were at Costco in their fresh food area. It is cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, chicory plus a dressing package and some cranberries and seeds in a package. The creators meant it to be a salad. But today, I put aside the dressing, lightly steamed the greens and served them over rice. It was a super delicious and fast meal. We put the cranberries and seeds on top.
Haltering babies: So much easier to tie them to the 2 x 4 and let them learn they aren’t in charge, than to let them pull you around.
My today
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Feed dogs at both barns
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Drive DH to gym and wait
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Ordered bird netting for berries
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Made day’s list
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Went to grocery store
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Went to office store
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Came home, made lunch
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Picked up co-op order
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Went to feed store to get more sheep collars
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Cheated and Napped
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Spent 2 hours working sheep with halters
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Put coats on some of them
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Fed, watered all sheep
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Watered in hoop house
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Picked and washed kale
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Picked and washed 2# cabbage and leaves
No one gets between these pushy, shovey, 150# girls at mealtime!
TIRED YET?
I still have a few things left on my list that didn’t happen – maybe tomorrow. But then some of these same things will appear on tomorrow’s list – like the sheep. This gives you an idea of why I don’t get much quilting or other hobbies done.
Early to bed tonight. I have 2 young men coming in the morning to help with the weed whacking (I think/hope they’re coming).
ese
DH went to the gym alone this morning. Beau wanted to go for a car ride, but settled for a good brushing and a treat
When we were through, this office waste basket was full of discarded dog fur and he was happy with his treat of string cheese. And I bet he feels a lot better in this warm weather.
Even mini farm life is busy, and especially so with this beautiful weather we have had. There is always so much to do. And the dogs don’t get brushed often. There are the lambs that need to be halter trained and the stalls that each need cleaning at least twice a week if I want to keep the work doable for me. There is the fencing, and the weeds, thistles, nettles and most of all, we need a garden, blueberries, grapes, raspberries, and an herb garden in addition to the hoop house we have. This year we are moving the garden that has been on the hillside up to a flat area, so that means creating new beds. There are hanging baskets to water and flower bed weeding to do.
These are all extras in addition to the normal feeding and household duties. I have accepted that I cannot do it all without help.
So today, I hired two young men to layout the new garden beds and plant somewhere around 300 potato starts and one hundred onion bulbs. It feels so good to have them in the ground now. Sometime in the next the two weeks, we will plant corn, green beans, and squashes in the rest of this area. They will return to help with the nettle, thistles and weeds on the fence line
While they were doing the new garden area, I was able to get the tomatoes tied up as well as weeding in the hoop house. It should have been done 2-3 weeks ago, but it is done, and now, I need to keep up with it. Already the kale is getting out of control. I picked the parsley and it is time again to pick the peapods and once again, I managed to plant more lettuce than we can eat. But neighbors, chickens, and sheep are always willing to help.
These are called Egyptian walking onions. The little white bulb lets on the end bend down and plant themselves into the soil, thus reseeding themselves over and over. They are a hot onion, so I use them in cooking.
The “Impossible girl” sock progress is slow but steady. The instep is now done and I am on the home run to the toe.
I started to lay out the beds for the potatoes and onions today, when I realized I didn’t have the twine I needed. I went to the hardware store and they directed me to the feed store. At the feed store, I found an employee who told me they don’t keep it out on the floor, only in the back room, until someone asks for it. How do they sell it that way?
So having purchased it, I made my way back home, where I found the sheep migrating (with help) over to the neighbor’s house. They wanted the back yard mowed down. Then the pasture seed arrived and we had a good visit with the people who delivered it.
Now it was suppertime for sheep. They know when suppertime is and as soon as the gate was opened, they were in a mad dash. Look at this lamb who has learned how to jump over the side into the feeder. This is one of my show lambs and I need her to stay relatively clean. The side now has another board on it, so she can’t get over it.
Interruptions are welcome if one can help a friend. After lunch, I received a text from a friend’s daughter asking if there was anyway I could come up with a service dog scarf in 10 minutes. It needed to be on red fabric and over the dog’s back to easily be seen. It was more like 15 minutes as the sew out was 10 minutes, but it was done and waiting when she arrived. It slides onto the dog’s collar and will be hemmed later. She had to have it to take her dog into an appointment she had. She was delighted and I promised to make her a better one with more time.
The 5 kinds of potatoes are purchased and cut to cure and 3 sets of onions are ready. Now I need to get the stakes for the boxes and get the ground ready this week to get these planted.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have gym and that really interrupts my day as I’m out of energy sooner.
three large zucchini piled on top.
Since we were going, I went out to the hoop house to see if there was a gift I could take. Look at this beautiful 5 1/2 pound cabbage. I did not weigh the zucchini, but they were nice and long. The garden is doing well, except for the green beans which I will replant tomorrow.
What a week this has been! To preserve sanity, I retreated to the sewing studio and quilted this piece with some nice light clouds. You can see in the upper left corner what the back fabric is. It still needs a binding.
The hoop house is only about half full now that the winter greens have been removed. But the peapods and lettuce are doing great and we are able to use them.