First elderberries are in!

Pepper status in the raised beds!

Here are some shots of the pepper plants in the raised bed at the "city house".  They are coming along nicely!  Those Jalapenos are going to town, but even the other peppers are putting in a good showing!

I don't know if these are from a seed packet or from the "grocery saved seeds" - but they are doing well!

OK - not peppers, but my Thai basil and kale (volunteer Kale - it reseeded before I got it all off the bed!)

Jalapenos!

Arrival

Went up to farm late Thursday night. Got there around 10ish.  I wanted to get an early start in the morning so that it would be cool when I did my sawmill work.  It's hot now, summer is here.  It's drying off nicely though, thats a good thing!

Sawmilling old wood continues...

Sawed up an old oak log that looked about the right length for the mill but ended up being a tad too long.  I had to saw off about 1.5 ft from the end.  Other then that though, the log milled up nicely.  I got 6 2x4s out of it!  The are bowing a bit, but they are long boards so I know I can get a good 11ft straight enough for grape arbor tops.  I only got this one log done Friday morning before it got too hot to work at the mill.  

On Saturday morning I tried again and took what looked like a nice log to the mill - it had its bark off and it seemed well preserved.  After my first couple of cant cuts I noticed that it was locust!  It sure looked nice too - but I felt that the log was a bit light.  Unfortunately after I got it cut into a cant and took first board cut I found that the reason it was light was because there was a big wood ant next in it!  The nest shape was perfect to ruin almost every cut I could think of!  Damn!  I ended up just making stickers out of the whole log.  Honestly, I didn't get even a decent length of sticker out of it!  Oh well.  Not many logs left in the old pile now that look even remotely promising for lumber.  I will look it over more, of course, but it looks like its going to be mostly firewood at this point.

Elderberries!

They are getting real close!  I did pick some from about 3 bushes.  I got about 5 quarts.  Put them in the freezer to process later.  I'd really like to process them all in the winter because of the heat issue but we just don't have the freezer space.

Elderberries are loaded!

Most are not quite ready

Elderberries, after de-stemming.  About 5 quarts here.

Pumpkins!

They aren't ready, but they are getting big!  I found two in good shape out in the paw-paw patch.  Probably more hiding amongst the leaves.

Pumpkin is getting bigger!

I found another one, but didn't get a picture.  This is just the same one as the picture above.  

Sweet-potatoes

They are behind, but they are taking off.  I don't know what to do about the surrounding weeds and grass.  I might just weedwack the weeds down.

Sweet potatoes!

Big patch progress

I picked first tomato from the big patch this weekend!  It was a roma - from a volunteer plant.  I de-weeded the kale.  The kale looks ok.  But something snipped of 3 plants!  I have no idea what would do that.  Almost looks like a groundhog or rabbit, but they shouldn't able to get in this patch, and I didn't see any plant debris laying around - which i think would be the case if rabbit or groundhog.  Maybe a raccoon?  I have seen some strange scat around the property - it might be racoon.    I still need to de-weed the cabbages and brussel sprouts.  Next weekend maybe.  I also harvested a couple cups of broccoli.  Pickings are slim due to extensive loss from flooding earlier this season.

I missed a broccoli last time I guess.  Its awful small head!  It was probably ready last weekend, but I didn't take it because it was so small I thought it was immature.  

Whats wrong with my dwarf apples?

Something is killing these trees!  I have no idea what is going on.  It honestly doesn't look like fungus.  Almost looks like something may have attacked their roots!

New dwarf tree is having problems.  See the leaves dying?

Something is hurting this tree!  These new dwarf trees are having a hard time this year.  This one's leave are drying up and dying!  I have no idea whats going on.  :(

Thoughts on Peach, grape, cherries,  and maybe even blueberries issues

I have been thinking about the fungus issues and leaf drop issues/leaf color issues for these plants.  It occurred to me that maybe the real underlying issue is not the fungus, but that the plant is weak and unable to overcome the fungus as it normally would.  I did some research online and this seems to be a possibility in my case.  I ordered a couple soil test kits and some garden sulphur.   I suspect that the ground may be too basic - these plants need acidic soil to thrive.  From what I have read, even if I find basic soil and add some sulfur now it will still take 4-6 months for this to affect soil condition significantly!  I hope the plants can survive long enough to be cured!

Corn and squash

Corn and summer squash takings for this weekend!

Green Beans

I didn't get a picture, but I harvested about 8 lbs of green beans from the paw-paw patch.  Taking them back to can.

Crabapples!

Well, there aren't many, but I picked them!  I hope to have enough to pickle and can.

They are very pretty!

This one Crabapple tree is loaded!

crabapples!  All from one tree!

Septic tank issues continue.

Another Septic tank pumpout was needed.  Called Chesnuts Sunday and he and his son came out Monday morning.