New fur-babies!

We got new dogs!

Wednesday and Thursday Katherine had been talking about 2 dogs she had seen online that were adoptable.  She really wanted to go see them, even though they were at a shelter near Philly.  So Thursday afternoon we headed out (not great timing - Memorial day weekend, rush hour, hot, etc).

The trip back was not near as bad as the trip up.  Still took some time though

Nice sunset.  We didn't get home  until about 9:30pm 

This is a really nice shelter and the staff are wonderful!

We got there after about 3 hours and they let us have some time with the pups.   they were bath very shy and poor Sugar was quite scared and timid.  We got good vibes from both though and Katherine gave the green light.   We bought some stuff for the dogs while we were there.  Leashes, collars, cages.  They gave us a bag of puppy food each and some old towels/blankets for the cages.  It was a special for memorial day weekend; 2 for 1!   So we got out for under $500 for everything!  These pups are neutered, have their shots and even have a chips already installed.  We even got a health information folder on each dog!  We have a vet appointment this upcoming Wednesday to get a better idea about their health, just to be sure.  Frisco's got some stitches from being fixed that don't look great (he keeps licking at them) and Sugar's ears look a bit red.

Sugar Getting comfy!

Aww, first night in new home.  Passed out 

Sugar getting some water

Playing dog games!

More dog games!

We have a little barrier at the top of the stairs to keep them from the downstairs and the foyer.  Frisco looks so cute peeking up over the barrier!

Shih-Tzu's are known to be energetic and needing exercise.  Frisco must have two dogs inside of him - he is pure energy!

Sugar, checking this plant out

Frisco, in a rare moment of not moving

Sugar, resting soundly after chewing on new toy

Air Conditioning, Raised beds and new plantings

I was planning on going to the farm this Memorial day weekend, but we thought it a better idea to stay home and let the dogs get used to us.  Also we thought that driving them that far so soon would add to their disorientation.

In anycase, it was hot here and I was tired of the portable AC's inefficiencies.  Those roll  around units just don't bring them temperature under control like the window units do.   So I got two new window units - one for my office and one for the living room.   They installed fairly easily (heavy - but not like the old window units) and they are super efficient. They maintained house temp nice and cool during hot weekend (it got almost to 90F).

After taking care of some dog issues I was able to get some plants in the ground.  The peppers and the one eggplant I had were transplanted into a raised bed.  I had room left over in that bed so I planted some more eggplant seed.  They seed was obviously not germinating well, so i just dumped the last of the packets into the soil.  If too many come up I will just thin them.  I did the same with some tomato seed in the "kale" bed.  I had only used about 2/3'rds of the kale bed so I used the rest for tomatoes. Finally, I re-spaded the raised bed next to the woodpile and planted about half of it with cucumbers.  I left the summer squash seed up at the farm.  I will bring them back next time we go up and plant a few hill in the cucumber bed.

I had to put some fencing up around the beds because the dogs think its super fun to dig in them!  I left the fencing off the potato patch, but I also found that the dogs will plow into them when playing, so I am starting to place some fencing around them as well.

The Kale and Collards are looking good.  

Potatoes on left, about half of right bed is planted in cucs

peppers and eggplant on left, Kale and tomatoes in center, potatoes on the right.

I made some Kale crackers with some of the kale that I thinned from the bed.

I re-tried a recipe for Kale crackers that I had used a couple years ago.  I think its the same recipe - or very similar anyway.  Its basically 6 C Kale, 1 C almonds, 1/4C nutritional yeast and seasonings.  Here is a link to the actual recipe (which I only vaguely followed): Kale Cracker Recipe  They did turn out super yummy!  I will make more this year, I am sure!  These are nice nutritious and have no processed food ingredients.  We are trying to eat better - removing as much processed foods from our diets as we can stand.  I would still like to produce everything that we eat, but that's just not possible yet.

Garden Seeds started!

Smaller gardens this year

Yes, that is what I said last year when I ended up expanding them...  But this year I am serious!  We have way too much food on the canning shelves and in the freezer to keep producing at those rates.  Besides, now i have identified some changes that should be made to the physical gardens to make better use of the land and my time.

Just one 72 cell box this year - so far.  

I will add more cabbages and peppers later though

With the lid on to keep them moist and warm.

Here is the layout plan for the gardens this year.

Note that there are still a lot of direct sow items and I have 50 strawberry plants coming April 4, so the gardens aren't exactly disappearing!

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.

Planting peppers - finally!

Warm Enough

I got home form work tonight and decided it was finally warm enough outside to plant my peppers!  I have been wanting to get them out for sometime now - several of them have died in the pots (turns out they were too wet and rotted off!)   I prepped the last raised bed and planted most of the pepper plants that I had (there are a couple left - may be needed as replacements.)  I put a total of 18 pepper plants out.  While I was at it I also put out 4 of the Jerusalem Artichokes that I am trying this year.  I am going to put some out up at the farm too.  Just an experiment.

Here are some pics:

The final raised bed!  The Peppers are in!

See the artichokes?   Meh - bad picture.  See the video!

And here is the video which I will use to remember which plants are which! I wish I had done this last year - I lost track of a lot of plants last year!  Remember: Good record keeping makes planning easier!

Peppers, Broccoli, Eggplant, Artichoke, and more cabbage planted!

I just put in seeds for 3 varieties of  bell pepper [total of 27 bell pepper].  I put in 9 pots of jalapenos and 9 of the Anaheim (those little red hot ones), and 9 of Hungarian Hot Wax (or something like that), just for variety. I also put in 36 pots of eggplant, 18 broccoli, 18 artichoke and 18 late cabbages (I think).

Whew.