HOT days in July!

I looked back at my last post- apparently it was a cold day. Well, it's not cold anymore! It's 92 degrees right now, and it has been hot and humid for some time, hot and humid in between lots of rain. I suppose I should keep my mouth shut, but you know, I'd like that cold day back right now. It's too hot for me!

Sunset at camp

 

 

 

My summer classes are finally done! Phew! I don't think I'll do that again! To celebrate, we took a quick trip to camp. It was not quite as hot, and the lake is there, so relief was always close! We brought bikes and fished. I caught 2 nice trout for dinner. We saw a moose. It's funny, seeing a moose is just one of the things you do when you go to Eustis. In the evening, after dinner, you get in your car, drive to Stratton and head towards the dump- before you get there, you turn into the towns salt and sand lot- there are bogs on each side, and the moose are always there. It sort of feels like a drive in movie, because there can be anywhere from 5-15 other vehicles parked there watching for moose.  Hopefully we will get back up there soon and be able to spend more than one night.

Swimming buddies

 

The new chickens are settling in nicely- I should take some pictures. We had to cull one recently- she was very mean, and was sick. I treated her to the extent that I could, but it came down to making a decision about the health and safety of the entire flock. It sucked even more because we couldn't eat the meat. Both Joe and I cried...again. God. It's all part of our responsibility though. I suppose if I'm not willing to do that, I shouldn't have chickens.

sunrise on Litchfield road

welsummer pullets

The garden is growing- we have been eating lettuce, chard and beet greens. The corn is past my knees. The rain has been good for the veggies....and the weeds! It's a mess! I'm slowly taking it back though- I've been pulling weeds and finally laying down newspapers and hay. I'll take a photo when I'm done!

Cold Day in June

The end of May flew past. So did the beginning of June. So much time has been eaten up by summer classes. My Biology class is honestly kicking my butt! Class for 5 hours 2 times a week, plus studying every other waking second- well, in between work for my other class, work, and everything else that must happen on a typical day to keep things running around here!

Nothing beats fresh lettuce

The garden is 90% planted. Everything that is planted has sprouted ( yay!) 

I planted strawberries, and make a little fence, that is not doing it's job! Strawberries were just starting to get red.....next thing you know, chickens got through it and had a little snack.

 

Speaking of chickens- we lost 3 last week, in the middle of the day, to a predator. Based on the attack, type of wounds, and location of the bodies, we are guessing fox. There were some tracks down by the brook, but the mud was quite deep, and the tracks were distorted- they looked like the could have been bobcat or fox.  It was particularly sad because it was 3 we had raised from day olds, 3 super friendly girls. It's impossible to not notice their absence, as they were the type to always coming running whenever you went outside. Everyone is locked in the coop when we are not home now.


We are headed towards Houlton to pick up some new layers and a rooster this week. I think we also need to expand the run if they are spending more time there. Or...we could just get a guard llama!



Chickens in a sun shower

Something else interesting to mention- we've got a few newly hatched fly catchers in a nest up under the covered porch of the shed! This is the 3rd year they have built a nest, but the first year they have hatched chicks. It's got to be the same couple- I see them every year, they spend a lot of time in the apple tree, and near the garden. I love to see them swoop down and pick off bugs. I had to sneak a peak up in the nest the other day- mother bird was not happy with this though, so I quickly got out of her space.

Butter and English Muffins

     

     For some time now I have wanted to make my own butter- It's an easy process, and it just seemed like a good idea. The only thing that was holding me up was the idea that if I made butter, I better have something damn good to put it on! I decided on english muffins. First off, they also looked easy, and secondly, I love english muffins! 

    Other than the fact that I had to completely start the english muffins over ( because I used yeast that was a year and a month old, not just a month!) everything went very smooth, and I will most definitely do it again.

   I was on a bit of a baking spree this week and also made granola and some blueberry-raspberry cream cheese pastries.

Chaco hates the horseflies.

   The garden is also going pretty well right now. I have caught up on all of the weeding- I had a pretty huge crop of crab grass this year! My potatoes look pretty sorry due to the bug damage, but the tubers themselves are looking great. The chickens are also getting along just fine!

Speckle

  

Gerda

Peaches

Penny

Florence

    

Recent Photos

The chicks- left to right: suspected roo, to be named Ricky or Julian, Racy, Raspberry, Florence and Speckle.



Things are growing!

the first poppy

My Garden, Part Three: The Bugs

A few friendly bugs- beneficial ladybugs.

   There are many things to take in to consideration when planting a garden. You need to make sure your soil is fertile. You need sun. You need a good water supply. You also need to know a little about the climate where you live, along with information about what you plant, and when to plant, and so on and so on. You would think that once you had all of this figured out, you would be good to go, but no! Once you have a beautiful lush garden growing before you, you will then have to wage war against pests! I grew tomatoes in my garden during year number one, and they were looking quite lovely, until I noticed the alarmingly large florescent horn worm eating through one of them. I was disgusted will the nerve this bug had, how rude to eat through MY tomato!

       I figured this was an easy fix- just fling him off and squish him. Well, first off, he would not leg go! this little bugger was very strong. The second problem was that when I bent down to go about removing this one, I noticed all of his buddies. I was furious! I went and grabbed my gloves and began ripping their fat bodies off my plants, and made a big pile of them. Once I was satisfied that I had them all, I found a big rock, placed it on top of the pile, and stomped. In my murderous rage, I did not stop to think of how this might end, not for them, as I wanted them dead, but for me...as I stomped, their neon green slime splattered everywhere, including all over my clothes, my face, and even in my mouth. YUCK.

         On the second year, I had a new pest to contend with. The Colorado Potato Beetle. What a jerk. One morning when I was out pulling weeds I found some bring orange eggs on the underside of one of my Norland Red Potato leaves. Quick research told me that these belonged to the aforementioned potato beetle. I removed the leaf and smooshed the eggs. I thought I had won that battle. about a week later, the war began when I discovered this beetles larva squirming around and eating my potato plants! My first line of defense was to crawl up and down my rows of potatoes and squish the things, as I strive to keep my garden as close to organic as possible.

     As I crawled up and down the rows, squishing, and swearing, I realized just how personally offended I was by the gaul of these bugs to come and attempt to destroy the plants I had put so much energy into, and that would, as long as I won these battles, feed me in the not so distant future.
      Along with the hand squishing, I mixed up a home made insecticide, which had been sucessful in the past for me in controlling some small pest issues. My recipe includes a little vegetable oil, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and Dr. Bronner's peppermint castile soap all mixed with some water and sprayed onto the affected plants.
       This was not working! I finally had to go to the garden center and ask some advice. I ended up buying a product called Spinosad, which is approved for organic use, and let me tell you what, that did the trick! So long potato beetles!

      Each year I have gone through struggles with my garden, but each one of these struggles has given me a new tool in my gardening tool box. Learning through trial and error has really made the lessons stick.  Over the past 2 weeks, I have been slowly getting this years garden in, and praying that some new pest does not show up at my doorstep!

My Garden, Part Two: The Boulder

       Before you can grow anything in a garden, you have to do a lot of prep work. First you need the land, then you need to clear the land, and then you plant, right? Maybe for some people!  I picked the rockiest piece of ground in a 30 mile radius to grow my vegetables in. Small stones and pebbles are easy enough to deal with, along with the grapefruit and cantaloupe size rocks. I can even handle picking up the watermelon size pieces that seem be just under the surface about every 3rd step I take when walking though the garden. The trouble seems to start when I hit the extra large rocks, which are not rocks at all, I like to think of them as boulders.

I suppose I could plant around these behemoths, and I did for one year, but on the second year I decided at least one of them had to go. I started to dig around the monster that lay about a foot beneath the soil in bottom right side of my garden with a shovel. As I cleared more and more dirt from on top and around the thing, I switched tools. I stuck the pitchfork into the ground and tried to pry the rock up. It did not move. More digging with the shovel. The second time I tried prying with the pitchfork I knew that I was under it! It moved, just about one centimeter, but it did move! I continued to stick the pitchfork in and pry, and the rock continued to move, ever so slightly. I grabbed the shovel in my free hand and jammed it into the space between the rock and the earth as I made space with the pitchfork, and then pushed with all of my might. I could see that this was not going to get me anywhere. The hole was too deep for me to move the rock out. I stopped for a minute, and came up with a plan. I grabbed 2 two by fours.

It's out!!

While lifting with the shovel and pitchfork, I jammed one of the two by fours into the space that was made. I now had a lever! using the first two by four, I levered the rock up a few inches, and jammed the second two by four into the new space. I was then able to slowly inch the rock to the edge of it's hole. Now it was time to push...and pull. I pulled and pushed on this rock with all of my strength I had completely given up on moving it out of my garden at the time, I just wanted it out of the hole! After one last push ( which I thought could have caused my eyes to pop out of my head) it finally rolled free of the hole. What an accomplishment! The boulder most definitely weighed over 200 pounds. It still sits on the edge of the garden. I like to tell people that I dug it out of the ground all by myself.

"the boulder" remains at the edge of the garden.