Rain, rain and more Rain

It's a beautiful Saturday on the farm.  We have been getting lots of rain, almost daily.  Another 5 inches this past week.  Everything is green and  growing....including the weeds.

I have been trying to get out each morning and work an hour or 3 but some days it was raining  and others it was just too wet to even pull weeds.

This morning I did get some  things accomplished.  I started getting the hummingbird bed  outside the kitchen weeded and cleaned.  Several zinnias and nicotiana were finished and needed to be pulled.  I am rethinking the bark mulch.  My vigorous weeds come right through it and  it will need replacing yearly....very  labor intensive and costly.  If I just had a few simple beds near the house, it might be workable but for cottage-style or  country gardening I don't think so.  Of course, I still have 30 or so bags that I will use but mostly at the base of specific plants like roses or clematis.  The rest will be used in the narrow garden  fence border.

The garden is almost  finished.  The determinate tomatoes are done and I have very few of the other kind.
Still waiting  on the late pole beans.  I have canned a few pints of tomatoes.

We have been having fun capturing the beast menagerie on the game cam.  That seems to be the only way we can capture them.

 Here was a surprise:  An armadillo

 Of course, we knew there would be possums:

 This is our least favorite rascal, the groundhog enjoying one of my apples.

 Mama raccoon with two young.

These were all taken out back in my garden behind  the house.

It is now August 21, Monday.  The eclipse is over.  We never got the full whammy but about 97%.  It stayed much lighter out than I thought it would.

We got another 3 inch rain overnight.  We are beginning to smell swamp-like outside.  I seem to be very susceptible to mold and have been coughing and wheezing like crazy.  Today I  decided to stay inside.

 Cooking
 
I made another batch of peach jam.  This is the second batch and they look completely different. The first were made from very small dark peaches and I used some old pectin that had darkened with age.  Made for a  very dark  jar of jam.  It tastes fine but not so pretty to look at.

The one this morning  was made from a very large pale peach that was still a bit tart.  I also had some newer pectin and it looks like peach jam should.

The tomatoes are about finished.  I have a couple of plants that should hold us for fresh tomatoes until frost.
The determinate ones and done.    I have canned a few pints and have two trays (l0x21) yet to do.

October 2 to October 19, 2015 (yet another catch up)

The weather here has been wonderful,  very fall-like.  The only thing is we need rain.  We are beginning to have some fall color but it isn't at peak yet.  I hope the dry doesn't hinder it.

My Sis and BIL came down  for a couple of days the first week of October.  We had a wonderful visit.  They brought us three of their young Red Star hens and enough tomatoes that I processed 36 pints of various things with them. I was delighted.  My garden tomatoes were a complete bust this year.  Many others in the area complained  also.

I forced a pumpkin on her.....she isn't quite the glutton for work  that I am.  I think her BIL (DH) shamed her into it.  I have harvested several  more and the vines are finally starting  to die.

The beast that lives under the propane tank is still getting his share though.  When we set the trap outside the hole on the back side,  he created a new entrance/exit  on the other side.   I discovered this when I waded into the patch looking for pumpkins.....there was one hanging right by the new hole half eaten.



It is a large hole and seems very deep.  We will move the trap around the tank tonight.

I certainly have enough pumpkins.

I dug the sweet potatoes and they were very disappointing but still  enough for the two of us.

I did my yard tour this morning in a jacket and took a few pictures.

This is the grass miscanthus by the cellar.  I love how the sunlight shows up the plumes.


This just shows I haven't been completely idle.  This poor gate was barely hanging together.  I screwed the corners, renailed the  wire and rehung it and it should last a while.



The spirea has turned to fall,



Another little job, I got rid of most of the tall weeds and hand cut the saplings growing behind the shop,



There is not much left of flowers but this little self-seeded vignette still looks nice.  It is a native aster and gomphrena,



I took one cow picture:  It is the two milk cows and Willow's calf....where did those horn buds come from?



Enough for now.  I hope to do better blogging.

Planted At Last

I am still playing  around with header or no header....this one fits but is too large!  More changes to come.

Garden

Yesterday was a good day.  I went out fairly early and planted a row of tomatoes (two cattle panels long), all the many and varied peppers (I lost  my mind here!) and 5 eggplants.  I also manged a l0  foot row of Fortex pole beans.  I have still more warm season things  to go  now I just need to wait for the 'warm' season. We have had two pretty  cool days.

This morning wasn't promising for work but I did go out and feed the chicks, cleaned the nests and mowed the chicken yard and the west end of the garden area before the sprinkles arrived.

Inside

I cooked a pot of  white beans  and ham and made a small blackberry cobbler and tried a mincemeat tart instead of the turnovers.  The tart is easier and just as tasty.

From cooking

It is still very hot and very dry here.  I see we are now considered in a mild drought on the maps.

I haven't been doing much outside.  I have had two episodes of muscle spasms in my lower back.  I thought it was using the trimmer, but the second time was after mowing about 30 minutes. 

I am hoping this will be like the polymyalgia rheumatica I had a few years ago and it, too, will disappear and stay gone!

DH will be using the mower for a few days....I know he is thrilled.  He always mows the orchard and part of the yard...now he will be doing it all.

I am still dragging the hose to  various places.  Today will be the fruit trees.  I need to pick green beans from the hoophouse.  We have had one tiny tomato and the little grape-type tomatoes by the patio are ripening.



This is a volunteer from last year.  It is sweet as sugar.

The swamp mallow (hibiscus moscheutos) by the kitchen window is in full bloom.  I think there are three different colors here. 



The Cleanup Crew's Work

The Ash Tree Bed is no more:



This had become a sad jumble of ash, euonymous, and various other saplings.  Sadly, I also let them cut a clematis that was almost completely hidden by the jungle.  I doubt it will come back  from the roots but I will water this spot deeply and see what happens.

I did take a before picture with a caption "want it completely gone"; now it is.


Random Animal

not an animal, but couldn't resist snapping a picture of it.  I kept thinking of the song 'there's a little green frog'