Harvest Time has begun!

Above is this morning's stroll through the garden. With all the dry weather we had, then rain, my large tomatoes are splitting (dang it!). The large ones in this picture are HUGE, see the pumpkin for a reference point. This is a baby pam pumpkin, so a pie type not a jack o' lantern, but these are very large tomatoes indeed. The yellowish one is a "pineapple" tomato, very sweet and yummy.

This is the cucumbers I harvested that were hiding from me in my jungle of a garden. This is in actuality only half of them, as I made a dish to freeze that included the other half. I did not know you could freeze cukes, did you? I'm giving the recipe a go, I figured I have nothing to lose as we can't possibly eat all these...and I have given a few away, too.

We've been crazy busy here, good busy, but very busy. We entertained friends the last two weekends and I have had the boys out doing something almost every day of their summer vacation break, so it's been a great one for them. We've had the summer I wanted for them when I quit my job, full of fun and friends and it's been one to remember. I also took the time to write on my calendar everything we've done each day so that we all could look at the calendar and remember all the fun we've had and that the loss of income has been more then worth it. It has, for sure.

I started them on their "back to school" bedtime...no more late nights, we've had some VERY late nights this summer. Little Red is NOT a morning person, so I knew I needed to get him back into the swing early enough to be well rested for school to begin. They go back to school in two weeks and I wanted them to be more on their schedule for that. I'm a firm believer in routine and boundaries for kids, they thrive when they are well rested and know what the boundaries are for them. As they get older, I'm allowing Maestro a bit more freedoms, and that's been interesting. For now it's little things like staying in the car when I just need to quick run into a store or post office to mail something. I've never done that before. I've also been allowing him more choices in things like his new school clothing (we shopped together for his clothes and he picked out what he wanted, which I was happy to note was tasteful and age appropriate). In years past, I just bought what I wanted them to wear. I still do for Little Red because, God bless him, the kid can't match to save his life...and he'd wear nothing but athletic pants and tee shirts every day as if we let him.

When the boys go to their room at night, they share a room with bunks, they go in at 7:30. As they are both very avid readers, they are allowed to read until 8:30, then it's lights out and no more chatter. Some nights it's tougher then others to actually enforce this as they don't stop talking when they are together and are very loud when they chatter. They have what seems to the outsider like their own language between them. It's almost like twins, they are close enough in age and in each other's space all the time and they just chatter incessantly. It seems non-sensical to others, but they understand it all between them. Kind of funny and neat at the same time.

Well, I've got to get back to the garden. Pulled the wax beans plants as they were done and being eaten by some weird little orange fuzzy things, so I pulled them. Gonna try swiss chard there, so need to get that in the ground and also weed the corn so I can start some sugar snaps under them. Trellises of the best kind, those corn plants.

What's happening in your little corner today? ~Peacemom

Oh, Bother!!

I know my gardening friends will be able to quickly identify this massive garden pest!  Squishy, nasty and voracious!!  It eventually turns into a "Hawk" or "Hummingbird" Moth.  The moth is lovely, but on it's way to adulthood, this teenager, like most teenagers, will eat you out of tomato and home.  I have plucked 6 of these off the tomatoes this week, luckily loosing only a few tomatoes and leaves in the process.  I've been holding a vigilant eye on the plants to be sure they aren't appearing as I have a few of them last year, and this year, I'm ready for them.  They'll not be getting my biggest, juiciest tomato like they did last year. 

In the event that you've not had the pleasure of meeting one of this mischievous creatures, allow me to introduce you.  The above picture is a depiction of one.  I think the "eyes" along the body are there to fool predators into thinking there are many of them, when indeed, if they look closer, there is only one.  And, none of those dots are the eyes, so even better camouflage again, they are ingeniously colored and blend exactly in with the tomato plant and leaves.  If you see my drawing above, the bare stems, is the quickest way to identify their location.  That and the copious droppings forming a large pile on the leave below where ever they may be infiltrating.   I have spent many, many minutes trying to find them after spotting the damage and the droppings only to note that my eyes had cruised over them without locating them at all their ability to blend with their environment so completely.

When you go to pluck them off the branch, or goodness forbid they've actually reached the tomato and made a meal out of your best, you will notice something.  They are very squishy, their body is not firm at all.  And they don't give up their place on the branch easily, so as you are squeezing them a bit to get them off the branch they spray something on you. I'm not sure what it is, but it's bright green along with them.  GROSS.  So, I've gotten smart about their removal.  If they are on an outer branch that does not have a tomato growing, I will just snap the branch off, gross grub and all.  If they are with a tomato, I don gloves so that the green crap does not land on me when fired.  It's not like it's venomous or anything, it's just gross and I avoid it at all costs.  After I've collected what I've found, I walk to the chicken pen  and inform the girls they have "TREATIES!" coming their way.  Then I tell my Faoumi, Maggie, that she's got a really good treat as she is the first to grab them and will parade around the pen like she's got her beak on the Stanley Cup or something.  She flips them around until she's got them adequately reduced in size to swallow 'em down. 

And I tell her "Good Girl!" and feel glad that my food supply is no longer the food supply of these marauders. And Mags gets some valuable protein for egg health, so it's a wonderful relationship...for everyone but the poor hornworm, who in the end is just doing what hornworms do.

Wishing your garden pest-free, ~ Peacemom