Todays' Harvest

Today's harvest included 65 Cofra onions to put up for winter, along with 5 Walla Walla Sweet onions which I will dice and freeze (there are 35 more still in the garden!), all the potatoes, which did not grow as well as I'd hoped, they are all of a small size. Next year, I will plant them in raised beds so that I can give them deep soil. The bed they were planted in this year ended up very compacted unfortunately. All the hot weather sure made for more packed soil all around.

These are more of the tomatoes that are pouring out of the garden right now. I'm determined to get a batch of salsa put up today as our friend gave us some of his jalapenos and I've got copious onions as you could see. I don't do cilantro, so I'll add some fresh parsley to it. Perhaps I'll post that later if it's a success.

As you can see above, this is round two of the cukes. I've had a very successful crop of cukes, I froze about 15 of them, we're still eating off the last batch and I'm gonna be pickling these as soon as I'm able to get to that. Salsa first, pickles second.

I've also picked another pumpkin. I just had a hard time believing they were already ready to be harvested. The package said they were about 100 days to maturity. We planted them the weekend after Labor Day. That would be 65 days from when I harvested the first one. And there are many more ready to get off the vine. I emailed High Mowing Seeds(wonderful seeds, wonderful folks) to as them if it's possible that they are already ready to harvest. They told me that because of the sunlight length they get (about 14 hours a day during the summer) and the warm summer, they believe it is entirely possible they are ready to harvest. Their advice? Cut one open and see if the seeds are fully matured. If so, they are good to go. So, I'll be trying that expirement today as well. Perhaps there will be grilled pumpkin on the menu this evening! Yummy!!

We had a bit of a bittersweet day here on our little farmstead yesterday. I found a loving home for Mattie, our Golden Wyandotte rooster. He wasn't supposed to be a rooster, we thought we bought three laying hens. But that happens sometimes. He was Maestro's pet, so we really didn't want him to get eaten, plus, he is a great and gentle rooster, very beautiful and friendly. I posted on facebook that I had a great roo to give away if anyone was interested and a friend of mine from high school took him. He'll have 18 ladies all to himself and all the room to roam. They are nice folks and have two kids that will enjoy him. We just didn't need another roo. Snowball and he were at each other through the fence all the time and our place is just a bit too small for so much machismo. Godspeed, Mattie, we loved you while you were with us.

Peaceful harvest to you all, ~Peacemom

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

Garden update!

A little garden update for you all.  With a bit of rain and lots of sunshine, it's going bonkers!!  This little planter is a tub I found half buried under our deck from residents prior to us.  The bottom has some holes rusted through, so it just called "planter!" to me.  I like to incorporate herbs and flowers together when I can so here you see the pansies with basil growing in the center.  Pesto, here we come!

This is the new section of the garden.  I will admit, it's looking a little woolly, the aisles anyways.  Music Man was going to weed whack the edges of the beds and mow this past weekend...but mountain bike trails called to him and he took the boys off biking instead.  And I was glad for it even though the garden didn't get it's beauty treatment.  They had a great time and that's more important then a pristine garden path, I reckon.

Bush beans and cukes and pole beans all ready for their trellises.  I know, I should have done them earlier, but time has gotten away from us with an incredibly busy baseball season for the boys.  Next year, I'll be more prepared.

Tomatoes, amaranth and peppers are sharing a bed.  I planted them WAY too close together!

This is a funny story...I planted these amaranth plants thinking they were peppers.  I got them from Laura, she had extras and told me to please take them.  Well, the pots weren't labeled and I forgot that I had them.  The leaves looked vaguely pepper like in shape, so I planted them.  Then, they went NUTS and when she came over, I had to ask her what the heck kind of pepper had these flowers?  She laughed at me and said, "Not peppers, that's amaranth". Oh.  So, now they are totally taking over the pepper bed and I'm not sure how well the peppers will end up doing, but I've been enjoying their drappiness all over the place.  And the leaves, blossoms and eventual grains they will produce are all edible.  Ah, live and learn.

Zucchini is exceptionally happy.  I only got 4 last year because I lost the plants to powdery mildew.  This year, we've not had a recurrence of it (knocking very loudly on wood!), so they are doing well.  I have a couple more that are much larger then this one that will be slated for zucchini bread, I do believe.

The two varieties of onions I planted are coming along swimmingly.  This one is even so happy it became a twin!



The wild and crazy potato patch is also thriving.  I'm afraid to look under the straw as we lost a bit to slugs last year, but the plants are looking quite content.



And this pretty little goldfinch joined our garden a week or so ago.  He's sitting happily in the sage bush.   I think it's fetching, don't you?

How does your garden grow?  ~Peacemom



A Most Definite Spiritual Directive To Me

I find there are times in my life when I feel so exasperated by my lifestyle.  Let me clarify...when I explain to a family member or friend or even acquaintance when they ask why I have wanted chickens for 30 years, or why I put all the work into the vegetable garden or why it matters so deeply to my soul to be able to grow the food that sustains my family only to have that person look at me like I have six heads and have fallen off the 21st century wagon. 

I feel frustrated by this lack of understanding or even attempt to understand because it's not what they would do, or that it is not fathomable why I don't just go to the grocery store for all these things like everyone else does.  Or how can I help them understand that this is for a more genuine life?  That creating things with your hands matters. That picking that egg out of that nest from the chicken that you've given a good life matters. Or plucking that sun warmed tomato from the vine offering your family the freshest, most healthy food for their bodies matters. For me, all of this is most definitely a spiritual directive.  When you feel something is right and true so deeply in your soul, then it's met with the glazed over look from the person your talking to or worse the dismissive, "what's the point of all that work, that's silly- just buy it" attitude.

Well, to be honest, it's kept me inside my passions for a long time now.  I used to share these things with people, but after so many rejections of your core beliefs, it becomes a very personal dismissing.  And a lifestyle that I can't understand why more people don't want.  I know so many people that rush from one thing to the next, shepherding kids to this activity and the next, needing to work late at that business meeting or project.  Folks who spend hours on activities I think are inane, but yet, I allow that there is value to it for them.  If they did not get some sense of satisfaction, then they would not be doing it.  I don't think they are crazy for their lifestyle choice, but I do think that perhaps some of them are missing the boat.  Why is there so much craziness and anger and disconnect in our world? 

My feeling is because so many people have lost their connection to the very things that keep us grounded.  You're not feeding yourself staring at your cell phone or computer screen or ipad.  Or feeling the sun warm your skin as you sit among the blueberry bushes harvesting if you're indoors for hours playing wii or watching tv.  Life is meant to lived, dirty, physical, satisfying, challenging and most of all connected to nature.  What is more essential to our nature then living that genuine life?  Then harvesting food, sewing the curtains you need, building the chicken coop to house the very source of your life-giving food?  Having the skills to do all this builds the genuine life. 

My husband and I could just as easily buy all of this, hire someone else to do the work for us, yes, all that is true.  That is the age we live in, but I don't feel it's all for the better.  We live this life by necessity to some extent as we don't have the income to hire everyone for everything we need fixed or repaired or built.  But even if we did, we would not.  We would lose the soul level satisfaction of working with our hands and nourishing our bodies with love and care and attention. To see the sense of pride in my husband's eyes at the coop he built for the chickens, or installing the new light fixture or fixing his car.  Or for myself to smell the strawberry jam simmering on the stove, or shelves of canned food to get us through the winter, or chickens happily clucking while they go about their business.  The knowledge that we have the skills we need to survive in a different way then most.  No amount of money could buy that. Ever.

It isn't until I get the chance to talk to someone that is interested in this sort of thing that I see the glimmer of hope.  I have made such a new friend and we spent the whole of our children's baseball practices talking about CSA's, canning, the benefits of raw milk, why organic is so important to our children's health, chick rearing and our shared disgust over the school lunch program.  It is then that my spirit relaxes, when I see the glimmer of passion building in that person's eyes and someone who is interested in the knowledge I have built over the 4+ decades of my life, it is then that I feel a little song build and a sigh in my heart.  Kindred spirits for your passions are not to be taken for granted.  Ever.

Wishing you the enlightenment that shared passions bring, ~Peacemom

Spring is Springing!

Hello Everyone,

Thanks to everyone for the kind and encouraging words for us due to my hubby's yet again unemployed status.  I've finally got things in perspective...we were not hit by a tsunami or earthquake where our entire lives are leveled and family is gone.  Music Man was laid off again, yes, but he's an amazing and talented man and will find something else again.  There's a tremendous amount of age discrimination (though no one admits this) in the job hunting market right now, so it's not on his side, but he'll do it...he always does.  This month he celebrates his 50th birthday (Happy Birthday, Sweets!) and things in the job market become a whole lot harder when that's the case...I read it actually starts at 40 now.  Apparently, employers want "fresh" and "young" ideas.  Experience counts for something, but the college degree counts more (even if it's in something like Elizabethan poetry, as long as you've got that degree, mister).  He's currently working on his degree, but at 50, you can't exactly reinvent your entire career, so it's a struggle sometimes.  We're getting our bearings and reassessing our situation and seeing what the next step is. I'm trying very hard to talk myself out of any freaking out sessions I allow myself to delve into.  It's not helpful or useful to anyone to allow that, so I'm trying.  I'm not always successful, and they will usually pop me into wakefulness when I'm sleeping and then I'll lie awake trying to talk myself out of it, then become more and more tired as this happens night after night...you see the vicious cycle that begins, right?  It's very unproductive and stress inducing, so I'm working on this all the time.  Trying to just be and allow that it is what it is right now.

In the meantime, spring has sprung around our neck of the woods.  It was quite lovely here yesterday with temperatures in the 50's, and we've had so much snow melt in the last two weeks that...yes, I know you're all dying to know this...we did get water in the basement.  But, after one long, awake night of bailing with buckets and shop vac'ing continuously, we managed to discover what the problem areas were and how to solve a good bit of it.  Two sump pumps humming and we're doing fine now.  PHEW!  After last springs horror show of a literal river in the basement for 3 solid months in the old house,  we'll take one night of bailing and two sump pumps that actually solve most of the problem in a heartbeat.  Doable, definitely doable.

Yesterday, Music Man and I sat outside in the Adirondack chairs, feeling the sun warming our skin back to life.  We planned the future sites of the garden and chicken coop. We'll be getting our chickens sometime next month and so need to have the coop up and running soon.  I'm hoping to salvage a lot of the materials for this project at our local "still good" shed at the landfill.  I'm also keeping my eyes open for any construction dumpsters around to get what I can from those as well...waste not, want not.  Certainly my treasure will be someone else's trash, and that's okay by me.  My goal is to have the chickens be a not so costly adventure for us and salvaging is a great way to NOT make a dent in that chicken budget.  And, they'll be paying for themselves once they start laying for us in about 24 weeks or so.

So, spring planning is in full force around here. It's good for the soul.  I know we'll get more snow at some point, but watching Music Man and Maestro playing catch in our back field yesterday did my heart some good.  And hey, the boys are loving having Daddy home with them more again, they don't see the bad in this lay off at all.

Hoping Spring is springing for you, too, ~Peacemom

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

We were in the pursuit of a Christmas tree.  Not just any tree, but the perfect one for our little family.  This tree had to be beautiful, this tree had to have personality and this tree needed to be skinny and short.  We have a very small house will little room for a tree, so we needed a pretty specific conifer.

We got the little cherubs all bundled up and set out with cash in pocket to the wonderful place we found our tree last year.  We were all set to traipse around on their wonderful farm and find THE tree.  As we pulled up, there was a sign that stated in very small letters:  "closed for 2010 season".  Oh.  No.  The children were upset, and frankly so was I.  I really wanted a tree from that particular farm as we're moving more and more into the "everything as local as possible" mentality.  For us, that included our tree.   Well, shut.  We turned Rudolph the Red Van around and decided to drive towards a neighboring town that we thought would have a cut your own and be open.  On the way there, we drove by a place we stopped at a couple of years ago.  There, at the end of the driveway, we saw this little sign:

We stopped quickly and pulled up the driveway, so thrilled to have found his little farm open.  The man who runs it was also getting out of the business a couple of years ago and there aren't many trees left on the farm, and they are all small.  Small was perfect for our needs.  So we checked out our options...

Music Man found one he liked, but well, I would have to start calling him Clark Griswold and then my house would smell like fried pussycat and who needs that  (You National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation fans will get that, everyone else will just think I'm gross)?  After MUCH deliberation, we found the one that was to be the Haught Family Christmas Tree...

The boys got in on the act and helped Daddy to chop (or in this case, saw) it down...

Then they carried it to the car and strapped it on. 

As the tree was being bound to the roof, I took a look around at the farm. It's a beautiful little place, with the trees on one section and a couple of large garden beds spread around on others.  There is a lovely little arbor and a couple of small barns as well.  It is all very well maintained and obviously loved. I felt both envy and respect for this little farm and it's older owners.  And blessed to be able to share in it for a moment in time.

A fun time was had by all.  Now, the tree adorns our living room with it's lovely smell and graceful way it holds our ornaments.  Thank you, Little Tree for being an intricate part of our holiday celebration, we appreciate your sacrifice dearly.

Wishing you a bit of Christmas cheer of your own today,  ~Peacemom