The Zucchini Monster!

I am loving this monster veggie! I planted just four plants and am harvesting between 6 and 10 zukes every day. The easiest way to put this veggie up is freezing. Simply shred and bag in the portions your recipe calls for.

Of course this task would be much faster with a food processor that I am just too darn cheap to buy. Thankfully I have two pre-teen boys that love to shred things:) Just think of the zucchini muffins, bread, cookies...........mmmmmm, all in the middle of winter.

Let the canning begin!

It is now officially the busy season in the garden. Gardens need to be inspected and harvested daily and it's the only way to keep from being overwhelmed and wasting produce. Today I canned 5 quarts of green and purple podded beans, shredded and froze zucchini and harvested various other veggies for the bunnies and chickens. Since the beans will keep on producing for some time I will be canning for several weeks. Plus there are tomatoes, pumpkins, corn, peppers.......etc. Fortunately I am up early and am usually done by noon with a feeling of accomplishment. I love this time of the year!

Colony Life

Having had rabbits in the past I knew there were things that I wanted to do different this time around. I've always felt caged rabbits were an unhappy and grumpy lot. Mucking out under pens and making sure water was always available made bunny chores just that, chores. Now the water only needs freshened a couple times each week and feeding time is fun for everyone. The buns have settled into their little family dynamic nicely and seem to enjoy each others company. There were squabbles at first, but now they seem quite content.


Living in a more free setting, the buns get to be buns, running, digging and jumping. They love to hide in the tunnels provided and dig little burrows of their own. I can't help but think this way is much healthier for them and I'm happy to give them the best life I can in return for the food they provide my family.


In addition to their colony living, they get a natural diet of fresh greens daily. This was a little slow going at first, but now they practically knock me over in the morning for their bucket of goodies. This morning they are feasting on mulberry cuttings, broccoli, pak choi gone to seed, carrot thinnings and corn stalks. Mmmmm!

I'm Back!

The virus ridden PC's have been stuffed in a corner and the I-Mac's have been repaired and put to use again. I have a ton of catching up to do and can't wait to get posting again.
Yay!

Pardon my lack of posts this week

I've been doing really well with keeping this blog going and have been enjoying the writing outlet. Unfortunately our computer modem seems to be out and we have an older, heavily infected computer as our temporary Internet surfer. It sucks, badly. Typing takes three times longer since the computer skips keystrokes whenever the mood strikes and the pop ups are never ending. I hope to remedy this problem soon and return to normal posting. Blah!

Auction Finds

Every Saturday there is an auction and flea market at our county fair grounds. You can buy anything and everything there from bulk food to goats to tomato plants to tractors. We love to walk around and peruse the junk, sometimes we find a hidden treasure. The double washer pictured above was in lovely shape and I was tempted. The man who brought it claimed everything still worked and I know he was hoping for a good price. Alas, I didn't bid on it and it only went for $55. Later I was kicking myself, thinking I could have easily paid $100 for it and turned it around on craigslist or evil-bay. Oh well, I saved my poor husband a lot of heavy lifting and there is always next week:)

Will Work For Food

Xavier has acquired a new nickname lately, 'Pudge'. The boy loves him some food. Fortunately he also has tons of energy and spends plenty of time on the move. I suppose you need plenty of chow to keep all that energy at an all time high. His new favorite activities include mowing with Dad, climbing on everything and hammering. Future carpenter?

Finishing Up

I've been making quilts for years, just not consistently. I go in spurts, work on one or two for a good solid 6 months, then put them away and forget about them for years. I've had some free time lately and have been feeling creative so I decided to raid the UFO box and see what could be finished.

This particular quilt has been in progress for nearly 10 years now. It has sat folded and mostly finished for the majority of those years. I have one more area to quilt, then it can be trimmed, bound and finally washed for use. The perfect project to work on while sitting on the porch watching those farm boys drive by.

I'm calling it 'Dreaming under the Stars'. It was originally meant for my niece and was sized for a toddler bed. Alas, she is quite a bit bigger now and no longer in need of a toddler quilt, so......I think it will make a nice addition to our own collection. I'll be sure to post a finished pic soon, I hope:)

What's Blooming Today

Zucchini looks good.

Daylilies are in full bloom.

Renegade onions.

More pretty posies:)

Garden Maintenance

As I've mentioned before, organic gardening is very labor intensive. In the past I've struggled to win the war on weeds and lost badly. This year I've managed to stay on top of things in the east garden. We spaced the beds farther apart for ease of weeding and maneuvering and mounded them to prevent compaction and help with drainage. Our ground is rather wet for all but the hottest parts of summer and the mounds came in rather handy during this unusually wet, wet spring. Many mornings we would look out and see the paths flooded, but the beds themselves were high and dry.

Weeding by hand and hoe have kept things in check and the satisfaction I get when I see the neatly tended rows has kept me at it every day this year. In the past I've utilized several different mulches, tried lasagna gardening, square foot, etc. All with mediocre to downright disastrous results. I've finally discovered that nothing truly replaces good old fashioned hoeing for a neat and tidy garden. The real kicker here? It really doesn't take that long at all.

Now the west gardens are another story altogether. That area will be razed this fall and rethought completely, but that's another post.

Patio Peppers

This year turned out to be difficult for hot peppers in the garden. These plants need heat to grow and we just haven't had enough of it yet. I was deeply disappointed in this failure since I need the peppers for various recipes. I would be happy to buy from another organic grower, but our farmers market options around here are not very good.

Earlier this year, while observing the yard outside the kitchen window, I noticed how the snow melted quickest and things greened up back there long before other parts of the yard. I got the idea of putting a patio back there for heat loving plants, thinking I could keep a lemon tree and other goodies back there and overwinter them in the house. I'm glad I did. The peppers are growing nicely, convenient to the kitchen, and I don't have to purchase sub-par produce to fill my gaps.

Around the farm

Shy says hi:)

Early morning meeting at the watering hole.

Organic weed control.

Leaf or cool looking moth?

Quick Harvest

Greens for the bunnies, berries for the humans.