Yep, back again for another round

I started my lil blog several years ago to more or less document our successes and failures here and to share a little bit of knowledge from things we learned along the way. Then somehow I started slacking on keeping my blog updated. Now seems like I am about 5 months behind. And a lot can happen in 5 months around here. After my last post we got to drive to Arizona and see our kids and the grandbabies out there. I tell ya, nothing like 2 little boys to make a feller drive for days no matter how much it hurts the body. They are worth every pain tho just to see those happy little faces. Then November was hunting season and spent most of the month in west Ky at the lodge helping out there. Back home and then flew to Arizona to spend 3 weeks or so with the kids and those precious lil boys again thru the Christmas holiday and the littlest one, Zach's 2nd birthday. Got back to my homestead shortly after new years and here it is March already. Dang where did the time go?

We have decided that we want to get all our garden planted by mid April this year like we use to do several years ago. It was just what my dad always insisted on doing. He said if you plant early things sprout and start to come up and you get them in ahead of the spring rains and just do so much better. Never knew of a year when dad failed to have a productive garden. Last fall Rodger did manage to get our garden plot turned so it can be worked a bit earlier this year. So this gives me hope we will be able to plant earlier this season than in the past few years. I did start my transplant seeds early also. I already have cabbage up, although they are lil ones yet. I did suck it up and invest in 2 seed tray heat mats to use for the peppers and tomatoes this year. Both of those need a bit of heat to sprout well and come up. I have herbs started as well as the tomatoes, peppers and cabbage. In my herb garden it is just easier to transplant small clumps of herb plants than to try to keep ahead of the tiny weeds that tend to come up with them. As far as my experience I have less lost of seedlings and plants this way. Not to mention I know where I planted things so less chance of them being trampled when I am in there doing weeding and harvesting.

I have done a lot of research on orchards and fruit tree care this winter when it was too cold to get out and do projects outside. Well at least for me. I want to be a snow bird and go south in winter as I get older. Just no place like home tho. Anyway, we strive to use very little to no spray on things here. I am well aware that it kills the soil and depletes it over time to use pesticides. We use No weed or grass killer, herbicides, on or near any of our crops. We decided to try to go organic as far as how we care for the orchard. I did a great deal of research on Neem as a tree spray. On researching it I found that most places, big box stores and even local farm stores just sell "chemical" sprays, not really organic. But they do sell neem oil spray. Only problem with this is the neem they sell is only 1 or 2 components of true whole neem oil. So I found an online source for whole neem oil. I thought with shipping it was kinda pricey but after checking the price of the partial stuff sold at farm stores it was actually cheaper over all. If interested in any of this info visit the site www.groworganicapples.com on growing organic and www.neemresource.com for the pure neem oil. Finally this past weekend I did get the first round of neem on my fruit trees and grape vines. I sprayed with the neen and fish emulsion to give the trees a nutrient boost for leaf production. We had put fertilizer on the trees and grape vines prior to the spraying. I did find a few small branches on my peach and cherry trees with bloom. Not totally bloomed out so that was a plus. I am sure we will have some frost and cold weather before we actually get to spring so hopefully they will bloom and produce some fruit this year. The apple and nut trees are not even in green tip stage yet so they should do ok. It is strange in east Ky to have 70 plus degree weather in February so this was the problem with some early blooms. I had read a news article saying that lots of commercial orchards are having an issue with trees blooming too early and will likely suffer frost and freeze kills this year. Cant imagine the price of fruit this fall if you can purchase it at all. If news is saying lots of killed fruit it might be wise for all of us that use a lot of canned fruit, homegrown or otherwise, to stock up on canned fruit early ahead of the price increases. 

                                                       Before pruning sweet cherry trees.

                                       
                                                   After pruning sweet cherry trees.

                                 Northern side of our orchard after pruning and before clean up

Last spring I ordered some baby chicks to raise a new laying flock. I being the dummy ordered 25 Buff Orphington pullets. Love this breed. Very docile sweet hens. I had hopes of getting at least one rooster albeit by mistake but that didnt happen. So I had 25 hens. Gosh they all started laying and I was over run with eggs. It is near impossible to sell country eggs here when people can go to the store and use their food stamps and get them cheaper. So I ended up giving a friend half my young laying pullets. I kept 12 and still get too many eggs. Not that that is a bad thing. I do appreciate the effort the girls put in, but just how many chicken fruit can a house of 2 or 3 eat? Well not as many as they provide. But I have a couple people who do get eggs from us so that helps a lot. We plan to build a new run this spring for them so they can be outside a bit but as for now they have to stay inside. Too many predators and our lil girl Sasha is not old enough to know to protect them. She thinks they are for her entertainment right now. She is just a puppy at 10 months old but will outgrow that stage soon we hope.

Last spring a friend in Virginia sent me some thornless blackberry starts. Most people say blackberry shoots, I call these things trees. This is gonna be a learning curve for me for sure. She had told me to tie them upright to a stake or fence. So this I did to the side of the garden fence. Oh geez, I was tying plants all summer. Once you have them growing upright then clip the top to a manageable height. Then they send out limbs off that stem, clip those limbs to about 1 to 2 feet in length. Those limbs will make more lil limbs, clip them to about 1 to 2 feet. All the growth I got from the plants last summer will bloom and produce berries this season. God willing. But am thinking now I sure dont need 25 of those "blackberry trees" I will be picking berries till the cows come home. But thas ok, I will be thankful and consider my self very blessed. Not to mention the fact I ordered some thornless raspberry starts this spring from Starks. Speaking of which, we decided if we are gonna plant trees, and perirrenial plants we are best served to just pay a bit more and get good quality healthy starts. So I will be probably taking our a few of the blackberry plants that are smaller and putting in some raspberry plants on the end of the row on the same fence as the blackberries are now. I am pretty excited to have berries that dont leave me bleeding when I pick them. I also had to purchase some new strawberry plants. I had a good idea once but it didnt work as I planned. I had planted strawberry plants in holes in landscape fabric then mulched them. It worked great for keeping weeds down. BUT the strawberry runners were not able to take root thru the layer of mulch thus they did not live once the plant reproduced. So my strawberry bed was not able to renew itself and now it has scarcely any plants. So last fall I took out the landscape fabric and mulch, tilled the soil, added organic fertilizer and am ready to plant new plants. I am gonna attempt to find some saw dust to use as mulch this year or maybe collect pine needles. It should be much easier for the new runners to take root and keep the strawberry bed renewed very year or so.  You live and learn I reckon.

These are the blackberry bushes tied back to the garden fence. Not to mention this is November.
These things were still growing into December. When we pruned the fruit trees in early February I went by the outside of the garden fence and clipped off some blackberry limbs that were hanging way over the outside. I am sure the deer will help themselves to any plant material or berry that is hanging out of the garden. Or the crows will help themselves. I do have netting to put over small trees and fruiting berries to prevent crow lose this year I hope. They ate all the grapes on the grapevines that are to the left of the blackberries outside the fence. They are going to be trellised this spring with a T-top trellis for ease of covering with netting when the grapes start to ripen.

So now you have a little bit of a catch up post. I am certain I am missing filling you in on something important so maybe I will remember it next time. Till then, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

Wasted effort sometimes

You work your azz off and them its all for nothing. Dang it all. I started out with a beautiful row of cabbage and this evening I took another good look at them. Well I guess if I intend to make kraut I will need to find someone else who has cabbage and buy a few. The cabbage worms have literally ate all of em up. And I had sprayed them several times. Next year, I swear I am only planting like 20 cabbage plants at most and cover them with sheer curtains or cheesecloth to keep the damn moths from laying their eggs on the plants.

We initially went to the garden to put some netting material over the top of the sweet corn to keep the crows off it. We had several large lengths of deer netting and just tossed that up over the tops of the corn. We have had to do this in the past to keep them at bay. Crows can destroy a field of corn in one day. Its a constant battle around here.

You can see the shimmer of the netting on top of the corn stalks. Dang the crap ya gotta do to save ya food supply. I know they will raise hell in the field corn as we dont have enough netting to cover it to protect the ears. I guess I could just sit on the front porch with the rifle and keep the devils scared off. Once the corn is past the soft stage and gets hard they dont mess with it.

We drove thru the orchard just looking at the trees. Our almond trees are sagging they have so many nuts on them. Yes, we can grow almonds in Ky. All be it rare they produce due to the fact it takes very little spring warming to trigger them to bloom and most times they get froze or frosted on. But we were blessed this year.

So many nuts such small tree. This tree is about 5 years old and this is the first crop of nuts we have been blessed with. Just hope they do well and the worms dont invade them. I have got to do some research and get a spray program for us and our little orchard. One of the peach trees had lots of worm damage in the fruit. Dont want a repeat of that next year. I guess the next challenge will be getting these nuts harvested before the squirrels figure out what they are. Dont know if Ky squirrels know what almonds are, but if they do, we are sunk.

In the garden the beans have filled in the trellis' nicely. And they are starting to bloom a little bit. We have harvested some okra pods already and getting enough tomatoes to eat with meals. And a few cukes as well. Not long till we will be able to make pickles. Sadly we did not get our trellis put up for the cukes and they are running on the ground and growing into the sweet potato vines. Gonna make picking them kinda challenging at best.

Yes that is a pile of manure covered over outside the fence waiting to be put on the garden when the corn is done in a couple weeks. Where the corn is growing is where it needs some extra organic matter. Not to mention there will be more manure later. I am really glad Rodger got to weed eat around the fence before I took these photos. It is a full time task to keep all the mowing done here. You really cant do much as far as physical work after about 10 am here. Our temps today hit 97 with about 60% humidity. You really need gills to be outside much at mid-day.

Sunflowers are such happy flowers. Seem to always be smiling. We planted a bunch this year. About a half acre total. They are the black seed sunflower. Our plan is to harvest and use them for chicken feed. In the mean time they are just so pretty to look at.

I think it is so neat the way sunflowers turn their head also. They face the sunrise each day. Much like we should do. By the way, do ya reckon there is an easier way to harvest sunflower heads other than a blade to lop off the heads and toss em in a bag? I think Rodger and Jason have decided to try using our corn picker to see if it will snap the heads off without losing all the seeds. I guess we wait and see. I am sure it will be an interesting process.

We did get our carrots dug and taken care of this week also. And man were they big uns. I think I have found a new best place to raise my carrots every year. From now on they will be out back in the bed here in the back yard. It also grew nice beets this year. And the leeks are not doing too shabby either. How ya like these things?

A little over a half bushel from a small bed. Not a bad harvest. I cut most of them in chunks and vacuum sealed them for the freezer. That should last us for a year at least. About the only thing I use carrots for is pot roast or stew and that is with deer meat. I did shred and freeze some to use in stir fry and chicken noodle soup. It certainly takes a while to scrub and chunk up that many carrots. I am very glad Rodger came out to help cut them up while I did the scrubbing. I guess that is why my hands were swollen, stiff and very sore this morning.

Does this have rotten written all over it? This lil girl is growing like a bad weed. She is old enough now that I can let her be out of her pen while we are here. She likes to hide under the back deck when it gets hot out because it is always cool under there. It was one of Luna's favorite places to stay cool too. I hope Sasha is as good a girl as Luna was.

Not much else happening here on the homestead. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

Spring and gardening season again

I think we have finally arrived at spring and left winter behind. We have had our fair share of rain along with the warmer temps too. Last week Rodger did manage to get the garden worked up and sowed our carrots, beets and some parsnips. The parsnips are new for us this year. I thought we might like a little change from carrots in soups and stews. Not to mention the parsnips are suppose to keep better than carrots. He planted the beets and parsnips in the same row so the beets can mark the row for the parsnips. They do take a good bit longer to sprout and grow. I think it is also possible to leave them in the ground till after frost to make them sweeter. I guess we shall see as we learn about this old fashioned staple.

We went to a nursery a couple weeks ago and got 6 more apple trees and planted them. The deer had killed several of my young trees. It really makes me mad that with all the trees and woods around the deer go to the middle of the field and scrape on the young trees. Once the bark is damaged it will kill the tree. So now we do have some bigger ones planted now. Also got the muscadine grape vine and mulberry tree planted that my friend Deb got for me. I had kept them in the cellar since we got them home in January so as to not kill the roots on them. They are getting leaves now and look promising.

The green house is up and going well. So far my seedlings are doing good. So now we just baby those till time to transplant to the garden when they are big enough. I have got the herb bed cleaned out and more mulch put down. It is ready for some new plants when they are big enough as well. I still need to work on the fence enclosure around the herb bed. It don't have to be super tough, just a barrier to keep the chickens and cat out. I put up a temporary fence several years ago and it is still there. The stakes need replaced with something a lil more sturdy. Its lil jobs that take the most time when all added together.

Rodger and Jason made a trip out of town last weekend to get a load of mulch so I can mulch around the apple trees in the orchard. That should cut down on the risk of them getting damaged with a weed eater. That has happened before. That is how I lost one of my apricot trees after it was a couple years old. So now we have the wagon sitting with about 30 bags of mulch waiting till it is dry enough in the field so we don't get bogged down with the wagon. And it is supposed to rain all week, roughly a 60% chance of rain every day till next week. Hope we don't get as much as we had late last week. It rained so much so fast that the water was over the road in 3 different place on our lil road. No danger of houses or anything getting flooded but the river was very big and came up really quick. Typical spring tho.

Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Life goes forward

Life goes on, forward most days, but only one day at a time. This weather has been yucky, we have had too much rain for the garden. Might be hard to believe but the grass has about taken over. Its still far too wet to get in there to work so the grass will keep growing. We do have a few nice days forecast thru the weekend. We should also get a lil break from the heat as well with temps staying in the mid 80's. I can do 80, its those 90's that do me in. I don't acclimate well at all any more. I am either freezing or burning up. I don't have a happy middle any more. But at least my knees will be happy for a while. I got the last of the series of 3 injections in my right knee yesterday. It is a bit sore but not as bad as they have been after the injections. So there is a plus. Now if only this stuff will kick in and do its job and relieve the pain in the knee joints I will for sure be happy about that. But the doc said it would take a while and depend on a lot of factors. So we wait. I don't do well trying to squat down to weed beds and such. So guess that is out of the question. But I certainly have plenty of it to do. I did manage to finish the beds out back this evening with Rodgers help. Still need to get the strawberry bed by the drive and the remainder of the herb bed weeded. Rodger bought me 20 bags of mulch to put down on the berries and herbs to help cut down on the weeding. Maybe I can get a lot of that stuff done this weekend as it is suppose to be nice and not rain. After I get the mulch down it can rain a bit to settle it in but no downpours please.

Last week after my doc appointment we had to make a trip to Lexington to Sam's club to pick up supplies for the company and get a few things stocked back up for us here at home. As the rain destroyed our onions in the garden we bought a 50 lb bag of onions at Sam's. I have been slicing some of those and getting them dried out in the summer kitchen. I also bought carrots to dry an celery. I am surprised at how many carrots and celery flakes I use in cooking. Lots to say the least. Our carrots did not grow this year either, not sure if it was too wet or too cold when we sowed them. But we planted twice an none made it. I still have enough carrot chunks in the freezer to last another season but needed some dried to make my version of Ms Dash. It has been a challenge at best to dry things in the dehydrator in the summer kitchen for a while. The humidity is high outside and it takes longer even in the dehydrator. But we making progress. Still got a lot of onions, all the celery an carrots to dry. Maybe by time I start canning beans I will be done with all the dehydrating. Rodger did make it to the garden last weekend and picked a bunch of cukes and we made bread and butter pickles with those. Tomorrow evening we will pick again and make more. We do use a lot of pickles. Rodger will eat the pickles as a snack if I don't have a dessert made. We try to make at least 20 quarts of bread and butter pickles and about that many kosher dills every year to last all season. When I have cukes that get too big to make good dill slices or spears I usually chop those and can them as chopped dill pickle for use in deviled eggs and such. Lots easier than chopping as you need them. Just open the jar an take out what ya need for the recipe.

Our yard had gotten beyond over grown before Rodger could get it dry enough to mow. Kinda resembles a hay field right now. Wont take long for it to grow back tho. He even ran the weed eater in the garden between some of the rows of veggies to get the grass out that was really tall. Its hard to believe it is almost mid July already. Where the heck did the summer go. Well I have lost most of mine going to the doc once a week for the past 6 weeks for the injections in my knees and before that we were on vacation. With the injections I am suppose to stay off my feet for 48 hours after so that has knocked out 3 days per week of not being able to get anything done. But we done with all that.

My hens are all trying to set I think, I have 6 sitting on eggs and the layers are still laying with them. That is a waste of good eggs. I have 4 hens that have been setting long enough to hatch 2 batches of chicks and have not hatched one. So if its not unbearably hot out tomorrow I may try to get the eggs out of those nest an trash em. The chicken house needs to be cleaned out again but not sure how spunky I feel with a wheelbarrow. I could use the waste on the beds in back where my Lima beans and tomatoes are. The broccoli I planted late is not doing anything so I think I might get it out of those beds and put a layer of chicken manure and bedding down on the bed and cover it over with black plastic or newspaper, if I have enough here at the house. That should break down nicely and make a good spot of fall cabbage and maybe some greens, or lettuce and onions. But definitely cabbage. Not sure the cabbage in the garden is gonna do any good or not. Rodger said the cukes have taken over the cabbage row where we didn't get those trellised. Not much you can get done when the weather wont cooperate.  It has stayed so wet that we still don't have the greenhouse taken down and stored away yet. I sure wanted it nice and dry before we try to disassemble it and put it back in the box for use next year. It was dry this evening but was too late to get it taken apart after Rodger got in from work. Maybe this weekend. I think our weekend list is growing by leaps and bounds. Our plan for tomorrow evening is the pick cukes and put the net fence around the grape vines here in the yard. The vines are loaded with huge grape clusters. The nicest ones we have had yet and I sure don't want the chickens to see the grapes and start eating them before they get ripe. My luck we will fence the chickens out and then wild birds will find em and eat em all. I see a good amount of grape juice coming from all those nice grapes this fall if we can keep the critters fooled. I don't think I will make any more jelly as we still have a lot that I had made a few years ago when I had a good grape harvest.

Not much else happening here on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

We keep puttering along

If spring would just get here and stay here I think I would feel better. I hate this feeling rotten for seems like no good reason. If I am gonna hurt like hell I at least want to be able to DO something to have reason. Not sure whas up with my joints and back unless I am in the middle of a big ole flare up. The usual things I do that provide some relief are just not working right now. So me thinks is a flare up. But I will get over this hump too like all the others. I had to spend most of last week inside because my knees hurt so dang bad and bad knees is just not conducive to going up and down the porch steps and walking around in an un level yard. So I just puttered with my toys in here. Mostly the sewing machine. I have been in need of an apron with a wider than normal top section for a while. A normal size apron leaves too much of my shirt exposed to spots of grease and other cooking mis-haps. So I started making one  just fer lil ole me with a wider top section and much longer ties so I can just cross them in the back and tied them in the front. After shoulder surgery on both sides most days it is impossible to tie on anything that requires me to put my arms behind my back. So this is what I came up with.

So now hopefully I can prevent stains on my clothing. Not to mention I am the worst for wiping my hands on the bottom of my tee shirts when I am in the kitchen. So this was one of my projects for late last week. I even added a large pocket to the front so I don't lose my phone when I am in the summer kitchen too. I know most older ladies, my grandmother for one , always wore an apron, even to the garden. An apron tail is good for lots of things. From totin orphan babies of some sort, gathering veggies, drying hand and a multitude of other things. And those ladies alas had pockets too. But us modern day grammies have to keep up with things like cell phones and cameras for blog photos ya know. So I, still in the tinkering mode, made a lil baggy to hang around my neck for the phone and camera if I am away from the house. And both mine will fit in this lil bag.

This was a fabric scrap that was left from upholstering a foot stool for Jason several years ago. Kind heavy fabric for this application but does provide a lil extra cushion if I happen to bump into something. That is where my creativity ended.
We did go pick up my lil greenhouse Saturday and did some other shopping. I picked up several bags of potting mix to start seeds in. That will be getting under way as soon as Rodger gets my benches bu9ilt for the greenhouse. He did manage to get it put together and put up today too. And it is anchored to the railroad ties on both sides.

This is before the cover was totally in place. It was pretty cold outside today and really hard to work with the plastic material. Once it gets warmed up we can maneuver it into better position. But this will be so much more convenient for me. A blessing not trudging up and down the hill several times per day to check on the greenhouse and water and make sure some critter is not in there eatin hearty.

You can see the plastic has a mesh like heavier material inside it. Easy to zip the door closed and you can then un-zip an area over the door and one in the back for better cross ventilation. It is pretty heavy for a portable greenhouse. I will be a happy lil camper to know I don't have to walk so much to care for another one. Now I have to round up all my trays and planters and get busy.

I got baby chicks that should arrive about Wednesday of this week. I think I will keep them in a Rubbermaid tote for a week or so out in the summer kitchen so I can check on them many times per day. It will be much easier to keep the temp steady for the first couple weeks in there than in a large building. By 2 weeks of age they should be much stronger and able to withstand a lil variance of ambient temps. I do think my 3 hens should hatch sometime this week too. They have been really good about staying on their own nest too. Having 3 girls taking up 3 of the 4 nest boxes on the bottom row of the laying box had put a kink in some of the girls laying habits.

The 3 girls in the bottom row are the ones that should be hatching anytime now. The buff in the top laying box inside the fence jumps the fence everyday to lay. She will make a big fuss when she is done so she can get out.The 2 nest boxes on the end are occupied and 1 lady is pacing. After I took this photo she decided she was not waiting anymore and scooted in beside the lil hen on the bottom row. Out of view is 2 more hens waiting on a place to lay. I just put this section of wire up haphazard to try an prevent hens from laying with the setting hens and it has worked pretty good.

It started raining shortly after Rodger got the greenhouse up so we had some home canned veggie soup for lunch and he went to find some scrap lumber to make the benches with while I did inside stuff. I know we need rain, ya know, rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, but crap cool and damp and me are just not compatible any more. Who the hell came up the idea of "global warming"? They need to move to Ky. Well on second thought , nope they don't. We don't want their kind here.

Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

These late nights are tough

We have been keeping late night for a week or so now and it sure do get old. It takes a while to go thru 10 bushels of tomatoes and knowing there is more waiting to be picked is getting kinda depressing. Well not really, I do enjoy lots of tomato products. We just came in the house from running about 4 gallons of juice with the tomatoes that have been picked for a few days. I will let it sit overnight and let the clear liquid come to the top of the kettles and drain that off. That should make it faster to cook down into spaghetti sauce. We use a bunch of spaghetti sauce over the year so I hope to be able to make a good deal of it. With a few additions the sauce can also be used in lasagna. I want to make some salsa this year also. I made some a few years ago and it was good. It is just a lil more time consuming to make than juice due to the fact you need to peel the tomatoes and chop them then add other ingredients and cook and jar it up. So maybe in a couple days I can do that.
I have been letting my young chickens run out during the day and they are out back of the summer kitchen. I have a big pan out there where I can put tomato peels and such for them to enjoy. I didn't have any treats for them in the pan earlier to day and they took it upon themselves to enjoy my Brandywine tomatoes that were growing out back near the house. So up goes another temporary fence. Sneaky lil varmints. I was really surprised to find that when it got dark they had all went back into the chicken house with me having to chase them in there. As long as they behave they will be allowed to run out. So far so good, but I do know chickens get brave and wonder farther from their house every day.
Not much else happening here right now. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The rain shot my plans

I got up early, well earlier than normal fer me with big plans to get lots done today. I got started cutting herbs to dry and finished one basket full and then started pulling weeds in the herb bed. The new bed has taken off and done really well. Got lots of weeds pulled out and in a big pile.

With a big pile of weeds in the middle it started to pour rain on me so I got my basket of cut herbs and headed for the summer kitchen. I did get those herbs which happen to be summer savory cleaned, stripped, washed an in the dehydrator. My intention was to go back and finish up weeding and cut more when the rain let up but it rained the rest of the afternoon till late. So I came in to cook supper. We had fresh green beans, new potatoes, fried corn, fresh tomatoes and cornbread, all homegrown stuff. I had sliced cucumbers and onions in salt water with mine tho. A meal that cant be beat for a hillbilly. Later this evening I made a blackberry cobbler from the wild picked blackberries I had canned.
I went out later to check on my chickens in the brooder house. I have far too many in there, a total of about 63 and all really pretty birds. So kinda unique in color and feather.

Really nice bunch of lil birds. They love getting veggie scraps and grass clippings. I hope this weekend if we don't get too much more rain I can put up a temporary fence in the back of the brooder house so they can get out and eat green stuff at will. But for now they thoroughly enjoy shredded cukes and zucchini. Both of which we are kinda short on this season. The rain kinda hampered my cucumber planting this weekend too. Not to mention I did not pick beans this evening in the mud too. They must be picked tomorrow rain or shine. In the meantime I will be trying to finish weeding herbs then onion beds. As you can see my ambitions far exceed my energy and physical ability.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The hot weather is here to stay

I know, we were complaining a week ago about the cool damp weather with all the rain we have had. OK I am done with this hot stuff for a while now. It has been in the mid 90's today and pose to be all week with intermittent showers. The humidity is about too much and its just the end of May. I can not imagine how bad it will be in July and August. None the less I did get a few minor things accomplished today in spite of the heat. I went and got the truck load of straw to mulch the strawberries with. I used 1 bale in the brooder house to get it ready for the lil chicks that will be here this week. ALL 50 of em. Yeah I am a lil crazy at times. But the building is all set up waiting their arrival. When they get big enough to let out they will be allowed to free range some. Well most likely until they find my flower beds and then they will get confined to a pen. Anyway still have the straw on my truck. Rodger intends to till the area between the rows of berry plants before I mulch to loosen up the soil. So maybe we can do that tomorrow. He got kinda busy this evening helping Jason set post to build a pen for his puppies that will be here this weekend. My friend Rosie's Great Pyrenees had puppies and Jason is getting 2 of em. My aunt is taking 1 also and we will have all 3 here this weekend. I can only imagine how cute they are. They do make beautiful dogs. I will post pics for ya to see when we get them. Luna is gonna love this. She wont know what to do with 3 lil girls like her. Jason is building a pen for his so Luna don't go visit an dognap the puppies.
I finally got my greenhouse shut down for the spring season. I had a good deal of leftover plants, some I am planting and some giving away. A co-worker of Jason's is taking all the sweet potato plants, and probably most of the other stuff too. I keep hearing threats toward my greenhouse around here. I think I may have went a lil overboard planting this year. But dang by now they should know that's how I do things.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Trying to see the pretty things

Dang with all this rain and storms we have had since I don't remember when, I guess I am blessed to have anything left to bloom and look pretty. We have had several pretty good rain showers today and after it stopped I got out and took a few pics here around the house. The big plus with the pretty stuff is I can see it and think of the wonderful friends who have shared seeds and plants with me.

This is the beautiful hollyhocks that Rosie gave me the seed for and they were planted last year. They are just starting to bloom. In the foreground is fever few that she also shared with me. Later on in summer it has beautiful white daisy like lil flowers on it.

The flower border at the back of the house is filled in with plants from my friend Madeline. The old porch rocker is one I sat in as a lil child on the porch of the old home place. It is more for sentimental value than sitting as it is about rotted down. Maybe a few more years left in its life.

The grapevines are loaded with lil grape clusters again this year. They got pruned heavily this spring and are still sprawling.

The border to the left is Lariope (monkey grass) that my aunt Ann had given me last spring. It will thrive almost anywhere and makes a nice edging for drives and such. The herb bed has a lil fence around it now to keep some animals from walking thru it. The new herbs in there are starting to take off now and grow. Still have more young ones to plant in there too.

This is the new bed extension in back of the house. It is planted with leeks and the new strawberry plants from my friends Gretchen and Carl. I am still short 1 bag of mulch to even this one out and eliminate the bare dirt spot.

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This is the banana pup that my friend Deb sent me from Mississippi last week. This is the musa basjoo variety. This banana tree is grown for fiber and not the fruit. It has gotten 2 new leaves on it just since I got it. I think they are capable of growing up to 2 ft per week in the warmer summer months. It will also flower when it has 35 leaves or reaches 10 ft tall. I am thinking in a few years it can be moved to a place where I can put a hammock chair under it and have shade.
Anyway not much going on here today will the rain. All I have succeeded in doing is getting my hair cut and just stayed inside. The cool rainy weather does a number on my joints.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Its time...............

It is finally time and its not raining or windy. Time that is to put the plastic on the green house and get started with the seed starting. The wind was calm today so we got the plastic on the greenhouse. It really didn't take long this time with 3 of us working on it. The guys were looking online yesterday to see if they could find a pre-made greenhouse with the plexi glass panels and when they tole me the price I tole them maybe we can do that later in the season when those are maybe on sale. I am perfectly happy with the one I have for now, it does what I need in the spring to start seeds. The solid material ones would likely be a lil easier to heat and could be used to extend the growing season for lots of frost sensitive veggies. Anyway for now I have the greenhouse up and spent several hours cleaning and disinfecting pots and seed trays to get ready to use. I moved the tray of leeks, onions, and cabbage to the greenhouse. The cabbage were sown in a pot and while I was in there I got those into cell packs so they can get some growth on them. I also moved my grape vine cuttings to the greenhouse and now maybe the heat in there will help them root better. They have lil leaves on them already and some are starting to get some length on the shoots. I spotted the pots those will go in as soon as they have lil roots. Now I need to get more potting soil and hopefully I will be in business.
They are forecasting rain all this coming week for us. Tomorrow I am sowing lettuce in some containers for early leaf lettuce. Its far too wet to get in the big garden to plow or plant anything. Rodger did get the lime spread today tho. He went to start the tractor to disc the lime in all to find it had less than an inch of fuel in the tank and that would have just gotten him stranded in the field. Such is life on the farm. All of a sudden I get the feeling we are getting behind again. Still got a fence to put up for hogs and fence to put up so the laying hens can be turned out during the day to forage. I got the fence material last spring and still don't have the fence up. But that is one of the things that can be done when the ground is too wet to garden.
My next project will be to get the brooder house ready for chicks. I got those ordered Friday and they should be here around April 1st. Then we will be butchering about mid May. Then later in the season I will order more to butcher in the fall for freezer. Its a never ending cycle. I still have enough chicken in the freezer to supply our needs till we have more big enough to butcher. The biggest challenge in raising birds for meat is that we have to stock up on chicken feed when we are in the big city because we have no source for high protein feed in our area. So I have my list started for when we are in the big city again. Just hope it is before the chicks arrive.
There was a change of plans on getting pigs. We decided to wait till around June and get a couple that weigh about 200 lb each and finish them out till November. They should be about 450 or more by then. The price of feeder pigs is far too high right now to consider. A 40 lb pig will cost $90 and a 200 lb hog about $120. No way I can put 160 lb of weight on them for $30. So let someone else feed them till June and by then we should also have plenty of garden scraps for them as well. Still want to get set up to raise a few sows and keep a boar and then sell the excess pigs. Thas for a lil later tho.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Weeding, planting, starting plants

The weather was rather nice today and I actually felt like getting outside to do a few things. The past couple days I have been pretty sluggish. I think it is probably the new blood pressure meds and they may be elevating the blood sugar as well. I will get them adjusted soon, at least I hope. Damn it, take meds to fix one thing and it breaks something else. Oh well!!
I worked on the strawberry pyramid out back today. It had a good deal of weeds that had gotten started in there. I decided it was easier to just take all the dormant strawberry plants out and dig up the whole thing and replant the plants. So that is what I did. I had about 50 or so plants that I didn't put back, lack of room, so I put those in soil in a tray to transfer to the berry patch in the big garden a lil later on. As I tole ya before I got damping off in my onion seedlings and I decided to just cut my losses and re-seed the 2 trays. I dried the soil today and treated it and got more seeds in there and the trays are back in the house, WITH drain holes. Now we can see how we do this time around. Sometimes you just have to laugh at your boo boos and move on. 
I got the herb bed and onion/asparagus beds weeded today too while it was nice out. Now I need to get mulch hauled to cover them to keep em looking nice and keep down weeds. All the herbs are starting to green up and start growing again.
Yesterday the guys got a big cage built to fit the back of Jason's truck for transporting small livestock. So hopefully if the rivers are not out of their banks this weekend we can go get out pigs before the price goes up any more. Livestock prices in our area are getting ridiculous. We have been kinda plotting on getting set up to keep a few sows and a male to raise our own pigs. We are figuring it will likely take at least 3 sows having pigs twice a year to be able to sell enough to pay to keep the stock and our meat animals will be free. This might be something we could do next year. This year we just don't have buildings or fences ready for em.
I had also hoped that it would be dry enough to plant raspberries and move some strawberries in the field this weekend but sure don't look like that will happen. It is raining now as I write. But this lil rain should settle the plants in that I disturbed today. 
Nothing else happening here, so til next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Onion seedlings are green, warm weather is coming

Well I don't know what the story is about google and blogger but they both locked me out last night and I could not post anything dang it. But I did get in today so all is not lost.
I got out yesterday and checked on my lil onion seedlings in the summer kitchen and took some pictures so ya can seed em. I did give them a lil drink of warm water too and they are starting to green up a lil bit from sitting very near the window.

So far both trays of seedlings are doing good so I am hopeful I will have a good supply of onions this year to store. My goal this weekend is to get the soil for the celery and leeks. OK so no I have not done that yet. It snowed and was really cold out there and I don't wanna go. I really don't want to clutter the counters in the summer kitchen yet with seed flats because I still have 2- 25 lb bags of flour to mess with out there and get in vacuum sealed bags and stored. Not to mention Josh is supposed to bring the wild hog meat down this weekend and that will need to be worked up and frozen out there as well. I really will need my counter space to work on.
The weather did improve some today. At least it was sunny and looked nice outside but still quite chilly. My body just don't adjust to the cold like it did when I was 25.  If the weather is as nice as they are forecasting I am gonna try to go to Jason's house and decide on a finally spot for the pig pen that we need to get built and get the pigs pretty soon so we can have meat hogs this coming year. The wire is waiting on some nice weather to get the pen fenced in for the laying hens to run in as well. The post have been set and wire bought for almost a year now so I think its time to get it done. But there are only so many hours in a given day to do things outside.
We usually try to plant peas on Valentines day here but I really don't think it will be on Valentines day this year. But if it don't snow or rain for several days maybe we can run the tiller in the big garden and get a place worked up and get them in early next week. That will be all good with me.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Its hot, pickin berries, plantin things

It has been too hot even for me today. I went out long enough to take care of the blackberries that we picked last evening. Put 6quarts in the freezer, started some blackberry syrup and made some juice. I picked cucumbers last evening as well and we made 3 quarts and 3 pints of bread and butter pickles. We do have several tomatoes ripe now, at least we can have enough to eat on.
I have been out several times today checking on the chickens and making sure they had water. They have done OK so far although they get really hot about mid-day. The chickens will be where it is really cool in about another week and a half. They will be in the freezer.
I had a bright idea today and decided to order a home brewers kit for making beer and some wine making equipment. I should be set in a few weeks when this arrives. It will make the process easier to care for and make consistent quality wine. My personal preference is a good Merlot. This is something I have always wanted to be able to do really well. And this is why I keep picking berries and fighting the chiggers.
We went around to Jason's house this evening and picked the blackberries that were behind the old corn crib. They were really nice big juicy berries. I froze those this evening to make wine later on when I have more time. I am pretty sure I have enough blackberry jam canned and blackberries for cobbler to last a few years. I likely will be making more blackberry syrup to use for non-alcoholic drinks as well. It does make a good bedtime drink in winter.
Our sweet corn is almost ready and in a normal season we have a problem with crows eating it all before it gets completely ready. The year we had deer net fence around the perimeter of our garden, the crows did not get one ear. They sat in trees nearby and hollered. They are afraid of getting into a trap. So we decided to take some of the deer netting and cut it into long pieces and toss it over the tops of the stalks of corn around the perimeter of the corn patch to see if this also deters them. If it works, after this little patch of corn is done the net will be taken down and moved to the next area that will be coming on until all the corn is harvested.
While we were in the garden I had Rodger plow up a place for me to plant some more Kentucky wonder bush beans. The ground is warm and the bean seed came from the freezer so I hope they will be up in a few days. We should have pink eye purple hull peas ready maybe this weekend. Cant wait to have a mess of those.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

It feels like summer now

The weather was so nice today, it just felt like a beautiful summer day. I feel like I kinda plundered through the whole day not doing anything constructive. Well I kinda did. Finally got able to move this morning. My body was really sore when I got out of bed. Note to self, do not try to carry a 50 lb bag of chicken feed ever again. I think my body is broken, I just cant do those things anymore. But my little chicks are doing ok. Although they have been in a total panic all day today. Rodger and Jason were working on my summer kitchen and it is near the brooder house. I guess the sound of the saws and drills were a little much for the babies. But the kitchen did get started today with the sole plates in place an one wall framed up an standing. Thats progress as far as I am concerned. Maybe the other walls will go up tomorrow.
I got in the cellar to get the sweet potatoes out to get bedded out for slips and found a mess. All the sweet potatoes that we had stored in the cellar over the winter were not good. We have determined that sweet potatoes need warm dry air to store well, preferably in a dark place to prevent sprouts from forming. The cellar is perfect for other root crops that need cool an humidity. Not sweet potatoes tho. We had to toss out a few bushels of them and that was very disappointing. I have some of the Goldrush Irish potatoes out of the cellar so they can get light and heat and make some eyes. We plan on planting some of those this weekend weather permitting.
My trees came in yesterday that I had ordered a few weeks back. All of them look really good. Now we have a good start on an orchard of fruit and nut trees. Those will go in this weekend on the east end of the river bottom in front of the house. We will be putting up electric fence to keep critters from eating the trees.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Yard work

I like having the yard look nice but I always get too many beds of plantings going at one time and make more work for myself. I got out today with the leaf rake and raked my mulch back in the flower beds that the chickens had scratched out this past fall. All the edges around the house needed raked and tidied up a good deal. Between the cats , the dog and chickens it was a mess. I have some new solar side walk lights that I am going to get put in very soon. Most of my old ones have been over run by Luna and the tops broken. She has really big feet and is very clumsy. Next time we have some dry weather I will be hauling dirt to fill in some holes in the yard that Luna has dug going after moles and such. My big issue this summer will be keeping Luna and the cats out of the herbs. I have a role of used 8 X 8 welded wire that I am going to cut to fit the length of the herb bed. You can cut the wire so you have some legs of wire to poke in the ground to elevate it several inches. Then just lay it in the bed over the herbs, they will grow up thru the openings in the wire and this will deter the dog and cats from digging in the beds. This creates an uneven and unstable surface and the animals wont walk on it. This method also works to keep chickens from scratching in places they shouldn't. Once the plants are up and growing this will be a lot less noticeable than having to put little fences all over the place. I will post pics when I get started on this project. Now I wonder if I have enough wire to do the flower beds as well. We shall see. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Garden planting

Its been one of those days when I feel pretty useless. The chicken pen was started yesterday when some of the post were set. Today Rob and Amoy finished setting the rest of the post. Now we have to get the welded wire put up so we can let the hens out in a safe place. They seem pretty happy with their new digs. And its an Easter egg hunt to gather eggs till we get the nest box moved down there for them. Rob also got the brush piled from the trees that were used for post around the chicken pen.
This evening I went to visitation for a good friend and former co-worker/EMT that passed away on Friday. I sure will miss him. I worked with him for several years in EMS and we always had a lot of fun. Rest in peace pappy(Everett).
While I was gone to the funeral home, Rodger, Rob and Amoy got my onion sets, peas, carrots, beets, mustard/turnip greens and lettuce planted. This was the only dry day we are supposed to have for a few days and the ground was dry enough to plant. So now if we get rain tomorrow I can only hope they come up and do good. I may have, as usual, over done it on peas. I ended up with 2 rows 150 ft long. But thas OK I can always can them for later. I think I will be starting the rest of my seeds pretty soon in seed flats. I still have tomatoes, peppers, more cabbage and broccoli to sow. Pretty much everything else gets direct seeded.
Amoy had her little puppy here this weekend and Luna was so jealous. But she let the baby climb all over her and when she got annoyed with the puppy she would put her paw on it to keep it still if she was laying down. It was cute to watch. The cat on the other hand kept swatting at the lil one and she loved chasing the cat. The cat was not sure what to make of the little "thing" on the end of that string. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Building fence

We got some fence post cut this morning from some small locust trees that were growing here on the farm. Locust makes the best fence post, very hard and rot resistant in this area. Locust also makes some of the best firewood you can burn, more BTU's than other hard woods. Rob got home today to help set fence post and they got most of them set. Rob still has 2 or 3 more to set tomorrow and clean up the brush out of the field where we cut the post. Maybe later this week we will get the wire put up for the chickens. We got them in a crate and moved them to their new residence tonight after it was dark. They will have a few days to adjust before we get the pen done and let them out.
I got my incubator up to temperature today and put the eggs in to hatch. I only put in 36, and the little hen has about 10 under her. If I have a 50% hatch rate she will have her nest full of babies. The hen that is setting was left in the brooder house till she hatches then she will live there for a while to raise the little chicks.
I did manage to get some cleaning done at the rental house today. Maybe I can get it finished up this week. Just have to wait to see what tomorrow holds for us.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Closer to spring

I think we are a lot closer to spring now. The weather today was really nice too, sunny and about 55 degrees. My little crocuses are blooming now, finally. Last year they bloomed a lot earlier. I think they know spring is here.
We got the water lines fixed at the rental house today and no leaks now. I got the floors swept and maybe tomorrow I can go back an give it a good cleaning an be done with it.
Hopefully we can get some post cut an the chicken fence built as well. Would be so nice to get them moved to green grass for a while and out of my flower beds. I have my incubator in the house warming up so I can put eggs in it tomorrow if all goes well. We shall see. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Yeh! I got outside today!

The weather was so nice today. Sunny, warm around 60 degrees, perfect for working outside in short sleeves. My day got started earlier than I had planned but I managed. Jason called me this morning to chat for a few minutes before he went across the border into Canada. He don't use his cell phone when he is in Canada due to per minute cost of 70+ cents. Any way I was all befuddled because I am a smoker and I was out of smokes, and that's a must with my morning coffee. So off to town early to get smokes. I intended to stop at the local farm store and get some onion sets to have on hand in case it gets dry enough to plant them this weekend. I was so thinking of my coffee and my morning smoke that the onion sets were totally forgotten. So I restarted my morning routine and did some things in the house, then off to town again to get onion sets to plant. I got really nice size ones too, the size of a quarter, so I should have plenty this year.
This afternoon I got out and cleaned the brooder house where my dark Cornish hens are living right now and put in fresh bedding of shredded paper that I have been saving for this and mulching. I have 1 little hen that is sitting on about 4 eggs. I cleaned the building and was sweeping the floor and she didn't move or leave her nest. So I am thinking she is serious about hatching babies. That means tomorrow I am going to fill up my incubator with the eggs I have been saving. Then all the eggs should hatch together and this little hen will wake up with a whole house full of kids. This weekend we are going to try to get the fence built around the other hen house across the road then move the hens to that building. As I was cleaning that chicken house across the road I was thinking about the design. The building is designed so that under the chicken roost is raised off the floor, enclosed and there is a sloped floor under the roost that is covered with used tin and it slopes to a door that opens in back of the building. The manure can then be removed without entering the hen house. This serves 2 purposes. The first one is ease of cleaning, the second is that chickens produce the most of their manure while on the roost. So with the major part of the chicken manure being under the roost and not on the floor of the hen house, the house stays totally dry inside. The stuff that I removed from inside the building was nothing more that a small amount of manure and lots of fine straw that had been bedding for the old laying flock. The brooder house that has been used as a hen house this winter was a little wet on the floor from the manure collecting there. So if we ever build another hen house it will also have a trap door built in back of the roost with a slope under the roost to collect manure. Dang the older I get the more I learn.
Tomorrow more things to do around here. Probably fix plumbing at the rental house and cut post for chicken pen and maybe dig some post holes. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Thinking spring

The weather has been so nice these past few days I am thinking spring with temps in the upper 50's. But still trying really hard not to get ahead of myself planting anything. It is supposed to be really nice all thru the weekend.
We went to the rental house to check on the water lines to see what we were gonna need to repair the leak so we can get the material and maybe do that on Saturday. Am hoping we can accomplish that task so I can spend next week cleaning the house up. That's plan 1. Next plan is to get some small locust trees cut to make fence post to fence in for a chicken run at the other chicken house across the road. I really do need the hens moved so I can set the one that wants to set and load my incubator at the same time. That way everyone hatches close to the same time and the momma hen cant count so she wont know how many babies she was sitting on. She is just going to wake up one day with a whole big bunch of babies. Then.........weather and backs permitting and the ground dries enough we are going to try to get the garden plowed up again so we can plant peas and onions and a few other cold tolerant veggies. Sure would be nice if my strawberries were here so I could get them in as well.
In the next couple weeks I will be starting the rest of my garden plants in peat pots. I was in the outbuilding at the rental house today and found the metal frame for the canopy that goes on the old patio swing that I was gonna put plastic on for a cold frame/greenhouse for my seedlings. This way I will be able to stand up inside the little greenhouse and have lots of room for plant flats. I bought the plastic a month or so ago when I was out of town. So am all set when the temps get a little warmer. Big plans, little money or energy. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella