End of June Homestead Overview

Sadie watches over the homestead

     Our 1/2 Chou, 1/2 Shepherd, Sadie, has a lot of responsibilities for a 7 month old pup.  Going from puppyhood to adulthood is not an easy task.  She makes a lot of mistakes, but she's still learning.  And we love her all the same.

     As it's only a week since the last detailed update, this one is just a pictorial overview to remind me at some future date what things looked like at this stage.  Previous posts have more detail.

Some of the 8 chicks hatched on May 1

2 of the 20 chicks hatched on May 12

Bob and some of the 19 hens in the Old Chicken's Home

 

Central Garden, Hydroponic Lettuce in Greenhouse in back

Pea blossoms in East Garden

South Garden Tomato Patch, Squash in front

West Garden getting ready for next year's Tomato Patch

 

Midsommer Roses

     Life is a little like hunting or fishing.  Oft times the chase is more important than the catch.  In your pursuit of happiness, may you bag your limit.

Midsommer 2015 and Father's Day

Midsommer wild roses

2 of Amber's 6 hanging baskets

     The wild roses in front of the house bloomed, and Amber got 6 hanging flower baskets hung.  The lettuces, radishes and rhubarb have been plentiful, and the asparagus and spinach have been adequate.  The hens have been laying, and the baby chicks are growing.  Did I mention the quiche?  It's fantastic! 

     On top of all that, ALL my children have contacted me with best wishes for Father's Day!  Midsommer and Father's Day can't get much better than that!

 

Vegetable garden as of June 22 with hints of rewards to come

New potatoes by the 4th of July

     The first 3 rows are red potatoes which will start coming in the 4th of July, while the second 2 rows are Kennebec for winter keepers.

Peas on the left, bush beans top right, 2nd planting spinach bottom right.

     The peas will start coming in about the 4th of July, with the beans coming later in July.  The second planting of spinach is ready for salads within the week.  Our carrots and beets should be starting about mid-July.  I do have to get the supports up for the peas in the next few days.

Salads in the hydro-garden

     We'll be eating lettuce from the hydro-garden in the next day or two.

Garlic in front, onion sets in back.  Cabbage to the right needs weeding.

     Onions in a couple of weeks, garlic in the fall.  I'm hoping for cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower in August some time, but they are coming kind of slow.

2 buttercup squash in front, tomatoes and peppers in the back.

     With a little luck we'll have tomatoes and peppers starting in mid-August and squash, pumpkins and watermelons in September and October.

The Pea Trellis is up!

     On Tuesday I got my tree branches and twine together and set up this year's pea trellis.  I always wonder what it will look like when I'm done.  By the 4th of July some of the pea vines will reach the top rung, and it will be a work of art.

     Next update is coming about the fourth of July.  In the meantime, eat your quiche with spinach, your egg salad sandwiches with lettuce and radishes, and finish up the last of that rhubarb sauce in the fridge.  Creamed peas and new red potatoes are coming soon!

Early June 2015

"Big Red" Heritage Tomatoes

 

"If I was to choose the life I lead,  I'd be Johnnie Tomato Seed,
'Cause I know what this country needs, is home-grown tomatoes in every yard you see."
                                                                     Guy Clark

     The 10 day forecast on June 1 showed no prediction of frost, so I transplanted most of the tender crops into the garden.  Besides the heritage tomatoes, about 25 Big Red and Abraham Lincoln, that I had started in the house, I bought 8 Early Girl Tomato plants.  As the squash, pumpkins and cucumbers I started didn't do well, I also bought some of those, along with some cauliflower, that I've never grown before.

     I also made the third planting of radishes and the second planting of carrots during the first week in June.  I'd like to get enough carrots to get us through the winter this year.

Jack gives me the Raspberries

     My strawberry patch had never been very productive, so I plowed it under this spring.  However, when my friend Jack told me he had plenty of extra raspberry plants if I wanted some, I went over with a dozen fresh eggs and  bunch of radishes and came home with raspberry plants.  I put 13 plants into the ground a couple of days ago, and it looks like most of them are going to make it.

     This last week, during the last quarter of the moon, I've gotten most of the weeding done.  It's beginning to look like a garden.  We've had ample rainfall so far this year which has resulted in a good harvest of lettuce, radishes and rhubarb, and enough asparagus to delight my taste buds.

Hydroponics Still an Experiment

 

     There's been no harvest from the hydroponic experiment as of yet, but I'm looking forward to good things.  what you see in the picture is a tub filled with a weak manure tea made from our poultry manure, oxygenated by a fish tank bubbler.  The plants are in pots with lots of holes in the bottom so that the roots can go down into the water to get their nutrients.  In two or three weeks the story will be told.

New Red Potatoes by the 4th of July

 

     The planting is about done for the year, but I still plan to put in some more warm weather salad crops like Swiss chard and kale this next week.  We should have peas and new red potatoes by the first week in July, with green beans to follow soon after. 

     May we all be blessed with good food in our stomachs and healthy soil under our fingernails.

May is for Planting

Big Red Tomatoes in the ground

     0.2 of an inch of rain in the old soup can on the fence this morning changed my transplanting plans for today.  I have tomatoes and herbs in the greenhouse that will have to wait until the ground dries a little more before they can move to the garden. I did however get my 16 Big Red Heritage tomatoes in yesterday before the rain.  And I remembered to put the cardboard collars around them to stop the cutworm.

May Planting

3 rows of red potatoes in front, 2 rows of Kennebec behind that

     The picture to the left shows the 3 rows of red potatoes planted under the low tunnel on April 10th.  Behind that is the 2 rows of Kennebec planted on May 4th.  We should have new red potatoes for the 4th of July, and Kennebecs for the winter.  
     May is the beginning of the main planting season here in Northern Minnesota.   The first week I put in more hardy root crops; Kennebec and Yukon Gold potatoes, radishes, carrots, onions, turnips, beets, and garlic.  My fall planting of garlic must have frozen out, cause it wasn't there this spring.  In the last ten days of the month, I transplanted the broccoli and cabbage to the garden, along with seeding the corn, beans and squash in the 3 sisters garden.  I also started some more spinach.  The squash, pumpkins, watermelon, cucumbers and peppers I started in the house didn't make it, so I'll probably still buy some more plants to set out.  With the beginning of June and the 10 day forecast predicting lows in the 50's F, it's time to take a chance on the more tender plants.



The New West Garden

     In the middle of May, I spread black plastic over that wonderful llama poop in the new West Garden.  That should kill off most of the weed seeds.  The 2016 tomato season should be marvelous!

 

 

Hydroponics

     The hydroponic experiment with salad crops is just that.  An experiment.  I won't bore you with details until I find out if any part of it is successful.  The only thing I'll mention at this time is that, like most of my projects, it is very low budget.  Under $20 for an aquarium pump and some tubing.




One month old

Poultry Report

     The month old baby chicks  are all doing well under Miss Wohlters' care.  Before I knew Miss Wohlters would do such a fine job, I committed to buying 20 chicks from the Co-op.  They are 3 weeks old today, and also doing well.  Without a Mama Hen to care for them, they are still under a heat lamp, so I couldn't get any good pictures.  Our other 20 hens are still putting out 12 to 16 eggs a day, and seem quite content with our spring weather.

The Harvest

     Other than our eggs, harvest has been slight so far.  We have had one meal of asparagus, salad from the thinning of the lettuce, spinach and arugula under the cold frame, one bunch of radishes from under the low tunnel, and a delicious rhubarb sauce from the patch behind the chicken coop.  The best harvest, as always, comes from the joy of interacting with the plants and animals here in God's playground.

Farewell my Friend

Good-bye to the Guineas

     The bad news came in a letter from the Zoning Commission that stated they had received a complaint from one of our neighbors about the guineas.  Farm animals are permitted in this zone, but only if kept in a fenced area.  As we got them initially to help control the ant and woodticks in our area, fencing them in would defeat that purpose.  So we gathered up our guineas and gave them to our friend who lives where guineas can roam free.  The only ones celebrating here are the woodticks, the ants and the neighbors who made the complaint.  I hope the three of them are very happy together.

 

A Short Work Break and then....

     I took a short break to go out and gather eggs and feed the chickens.  It was still too wet to transplant, but I cut some more rhubarb.  Amber has developed a recipe for rhubarb sauce that gives me a preview of the deserts they must serve in heaven!

 

Rhubarb is manna from heaven!

In the Next Week or so

     Still to come in the next week or so is a lot more transplanting of the tender crops, and another planting of carrots for the long winter ahead.  By the end of June, or the beginning of July I hope to report our first harvest of peas and new red potatoes among other things.  Enjoy the season and happy gardening to all.