Definitely One of Us

This cat was definitely the right one for us.  She was meant to be.  My daughter only wanted a solid white kitten.  We went to the shelter and low and behold--they had this one white kitten.

She's very mellow.  She loves to be loved on.  She wants to purr and make dough on you all day long, if you'd let her.

She is quirky and odd.  Just like the rest of us!

Were having a little trouble getting her litter box trained.  I think she needs dewormed.  Maybe that will help.

The dog and the cat are getting along famously.  In less than two weeks, they were already acclimated to each other.  They aren't quite to the point that they'll share a sunbeam together yet, but they can pass within a yard of each other without incident.

I have always been very much a dog person.

But I love this cat!  :)

Weekly Harvest Weigh-In #6

Wow, the dog days of summer are here--with a vengeance!  This heat along with some frequent showers we've been getting has suddenly turned my garden into an impenetrable jungle.  Well, the squash patch, mostly.

I'm still trying to get over this bronchitis and I'm so far behind on things right now.  At least I am finally getting some sleep though!  I've managed to go outside in the cool of the evening and pull a few weeds here and there, but it's really going to take some work to get things back under control.

I missed yesterday's weigh-in, so I'm going to go ahead and post mine today.

Here's a basketful of summer goodness I brought in the other day...

I've got a little bit of mostly everything ripening now and suddenly I am up to my ears in summer squash and zucchini (although I thought I was being conservative, only planting four mounds).

My suspicions have been confirmed--some of my tomatoes are diseased, although I still have to figure out with what.  It is mostly the Costoluto Genovese.   I noticed they had problems with their fruit last year too, but I blamed it on how badly I had crowded them.  Some of them have been exhibiting small, rotting spots on the fruit that later turn to a fuzzy, pink fungus/mold sometime after being picked.  As an heirloom O/P variety, they seem to be particularly unsuited to our humid West Virginia summers, so I won't be growing them again.  I will still grow the San Marzano.  They are doing great.  Some of my other tomato plants have had some leaf curl on the bottom leaves that has now begun yellowing and dying off.  I'll have to take some pics and seek the advice of my knowledgeable friends over on TEG.

I did get to enjoy my first mouthwatering tomato sandwich of the season today.  Although it's hard for me to claim a favorite tomato, those Black Krims are certainly in my top 3.  Such a good looking and flavorful tomato!

Here's my numbers for the week:

Blackberries - 0.70 lb.
Strawberries – 2.06 lb.
Yellow squash – 3.22 lb.
Zucchini – 3.37 lb.
Garlic – 0.20 lb.
Pole Beans – 0.07 lb.
Asst. Tomatoes – 8.72 lb.

Total:  18.34 pounds of produce

I've decided to quit using the link-up tool since this thing never really took off.  It was a bit time consuming anyway.  But you are still welcome to leave a link to your weekly harvest in the comments section.  I'll be glad to drop by and see how things went!  :)

Linking this post to:

Go check 'em out!  :)

Mockingbird Rituals

For the past couple of weeks, this mockingbird has been faithfully showing up around 7pm each evening, perching himself on top of the electric pole in our backyard.  He has been singing his little heart out for us with every song he knows and we've really enjoyed him.  I don't know why, but he will occasionally hop up into the air a few feet.  He seems to be trying to get somebody's attention!

Weekly Harvest Weigh-In #5

A few recent soaking rains and some comfortably warm sunshine have really brought on a surge of growth in my garden this week.  I'm always amazed at how quickly a squash vine can cover ground.  It's nice to see things greening up and thriving finally after such a rough start to the season.

My harvest is just beginning to steadily trickle in now and before long I will be consumed with canning.  I had my pressure canner inspected last Monday and we are all set to go. 

I am really pleased with myself for getting the garden thoroughly mulched this year.  The weeds are not winning the war this time around.  I've been a bit under the weather since last Tuesday with a ragweed allergy that has made its way into my chest, causing me much coughing and loss of sleep, but fortunately I've not had to worry about the weeds getting ahead of me. 

Hopefully I will be over this miserable cough soon and back to normal.  I had planned to finish my new hive stand this past weekend, but I really didn't have the energy to mess with it.  It's half done now, with the posts leveled and set.  It's going to be really sturdy and will keep the ants out of my bee boxes.  I can't wait to show it to you.  (And I can't wait to bring my girls back home!)

Here's a quick peek at how the garden is growing this week:

My kitchen herb/flower garden is filling out.  I've managed to keep most of it weeded.  The large clump of grass in the middle is lemongrass.  It smells so yummy, like Fruit Loops!

The heirloom "greasy" pole beans are starting to make their way up the tee-pees.  The one on the right has started blooming very early compared to all the others -- possibly a new strain worth saving seed from.

Overview of most of the garden, looking to the north.

I'll have some crookneck squash to harvest and enjoy this week!

Overview of the garden, looking toward the south.  I have a lot more squash and melons than what you can see on the right.  They didn't all fit in the picture.

My Costoluto Genovese tomatoes and most of the other varieties I planted are loaded and will be ripening soon.

The Giant Marconi peppers are filling out.  Now I'm just waiting on them to turn red.

This year's attempt at no-dig potatoes.  You can watch a video on the method I used here.

Here's all of my onions after curing and prepping them for storage.

My weigh-in numbers for this week are as follows:

Red onions - 10.44 lbs.
Yellow onions - 22.84 lbs.
Ozark Beauty everbearing strawberries - 1.75 lbs. (about a pint)
Thornless blackberries - 1.41 lb.
Santa Fe hot peppers - 1.23 lb.
2 Genovese Costoluto tomatoes - 1.33 lbs.
(Plus a handful of Supersweet 100 cherry tomatoes that didn't make it inside to be weighed.  ;)

This week's total harvest weigh-in - 39 lbs.

I've decided to record all of my measurements in pounds just to keep it uniform and so I can keep a running total.

Ok, your turn!
(Special thanks to Meg at Sparing Change for telling me about InLinkz free linky tool!)

This Weigh-In will be open until midnight EST on Sunday, July 24th. All that is required is that your post be current and relevant to edible gardening that you have invested your own time and sweat equity in. Be sure to link to your specific gardening post and NOT your blog's main page. Please provide a link within your post to the current Weigh-In so that others can join in. You are welcome to grab the Harvest Weigh-In banner above and use it to link back here. This is a family friendly site and I reserve the right to remove any links that are inappropriate, irrelevant or otherwise deemed spam.

***Weighing in is optional; you are still welcome to link up a post about your garden!

If you don't have anything to weigh-in for this week, that's OK!***

Check back with us every Monday for the next week's Harvest Weigh-In! Take some time to visit other gardeners' blog posts below that may be of interest to you. Happy gardening!

Rumpelstiltskin, the Tomato

Not exactly mouthwatering...

Not counting a handful of Sweet 100 Cherry tomatoes I've gotten so far, this would be my first tomato of the season.  I have to admit, I am feeling a little bit disappointed!

Costoluto Genovese are supposed to be fluted, but this one is cat-faced on top of that and is unusually big for a Costoluto Genovese.  It weighed 0.77 lb.

That is one UGLY tomato, if I do say so myself!

Two New Additions

We've had two new arrivals to our homestead this week and I thought you might like to meet them.  They have brought along a lot of excitement with them, because other than a multitude of chickens, it's rare that we get any new animals.

Meet Cloud.

She is a 3-year-old Nubian doe we took in, rather out of impulse.  She needed a new home and although it may only be a temporary arrangement, we're becoming quickly attached to her.  She has such a sweet personality and loves to be around people.  She is sterile, unable to be bred, so she really has no serviceable value other than to be someones pet or brush-eater.

Ava sharing her blackberries with Cloud.

I've been reading up on goats for some time now and we were already planning to get either a pair of Nigerian Dwarfs or Mini-Nubians next spring.  Right now we don't have proper goat accommodations.  Our fencing is inadequate (as she has already proven), so we've had to tether her for the meantime.  I am also going to have to build her a summer shelter.

More please!

And a little consolatory pat on the nose when they're all gone.

I realize that goats need to have another goat to keep them company, but it was under unusual circumstances that she came to live with us.  I am hoping that the chickens and the sight of the neighbor's cows and horses in the adjoining pasture will be enough to keep her company for now.

And this is Snow White Angel, my daughter's new kitten. 

Ava came up with the name herself months ago when she began to dream of having her own kitten and of course it had to be pure white.  Every time we'd ask her what she would like for her birthday, this was her answer.  A few days before her birthday, I finally caved in and agreed to get her a kitten. 

The hunt for the perfect kitten went on for a couple of weeks.  I tried to talk her into taking one of a few that were mostly white, partly calico.  But nothing else would suit her.  She had to be white!

Fortunately, our first visit to the animal shelter turned up a sweet little girl kitten, pure white with blue eyes.  She has a nice, playful and cuddly personality.  Not evil like some other cats I know.  Ha.

Cuddling buddies.

We had to wait a week before we could bring her home.  Our animal shelter takes your adoption fee and makes an appointment with the vet for your new pet to be spayed or neutered first before they'll release them to you.  I think this is great policy.  You have to feel so bad for all the little animals in the shelters that no one wants.  It's hard to pick just one.  I used to have a bumper sticker from Pit Bull Rescue Central that said "Don't litter, spay or neuter!"  Shelter animals make great pets and you'd be surprised how many pure breeds end up there.

I've not really been much of a cat person before, but this kitty is really growing on me.  I love to let her curl up in the hollow of my neck and listen to her peaceful purring.  She purrs all the time!

We are slowly introducing her to our dog, Boogie.  She used to live with several cats years ago and did just fine, but in recent years she has really taken an increased interest in them.  I'm sure when the excitement wears off, they'll get along great.  For now, Snow White Angel (gotta think of a nickname for this kitty) has full run of the playroom.  We take turns letting the dog out and letting her run around the house for awhile.

Well, with the new goat especially, it is really starting to feel like a farm around here!

This post is linked up with the Homestead Barn Hop, over at Homestead Revival.

A great site--go check 'em out!  :)

Weekly Harvest Weigh-In #4

I apologize for getting this week's weigh-in out so late in the evening.  We just barely made it!  I've had a really busy day.  I'll tell you more about our new additions tomorrow... ;)

Things are finally starting to pick up in the garden.  I haven't weighed my onions yet because they are still in the process of drying, but I know I've got plenty for the whole year through.  I am going to use the smaller ones in my canning, store the nice big ones, and dehydrate any others that might not store well.

Here's the haul: 

Onions everywhere!  I was beginning to run out of places to put them.

I like to lay mine out in a single layer on top of wire for good circulation.  I don't cut off the tops or roots until they are completely dry because this seems to help prevent rotting by not injuring the bulb until it is completely sealed off.  I save up citrus bags to store them in, hanging them up in a dry, room temperature place that gets good air circulation, like under the stairwell in the basement.

I got my first tomatoes of the season today!  Nothing to brag about really, just two juicy Sweet 100 Cherry tomatoes.  I had grabbed the salt shaker and ate them before I thought to weigh them.  It wouldn't have amounted to much anyway.

We've had a lot of rain and heat lately and the vines of my squash and other melons have really taken off.  I spotted some baby Eight-Ball Zucchini and baby Yellow Crookneck Squash today.  I can't wait to grill up some of those babies!

We had another big storm this afternoon, with pounding rain and high winds.  This one came in from the north and blew everything over to the opposite direction from what it did last week.  It even blew over the tops of my beets! 

I hope my peppers won't take it too hard.  I've got some huge Giant Red Marconi peppers that are very close to harvest and they are really top-heavy.  I think I'm going to have to cage them.

**********

OK, your turn!

This Weigh-In will be open until midnight EST on Sunday, July 17th. All that is required is that your post be current and relevant to edible gardening that you have invested your own time and sweat equity in. Be sure to link to your specific gardening post and NOT your blog's main page. Please provide a link within your post to the current Weigh-In so that others can join in. You are welcome to grab the Harvest Weigh-In banner above and use it to link back here. This is a family friendly site and I reserve the right to remove any links that are inappropriate, irrelevant or otherwise deemed spam.

***Weighing in is optional; you are still welcome to link up a post about your garden! If you don't have anything to weigh-in for this week, that's OK!***

Depending on how this week's weigh-in goes, I'll have to decide whether or not to keep this going once my free trial of Linky Tools is up.  I hope you will want to participate!  It's really easy to join in.

Take some time to visit other gardeners' blog posts below that may be of interest to you. Happy gardening!

Heavy Downpour

I've been out of the house a lot this week and it feels odd to not have posted anything before now.

We finally got some rain today.  Quite a lot of it, in fact.  The forecast said scattered thunderstorms, and usually it's hit or miss around here, so I went ahead and watered some of my garden last night.  That turned out to be very unnecessary. 

The sound of the rain pounding the roof in waves and the frequency of the lightening had me wondering if maybe we weren't in line for a tornado.  I can't remember the last time I saw it rain so hard.

Paranoid or not, it was a good thing I went down to the basement.  At least I was there to mitigate the flooding!

Rain water coming in like a river!

We've had trouble with drainage at the back of our house before, but it has never come in like this.  I pulled off the cap on the drain outside the back door.  Usually that is enough to keep it out of the basement.  It gets plugged with debris sometimes. 

But  it didn't help much with the way the rain was coming down today.  I think the gutter must be plugged again.  My husband already cleaned them out once this spring.  We don't even have any trees near the house.  Oh the joys of homeownership!

The rain was also coming in around the ventilation pipe for the furnace and also through the PVC conduit that runs the electric lines into the breaker box.  I've not seen it do that before!

The basement is actually very well built and was one of the things that sold us on this house.  My neighbor who used to own this old farmhouse jacked the whole house up on I-beams and built it himself.  The concrete is carefully sloped to direct all water to this center drain.

Drain hole in center of basement.

It wasn't going down fast enough, so I had to pull the cap from this one as well.

I think what we'll have to do is rent a ditch-witch and put in some french drains to run the water down and over the hill.  We are on top of a hill, but the backyard where they dug out the basement has just a tiny slope back toward the house.  The installed drains aren't working well enough.  We could also use some new gutters, but we've been trying to get by with the current ones until we're ready to put on a new metal roof.

Add it to the list!  It's a long list...

Linking up with "F is for Friday" over at I am woman, hear me nurture.

Weekly Harvest Weigh-In #3

This week I actually have something to weigh-in!  I harvested all of my onions this week and they are currently hanging in the shed to cure.  I won't be able to weigh them all until the tops have been removed, but the few I've already used this week amounted to 0.29 lbs. of red onion, 0.40 lbs. of yellow onion and also 0.47 lbs. of fennel which I used to make a crockpot full of yummy rabbit stew.  I'll post that recipe later this week when I get time.  :)

My peppers are coming along nicely and I'll have a few of those to harvest later in the week.  The tomatoes are starting to turn that pale color just before they turn red...so anytime now!  I have some renegade chickens that I'll have to deal with before they terrorize my garden.  I haven't been able to get anyone to buy them, so it looks like they may be headed for freezer camp.

So how has your garden done this week?

This Weigh-In will be open until midnight EST on Sunday, July 10th. All that is required is that your post be current and relevant to edible gardening that you have invested your own time and sweat equity in. Be sure to link to your specific gardening post and NOT your blog's main page. Please provide a link within your post to the current Weigh-In so that others can join in. You are welcome to grab the Harvest Weigh-In banner above and use it to link back here. This is a family friendly site and I reserve the right to remove any links that are inappropriate, irrelevant or otherwise deemed spam.


***Weighing in is optional; you are still welcome to link up a post about your garden! If you don't have anything to weigh-in for this week, that's OK!***

Check back with us every Monday for the next week's Harvest Weigh-In! Take some time to visit other gardeners' blog posts below that may be of interest to you. Happy gardening!

Independence Day

I hope you all have a wonderful Fourth of July celebration tomorrow with your families.  This is my favorite holiday and it is such a big day in my hometown with many special events to look forward to. 

I am so thankful for the freedoms that we enjoy in this country.  So many places in the world today are oppressed, but we are so blessed!  I want to say that I am especially thankful to each and every service member who has given so much for this great nation and appreciate all that you folks do to keep this nation free.  God bless our troops and God bless the USA!

This week's Harvest Weigh-In will be delayed until Tuesday since I will be out spending time with my family all day tomorrow.  I actually have something to weigh this time!

Funny

Late last night, in the cool of the evening, my husband and I were unloading another round of manure from the livestock market.  I had commented on how wonderfully crumbly and nearly composted this last load had been.  Then he said the funniest thing to me...

"I used to think this was just a phase you were going through."

LOL -- sorry my love, but you have a lifetime of hauling manure for me to look forward to!

Hopefully my other more endearing, redeeming qualities as a wife are enough to compensate for this.

(Vintage image courtesy of http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ )