A Wee Bit o' Garden Bounty

Cucumbers, Garden Salsa peppers, and Mexican Gherkins

... oh, and two jalapeno peppers!

I've already made some refrigerator dill pickles, and I'll be making some salsa in the next few days.  I've never made my own salsa before, so I'll let you know how it turns out and what recipe I end up using!

Corn

We picked 9 ears of corn

from our garden this past weekend.  

And we ate all of them.

Best danged corn-on-the-cob we've ever had.  

And that ain't no bull.

Hottest Summer Ever Marches Forward...

Has it really been a month since I posted last?  I continue to set new "blog absence" milestones.  *sigh*

Our hot, hot summer continues with temps over 100 every.single.day.  I've given up looking at the 10 day forecast.  Each day forward I am only rewarded with the sight of yet another 100-degree day at the end of our 10-day forecast.  Suffice it to say, I am looking forward to autumn very, very much!!

The garden is doing fairly good, in spite of the high temps.  We set up a soaker hose amongst the corn and the cantaloupe plant.  Yes, the cantaloupe plant that we had given up for dead has bounced back with a vengeance.  There are at least 5 good size cantaloupes ripening and we're expecting our first juicy harvest by next week perhaps?

The two spearmint plants that were, for all intents, dead, have also put forth new leaves from their roots.  The four roma tomato plants are bushing out and beginning to get buds, although I think the heat is really sapping their energy to produce fruit.  We also have a row of pumpkins and a good row of pickling cucumbers, which have begun to produce small cucumbers.  Not enough to can yet though.


The guinea eggs are incubating, and due to hatch sometime this week.  Time to get the brooder back out! I put 13 eggs in the brooder initially, and through candling, removed two that didn't appear to be fertile.  Out of the 11 that are left, I still have doubts about one egg, so that would leave 10 good eggs.  This week should provide the answer, and I anxiously await!

The chickens and the guineas are surviving the heat, although they walk around panting most of the day.  Some days we replenish their water twice, just to ensure it's cool enough for them.  We've set up two fans in the coop trying to keep the air cool and circulating.  That's Nater below, our one pearl guinea, telling us she's not happy with something - it seems they are always squawking their disapproval over something!

The original clutch of guinea eggs under our north tree break is still there - one of the guinea hens has added one new egg to it this week.  But we haven't seen any of the hens sit on the nest in over a week, so I'm presuming they won't hatch out.

The pond has pretty much dried up.  We have a puddle there this morning, but only because we got some pretty heavy showers last night.  In the past month, we have been very fortunate to have two days where we've received pretty heavy downpours, which really help to green everything up, if only for a short while.  I know the horses really love the pasture after these rains.  We've been refilling their stock tanks with water every 2 days or so; in a "normal" summer, we probably refill them every 3-4 days.

This will certainly go down as a scorcher of a summer!

I am really looking forward to autumn (did I say that already?!) and getting our fall garden planted.  It was so enjoyable to work with my spinach last fall, when the temps were mild.  With the row cover, the spinach did great well into early December.   This fall, I've already got my seed supply ready -- carrot, radishes, lettuce and spinach, and perhaps some green onion too.  Only a few more weeks to go and I can start planting!  Yippee!!

I'll bid adieu with an early morning photo that makes our greenhouse look alive with light.  I'm also looking forward to utilizing this little greenhouse more over the winter and definitely next spring!

P.S. One more photo I almost forgot about .... CiCi and Baybee have finally worked out their differences.  They are now sharing the air-conditioned guest bedroom!  :-)

Summer, Already?!

95 degrees today with a stiff 25 -30 mph south wind.  Ouch.  

I cleaned and refreshed everyone's water today -- the horses, the chickens, the guineas..... gave them all fresh, clear, cool water.  I noticed a few of the guineas panting today.  Poor things.

Where has spring gone?  It's only May 8th and we're having record heat.  Tomorrow is supposed to hit 100 degrees!  These are July and August temps here in south central Kansas, not May temps!  There's barely been any spring showers, and so our pond is shrinking rapidly.

The little silt pond (below) shriveled up and disappeared a month ago...

In spite of the heat, the chickens are growing big fast... I'm not entirely sure yet, but I'm afraid one or two of my "pullets" might be roosters in disguise.  A few more weeks should tell.  Especially one of my Rhode Island Reds -- definitely looking like a rooster!  If we end up with 2 or 3 roosters amongst our 8 total chickens, well, you know what that means.  One out of 3 will stay, and that will be the rooster with the best attitude.

 Rhode Island Red by feeder that suspiciously looks like rooster.

 My one Ameraucana in back by the waterer,

with pretty copper and blue-gray feathers.

This would be Sally, a buff orpington who is

my friendliest and most curious chicken.

The hubster has been busy, busy, busy these past few months.  With the arrival of our 8 chickens on April 1st, he quickly got to work building a divider in the chicken coop.  They were moved from their brooder to the coop last weekend, and they've adapted well.  We opened their outside door today to the small fenced run, but they chose to stay inside.  I'm sure the 30 mph winds had something to do with their decision.

He has also installed our new front doors, both the inside door and a new screen door.  We're not done with trim yet (obviously), but boy oh boy do these doors make a huge difference.  Now we can leave the door to the front porch open!

This is the old screen door (above) -- the bottom portion was duct-taped and would flap noisily in the wind.  Poor Trixie Lou was afraid of it.  This door is destined for the junk pile. ( I should have taken a picture of the old doors in place.)

Hubby has also put up an economy greenhouse for me near our gardens.  I'm hoping to utilize it more this fall and next spring.  If the cover doesn't hold up to our Kansas winds, well, at least we have a footprint to build a more sturdy greenhouse in the future.

Small garden from last year in front,

newer and larger garden close to greenhouse, and

new "boxes" to hold manure compost to the left of gardens.

Graveled interior with pavers.

Shelves to be added on either side of pavers.

My Grosso and Provence lavender plants,

soon to be planted in the garden.

Hubby is currently working on a stone border around the front porch -- clematis will be planted at this corner to grow up the lattice.

A quick side note:  A big thank you to Laura of A Simple Happy Life for the maple syrup that I won in her contest .... only one person was supposed to win, but she decided to draw a second name and I was the lucky winner!  So Tom and I got to sample her fresh, homemade maple syrup.  I didn't realize how much I missed the real thing -- ever since I moved here to Kansas, it's been just too expensive to buy real maple syrup.  THANK YOU Laura for sending this most delicious treat to us!

 And finally....

.... CiCi wanted to say "hi" to everyone.... although she's a bit miffed at us right now.  You see, we finally took her to the vet on Thursday to be "fixed", so she's been taking it easy this weekend.  She's been confined to our bedroom, and banned from the bathroom where she enjoys jumping high up to the window.

Here's hoping that everyone is enjoying their spring.... I think the rest of the nation IS having spring, just not us.  :-(

My Spinach Garden Experiment

The two week update ... it's been 17 days since I planted the spinach and put a row cover over it for protection from the night cold.  So far, I'm pleased with the results.

I started reading my book by Eliot Coleman yesterday - The Winter Harvest Handbook.  Fascinating.  I mean, seriously, I'm really enjoying this book.  

His intro chapters give a history on winter planting - this is nothing new even though it may sound revolutionary to us.  Through the ages, in some form or another, mankind has sown and harvested garden vegetables throughout the winter.  Between 1850 and 1900, there were multitudes of "market gardens" in Paris, France.   

"Hotbeds heated with decomposing horse manure and covered with glass frames allowed the growers to defy the cold and produce fresh salads in January and early cucumbers and melons in May and June."

This horse manure, mixed with straw, came from the city stables and thus helped create a sustainable garden by composting a by-product.

Heck, we can do that.  We got lots of horse manure here.  :-)

Did you know that spinach is one of the top cold-hardy plants? It actually prefers cooler weather.  I didn't know that!

My spinach should be ready to harvest near Day 42 which would be about November 7.  Our days will shorten to less than 10 hours of daylight around November 27-29.  We'll start extending beyond 10 hours about January 13.  During that period, seeds would have difficulty germinating, and already established plants would slow down growth.  They need 10 hours or more of daylight to continue a standard growth pattern.

I'm anxiously checking on my lil green babies every day!

My Winter Garden Experiment

A butterfly zipped by right as I snapped this photo.

I left my bedraggled marigolds and pepper plants alone for now.

They escaped the wrath of my hoe.

After reading a short review of the book "The Winter Harvest Handbook" in Mother Earth News, I've decided all is not lost... I may not have planted my fall veggies in late August/early September, but there's still a chance I can do this!  I mean, c'mon, Eliot Coleman lives in MAINE, and he gardens in cold weather, so heck, I should be able to do it more easily than he, since I live in south Kansas.  Right?  RIGHT??!  We're still having 70-80 degree days here with nights dipping into the 50s... except for last night, which got down to a numbing 41 degrees.  Yikes!

{On a side note, yes, I did order Eliot's book from Amazon yesterday.}

So yesterday I tore out the sad, neglected remains of our summer garden, fortified a short row with some cotton burr compost, and planted some spinach.  I put a tunnel row cover over the seeds, and we'll see if they sprout in 7-10 days as indicated by the Burpee seed packet. The row cover is 18 feet long, so yes, that's extra row cover laying on the ground in the photo.

That's my gramma's old wheelbarrow in the background.... 

a rather retro looking 50s-style wheelbarrow, don't you think?

And just in case you weren't sure, cleaning a garden and digging in compost using a shovel, rake and hoe is the most excellent yet muscle-draining exercise.  Just so we're clear that it's not as easy as my photo makes it look.  My body keeps reminding me lately.... you're going to be 50 before the end of the year girl!!!  Ugh.

I'll give y'all a spinach update in 2 weeks.  I've got my fingers crossed.  :-)

Later this week:  a post showcasing our chicken coop renovation, guinea keets who are growing into rebellious juveniles, beautiful Leah in Ohio, and a blog winner for the "vote for Leah" contest on Gerber's website last month!

I Am Sad... Where Does the Time Go?!

*sigh*

I did not get my fall garden planted.

*sigh*

Too many hours spent working at the turnpike and not enough time to spend on so many things at home.

Ah well, I have seeds to plant in the spring now.

And let me just say something about poo.

*sigh*

I'm beginning to think that is my primary job here.  Cleaning poo.  Especially cat litter boxes and specifically, my precious little guinea keets.  My goodness, they are quite the little poo machines!!!

Getting big - 3 weeks old on Monday 

They're flying around their brooder and roosting on top

of the food and water jars.... next on our agenda, 

getting the chicken coop ready for them!

I'm not saying I MIND, because I really don't mind

taking care of our little menagerie.  

Jes sayin' it's certainly not my favorite job. Ugh.

A Good Year for Cucumbers and Other Rural Trivia

an explosion of cucumbers 

Of course, we'll be canning pickles over the next few weeks.  Since I don't have my canning jars yet, I decided to make some refrigerator dill pickles today, utilizing some saved spaghetti sauce jars.  I'll let you know how they taste after they "cure" for the required 10 days, but in the meantime, here's the standard recipe from Allrecipes.com with my variations noted.

Spicy Refrigerator Dill Pickles

(12) 3-4" long pickling cucumbers

2 cups water

1-3/4 cups white vinegar

1-1/2 cups chopped fresh dill weed

1/2 cup white sugar

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1-1/2 tbls. coarse salt

1 tbls pickling spice

1-1/2 tsp dill seed

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

4 sprigs fresh dill weed

My variations:

I used (6) 6" long tendergreen burpless variety cucumbers.  Since my dill plants were decimated by the swallowtail butterfly caterpillars (see pics here), I no longer have any fresh dill; yes, I allowed them to stay and I was rewarded the other day when I saw a black swallowtail butterfly!  I used the 5 tsp of dill weed I had in the pantry, plus I salvaged dill seeds (1 tbls.) from my dried up dill plants.  I reduced the 1/2 cup sugar to 1 tablespoon, as I personally do not care for sweet pickles. I used sea salt and I made my own pickling spice (recipe below).  We had two small jalapeno peppers in the garden, so I chopped those up in lieu of dried red pepper flakes.

If you decide to visit Allrecipes.com and read the reviews, you'll find you can alter this recipe according to your tastes, and it will turn out just fine.  I'm excited for the 10 days to fly by so we can taste these.

1. In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers (I did a combination of spears and slices), water, vinegar, chopped dill, sugar, garlic, salt, pickling spice, dill seed and red pepper flakes.  Stir, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, until the sugar and salt dissolve.

2.  Remove the cucumbers to three 1-1/2 pint wide mouth jars, placing 4 cucumbers into each jar.  Ladle in the liquid from the bowl to cover.  Place a sprig of fresh dill into each jar, and seal with lids.  Refrigerate for 10 days before eating.  Use within 1 month.

My yield: Two quarts of spears, and one quart of slices.

Pickling Spice

1 crumbled bay leaf

1 tsp coarse black pepper

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp coriander seeds

dash turmeric (I didn't have any)

dash cinnamon

Makes approximately 1 tablespoon of spice.

Or to save money, buy your pickling spice in bulk from Monterey Bay Spice Co.  I get quite a few of my spices from them, since spices are so durned expensive in those little tiny bottles at the grocery store!!  Here's a link to their pickling spice, which is made without salt, and while you're there, browse around the other spices and teas. I think I'm going to get some of their pickling spice and their dill weed too.

So, what else are we going to do with all our cucumbers, you ask?  Wellllll, hubby wants to make the Christmas Red Pickles that his mom used to make, so he'll be starting that process on Sunday (it's rather time-consuming).  I found his mom's recipe at Allrecipes.com also... the exact same recipe!

Also this weekend, I'll be making one of my favorite summertime treats, Dilled Cucumbers.  Chilled with sliced cucumbers, sour cream and green onions, it's absolutely divine for a cookout.  I'll post pics and the recipe after I make it on Sunday, along with pics of hubby's red pickles.

Of course, we'll both be taking some cucumbers to work for our fellow employees to enjoy.  :-)

Garden Bounty: the last of the radishes, one tomato, 

a jalapeno pepper, and some cukes!

Here's some additional photos of note

around the ole ranch in the last week or so...

 A gathering storm...

the resulting rainbow...

a black-eyed susan (my namesake)...

our neighboring longhorn...

and another gathering storm at sunset while I'm at work.

And click here to see how adorable my little
granddaughter Leah is at 1 month old!!

Invasion of the Cucumbers

We left extra room between the rows for the cucumbers (see July 1 photo below).  Seems it's still not enough room for them... they are invading the beans!!!  Next year, they will get their very own mounds away from the other garden veggies.  Hubby said he saw a cuke today, so it won't be long before we'll be canning dill and sweet pickles!

Tonight's storm clouds in the east are being backlit by the setting sun.  Here's a close-up of that cloud... click on the photo to see how interesting this cloud really looks!

That's all for now.... worked a full day and one hour of OT.... I'm bushed!!

G'nite all!