Farm: June 2007 Archives

This is the current daily harvest Squash, 2 lettuces, 3 peppers, cucumbers Peas and grape tomatoes Cabbage Can you beleive the size of that cabbage? We have to get in gear and eat more salad. The weather is turning hot and the lettuce is trying to bolt. Eat more lettuce. Eat more lettuce. Eat more lettuce. We might turn green. But I am NOT complaining. Oh, no. I love my garden! I have eggplant, zucchini, okra and bell peppers almost ready to harvest! I have been eagerly anticipating these days!

My garden is growing and so are the chicks. I find myself doing more work in the garden and with the chicks than anything else these days. This morning I started early and cut the grass, did a little weeding before Colby and Gracie took off to the water park down at Williamsburg. They are due home now at any moment. I can't go to bed with them not in house and me making sure Gracie is tucked into her bed. It's the Momma in me. Steve was working in Maryland today. That left me and Steven home alone with a big chunk of the day ahead of us that suddenly seemed blank. Steven laid down and took a very long nap. When he woke we ditched every chore and went out to the pool. We swam and played in the water until 7pm. We came in with him in starving mode. For his supper I scrambled him two eggs, buttered a piece of toast and poured a glass of milk. He ate every bite. Mmmmm. Mmmm. Good. The eggs made me think of Badger. I feel a little guilty about the eggs. I am sure Badger pays top dollar for her brown organic eggs. I get mine for free. My chickens aren't old enough to lay. There is a family at our church who has a flock of Rhode Island Reds and Red Sex Links. We get free range organic eggs from them for free. Yes. I said it. Free. Even the organic store bought eggs can't stand up to these babies. These eggs are so fresh the whites are cloudy. A cloudy white indicates trapped carbon dioxide in the egg that hasn't had time to escape through the shell yet. F.R.E.S.H. and FREE. and yummy. I have yet again harvested from my garden. I am getting a bucket full every couple of days. These are the best squash! I dare say as many as we are eating we might get sick and tired of eating them before they stop producing. Which is ok! I am putting them int he freezer by the quarts. This is a leaf from one of the squash plants so you can see how they are growing. Yes, they are big and producing very well. I think we may even have cucumbers by saturday. Steven has a new favorite food. He loves beets. Not just any beets. These are farm fresh and picked the very day we eat them. I wash, peel and slice them. Simmer in salted water until tender. The leftovers I refrigerate and eat as part of a salad the next day. You really can't get much better than we have it right now. I planted some sweet potato plants at the first of the week. I have started my collards and turnips. I do plan to get that asparagus patch in this year, too! I also have 6 raspberry plants I am putting in this weekend. I am thinking about getting a couple of geese. I have always wanted a Christmas goose. Anyone up for pate? Also I want two piglets to raise. I do live on a farm.

Badger asked to see my garden and chicks. We have been getting a nice rain about twice a week. Somtimes more. My garden is really thriving. Although I have had to add fertilizer to the soil. The yellow level in these photos is 47 inches in length. If that gives you better idea of the size of the squash and cabbages. Peas are growing on the arbors. Romain lettuce is between the cabbge and peas. I tried to get a cross cut view of the entire garden but the sun is so bright it looks like I took a photo of a bunch of tall weeds the photo is so washed out. Everything is flourishing. I have several lettuces, all sorts of peppers and tomatoes. There is eggplants and okra. We have cucumbers and artichokes. Everything is coming in nicely. The potaoes are beginning to bloom. The peas are late in blooming but they are growing huge. I hope to have a real bumper crop of those. Here are my baby chicks at one day old. I use an old playpen bought at a junk store for $10 as a brooder. They stayed here 2 weeks then had to be moved to a much bigger pen. This is the same chicks one week later. See how fast they grow? They should be called pigs because all they do is eat. In less than two weeks they consumed a fifty pound bag of chick crumbles feed. It is so very hot here. Humidity is up there topping out the scales. I have to weed my garden around my lettuces this morning before it gets to be smothering hot. Good to be back and sharing with you all.