Garden Oct. 6, 2018

Garden 

Oct. 6, 2018

Another great week of gardening, things are really doing well.  If only we could have a few more sunny warm weeks I'd have so much more to can.  Michigan quickly turns to snow and winter so I should be thankful for the extra days we had this year of fairly good and warm days in October.

This turnip in the green bean bed was a volunteer!  It turned out to be one of the biggest ones this year!

The Swiss Chard is in it's prime.  I'm planning on covering this whole section with one of our hoop houses to hopefully keep eating on all these greens.  I have it planted in a few different locations, but can't cover all of them.  

More turnips

The carrots will stay in the ground until a few touches of frost; that way they may be a little sweeter when we eat them.

The Tomatillos went really well for our first year of growing them.  They sure do take over the whole space though.

The green beans are hanging everywhere!  So happy to have plenty.

Our new middle bed---Parsley, Purple Basil, Green Beans and Tomatoes.  I've been copying Heather by putting chopped up Parsley in and around the whole chickens I bake and the flavor has been amazing.  I find the herbs really do bounce back when I pick from them often.

Kale; our kale really took a lot of hits from bugs this year and now look at how full most of the leaves are!!!  

Another walkway that was taken over by the tomato vines.  All these long vines were cut and delivered into the chicken coop for the chickens to clean.  All the dozens of green tomatoes, mostly cherry here, were taken inside my sun room, on newspaper, to ripen for canning.

I planted green beans in three different locations this year, in a staggered pace--around a week or two later I did the next section.  I *should* have just planted them all as soon as I could.  These plants are still adding new growth each day and would have been able to give more beans if they had matured faster.

The tomato plants took over all my normal walk-ways!  Not only did they fill up the beds they just kept spreading out farther and farther with no end in sight!

In this picture you can see two of the three green bean sections, the third is outside our garden fence in the 'corn bed' we made for Dd.

Marigolds--our first year gardening here I planted the marigolds inside the beds and they really took over the space that was meant for veg.  This year I either put the marigolds in pots in front of the bed or in very thought-out locations so they wouldn't hurt the growth of the veg.

The Herb Bed is doing well.  I'm working on making herb butters from various herbs.  So far I've make lots of Basil Butter, but I want to also (and did do) make Thyme Butter and Sage Butter.

I've been digging up all the potatoes and canning them.  We did so much better this year on how the canned potatoes turned out.  I'm so glad I was able to do it better this time around!!!

You can see the third bed for green beans in the background.

All the kales, chards, turnips and green beans are doing really well with the colder weather.  You can definitely tell the bugs are gone and the plants are thriving.

This picture shows the outside of our fenced in garden, where some blackberries, grapes, and other things are that aren't usually eaten by woodsy critters.  We had our best grape season this year, making 2 1/2 pints of the most delicious jam I've ever tasted.  I'm sure it tastes all the better since we did it ourselves.  The trick was the pruning in the spring of the grape vines.

Dd's corn bed looks like it is only a green bean bed now as all the corn stalks were pulled down by the bean vines.

Digging the Burbank Russets potatoes last.  I especially found the Golden Yukon variety to be really tasty.  I've managed a good amount of canned potato this year.  I've also done a good job this year getting green beans canned.  I did not excel with tomato canning, specifically my prized tomato paste that is so wonderful when added to dishes.

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Oct. 21-27, 2018 G&G Visit, Van Fixed (Again), Canning, Manure, Plastic Wrap Run

Oct. 21-27, 2018 

G&G Visit, Van Fixed (Again), Manure, Plastic Wrap Run

Hello Friends!

With Giz and Grampy (Dh's parents) due to arrive on Wed., I tried to get as much house tidying as I could.  Dd worked super hard to get as much of her Friday, Grace, homework done as she could.  Unlike most visits, Dd had some things scheduled that she couldn't get out of doing, like her co-op classes and Harvest Party.

Giz and Grampy loved Henry! Yay!

Giz & Food:

 Giz always brings parts and pieces for her special meals, that I can't generally eat, so I baked two chickens and made an assortment of foods that I can eat.  Due to my digestion issues I follow a strict FODMAP diet which is Gluten Free and Dairy Free.  They arrived with a dozen fresh donuts from the nearby farm store that makes them fresh each day and a lemon cake and all sorts of chips...nothing like having every temptation possible that I'm not allowed to eat.  It was really hard, but I really did a good job making myself some good things to distract me from all that.  

This will be the "Before" picture

Plastic Wrap: Chicken Run: Completed

It took hours and hours, but I got the whole run wrapped in tarp and plastic for the winter months. 

You can see that it is only a small area that got wrapped; the entry into the downstairs barn where their coop, food, water, perches, and nest boxes are.

 I have absolutely NO idea how well it will hold up in the snowstorm that will soon be upon us in Michigan, but I have given it my best.  

A view of the front of the inner sanctum

A view of the back of the inner sanctum

Since I haven't been able to pick greens for them any longer I have been letting them out in the bottom run to scratch and pick among those weeds and worms.  

A view of the inside of the "inner sanctum" that is now mostly wrapped and ready for winter.

The amount of eggs we are bringing in each day has gone down a little bit.

Hoop House Repair: Garden

I worked on the hoop houses, in the garden, this week and had to add some more plastic to cover the ends as I don't have the two side by side like we had in the spring.  I'm curious to see how long things keep growing while in the hoop house and if we can really keep growing veg in the chilly months.  We only built the hoop houses this spring to get a head start on growing since the season is much shorter in Michigan than it was in Indiana.  Hope it can help in the fall and winter too...we'll see!

Herbs:

I had hoped to dig up my beloved Basil before frost but I missed it and was too late.  Luckily, the parsley and green chives didn't mind our first frosts and I dug them up and placed them in little or middle sized pots and brought them into our Sun Room.  Now our Sun Room is full of all our outdoor plants, garden herbs, and many containers of green tomatoes, green beans, and tomatillo's!  

Thyme and Sage Butter:
I did make four sticks of herb butter this week from the herbs that are still doing well in the colder temps.  I love putting sage and thyme (and basil) under the skin on baked chicken, so I picked lots of sage and thyme, chopped them up tiny and stirred them into room temperature butter, rolled into logs, wrapped in freezer paper, put in freezer ziplocks for the upcoming months.



Canning:
On Thursday, Giz helped me cut up and prepare veg for canning.  We made a fun mix of tomatoes and tomatillo's together for salsa.  Dh used some of our mix and made some salsa by adding cilantro, lemon juice, and salt.  Giz and I made 10 new pints.

Grampy (83 years old) working on our van.

Van:
Grampy and Dh worked hard and fixed the van!!!!  Boy, I was really worried the job might be more than they could handle, but it worked out!  Praise the Lord!  They wrapped up the project on Friday night, after working on it a few days, and Grampy admitted he had been fighting reflux and heartburn all that day and couldn't eat his dinner.  In all his 83 years he had never had heartburn before.  



That threw us all into a tizzy and I kept bringing him little cups of water and baking soda to drink.  Fortunately, he felt normal by the morning.  But, if you had only seen him working on the van like he was a young lad you would know why we worry so.  So THANKFUL the van is fixed and maybe, just maybe, Dh won't have to work on it in the snow.  I really pray the 3/4 working auto's stay working for the harshest winter months.

We mixed the new manure with some of our used straw from the chicken coop.  It will work well for our garden next year.

Manure:
Dh and Dd, fresh off the success from fixing the van, decided to get a load of manure from a church friend that is a Dairy Farmer.  The guys got a bit of a tour of the farm before bringing the manure home to unload.  We didn't get any manure this last spring so I was so glad to see a bit come our way as it will surely help me grow better veg next year.

We put a lot of the manure straight into some empty beds for next year.

Fall Chores:
I finally dug up the carrots, having had quite a few night frosts to help the carrots sweeten.  I had planted them in a different location in our garden this year and apparently, they didn't like the new location as well.  This year they were short and stumpy.  It looks like the ground was too hard for them to grow down?  Next year I will have to go back to the sandy loose dirt garden area where they can easily develop.  I also cleaned out the gutters again this fall; that is twice I've cleaned out the pine needles already!  That is one of the drawbacks to living in the woods.

I finally dug up the carrots! Giz trimmed off the 'bad' parts and trimmed more than I would have--she's picky!

Honeysuckle:
What a week we had with our sweet Honeysuckle kitty.  She had started peeing next to the litter box, on the floor, leaving a small pink puddle.  I could see the urine had blood in it and ended up taking her into the vet on Wednesday.  Then I had to return home, with her, and devise a method of "collecting her urine" for a sample to deliver back to the vet.  Two hours later I was back at the vet for a second time to deliver the sample in a syringe.  Two hours later I was back getting the diagnosis---Anxiety!  Can you believe it?!  They sent me home with Amitriptyline for her.  I couldn't get the pill down her throat for the life of me, so Thursday I had Dd go back to the vet (the fourth visit in 24 hours for those of you counting) for their spring-loaded pill gun thingy.  Each time I gave her a pill she frothed at the mouth and each day grew worse and worse.  After four days of growing saliva and mucus, I decided we would isolate her whenever she was getting anxious again.  The vet thought it was our pup, Henry, but I know it is her brother cat, Dickens, that causes all the strife around the house.  We have a spare bedroom that Honeysuckle loves and we will put her in there on his bad days.  



Giz and Grampy's Visit Overview:
Well.  Giz's health has really been awful lately, she's probably lost a good fifty pounds.  It has been a year since the doctor "fixed" the duct that drained her liver and it has been almost as bad as the year before the "miraculous" surgery.  She looks so frail and thin; her face is so changed.  Grampy looks the same, but you can just tell in how he does everything that this year has been so hard on him too.  This was such a different visit than usual.  Giz has a MRI in a few days to make the obvious assessment that the new duct they made as not working official.  It is hard for them and for us---but, we did enjoy playing fun card games (UNO and Skip-Bo) every night but the last, as Dd was out at a Harvest Party with our church's Youth Program.  I should have made Dd stay home and spend the last night with G & G, but I didn't realize until it was too late.  It was hard to see them struggling and not be able to help.



Hunting:
Dd and Dh are getting ready for hunting season.  They have been shooting the cross bow.  They got a chuckle out of this arrow, maybe called a 'bolt?' went through a branch.  So glad they don't have to rely on me regarding providing meat---I'll stick with fruit and veg contributions.

Academics:

Bible:

Church, Sunday School, Youth Program

Soul Surfer Devotional
Word of Life Teen Devotional
(Dd has continued to do two bible studies each day)

Music:

Dd played her guitar for G & G two times during their visit--maybe 30 minutes or so.



Audio:
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
We are really struggling with this audio.  There is a LOT of cussing and using the Lord's name in vain which seems to be around every corner where we are right now!  I know this book is seen as one of the most important novels on "America" or I wouldn't keep trying to get us into it.  It is a tough sell.....but, we keep plugging away at it a little at a time.

Grace Subjects:

Geography: BJU (Bob Jones Textbook)- loving and excelling

Algebra I: Saxon- going well

Spanish I- struggling

Graphic Design- going well

Introductory Logic- really struggling

Art: Water-coloring

Dd is doing a great job with her water-coloring.  This week she did a painting of three pumpkins that I really liked.

Greens are still growing really well--no buggies to fight with in this weather!!  You can see how nice this mornings Swiss Chard are in the photo.

Physical Education:

Dd is doing a good job walking Henry each day and helping to tire him out so he can be sane for a couple of hours.  Pups really need lots of exercise and it takes all three of us to get his willies out each day!!!  

Volunteering:

Olympians Program, Games: 1 1/2 hours

Library: Family Story Time: 1 1/2 hours with kiddo's

Church: Dd spent 2:00 hours decorating the church and gym for the Missionary Thanksgiving party meal.

Next Week:

I've got various medical appointments scheduled and we will have to get back to life without G & G at our house again.  It is always so quiet after they leave, and sad, we all have to adjust.  They are the only family we see throughout the year, and we only see them every three months or so.  Also, next week will be the first play practice for our church.  I'm going to head up the behind the scene's team (team of one), as the director.  So glad I can help and not have to memorize lines.  Hoping Dh can get over his nagging, coughing cold soon too.  His job is always very difficult and now his boss has put in his notice and will no longer be there to advocate for him, which is very unfortunate.

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Oct. 14-20, 2018 Frost, Hoop Houses, Winter Clothes, Van, Cross Bow, Teapot,

Oct. 14-20, 2018  

Frost, Hoop Houses, Glasses for Dd, Winter Clothes, Van, Cross Bow, Teapot

Frost has finally hit us in Michigan; later than usual.

The change in season has made for extra beauty.

Hello Friends!

Fall is settling in but I still have many fall jobs still pending.  I'm knee deep in our Winter Clothes Boxes that I brought down from the attic but have given myself this final week to sort it out and take back up the boxes to clear our floor space. 



 I've been mowing, mowing, mowing to get in one last final mow of the season.  I gave the chickens one last bag of fresh cut grass of the year and put the rest in our compost bins.


  
Red hummingbird feeders are washed and put up as well.  I'm still finding tomato plant tops and branches to bring into the chickens to strip bare.  



All hoses are emptied and hung inside barn.  



The pool furniture is safely inside the barn too.  What a lot of work for one person to do!!!

Oct. 17, 2018: The Last Growing Day:

I happened to be watching to the weather and they said today was 'the last growing day of the year.'  Isn't that interesting, I'd never thought that there was a last peak day for plant growth.  Hearing this news gave me permission to pull up any remaining plants to feed to the chickens and bring in all the produce I could without worry that they might still be growing if I'd left them outside.

Oct. 17, 2018: New Glasses for Dd:

Dd's glasses came in!  She was so excited we had to drop everything and rush to go get them!  

Hoop Houses:

Dh helped me carry in the two hoop houses he built me in the spring for our fall, and hopefully our winter garden.



  I placed them over the Swiss Chard and kale plants that are still doing so well.  Some turnips got under the plastic as well.  I still haven't dug up the turnips or carrots yet--supposedly if you wait until a few frosts have happened they will produce more sugars and be sweeter.

Chicken Coop- Plastic Wrap: Started

I've been watching video's on YouTube on how to keep your chickens healthy in the winter.  Actually, my first question is when/if to use heat lamps within your inner coop and that lead to all sorts of information.  I'm trying to not turn on my heat lamp until it gets really cold so my chickens can adapt to the cold weather better.  I had been afraid in past years that if I didn't put on the heat lamp at the first chilly nights the poor chickens would get sick and die.  Now that I am getting a few winters under my belt and am feeling a little more confident about their ability to adapt, I have, so far, not turned on the heat lamp at night. 



 I have turned it on for a few hours during the day or evening for Zeus or to dry the chickens before bedtime after being rained on all day in the chill. Surprisingly, I saw quite a few video's from people that had wrapped their runs in plastic wrap so the chickens could go outside during the winter and not be in snow.  At first I just wanted to do the top of the run, adding a tarp to provide a top cover, but then I decided to do the sides too to keep the harsh winds out as well.  I haven't started the project yet, but am doing research on how best to provide for the chickens during the winter.

Due to the frost coming I had to bring in all the veg; whether it was ripe or not.  I'm hoping, given time, most of the tomatoes will ripen inside.

Each day I brought in new containers with tomatillo's, green beans, squash, and tomatoes

Harvest:

STILL harvesting tomatoes, tomatillo's, various greens, green beans, etc.  

I did two sessions of canning Tomatillo's, then I did a third canning with them and some tomatoes to make a pre-salsa mix.

We are getting temps in the low 40's and some frost in the mornings so our time for harvesting is fast ending.

This squash came in with a worm inside!  I had to give the whole thing to the chickens...they liked it!

Henry:

He is doing great!  He has grown so much and filled in with lots of muscle and hair.  His back was so bare you coudl see his skin threw his thin balding hair, but now he has a full thick coat!  



This week has been such a crazy stick week; he is even bringing in his favorite sticks to chew on in the house!  

Two more spaghetti squash from our garden

Dd:

Our teen daughter has been especially tired and fighting a cold this week.  We are still struggling with her getting her few chores done each day.  I admit I have to repeatedly ask and she continues to drag out her chores as long as she can.  I feel like all the solo driving she has been doing has really accelerated her feelings of heightened independence.  I'll be curious to see how things proceed as the snow will soon arrive and I'll be back to being the chauffeur.  This is, by far, the hardest phase I've had to go through with her.  It is hard letting go and at the same time being the person that aggravates her and pushes her to do her chores.

Van:

I don't know how anyone can keep up on our revolving door of broken down cars; but about 1-2 weeks after getting our van back from the repair shop it started smoking.  



We waited a week and drove it to church again and it smoked again; making it official that something was definitely wrong with it.  



Then for about a month Dh just didn't have the time or mental space to deal with it.  



Last week Dh began discussing possibilities with his dad over the phone and then brought the van inside our garage this week to officially start trying to fix it.  He narrowed down what was wrong with it and will begin rounding up the parts and pieces to begin the repair.  Grampy, Dh's dad, is due to visit next week so they can fix it together then.  This week Dd helped Dh work on the van.

New Gun:

Dh found a new (used) gun for hunting season this year.  It is a .44 rifle, single shot.  So the gun can only fire one bullet at a time.  This year Dd will get to use it, or at least take it with her when they hunt together.  We have so many deer around our house, it sure would be a huge blessing to get some of that un-factoried meat for our home.

Hunting Prep:

Dd and Dh built a table to use out in the woods this week.  After they built it they shot the cross-bow off it.  This is their quality time and shared interest.

Teapot:

There are few things that bring such peace and calm as a good cup of tea.  I relish my few teapots and tea cups and the joy they bring.  Heather had given me a nice teapot, but the handle is beginning to break and I don't use it anymore, fearing it will break off entirely. To my full appreciation, I found a perfect brown, made in England, probably never used--paperwork still inside, teapot at my thrift store this week!!!!  I immediately put it in a box with stuffing to give myself on Christmas day!  It is very plain; that dark brown old timey England glaze on a nice big fat pot!  Such a big, large-volume size pot.  Praise the Lord for those little surprise treasures He blesses us with when we least expect it!

I've been having a great time lining up dead trees and branches along our trails to mark them clearly.  With all the leaves it has gotten harder and harder to stay on our trails.

My Mom:

I like to leave little notes for myself to keep track of what is going on with my mom on my blog without sharing any real 'private' information.  I know I hate to see when other family members share indelicate info about my mom on facebook and I don't want to be a hypocrite, even if it is in my own heart.  This week my mom told me she is going to move back to Maine.  In March/April she moved from Maine to Ohio and now she has decided to move back.  There is so much to say about this, but I don't think I can say anything here.  She flies to Maine next week--such a fast decision and hard to process.



Pool:
We finally got the pool all closed up and the proper winter cover on it.  Just in the nick of time, of course.

Mushrooms:
I've been taking alot of mushroom pictures this week.  I'm going to make a whole post just for these cool photo's.



Academics:

Bible:

Dd finished up one of her devotionals and started another---Praying for Your Future Husband completed and Soul Surfer Devotional by Bethany Hamilton in process.  She continues to do two devotions each day, the other one being the Word of Life Teen Devotional she got from our Olympians program.

Church/ Sunday School and Youth Program

Volunteering (1 1/2 hrs) Olympians Program, Games

Frost in the garden

Music:

Strings Group at church---guitar.  This week Dd got to play a 12 string guitar that another player suggested she try.  She did a good job with it.

Frost on the Blackberry Bushes

Frosty garden...brrr!

Physical Education:

Dd and I walked the woods together this week.  She continues to work with Henry--walks, throwing sticks, and training.

Grace Subjects:

Algebra I: Saxon

Spanish I

Graphic Design

Introductory Logic

Geography: BJU

Grace classes are going very well.  She is doing all the work and learning a lot.  She is especially loving the Algebra and Geography classes.

Audio:

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I can't say we are enjoying this but trying to stick with it.

Next Week:

Giz and Grampy are coming up for the last time this year.  It took all week, but I got all the winter boxes emptied and restored up in the attic.  Floors swept and mopped.  Guest bedroom all tip-top and ready for the UNO playing daredevils!  Dh's parents will soon be here!

Agnes is helping me sort through the winter scarves!

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