A Tale of Two Tractors

This Can Happen to YOU!

Since Saturday we have had a tractor stolen right out of our field next to the house and then today one of a most reliable tractor drivers put this newer tractor right in the ditch...so what's up?  I think we're all too stressed out.  Took forever for the fields to dry to plant and then the weather never really heated up the way it should...so everyone has this unfocused deer in the headlight thing going on.

My youngest son came in last night to tell me I had melons splitting in the garden and they were going to go bad...I spent the whole day in the garden watering and planting fall crops...there weren't any ripe melons...sure enough...2 ripe/split heirloom melons...when did that happen?  It's like everything is out of kilter...not quite right...like the funny house at the Trees of Mystery....

Took the grand kids out to pick tomatoes for canning...Uncle Sam's fields are getting ready for mechanical harvesting, so we go out and try and fill as many tubs as we can in one hour...we'll do this every day until harvest.  Tomorrow we'll also run across the road to Grandpa's cucumber field and pick for pickles.  I can't believe I spent $10.00 for dill at the store today...mine never did grow...next year I hope I have better luck.

No Leftovers at My Casa

In the last year I've made it a habit to can most of my leftovers...spaghetti meat sauce, ham and white beans, beef stew, lamb stew, chili with meat, lentil soup, stroganoff sauce with sirloin tips, split peas with ham and chicken meat in stock...I usually put them up in quarts, but today I did pints...these will go up to the cabin for my quick dinners when I go up by myself.  I just love having these quick fix jarred meals, so quick and so delicious...

I had my second market on Monday, all went well...it was a bit cooler....I came home with red and golden beets and green and purple asparagus beans...could have had some nice peaches, but I'm going to be getting 2 large boxes of peaches and Asian pears on Thursday.  The grand kids and I are picking tomatoes and cucumbers tomorrow...I don't like dill pickles, but I have my mother-in-law's recipe and the family insists on getting her pickles.  I'm looking forward to doing up the tomatoes....sauce, stewed, paste and whole: mmmmm!  I went out to the onion field and picked about 20 pounds of onions before they were plowed up.  Need to shop for bell peppers, pickling salt, dill and vinegar.

Painted Sky Soaps

I have to make time to work with the bees this weekend.  That means I have to run to Woodland and get 2 medium supers and frames.  I will try and fit that in on Friday....also need to get to Afton to pick up plums from Paula on Friday: well, I could get the peaches, pears and plums on Friday and get the bee equipment on Thursday...darn, I keep running out of week!!!!

My First Harvest

My first tomato in the new garden!  I have no idea what the variety is.  All of my transplants suffered the humiliation of loosing their identities when the grand kids took out their labels...we can only guess what we have out there.  I plan on checking the descriptions in the Baker Creek Heirloom Catalogue and making notes.  Next year, not only will I have labels, but maps too and photos and the kids will have their own gardening area....Grandma means business!!

First BIG dehydrating job.  These are yellow and green zucchini, yellow crook necks, cherry tomatoes and yellow potatoes given to me at the end of Monday's Farmers Market...thought drying them might be fun...it worked out pretty well.  I put them in some nice Mason jars...I think drying will be my preferred method of storage for small batches...have some green beans from the garden in the dryer right now...not enough for a meal of fresh.

Jars of dried veggies, yellow storage onions from Bill's seed field, LOTS of eggs from the Girl's, French Breakfast Radishes, White radishes, baby red and golden beets, purple carrots and 3 heirloom tomatoes....a really good week.  Tomorrow I drag the canners out: corn, blackberries, elderberries and maybe some nice fresh peaches......

Onion Seed Harvest, Corn is Ripe and Farmers Market: OH MY!

I am a big fan and supporter of Farmers Markets....I think every community no matter how small should have a least one...in our tiny county we have two certified markets and a non-certified produce/flea-type market...I love them all. The Colusa Farmers Market manager to a new job last week and I am now managing the Market...what fun! I contacted all of the vendors via email and let them know they would be working with me (most know me) and to help me as much as they can...the Market was last night and it went very well. Tessa came by and gave me a hand...she took the booth payment as I checked on their permits...it was a bit hot 101...so attendance was down, but it really was a great market day. I need to brush up on the WIC rules and need to map a better layout (we were a bit cramped)...but everyone said they'd see me next Monday. One of the delightful perks of being the Manager is all of the lovely fruit and produce the vendors give you at the end of the day: zukes, crook neck, green beans, cherries, peaches, nectarines, white corn, Asian pears, goats milk soap and snickerdoodle cookies....SCORE!

I'm heading up to the Cabin later this afternoon to meet with the electrician tomorrow early a.m.

I'm looking forward to a nice quite couple of days next to my cool creek. I plan on watching a few movies, eating junk food and taking a couple long lazy naps. I'm going gather up some pine needles for my bee smoker (I hear they work great) and take a bunch of pictures...I need to get a clean-up crew up there: lots of downed trees and just a big mess...I would have done it a long time ago, but crews cost LOTS of money and I'm always broke!

Bill started the onion seed harvest and this is the first time I've been able to take photos...usually they are too fast for me...it's fascinating: each onion plants seed boll is harvested by hand. The seed heads a put in garbage cans that are dumped on tarps, the head are then harvested by machine...those tiny little seeds are amazing!

I bought a case of corn over the weekend from Charter's Produce Stand on Highway 20. It cost $8.00 and I got about 50 ears. I canned 16 pints and froze about a quart. When I get back from the cabin I plan on doing another 2 cases...I could probably do it up at the cabin, but the elevation thing makes me a bit nervous. I made plum jam when I was up with the girls last week and it took forever for the water to boil....don't know about pressure canning....

Well I'm out to water the garden and take care of the chickens before I leave...no heat stress for my babies! And I just might swing by and pick up that corn and give high altitude pressure canning...I'm always up for a challenge!

Don't Go On Vacation

Well I got away for five days and headed to my cabin. My gal friends and I were having our last cabin weekend before one friend (Nancy) headed off to Zambia for the Peace Corps. I left my daughter in charge of watering the garden and altho she said she did: ONCE...it looked pretty dry and deflated to me. So how many days does it take a garden to recover from heat stress?...ONE....everything looks great and happy! Lucky me.

Garden Update

The Garden is starting to recover from my over-use of the fish fertilizer! Pick a handful of bush beans everyday. I have four or five tomatoes, squash, melons and watermelons (don't know the varieties thanks to the kiddies switching my labels) and the Wonderberries are ripe (?)...yuck! I have to do a major soaking today and tomorrow because I'm going up to the cabin for 5 days and altho it's only suppose to be in the mid-90's I don't want to loose anything in the garden to heat-stress...I've worked too hard.

To Do:
Plant:carrots
parsnips
cauliflower
broccoli
Brussels sprouts
celeriac
leeks
beets
rutabaga
turnips
lettuce

Build: Mini-Barn
Install soaker hoses

Still Doing the Can-Can

Apricot halves in light syrup, green beans, apricot pie filling, strawberry jelly, apricot jelly, whole plums in light syrup, plum jelly and cherry pie filling....whew! Just two days and the pantry begins to fill. This is totally FUN! When I did all that canning when the kids were little as much as I enjoyed the finished product I always felt so stressed out and rushed...never really savored the whole process...now I just LOVE it...every minute is so rewarding. The prep, the slicing and dicing, choosing the jars, cooking the fruit and waiting for the timer to go off...pulling the jars from the canner and then lining them up...such an awesome experience. I've even caught myself day dreaming about the fruits and veggies that will be hitting the Farmers Markets that I'll *Put Up* in the weeks to come.

The fence for the garden is almost finished...it's been a long week. I thought it would be a two or three day project and it looks like it'll be another couple of days. The garden is looking really nice...several melons and squashes. I counted a half dozen tomatoes. The potatoes have not bloomed yet, but I do have a second flush of Chard I think I'll use in a lasagna tomorrow. The Wonderberrys I got at Baker Seed (a Luther Burbank creation) taste like YUK! I just don't think they will ever taste good...lots of slimey teeny seeds...I'm not pulling the plants, they're really bushy and have lots of berries...I have them shading the new Chard and Golden Beets. I'll pull them out BEFORE they go to seed (I bet they could easily become a pest) and feed them to the chickens. The bush green beans are such a disapointment, they were last year too...I may give up and just buy them at the Farmers Market. I take one of the vendors a pint of canned and she sells me 5# for $4.00...great deal I think.