It's Official...DROUGHT!

44 days without rain...not a drop...nada! And none in the 30 day forecast. We are in trouble!  I'm a water miser as it is...the early 70's drought taught me the "tricks of the trade".  I don't know how much more I can do.  I had planned on planting another 10 fruit trees this Fall...but narrowed it down to 2...a cherry and a grafted multi-low chill apple...needed them to increase my failing pollination...I didn't get one apple last year, and only a few cherries.  We have 3 wells on this property (the home place) and 2 capped windmill wells.  I believe we'll be fine here at the house, orchard and garden.  BUT the farming operation will be hurt like Hell.  We had water allocations cut by about 1/4 last year and this year some of our ground  will have no water at all (canal).  We have wells on some pieces: but no rain means no ground water.  Hang on to your hats this is going to be one heck of a ride!

We Are In Deep Trouble!

Grow What You Can Folks: The Shelves Will Be Empty!

Lake Oroville...One Of 2 Reservoirs We Get Irrigation Water From

So what do ya' do?  Well, I know prices on produce are going to go CRAZY... I'm ramping up my produce stand production by double.  I had planned on giving up managing the local Farmers Market, but couldn't find a replacement...well, it may have been for the best.  If we get the vendors back I'll work the same deal I did last year and sell their overages at the Farm Stand for a percentage. I don't make a ton of money on the Farm Stand or Farmers Market, but it keeps me in mushroom compost, chicken/hog feed, seeds and upgrades to the garden and fences!  My worry is WATER.  I have most everything on T-Tape, but the new fruit trees are not... I hand water those babies: not very water thrifty.  I have a plan to get them drip taped, too.  Young trees are so fragile, I just hate to have them stressed.

Two Year Old Baby Trees...I Planted 10 and 6 Survived

I'm adding more berries and grapes to the garden...blackberries and the grapes are drought tolerant.  I have a new patch of asparagus, artichokes, currants and shallots off to a good start.  Last year I was so unorganized I just let the chips fall where they may...planting was hit and miss...a lot of my produce was just things that had self-sowed!  I was able to feed us, can some and sell some!  Really a lazy gardener's year.  Some things suffered, though ... my artichokes produced like gangbusters and then completely died!  I lost 2 currant bushes and a fig.  My ancient peach tree was split almost in half because the limbs were too heavy with fruit...I thinned it twice, but it just wasn't enough.  She's still alive and hopefully I'll get a crop this year...such a delicious peach.

The Two New Trees, Currants, Grapevine...and Snoopy Chickens

My Husband's Grandmother's Old Peach Tree

I'm a bit more organized this season.  I have 16 raised beds:  I have my late winter crop in one bed, a bed of overwintered strawberries, 2 beds I've filled with compost, comfrey and then covered with cardboard, another 3 just laying fallow I will fill up with transplants in 6 weeks and two 4X30 BIG beds I'm going to be experimenting with (Mittleider Gardening Method)...the rest I just don't know...I may have to plant some kind of drought resistant cover crop the chickens can peck at.

The New Mittleider Beds Under Construction...to be continued

The Original Four Raised Beds...Ready and Waiting

 I haven't set up my tomato operation yet...I'm used to planting lots of tomatoes...I think this year I'll only plant 10-20 plants of nice slicing tomatoes and just let the "commercial guys" (my son) take care of the sauce tomatoes!  I end up canning 300 to 400 pounds of his tomatoes, anyway!

The First of Many Transplant Trays
New Seeds from Renee's and Peaceful Valley

Persimmon Pudding....Yummy!

It's that time of year again...Persimmon Time!  I'm very lucky and have access to the two types of persimmons I know of:  Fuyu...sweet and crunchy and Hachiya...sweet and soft (but really astringent if they are not ripe).  We fill the salad bar at school with the Fuyu and the kids just love them.  The Hachiya are grown almost wild here and I gather them for the pulp and make cookies, breads and my favorite: Persimmon Pudding with Hard Sauce.  This pudding was also a favorite of my former mother-in-law a sweet Southern lady from Alabama and such an awesome cook (this is not her exact recipe...since her son...my oldest daughter's father... swore me to secrecy...but it is very close).

Photo Credit

For years I have made my pudding in a makeshift bowl/steamer setup, because I'm too cheap to buy the steamer...such a fool...but this year I found a steamer on Amazon at a great price and went ahead and ordered it.  I'm glad I did...even though it's a bit rinkey-dinkey I like the darn thing and will be trying a few more English puddings during these cold winter months.

My Favorite Hachiya Tree (I call these American Persimmons)

I sorta' steal a lot of my persimmons!  My favorite tree sits off the side of a major road in our county in a field equipment area...nothing around...no houses...no barns...lots of beehives.  Since I'm not afraid of bees I watch that huge tree faithfully every Autumn...and wait for those delicious babies to fall...usually I gather 10-20 at a time several times a season...on my way up to or back from the cabin.

Just of Few Baskets a Year

My friend Paula has a couple wonderful persimmon trees, too...both the Fuyu and the Hachiya.  I'm lucky enough to get several dozen of both varieties from her...I trade her for lots of butternut squash.

My Trade Goods

I puree all those luscious Hachiya and freeze them in one cup Ziploc bags.  Lots and lots of puree for cookies, breads and puddings.  The Fuyu I dry in my Excalibur...yummy!

Puree

My $14.00 Steamer

Oops! A Couple Pictures From My Phone!

Who the heck cares?!  Right?  Well...I want to keep these in a safe place and I think this blog is good for that...so bear with me!

28 Of The California Wedding Guests Visited
The Air boat Ride/Alligator Farm near Biloxi

Air boat!

Leah and Ruben on the Bayou

More Bayou

Buildings Wiped Out

All For Sale!

 

 

Codie and Buddy And The First Dance

 

My Daughter and Her Crew Hamming It Up On The Beach!

Southern Wedding

Codie and Robert (Buddy) Tie The Knot!

We are safely back from our oldest granddaughter's beautiful wedding on the Gulf Coast...everything was wonderful.  The rehearsal dinner was held on the white beaches of Gulfport with a delicious Southern BBQ dinner and S'mores for dessert!  The wedding was held in Pass Christian at a very nice mansion built in the 20's by an Chicago mobster for his mistress!  Not the Southern Plantation I imagined !  It was all very nice. 

Oak Crest Mansion

This was my first time back to the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina.  Our daughter's youngest child was born 2 weeks before the Hurricane, we flew out and spent a few days...and were waiting at the airport in Atlanta when the Hurricane changed direction and headed to the Louisiana coast...we were grounded for many hours in Georgia and unable to get back to New Orleans and our daughter and her family...we ended up flying back to California and then contacting our daughter.  She and her family were very lucky...just a few downed trees...they lived in Ponchatoula at the time.  My SIL is a paramedic and was working for the City of New Orleans at the time and was able to secure a generator and satellite phone for his family...he was away from home for over a month!  Needless to say, all went well for them.  My SIL is now a paramedic on an oil rig in the Gulf and my daughter practices midwifery in Mississippi.  The Gulf Coast is recovering and lots of new building is going on...but I could not believe all of the buildings that were lost...every other lot had an abandoned foundation!  We found ourselves counting one right after the other...such a shame...such a grievous loss.

Cupcake Wedding Cake!

Adding To The Winter Pantry

I may have been  too busy (or distracted) to blog the last several months...I have continued to garden and "put up" produce and staples for the family.  I keep thinking I need to just quit worrying about having a garden and a well stocked larder and just start doing my shopping at the grocery or Big Box stores like a normal person...sorry folks, just can't do it!  The garden keeps me centered and the well stocked larder keeps me safe and smug! You read that right SMUG not SNUG!

1. Our son will mechanically harvest the 200 acres of butternut squash while we are away in Alabama/Mississippi/Louisiana this week.  I had to high-tail it out to the field to gather a years worth for me and several of my best girlfriends.  So Sunday I canned, pureed, froze and dehydrated butternut squash and pureed and froze persimmons.  I figured if I'm going to destroy the kitchen, might as well do it up right!  I had enough butternut for 11 quarts of canned...my canner takes 7 quarts...so I ran it twice...once with 7 and then with 4 and 3 quarts of stew vegetables (carrots, celery and potatoes)...I always run a full canner.  While I was tearing up the pantry looking for jars, I ran across a small bag of garbanzos (chickpeas) from last year's harvest and decided to can those too.  I ended up with 11 jars of butternut, 3 jars of garbanzos and 7 jars of stew vegetables. I pureed several freezer bags of butternut and persimmons for the freezer and dehydrated enough butternut to fill 2 1/2 gallon jars. I had to run out to the garden twice for celery, potatoes and carrots...such a nice problem to have.

Persimmons From Paula

The First Canner Load of Squash

Garbanzos and Stew Veggies

Persimmon Puree

This Is My Autumn

Seriously! Lilacs in October?!
 

Yummy Eureka Lemons
 

Olives Ripening

English Walnuts Just Starting To Fall

The Last of The Summer Garden Harvest

Naked, Bitchy, Molting Chickens....

Cold and Crisp At The Cabin

Dogwood Putting on a Show!

Spring Break

I have really been looking forward to Spring Break.  When you share your days with school teachers and students you anticipate the vacations just like they do.  I was sick for the entire Winter Break...really sick.   So now we have Spring Break and I hightailed it to the Cabin where I immediately got sick!  This time from the fireplace! The chimney needs to be swept ( I'll get that done week after next).  I almost offed myself from carbon monoxide poisoning and this is the SECOND time I've done that!  A few years ago our pellet stove was leaking and I got sick.   My 10 day cabin vacation was cut way too short and now I'm home working in the garden...where I should be anyway...lots to do there!

The Creek At The Cabin

The Firepit Needs a Bit of Work

Celery In the Garden

Figs! I Planted this Twig Last Year! Just Stuck
The Stick in a Pot with Planting Mix!

Soon We'll Have Strawberries

And Artichokes!

I'm managing the Farmers Market again this year.  I plan on offering eggs, tomatoes, watermelon and lots of sweet corn.  My son has planted several large plots for me and we've staggered the plantings so we'll get a nice long season...he just received another shipment of corn from Johnny's that will go in next week.  California has passed the Cottage Food Act and I'll have honey, bread and soft pretzels to offer, too.

We Haven't Used This Variety Before

Three Big Bags!  F1 Hybrid...