Happenings

I'm procrastinating going to bed.  I don't want to. Though I'm tired and I'm sure I'll be out like a light the second I actually lay down and close my eyes.

I'm procrastinating a lot lately.

The going-ons around here:

Garden is doing great. I've harvested more lettuce than we could eat and gave some away.  As well as some carrots, kolhrabi, and chives. The radishes are pretty much gone.  Broccoli florets are starting to show up so I'll soon have those to put up.

Green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers are in.  As well as some herbs, more strawberries, and pumpkin.


(slideshow of Yard and Garden 2014 Flickr album, click arrows on either side of photo)

The kids have been out of school for the summer and rotting their brains with too much TV, video games, and other fun - like mustache straws.


Carus has been learning to ride thanks to some amazing friends (who loan horses and teaching).


Robert and I spent our 13th anniversary at the beach and it was a GLORIOUS weekend.


And of course, there is work and other boring stuff.

Radishes

So far I've only been able to harvest radishes out of the garden.  And I got a kitchen scale to weigh my harvests this year because I'm curious...or weird...or crazy...or all of the above.  I just think it would be fun to see how many pounds of produce I can grow.



This 5 ounces brings my total radish harvest total this year to 13 ounces (harvesting 4 oz twice before).  I don't have much more radishes to harvest and I'm not planting more as I have green bean and tomato seedlings to go there.

Or I will when these pop up.



I plan on planting radishes again in the fall, along with my other cool weather crops, and this time I'll try successive planting.  This amount of radishes is just about right for us for 3-5 days depending on the amount of salads and snacking, so I could plant a couple rows for harvesting about a week apart.  Each square in my bed holds 6 rows of radishes.



We removed the hoops from the bed this past week too as we are staying above freezing at night and are in the 70s and 80s with the occasional 90 during the day (Fahrenheit).

Garden bed 1 was planted without string lines to help me keep things neat and after this weekend of really nice weather it has gone crazy!  I will be putting in lines soon because bed 2 looks so much neater.



The broccoli was supposed to be ready to harvest this week, according to a tracking app based on when I planted the seeds, and it's no where near that.  The broccoli is in several places, but the largest ones are in the back there, taller than the clump of kohlrabi that I never thinned out.  I have problems thinning out seedlings - I don't want to throw away a plant that has potential of growing food. Which probably goes hand in hand with my problems throwing food out of the fridge. I don't like wasting food and will do all I can to prevent, including not thinning seedlings.  It might take longer for those kohlrabi to mature to harvest-able size, but I haven't had problems (yet) with harvesting the bigger ones and letting the littler ones stick around longer to be picked later.  (Speaking from experience growing radishes and carrots for a few years now.)

Yard and Garden

Garden view for March 2014


These photos are a few weeks old.  I took them thinking of a blog post and then didn't get around to doing it so now they're old and things have changed a bit. (Flickr has changed some things and the below photo is now slides - just hover over to see the arrows to click through the photos in the Yard and Garden 2014 set on Flickr.)(You might not be able to do that if viewing this post in your email.)



The garden bed furthest from the gate was planted first.  I planted carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, lettuce, and broccoli.  Those have all come up; the lettuce and kohlrabi the first to make an appearance.  I planted the other bed this last last weekend with the same (minus kohlrabi because I was out of those seeds) and to make things a bit more organized (and to help keep track of where I planted) I marked out sections with twine.


Garden view for April 2014


I have the hoop houses open during the day and closed at night (if it's predicted to be below 40F).  It's getting about 30 degrees warmer inside when all closed up which means I could have them up this fall and growing things until November or December.  Then next spring I should be able to start in February or the beginning of March.

Little hummingbirds

It was gorgeous again yesterday with blue skies and a bright sun.  And I was stuck inside working.  It's days like this that make me wish my work computer was portable enough to pull outside on the porch and work in the sunshine.  Robert says he can make this happen for me; we'll see though.

After work I went outside to soak up any remaining sun as it quickly set behind the not too distant hills, and took pictures of how the backyard is adjusting to fall.

Of the freshly fallen leaves and Leia playing.



Of the brightly colored leaves still on the tree.





Of the one of the final sunflowers in my garden.



Of the last rays of sun.



And then I paused and tossed the ball for Leia once or twice, when I heard them.  The hummingbirds in the tree in the neighbors yard directly behind ours.

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They were buzzing around, speeding from tree to tree and chirping to each other.  I think there are only two but there could be more.  I believe they've been around all year too.



They are shy little guys that always run from the hummingbird feeder the moment they see me (and my camera).  I do love my zoom lens; I stood close to the back fence hoping they would continue to frequent that branch.

Hummingbirds always make me smile. They make me think of my Granny and watching the visitors to her feeders, and that makes me smile too.

I need more weekend in my weekends

It was absolutely gorgeous this weekend.  High 60s, bright and sunny.  Just a gorgeous fall day where there is a little nip in the air, but the sun is still bright and warm.

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Saturday I took a nap because my throat was feeling scratchy (again) and I had a headache, and then I spent the evening sewing a tulle skirt for Carus - most likely for Halloween.  I don't think we're aiming for something in particular, just a pretty foofy dress for dressing up because if it's for Halloween then you don't have to be all self conscious about dressing up.



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Sunday I was feeling better, and it was still gorgeous outside so we did yard work.  We trimmed one of the three rose of Sharon bushes and that filled stuffed the yard debris bin so we have to wait to trim the other two.  Then, we cleaned up the garden a bit more, dug up the last of the potatoes (only found 5, what the hell?) and planted some garlic.  I planted 4 rows of garlic in a 3 foot by 6 foot (not 100% on how long so don't quote me there) section and I still had cloves to plant. Maybe I'll get a bit more soil and finish off the last 3 foot (ish) square section at the end of the row with garlic.  I need more soil - with compaction and erosion, the soil we have is no longer enough. It will allow us to introduce more fertilizer too.  We had hoped to wait until spring but had to use up the last bit of soil in the shed from this year for the garlic bed.

I had planned on snapping a quick photo of the garlic bed shortly after planting, but got distracted with other stuff and didn't remember until sunset.  Specifically, the end of sunset and now we have a rather dark photo... Meh, you get the gist.

Busy Busy Becca

HA! See what I did there with the title.

I amuse myself.

So yeah! I've been busy with kids and school and me and work and Robert and him driving me nuts (someone give that man a job!) and Saturday I photographed a wedding.  I took Carus along as my second shooter/assistant and she did great! It was a long, bright, sunny (translation: bit warm) day. But it was a perfect day for a wedding.  I used to work with the bride before she left us (*sniff*).  It was a gorgeous wedding.  The Love is strong in these two. (Robert said he could see The Love in the pictures.) I'll share more photos when I'm done (and she's seen them, of course).  I'm loving all the images I got so it's been easy to pick the best of the best - I just have to make sure everyone is looking at me and smiling.

250/365 This was their first sneak peak of the images.  I love how content she looks to be in his arms.


 Since I've been working on wedding images I haven't picked up my big camera for 365s and have a bunch of Instagram photos for the rest of this week.

251/365 - Putting braids in Carus's hair so she will have crimpy hair in the morning. (Yes, that's Leia's nose. She's nosy.)


See.  Also: I do love her style.


252/365 - My garden is still growing.  Actually, even though the trees are starting to change colors and drop their leaves and we had some big thunderstorms last week, we've been getting into the 90s this week...so bonus summer?  Late summer?  Either way, it's been good for growing stuff.

One of my volunteer sunflowers (volunteer = a bird or squirrel planted the seed for me)


The tomatoes are FINALLY turning red.  Unfortunately I'm not getting enough at once to can them, which is what I wanted to do.  Meh, there's always next year.


Lady bug hanging out on a sunflower stalk.


253/365 - See the black dot above the toilet?  That's a spider hanging there.  I used the restroom, got in the shower, and when I got out this guy was hanging there.  Where I was moments before (it was a quick shower).  I've since found one sitting on my shoulder as I went to start working, Robert squished one after it interrupted his vid-ya game ('video game' said like Hank from King of the Hill), and then he missed one that was running across the floor towards the bed last night.  It ran under the bed and hasn't been seen since.  I'm choosing to believe he vacated the premises.  Or that the boogeyman got him for me.  From the consensus on Facebook, it looks like all the spiders are coming inside to escape the heat.


I don't have a problem with spiders and actually find them fascinating - when they are outside or behind glass or in pictures and videos.  They may give me the heebie jeebies, but they will get to live.  In fact, there are a few in the garden and I've even brushed by them/touched them and I didn't kill them (I did do some involuntary karate). (Anything I know to be poisonous, however, will be squished. Very squished.)

254/365 - Bitty Kitty Wilbur. Cause he's cute.

The rest of last week

I should probably get last weeks photos shared before I forget about it.  I do that sometimes.

Tomorrow is Adam's first day of school and Thursday is Carus's, and I have a wedding to photograph on Saturday.  This week is going to be BUSY!

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My in-laws took us to a baseball game last Wednesday as we have a sort of local sort of professional baseball team (local = town about 30 minutes away and professional = minor league).  We saw the Hillsboro Hops play the Eugene Emeralds.  It was a fun game with perfect weather (not too hot, though it did rain but we were under an awning).  We'd love to go again...but we might have to wait until next season since this one might be over.


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Sunset view from the garden.


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Sleeping Yoda.  He does that a lot...


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Carus got a new haircut for back to school and she got bangs - well, more bangs than she already had.  She loves her new haircut and I can't blame her. I do too.


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Found a praying mantis on my dahlias out front.  S/he watched me taking his/her picture (seriously, followed me moving around - creepy) and then climbed the window, which interested the cat, then got knocked off the window and flew onto me causing me to scream and Robert to laugh and then Leia came over to check him/her out and she tried to eat him/her.  Leia is such a scared-y cat that she is practically afraid of her shadow, but a bug - no problem.

Look at all the green

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So much green.

So many plants.

Too bad most of them are weeds....well, grass.

Fucking straw.

It was supposed to PREVENT weeds and grass, not encourage it.

At least, that's our theory of where the grass came from.  We don't have that type of grass in our yards and we're pretty sure our neighbors don't either so it had to have come from the stupid straw.

This is my before picture.  I tackled it with the intention to remove all the weeds and the straw, and then found our yard debris bin was already half full so I didn't have enough room for all of it.  I cleared out the weeds around the plants, from the edges to the middle, and found my tomato plants and my teeny cucumbers.  After filling the debris bin I just started piling the rest of the grass and weeds in the center and I'll finish clearing it out next week after trash day.

I don't think I'll get much more out of this garden.  The green beans seem to be waning and though there are tomatoes on the plants, they've been there for two weeks and they aren't getting any greener.  And the tomato plants are kind of small.

The cucumbers! I went from 6 plants to 3, and they're only 3 inches tall/long.  They haven't grown since I planted them and I don't know why.  They all have one cucumber (one has two) that are the same size as the plants but yeah, not much going on there. Robert said, "we could have baby pickles."  Problem is, there are only three.  I've heard from others that their gardens were growing weird this year so at least it's not all me.

At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Yada Yada-ty

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231/365 - Covered in dye. (Getting rid of my roots...and my grays. I don't mind the gray hair, but I do mind the roots.)


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233/365 - Curly pug tail


234/365 - Kitty paws

Canned garlic

Sunday I avoided my computer and editing pictures and canned the garlic I harvested last month.  I decided to mince it and can it because we have found that we use a lot of the store bought minced garlic and if they can do it, how can I do it. So to the internet I went to figure out how to do it.



I used this post as a guideline.



This huge head of garlic had 27 cloves in it by itself.



Garlic clove.

Carus helped me peel the cloves (Adam helped a little too) and it did take quite awhile.   I reserved some of the smaller cloves to replant this fall for next year.



After they were all FINALLY peeled and rinsed, I minced them up with my food processor (seriously love that thing).

I put the minced garlic in a pot and covered it with boiling water.  After letting it sit for about 5 minutes, I drained it reserving the water and then packed the garlic in half-pint jars leaving about 1/2-inch head room.  I then added about 1/8 tsp Citric acid (used the Ball Citric Acid stuff) and used the reserved garlic water to cover the garlic in the jars.  I removed air bubbles with a plastic spoon, cleaned the rim, and put on the lids and rings.  I processed the jars in the pressure canner at 10 lbs pressure for 45 minutes.

I'm very happy they didn't turn bluish-green, which is a possibility because of a chemical reaction between the garlic and metals in the water or utensils used to process it.  I used plastic as much as possible and crossed my fingers.  It would have still be safe to eat, it just looks weird.



It's taken 3 days to air the garlic smell out of the kitchen.

Water drop

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08/07/13

Can you do the can-can?

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I like canning food.  It makes me feel productive and industrious.  Especially if I'm canning something I grew myself.

I only got two jars this time, but I'm hoping for enough summer left to get quite a few more.  I'm not having the greatest gardening season this year though so I'm not holding too much hope.

How does the garden grow?

Someday I need to plant a flower garden with silver bells and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row. (But with actual flowers.)

Anyhoo.

214/365 My garden.


I feel like it's mostly weeds.  Mostly grass weeds, which I have no idea where it came from...other than it probably came from the damn hay that was supposed to be straw that didn't grow. I need to find another option for mulch next year because this hay/straw thing is not working out.

At the end of the season, I think I'll dig up as much as possible and then cover the entire thing with newspaper to smother anything else out so next spring isn't as freaking maddening.

The green beans are doing well - the pole beans more so than the bush beans.



I'm still fighting bugs that like to eat my plants, like this little grasshopper thing.


And this bug, which from what I can find is a cucumber beetle. (Looks like a green lady bug.)


Lady bug - good.


Yoda keeps trying to come into the garden while I'm in there.  I don't like latching the gate because I'm going in and out often enough that it slows me down. He mostly listens and only occasionally do I catch him nonchalantly wandering in.


Itty bitty green beans to be.


Sunlight through the leaves.


Green beans are doing so well that they needed additional support.  Most of the vines have gone up and down the trellis I built and are probably on their way back up again but I can't tell which vine is which and where it's been.  I can only tell where some are going. Maybe my neighbor will get some vines on their side of the fence.


I was starting to wonder if/when those carrots were going to need to be pulled.  Maybe I should have wondered sooner....?


Tiny cucumber.


Marigolds.  Next year I need to plant MANY more marigolds.  All the plants along the marigolds are bug free. It might be because the bugs are all enjoying the green bean plant on the other side of the garden, but I really like to tell myself that it's because of the flowers. (And then I wondered if I could make a bug spray and google found me this: marigold bug spray )


Volunteer sunflower - I didn't plant the seed.  Good thing I recognized it and didn't think it was a weed.  It has some of those little grasshopper things.


Tomatoes - Pretty sure they're roma tomatoes.


Carrots all cleaned up.


Green beans - one pile is pole beans, the other bush beans.


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Neighbor's sunflowers which are peeking over the fence.