Month: June 2021

One of “those” days

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You know the kind of day.

The kind where things start going wrong from the start, and nothing goes to plan.

Today was one of those days.

Thankfully, it ended on a more positive note.

Things started very early, with hearing noises from the basement and discovering Saffron had somehow found her way into the old part basement, discovering another cat had gotten into a plant pot and scattered dirt everywhere in the living room, to my daughter trying to vacuum the carpet and our vacuum cleaner suddenly starting to smoke and no longer creating a vacuum. I was planning to head to the smaller city to get a new air filter for the push mower, but my sleep had been interrupted so much, I felt too tired to be safe to drive. I figured I’d get a nap in, and go later. Of course, that got interrupted a few times, too, with scam phone calls about credit cards we don’t have, cats getting into the old basement again (my daughter found where they were getting through and blocked it), and so on. When I finally got up – which was disorienting, because it was still morning – my daughters convinced me to save making the trip for another day. I must have looked a sight for them to do that!

So basically, it was a pretty wasted day. I got nothing useful accomplished until evening, when it cooled down enough to do the evening watering. It was so windy today, the sawhorse the garden cam is attached to was knocked over, and I had to do some repair work on one of the stakes and lines over a row of sunflowers that had blown apart.

Also, the sound of wind going through the wire mesh on the squash tunnel is very musical!

I was quite happy to see a few of the summer squash are starting to bloom.

When I was finishing up watering at the front of the house, and was moving the hose out of the way, I heard an odd noise coming from the kibble house. I was behind it, so I couldn’t see, but figured there was a skunk inside. So I carefully walked around it and…

… it was empty.

But I was still hearing that noise.

So I ducked to look under the kibble house, where there is still a sheet of rigid insulation on the ground. There I saw a little black critter, and the noise was claws making warning scratches on the insulation. It was one of the baby skunks, all by itself!

It ended up dashing under the cat’s house. On seeing there was no food at all left in the kibble house, I topped things up a bit, then went to sit on the stairs to the storage house, where I had a view of the back of the kibble house and cat shelter. Sure enough, after a while, I saw the little guy come out, then make a run for the storage house. I did get a short video, but apparently, I can’t upload anything right now, or I’d include it here! As I walked away from the storage house, I just caught sight of the skunk family, ducking under the chain link fence and out of the yard. I’m glad the little one was reunited with its family!

So I guess that was a cute end to an otherwise miserable day.

For now, I’m hoping to get some decent – uninterrupted – sleep, so I can make the trip I was supposed to do today.

The Re-Farmer

I can’t do it anymore

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Nope. I can’t.

Because I’m a suck.

When we find the skunks in the kibble house, we have been chasing them away with the hose. Today, I went out to do the watering and saw a couple of skunks. One immediately ran off and I saw it head under the storage house. The bigger one kept on eating. When I sprayed it with the hose, it disappeared behind the cat shelter, so I went around the kibble house to spray it away.

Instead, I saw her run off, but something looked very different. She had something in her mouth, and… a second tail?

It was her babies. She ran off, carrying one in her mouth, while a second one stayed close beside her.

I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t chase off hungry babies!

They’re not hurting the cats, nor being aggressive. They’re digging up the yard for grubs, but that doesn’t bother me. The only real issue is that kibble is bad for them, but not nutritionally. It’s about how their jaws are hinged. But we have hungry mamas that feel safe enough to bring their hungry babies to the kibble house! How can I possible keep chasing them away?

I am such a suck.

The Re-Farmer

Baby grapes and… what’s our forecast???

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While doing the morning watering, I noticed the grapes have babies!

The teeniest of bunches of baby grapes are now visible. :-)

Doing the watering this morning was a bit of a challenge, as we were having some pretty high winds. High enough to blow the water all over the place. :-D

As always, I check the weather frequently throughout the day. Especially before heading out in the morning. Between the app on my phone and the one on my desktop, I can usually get some idea of what to expect for the day. There are differences between them, but usually they’re pretty minor.

Today, not so much.

My desktop app, which is with The Weather Network, says we’ll hit our high of 31C/88F by 7pm, with variable cloudiness and no precipitation.

My phone app, with AccuWeather, says we’ll hit our high of 31C/88F by 6 pm…

… but around 4pm, it’s predicting thunderstorms, adding “Watch for a strong thunderstorm this afternoon; storms can bring gusty winds and even an isolated tornado.”

Tornado?

Yeeeaahhh…. I don’t think so.

This is definitely the most extreme difference I’ve ever seen in the forecast between the two apps!

Well, we’ll see what actually happens. I just went ahead and did the watering, in case we get no rain at all. That’s one thing about all the rocks and gravel where we live. It’s pretty much impossible to over water. Drainage is exceptionally fast!

The Re-Farmer

[addendum: our internet connection has been unusually bad of late. It took me four hours and three different browsers just to open the WordPress editor so I could write this post! Much of the problem is with our satellite internet provider. Apparently, they over sold and are in a permanent state of over capacity, now that so many people are working from home or staying home in general. One of our neighbours with the same provider contacted them for service only to be told their “slow speeds” were adding to the over capacity of their towers, and their contract is being terminated. Which makes no sense whatsoever. So… we’ll deal with the connectivity issues until the new Star Link service is available in our area!

Which is my long winded way of saying that, if posting becomes more sporadic, or the posts themselves start getting truncated, that is likely why!]

Our 2021 garden: squash tunnel, day 4, and sacrificial spinach!

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Today was set to be a scorcher, so when I did my morning rounds, I took the time to water all the garden beds before things got too hot, even though they got a thorough watering last night.

When I got to the spinach beds, I saw evidence of skulduggery!

The sacrificial spinach, at the ends of a couple of rows, were duly sacrificed.

I moved that pinwheel over from one of the beds with the wire mesh covers, after the fact. Not that they seem to be accomplishing much, anymore!

No surprise, when I finally went inside and checked the trail cams, that a deer was captured, wandering through the corn beds, on the way out of the yard. Considering that the deer did not even pause to nibble on anything, I’d say the sacrificial spinach did its job! ;-)

Late this afternoon, when things were supposedly getting cooler again, the girls and I finished the squash tunnel.

Almost.

We got the cross pieces put in place, then brought over the wire mesh for the vines to climb.

The roll of wire mesh I got was 50 feet long, and that was enough to cover 3 of 4 sections. At only 4 feet wide, there are gaps at each post, but we can weave twine between the sections of wire mesh, if it’s necessary.

My original thought was to use U nails (also called staples) to attach the mesh, but we ended up only needing to attach it to the bottom cross pieces. With one, we used wire saved from a previous roll of wire mesh that had been wrapped around it to keep it from unrolling. In cutting the first length, the second length had one end with the wire ends sticking out, and we were able wrap the end around the cross piece, then just twist the wire ends around to hold it in place. Other sections were tied in place with twine.

We just need to buy another roll of this mesh, and we can finish the last section. The main thing is that the end where the luffa is growing, now has something for them to climb.

The girls also noted that one post seemed to need support, so they added the rope and peg to hold it in place.

It’s a good thing this is meant to be temporary! :-D

By the time we were done, we were totally baked and headed inside to cool down for a while. We were at “only” 25C/77F with a humidex of 28C/82F but we were also in full sun, and there was no breeze. At least we could pop into the shade of the nearby lilac hedge, every now and then.

While I was doing the evening watering, the girls brought over the last of the straw and mulched around the squash tunnel. You can see in the photo that some of the luffa was grown long enough to reach the mesh, already. Hopefully, they will soon be making their way up the side on their own.

This whole thing really is rather slipshod and wonky. I look forward to when we have our permanent raised garden beds, and can build something more solid, elsewhere. But this will do for a year, maybe even two, depending on how our plans to plant trees in this area progress. Well, Not where this tunnel is, I don’t think. There are telephone lines buried somewhere under here.

Anyhow.

I’m glad we finally got this done. At least as done as possible until we get more mesh for that last section. The forecast has changed again. Tomorrow, instead of thunderstorms, we’re expected to hit 31C/88F and maybe get some showers at some point. While I was doing the watering this evening, I used the water to make doing some hand weeding easier, and I could not believe how dry the soil was. I’d hate to think how dry it would have been if I’d decided it was damp enough this morning, and skipped the watering! The added mulch at these squash, gourds and melons will help keep their moisture better, at least. I look forward to having more mulch to add to the other beds as well.

Meanwhile, I hope we have some happy little squash, gourds and melons!

The Re-Farmer

Just a trim…

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The wonderful rains we’ve had has meant everything has exploded in growth.

Including the grass and weeds.

Today, I decided to break out the weed trimmer and get around some areas before mowing.

In progress, I figured I would keep trimming some other areas. Just the rougher areas, I told myself. I’ll do the rest with the push mower, I told myself. I’ll just do the places the mower won’t fit, I added.

Of course, it’s all rough out there.

Before I started, I took a look at the crab apple tree by the old compost pile. This one was looking pretty diseased last year, but other trees were looking worse, so this is a bit unexpected.

dead crab apple tree

Parts of it almost started to grow leaves. Then that wicket frost we got in late May hit, and it never recovered. Now it just looks dead.

Dang. That was one of the edible crab apples, too.

Note, however, the background of the photo, and how high the grass and weeds are. It’s high enough that getting the hose over to water the corn and squash is made more difficult than it should.

It was at the other crab apple trees that I started.

crab apple trees

The tree in the foreground has just a few live branches left. It is one of several that we will eventually be cutting down.

As for the weed trimming, the ground is pretty flat on one side, so I just went far enough that I wouldn’t be getting my head caught in the branches when I mow. There is something about apple branches are just grab onto things! If I’m wearing a hat, I usually get it pulled right of. If not, I end up having to untangle twigs from my hair. :-D

On the other side, there’s the first ridge of plowed soil. Aside from making it hard to mow over, when the grass gets tall, it’s one of those places we’ve turned an ankle, more than once!

Once at the far end, I trimmed around the summer squash. It’s particularly rough around there, as that’s where the person who plowed it last, turned the tractor, going in circles instead of turning the soil in straight lines in the same direction.

This photo was taken after my daughter had given the beds their evening water. The summer squash was looking pretty droopy while I was working around them, but they sure perked up fast after a good soak! :-)

Also, you can see where the garden cam is currently set up, on that saw horse sitting on its side. Last night, nothing at all triggered it. No deer visits to the garden! :-)

bean beds

When I started working around the bean beds, I had to get one more length of extension cord to finish the job. Where the bean beds are is actually fairly level, but I didn’t want to run a lawn more in between them.

garden beds

The extra length was enough for me to be able to reach all the sweet corn and sunflower beds – the pea trellises were prefect to drape the cord over, so it wouldn’t get dragged over plants. One of my daughters had already gone through the area to get rid of the tree saplings that are trying to overtake the area, so I was able to trim all the beds without having to work around little trees. This is not the most powerful of weed trimmers! ;-)

garden beds

Then I just kept on going. I trimmed around all the main beds, and even in between the old raspberry plants under the dead crab apple tree and the chokecherry. My mother had transplanted some there before we moved out, and when we started reclaiming parts of the old garden area, we found more that we transplanted into there. Eventually, they will be moved to a location that isn’t under trees. ;-)

The last area was the biggest job.

part of the old garden area

I had stopped for a break when I took this picture. Not only were the grass and weeds thickest and highest here, this is where the plow took the tightest turns, leaving the biggest ridges. One of which now has the Crespo squash growing in it.

All this, and we still need to mow in the areas that aren’t as rough! But at least it’s done, and we’ll have less chance of hitting something hidden in the grass, with the mower!

But that will wait. I was supposed to work on the squash tunnel today. Having the area around it trimmed will make that a bit easier to move around while it gets worked on, tomorrow. ;-)

That cheap little weed trimmer has done really well! It may be a pain, dragging the extension cord around, but it does the job. :-)

The Re-Farmer

The cuteness..

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Before we converted the big aquarium into a greenhouse, it was used to store our collection of baskets. They got moved to the top of the piano, and ended up just staying there.

This is partly why.

cat in a basket

The cats discovered they fit perfectly, as Big Rig is demonstrating in the most adorable way.

This is not what we see, btw. This is me holding my phone up high to get the picture. What we usually see is nothing at all, until a cat suddenly gets up and stretches from a nap. Before I took this photo, all I could see of Big Rig was a paw (sticking over the edge, on the left) and an ear. My daughters, from across the room, could see a mound of fluff.

We used these baskets for Easter baskets. The little ones tend to be used for small baskets we give as gifts, while the big ones are used for our traditional family baskets.

I think we’ve lost some baskets. ;-)

The Re-Farmer

Our 2021 garden: three firsts, this morning!

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You just have to love how quickly things change, day by day!

The first ornamental poppies started blooming this morning. They have had bulbs for a while now, and then this morning, two of them exploded into full bloom. :-)

I was looking at the garlic yesterday evening, and seeing what might, possibly, could be, itty bitty garlic scapes starting to come up. They were so tiny, I couldn’t be sure.

This morning, there was no doubt. Our first garlic scapes are starting to form! We are really looking forward to when they can be harvested and trying different things with them. :-)

I have saved the best for last – check this out!

Our very first tomato flowers!! You can see the tiny little buds behind it, too.

These are the super tiny Spoon tomatoes. In reviews, people have warned that these self-seed very easily, because they are so tiny, it’s impossible to pick them all before they ripen and fall off the vine.

We’ve got no problem with that, and chose this location with that in mind.

I’m just so happy with how things are growing. Most of these are in new beds in new locations, with limited preparation. Every single plant that has survived is, for me, a total miracle. :-D I’m hoping how things are looking now are a sign of a very busy fall, preserving the harvest. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Our 2021 garden: today’s progress

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It was a hot and windy day today, and my younger daughter and I ended up making a quick run into town, but we did get some decent progress in the garden.

summer squash, mulched and prepped

My older daughter braved the hottest part of the day and added more soil to the 15 summer squash mounds.

I waited until it was cooler.

I added a stake near each plant. The stakes are some of the smaller poplars we cleared our of the spruce grove, trimmed to about 3-4 feet in length. In the foreground of the photo, there is a metal bar stuck in the ground. It has a point at one end. I can’t remember at the moment, where we found it, but it was a happy find! I used it, and a mallet, to make holes in the ground. Then the stakes, skinny end down, were pushed in as far as I could, beyond what I managed with the steel bar, then the soil carefully stomped down to secure it. As close to the plants as they were, that meant mostly just on one side. Once those were in, the area was mulched with straw. The idea is to secure the stems of the squash to the stakes, as they grow, and pruning the bottom leaves, little by little. We shall see how that works!

Also, I really need to get this area mowed, before the next rains come!

I had found some trellis netting, so my daughter finished the last sections of pea trellis with that, along with adding soil to the summer squash. The peas are getting tall enough to start climbing! The peas I planted later, to fill the gaps left by those that did not germinate, are sprouting, too. I’m really looking forward to having fresh peas! I can’t remember the last time I had fresh-from-the-garden peas.

If you look to the left of the photo, you can see what is a problem in this area: all those tree seedlings! They are spreading through root systems, like quack grass. Usually, I would have mowed over them by now, but we’re going to have to cut them back by hand this year.

spinach beds

My younger daughter, meanwhile, went all out and thinned all three spinach beds.

Yes, this was taken after the beds were thinned!

The furthest one, under the netting, is the one that got the most deer damage, but parts of it are doing well. You can see at the end of the closer beds, the smaller spinach at the ends the deer got at.

With the spinach she gathered, I currently have two trays drying in the oven, and made myself a huge spinach salad for supper. The reason we went into town was to get ingredients to make spinach dips. Both cold and baked versions. :-) I’m really looking forward to that!

This last one is just to show how well the potatoes have been doing! At this rate, some of them are going to need topping up, soon! I’m very excited to see how productive these will be at the end of their season.

With today’s progress, my goal for tomorrow is to get working on that squash tunnel. The luffa needs something to climb! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Just some stuff. :-)

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I wanted to share some photos from this morning’s rounds, but first, some photos from last night.

May I introduce you to, The Three Croissants.

Nicco, Beep Beep and Susan, all nestled together! Can they get any cuter? :-D

While putting things away for the evening, I noticed my mother’s lilies had started to bloom. Thye practically glow in the evening light!

If all goes to plan, we will be dividing these up this fall, and transplanting some in a new bed where the potatoes in their grow bags are now.

We had quite the crowd of hungry kitties this morning! Ghost Baby showed up not long after.

I expect the mamas will start bringing their babies over for food some time soon. I wish I knew where they were. I’d leave food out nearby for them, if I could. I’ve spotted mamas going by carrying various rodents, though, so the mamas are obviously taking care of that, themselves. It just makes less work for them if we can supplement with kibble! That, and there’s a better chance of the kittens getting used to humans.

Of course, I had to check the newest transplants. We got another heavy rain last night, that lasted for a couple of hours. They seem to have handled it quite well. I took this photo from the gourd end of the row. In the foreground are the 4 Ozark Nest Egg gourds (you can just barely see one of them, it’s so tiny!). By the fence post is the Thai Bottle gourd. You can’t see it in the photo, but hidden under one of the leaves is a second sprout!

This is what’s left of our straw! I’d taken so much from the bottom, where it was breaking down the most, that the whole thing finally just fell over. We should have enough to mulch the summer squash, and hopefully have some to add to the transplants at the squash tunnel, but I doubt there will be much left by then. I’ll have to contact the renter to see about getting another bale. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get hay next time. I’m deliberately asking for older bales that aren’t good for feed anymore, since it will be used only for mulching, but when I asked about it last time, they had none, as they spread them on their crop fields and plow them under to amend the soil.

Today, we’re looking at a high of 27C/81F, though we are already at 25C/77F as I write this, so I would not be surprised if we get hotter. The next couple of days should be just a degree or two cooler, then we’re looking at possible thunderstorms again. Hopefully, we’ll have the squash tunnel and pea trellises finished before then! We’ll see how things work out. One of my daughters has been feeling quite ill lately, and I’m pretty sure it’s the heat. :-( Summer is their least favorite time of the year!

There is one other down side to this time of year that I was really noticing this morning. The horseflies are out in full force! I had a buzzing crowd of them, dive bombing my head, from the moment I stepped outside to the moment I stepped back into the house – and even then, it was only because I dashed in and closed the door fast enough. Having them bounce off my head is annoying enough (at least they weren’t biting!), but they were even getting caught up in my hair bun. They already seem to be unusually bad this year.

Ah, well. That’s life in the sticks! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Captured!

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Part of my morning rounds has been to check the garden beds for deer (or other critter) damage. Since we lost several Mongolian Giant sunflower transplants, there has not appeared to be any more damage in that area. In the main garden beds, there has been little more than a few spinach that the row covers aren’t long enough to cover, showing signs of nibbling. That’s it.

As for the garden cam, it’s been getting video of cats going by lately, and that’s it.

This morning, I saw no new damage to the garden, though one of the support poles holding the rope and twine in one of the sunflower transplant rows was fallen down. It had broken and is a bit shorter than the others. I’d tied a plastic grocery bag to it and the rope at the top, but with the winds we’ve been having, it was no surprise to find it fallen. Those bags sometimes act like sails! When my daughters first set this up, the middle support poles were simply slipped through the divided strands of the rope, rather than tied, so for the shorter pole, it would have easily just slide off.

Other than that nothing else was amiss in the garden beds.

Then I checked the garden cam.

I’d say we are very fortunate that there was no damage this morning!

Yes, that is a deer and her fawn off in the distance!

I saw in earlier files that the support pole was already down before they came by, so it was not them that knocked it over. That grocery bag hovering near the mama is hanging off the rope the fallen support pole had been holding up.

In the next file, I watched as the mama casually ducked under the rope, which is what it’s in the middle of doing in this image.

Clearly, the ropes, poles, and flappy noise makers are no longer acting as a deterrent!

There was one last file, and then they moved on. You can just see the spots on the baby in this image!

Watching the files was interesting. While they did snuffle about, they did not try to eat anything in the rows. There are so many miscellaneous plants coming up here that, other than the sunflower transplants, they’d have to seek out individual seedlings in between the weeds. So… the weeds are basically protecting our seedlings right now!

They also very gingerly stepped OVER the rows. Which makes sense. The soil in between the rows is harder, so their hooves won’t sink.

Another thing I noticed is that this pair came from a direction I did not expect. We will need to keep that in mind as we increase our deer deterrents.

There was one more night time file after this; Nicky the Nose making his way between the rows!

The girls and I will move the trail cam again, later today. I want to try it at the opposite end of where it is now, and further away from the beds, so it will cover more ground. Since this camera is not a wide angle camera, it missed a lot where it is sitting right now.

Though it did a great job of capturing these deer!

The Re-Farmer