Lately, while doing my morning rounds, I’ve find myself being watched and followed. Today, I had a whole crowd interested in what I was doing, while fixing up the fallen window to the storage house.
So. Many. Kitties!
I’m rather surprised that Junk Pile has been following me around more often, and coming closer. Not enough for me to pet her, but almost.
She may not be willing to let me touch her, but she’s comfortable enough to flop on the ground and start rolling!
She made some maternal noises while she was rolling about.
They got answered!
Her boy, Tuxedo Mask, came running, meowing away!
Then one of the tabbies showed up. I believe this is Chadicous, one of Butterscotch’s two tabbies.
Chadicous wasn’t willing to come any closer, but Nosencrantz sure was!
Such a cutie!
The kitties do love that picnic table!
I’m not sure which of the ‘icusous is on the table, but it’s one of Junk Pile’s babies.
I got distracted by a Caramel going by and suddenly…
… two kittens at the picnic table became five!
I believe that’s Chadicous under the table. The other four look to be all from Junk Pile’s litter.
Then I heard the strangest little beeping noise and found…
… Toesencrantz, checking out the replaced window set up!
I was not the only one curious about the beeping noise.
His cousins came to check him out, too!
Meanwhile, Caramel was checking out her… brother? Cousin? One of the ‘icouses, anyhow. :-D
Oh, look! I’m being watched from above, now! :-D
The cats just love climbing all over these huge old maples.
Even Toesencrantz tried his hand (claw? paw?) at climbing an elm.
While I was working on the garlic, my daughter did a whole bunch of clean up!
She pulled the Dorinny corn stalks that were next to the squash tunnel, then pulled all the squash, gourds and melon. Aside from the sunflowers, which we will be leaving for the deer to nibble on in the winter, we just need to weed and prep the beds that will be used next year, and put away things like the bin we keep tools and supplies in, empty the rain barrel and put it away for the winter, and take down the last of the critter barriers.
Then she pulled all the purple corn stalks, removed the three layers of barriers we had around the Crespo squash, and pulled those, too. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with the corn block. There’s some very good soil there. It would be good to plant some sort of legume there, next year, to replace the nitrogen the corn used up. As for the squash hill, that’s something else I’m not sure what do do with. When we plant squash again next year, I want it to all be on the other side of the main beds, where they get more hours of sunlight.
What a sad sight. The Crespo squash had recovered so well from the critter damage! I definitely will be trying these again – with critter barriers, right from the start!
Once I finished with the last garlic bed, I pulled the frozen chard and the remaining radishes we’d hope to grow for pods.
All those radishes we planted, and these are the only ones that survived the grasshoppers!
It’s a shame we don’t have chickens. They would have loved all the greens we pulled today! Not that they will go to waste. They will get buried in the beds as we prepare them for next year. There are still four more beds in the main garden area, including the one with lettuce still in it, to clean up. The lettuce is handling the overnight cold very well, but they have become very bitter tasting, so they will be pulled. Of course, there is still the high raised bed to work on.
I had company while I worked on the garlic. The cats do like the high raised bed. I’m sure the wood is much warmer on their toes than the ground. :-)
My daughter was able to help with the high raised bed this time. She finished making the notches on the next end piece, in the background, while I cut another 9′ side piece from the last tree we cut down. She does not like using the baby chainsaw, and much prefers a hammer and chisel, so I started on the notches on the end piece in the foreground, until the second battery on the baby chainsaw ran out. By then, it was starting to get dark, so my daughter finished up the end piece she was working on and we called it a day. You can’t see the cuts I made on the end piece in the foreground, as I rolled the log onto them. They make it less likely to roll around, should the cats decide to climb all over it again.
The side pieces that are waiting are from higher up in the tree trunk, and quite a bit thinner than the other logs. Almost too thin. Since we will probably make this bed four logs high, I am thinking I should wait until I have thicker logs to use, and save the narrower ones for the top row. The tree that’s still stuck on the branches would give me logs that are just the right size – if we could get it the rest of the way down! :-D It’s either that, or find another dead tree to cut down. The problem with that is, most of the trees that need to be cut down are all really huge. They might be too big!
As glad as I am to have so many dead trees available that are still solid enough for this project, I’m a bit sorry to be using them. These are the trees we intended to use for the walls of the cordwood shed we plan to build as an outdoor bathroom. It’s possible, however, that we will be able to get a load of cast-off electricity poles. These are the remains of poles that broke in storms or had to be replaced for some reason, and we’re on the mailing list with the electric company. They don’t come available often, and not always in our area, but these are cedar poles and would be much better to use for cordwood walls than spruce. So maybe it’s for the better, that the dead spruces are being used to build high raised bed gardens!
The outside cats have been downright spoiled by my husband coming out to feed them really early in the mornings! He wasn’t driven out of bed by pain this morning, so I did it later, when I did my morning rounds. As soon as I came into the sun room, I could hear a cacophony of meows at the door, outside!
They were so excited about eating, I actually got to pet Junk Pile Jr and Tuxedo Mask! My husband has been able to pet Tuxedo Mask, too, and I think he is getting used to this whole “human contact” thing. :-D
They are also really enjoying having warm water in the mornings, too! :-)
While doing my rounds, I started a bit more cleanup around the garden beds, removing some of the rope and noise makers to keep the deer away. I also checked the Dorinny and Montana Morado corn beds, to see if there were any cobs left with potential corn seeds.
There was nothing. Not a one! I did find a few cobs that looked like they might have had the corn eaten by birds, but mostly, there were no cobs at all. There weren’t many left to begin with, but what few there were seems to have been eaten completely.
Ah, well. I didn’t have high expectations with them anyhow, just from the drought conditions.
By the time I was starting to head back into the house, I got distracted.
We have snow!
There is just barely enough snow falling to even see it. As I write this, with the live feed from the garage security camera near me, I see the odd flash of white as the camera manages to catch some larger flakes going by. :-D
That’s about the extent of it. :-D Anything that hits the ground, melts immediately.
I know other areas have had some snow before, but this is the first I’ve seen here, this season. We’re actually supposed to get showers, later in the day. Maybe.
We’re supposed to warm up over the next while, with three days of potential rain, before things start cooling down again. That should be when we can sow the wildflower seeds, with no risk of early germination.
I’m really enjoying all this extra time to get work done outside!
Well, it finally happened. We had a lasting frost, and temperatures were still below freezing when I came out to do my morning rounds.
My husband has still been up to feeding the outside cats earlier in the mornings, and has included putting warm water out for them, too, which they are really appreciating! It’s still not cold enough to plug in the heater in the cat’s house or use the heated water bowl, though.
While there was frost still on the ground everywhere else, this area was already warm and sunny. The kittens enjoyed that while watching me do my rounds!
It does show why what we planted along the chain link fence lasted so long. The tomatoes and gourds are finally done for, though. We can now start pulling them and prepping the beds for next year.
While we will be pulling everything else, the sunflowers can stay for a while longer. They sure are a cheerful sight on a chilly morning!
The chard was still quite covered in frost, as these beds are shaded longer in the mornings. We’ve never grown chard before, but from what I’ve read, getting hit with frost can improve their flavour. I don’t know that we’ll grow chard again. They did well, but none of us really ate them much.
I was already planning on pulling the lettuce. That last batch I gathered was so bitter, it went straight to compost instead of the salad I was intending to make with them.
A bit of a surprise was walking by the purple corn, the remains of which we were leaving to go to seed. They were pretty dry by now, yet most of the stalks were eaten last night! They had been left alone for quite a long time, so this was unexpected. Odd that, with so much fresh food still around, and even with the lettuce and chard uncovered, the deer would go for these dried up stalks.
We are going to have a lot of work to do over the next couple of weeks. We’re supposed to warm up again next week, so we do have time. The sweet corn blocks and, eventually, the sunflowers will be pulled, but nothing else will be done in that area until we get the berry bushes we intend to plant there. My daughter has been researching the ones we were looking to get, and Autumn Olive has been taking off our list; apparently, they are considered invasive! The Buffalo Berry and Sea Buckthorn are still on the list. Sea Buckthorn is also considered invasive in some areas, but not our climate zone.
The bean beds, pea trellises, squash tunnel and summer squash areas will all be used again next year, but mostly we need to focus on preparing the main garden beds closer to the house for next year. Once we get our straw bale in, we’ll start mulching some areas for new beds. We are already making lists of what we intend to plant next year, and will start buying seeds and trees over the winter, month by month. We will use that to help decide where to prepare new ground for planting next year.
At the same time, we are making lists of things to stock up on. Though things are looking mild, we’ve been either snowed in or had our vehicles freeze for two winters in a row now, so we want to be prepared in case something like that happens again. With food prices increasing so much over the past few months, and expected to get higher, it’s getting more difficult to buy those few extra things every month. Particularly since so many other people have realized that “prepping” is a really, really good idea, too!
Having grown up here, as a subsistence farm, I am very familiar with a lot of “self sufficiency” and “prepper” habits. That was just what everyone did, because there was no other option, really. So I’m no stranger to the lifestyle. At the same time, I am always wanting to learn new information and more about how to do it better, so I spend quite a bit of time researching. Which means I’ve lately been seeing a lot of homesteading resources – “subsistence farming” just isn’t a term that’s used anymore! – and “prepper” sites. Lately, it’s been feeling downright weird to go to them, as they are increasingly focused on giving information to people who are totally new to the concept, due to current circumstances. For us, this is just stuff we need to do. We are isolated just enough that we know we have to rely on ourselves if things go wrong, and there are always thing that can go wrong. The power could go out. We could get snowed in. We might have to evacuate due to wildfires. At least flooding isn’t a concern where we are, but running out of water is. We can’t just hope over to the corner store if we run out of things, like we could while living in the city. We can’t even assume we will have telephone (meaning the land line; we already can’t rely on getting a cell phone signal here) or internet for communication. The land line is pretty reliable, at least, but our internet starts kicking out as soon as there is a stiff wind, or if there are storms to the south of us. Of course, on top of all that, we have my husband’s health issues. He and I were just talking this morning about his prescription refills. He gets his daily meds in bubble packs now, including those that are restricted. For the longest time, he couldn’t get refills for his restricted medications until he was, at the earliest, 3 days away from running out. Now, his bubble packs aren’t even done locally. They’re done in the city and shipped to the local pharmacy, and with how crazy things have been, they’ve actually lifted some of the red tape surrounding restricted medications. Which means we should be able to get a couple of months of refills, instead of just one month. He just got his refills recently, so we’ll be trying to get an extra month of refills, next time.
Anyhow. It’s just been really strange to go looking stuff up for ideas and inspiration. So many people are now doing the same thing, with absolutely zero background in it. In one way, it makes me feel thankful for how I grew up. On the other, it’s frustrating, when people start panic buying, without any sort of planning or organization in mind, and it ends up causing problems for everybody.
Ah, well. People need to learn somehow. We just do what we can!
And right now, that means cleaning out the last of this year’s garden, and preparing for next, and making sure we are stocked up for the winter.
I may have missed the kitties when my husband fed them this morning, but I got to see them this afternoon, when my daughter topped up the kibble containers! :-)
Even Ghost Baby made an appearance!
My daughter was happy because, once they all came running to eat, she was able to pet a whole bunch of baby butts, and they didn’t run away! Too interested in the food to notice they were being pet. :-)
My daughter had come out to take care of something for me. I had earlier been working on the high raised bed and, since I was right next to it, decided to dig up some carrots from the abandoned bed.
I am totally amazed that after the greens being munched down to the ground at least three times, then getting overgrown with weeds, we STILL have decent sized carrots! Certainly not their full potential, but far better than what I expected. Which was nothing! These are the Napoli carrots we ordered from Veseys, and I must say, I’m impressed by their resilience! I picked maybe 1/3rd of the bed’s carrots. It’s hard to judge, with it being so overgrown.
Then one of my daughters came out to hose them off (and feed kitties!) while I did other stuff outside. My other daughter then used them with a roast vegetable dish she made to do with supper. I finished up outside while she was working on it, and we decided to include our tiny winter squash.
The tiny halves in the background are the little Teddy squash. By the time I took out the pulp in the seed cavity, there wasn’t much flesh left! Like the immature Kuri squash in the foreground, their seeds were not at all developed.
I have no idea how edible they are at this immature stage, but we’ll find out!
It’s been a while to see deer in the trail cams, but this morning, I saw a whole bunch!
These were the first to come by.
It’s really hard to tell, but there is a third deer on the other side of the fence. They like to slip between the barbed while in this spot.
The little one nearer the fence, which would have been born this spring, went through, but the adult in the foreground ended up waking off towards the driveway.
Then this guy showed up…
A handsome three point buck!
What a catch! I rarely use image enhancement on my photos (mostly because I don’t know how and don’t care enough to learn), but I did use the auto fix in my software on these ones, so you could better see the deer jumping the fence.
The “light” behind him is actually a reflection. That’s our driveway marker, which shows up in the infrared flash looking like a bright light.
In previous years, we would be buying deer feed and including it with the bird seed at the feeding station outside our living room window, but with our mild temperatures this year, there has been no need. We’ll probably start supplementing them once there is snow on the ground that stays. Which may not be until mid-November, if the long range forecasts are right!
My husband was able to feed the outside cats for me this morning, so when I came out to do the rest of my morning rounds later, most of them had already moved on. Junk Pile Jr. was by the door and aaaalllmost let me pet her, but not quite! She did sniff my hand, though.
Then I saw Rosencrantz and Toesencrantz at their private dining area under the shrine and had to take a closer look. What was Toesencrantz doing?
He was all sprawled out on the kibble tray, as if he was taking a nap!
Very unusual. Was he okay?
As I watched, he would sometimes lift his head and snuzzle his mother.
Awww… How sweet!
Using the zoom on my phone camera makes for some terrible photos, so I tried to slowly come closer, without disturbing them.
It didn’t work.
Seeing me come closer, Toesencrantz started to get up, then finally move away from where he was lying, to the other side of the tray, watching me to see if I’d come any closer.
His mother immediately moved over to start eating the kibble he had been lying on top of.
The little bugger! He had lying on top of the food, leaving only the little dregs around him for his mother to eat!
While doing my morning rounds, I decided to check the sunflowers and, sure enough, the bee I saw yesterday was still there!
I did confirm that it’s still alive; when I brushed a finger near it, a single, pollen covered back leg lifted up to warn me away!
It’s simply too cold and wet for the poor thing, it seems.
My daughter did some searching, and what I think we will do is cut off the sunflower head to bring it, and the bee, into the sun room to warm up. We’ll cover it with a large sieve we have, so it doesn’t fly off and get stuck in the sun room. If it does revive and warms up, we will release it back outside. Hopefully, it will then be able to get back to its hive before the chill gets to it again.
Here’s hoping it works!
The Re-Farmer
[Edit: I accidentally used a photo from yesterday, instead of the one I took this morning. After much fighting with our increasingly crappy internet, it has been fixed!]
For the past while, pain has been driving my husband out of bed quite early in the mornings, so he has been sweet enough to feed the outside cats as soon as it gets light. Which is great for the kitties, and for me, though it meant I didn’t get to see the morning crowd at all! :-D
Yesterday, I headed outside to see if I could work on the high raised bed garden. It was a no go, as it started to rain while I was out there. I did, however, get company…
The ever nomadic Rolando Moon had been away for a few days, but yesterday she came back. She was still with us this morning, too. :-)
There are nine kittens and three adults in this photo! Including Junk Pile and Junk Pile Jr. I can tell them apart because Jr. has more white on her back legs.
I had come out to top up their food in the kibble house last night, after it got dark. As the noise of dry kibble hitting metal pans started, there was a sudden scrambling from the cat’s house beside me, and kittens began flailing out of the doorway. It turned out to be full of cats, and I had scared them!
I then went to top up the tray under the shrine. As I came back to the sun room, I went wide around the kibble house, trying to be quiet. It was completely full of cats, eating! :-D
It’s good to know that, as the nights get cooler, they are using the cat house. I’m even seeing a kitten or two through the window during the day, too.
Nosencrantz has started to regularly come right up to me! Sometimes she lets me pet her, sometimes she just wants to be close by and watch. This morning, I got to give her skritches. :-)
Toesencrantz got to share breakfast with Grandma Butterscotch – but not for long!
When I had come out this morning, I found Stinky in the kibble house. He ended up going around and under the cat’s house, before finally running off. As you can see, he came back, and the cats know well enough to give him space! You can even see Ghost Baby disappearing off on the left. She had been under the shrine, eating with Butterscotch and Toesencrantz.
I was not happy that Ghost Baby was driven away, so I got out the hose to spray the skunk away.
He wouldn’t leave!
Yes, I was hitting him directly with water, but he just shook it off and kept coming back for the food! I finally gave up. I figure he must be really, really hungry to put up with being soaked like that.
Ghost Baby did come back later. Gosh, I want to snuggle that poor baby so much! The other cats tend to drive her off, and she’s so shy of us, we’ve had no opportunity to socialize her. I’m assuming that Mystery Kitten Eleven is hers, which means her own kitten is more socialized that she is, just because it’ll come up to the house, and eat while we are around. Hopefully, over time, she will get more used to us, and the current crop of kittens will be more welcoming of her than some of the adults have been!
We had not gotten any frost warnings the night before, but when it gets that cold, it’s going to be too much for some things, with our without frost.
The last few days, morning and evening, we have been hearing a cacophony of geese in the surrounding fields. Something must have disturbed them this morning, because they were not only louder than usual, but I even got to see them flying overhead.
Going north, for some reason! :-D
Last night, my daughters had picked more tomatoes and a few summer squash, and this morning I was going to pick beans.
It looks like we’re now done for beans.
They may not have gotten an actual frost, but the foliage was clearly damaged. The purple beans have a lot more foliage, which protected the pods, but I could see cold damage on the green and yellow beans.
I had taken some photos yesterday, which ended up giving me comparison photos with today. Here is the Crespo squash.
This was taken yesterday afternoon.
This is the smaller of the two squash in the previous photo.
This is the larger one, yesterday (on the left) and this morning (on the right). :-(
This is one of our biggest squash. Yesterday’s photo is on the left, and this morning is on the right. This squash is shaded for longer in the morning, and you can see there is actual frost on it!
These next ones are photos from yesterday and, from what I could see, they were okay this morning.
The one that’s hanging is in a spot where it gets hit with morning sun earlier than others. The large one on the ground has foliage around it that may have protected it. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see, so I can’t actually say for sure if it was damaged or not. It’ll take a bit more time before we’ll know if they got cold damaged or not.
Then there are the Ozark Nest Egg gourds. I took these photos last night, but didn’t bother to take more this morning.
We will have a better idea as the day goes on, but as of this morning, they seemed to have no real damage at all. There are still so many little gourds all over, there are still flowers that look like they are opening, and there was no signs of cold damage, like on the Crespo squash. These gourds are in the south yard and get that morning sunlight nice and early, which may have made the difference.
The tomatoes on the south fence also looked untouched by the cold, but the one that had seeded itself in the lettuce bed looked like it was hit by frost. That bed gets shaded more, longer, this time of year. If we’d gotten a frost warning, I would have put the wire mesh cover back on and covered the bed with cloth. The lettuce is fine; it can handle temperatures even colder than this. The chard was also just fine.
It will be good when these beds all get converted to high raised beds. They get full sun in the summer, but when the sun is lower in the sky, several of them get more shade from the trees to the south. Once they are higher, they will be out of the shade, just a little bit sooner. Still, it is something to keep in mind for when we garden here in the future. It’s also another reason why I want to build permanent garden beds on the south side of the house, in the outer yard, where we don’t have so many tall trees to deal with.
As it is, we’re in the middle of October, and these have lasted far longer than we normally would have expected in our climate zone! So really, I can’t complain!
The Re-Farmer 