This post is to follow up on a comment from My Home Farm about sunflowers. They’re doing some awesome things on their property and Victorian era house, so do head over to visit their website and YouTube channel!
On learning we were planting sunflowers, my mother had made a big deal about how the birds were going to eat them all. She had planted sunflowers in the garden in the past, and told me they never had a chance to get any, because of the birds.
Well, I know that isn’t quite true, since I remember as a kid, pulling sunflowers out of a head and eating them, inside the house. So we obviously managed to harvest at least one seed head! :-D
The sunflowers we have planted are intended to be used as bird feed over the winter, though we will certainly eat some of them ourselves. To do that, however, we need to be able to harvest and preserve the seed heads before the birds eat them off the plants!
In looking up how to do that a while back, I found this video.
After watching this, I am thinking that my parents may have left the seed heads out for too long, before trying to harvest them.
Any seed heads we harvest will be hung up in our basement to dry.
Right now, our giant varieties of sunflowers are still developing their seed heads. We haven’t had issues with squirrels or mice, but the deer do seem to enjoy them! Of the original planting of 2 varieties of giant sunflowers, we had about a 50% loss. Some simply didn’t germinate, but most were lost to deer. A third variety of giant sunflowers were planted to fill in the gaps, and almost all of them came up, with a few later lost to deer. It should be interesting to see if they will have enough of a growing season left to produce seed heads we’ll be able to harvest, too. We do intend to plant sunflowers again next year, including trying some other, unusual, varieties. We intend to plant more of each, with the expectation of losses, but will also try to fence things off to keep the deer away, too.
But first, we’ll see what we will be able to harvest, this year!
It was shortly after 1 am and, as I was lying awake in bed, something I was seeing finally soaked through my heat-numbed brain.
Lights.
Flashing lights, out my north facing window.
The sky was lighting up, over and over, hardly a break in between! Constant flashes of lightning.
My West facing window was open, but I heard nothing. No thunder. No rain. Hardly even wind.
But the flashes kept going.
After a while, I went to the main entry and watched the storm coming in through the outer door, before finally moving to the sun room.
Creamsicle and Potato Beetle were very thrilled to see me, and just begging for pets and cuddles!
While standing at the mostly-closed outer door, I heard a distinct crunching noise. Using the flashlight on my phone, I took a peak through the gap behind the garbage can, and could just see the tip of a skunk’s nose!
He waddled away, pausing to scream for a while, soon after.
Skunks make the strangest noise!
One of my daughters came down after hearing me go through the old kitchen, but with Creamsicle and Potato Beetle at the door into the sun room, she decided to go out through the main entrance.
After making sure we were clear of skunk.
We stood outside for a while, watching the sky.
Time and again, the entire yard was lit up bright as day!
Then it started to rain, so we went into the sun room. After a while, my daughter went back into the house, through the main entry, making sure to prop a sawhorse in front of the outer door (we still haven’t been able to finish fixing the frame on that!), to keep it from blowing open, while still being open enough for the cats to come in for shelter.
I remained in the sun room, watching the storm through the outer door, when my other daughter came to join me. She was just telling me about how she had checked the weather radar, and the main part of the storm looked like it was passing us by, but we were still getting warnings for hail… when the hail started!
Then the wind pulled open the outer door, sending the saw horse flying. Even though I was inside, I immediately started getting hit with rain, so I quickly closed up the inner door, and continued watching through the window on that.
The video is much MUCH darker than it actually was outside.
Creamsicle was very happy to be inside the sun room, with me! He kept trying to get my attention while I took photos and video so, after a while, I put the phone away and just cuddled him. He was in heaven, giving me all kinds of hugs and kisses!
Then Potato Beetle got in on the action, and soon I was holding both of them, and watching the storm!
The storm passed by rather quickly, and I was soon able to get the outer door set up with the saw horse to keep it from blowing open again, then went inside. Once inside, a quick check on Facebook found I was not the only one up at almost 2am, posting about the storm!
One of the pages I follow is a local weather group, and they posted an image showing the hundreds of places lightning was detected on the weather radar. The storm itself, amazingly, split just before reaching us. Most of it passed by to the North, and a tiny bit passed us by to the South. What we got was the less severe gap in the middle.
Wow.
So when I headed out to do my morning rounds today, I did a more thorough check for fallen branches and see what other storm damage there might be. There was quite a lot branches to pick up. Only two were live branches, though. The rest were already dead. The elm tree in front of our kitchen window lost so many tiny dead twigs, I didn’t even try to pick them up. I’d need a rake to get them all.
I was happy to note that there was no substantial hail damage to any of the garden plots. I did, however, have a wonderful surprise in the squash.
Two of them have suddenly bloomed! These were not there yesterday, and I really was not expecting to see flowers while the plants are still so small.
These are in the second, larger bed that was transplanted later, and they are doing much much better than the others. The long row in the back that was planted at the same time is doing all right, but not as well as the wider bed. The first bed I’d planted, that got frost damage in spite of our covering them first, is still struggling.
Of the three pumpkin mounds, one of the ones that had a packet of 3 seeds planted in it, now has a second seedling sprouting. The mound that had the packet of 5 seeds planted it in has a first seedling just starting to break ground now.
This late in the season, the only way we’ll get ripe pumpkins, I think, is if we have a late and long, mild fall.
Which could happen. We’ll see.
The surviving first planting of sunflowers have also made a very noticeable increase in growth.
No hail damage on anything planted in the old garden area. No deer damage, either.
It wasn’t until I was almost done my rounds that I found the one tree that fell during the storm.
It’s one of the dead trees I need to clean out, anyway, so this actually saves me some work! :-D
With the heat wave, our weekly checking of the root cellar has provided useful information already. With the possibility of building a cheese cave in there, a few years from now, we are looking for a temperature range of between 7C – 12C (45F – 55F) and a humidity level in the 85-95% range, though some types of cheese require different temperatures. As of this morning, the root cellar was at 17C/62F, and the humidity was at 88%. It was the same last week, too. So for most types of cheeses, it would be too warm. It also is not as consistent as it should be. There is an air vent that goes straight outside, with nothing but window screen mesh to keep the bugs out, at the end. I’d tried partially blocking it, but enough of a wind gets through that it blows out whatever is used. It might be worthwhile to add some sort of vent covering that can be opened and closed to help keep the temperatures from fluctuating too much.
Meanwhile, the heat wave continues. We’re already at 29C/84F (“feels like” 33C/91F), with a predicted high of 31C/87F (humidex: 36C/96F). Heat alerts remain. At least the high water and flood alerts have stopped for now, though we have more thunderstorms predicted overnight, so that might change.
Heat or no heat, we have really got to get the counter moved out, so we can put in the new stove. With the old stove, we’d already stopped using one of the elements, due to sparking when it was turned on or off. The girls, who have taken to cooking and eating at night rather than during the day, have noticed other elements have started to spark, too.
It’s going to be dreadful, and take hours to accomplish, but it has to be done.
Installing the stove itself will be the easy part. Juggling the dining table, chairs, shelves, the contents of the counter, and the counter itself, while still leaving room for the old stove to be pulled out, and the new stove to be moved in, is the hard part.
Welcome to my “Recommended” series of posts. These will be weekly – for now – posts about resources and sites I have found over the past while that I found so excellent, I want to share them with you, my dear readers. 🙂 Whether or not I continue to post these, and how often they are posted, will depend on feedback. Please feel free to comment below, and if you have a favorite resource of your own, do share, and I will review them for possible future posts.
I hope you find these recommendations as useful and enjoyable as I have!
Okay, so I totally forgot to make a Recommended post last week! I also forgot yesterday was Wednesday. :-D My apologies!
Today’s post, however, is the last one I’ve got in my queue! If you have a resource site or video channel you would like to see a Recommended post for, please let me know in the comments with a link, and I’ll check it out.
In today’s post, I present to you a guy who is going all out with off grid self sufficiency! Kris Harbour Natural Building.
This channel has been around since 2015, and wow! He’s got so much going on here! This is someone who left behind life in London to live off a plot of the land in Wales, and has accomplished some pretty amazing things in the process!
I first found the YouTube channel while doing searches for ideas on what to do with the wood from the trees we had cut away from the roof and power lines. With the sizes of some of the pieces, I had started to think of carving wooden bowls. I was specifically looking for videos on how to do it without power tools. I found this.
At about 2 minutes in, you can see him start to mark out an oval shape using a string. That’s actually where I got the idea on how to mark out the curved, overlapping rows we planted the sunflowers in. I thought it was an ingenious way to mark out a smooth curve.
Then I discovered he lives in a cordwood round house. You can see a tour of it, here, as well as some typical morning chores!
Yes, he’s got running hot and cold water, electricity (wind, hydro and solar!) and internet.
He’s also got a playlist of 41 videos, showing how it was built.
Literally from the ground up.
He’s also built an earth bag workshop.
There are 52 videos in total, spanning 2 years, documenting the build for that!
Want to know how to build a hydroelectric system? He’s got you covered.
Solar shower?
You bet.
How about musical instruments?
Wanna see how to build a harp?
Maybe you’re more into the fibre arts. How about a battery powered carding machine?
Do you live near the ocean? Feeling hungry? How about some coastal foraging?
How about making cider and apple juice?
Build a primitive lime kiln?
Refurbish antique chisels?
Hatching chicks?
Gardening?
It’s all there.
Granted, most of the videos are about the big stuff; the building projects, water, electricity, and infrastructure. As those get done and he works towards increased self sufficiency, the scope of the videos will naturally change. I really appreciate that he’s making all these videos, so anyone can follow along with what he is doing, and perhaps adapt things for their own uses.
Thank you for checking out my Recommended series of posts. I hope you enjoyed these resources as much as I have! While I will no longer be posting weekly, I will still be keeping an eye out for great resources to recommend in the future, and do feel free to pass on your own favorites in the comments!
After the heat we’ve had for the past while, it actually got remarkably chilly last night.
It was great!
I had some concern about how it got for the kittens, but the basement is pretty good at remaining a constant temperature.
This morning, I took one of the long boxes that held pieces of my new bed frame and lay it out on the floor for the kittens to play in.
They just loved it!
Leyendecker, however, got distracted by something that was apparently much more interesting.
Me.
He climbed me like a tree! All the way up to my head, where he began to tackle my ear and try to eat my hair.
What a silly boy!
The outside cats were eagerly awaiting me when I got outside. Their food bowls had been completely cleaned out. By them, or other animals, I’m not sure.
Butterscotch allowed my daughter to check her out yesterday, and it seems she is pregnant again. Considering how it went when we tried to bring her in before, that is just not something we can do again.
I’m happy to say that, when both Butterscotch and Creamsicle joined me while checking out my mother’s flowers, there was NO fighting, at all.
When checking out the squash beds, I’d found a pleasant little surprise.
Some pumpkins are sprouting!
These two hills had 3 seeds each planted in them. The other one had 5 seeds in the package, but so far, none have sprouted.
Most of the more recently transplanted squash are noticeably growing bigger, though they have also gotten pretty yellow. One of the possible reasons I’ve seen is a lack of iron. Which means we likely should supplement the soil with bloodmeal. I just haven’t been able to find any!
More potatoes are starting to show up through the straw mulch. When mowing last night, I moved out the wooden frames that were around the beds. They are no longer needed, and taking them out makes it easier to mow around the beds. I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish the mowing today; we might be getting showers this afternoon.
This evening, we’re planning to get all wild and crazy. Father’s Day and my daughter’s birthday fall on the same day this year. Knowing how busy things are likely to be on Sunday, we’ve decided to celebrate today. Our favorite Chinese restaurant is open again, so we’re planning on ordering a whole lot of take-out!
For the first time since we cleaned and refilled this barometer, it has overflowed!
As I write this, it’s already 28C/82F and we’ve got weather alerts for heat and thunderstorms. Looking at the weather radar, it looks like we might actually get some rain. That would be nice!
At least the winds have died down for now.
My morning rounds, meanwhile, have been full of smiles.
Well, okay. I wasn’t exactly smiling when I was trying to wrestle kittens back into the basement, but once that was done, it got fun. :-D
Unfortunately, Keith and Fenrir in particular do not like the kittens, and they’re a bit too small to defend themselves if they get nasty. Big Rig ran right up to Susan and booped noses with her, leaving Susan looking astonished and confused! :-D
Temperatures were still on the pleasant side of hot while I did my rounds outside. The dwarf lilac is starting to explode.
The scent in our yard is amazing!
The carrot and beet beds seem to be doing all right.
We’re doing a fairly limited amount of weeding right now, as we don’t want to be pulling up too many seedlings. Whatever cat that decided to use a carrot bed as a litter box has done quite enough of that already.
The kohl rabi, on the other hand, may be a write off. Some things, I can tell are weeds, but others, I’m not so sure. A surprising amount of clover is showing up.
We’ll see how it works out over time!
My favourite pollinators!
The white roses were filled with a constant drone of insects buzzing around, but it’s the bumbles that have a special place in my heart. What beautiful creatures!
Also, I had very affectionate company. He just loved it when I carried him around like a baby! LOL
Once inside, I checked the trail cam files. I love it when doing that leaves me smiling. :-)
I got to see this deer from two angles! :-)
I notice there is a time difference on the cameras. I’ll have to figure out which one is off and fix that.
As for the new camera location, I really would rather it be a bit further back and higher, but it will have to do for now.
Welcome to my “Recommended” series of posts. These will be weekly – for now – posts about resources and sites I have found over the past while that I found so excellent, I want to share them with you, my dear readers. 🙂 Whether or not I continue to post these, and how often they are posted, will depend on feedback. Please feel free to comment below, and if you have a favorite resource of your own, do share, and I will review them for possible future posts.
I hope you find these recommendations as useful and enjoyable as I have!
This week, I would like to recommend a really excellent and interesting YouTube channel. How to Cook That, with Anne Reardon. Along with the YouTube channel, there is a website, and various other social media, Patreon, etc. sites, linked on the About page.
This channel has been putting up videos for 9 years, and the videos cover a LOT of ground! The primary focus is on dessert how-to’s, like this one from 2012.
Reardon – with the assistance of her incredibly brave husband! – also recreates some historical recipes.
That one is rather terrifying! :-D
They also put out “Clever or Never” videos, where they test out various kitchen gadgets.
We used to have the French Fry cutter they tested out here! Ours worked a lot more easily. I think the one they tested may have started to get pretty dull. :-D
Then there are her mind boggling Teeny Weeny Challenge videos.
I just can’t imagine working in that scale! Talk about going all the way, with that miniature kitchen, too!
The thing that first brought me to this channel, however is on a very serious note. Anne Reardon is a food scientist, and she has put out some very important videos. If you’re on Facebook at all, you’ve probably seen the cooking “hack” videos go by, which show several quick clips of “how to” make or do various things food related. Some of them simply don’t work. Others are actually dangerous.
With so much current pandemic misinformation around, she also did a video on some of that, too.
There is just so much great stuff here, in such a variety of food related topics. I highly recommend subscribing to the channel and spending some quality time checking out the videos!
The kittens now being able to climb to the top of the stairs makes visiting them in the morning rather treacherous!
Getting into the basement is difficult enough as it is, with the door opening over the stairs the way it does. Doing it while juggling a pitcher of fresh water, a bucket for the old water, while dodging kittens who want to climb my legs or dash into the entryway before I can close the door makes it that much more challenging! :-D
The cats upstairs, and the kittens downstairs, have discovered the space under the door.
Oh, and to make things even more challenging, I had Beep Beep trying to climb me, too!
Thankfully, the lure of wet cat food was enough to draw them away, so I could leave safely! :-D
While doing my rounds outside, I had to check out the grapes.
Because I may have killed one. :-(
Now that they are leafing out, a couple of evenings ago, I took the pruners to cut away the old, dead growth that should have been pruned away last fall. A piece I cut away twisted as it fell, and I suddenly realized that a fresh vine I thought was growing from behind and below, was actually growing out the back of the piece I’d just cut.
I was so upset with myself. This was a strong, healthy vine I’d just killed.
Could I save it?
I cut the live vine from the stem and tried to see if I could bury the end, so it would root itself. Attached to the trellis as thoroughly as it was, I couldn’t pull it down far enough.
Well, there’s a tire planter right there, with a giant insulator I’d used as a shallow planter last year, in the middle of it.
I attached the vine to another piece to hold it in place, then added soil from the planter to the bottom. Once the cut end was buried, I watered the whole thing, thoroughly.
Can you tell which vine got cut?
I came by, fully expecting the cut vine to be drooping and dying, but it’s looking as fresh and green as the others!
It’s the one on the far left of the trellis.
Here is the base of it. There are even fresh new leaves, still strong and healthy looking.
Could I have actually have managed to salvage my mistake?? Does anyone reading this know much about grape plants? Will this root itself and survive?
I certainly hope so!
The rest of my rounds included checking the garden plots, and I was disappointed to find one area of carrots looked like something had dug them up. It turned out a cat had used it as a litter box. :-(
It also looks like we lost at least one more sunflower to something, but in total, there are more seedlings today than yesterday.
My rounds, however, were very fast this morning. The mosquitoes were insane! While we did not get the predicted storms – they swooped even further south than I thought they might, and we didn’t even get much rain – it is hot and muggy and perfect conditions for mosquitoes.
Once the morning rounds and chores were done, I had to make a quick run to the post office, then into town for some errands, so I’m a bit behind on things I intended to do outside. I’m going to have to start on clearing away where we’ve decided to build the cordwood outhouse, and since it’s too wet to continue working on the lawns, today would be a good day to get into that.
I will have to slather myself in bug spray, first, and hopefully not sweat it all off in the first few minutes. :-/
When visiting the kittens this morning, I was viciously attacked!
By a Nicco! :-D
Saffron has one eye that is a bit gooby, so I took the time to clean and medicate it. Then, after they’d all had a chance to devour some wet cat food, they all went after my legs!
They are tearing my clothes to shreds. :-D
Also, they really, really like my shoelaces.
Even Beep Beep got in on the action!
For a cat that has spent her entire life outdoors, she is really taking to this “inside” thing – and having access to people to cuddle!
Later on, while checking the trail cam files, I found a lovely surprise.
Other than discovering that FedEx made a delivery after we got home yesterday, and left a package shoved into the gate. I never even saw it, when I did my rounds! If I hadn’t seen the video, I would never have known until this afternoon. I was expecting it to come in the mail, tomorrow.
No, it was this surprise that really made me smile.
That baby is so adorable!!!
They found a spot in the fence where they can both squeeze through the barbed wire, without the mom having to jump it.
The baby can fit through any part of the fence, just by ducking its head. :-D
So sweet!
Also, there’s a package in the middle of that gate. It was shoved into the chain.
Even while walking up the driveway this morning, knowing it was there, I couldn’t see it until I was almost right at the gate!
I spotted a mystery while checking the trail cams today!
Watch closely, behind the deer.
We have a mystery critter!
It’s too big to be a squirrel, and squirrels are not out at night, anyhow. It seems too small to be a raccoon or a skunk. Those are large enough that they would be identifiable, even with the infrared flash.
About the only thing we are pretty sure of is, it’s likely a rodent of some kind. :-D
The Re-Farmer 