Animals
- What Happened To Summer?
I have to tell you...it's been a weird summer! The weirdest (although I am not complaining one bit) weather I have experiencedin all of my life has been ours all summer long.Cooler than normal temps with more than average rainfall has made this...
- The End Of Summer
Today is the last day of summer. Just when things were starting to get really beautiful in the garden... The vines are full and blossoming... something for which I have waited the entire summer. And with one frosty nightit will all begone. Until next...
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Outdoor work is difficult these days.The heat is oppressive, the humidity high.I spend my early mornings getting the animal chores done.My evenings are spent in the garden.By seven, the sun is behind the woods and the garden is in shade. Watering and...
- Spuds
Last year's garden boxes yielded an impressive harvest of sweet potatoes.Considered a "super food", this yummy root packed with beta carotene is one of my family's favorites.This is just a small sampling of our yield. Planting our garden...
- Winter Gardening
Every year, by the end of winter, you will hear me say how I long to get my fingers back into the soil again. We have a 6 month gardening season here in PA....definitely not long enough to suit me. But this is the trade off when you live in an area with...
Animals
Autumn Harvest
Sadly, the summer gardening season is coming to a close...
quickly!
We are having nights in the 40's now.
Frost is just around the corner.
Our hay is cut and drying.
If only the weather would cooperate.
(It is to rain for the next few days.)
Hopefully by next weekend we will be able to bale our hay and
stow it in the barns for use over the winter.
This has been a bad summer for hay farmers.
The spring and late summer were very wet here in PA.
In other parts of the country, just the opposite....drought.
This will drive hay prices way up this winter,
and availability will be a problem.
For this reason, it is so very important that we get this last cutting safely put away.
The vegetable garden is a bit of a jungle now.
The last of the fall crops will be harvested over the next few weeks.
Cabbage and tomatillos....
Lettuces and cauliflower....
Broccoli and carrots....
Beets.
Sweet potatoes.....
I took a peek at the sweet potato box and found several of these peeking out of the soil...
Using my fingers, I cleaned away the soil,
and found this....
Goodness,
these are the largest sweet potatoes I have ever grown!
After pulling all of that bundle of roots out of the soil,
this is what I had amassed (just from one plant!)
The harvest from just 3 plants filled my entire basket.
I will store these sweets like I did last year...
in a bin of pine shavings,
in our cold cellar
which stays a constant 58 to 60 degrees.
Last year's sweets lasted until this past June.
They are great keepers and so, so yummy!
PS....Little Leo has happily settled into barn life.
His days are filled with a myriad of adventures...
running, jumping, hiding, hunting, tumbling here and there as
he plays with the dogs, cats and chickens.
This kitty is not a bit shy.
In no time he will be King of the Barn...
King Leo the Lionhearted!
- What Happened To Summer?
I have to tell you...it's been a weird summer! The weirdest (although I am not complaining one bit) weather I have experiencedin all of my life has been ours all summer long.Cooler than normal temps with more than average rainfall has made this...
- The End Of Summer
Today is the last day of summer. Just when things were starting to get really beautiful in the garden... The vines are full and blossoming... something for which I have waited the entire summer. And with one frosty nightit will all begone. Until next...
-
Outdoor work is difficult these days.The heat is oppressive, the humidity high.I spend my early mornings getting the animal chores done.My evenings are spent in the garden.By seven, the sun is behind the woods and the garden is in shade. Watering and...
- Spuds
Last year's garden boxes yielded an impressive harvest of sweet potatoes.Considered a "super food", this yummy root packed with beta carotene is one of my family's favorites.This is just a small sampling of our yield. Planting our garden...
- Winter Gardening
Every year, by the end of winter, you will hear me say how I long to get my fingers back into the soil again. We have a 6 month gardening season here in PA....definitely not long enough to suit me. But this is the trade off when you live in an area with...