September snuck in and slipped out.

    It is astonishing how quickly the months and days fly by upon reflection, but each day, at the moment, seems to drag.  Days were filled to overflowing with canning, preserving, drying, and projects. It was a hodgepodge month to say the least.  Many tiny things that felt like they added up to nothing, but all contributed to the greater need to finalize summer.  As always, for everyone thing that was managed, two or more things seemed to get added to the 'to do' list.

   

The garden was still full of tomatoes at the beginning of the month, but it was quickly showing signs of disease, stress, and of just being plain tired. The beans had long since given up, and were trimmed at the ground to let the remaining pods dry on the vine for next year's seed.  The tomatoes were also cut off at the ground to allow all remaining energy to go to finishing any ripening on the vine. Any fruit that showed signs of redness, were sent to the ripening counter and placed under towels to finish before being processed into marinara sauce and canned.  I left the zinnias alone, even though they were being overrun with prairie weeds, as the migrating hummingbirds were using them as an evening resting place and refueling station. I couldn't bare to take that away from them.

The dirty dozen pullets are now going strong, and it is not uncommon for us to collect 14-18 eggs a day from the hen house. It's an incredible number for only 20 laying hens this time of year. 

We've had so many eggs that I have decided to scramble and dehydrate them for the freezer, when light levels drop too low this winter for them to lay.  I've heard they aren't great for re-hydrating and eating, but perfect as a 1:2 ratio for baking (egg water). So we shall see.

Speaking of hen house, a long awaited project was finally completed, which added another to the list, but allows me to move on with yet another needed project that had to be done in order.  The northeast window wing on the chicken run, which was previously like its mate on the southwest wall-a wood frame with a plastic roofing panel as the window covering, was long overdue for replacement.  There was nothing structurally wrong with it. However, during the winter it allowed far too much air exchange at the roof line and both the bottom and the ends had to be insulated to prevent snow and wind ingress.  The insulation was permanent for the winter, and didn't do a banner job of keeping out the wind or the snow. 

I came up with a better, permanent solution.  A plywood wall with inserted windows.  The windows can be opened when the day is nice, and closed when it's not.  They are covered in tiny hardware cloth to protect the birds from predators.  The center window does not open.  I may decide later to build small over hangs for rainy days, and the blaze of the summer sun.  We shall see.

That project had to be finished before the main event could even be measured for.  The lower run needs a new roof.  The underlayment on one corner, which was a scrap of common board, has rotten and needs replaced.  The shingles, which were purchased for $1 a bundle at Habitat, have dry rotted, and routinely blow off in a good storm. I'm tired of chasing them.  So a new steel roof will go on as soon as I measure and place the order.  Then we wait for a nice day to install it.  But that window wall needed done first so I could custom order the proper length for overhang at the end.  

Wet cool days crept in on occasion as well.  It was a dry month, and warm, but at least it felt like Fall.  The clouds came, but not much ever came from them.  Thunder chased the dog into her hiding spots a few mornings, but very little moisture accompanied all the flash and bang. 

Speaking of the dog.  She is healing well. She has her achy days, but who doesn't?  She has her final post-op check-up in early October, so here's hoping they clear her for long walks in the squirrel park.  She naps so well after those.

Chilly mornings of late September, mean the beginning of field harvest season is upon us.  The wildlife starts to move from field to field as the turkey hunters lurk about and the combines gobble up row after row.  The heavy fog this time of year sits just below us in the morning, hiding all but the tops of the tallest trees in the valley. As the sun slowly rises, the air warms and slowly begins to move, causing the fog to look like a giant blanket being fluffed across a giant bed by an invisible hand, it's top rolling and undulating in the dawn. 

The nights are clear, crisp and still allowing for amazing views of the Milky Way.

All of this signals apple season.  As our own trees let us down, yet again, I went up to Martin's as I do every fall, a jar of fresh jelly and a dozen eggs in tow in exchange for tree help and information.  I spend several minutes filling my apple basket with a couple of choice varieties, and head home to process them into apple butter.  The best apples go into the bottom of the climate controlled (moisture controlled) drawer of the refrigerator for snacking. 

My favorite variety from this orchard is the Rosalee.  A tart, and sweet, apple that is great for fresh eating, does not do long term storage well, nor is it a good baking apple.  So fresh it is, with all of its glorious juice dripping down your arm.

By the end of the month the garden has had it, and quite frankly, so had I.  I'm tired of tending, weeding, plucking, canning, begging and pleading.  It's tired and I'm tired.  I trimmed the grape back as far as I dared and gave the bits to the grateful noodle necks.  Any tomatoes that showed any sign of whiting, were picked, wrapped, and placed in a ripening box in order or current ripeness. These are checked weekly and when enough are red, are processed and canned.  I should be doing tomatoes until the end of October.  The dehydrator has been running most days. Did you know you can put 10 pounds of diced onions into a quart jar?!  So far we have dried mixed veg, yellow onions, white onions, spring onions, jalapeno peppers, apples, and celery.

The cattle next door are doing nicely and greet us when they come up the hill on their daily circuit of their grazing grounds.  We still cannot figure out how one had a butterscotch colored calf.  She's a white face and daddy is a black Angus, or is supposed to be.  Nope, he's not an albino, or pigment challenged.

He's butterscotch and lemon marked like a Holstein.  We figure a neighbor's bull must have jumped the fence at some point.  He's a pretty little thing.

Nothing left to do but finish out the month by spreading alpaca manure, gypsum, and chicken manure on all the garden rows and locking the gate behind me. Next year's garden has been planned and the seeds ordered and delivered.

See you in October!

 

August was a slow journey, but flew by.

 I still don't know how that happens. While we were experiencing August, every day slogged as slow as molasses in January, but upon reflection, was as busy as a hive before the first chill and flew by like that final weekend before school starts.

The storms were large, but coming at a much slower pace, requiring the irrigation system to aid in the watering. We were loosing more water through evaporation than was falling from the sky. Only on one evening, did a lovely cold front come through to give us a break from the dreadful humidity, and the dry air provided us a rare, clear view of the Milky Way in July.

August means the start of the fair season. Country fairs come first, but the thought of going in the heat and humidity was off-putting. I certainly had no plans to enter anything this year. I had already entered in our country and all adjoining counties (which is allowed in the rules) and won blue and red ribbons.  Between the challenge being old, the drive, and the weather, I was simply not in the mood this year.

Canning season was underway with a fury. The jar cabinet in the basement was bare, and there was always something in the pressure canner; beans, peas, beef, chicken, stew meats, corn, jellies, sauces, tomato sauce and purees.

Orange Jelly

The grapes came in finally towards the middle of the month and cooked up to the most lovely shade of rose jelly. It was then I had the brilliant idea to enter the State Fair, a four hour round trip. I dreaded that idea until I found out that I could mail my entry. Done.  I entrusted both a jar of the jelly and a jar of my plum duck sauce to the USPost.

More canning and Suzie filled my days of waiting.

Sometime in the month of July, Suzie managed to pull the tendon in her good back knee. In reality it wasn't good. The knee that she came to use with freshly repaired had been neglected so long by her previous owners that she weakened and wore out her other knee.  We still don't know how she did it, but she had surgery and was home on the same day, walking around and being pampered and drugged to the moon for three days, but wanting to play.  She was a little slower for a few days after that, but honestly almost back to her normal self within a week. Although we DO throttle her back and won't let her go on long walks or horse around like a crazy dog, yet. 

In the midst of the canning frenzy, there was, of course, a needed comedic moment. So again, enjoy at my expense.

I had spent the past week canning and have barely come up for air. I was getting 20 pounds of tomatoes every 2-3 days. The peas were done. The greenbeans were done. Plum sauce was done. And I was in in the middle of jelly. Chicken soup was done. Ground beef and stew meat was done. Chunk and shredded chicken was done. I still needed to do sweet corn (it's not quite ripe yet.) Beyond that it's just keeping up with the tomatoes until the frost kills them off. Then I'll just preserve up left overs as they come, spaghetti sauce and such.
Last night I did 10 quarts of chicken soup and this morning I noticed one didn't seal. So I wasn't thinking and dumped it down the drain. It was like that slow motion moment when you lock your keys in the car at the same time you are slamming the door shut. Ya. Shredded chicken down the drain. Of course it clogged the T-joint. I have to unclog it sooner than later, I have 40 pounds of tomatoes on the counter. I can't can without water. I have a cake to bake and dinner to do. SO.....

So here I am with 15 pounds of simmering grapes on the stove (it's a timed thing) and a sink about two inches deep in water, and I have to take the underside apart and clear it. grrrrr.

Then I take it apart only to find the 6qt bowl I've put under the plumbing isn't enough. SO NOW I'm sitting on the floor, with grapes simmering on the stove, a bowl filled to the brim dripping black chicken water onto the old towel I DID have the brains to put under the bowl, and using the flat of my hand to block the pipe from the garbage disposal. OK, NOW WHAT?! (Can you picture this?? It's funny as hell.)

My brain briefly pondered dumping the bowl in the sink. DUH, I can't lift it with one hand while my finger is in the dyke. and oh ya, that water would be going into the broken sink. OK NOW WHAT??? OK need another bowl, pot, anything. Hmmm... So now I'm holding back sludge with the flat of my right hand and turning my body around like some kind of sadistic version of Welcome to Adulting Twister, so that I can reach the pot cabinet opposite the sink on my left, you know the cabinet that holds all my CAST IRON POTS.

I can reach the knob to open the cabinet no problem, but I cannot reach the top of the slide out drawer to pull the 30 pound drawer of iron pots towards me to grab a 6 qt pot. So keeping my hand on the drain hole, I twist more and send my left foot around and up to the lip of the drawer. (God, I'm glad I'm still bendy.)The whole time the timer on the microwave is counting down to turn off the gas for the jelly juice. I snag the drawer, grab the big dutch oven and twist myself and it towards the sink again. Now where to put the damn thing? The other bowl is taking up the room I need and the garbage disposal is in the way. I have to hold the bowl with one hand long enough to get the other away from the hole, then I can two hand it. Geesh, what a smelly mess.get the whole thing drained, and the grey water (literally) dumped down the utility sink in the laundry, and clean the pipes, the cabinet and put the whole thing back together and sanitized. The timer on the jelly juice had 40 seconds to spare. I swept and mopped the floors and dealt with the juice.

What an adventure that was.

They boys took the month of July in stride. What else are they supposed to do?

They spent a lot of time lounging in the long cool grass in the evenings, their afternoons napping in front of the giant barn fans, and their mornings in their favorite shady spots chewing their cud. What a life,eh?

The garden was still plugging along although the tomatoes were struggling. The large hauls of the early weeks of August came to a screeching halt, and became a trickle. I would harvest anything orange or red before each storm to avoid splitting on the day after the rains. My counter top was covered in smaller and smaller piles of tomatoes ripening, awaiting the mill and the simmering pot. Although, I'm sure the men were happy to not come home every day to the house smelling of oregano.

A couple of the beefsteak tomatoes threw me a few giants, which Chris was more than happy to eat atop hamburgers, on salad, broiled with cheese,or simply sliced and salted on a plate.

One of the gorgeous Prairie Grasshoppers. These
are the same species that are known for the great
black plague of hoppers of the prairie lore. In great numbers
they were known to eat anything organic, including tanned
leathers on their march through the countryside. Luckily here, the 
hens keep their numbers in check. 

The literal heart of one of the giant tomatoes.

As the end of the month approached, so did the opening of the State Fair.  A weekday visit was out of the question, as the dog couldn't go too long without company or a trip outside. Doc would be home one the weekend, and while opening day Saturday would be in the humid 90s, and Sunday would be only in the
low 80s and dry, I chose Saturday as other shops I wanted to visit would be open. So off I went to enjoy a couple hours at the fair.  It was a quick trip and a blur but it was a nice outing. Imagine my surprise when I went to the Open Class exhibit hall and came across this!

The Catawba grape jelly from our
vines came in first place, and the plum
sauce came in fourth. I'm happy
with that!

Dewy, hot mornings are August's trademark.

The month of August decided to not end on a quiet note. The thermostat decided to die on the final Sunday morning of the month and no one could come to replace it's digital goodness until sometime on Tuesday.  No thermostat, no AC. Mother Nature having the sense of humour that she does, cranked up the heat and humidity on Monday to feeling like 105'F.  There was no wind at all, and I couldn't get the house cool. That night, with lightning in the distance, we slept outside on the deck, which was only a few degrees cooler than inside the house. We abandoned the deck about 1am when the lightning became too bright and the mosquitoes found us.  Joker that she is, the day the thermostat arrived, was breezy, gorgeous, and only 74 degrees. 

The MidPoint of Summer

 July feels like it's smack in the middle of Summer. When in reality it is the downward slope. Our minds fight with the calendar perception of summer being June, July, and August, while the garden and crops are just getting truly in July, and while the sunlight hours of the day start to plummet.  While it does manage to get quite warm in June, July is the barometer for the impending heat in August. In which case, July was already telling us that August would be brutal. The rains and storms were still coming on a regular basis, but were slowing down.  The storms were violent, beautiful, and came mostly at night.

The heat index would routinely hit over 100 and reached 117'F on a regular basis. Smoke from Western wildfires hung in the air like a dirty yellow blanket. Day and night the skies offered only filtered light, and little clean oxygen to breathe.

After the 4th of July, we seemed to skip July altogether and go into the drought and oppressive heat normally reserved for August. Tomatoes and plants enjoy the warm nights but brutally hot days and ridiculously hot nights stunted them I was looking towards a lower than average harvest season in a year that had seemed perfect for them.  The grapevine was still going gangbusters and I was enjoying documenting their quick progression.  

The zinnias, cut flowers, and sunflowers took off and were enjoyed by not only the pollinators but also the local small songbirds.

By the 3rd week in July we brought in our first basket of tomatoes and the grapes were turning deep rose. Canning season had started!  

Last year I crossed a black corn with an orange corn and came up with the center corn. FUN!

Tomatoes and Blackberries

These are giant green June Bugs, and we
were up to our eyeballs in them in the 
chicken garden. They especially love to lay 
their eggs in poo, which the chicken garden is
planted in. The chickens LOVE to eat the tomatoes
AND the beetles.

The littles started sleeping inside, but didn't quite understand
they were to use the perches. Instead they slept on the nest box 
edges and the fan mount, which resulted in a few clipped feathers
and toenails.

The cutflowers including alfalfa, Queen Anne's lace, and 

The Greenhouse - The One Week Project

 I have wanted a greenhouse for years. With last years difficulty with finding plant starts after a late freeze, and pandemic spending adding more first time gardeners to the shops, this seemed like the perfect year to actually put one up. I'd been mulling it in earnest for over a month, do I build one from scratch or purchase a kit?

I started looking at sourcing materials to build one. The price of lumber this Spring was insane. The cost of that alone was prohibitive. Then I'd have to source all the old windows, which for once, were completely missing on craigslist. I'd have to go with a kit.

The number and type of kits to choose from is ridiculous. I was loosing time quickly as it was the end of March and our date for planting is May 15th to June 1st, depending on the crop. Tick, tick, tick.

Once I settled on the size, and type, I needed to FIND one. It seemed the whole world was trying to go self-sustainable. Everything I found was back-ordered.

I finally found one locally at Harbor Freight. It didn't have the best reviews, but reading across the internet and what the problems were, I could easily mitigate them, I hoped.

I ordered this one and picked it up the next day.

I decided to build a real deck flooring for it, as no where on this property was level, it needed a strong base to attach to, and if it DID fail, I could use the good base as an investment to build a wood frame hot house.

I stopped by the lumber yard on the way home and got to work immediately. This was the day after the great hen house massacre, so the work and activity gave me an outlet for my guilt and frustration. The holes were dug and awaiting concrete, which had been picked up with the lumber. Under supervision of the remaining hens, I set the posts in concrete and called it a day. 

The next day was framing it out, trimming the posts, and building the decking. In true me form, it measured square, but sure wasn't. It's a trapezoid. But I did center all the deck boards and had Doc rip a couple of my boards to finish the two ends.

Day 4 found me sealing the gaps in the decking to stop airflow up through the floor, and then painting the whole thing 'go-away green'.

Day 5 was a second coat of paint.

Day 6 was a Saturday and the weather was going to be dry, rain free, and gorgeous. Doc agreed to help me put the whole thing up, which was a good thing, as I didn't think I had the brains left to do it alone. We sorted the parts out on the lawn and set to work.  It wasn't too horrible but did take the entire day. The instructions were not the best, but at least the parts were well marked. Had I followed the instructions from the start I would have found out an important thing, we were missing a critical piece. I had the panels up and clipped in place, but we were missing the upper frame of the door slide. Strong storms were coming in that night, and without that door assembled and shut tightly the open end of the greenhouse would blow out the whole building.

I called Harbor Freight to see if they would pop open another box to get my missing piece for me. They said they would gladly, if they HAD another one. NO! I called three other HF stores, the third one, an hour and 20 minutes away did and would open a box for me. I dropped everything, and left Doc on his own for lunch, and to assemble all the windows and the door while I was gone. 

I was there and back in 3 hours. 

Doc finished assembling the door frame and installed the door and upper vents, while I secured panels further with steel paneling screws. We put the last screw in and closed the door as the last of the daylight faded. The storms came in the early hours of the morning. The winds howled to 63 mph. I dreamt of going out in the morning to blown out panels all over. Nope. There she stood glistening in the sunshine.

Day 7 was Sunday. I let Doc get back to work on his grading as the semester was wrapping up. I spent the morning sketching out the shelving and storage for the greenhouse, and figured out what I needed to accomplish them. Then it was back to the lumber yard, and back with 2x4s that cost me an arm and a leg. 

I spent the afternoon painting them so they would dry and cure over night for cutting and assembly the next day.

Day 8 - Monday again. I walked the dog and then left her napping on the sofa. 
I let the hens out, opened the workshop high-bay door, cranked up the radio and set to work. 

I had the design all worked out on scrap paper, but double checked my measurements on the floor of the greenhouse, as there was no room for error, no second trips to the lumberyard without painting involved, and no scrap 2x4s in the shop to be had. While they were an easy design, I took my time in building the pair of them, and they took up most of my day.  I was able to install one of them alone with the help of furniture sliders. The second one, however, while the same weight and size as the first, couldn't be managed alone as the space in the greenhouse was now limited due the the first being installed. Someone had to balance the second while another crawled through and around in order to wiggle it from the open walk way into its final position. 

They look great, hold an incredible amount of flats, and weight, and make the most of the space. Spoiler Alert Photo from later in the season.  At one point we had over 1000 seedlings, and held a couple of plant sales locally.