Just came in from helping DH lop some bushes and trees back and had to empty the carcasses of last year's flowers out of my sneakers and brush them out of my hair. Did the butterfly bushes, which are in front of the heat pump to shade it during the really hot weather, but which had started growing horizontally into the fins, not to mention there were a couple of branches sticking out over the grass, making it hard to mow around it. So it's a shadow of its former self. It'll be back in plenty of time for the height of a/c season. Then there's the Bradford (Cleveland?) pear out front, which had suckers almost the size of my wrist and a few low hanging branches that made more mowing hazards. The redbud, still just a baby, needed a little clean up to nip off little branches growing too low, and a couple apple trees had big suckers because until a few weeks ago, they had been growing at a 45 degree angle and felt the need to grow new trunks. We'll give the apple branches to a friend for her rabbit to gnaw on. ALL of this cutting should have been done back in January. Oh well.
I also finally got the Napa, Pak Choi, and broccolis sprayed with the BT. The Napa has the most holey leaves and the broccoli's barely been touched (by bugs, that is). The Pak Chois in the raised bed are going gangbusters and will be ready to pick soon. I'd like their centers to fill in a little more first.
DGD is off from school this week and is visiting her dad, so we can sleep late in the a.m. and not worry about picking her up from school in the p.m.
NASCAR News: Yay, Tony Stewart got another win yesterday, though he was just lucky to be in the lead when the race was called on account of rain. It was past the halfway point, so whoever is leading when it's called is the winner.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Just a Little Astronomy
The Vernal Equinox is tomorrow morning at 1:14 AM. That's when the sun is over the equator in the earth's annual trip around the sun. The almanac says it's "the earliest start of spring in 116 years." I didn't go out to tuck the chickie girls in until 8:00 tonight and I could still easily see where I was walking.
Venus and Jupiter are quite close to each other in the western sky at sunset, but they were out of sight when I went out tonight (or at least I didn't pay attention to them). Their conjunction was a few days ago. I could see Mars almost 45 degrees up in the east on my way back to the house.
Venus and Jupiter are quite close to each other in the western sky at sunset, but they were out of sight when I went out tonight (or at least I didn't pay attention to them). Their conjunction was a few days ago. I could see Mars almost 45 degrees up in the east on my way back to the house.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Got Eggs?
We set a season record for eggs yesterday - 18. Which means only 4 of the chickie girls didn't lay yesterday. And since there were only 3 blue/green eggs and I know all 4 Ameraucanas are laying already this spring, that means there are probably only 3 girls not laying at all. But not all the girls lay every day. For instance, today I only got 12 eggs. So that means those other 3 might very well be laying, just not yesterday. Clear as mud?
I have 5 boxes of 18 full, plus a dozen carton started, so I guess tomorrow is an egg washing day.
I have 5 boxes of 18 full, plus a dozen carton started, so I guess tomorrow is an egg washing day.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Gardening and Other Stuff
We now have all the broccolis, Pak Chois and Napa cabbages in the ground, as well as all the onion plants that will be big onions and about 2/3 of the onion plants that will be pulled young as scallions. Some of the Napas were bolting already, so they weren't planted; they'll get canned. The Napa seeds we ordered online, a small variety called Minuet, are all growing very nicely with rosettes of basal leaves. However, we also bought some seeds for a normal sized Chinese cabbage at a local store and they're the ones that are rushing the season. Most of them are growing properly, but about a third want to grow a stem and start blooming already. Naughty!
We're trying straw mulch this year, chopping it with a lawn mower before putting it around the plants. And we got some of the scrap rolls of newsprint from the Sun to use under the straw in a couple of the raised beds. We'll use it under the big plants later in the season, too.
Those bikes we bought last month? Our butts haven't touched 'em yet. It's been either too rainy, too cold, or, if the day is sunny and warm, we have too much to do outside with the garden.
Our Bradford (Cleveland?) pear trees and the flowering plum are blooming, and the bees are loving them. The redbuds should be opening next week sometime. I still have to cut the butterfly bushes back and prune the rambling rose, Gertrude Jekyll. The Gertrude flowers smell WONderful. I like fragrant flowers - roses, lilacs, lilies, hyacinths, etc.
We're trying straw mulch this year, chopping it with a lawn mower before putting it around the plants. And we got some of the scrap rolls of newsprint from the Sun to use under the straw in a couple of the raised beds. We'll use it under the big plants later in the season, too.
Those bikes we bought last month? Our butts haven't touched 'em yet. It's been either too rainy, too cold, or, if the day is sunny and warm, we have too much to do outside with the garden.
Our Bradford (Cleveland?) pear trees and the flowering plum are blooming, and the bees are loving them. The redbuds should be opening next week sometime. I still have to cut the butterfly bushes back and prune the rambling rose, Gertrude Jekyll. The Gertrude flowers smell WONderful. I like fragrant flowers - roses, lilacs, lilies, hyacinths, etc.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Gardening
The first spring plants are in the ground. We got 18 Napa cabbages, 8 red Pak Chois, 7 green Pak Chois, and 17 broccolis planted today. The full moon's not until Thursday, but today the sun is in Leo, a death knell for the plants. I expect to see a bunch of plant carcasses out there soon. I also got some carrot seed in the ground. There are 75 cruciferous (that's whatcha call the cabbage family) plants left to plant, but I don't know if all the Napa will make it to the garden. Some of the seedlings are already starting to bolt and they're only 3 in. high. Don't know what's going on with them.
The onion bed needs another tilling before we can plant them, so they (the onion plants) are hanging out in the shop. I hope to plant them this coming Sunday or Monday (Scorpio), then beets and more carrots on the 20th/21st (Pisces). But since things rarely go the way I plan. . .
There's no way I can follow the moon and zodiac for planting tomatoes, etc., this year, so I'll do what I usually do and ignore them both. I've never had really BAD luck with growing, unless you count that year that I got a bunch of seeds from Fedco. Don't know what it was about them, but most varieties had low germination rates. We ended up having to buy plants locally to replace them. It kinda put a sour taste in my mouth about Fedco.
The onion bed needs another tilling before we can plant them, so they (the onion plants) are hanging out in the shop. I hope to plant them this coming Sunday or Monday (Scorpio), then beets and more carrots on the 20th/21st (Pisces). But since things rarely go the way I plan. . .
There's no way I can follow the moon and zodiac for planting tomatoes, etc., this year, so I'll do what I usually do and ignore them both. I've never had really BAD luck with growing, unless you count that year that I got a bunch of seeds from Fedco. Don't know what it was about them, but most varieties had low germination rates. We ended up having to buy plants locally to replace them. It kinda put a sour taste in my mouth about Fedco.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Catching Up on Howell Farm Stuff, etc.
I've been derelict in my duties. I said I'd talk about Howell Farm activities and it's been a while.
Tomorrow is the second of the Maple Sugaring days, last Saturday being the first. Back at the beginning of February was the "official" tree tapping day for the maple sugaring season, though I'm sure with as mild a winter as it's been, some of those trees got holes poked in 'em before that. So now begins the official cooking-down of the sap into syrup.
Of course, up in New England maple sugaring is an art form and some farms have elaborate set ups of tubing that feeds the sap right from the trees downhill into the storage tanks and self-stirring vats in the sugar house. But Howell Farm just has a metal pan about 2 feet wide, 4 feet long and maybe 4 or 5 inches high that sets over an outdoor wood fire. The sap is stored in milk cans, which are emptied into a special can with a little plastic tube fit into the side at the bottom that feeds the sap into the pan as needed, and someone tends the fire and stirs and skims the sap. It takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, even more for other maples and non-maples, like birches and some other trees. So this is not a quick process. When the sap reaches a certain temperature - 200-something; can't remember exactly - then it's taken out of the outdoor pan and brought into the house to finish on the stove. It's not practical to do the whole cooking-down process in the house because it causes too much steam. Most of the syrup is bottled, though some is also made into maple candy and other maple-y goodies. The children's activity last week was maple brittle and this week it will be maple cookies.
Coming up next week on March 10th is the program now named "Meet the Horse Doctor, Dentist, and Shoer." This used to be two separate programs, one for the vet and dentist and the other for the farrier (the guy who trims and shoes the horses). The horse doctor, or veterinarian, will listen to the horses' hearts and bellies. What? Their bellies!? Yup, it's good for a horse to have some gurgling in its gut. If it's too quiet, that could mean a problem. He may also give vaccinations or give worming medicine to the horses at that time.
The dentist is fun, if a little creepy, to watch. He feels the horse's teeth to see if there are any sharp points that might cut the inside of the horse's cheek and make it hard or painful for him to eat. Yes, he puts his hand into the horse's mouth to do this. And he says he doesn't get bit very often. But don't try this at home, folks. If he finds any sharp points, he gets a big, flat file like one a carpenter might use and files down the points.
The horse shoer will pull off any shoes the horses might already be wearing, then he trims their hooves (like fingernails), and also trims the sole and frog (the frog is the center of the sole that acts like a shock absorber), kinda like trimming the dead skin off of calluses. Then if the horse needs to wear shoes for his work, the shoer will get the right size shoe, hammer the shoe into the correct shape if necessary, then nail the shoe onto the hooves.
Did you know: Horses' front feet are round; their back feet are oval.
"Work Horse Rides and Blacksmithing" will be on March 17th. Some of the horses, the gentlest ones, will get a break from field work that day and will get to carry kids on their backs. They still have to wear their harnesses, but carrying a 50 lb. child around is a lot easier than hauling a plow through the ground. And the kids get to feel what it was like for a farm kid way back when, when a kid might have to ride one of the horses to fetch lunch or a drink of water or a certain tool for Dad while he worked in a field that was far from the house. But, no, they don't get to steer or anything like that. Someone, hopefully an adult (yes, of COURSE it will be an adult. Silly!) will lead each horse up and down one of the farm lanes so each kid gets a 5-minute-or-so ride. The blacksmith will be making various little doo-dads from iron, maybe some S-hooks to hang things on, or spoons or forks, or he might be punching kids' names into little pony shoes for souvenirs.
The corn maze this year will be a barn owl. Don't try this if you're claustrophobic.
Check out howellfarm.org for more info and photos. Unfortunately, I'm on the computer withOUT the pictures in it, or else I'd include some.
Also, while I'm talking farm, I need to mention Greenwoodhill Farm, up in Andover, NY. It's a privately owned park that also takes overnight guests. Like me and DH, Jim and Dana, the owners, are also former Howell Farm volunteers. They have chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, and horses (in fact, they have Barney, a retired Howell Farm horse). And during the summer, they have boarded a neighbor's alpacas, so I expect they'll have them this year too. You can find them at greenwoodhillfarm.com.
Tomorrow is the second of the Maple Sugaring days, last Saturday being the first. Back at the beginning of February was the "official" tree tapping day for the maple sugaring season, though I'm sure with as mild a winter as it's been, some of those trees got holes poked in 'em before that. So now begins the official cooking-down of the sap into syrup.
Of course, up in New England maple sugaring is an art form and some farms have elaborate set ups of tubing that feeds the sap right from the trees downhill into the storage tanks and self-stirring vats in the sugar house. But Howell Farm just has a metal pan about 2 feet wide, 4 feet long and maybe 4 or 5 inches high that sets over an outdoor wood fire. The sap is stored in milk cans, which are emptied into a special can with a little plastic tube fit into the side at the bottom that feeds the sap into the pan as needed, and someone tends the fire and stirs and skims the sap. It takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, even more for other maples and non-maples, like birches and some other trees. So this is not a quick process. When the sap reaches a certain temperature - 200-something; can't remember exactly - then it's taken out of the outdoor pan and brought into the house to finish on the stove. It's not practical to do the whole cooking-down process in the house because it causes too much steam. Most of the syrup is bottled, though some is also made into maple candy and other maple-y goodies. The children's activity last week was maple brittle and this week it will be maple cookies.
Coming up next week on March 10th is the program now named "Meet the Horse Doctor, Dentist, and Shoer." This used to be two separate programs, one for the vet and dentist and the other for the farrier (the guy who trims and shoes the horses). The horse doctor, or veterinarian, will listen to the horses' hearts and bellies. What? Their bellies!? Yup, it's good for a horse to have some gurgling in its gut. If it's too quiet, that could mean a problem. He may also give vaccinations or give worming medicine to the horses at that time.
The dentist is fun, if a little creepy, to watch. He feels the horse's teeth to see if there are any sharp points that might cut the inside of the horse's cheek and make it hard or painful for him to eat. Yes, he puts his hand into the horse's mouth to do this. And he says he doesn't get bit very often. But don't try this at home, folks. If he finds any sharp points, he gets a big, flat file like one a carpenter might use and files down the points.
The horse shoer will pull off any shoes the horses might already be wearing, then he trims their hooves (like fingernails), and also trims the sole and frog (the frog is the center of the sole that acts like a shock absorber), kinda like trimming the dead skin off of calluses. Then if the horse needs to wear shoes for his work, the shoer will get the right size shoe, hammer the shoe into the correct shape if necessary, then nail the shoe onto the hooves.
Did you know: Horses' front feet are round; their back feet are oval.
"Work Horse Rides and Blacksmithing" will be on March 17th. Some of the horses, the gentlest ones, will get a break from field work that day and will get to carry kids on their backs. They still have to wear their harnesses, but carrying a 50 lb. child around is a lot easier than hauling a plow through the ground. And the kids get to feel what it was like for a farm kid way back when, when a kid might have to ride one of the horses to fetch lunch or a drink of water or a certain tool for Dad while he worked in a field that was far from the house. But, no, they don't get to steer or anything like that. Someone, hopefully an adult (yes, of COURSE it will be an adult. Silly!) will lead each horse up and down one of the farm lanes so each kid gets a 5-minute-or-so ride. The blacksmith will be making various little doo-dads from iron, maybe some S-hooks to hang things on, or spoons or forks, or he might be punching kids' names into little pony shoes for souvenirs.
The corn maze this year will be a barn owl. Don't try this if you're claustrophobic.
Check out howellfarm.org for more info and photos. Unfortunately, I'm on the computer withOUT the pictures in it, or else I'd include some.
Also, while I'm talking farm, I need to mention Greenwoodhill Farm, up in Andover, NY. It's a privately owned park that also takes overnight guests. Like me and DH, Jim and Dana, the owners, are also former Howell Farm volunteers. They have chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, and horses (in fact, they have Barney, a retired Howell Farm horse). And during the summer, they have boarded a neighbor's alpacas, so I expect they'll have them this year too. You can find them at greenwoodhillfarm.com.
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