Happy Birthday Boombie



Happy Birthday Eli! -Our adventurous seven year old

Garden Progress

Back when it was cold and the days were short, I eagerly looked forward to spring, when I could plant my garden and track its progress in my journal. Gardening didn't go as planned. Spring was rainy and cold. My garden went in late. I thought this year would be unsuccessful. But, it's actually looking pretty good. We expanded our growing space again. We've done so for the past 4 years. We started with 8 raised beds, then added 6 more the following year. We also dug a corn patch and have expanded it to include more room for other vegetables. 

This is our bed at the beginning of spring. The beds were freshly weeded and covered with a layer of hay, straw, and animal bedding.

Our tomatoes were staked a few weeks ago. We are trying a new staking method. It seems to be keeping the rows in order and the tomatoes nice and straight.

Our snap peas and beets have been growing great. The peas have been picked and a second planting went in last week. The beets are ready too.

 It's growing. This was taken about two weeks ago.

 Da is our corn-grower. It looks great. We always look forward to fresh corn on the cob.

The wild raspberries recently finished. We didn't have many on our property, but the neighbor gave us a gallon. We enjoyed a raspberry cobbler. Soon, the wild blackberries will ripen.

Sweet potato plants were planted this weekend after the snap peas were pulled.  I like going to the garden centers in July and August when their vegetables plants and flowers are on clearance.

The beets are ready to be picked and more seeds planted. A second planting of sweet peas went in last week.

These two beds belong to Samuel and Eli. Eli and I spent some time over the weekend weeding his bed. Samuel insists that his bed has hay grass in it, not weeds. He also has Asian beans, onions, corn, cilantro, and I don't know. - looks like weeds.

This year, we decided to use one of the raised beds as an herb and perennial bed. There are volunteer tomatoes in there too. I have a hard time pulling healthy tomato plants.

 This bed has last year potatoes and Cherokee Orange tomatoes.

 Cherry tomatoes. We eat those straight off the plant. Few make it to the house.

 Kale and freshly planted pie pumpkin seeds.

My Strike beans look pretty sad this year. I planted another crop on the other side of the garden. We eat lots of beans, so I am hoping for a successful bean harvest.

 Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Acorn Squash. We've been enjoying squash for supper.

 The tomatoes are finally growing. We planted Amish Paste and Brandywine.

Cucumbers are planted in our garden. We love cucumber and tomato sandwiches. This year, maybe they'll ripen at the same time.

 Danny's corn crop.

 Our orchard has been attacked by Japanese Beetles. Our beetle bags fill very quickly.

 Ohio lost their peach crops this year. We are lucky to have one peach on our trees.

 Honeycrisp apples are a favorite around here. We plan to put more focus on our orchard this autumn.

 Blueberry bushes were planted last summer. We're waiting for them to grow and produce.

A freshly cultivated area. We didn't get all our corn planted, so now we get to decide what to plant here. Maybe more pumpkins.

 The kids and dogs enjoy sitting under the fruit trees while working in the garden.

The garden is coming along. We have lots of other goodies growing in there, watermelon, okra, pumpkins, spinach, carrots, peppers, and strawberries. I can't wait to start canning and freezing all the yumminess.

Skunked

Silly Abby has not learned her lesson to leave the skunks alone. The past few weeks, she has made herself comfortable on the porch instead of going into the garage at bedtime. Last night while she was cozy and ready for her night watch, I mentioned that I hope she didn't get sprayed. ugh!

Being awoken at four in the morning to the smell of skunk is normal around here. Skunks get spooked and spray. Last night was different. It was eye watering, nose burning, throat gagging, gross. The odor blew through our house like a tornado infecting everyone with it's pungent blow. We turned the fans around in the windows and checked on the dog. Abby was frantically rolling around and rubbing her face and body all over our front porch. Blah! I climbed back in bed and stuffed my head under my pillow. 

Our crazy girl gets sprayed a couple times a year. Last year, she was sprayed while we were picking blackberries. Thanks to Abby, our berry picking was cut short. Because of her antics, I've kept our trusty de-skunker recipe at arms reach.

 

It's super-easy to throw together and works better than anything else we've tried. A quart of 3% peroxide, a little less than 1/2 cup baking soda, and a squirt of dish soap works great. I quickly mix it in a bucket and dump it on our dry, stinky dog. The chemical reaction works quickly, so the solution needs to be used immediately. 













Next, I rub the solution in with my rubber gloves and let it sit a few minutes.

I allow her to run around and roll on the ground to get it good and incorporated on her coat. She thinks she's getting the soap off.  

After a few minutes, I rinse the solution and let her shake dry. She smells much better, but still a bit skunky. Skunky enough that she can't come in the house yet. I could do another rinse, but usually the smell is gone by the end of the day. I think she's happy with the results.