I chopped up two different colored hot peppers, made the basic jelly from the pecton package and voila.. sometimes simple is delightful. I though nicely hot, hubby thought very hot and my other taste tester says med heat.
The pumpkin patch is filled with color and they are getting bigger by the day
The pumpkin plants are doing well, its that time of year, all small taken off and feed to pigs, the blooms taken off, and everything into the current ones till frost now
How are everyone pumpkins growing this, to the big ones are current around 18 to 24 inches high and 52 to 61 inches long, the medium size are like very large standard Halloween size ones currently, figure they have another four weeks of growth.
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RIP Tippy Toes
I do not write much about critters that are born and raised for freezer camp but Tippy was different, bought in a box at the local bird sale a few years ago, she was sold bred as a meat rabbit for a mear five dollars, I snapped her up, looked in the box and laughed.
Tippy was a lot of things but meat rabbit was not one of them, a great breeder, a amazing momma, but she was little..
She was also a pet, I stopped breeding her last year and I made her the rank of pet, I had told hubby, she moved to pet, and therefor I expected many more years with her, in truth I have no idea how old, she was full size to her when arrived, she was proven etc
I have had a lot of rabbits on the farm, but I have only ever had one tippy toes!
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photo update for you… so much new, but still no computer at moment
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No computer at the moment :)
Hi Folks, very limited access to hubbies work computer, I am waiting for a part for mine before it will be back online..
Hope Everyone is doing well.. we will be back 🙂
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Pai-Tsai mustard greens
Fast growing, productive Pai-Tsai green from Taiwan. Fun Jen is a sweet tasting, mild mustard with crisp tender leaves and stems. Produces smooth, white petioles with slightly wrinkled light green broad leaves. Plant is semi-spreading and is tolerant to both heat and cold. Can be picked as a bunch as soon as 35 days from sowing.
Looking forward to lots of seed from this lovely green, its a great soft, sweet green, not at all like my crisp o so spicy mustards.. love it
The plants grew so fast and heavy with flowers and seeds that I had to stake them to keep out of my walkway, I might have some cross pollination with a different mustard, It was the earliest to go to seed, so the lowest and first seed pods are going to only bag and the rest to another.. even if mixed a bit, does not matter to much to me as most of the seed will be used in winter for mirco green eating. these four plants I am saving seed on are very productive indeed.
This and That Post..
General overview of a update for ya all.
Sheep: Excellent, the mommas are all looking sleek and healthy, I am thrilled they will be heading into fall ready to make me beautiful sets of twins, the lambs (other then scunchie) are huge and growing so well, she is a runt in all ways.. she was born half the size of her sibling and she is currently eating and doing well other then being a 3rd of the size of her sibling.
Pigs: Growing, Growing and Growing! they are getting big now.. healthy, happy and they come running when they see us arriving with garden goodies.
Horses: Glowing, healthy, and total sweethearts.. what can I say, the horses are fab!
Geese:Â Pain in my rear, always need to watch for that Pom, she is just sure, she should take you on, but they guard the pasture well. They had a feather blow out and are growing their wings back in, I got some really nice big feathers from them.
Ducks: Happy, Happy, ducklings are growing well, the sitting hens are wonderful, and they are as always sweet, I have moved a number of them into different areas, while I can not use them freely as normal due to the fisher, I have them in pens and am using them in the barn an front yard as fly patrol and they do the job very well indeed
The gueana, the female is locked up and the pack of males go around and around the area she is but no ticks this year, so they are doing something right..
Chickens, we have had losses in both the older flock and the younger flocks, in total in two killing spree*s the fisher got into the pens twice, and killed 11 birds in total.. we had to do a total revamp of the pens and where the birds are.. so far so good..
The new chicks are growing really well, and I am impressed with their growth, and their temperments.
Quail : cute, sweet and adorable.. I mean they are such sweet little feathered pets.. love them..
The van is on its last regular driving legs, its creaky and sputter and despite being in the shop a couple times it comes out better but never quite right.. so we are on the hunt for a new to us, SUV for the regular commuter for DH. Fun, Fun, but the good thing will be that it will be strong enough and will have a hitch, which means that one part of my required set is coming online in regards to getting a horse trailer so that we can travel to ride in the local area!
The gardens are both amazing and groan worthy, some areas are so lush, that you can see them grow daily, in a blink nd they add another four to six inches at times.. other things.. however, thing I never have issues growing.. bla.. double bla, I mean my squash plants for one kind as small as they should be in june, and its mid july.. but lets face it, that is gardening.. you never know from year to year..
We are in the final push, two to three more weeks is all that is left to get the final plantings in for fall harvests and then what we get is truly what we get 🙂 Last week was a turning point, as I collected and put away four different kinds of seeds.. how very exciting..
The Bean Teepee is amazing and turned out even better then I expected.. I have a ton of company coming in the fall and am working hard on the gardens, yards etc.
My mother in law is coming to visit and then during her stay, we are having a family get together on the farm for two days which will be lovely but busy..
then my mom is to arrive for a month visit, give or take.. and I am so looking forward to it.. but again we have extra little things we are doing. I am putting in a new lino floor in the kitchen before everyone comes, we are repainting the deck and the front runs, I lucked out and found retro curtains to go with my retro 70s wood and cushions living room set, its a lovely couch, rocker and chair set..
Dh is doing well, his one assignment at work ended and so he moved from one area to another, I am so pleased that he has settled well, he comes home with smiles.. this means the world to me, while you do not need to love the work you do, liking the people you work with and respecting the work you do is needed.
He has not been writing as much as normal, instead he is in edit mode.. he has a number of excellent stories written that he is editing and re-working at this time..
As in all times in life, we have some great things, we have some so-so things, we have things to work on, things that must be done, things that cost money when you would rather spend it elsewhere.. and that is so true for time as well..
Bottom line.. we are blessed.. blessed that we have jobs, blessed we have our health, Blessed that we have family and friends, Blessed that we have beloved critters, Blessed that we have the knowledge on how to live with those critters, Blessed with knowledge, Blessed to be able to read and learn every single day, Blessed in so many ways, I can not even begin to list them all..
Bottom line.. We are living our dream life on the farm.. its hard work, its a joy, its tears and blisters, its a freedom, and we would not have it any other way!
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Melons
The melon bed is doing well, other then the cucumber beetles, which are battled daily, the plants being treated proactively for powdery mildew..
they are starting to run, which is great but It means that I need to expand their area on the busy side of the bed, very few at this point are climbing the fencing but that’s ok, because its there if they need it but we also interplanted with bean plants and despite them being slow in being planted, it was honestly a moment of ah, I have extra climber beans ready to be planted now, and where to put them.
Just a few of the melons that are growing, we also figured out that in the melon starts we were gifted, there is cucumber plants an summer squash..
And then there is the winter squash, if I was not so stubborn, I would just call them, I have never had such a poor start to most of my winter butternut squash, I reworked them and some are up and doing great, lots a few weaker ones but even with using fall extenders, I will be lucky to get seeds for next year, I am just down right growly over it..
Of course the pumpkins on the other hand, they are ground O for the cucumber beetles, we can easily take off 50 per day, and again the next day and the next and the next..
But they are still thriving at the moment.. I see the damage but the growth at this time is outputting the damage, and they really need more area cut down for them..
When you see this.. you know you need to bump it up the list 🙂 yup, that is pumpkin poking its head up out of six foot tall plants around it.. soon pumpkin, soon I promise..
Its taking up the whole space given to it.. and there are at least a dozen plus pumpkins on it at this time, plus at least 30 plus blooms. the pumpkins are currently around the size of baseballs..
I have two other squash rows but until we clean out the wild parsnip, they are look, no touch, I expect that the beetles are on them as well.. so we will get that area de-parsnip so I can get in, do a weed clean out, and spray for mildew and swish some bugs.
So while my melon growing has some ups and downs this year, I am overall very pleased.
Bean Teepee Round two..
So got the Bean Teepee finished up, its all prepped now, we filled in the half moons with lots of new made soil and planted them out in more climber beans.
The older beans in some cases have a good reach before they get to the climber but over a dozen of them are already there and I imagine that by the end of the week, the rest will as well.
Now we water and watch them grow!
wild Parsnip
Wild Parsnip
Wild parsnip is an invasive plant native to Europe and Asia. It was likely brought to North America by European settlers, who grew it for its edible root. Since its introduction, wild parsnip has escaped from cultivated gardens and spread across the continent.
Wild parsnip roots are edible, but the sap of the plant can cause severe burns. Collecting the plant from the wild should only be done with extreme care. See the section Protective Clothing below.
Wild parsnip, which is also known as poison parsnip, is a member of the carrot/parsley family. It typically grows a low, spindly rosette of leaves in the first year while the root develops. In the second year it flowers on a tall stalk and then dies. The plant can form dense stands and spreads quickly in disturbed areas such as abandoned yards, waste dumps, meadows, open fields, roadsides and railway embankments. Its seeds are easily dispersed by wind and water, and on mowing or other equipment.
Like giant hogweed and other members of the carrot family, it produces sap containing chemicals that can cause human skin to react to sunlight, resulting in intense burns, rashes or blisters
To say that this is the most hated plant on the farm would be fair, to say that my whole area, ditches, pastures locally (not mine) is full of this is understatement and true, we are working hard, pulling and bagging and cooking in the sun, but some small areas are out of control to the point we are cutting it down, drying and bagging it after
We will need to gear up and do this same kind of cutting on the outside edges of the farm in the spray buffer zone before the fence. However, this plant will effect my plans in my permaculture food forest, there will be more cutting then I had hoped to do, I will work on a few different things to help..
When we moved here 11 years ago, they were not hear but in a few, now they are everywhere.. but we will keep the battle going strong on the farm
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Just another Day on the Farm 
