To Debra - in Madison, Ohio, You signed my Guestbook and I sent an email to the address you put in there, but it came back to me undeliverable. I wanted to thank you for your encouragement and to let you know, anything is possible if you keep your dreams fertilized. By that, I mean, read about it (whatever your dream is) if you cannot do anything at the moment, you can still use your imagination and be ready when the time comes. Don't wait too long either, start preparing in small ways, that helps to keep the dream alive.
For the last two weeks, it seems we have gotten a terminal case of "Clean it - if it's good, throw it - if it's unusable and pack it & mark it - if we are to store it". We first tackled the garage and it was an embarassing mess. We seem to be unable to throw things away. Things like plastic jugs, that could be used as a source of passive solar heat in the greenhouse, when filled with water and stacked on the South wall. Or they could be used as a freeze or frost inhibitor when the bottoms were cut off and then the tops set over plants out in the garden. Every feed bag that has been emptied has been carefully set aside to use for making the fire this winter and if they make it through the winter, we use them to kneel on when planting in the Spring. Glass jars that were kept for ???? Broken things that we were going to fix...... We had to make room for the Olds and the diesel van to be kept in during the winter.
After the North and East walls were straightened up, we tackled the Pantry wall and the area just inside the garage to the right of the door. We now have a hat crate, glove crate, recycling bins for storage of paper, plastic, metal and glass, and misc. tools, neatly put into see through storage containers and stacked onto a rubber shelf. It looks so great, I make excuses to go out into the garage just to look around,
Then we took on the 10' by 18' storage room, in the front of the oak house. When you stepped into the room, all the floor you could see was a path to the closet at the far left side of the room. I wish we had taken a picture of all the junk (and a small amount of things we actually would use in the next 10 years). We took almost everything out and put it in the back yard. This area covered about 900 sq. ft. of lawn. Once we got it all out, we stopped for lunch. While eating our hot lunch and taking a much needed rest we heard thunder and raced outside to get anything that would be damaged by rain, up on the porch. Then we went back to our cold lunch, and waited for the rain to stop. That job took almost a week to finish because of agonizing over what we needed to keep and what should be thrown out or given away. I found some things that I thought I had left in California or had thrown away. I also have a big box for hanging clothes when moving, that I have put things into for a garage sale. That box was packed two years ago, and I have gone out there from time-to-time, and rummaged through it to find some long-lost article I couldn't do without. I am afraid my committment to be rid of all these things will fail again. We had a box just for cards that were given to us over the years. I spent about two hours going happily through that box and I have to admit to keeping letters from my mom, family and friends, letters from our foreign students from Japan and a young girl that we sponsored in Sierra Leon, Africa. I did throw out most of the greeting cards though.......
We have more of the same in other areas of our farm......................and house.
I'm sitting in my recliner with my feet up and enjoying the peace and quiet (in between trains). Piangee is not happy about my feeding tactics of late. When I go outside during the day to feed him, he is usually grazing around the gate. so he sees me coming with his bottle. In those cases, I stick the bottle through the fence or gate opening. When I'm done, I turn around and walk back to the house. The hardest part of this "business as usual" feeding behavior is when he talks to me, I want to talk back. I have caught myself, several times, humming to him. I had to put a quick stop to that. It is very hard, because I talk to the other alpacas and it just seems natural to talk to Piangee. I have to remember that it is the improper behavior, that I initiated with him, that has to be corrected. The walks around the property have had to be put on hold for a time, but I did notice, that when I went to take the chickens their treats, he saw me, but did not come to the barn area to follow me around. That is a good sign. Yesterday, my friend Delores came by to drop off some things for me. I was on my way out for the 2pm feeding and she came with me. She had the bottle in her hand and when we approached the fence, I told her to just push it through the fence and see if he will take it. 10 weeks of being the only one that he would take a bottle from, convinced me that he wouldn't take it, but he did! YeeHaw! That is a very good sign. We weighed him yesterday and he only put on a pound and a half in a week, which is OK - not like it was before he was on his own. So, we do have progress, even though it seems slow.
We had to put in an electric fence between the boys (Paladin - 4 years old & Cosmos - 2+ years old). Paladin went over the fence, breaking an oak cross board, to get to Cosmos. I would imagine that it has something to do with Cosmos getting close to breeding age and Paladin not willing to share his harem. He doesn't know that we aren't going to use Cosmos for breeding - poor guy......
I started some Elderberry Cordial today. Taking Elderberries off their stems is a very time consuming & tedious job. They are so small. I might get 1 gallon of cordial if I'm lucky.
Something kept bothering me about how we were handling Piangee. I had heard that there was such a thing as "Berserk Male Syndrome (BMS) which is now, more correctly named as Abherrant Behavior Syndrome (ABS) to include females. I had asked my Vet, the day we brought Piangee in for his IV, at one day old, about (BMS). He said that I probably didn't have to worry about it, that it happened rarely. For two months it has nagged me, until I finally sat down to the vast amount of information on the internet and checked it out. What happens is that people, unknowingly, cause this syndrome to happen with their animals, by the way they handle their alpacas. That is exactly what I was doing, not by the bottle feeding, but by my handling him after feeding, petting him, talking to him, feeding him treats from my hand, letting him nibble on my clothes. So, when I feed him now, it's business as usual, no talking, sitting with him to keep him company, or petting him. That is so hard to do! I feel like a cold heartless monster, but I must do this if I am to raise a healthy alpaca boy. So, we moved him out of his nightly cria coop, and into the fields with the girls, full time. Fortunately, I had been taking him out to the field after every bottle feeding during the daytime, to where the girls were, for about 5 weeks now. Now, I go out to the barn at 4 & 10pm at night and 4 and 10am in the moring for his feedings. It is getting easier for me and probable for Piangee too. Hopefully he will adapt quickly.
The 2 month old chicks, that have had to stay in the garage because Piangee was using their (quaranteen) coop, got to move into their larger quarters. They have a place to roost now, once they figure out how to get up there. They went from a small plastic pool with corn cob bedding to 70 square feet of hay covered soil.
I am stuck between the preverbial "rock and a hard place"! Piangee has been using the quaranteen chicken coop for his home since he was born in August. I have seven, 2 month old chickens in the garage, needing more room. The coop was built for the started chicks to go into at this point in their lives. Now the question is, can we get Piangee to stay with the girls all day and all night? I have been walking him out to the bigger pasture after feeding him his bottle, so he could spend time with the alpacas, but have been keeping him in the coop over night. If he is in the pasture with the girls and he sees me outside the house, he comes running at full tilt. I can't ignore this and usually mix a bottle and repeat the whole process. I guess the real question is, can "I" leave him with the girls all night?
Well, the answer to that question is NO! Piangee has been eating a lot less than usual today and I haven't been able to figure out why. I weighed him this morning and he weighed the exact same as 7 days ago - not good...............
Next day: I found very loose stools in his coop this am, and he does not feel good today. Again, he is not eating right. I fed him what I could and he wanted to go visit the girls so bad, I thought he was going to try to jump the gate. So I took him to them. I have been asking God to show me what is wrong. On the way to taking him to the girls, he stopped and went to the bathroom on one of their poop piles and his poop was liquid. I left him and went back to the house to get the Kayopectate and the oral syringe. He liked the taste of that - no problem getting him to take it all. About a half hour later, I checked on him. He was behind the oak house standing in the wood pile, chewing on the Elderberry roots that Dan dug out of the ground and threw over the fence to get them out of his way. He seems to have a real liking for them and they are poisonous to alpacas. I ran over to the wood pile and took the roots he was eating and threw them back over the fence to an area he doesn't go to. After telling Dan what I found him eating, Dan took the roots out to the burn pile and started a fire under them. He will get better now. Thank you God, for showing me what was happening!
We took a couple of buckets to the Shagbark Hickory Tree and picked up and hulled nuts for a while. We have almost 3/4 of a 5 gal bucket of them, hulled but not shelled. The tree is just now dropping the nuts, so there will be a lot more to pick up.. I heard that people were buying them on EBay for $3.50 a pound-unshelled.
I found this quote today - If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. ~Henry Ford
Start with a relationship with our Lord, and the picture is complete. ~Dan & Christina
Escallonia was born on Wednesday around noon and weighed almost 21 pounds two days later. So, she only looked smaller to me, but she is a fairly large size for a newborn cria. She is very dainty looking too, with a dark top blanked of charcoal gray and an underbelly of medium brown. We will call her Essey for short.
We had to get everybody into the barn yesterday for weighing, annual vaccinations and first cria shots. it was a battle with Azalea, she fought valiently but I wish she understood how much I hate to interfere with her and her new crias. She had to have had some really bad memories in her past, to make her mistrust us so much ever since she has been here. I have done everything I know to gain her trust. I talk gently, calmly, and sweetly to her when I am in the barn area with her. I always tell her what a great mom she is and how much I appreciate the care she shows her crias. Man-O-Man, she got me good yesterday. I got kicked twice by her (it doesn't hurt) and spit on with a full frontal hit of green regurgitated grass. It was so gross, it wouldn't even come out of my shirt when I stripped off my clothes in the laundry room and threw them straight into the washer! She has to know that we don't hurt her cria, but it just doesn't matter to her, she is the Queen of the herd and NO ONE crosses her without her letting them know how she feels. I think she wants to trust me but is blinded by her maternal instincts. I wish her daughter, Begonia, had just an ounce of that maternal instinct, then I wouldn't have to bottle feed her cria for 12 weeks. In spite of all the drama, we were able to give 10 alpaca annnual vaccinations, two cria shots and weigh everybody. Sweet Peas is still carrying her cria and is due any day now, so she just got weighed - no shots yet.
We had to put them all in the barn for the afternoon, because the effects of hurricane Ike are coming and Azalea won't go willingly into the barn to get out of the rain. Yet! She will, once her cria is a couple of weeks old. I probably worry too much anyway..................
Yee Haw, we have another girl! I was out this morning picking tomatoes and thought I might as well get a closer look at the new cria. I don't like to get too close to Azalea, she is so protective of her crias. I walked into the barn area and went to get Azalea's food bowl (Dan came out this morning at 3am when I was feeding Piangee and closed the gate when he realized they were all in there). Azalea won't go into the barn with her new cria, unless it is raining. I came out with her bowl and Azalea eagerly, though cauciously, came to eat. When the cria got up to nurse, I knew all I had to do was wait until the tail lifted while it was eating to see what we were blessed with. I was a respectable distance, about 12 feet away, so I put my glasses on and saw that it was a she! She looks to be a charcoal black, with some undertones of redish brown. Azalea was asking to be let out in the lower field, but it is supposed to rain today, so I left them alone. Pictures to come.
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We have another new cria! Girl? Boy?
September 11, 2008
This has been a busy week for me. Monday was Master Gardener Meeting, Tuesday was the Rain Garden Seminar at MSU Fruit Experiment Station and I was there to help explain what Master Gardeners do and how to become one etc., Wednesday was the Town Country Homemakers monthly meeting which my friend, Nat and I hosted. I had to leave early to get home for Piangee's bottle feeding. After he quickly sucked that thing dry, I looked out into the field and noticed that the girls (Alpacas) were pretty scattered in their feeding. I got up from feeding Piangee and looked out toward the NE side of the field and there was Azalea on the other side of the pond overflow, with a brand new, still wet cria. We don't know if it's a girl or a boy, but it is almost black. We will have to inspect it today (it's 1:15am right now). I will try to take pictures when we weigh it , find out what gender we have and give first shots to it and mom. I think I saw some lighter color, maybe a bay black color and the cria looks smaller than what we are used to from Azalea.
Piangee is growing well now and is a real fiesty little boy. I am having quite a time trying to keep up with his energy. He loves to go for walks (silly me - runs) in the back fields where he could accidentally run into his family while flying around the open fields with tremendous speed. He met his dad through the fence on Tuesday and I think they were duly impressed with each other.
I am very happy to report that Piangee is doing much better today! All it took, was a feeding every three hours. His total intake was increased by 12 ounces of formula and that seems to be what was needed. He is running and jumping with youthful abandon and it is such a joy to watch.
After Dan & I did our regular morning chores which are, feeding and watering the alpacas and the chickens, mucking out the stalls, bottle feeding Piangee, feeding and watering the chicks in the garage and finally having our own breakfast, we decided to clean the chicken coops. The NPIP tester is coming on Saturday, and well, it helps if the coops are clean. While working on the outside coop, we found several nests of wasps. Bumble bees and bees don't bother me, but wasps will send chills down my neck faster than anything else. They had built nests inside the tarp that was covering the door. Everytime I went through the door, I shivered, but I went through a bit faster than usual. Dan stood there and tried to clap his hands together and smash them, which made me want to get far away from him. I figured they would take so much of that and let him have it and I didn't want to be in the middle of it, beside, I needed to give Dan room to run once they took out after him. Fortunately for him, they didn't seem to want to fight a crazy man swinging his arms around with such abandon. Later on, after we had come in for lunch, Dan asked the blessing over our food and then he added "Thank you Lord, for protecting us from getting bit by those little black boogers you created" I am still trying to figure out what they are good for.
When we were on our way to the barn, I took a side trip to the vegetable garden and decided I needed to pick some more bell, marconi and jalapeno peppers and tomatoes - maybe tomorrow morning.......... Looks like a bumber crop of sweet potatoes.
I have decided to bring in one or two of the fig plants to overwinter in the greenhouse. Even though I layed the stems down, hooked them down with landscape staples and covered them with hay & chicken wire, they seem to take too long to come back from our winters and don't seem to have enough time to put on a good amount of fruit. There was a man at the County fair that had brought a beautiful fig tree. it was full of fruit, and he had it in a five gallon bucket with holes in the bottom. When I saw all those figs, I thought about my poor pitiful plants and decided if he could do it, so could I.
Piangee (our rejected cria boy) is not gaining weight like he should and I am very concerned. One problem that I can't find an answer to, is that while I sit out there with him, he will investigate his surroundings and munch on a little grass and generally stay off the porch. When I go into the house, he comes onto the porch and stays cushed by the back door until I come back out. I can't stay outside all day long, even though I would like to for his sake. I still have to cook, pick and process vegetables and fruit, clean, do laundry, work on the books, buy groceries and keep up with egg customers on the website, feed and water the chicks that hatched out a couple of weeks ago and much more. I would love to find a book that tells all about bottle raising an alpaca cria boy.
How did they do it? How did they put up their garden produce without air conditioning? Without running water? On a wood stove? Without Certo and pectin? Without all the modern conveniences that we have today? That is what I had on my mind while canning the last two days. Got to hand it to them, it was a hugh job and some of those women were living on isolated farms and had to make do with what they had. If they lost their crops for some reason (too many to list here), they had to find another way to feed their family. We have it easy and it's still hard work.
I put up some van Barneveld Chile Sauce and Jalapeno Jelly this week. These are things that I have to keep stocked up because we use plenty of them and share a lot. Thanks to my baby sister, Gabbe, I finally got the recipe for the Chili Sauce in 2005. My tomatoes are comming in real fast right now and we have been getting some beautiful jalapeno peppers, so I must keep up with them!
We have one new rooster and a cockerel from the lady I purchased my original flock from in 2005. There was a bit of fighting, the next morning, when the main flock went out to free range and had to go past the two coops with the new guys in them. Big Daddy, Jr., had a big problem with Moses, the new rooster. They had been fighting through the chain link fence before I got out there, with both of them being cut up around the head gear. I devised a temporary wall in front of the coop to keep them from getting at each other. Things calmed down nicely and all we had was a crowing contest - I couldn't tell who the winner was though..............................
On Tuesday, the 22nd of July, we had our first Brandywine Tomato Sandwich. The tomato was on toasted sourdough, with a little salt and Mayo, so simple and so great! Last year we had tomatoes by the 4th of July, so this weather we have had this year, impacted the time-table for vegetable and fruit ripening, by 2 1/2 weeks in my small garden.
I personally can not complain about rain, it is a miracle to me, but I am not in one of those areas that got too much rain. I have not had to deal with the destruction of millions of acres of corn, soy beans or other crops. I can only hope, that in all that devastation, there is a giving back to the earth, valuable nutrients that have come from these ravaged crops.
Lets see.........I have incubated three batches of chickens this season and the first two batches of 7 & 10, hatched out 3 pullets & 3 more pullets, that's it! The batch of 8, that I traded a lady in Arkansas 12 eggs for, was a complete bust. She is graciously sending me more eggs, so I will try again with a new Genesis 1588 Forced Air Incubator with Auto-Turner. Sounds cool to anyone who has hatched eggs before, in a still-air styrofoam incubator. Maybe my hatch rate will improve with my new gadget! I am sorely short on cockerels right now, which is a very uncommon problem to have when you are raising chickens. I have my one breeding rooster and no back-ups. I have spoken to the lady in Missouri, who sold my original stock to me, about getting more Spring hatched cockerels. She is willing to oblige, if I drive over 200 miles from here to pick them up. I think it would be cheaper to ship them to me. I'm still working on it.
We had some friends here from California. Gloria (I call her my spiritual mom) and her 16 year old grandson, Dillon, were here for eleven days. We picked them up in Saint Louis from the airport and then after the visit was over, drove them down into Arkansas to meet with her two daughters that live in Tennesee. Gloria and I had some great late-night talks which I enjoyed tremendously. I will miss her a whole bunch. She and her grandson, Dillon, were a great help to Dan and I. Dillon helped Dan & I dig post holes for the Windbreak/Blackberry, raspberry & grape Trellis that we were putting up along the walk to the barn. He mowed some of the lawn and he helped dig up a drainage hose that had sprung a leak and flooded the basement floor, during a huge rain we had earlier. They helped me work at the crafts building to get it ready for the Tri-County Fair. Gloria cleaned the bathrooms and helped us clean the kitchen in that building, which we didn't even have to clean, someone else was supposed to do it. We sure didn't expect to work her so hard, but she is such a trooper, she wouldn't have it any other way.
Gail & Lori teamed up with me to get the exhibit area, in that building, spruced up for the annual fair. They are great helpers and had wonderful ideas about how to make the tables look good for the exhibits. Gail remade our sign for the "Town Country Homemakers" womens group and the sign outside the building. Lori made a sign in the new colors of Teal & Brown, to display at our meetings. They both put a lot of effort and talent into all the things they did. I can only hope to have them on the committee next year - if I am lucky!
Out in the garden, the potato beetles had a party on the vines. My crop was reduced to 35 pounds of potatoes this year as opposed to 85 pounds last year. The sweet potatoes are looking very good though. We have harvested plenty of onions, chard, bell peppers & long sweet Marconi peppers, tarragon, broccoli, borage, all the potatoes we could get from the beetles, basil and some cherry tomatoes. Today, I made my favorite recipes "Vegetable Garden Treasure Hunt" and "Creamed Peas and New Potatoes". mmmmm.......mmmmmmm .........good!
We had so much rain this spring - don't get me wrong, we need it - but we couldn't get the plants into the ground. So we have all the raised beds planted, but no corn, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe or even greenbeans. It seems almost unAmerican to be without these garden staples. I think by now, it is probably too late for all of those things to get mature this season. There is always next year.
We have planted raised beds with asparagus, red & white onions, red potatoes, chard, broccoli, sweet potatoes, 5 types of peppers, 7 types of tomatoes, 3 types of eggplant and celery. The herbs that have been tucked inbetween the vegetables are borage, tarragon, lemon grass, caraway, marjoram, basil, rosemary, bee balm, cilantro, parsley, thyme, fenugreek, parillia and more that I can't think of right now. The spinich and 5 types of lettuce are already done for this season. We will be planting for a fall harvest to make up for the loss of all those summer goodies.
We have lots of fruit ripening this year. Peaches, elderberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, sour cherries, figs and mulberries. Pears, apples and wild plums are not mature yet. The fruit cocktail tree that I received for Mother's Day was supposed to be peach, apricot, plum and nectarine. It is grafted four times, but they all are peaches! I am glad to have peaches, but it would have been better to have the variety that was supposed to be there. With all the rain we have had, I will have a bumper crop of peaches. I have been thinning out the fruit on the branches that I can reach and this will be the first year for fruit on that tree. I haven't had peaches since I found out how many times the trees are sprayed with insecticides. So, time will tell if we have enough beneficial insects to take care of the bad guys that will try to attack this tree.
Do you ever wish you could snap your fingers and all the planting, weeding, mowing, pruning and watering could be all done - just a snap...................? Yeah, me too!
It is so beautiful here, the pond is full, the fish are jumping, all the grass is cut, flowers are blooming, vegetables are growing, fruit trees are fruiting, berries are getting ready to flower, the greenhouse is getting empty, the alpacas pregnant bellies are getting bigger, chickens are laying and we are very pleasantly tired. What more could anyone ask for? God is so good! Just a perfect time for family to come and visit us - we are ready.
Again, I let some time get by before updating on the Poultry testing. Everything came out negative! We are Mycoplasma Senoviae clean now, along with Pullorum, Thyphoid, Mycoplasma Gallisepticum & Avian Influenza clean. That was a mouthful! Since the testing, we have processed all our poultry except the Barnevelders. Our freezer is full and we are good for another year of chicken meat. We purchased 75 pounds of grass fed beef too. It is very delicious!
We have planted potatoes, onions and asparagus so far, but it has been too wet to plant much of anything else. After seeing the unpredictability of the weather, I hate to plant too much else until after Mothers Day. The greenhouse is full of potential food in the form of herbs, vegetables, fruit & flowers (yes, we eat flowers too). It take a real effort on my part, to wait until all possibility of frost is gone, before planting all the goodies outside the greenhouse. I must have well over a thousand plants that need to be planted in a certain order, to make the most out of the growing season. I tried an experiment on tomatoes and was pleased to be able to have them in the greenhouse up until February. I picked everything that remained and cleaned out all the plants, except two that I am going to try to continue to grow. It did get too cold in there at times and stunted the growth, but did not completely stop it.
The citrus trees started to bloom in March and continued until now. The aroma of those blossoms is unbelievably delicious. I try to open the office window every chance I get, to allow the scent to come in and invade the house. If it is too cold to open the window, I find almost any excuse to go in the greenhouse to smell those wonderful blossoms.
It's been a while since I posted anything. I am finally on the up side of the flu and am stuck in a recliner with nothing to do but watch the one channel on TV that we can see well. I made the mistake of saying that "I don't get the flu" to someone who was suggesting that I needed to get a flu shot. I'm still not going to get the shot! Anyway, I am going to touch on some happenings here.
Dan & I were cleaning up the flower bed that is in the back of our house and in front of the old oak house. There were some old flower and herb skeletons left sticking out of the mulch we had just put down and I had asked Dan to pull them out. I was in the quarenteen chicken coop, cleaning out the old hay and replacing it with clean hay. I love watching the chickens while they enjoy the new hay, snuggling down in it or laying on their sides and scretching out thier legs or just scratching in it. They can't seem to wait for me to finish the job before they lay claim to thier own spot of fresh hay. So, I was coming out of the coop and noticed the skeletons of the old herbs and flowers AND MY THREE YEAR OLD WISTERIA VINES ON THE GROUND! I looked at the wisteria stumps left in the ground and all the things I have heard in the past about how they won't grow back if they are cut off to the ground, went swimming through my brain. I said (not too calmly) "Oh no Dan, you better pray that those things grow back!" He said "You said to pull them all out, I wish I had known you didn't want them pulled because they were real hard to get out of the wrought iron trellis you had them winding around". Then he said "I'm sorry!" I said, "I know you are sorry, but you just have to let me be upset for a moment, this was three years of growth that is gone!" As I was picking them all up to put them in the trash pile, I noticed some good budding ends and the thought came to me that I could propagate them in the greenhouse. So, I took a bunch of the better looking pieces into the greenhouse and cut them off clean, dipped them in rooting hormone, then put them in wet vermiculite. As I came around to the back of the house where Dan was still working, I said "Well, maybe God wanted you to do that, because I just started about 30 new cuttings (if they root), and I probably never would have tried to start new plants. So if this works, I will have some to plant and some to give away".
It has rained so much in the last couple of days that the ground is soaking wet - everywhere! I even have standing water in the greenhouse. The pond is overflowing, the barn area is mush and the Cuckoo Marans are having a hard time finding a dry spot to sit. Dan says that the rocks are even flipping over and floating on their backs and we have plenty of rocks in Missouri. The man that does the semi-annual chicken testing is coming next week and we were hoping to have the barn cleaned before he gets here. It's too wet to plow, so the garden will have to wait. All that said, we are very thankful for this rain. The water table needed to raise in our area and I can only believe that this rain has had a good affect on it. I have to go into town soon for a blood test, so I will continue later.
Thank you for your interest in Certified Naturally Grown™! This page seeks to summarize the program in one quick read.
Certified Naturally Grown is a Grassroots Alternative to the USDA's National Organic Program meant primarily for small farmers distributing through local channels - farmer's markets, roadside stands, local restaurants, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs and small local grocery stores - the farmers that make up your local landscape!
The CNG Standards and growing requirements are no less strict than the USDA National Organic Program rules. The primary difference between Certified Naturally Grown and the USDA Organic program is cost to farmers and paperwork requirements.
Why is such an alternative necessary? Simply because once the National Organic Program was implemented in 2002, farmers that proudly referred to themselves as "Organic" for decades are no longer allowed to do so unless they are "certified" as such by a USDA sanctioned agency.
The cost of the new USDA program - both in terms of money and paperwork requirements - is too much for many small farmers to afford. This is even more true for farmers that grow a wide range of crops all at once. The paperwork takes more time for multi-crop farmers than large agribusiness mono-crop farms. This is a shame, because growing many different crops at once is a safer and more ecologically sustainable practice. The soil is worked in different ways, and disease and pest problems are significantly reduced.
The need for an alternative certification program - and a "New Label" became apparent in the spring of 2002 as more and more small farmers voiced their concern over the USDA requirements and declared that they were not planning on joining the new program when it went into effect in October 2002.
Certified Naturally Grown was created as a grassroots alternative to the USDA Organic program. It was created by small farmers, for small farmers, and is being run by small farmers! The same group of farmers that created, nurtured and grew the Organic label to such phenomenal public recognition and acceptance over many decades. The Organic label was not grown with government control and high licensing fees, it was grown with sweat, idealism, and farmers helping farmers to improve and stick to those ideals!
While the new USDA program forbids farm inspectors from making suggestions to improve a farmer's situation, the Certified Naturally Grown program ENCOURAGES sharing and advice between farmers.
The crux of the Certified Naturally Grown program is that we use other organic or CNG farmers as inspectors. Farmer-Inspectors are uniquely qualified to observe and note whether their neighbors are sticking to the standards. Farmer-inspectors fill out a check-sheet inspection form and mail it back to us where it is scanned in and posted on the Internet for anytime public access.
All farmers applying to use the Certified Naturally Grown™ label must agree to do at least one inspection of another farm.
One of the most common misconceptions about the USDA Organic program is how the farm inspections are carried out. A belief has been created that USDA Organic farmers submit their soil or vegetables to "spot chemical tests" and that's part of the reason for the added expense. This is not true. The USDA program does not require chemical tests - spot or otherwise, and instead relies on the farmer's own declarations that they do not use chemicals. Many USDA inspectors do NOT come from an agricultural background and have only gone through a short training program before they begin their on-farm verbal verification of the farmer's paperwork.
It is important to note that Certified Naturally Grown is NOT meant to be a slight or an attack on the new USDA Organic program in any way! While it is frustrating that we won't be able to use a word that we've come to count on for decades now, the USDA program rules have been very well thought out and carefully crafted to maintain the ideals that the Organic farming movement developed and continues to live by. Having a nationally overseen and controlled program should certainly help to encourage many larger farmers to try organic agriculture knowing there is a stable and secure value-added marketing label for their products.
So, as one-time organic farmers, we applaud the growth and maturation of the Organic Label, even as we must move on to a NEW label that is "more our size." That new label, for some of us anyway, is Certified Naturally Grown.
For more information about the program, please contact Alice Varon at 877-211-0308 or via email at info@naturallygrown.org.
There is something so unusual about snow. If you aren't looking outside when it is coming down, you don't even have a clue that it is happening - unless you notice the quiet. If it snows at night and you wake up and look outside to see a white blanket, that wraps you in a quiet calm feeling (probably doesn't happen to kids though - as they would be thinking about playing in it), it can be a wonderful surprise! Much to Dan's disappointment, I love the snow! He humored me by taking a walk with me while it was snowing the other day. I looked like "Gumby" in my arctic overalls, Dan's boots and a head covering that didn't quite keep the snow off my face. Boris and I loved the walk. I have never seen a dog that loves to run in the snow like he does and smiling the whole time. He bites at my boots if he thinks we are going inside the house too soon - before he has been totally exhausted by his joyful run.
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After Christmas Blues
January 25, 2008
Well, it's been a while since I have written a blog. Today is as good a day as any other - maybe even better. We had a wonderful visit with my youngest daughter, Michelle and her two sons (I would have called them "boys" if I had written this before they came here and I saw them). What a shame, they don't play football! We had snow, sunshine and gloomy days - the usual winter weather here. We built a couple of very sturdy swings that are hanging on an old tree by the pond and that got a good workout before they left. I have to say that some of the ways they chose to swing, I had never seen before and I was a tomboy growing up! We had a bonfire one night with some friends and their kids and ate burnt hotdogs and smores - they were great. Michelle played "Smokey the Bear" and made sure the fire was completely out before she called it a night. I am still feeling kinda blue since they left and went South to see her dad in Texas.
We are having an invasion of birds coming into the chicken coops and drinking all the water and eating so much food that we can hardly keep up with the feed bill. The weather has been pretty bad, freezing the ponds and small streams and we have had some severe freezes early in 2007 and then again this year that have put a burdon on the wildlifes food sources around here. All the wild birds around here know the drill. As soon as they see us going to the barn, they wait until we leave and fight each other to get inside the three coops for the fresh meal we serve (to our chickens). We don't have a way to patch all the holes in the barn (around 100+ years old) and we leave doors open so the Alpacas can come and go as they need to. They also leave hugh amounts of that feed as a messy by-product, all over the place. The owl that we bought to discourage them, was placed on a stand and is ignored completely. I have seen the birds perching on his head next to the coop - adding insult to injury!
Phenology, which is derived from the Greek word phaino meaning to show or appear, is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events that are influenced by environmental changes, especially seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation driven by weather and climate. Wide ranges of phenomena are included, from first openings of leaf and flower buds, to insect hatchings and return of birds. Each one gives a ready measure of the environment as viewed by the associated organism. Thus, timings of phenological events are ideal indicators of the impact of local and global changes in weather and climate on the Earth's biosphere.
Seasonality is a related term, referring to similar non-biological events, such as the timing of the fall formation and spring break-up of ice on fresh water lakes
The above information about NPN was taken from their website.
The National Phenology Network needs people to study plants (trees, shrubs etc.) and report back to them the observations noted during the new growth periods - all the way through leaf loss and dormancy. I chose the Redbud as one of the trees to watch and report on. We have several on our property at different locations. This is interesting to me and since I like to see how the weather changes and affects plants and wildlife around here, it was a natural thing for me to do.
That is Dan's new excuse to not have to paint. On the can of paint it says "only paint when temperatures are above 50 degrees". It has always amazed me, how well he can remember some things and not others and these lapses are so consistant. Oh well, I forget a lot of stuff, too, and I'm younger!
We are still trying to build a new chicken coop, and while we go along (very slowely) Dan paints the wood as we put it up, in hopes that it lasts longer, in this wonderful changing weather we have here in Missouri. I wish I knew how to put pictures on the blogs, so you could actually see the progress. I don't think a chicken coop should have it's own page, but that's my opinion. The chicks are getting bigger and will need more room in another month or so, which means we have a deadline of sorts.
Boris is so interested in the chicks when I feed and water them, but I worry when he licks his lips the whole time he is watching them. I have been leaving him in the back part of the house while we are gone to the store or to church, just to be safe. Today, Dan forgot to close the door to the den when we left for church, so when we got home, Boris was sitting half in the living room and the kitchen when I entered the kitchen from the garage door. After seeing him there, I calmly walked past him, into the living room to see how the chicks were - Wow! What a relief! They are fine!
This is the fourth time that I have tried to write a blog and if it goes up - Hallelujah! By this Wednesday, we should have a dozen new Barnevelders and 10 new Cuckoo Marans chicks
Update: We had only two Barney chicks hatch and five Cuckoo Marans pullets hatch on Tuesday and Wednesday. We had nine mutts hatch too, so when the Barneys hatched I dipped their feet in red food dye to distinguish them from the mutts, which meant that I had to stay up all night to make sure I got them right. Their little feet are way too small to put a band on (at least, not the bands that I have). They are all snug in their box in the living room - eating, sleeping and checking out their environment. Cute little flufff balls!
I got a call from my son, very early in the morning, the day before Thanksgiving (about 6am my time, but 4am California time). He had just been in his home, asleep, and around 3am, his wife yelled, "FIRE". He jumped up, got to the kids room, and was able to get them all (5) out including the dog. His home was lost. He was very traumatized by the thought of how close he came to loosing his whole family. We have a tradition in our family, of going around the table and each person saying what they are thankful for, after the blessing is asked and before the Thanksgiving Meal. Richard, my son, said "This may sound weird after all that has happened but, this is the best Thanksgiving I have ever had, because we have our whole family here to share it with". If you can't already guess it - Richard is my hero! His ten year old son, Jared, is too, because he helped his dad round up the younger kids before his dad could get them out the window to safety. Richard was taken to the hospital by Michelle (his little sister) and suffered first and second degree burns on his head, face and ears and got an immediate overall hair trim from the heat that singed his hair off at the ends. Erica (his older sister) took on three of the five children, giving them baths, blow drying and brushing out their hair and generally, just loving on them. Since the fire was started in the hot water heater (which was turned in previously to the landlord as having problems and not dealt with by the owners), the property management company (who are the owners) is liable to replace their belongings. What a blessing to see my children working together to help Richard and his family get through this situation. I am so very proud of them. They each have their own way of expressing love and it works.
Wow, it's probably a good thing that reunions don't happen all the time, I felt way older than I thought I was. My mom, sisters & spouses, brother & spouse, children, grandkids, neice, nephew and all the rest looked the same to me. I guess, I am the only one that is looking older - how is that fair?
My sister and her husband, outdid themselves as hostess and host. Their home is beautiful and nestled in the hills of Prescott, AZ. I am continually amazed at what she and her husband have been able to accomplish with their many talents. In the past, when I visited my sister, I purchased many things that she made on the potter's wheel. I have always admired her pieces and was very happy that she finally found her niche in ceramics. In the begining, I hoped to encourage her by buying her pieces (besides the fact that I liked them). She is now, a very accomplished artist , has her own studio and probably doesn't need my encouragement anymore, because she is very good at what she does! To see her work go to www.vanprice.com
We all got together to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday and get caught up with family news. It was so good to see everyone. Holly, my sister's daughter, sang an old Irish ballad to my mom, "Danny Boy", and we all had a good cry. Holly is very talented too! See it on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPMNRd0aA2g
My daughter, Erica, has a website http://monarchmontessori.tripod.com/ericathomas/index.html is about her family and their home based business, careing for young pre-school children and teaching them in the Montesori method. She has almost completed her schooling for her credentials. I can see why she is so excited about this method, check out her site and see what I mean.
As far as I can tell, our ladies are all pregnant! They spit, kick and run when Paladin is let out to visit them and he is not too happy about this rejection. He acts like a spoiled little boy who got his toys taken away for bad behavior. At least he is a gentleman and doesn't push himself on them. He also knows from scent when they are pregnant and leaves them alone. Having 'tail duty" was getting old, anyway. For those that don't know, alpaca females need their tails wrapped before being bred, or they need a person on tail duty. Someone who will reach in between them a pull the tail over - out of the way, giving better and easier access to the male. That would be me................Every time I had to do this, I would get a head rush from having to bend over so far to see what I was doing. Of course, being half blind, over 55 and overweight had nothing to do with it. Note - The next day when we opened the gate after feeding, Azalea strolled over to Paladins gate and made it known that she was ready for him. By George, I was wrong - back on tail duty!
The tomato plants in the greenhouse are putting out some nice, large, ripe tomatoes on a regular basis. I hope they will continue for a long time! Before the frost comes on real strong, we will dig up the artichoke, eggplant, sage, parsley and basil and transfer them into the greenhouse. The late spinach, chard, carrots, lettuce and beets are coming on well and should be OK outside for some time. Later, we will turn down the figs branches to anchor them to the ground, then mulch heavily for winter. The Cannas and Elephant Ear bulbs will come into the greenhouse for safe keeping. I must say, the best okra I have ever tasted is the Chinese Okra and it continues to grow fresh new okra every few days. This okra is not slimey like so many others and we think the best way to prepare it is dipped in tempura batter and fried in Canola Oil. if you haven't tried it and want too, send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I will send you six free seeds (until they run out) that I collected from this years plants. You will be glad you tried it. Look on the contact page for our address. I had only four plants this year and they gave enough for us to put up quit a bit as well as enjoy it all summer long - it is still flowering now! It needs some room to grow and I would suggest you give it a fence to grow up on or stake it up - it's a vine and loves to sprawl.
Today was productive by most peoples standards. We started in the garden after feeding & watering the alpacas and chickens, and having our breakfast. We had previously prepared the empty spots, where we had already harvested the vegetables in the raised beds, for new plantings. I had chosen which seeds we were going to plant the night before. Two types of carrots (red cored & extra sweet), Red Detroit Beets, Neon Chard, three types of bibb & lettuce, and two types of spinich. Dan had saved some linoleum and carpet remnents to put down in the walkway between the raised beds and was putting that down, while I watered in the seeds. I picked a big bunch of carrots (we still have two types left from a previouse planting). We have sweet potatoes still in the ground, lots of tomatoes (two types of cherry tomatoes plus Brandywine, Yellow and dark purple tomatoes), jalapeno, bell and Marconi peppers, Basil (curly green, purple and sweet basil), Sage, Parsley, Tarragon, Thyme, green onions, baby leeks, Chinese Okra, Artichokes and yard long green beans. I took the carrots in to clean and prepare for lunch, along with sliced tomatoes, chicken salad and Wild Blackberry Cobbler. Dan peeled a bunch of potatoes from the garden for potato soup dinner. While that was cooking, we went out to the back of the greenhouse to tidy up all the used containers that had been tossed out there for a better time to work on it We needed to seperate the soil from the dead plants (for our compost pile). These were some of the things that dried up and died from heat stroke in the greenhouse (note: must get shade cloth next year for the summer months). I had noticed that during the dry spell we had, that the soil level had receeded in the flower boxes (not down to a lower level, but back from the boards), by more than an inch in some places. So, the soil we saved from our earlier task was then mixed with some of the older alpaca & kitchen compost that we keep in an old cement watering trough, by the barn. We went along the front of the house and filled all the holes in the flower boxes with some great compost. While working on that, I took some of the dried seeds that were on the Cannas and sprinkled them around to, hopefully, thicken up the planting for next year. I think I must have slowed Dan from his shoveling compost, because he just stood there leaning on the shovel (waiting patiently) for me to quit puttering with the flower seeds. I got the message and went back to lifting the flowers away from the edge so he could get the compost right where it was needed most. We get a lot of work done and sometimes we don't even have to say anything - body language is an amazing thing! It took several loads of compost and soil to get that job done and by the time it was finished - we were too!
I plan on having tomatoes as long as I possibly can - in the greenhouse. This winter will be a test as to how that can be accomplished. My friend Mike, suggested that during the winter, I open the windows that look into the greenhouse from the house, to make use of the heat that builds up in there. He said maybe a small fan could be used to bring the heat in. I like that idea, but does anyone know how that heat could get in without using electricity? If so, please tell me at the end of this blog.
Sweet Pea is not pregnant - no cria for her this year.
September 6, 2007
9-6 The only cria we will see this years is Daphne and that makes her even more special than she already was. While the Veterinarian was here last Friday, trimming Sweet Pea's toenails and checking her teeth he said she wasn't pregnant, in spite of her progesterone test last year that showed she was. Alpacas are notorious for absorbing pregnancies. So, we start again with the process of breeding. All the alpacas have received their annual vaccines and are showing signs that they are ready to get bred. The cycle goes on.
9-7 Begonia and Sweet Pea have been bred by Paladin. Azalea has shown that she is ready and she is next in line to breed, when Paladin is ready. It has been kind of drizzly today and I have had to carry an umbrella around the place to keep an eye on them and make sure Daphne doesn't get in the way. She is just so curious about it all.
I decided to write about this because it wouldn't be honest not to tell some of the trials we go through. Just know that I believe in God, His Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. When I am at my best, is when They are in contol of my life. Giving control to an all knowing and all powerful God is not as easy as it should be. This has been an interesting month, full of spiritual, emotional and physical ups and downs. I have fought a battle this last month and I thank God that I didn't have to do it alone. My back almost had me where I couldn't walk and Dan finally called a new Chiropractor because I would not go to the last one we had. After getting my back where I could function again, my heart started to do it's atrial fib. and arythmia. This sent me to the emergency room & ICU, last year, to the tune of $11,000.00 plus and we are still paying for it (no insurance). This time, I was unwilling to go to the hospital and waited it out. I told Dan that "If God wanted to take me home, it didn't matter if I was here or at a hospital". Last year, under the ICU care, my heart did not convert to a regular rhythm until over 100 hours later. This time, while at home, it took about 50 hours. Mind you, my mind was doing some serious vasilating, but I was determined not to have another huge hospital bill and I trusted God had my best interests at heart. I had many family and friends praying for me and what a blessing that is. I also knew that, because I had been taking blood thinner for the last year, the problem of passing a blood clot out of my heart was minimal - I prayed. After the Labor Day weekend, I went to see my regular Physician, and I was trying to be ready to get chewed out by her, for not going tothe hospital. She was an absolute doll! But then, she always is. She has adjusted my medication to see if we could get my heart under control. I don't recommend that anyone else do what I have done, unless you have enough faith in Gods love for you and trust fully in His grace. I thank God that He thinks He can use me, for some good, here on earth.
Monday, close to lunchtime, I let Boris out, so he and I could watch the lightning and listen to the rolling thunder. It was spectacular! I looked over to the East field by the gate and saw Azalea standing under a tree in the rain. It is not usual for her to be just standing there. She is either coming in the gate or going out of the gate. I stepped inside the house to get my glasses and went back outside to get a better look. I saw what looked like a brown tree stump on the ground by Azalea. When Azalea dipped her head down to touch the top of that stump, I was pretty sure it was her cria. When a cria is born and well into their young life, the mom will reach down and touch the top of their head, or other parts, as a form of bonding and reassurance. I called into the house and asked Dan to get into his rain gear - cause I was pretty sure we had a brown Cria. He went out to the barn and I grabbed my raincoat and camera and was fast on his heels. When he got to Azalea, he reached down, picked her cria up and carried her to the barn (much to Azaleas concern). I tried to towel her baby dry, but Azalea was sooooooo upset that I decided to let her dry in the barn and give her some time to bond and settle down. She is a beautiful healthy brown baby cria, weighing almost 19 lbs. Of course, we didn't know it was a female or how much she weighed until a couple hours later when we went back to the barn to check on her. The rain had stopped, so when we saw her shivering in the barn, we manuvered Azalea out of the stall and I picked her up and wrapped the towel around her and rubbed vigorously, then took her outside to mom and the sunshine. Azalea and Daphne (Daphne means water nymph in Greek) had their shots today, and Daphne weighed a healthy 20.4 lbs. Thanks to all my friends and family that prayed for us to have a healthy girl and that sent us lots of ideas for her name. Daphne was on several lists and I chose that name because she was born in the rain. When she dried out, I could see she had dark (almost black) fleece on the lower part of her legs that blended into the brown fleece of her body and some darker fleece around her head, neck and ears. She also has a small black spot on her right shoulder. I really love the way she looks and Azalea is such a good mother.
Sweet Pea is next to have her cria (any time now - as a matter a fact) and I hope she is as good a mom as Azalea. Since Sweet Pea is the lowest in the pecking order of this herd, I want her to have a cria to love and a healthy female (I can hope!) cria to love her back.
I am selling all the BRB chickens to a friend that is commuting from Alabama to Mountain Grove, MO, where her new husband lives, not far from our farm. Right now, while still residing in Alabama and finishing up her medical career as a Doctor, she is building their herd of Alpacas and will move them all to their place down the road from us. They had purchased a small chicken tractor to house the BRB's, but decided to buy a larger one to house the whole family including the newly hatched chicks. I think these chickens will become more like pets with them, than they are with us.
The 2 inches of rain that we got Sunday and Monday, is such a blessing! Even though some places are still brown and yellow, they aren't as crunchy as they were..........................
OK, it's summer, what did I expect? Our pond is so low that the fish are worried. The squash and cucumbers are done and the melons are looking pretty sad. I have tried to limit the amount of watering the garden gets and you can tell, they are sagging. We have had an excellent amount of produce, given away a lot of cantaloupe, lemon cucumbers (I tried to kill them with neglect and they just kept on coming), tomatoes, squash, chinese okra, peppers, potatoes, eggplant and dill (someone was pickeling). Even Boris, who is Johnny-on-the-Spot whenever we get anywhere near a door to go out, is laying down behind the couch and not even lifting his head up to see who is going out. The Alpacas have been staying in the barn, on the concrete floor, most of the daylight hours. They leave the barn only to go belly-dip in the pond, and grab a few bites on the way back to the shade. We need rain, but we are not alone. We have finally been able to locate some hay for sale, to carry us over through the winter. There is a shortage here, due to the army worms eating up a lot of the fields. The man we usually buy from, doesn't even have enough to feed his cattle. It all sounds grim, but this is the life we choose to live and these are the circumstances that we deal with. A lot of unknowns. Since God is our supplier, we have no needs that will be unmet. The comfort of knowing that is hard to describe, it is "The peace that passes all understanding".
What a great garden we have. I have been canning for several weeks and have not been able to get caught up with the wonderful bounty we have. That is the kind of problem everybody should have - huh? I even pickled squash! We have been eating those Golden Midget Watermelons just about every other day and they are great. Small enough to fit in the refrigerater, to cut in half for two people to share, they ripen early in the season and the golden color tells you it's time to pick them. Next year, we will use some kind of organic fertilizer to enhance the flavor, which is really good but not the flavor I remember from a melon Dan & I received from our Chiropractors wife in California. It was memorable! The tomato crop is amazingly large. We have been picking tomatoes that weight almost 2 pounds. Lots of wonderful cherry tomatoes that are a ruby black color. The seed was purchased from Baker Creek Seeds here in Missouri and are heirloom seeds. We are saving seed from all the plants we love, to plant next year.
Our weather is absolutely georgeous right now, staying around the middle to upper eighties and going down to the sixties at night. It helps me work in the garden longer when the weather is so fine. We could use some more rain, the pond is getting low again and I love it when the rain does the watering in the garden.
We are expecting two crias in August and the girls bellies are getting pretty big! Looking forward to seeing them play together.
I did something kind of funny last night (Dan said it was mean). When we were getting ready for bed, Boris had his usual "Last Chance" outside, so I had this thought, "Because Boris is such a creature of habit, what would he do if his bed was gone when he gets back"? So, I quickly ran into the bedroom and threw his bed in the closet, then shut the door and tried to look casual when he came in. Dan told him to go night-night and I was standing by the door, he walked past me and looked where his bed usually is and stopped dead in his tracks about three feet from the empty spot. I told Dan what I did and thats when he said I was mean. I turned around and Boris was still frozen in place but turned his head around to look at me and wagged his tail with little enthusiasm. I couldn't stop laughing but managed to ask Dan to take him into the hall so I could put his bed back. When Boris came back in, he just went to bed and then I gave him his usual goodnight kiss. With a great sigh, he went to sleep.
Today is that one-in-a-million ? day. Nothing out of the ordinary for us. Up early, feeding the animals, changing the water, mucking the stalls and tending to the garden, all before we go in to have breakfast. We will be picking the last of the potatoes (total 81 pounds) and I will be doing some mowing that I missed the other day. We got an artichoke this morning, a little thing, but an artichoke none-the-less! We also picked our first Golden Midget Watermelon and Listada Eggplant and you can see them on the Sustainable Garden Page. I don't think I will be long this morning as Boris is trying to climb into my lap - all 65 lbs of him. I think he wants to go out. Later..............................
I'm back! We had Five Vegetable Tempura today for lunch, mmm mmm good. I had to find a tempura recipe online because not one of my many recipe books had a recipe for it.
It is very hot today, but not even close to what my son, Richard, and his family are experiencing in Stockton, CA.. It was 107 degrees there a couple of days ago. Right now, at 4:05 pm, inside our house, it is 78 degrees and 95.6 degrees outside. We have an unspoken rule here "You can't be outside working in the sun from noon to 5:00 pm" Before that time and after that time, many things can be accomplished safley.
That little Golden Midget Watermelon was very tasty after it cooled down in the fridge, plus, I spotted another one out there that should be ready to pick tomorrow.
Wow - we have picked over 60 lbs. of potatoes with more to go, 18 lbs. one morning of eightball squash, winter scalloped squash, Cocozelle squash & straight yellow squash. Boston pickeling cucumbers, lemon cucumbers (16 lbs on Saturday), yard long green beans, Ananai Noir tomatoes (15oz each), red okra, chinese okra, onions, garlic, Jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, ground cherries, Basil, lemon basil, dill, sage, thyme & parsley. I have seen an artichoke start to come out and there are four more kinds of tomatoes to look forward to, lots of melons (four types), butternut squash, corn, eggplant, broccolli, Jeruselem Artichoke, Marconi peppers, carrots, red beets and sweet potato. Some herbs we haven't used yet but are growing here are tarragon, borage (except Boris loves this as a salad and grazes on it while he is in the garden with me), peppermint, rosemary and chives.
This year, we entered 15 types of vegetables in the fair and won 15 first and second place ribbons. All the produce is grown without pesticides, insecticides and not-organic fertilizers but it was judged on it's look, size and color. Last year the squash bugs were so bad that I just gave up on getting any more squash after the first few pickings. This season they seem to have been affected by the last freeze we had after two weeks of 80 degree weather. I have not seen any in the garden and only one was in the greenhouse well before I planted the squash outside in the garden. The raised beds are a complete success. Potatoes can be harvested by just reaching under the plant into the soil and taking them out. That may not seem unusual for some of you, but when you consider what Dan & I had to do, to get the few meager potatoes out of the ground our first garden year here, it was a miracle! We planted 96 Yukon Gold and 96 Red potatoes chunks in the ground. We may have gotten a couple of gallon buckets of potatoes and we worked hard to get those. Dynamite was a word that continually crossed my mind as we used a pick axe to get the few potatoes out.
Besides the vegetables that were entered, we entered four hats, a knitted scarf, Jalapeno Jam, Chili Sauce, one photo and copper crafts. The total amount of ribbons, including the ones we received for the vegetables, was 26. Two Grand Champions, 15 Blue, 7 Red and 2 White. Not only does our work pay off for us but again when others see the value in it.
We have put up the first 12 quarts of tomato/squash base for soups this fall/winter and a dozen 12oz jars of Jalapeno Jam. Just a start! I can see that I will be taking jams to the Farmers Market to sell this summer.
I just sprayed the first two gallons of Mosquito Barrier in the greenhouse, garden and around the front and back porch. With a monthly spray, it is supposed to keep mosquitos, ticks, fleas, flys and chiggars from infesting your property. It also deters armadillos, deer, rabbits and field mice. I will try to remember to report in a blog how well it works.
