End of Summer

Well, summer has come and gone here in the Northwest. They say our low this Wednesday will be 29! BRRRR!!! I have most everything harvested and I have been making jelly all week. I have made crab apple, plum, grape, plum, some green pepper jelly, and more plum. Oh! Did I mention plum?




Our old Damson Plum tree as usual makes more plums than the chickens, the squirrels, the dogs, the neighbors, and us together could ever eat. (Though Orion tries his best to eat them all).








This year was pretty successful considering it was our first year back home and the soil was in pretty pathetic shape. No one told the pumpkins or squash that though, they pretty well took over the whole garden! Next year they get staked!







I found out that my favorite summer squash is the white patty pan. Not only are they quite tasty raw, steamed or baked, they were the most prolific in the garden.
And aren't they just the neatest shape? They were definitely my favorite crop this year.



Here's a few more of my favorite pictures from this year's garden...

Homegrown Revolution

This is what we all need to be doing, right in our own back yards, right now. The term "Victory Garden" is back. I think it applies now more than ever. After watching this video, visit YouTube for more just like it. There is a gardening revolution sweeping the nation, and I'm proud to be part of it!!

http://pathtofreedom.com/ <--Visit their website!! EXCELLENT!!

A Rainbow of Eggs

I found this on BackYardChickens.com
Who knew there were so many color possibilities among chickens! Since I have a Maran rooster (now living with a friend in the country, more on that later) and Ameraucana hen, maybe I can breed some gray, or maybe green layers.

Clockwise, starting with the white:
1. Leghorn
2. Light brown layer, like Barred Rock
3. Medium brown layer, like Rhode Island Red
4. Marans
5. Cross between 4 and 8
6. Cross between 3 and 8
7. Cross between 2 and 8 (typical Easter egger)
8. Ameraucana or Araucana

Grow Garden Grow!

I have my first squash blossom! YAY! It's sooo pretty! It's one of my zucchini plants. Isn't it pretty! *points*
My tomatoes are doing great now. I Burned them by watering them in the heat of the day. They looked pretty pitiful for a few days. But now they're greening up and I have a few flowers too!
I saw a honey bee the other day around sunset. That's the only one I have seen this year. I have seen several small little bees around,... not sure what kind they are.
I'm pretty happy now that I have a lot of plants up and growing. Let me think... I have corn, tomatoes, several kinds of pumpkin, patty pan swash in white, yellow, and green, some acorn squash, zucchini, crook-neck squash, purple potatoes, cucumbers, several kinds of beans, turnips, peppers of all colors, shapes, and heat levels, onions, garlic, okra, watermelons, and several types of unusual melons to try. Hooray for Summer! :D

Spring Report!

Only 2 and a half weeks to the official start of summer! We've had a busy spring. Luckily, some of the work we've done in the past when we lived here 10 years ago has survived to greet us this spring. Here's a few of our bright sunny tulips.
The first thing we did was plant a mini orchard of fruit trees along the North side of the backyard. I helped Don plant an Italian Prune, a grafted combo of apples, a combo of cherries, a combo of pears, and an apricot. They all budded out nicely and all had a few flowers. So it looks like we may have a few fruits this year from each tree!
The next project was to make a garden. Back in February, I planted trays of seed and had them up and beautiful by March. Grif built a lovely greenhouse... that Orion ventilated for me. Which killed all my plants. *Grumbles something about big obnoxious rowdy oversized dogs* We gave up on the greenhouse idea and took it down. I decided I needed a fence to keep out Big Nose and Jack Rabbit! (Orion and Dori). Grif did a fine job of making a beautiful wood fence.... that Dori dove under and Orion went through. So we lined it with 2 by 4 inch vinyl-coated wire. But then they both wiggled under the gate. So I put a row of firewood logs under the gate. I have to step over, but it's worth it to keep them out.
I started new trays after we got the fence up and now have new seeds ready to go out as I get the beds ready. I bought several tomatoes and pepper plants that were already good size. so they were the first to go in. I planted about 8 different kinds of tomatoes right in the bed. The seeds will hopefully be up soon. I also have one corn bed planted. I'm gonna try this new Mirai. They say it's the sweetest corn ever. The seeds were really funky looking- all shriveled up. They didn't look like corn at all.
More to post soon! I'll take more pictures as I get the garden done. Next up, strawberries!

Chickens Again!

We have chickens again! I returned the 2 little roosters a while back and ordered 2 dozen Black Copper Maran eggs from mail order place. BAD idea! I asked to be notified when the eggs were shipped so I would be expecting them. Well we came home one chilly 37 degree day to find my box of eggs sitting on the porch! I rushed them inside and turned on the incubator. When the temperature seemed stable enough, I put the eggs in and hoped for the best. Only 11 developed, and only 5 hatched. There was another problem as well. This breed's eggs are supposed to be dark chocolate burgundy brown. These eggs were not all that dark; in fact, they were not much darker than regular brown eggs. It was a big disappointment. Soon after my 5 little chicks hatched, out pet shop had a few amaraucanas come in. I brought home the cutest little white chick to add to the flock. We still don't know which are boys and which are girls, but we are getting a bit of an idea. There's one in particular- quite aggressive and tends to run off by himself. We figure that one must be a boy. But time will tell! About a week ago we brought home 3 more amaraucana chicks from out pet shop. These were sexed and are supposed to be hens. They are all a cute soft buffy brown. Sorry, I don't have pictures of them yet. So the total is 4 Marans (we lost one to a local Cooper's hawk- my daughter caught it in the act!) and 4 amaraucanas. Out of these we will hopefully have 2 girls out of each group. If my marans don't lay any dark eggs though, I'll be shopping for replacements next spring.

Chia -- Superfood!

The famous Chia 'pets' grown on clay pots are a superfood known and cultivated by Aztecs over 5000 years ago. We need to stop playing with this plant and start EATING it!!

There are two varieties, the cultivated Mexican Chia, Salvia hispanica, which grows naturally on clay soils (hence chia pets), and the Golden Chia (Salvia Columbariae). This is our northern variety. It hasn't been cultivated, but was collected from the wild by the indigenous California people. It's a little annual sage that doesn't look like a sage. The leaves are deeply dissected and very crinkly. 2 or 3 neat flower globes grow on each square-stemmed stalk from a 1-2 foot plant. Highly variable, this native can be found in clean areas between the chaparral, on south slopes on rock, gravel, or disturbed soil. In the desert it grows only a few inches high.

Taste-wise, chia seeds have a nutty flavour, and are a healthful addition to the diet sprinkled on cereals, yogurt or salads. You can also eat them whole or mix them into flour when baking bread, muffins or other baked goods.

Chia (-hispanica) is an oil seed; two-thirds of Chia oil are Omega-3 essential fatty acids (polyunsaturated) with only 10% saturated fatty acids, making them a better source of omega 3 fatty acids than flax-seeds. In addition to its extremely high Omega-3 content, Chia has other nutritional qualities: antioxidants, fiber, vitamins B1, B2, B3, plus minerals such as phosphorus, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc and copper.

A great benefit of the chia seed is its durability. Unlike flax-seeds, it can be stored for long periods without becoming rancid, and does not require grinding. Two tablespoons of chia - about 25 grams - provide about seven grams of fiber.

In a preliminary study from the University of Toronto (2006), researchers gave 21 diabetics either a supplement made from chia, or grains with similar fibre content. The results were interesting. After three months, blood pressure from the chia group dropped 10 points diastolic and 5 points systolic., while the blood pressure from the grain group remained steady.

Chia hispanica

Chia columbariae

More on Chia

and More on Chia

Snowy Winter

I haven't posted in a while. But it's winter, so not much gardening is going on at the moment! We are having a lot of fun, though. We've had ridiculous amounts of snowfall, and the guys are getting buffed shoveling all that snow! Be sure to click on the pictures to see them full size.

Meet Orion, our new puppy. That's right, puppy. He's more like a baby bear than a baby dog! He's a malamute mix according to Spokanimal (our city animal shelter). I think he looks like he may be part Arctic Wolf! He is so lovable and playful. He and Dori get along great, though he wears her out!

Christmas was relaxed. We didn't go crazy with shopping and cards and cooking and gifts and stress and headaches and sleeplessness and... blah blah blah.

So as you can see from the cats, we had a very pleasant Season.
When we went to cut our tree, there had been very little snow. People at the tree farm were commenting on how strange it was to cut Christmas trees without snow on the ground. But not long after our tree-cutting trip, it started snowing, and it has never stopped! I'm not sure what our total is, but we've got a couple feet out there! I have really enjoyed it, but I'm starting to get itchy for Spring! I'll start starting seeds soon! :) YAY! I am SO looking forward to a great year of gardening!