A hot, hot harvest day and a new enemy.

 

   

Hot, hot day on the farm. It was 95 degrees today and tomorrow it’s gonna be 97 but with a heat index that makes it feel like 110°. That makes it no fun to be in the garden. Add about 80% Humidity to that temp and that equals a very difficult harvest. Luckily Mindy spent a half hour collecting the veggies.

The small grape or (cherry) tomatoes are getting ripe but the other types are still pretty green.

The peppers are starting to really pop! You can see a green pepper and a Thai hot pepper in the above picture along with spinach, lettuce, dill, basil, cucumbers, and grape/cherry tomatoes.

There’s a couple of jack rabbits that are just destroying the garden. They’re taking down broccoli, cucumbers, pumpkins and now I gotta take them out. I think I’ll set some traps this week and relocate the little guys to somewhere else. Far, far away from here.

There’s also a video of Jake chasing one rabbit off here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFnq-U6ppHA

Here’s a couple stills of the varmint.

   

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What’s the Big Dill?

 

Cucumbers are just blowing up. Mindy collected these this afternoon. We collected about a dozen yesterday as well. They love this heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut some for bread and butter chips and mixed with sugar, apple cider vinegar and spices.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finished product….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I made some Dill Pickles, Mindy’s favorite. I like the Bread and Butter. The dill pickle recipe is on the recipe tab. I’ll post the B & B recipe as soon as I can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Fresh Dill from the garden and the pickle spears soaking in vinegar and spices.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, I found this spider eating a grasshopper the other day. Any idea what type of spider this is? Click on the pic to see a larger version cause I could swear it has a Mickey Mouse logo on it’s body.

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How to Water Tomatoes and Santa Crow

Tomato Growing Tip: Water your tomatoes regularly before the leaves appear wilted.

• Watering tomatoes is the most important element in growing tomatoes
• Tomatoes are 90 to 95 percent water and need about 1-inch of water per week. More for sandy soil.
• Maintain even soil moisture.
• Don’t let the soil completely dry out.
• Soak the soil when watering down to 6 inches.
• Water the base, not the leaves.
• Never over-water, which can happen if your site has poor drainage.
• The best control for cracking is a constant and regular water supply.

   
Cucumbers need at least eight hours of sun every day and rich soil. They are frost-sensitive and prefer warm, humid weather to produce a good crop. Cucumbers are 90 percent water, so adequate watering throughout the growing season is vital to get a juicy crop.

   
There are four types of cucumbers: slicing, pickling, space-savers and the ever-popular burpless cucumber. These are pickling cucumbers. We like them cause they’re smaller, faster growing, delicious raw and make great pickles.

   
Look out! It’s Santa Crow. I woke up to find this in the rear field. My neighbors put him there to scare away the deer. He’s over 5′ tall and I think he’s doing his job. Jake saw him this morning and was barking like crazy. Aesthetically, it’s a bit of an eye sore but we’ll keep him till we can make something better. Ho! Ho! Ho!
   
Thank You All for over 1,000 visits in a month! Keep spreading the word about our little farm blog. We greatly appreciate it!

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An Unwanted Guest and Loads of pics

   

I caught this doe in the rear field this morning. I have got to get that fence repaired in the beck. Usually deer are active at dusk and dawn but this young lady was out and about around 9:30am. Not a good sign. I also caught a jack rabbit in the front garden yesterday. I won’t use chemicals to keep them out. I use hair clippings (they hate the smell of humans) I get from the local salon and I need to build a scarecrow.

   
Broccoli                                                   Cabbage

        

Corn – Planted at about 10 days apart. You can see the difference between the middle and right pic. The right pic was rototilled once again before planting so the grass is really staying out of the way as compared to the middle pic. The sweet corn looks lush green and very healthy!

   
Cucumbers                                                 Pumpkins

   
Leaf Lettuce                                                Spinach

   
Roma Tomatoes                                        Supersonic Tomatoes

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A very pink evening

 
Peppers are starting to flower and I got celery in the ground.

 
Broccoli got in and tomatoes are loving this heat.

 
Brother Doug helped me plant, carrots, onions, basil, oregano, dill, thyme,  parsley, spinach and lettuce from seed. We cover them in straw to create a warm, wet environment to germinate the seeds faster. It also cuts down on weeds by blocking the out.

 

The sky turned a really crazy pink tonight so I ran outside to capture some photos. The sun painted the garden a haze of pink and the sky rumbled with thunder.

 
Just crazy cool and an eerie calm before the thunderstorms.

 
Fence and latch in the pink glow. I like the latch pic best of all.

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Celery, Onions, Pickles and stuff

I was able to get some broccoli, cabbage and onions sets planted when I got home this evening. I mound up the soil, add some organic manure and pop ’em in the ground. I like to separate root vegetables.It’s easier when you have to dig them all up.

 

The chickens enjoy foraging for worms and bugs while I plant.

Cucumber Patch is filling in nicely. Can’t wait till the fresh dill comes in. Mindy likes dill pickles, I’m a bread and butter chip man myself. Here’s a very simple recipe for dill pickles:

DILL PICKLES RECIPE (CRISP)

2 c. water 1 c. white vinegar 2 tbsp. canning salt 1 bunch of dill in each quart jar Boil first three ingredients 5 minutes. Fill quart jars with cucumbers and dill. Pour boiling brine into jars of cucumbers and let set 5 or 10 minutes. Pour liquid from these jars back into kettle and boil again 10 minutes. Return to jars and seal.Set sealed jars immediately into boiling water. Set off the heat and allow jars to cool completely in this pan of water. WATER NEED NOT COVER THE JARS. 1/2 to 2/3 up on jars. Do not process. This can be multiplied 10 times for 8 quarts of pickles.

 

Chickens are funny little creatures. They’re like little robots. Their movements are very stoic. I let them out to roam around after work when I go to planting. They just kind of hang around and scratch and eat worms, bugs and other stuff. It also cuts down on the amount of pellets you have to feed them cause they feed themselves. It’s a real “win/win” situation. That is until tomatoes start coming in then they just go after the fruit like a moth before a flame.

 

Wild blackberries are coming in too! We’ll make jelly. I won’t eat it but Mindy and our friends dig blackberries. I’m a strawberry man myself.

  

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