Monday, May 28, 2012

And the Fields are Ripe for the Picking.....

 The Purple hulls we picked this morning-these are Louisiana Quick Picks-they are huge! We did have an infestation of army worms earlier in the week-wiped out the back part of the garden in just a few hours! Jeff got them sprayed-and thankfully-they've recovered nicely!
 Just an example of how big these things really are! Some are at least 12 inches or more long! We picked over 1/2 a bushel this morning-even after the worms! Next picking will be great!
One of the tomatoes-they aren't doing very well this year :(  the first one to get ripe had a big bug hole and the whole bottom was rotten!

We've spent the biggest part of the weekend canning! Yeah! We've put up 16 quarts of potatoes-oh yeah-we dug them on Saturday morning-didn't get as many as we'd like-but thankful for what we did get!-3 qts of pickles-11 pints of pickles-2 qts of green beans with potatoes and 1 qt of peas-we put the ones we picked today in the freezer to can later. Jeff canned 9 pints of corn from a friends garden earlier in the week and 7 pints of pickles as well. The squash is starting to ripen and we put 3 qts of it in the freezer, too.
Forgot to mention last few posts that something did get the momma turkey and all but 3 of the chicks-and all over night. We've got the last 3 in a cage and they are growing like weeds! And we've got rabbits coming out our ears!!! Jeff's got to butcher some and get them in the freezer and off the feed bill-boy has rabbit feed gotten expensive. I'm checking into some alternative feed sources-like Comfrey-they ate some the other day and really seemed to take well to it-I intend to dry some later today and see if they'll eat it that way as well.
We have 3 1/2 days of school left before summer break-well the kids do! I'll work until June 21st-I believe-then I'll have a few weeks off. We are planning a camping trip to Crystal beach where we stayed last year-then later a week at the State Park in Galveston-then leave from there for Surfside for a few days. We aren't familiar with that area-but thought we'd try some place different and it's close to where Randy is living at the moment.
Have a great Memorial Day!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Farm Update

 Newest pic of the garden-5/19-the Jacob's Cattle beans are really beginning to dry out-makes the front of the garden look bad-but looks can really be deceiving!!
 Saturday morning's yield-the first of the bell peppers and cucumbers #3-5!
 Just 2 of the MANY cucumbers on the vines-Jeff made 7 pints of pickles today! The first of many more to be put up!
And 1 of several watermelons we've found-one of them seems to grow nearly an inch everyday-how is that possible?
 The field corn is at least 8 ft tall now-most of it anyway! And it is putting on ears like crazy! The sweet corn is very short-but is making ears as well.
 The purple hull peas should be ready to start picking this weekend-I pray every night that the deer don't find them before we can pick them! We saw 2 does right up from the house on Saturday night and I saw a doe and an itty bitty fawn-SO cute-last night on my way to Church.
 Figs on the new tree-there are only a few-but such a good sight!
And last-but surely not least!-Kaytlynn lost her 1st tooth this afternoon! She was rinsing her mouth out with the water hose-so I turned it on her head and just cooled her off! It was 93 degrees when they got off the bus-hot!
We've canned 57 pints of green beans so far-they need to be picked again now! Alana froze 6 quarts for them-what a blessing after the deer got them all last year. I made 7 half pints of sugar free strawberry jam and put up a pint of jalapeno peppers on Saturday. The potatoes still need to be dug and the cattle beans continue to dry. We haven't eaten any of them yet-they sure are pretty-I hope we like them!