Chickens

Hey look! I'm actually back on topic today! There will still be a picture with a baby though.

The chickens are all grown up! Those noisy little chicks have been replaced by a quietly clucking herd of hens (and a couple of roosters). They love to wander around the yard and have a nasty habit of making patches of mustard greens and kale disappear if not watched. They also leave lovely large brown eggs behind for us every day. Every few days they leave an egg or two more than before. I see much custard and many boiled eggs in our future.

Getting Ready For Fall

It's crazy to think it's August already. It's time to start making plans for the fall. We joined a home school co-op and  Mellie is signed up for a couple of classes, once a week, starting in September. I've been pretty neglectful when it comes to trying to make sure she spends time with other kids in the past few months and am hoping this will give her an opportunity to make some friends, get some energy out, and get out of the house. Today we picked out a couple of new pairs of shoes for her to wear and I flipped through some old sewing patterns to get an idea of what I might want to make for her now that she is quickly outgrowing most of the stash of clothing I compiled before she was born. I'm hoping to make something new for Dahlia as well so she's not just getting her sister's hand me downs.

We also had a brief conversation about what we want to plant for the fall. I have most of a garden terrace where the potatoes and onions were this spring that is now open to be replanted. I love beets, so they are a given. Kale, radishes, quinoa, winter squash, cabbage, and broccoli will probably make up the rest. Turnips and collards will likely go in the pasture. Spinach and arugula may join the list, but I'm very short on seeds for both and am tempted to save what I have for spring to make sure I get more seeds from them.

Also on the agenda is the possible addition of a small hoop house over some of our raised beds. We would love to have fresh produce all winter and should be able to use our existing beds with this method. Though it is yet to be seen whether or not we will end up adding one, I'll be sure to post a tutorial if we decide to do it!

Autumn Bounty

Autumn is in full swing. We've even had our first frost now.

Fall produce has been plentiful. The lettuce, turnips, kale, and swiss chard are looking particularly wonderful. We've had some lovely little fall eggplants in the last few weeks as well, and our peppers continue to yield amazing amounts. There have been a few handfuls of late tomatoes are well, but I imagine the frost last night likely finished them off.

I love the bright colored stems of chard. They fade a bit when cooked, but still make a nice splash of color in a dish.

There have been an abundance of greens on the menu lately. I'm looking forward to a winter with lots of dark green, leafy food on the table. With any luck, we will get a small hoop house set up and planted soon to give us greens through the coldest months, and maybe some early spring veggies. Until then, we have an entire field of turnips to enjoy.

The Fall Garden

I'm taking a little vacation from birth doula'ing that I had planned for November (all of my October clients delivered early, so vacation started early). I'm hoping to use it to catch up on sleep, make some solid progress on the house before the weather truly turns cold, get some craft and art projects finished up, and finish setting up the garden for the winter. So far, so good.

The garden is currently planted with a mostly leafy green variety of plants including kale, swiss chard, spinach, onions, broccoli, brussel sprouts, lettuce (buttercrunch and romaine), cabbage, mustard, beet, radish, and turnips for the fall. If we decide to (and find time to) set up a hoop house, there will be more for the winter as well. A bit later this autumn we will also be adding shittake mushrooms to our list of homegrown yummies.

There are still a few hangers on from the summer. The tomatoes are still yielding the odd tomato here and there, the peppers are still loaded down with produce, and the eggplant are suddenly bearing better than they have all year, even as everything around them puts out seed and withers away for the winter. After they decide to finish up, I'll mound up some mulch on their garden rows and let them rest until it's time for spring planting, but there is no rush. They can keep our kitchen busy as long as they like!

Cold Goats Aren't Happy Goats

Most of the effort around here lately has been directed towards making sure the goats have a warm, secure place to sleep on cold nights (that will also be a nice, shady escape from the heat next summer). We've swung full force back into work on the goat shed.

There was a brief side project related to entertaining Mellie so we could work. She received a ton of beach and sandbox toys for her birthday back in April, and my mother found my old covered sandbox from when I was Mellie's age. Those things have helped create a great setup where she can play within line of sight of the shed while we work.

She was ready to dive in before everything was finished, and was happy to play for hours, so we left her to it.

The structure went from skeleton to recognizable as a shed faster than expected with some much appreciated help from my father.

Almost ready for goat move in!

Drying Chiles

Last night we sat down at the dining room table after dinner with a big pile of red chiles and a mission: to get them bundled and ready to hang for drying.

The process is very simple. All you need to get peppers stitched into a nice little bundle is some thread, a needle, and a bit of patience. Simply push the needle through the lower part of the stem, threading each pepper on one at a time.

Make sure to tie a loop at the top so it can be hung in a cool, dry location until you're ready to use your peppers. Our chile pepper plants are quickly becoming covered in peppers again.  expect to do this a few more times before winter arrives, then to enjoy some spicy vegetable soup when it's cold outside!

Signs Of Autumn

Autumn seems to have begun overnight. One day the world was lush, green, and hot. Then, one morning, we woke up reaching for a blanket and gazing out the window at a handful of the first golden leaves on a nearby tree.

Autumn also tends to be a time of many deadlines for me, so the last few days have been part of a mad rush to get submissions ready for a handful of gallery shows I wanted to enter this year.

We did get a chance to sneak out for some family time, and a walk to the mailbox, during which we saw yet another sign of autumn; there were muscadines (a wild grape native to this area) everywhere! They're somewhat tart, but have a great, very unique flavor. Calvin entertained Mellie while I climbed around in the wood line a bit trying to fill a bowl with dark purple fruit. I didn't get as many as I had hoped, but not a bad haul either!

Fall Planting

When it comes to home grown produce, summer crops are great, but cooler weather plants are where my heart is. I have a long standing love of root vegetables and dark, leafy greens. Beer braised kale with garlic is something I'm happy to make a meal of. Mixed greens in a spicy peanut sauce is another well loved recipe, and a root vegetable soup is my favorite cold weather staple.

Today had a definite hint of autumn in the air. This morning a light jacket even felt appropriate before the sun was fully up. The tomatoes have stopped producing well, the eggplant and beans are clearly done for the year, and the few remaining summer squash are busy hardening to give us seeds for next year. Even the massive number of margiold (calendula) plants scattered through the garden are making the transition from blooms to seeds.  I've been taking down plants that seem to be completely done bearing and replanting for a few weeks. We canned the last big handfuls of tomatoes week before last and most of the tomato plants are now replaced with broccoli, brussel sprouts, onions and lettuce. Our peppers are still producing plenty, so fall plantings are going in around them as carefully as possible.

We started a number of our fall plantings inside back in early August, but it's never too late. If you're interested in planting a fall garden, most root vegetables, leafy greens and winter squashes can be planted any day now for a late in the year harvest of fresh produce. Arugula and radish are particularly fast growing, if time is a concern. Heavy mulching around the bases of plants (as insulation for the roots), cold frames, and hoop houses can also greatly increase the length of your growing season. I'm personally a big fan of mulching, but this year I'm hoping to try a small hoop house for growing greens in winter. My fingers are crossed for fresh turnip greens in February!