mudpies's Blog

The fruits of our labours
Aug 27, 2009 | 7:10 AM PST
Tags: ripe tomatoes , wax beans , cucumber , cucumber beetles , bacterial wilt , onions , potatoes , buttercup squash , pumpkin , gourds , crown of thorns , harvest apples , Sunflowers , shasta daisies , Echinacea purpurea , gladiolus , asters , Zinnia , cosmos , Cleome

C has been gorging himself with tomatoes for the past week.  I wish I liked them.  They look very good, but I can't stand the texture.  I do like them when they've been cooked.  I'm going to have to make juice, sauce and salsa in order to keep up with them.  I'm distributing beans all over town.  It's hard to stay ahead of them.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for our cucumbers.  They've succumbed to bacterial wilt for the third year in a row.  I didn't see a single darned cucumber beetle, but the cukes got infected, nevertheless.  I'm going to have to buy a bushel for pickling.

C pulled the onions yesterday and has left them  to dry.  We'll need to harvest our potatoes soon and store them for winter.  The buttercup squash is forming nicely, but I don't think my pumpkins will mature before we get a killing frost.  The mini pumpkins are plentiful as usual, but the crown of thorns gourd are just beginning to form.  I'm sure they'll be ready for sale before Hallowe'en, though.

One of C's customers traded half a bushel of harvest apples for a couple of bales of hay.  I intended to make them up into pies for the freezer.  I made an apple crisp and found that, although tasty, they're not firm enough for pies, so I made applesauce instead.  I found a new recipe on the net.  It calls for it to be cooked with strips of lemon rind and cinnamon sticks.  Yummy!  The lemon adds a little zing to it.  I put six pints into the freezer and made one jar to enter in the fall fair.

My sunflowers, daisies, echinacea, glads, asters, zinnias, cosmos and cleome are all in bloom in my cutting bed.  I hope some of them will still be blooming in a month for entry in the fair.

I'm just waiting for a parts delivery before heading to the farm to weed for the rest of the day.

Pickerel for dinner
Jun 22, 2009 | 4:53 PM PST
Tags: pickerel , cucumbers , cucumber beetles , herbicide , pesticide , Strawberries , pears , potato , Colorado potato beetle , carrots

C came home with several nice pickerel (walleye) from his fishing trip.  What a treat!

It's very warm here today - upwards of 80 degrees.  I know that's relatively mild to some of you southerners, but the sudden change in the weather from cool and wet to very warm  makes it seem even warmer.  I don't think I had a single mosquito bite today, but the horseflies were out in droves.  I think the change in the weather made them less alert than usual, because I was able to smack three of them - after they bit me, of course.

We went to the farm and discovered that our cukes are up.  Now if I can only keep those darned beetles at bay.  Ontario has strict new laws about pesticides and herbicides, so I can no longer buy Sevin or malathion.  There are a couple of pumpkins up, and a few buttercup squash, but no sign of my gourds yet.  C ate the first strawberry from our newly planted patch.  We had to till up the old patch last fall.  The weeds had taken over.   I'll have to wait till next year to get any quantity.  We've always had more strawberries than we could eat ourselves, so I resent having to buy them, but C and a couple of my sons-in-law plus a lot of grandkids can't be deprived of home made strawberry jam.  Pears are beginning to form on one of our trees.  The other tree, which is a year older (12) has never borne fruit.  I'm guessing it's because it takes the brunt of the wind and the blossoms get blown off, but that's just my best guess.  Most of our spuds are up and so far we've only found three potato bugs.  They're sneaky little devils, though.  We have to watch carefully.  C squishes them, but I'm too squeamish unless I have gloves on.  I drown them in a bucket of water.  We're going to have to replant carrots.  For the first time in 12 years, the soil *sandy loam) was too wet for the initial planting.

I spent most of the afternoon tidying up my shade bed and another area adjacent to our shed.  I turned the soil in that area last year so C wouldn't have to go at it with the whipper snipper.  I put in a few perennials, but for the most part I intend to fill it with self-seeding plants:  hollyhocks (or outhouse plants, as my mom calls them), bachelor buttons, forget-me-nots, etc.  There's still a lot of weed seed in that bed, especially stinging nettle, so my hands are sore this evening.  I was too impatient to put gloves on.  DUH!!  I was happy to note that plantain leaves crushed and rubbed on the affected area provide relief from the stinging, thanks to LynnChristo's blog.

While I was working on my shade bed, I came across a large paw print - way too large to be that of most dogs, but not as large as a bear print.  Besides we don't have bears in this area, anyway.  I showed it to C who was as puzzled as I was.   We considered and rejected coyotes.  The print was too large.  As I worked my way along the bed, I came upon a second print - a little larger than the first and not as well defined.  After working away all afternoon and upon closer inspection, the answer finally dawned on me!  I'm pretty sure it's a grandchild print!  If you remember, I created that bed using the lasagna method.  The soil's still very light and spongy. so a child's foot  would sink down into it and expand in size.  I expect my step-son took his brood to the farm to let off some steam, and in their exuberance, one of them ran into my garden.  I also expect that the little rascal got yelled at - hence, only two footprints.

I'm so glad I found this site - great members and great solutions ! ! !  Take care, all.