Three days in the garden

We've worked in the garden for the last three days.  We spent one day weeding between the rows and around the plants as well as the front walkway in the garden.  I didn't even attempt to weed the huge areas that are unplanted and covered in weeds.

Cucumber and squash plants

Tomatoes, Beans, Onions, and Garlic

Carrots, Lettuce, and Parsnips

The second day was spent pruning the tomato plants that are huge.

And the third day I added fertilizer to the plants and harvested the tomatoes and potatoes.

It looks like a few of the green bean plants have survived the damage the goats caused last month and are actually going to grow now.

Growing Potatoes

I decided to record the details about how I planted potatoes this year since I didn't do the traditional route and I am curious about how this method will turn out.  So far it isn't looking great.

We went the cage route this year.  With the boys help, I build 6 tall cylinder cages out of wire fencing.  I used a bale of straw to spread around the sides of the cage, poured in some soil, and then placed the potato spuds on top of the soil.  I topped it off with more soil and watered it.

It started with only about 6-12 inches of soil at the bottom and it didn't seem like it took very long to see green leaves poking up through the soil.

I decided to make have three more cylinders, but this time I used three that were already made and someone had just given them to me.  They were wider and shorter.

 The plants seemed to sprout like crazy, and now, at the end of July it's been two months since things were planted and seven out of the five cages have a lot of green growing in them.

I noticed a couple weeks ago that two of the cages looked dead.  Not only were the plants dead, but they were now completely gone.  Since I have been working in the garden a lot, I decided to knock the two cages over and see what the cages had produced up to this point.

It wasn't good.

There were only potatoes in the bottom 12 inches of each cage and although these will taste great, it really isn't what I was hoping for.

Cage One

Cage Two

Everything I read said that there should be potatoes in the entire cage, as soil is added, potatoes will grow in layers.  That definitely didn't happen with these two.

Based on what I've read, this isn't the best method and trenches are the best way to grow potatoes, with raised beds being the second best way.  I'm hoping that the wider, shorter cages will be more similar to raised beds and will have a better yield.

This blog was shared on the following blog hops (please click the name to go check out their blog hop):
Frugally Sustainable
Down Home Blog Hop
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The case of the missing rooster

Yesterday afternoon we had a knock on our door.  Someone had seen the huge sign we put up at the mailbox stating that the rooster statue was stolen and we were offering a reward for it.  She said that she saw a rooster in front of a house over the weekend in the next county over.  She told me she'd never seen it before and when she saw our sign just then, she'd made a u-turn to come back and tell me.  

She gave me directions on how to get to it and we got in the car and off we went.  I kept telling the boys it wasn't going to be our rooster.  I didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to put the rooster out in front of their house, less than half an hour away.

Not our rooster

Sure enough, it wasn't our rooster.

We came home.

Today I got a message from someone on Facebook saying her friend saw a rooster that had to have been ours.  I replied and told her that the one on "Green Road" isn't ours, and she told me that was the one that she had seen.

I'm thankful that people are looking for it and noticing things and trying to help.  I just with the thieves had it somewhere to be spotted.  I believe that whoever took the rooster have it tucked back in the woods on their own property, perhaps as a funny target for shooting at, and it will never be seen again.

And that got me thinking about the path our rooster has taken with us.

Awhile back, a good friend of mine shared this blog post with me from The Bloggess.  I laughed out loud.  Several times.  I just knew that when I purchased my house, I had to get a rooster too.  A few months later when I finally did buy my house, I started looking for my own rooster, and that good friend was also trying to find me one too.

Finally, after searching for about six months, I found my own rooster.

When we got him home, I bought spray paint to repaint him just so the colors would stand out a little more, and then we propped him up by the mailbox and chained him down so no one would take him.

Sure enough, a few months later we found him laying on the ground.  Someone had moved the boulders and tried to take him but stopped when they saw he was chained down.

For Christmas I thought it would be funny to start painting him for the different holidays.  We started with red and green.

 And then we added a strand of Christmas lights.

I had been hoping to paint it red, white, and pink with hearts for Valentine's Day but didn't have the paint or the time.

For Easter I knew we would do an Easter Egg, but the vision in my mind was much better than what my artistic abilities could create.

And then for the summer we painted him red, white, and blue and I even got smart and created a stencil to put some stars on him.

The plan was to paint him orange like a pumpkin at the start of October and I hadn't decided how to paint him between now and then.  He was stolen before I came up with any ideas.

Now that I've seen how the community liked him and liked watching him change, I'm determined to replace him and paint him more often.  It still won't look great as painting a metal rooster with spray paint isn't easy to do, but now that I've gotten smarter and I can make stencils, I think I can come up with some ideas.

This post was shared on Thursdays @ the Homestead Blog Hop

Stolen Rooster

Saturday night someone(s) stole our rooster.  :(  

We didn't leave the house from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning, so we didn't notice it missing until Monday morning.  The rooster had been chained to the mailbox post to prevent anyone from taking it, but the thieves ripped the mailbox out of the ground and took the rooster.

I posted on several community groups in the area and heard a lot of supportive posts, but even more than that, people were commenting on how much they liked seeing the rooster.  I didn't realize what a following we'd created with that rooster.

And then the community news paper ran a piece about it.  If I had known they were going to quote me when I sent them the quick email, I would have picked better words.  :)

http://bristowbeat.com/news/072913-bristow-woman-seeks-return-of-stolen-rooster-sculpture/

I filed a police report but wasn't given much hope.  

I'm thinking that some teenage or early-20s kids were out Saturday night and thought it would be funny to take it.  I can only hope that somehow someone who has seen this show up in their yard will see one of the community posts or the article online and will get it back to me, but I'm really not thinking I will ever see it again.

Sigh.  We're disappointed and surprised.  We knew someone would try to take it, it happen once about 18 months ago and when the thieves realized it was chained down, they just threw it in the ditch and left.  I never would have thought someone would go so far as to pull out the mailbox post.

If we replace it, which I'm sure we will do at some point when I have the money to buy a new one, I'm just not sure how to secure it since a chain didn't help.

Crazy Chicken Lady

I don't think I ever shared this great shirt that was given to me by one of my former students.  She'd been out to the farm several times and I was always thankful that she had the time and patience to sit and hold the chicks because I knew it helped them to be more social.  

Then one day she gave this shirt to me at school, I literally laughed out loud when I opened it up.  

She clearly knows me so well.

She recently moved with her family to Montana and I'll miss their visits.  I'm secretly hoping she will be able to live on some land and have her own little farm one day. :)

More guinea

I meant to post these pictures of the guinea keets three weeks ago when we got them.  There are 8 of them and while I can try to tell them apart now, it is impossible for me to tell them apart when they are adults.

Because it was so warm outside, I was able to move them out after a week in the house.

And at two weeks old they were already finding a way to the top roost in this old coop - it's about 4 feet off the ground!

Three weeks old

The Bounty

I wish we had more to show for the huge garden and all of the work I put into it.  I am really starting to believe that the lack of bees to pollinate the plants is the cause of our small harvest.  There's still time, so my fingers are crossed that we will get more.

A funny shaped cucumber

It already looks like a pickle

No matter how hard I tried, this pumpkin vine does not want to stay in the raised bed

The Goods

Freezing Herbs

I've been really behind on the garden projects and the herbs that are already dying and dead are proof.

Basil

Dill

Parsley

Rosemary

I was able to get half of an ice cube tray filled with the good herbs and a table spoon of olive oil.  I read about this idea online and figured I would try it.  Once they're frozen, I will seal them in bags and then can pull them out and drop them into a pan anytime a recipe calls for any of these herbs.

I'm disappointed that I didn't get more because I was too busy with other projects, but at least I have something.  I may try to plant and grow more before the end of the summer so that I can dry and freeze more.

Since when does finishing a roof require someone to lose a finger?

It's been about three months since I got the large chicken coop rebuilt.  In that time, I still hadn't finished putting the shingles on half of the roof.

Today was the day.  I made the boys stay home with me and we wheeled the shingles and nails out to the coop.  I climbed up there and was making great time covering the roof.  When I was about three-fourths of the way finished, the oldest climbed to the top of the ladder and was helping to hold the shingles in position and I even let him nail a few in.

We got down to the last four shingles, and somehow, I'm still not sure how, I managed to hammer my pinkie finger.  I yelled ouch and as I pulled my hand against my body I saw blood and a huge slice.  I immediately grabbed my finger with my right hand and told the oldest that I'd just chopped off the top of my finger.  I was able to calmly tell him to get to the house and bring me back gauze before I had to start telling myself, out loud, to breathe.  He ran off and then I told the youngest where to go find me a rag and an ice pack.

Once I was wrapped up, I insisted that we finish nailing the last four shingles on and then we got off the roof and came inside.

I got the bleeding stopped and I didn't cut off the piece of my pinkie completely.  I cleaned it as best as I could considering I kept feeling light headed (I don't do well with injuries once the emergency is over).  Then I wrapped it in fresh gauze.  I don't think it needs stitches.

The chicken coop roof is done.   I just have to fix the oyster shell dispenser and finish painting two sides of the coop and I can declare it completely done.

Just another day... right?