When hail prevails...or does it?

These WERE my eleven/twelve-foot "Sunzilla" sunflowers. We had a massive hailstorm that reeked havoc in my garden.  (Sorry for the pic quality...it was terribly humid the next morning).  I love giant sunflowers.  They can survive most hail storms...they just tilt their heads down and take a little beating.  This was no little hail storm.  

For the first time, it caused a little bit of leakage into our basement.  All this happened while I was away from home.  But the heroes of the day were my children.  Just before I left, I had them cover up my front yard garden with tarps. I have hail cloth over my tomatoes.  It shouldn't have been a problem.  My oldest was on the computer in the basement and my second oldest was going to show her how much hail there was at the basement window when she stepped into a puddle.  The children snapped into action.  The main portion of the basement is the library.  They all had to physically move the heavy shelves away from the window and the puddles on the floor.  My son jumped outside and into the window well to remove all the hailstones and water to help stop the flow inside.  The girls put out towels and fans.  The towels that were soaked were then washed in the washing machine.  Color this mama proud!!!  They really made good decisions and they saved the library!!!

Like I said, I also have hail cloth over the tomatoes.  Well, hail cloth doesn't work if the hail comes in sideways...ummm, seriously, it came in sideways!

The tomatoes here next to the chunnel were about 6 feet tall.  Next year, I will bring the hail cloth down on all sides and enclose everything...it's kind of ridiculous, but a gardener's gotta do what a gardener's gotta do.  More hail cloth is on my Christmas list!

This was a big squash plant--again, under the hail cloth, that got decimated. But good news, it's back and doing pretty well!

Considering what happened to everything else, this is 2 of 4 brussel sprouts I have.  They endured and took quite a beating, but they are doing fine.  I am anticipating those fantastic brussel sprouts after the first frost!  So excited!  The hail comes...the hail goes...you just have to keep on growing.  Every year is a learning curve!  I hope you are having better weather where you are at.  It is now scorching hot again.  Oh well...my peas have all sprouted and I'm getting ready to seed more lettuce and carrots and greens.  Next post...what I did with all the damaged goods!  Blessings to you and happy end of summer!!!

Food, Not Lawns

We have had tons of rain around here which has been most welcome.  I haven't had to water in a very long time which is very odd for these parts.  I will take it, though.  I've done something new this year.  I am growing vegetables in my front yard as well.  It has been great!

I have a flower bed in the very front.  That has been there for years and it is very low maintenance.  I have lavender, liatris, chives, lilies, bulbs for all sorts of things, and salvia.  Well, I am not a huge proponent of grass so I put in two additional beds.  The one directly behind my flower bed is full of different kinds of squashed.  I have zucchini, straightneck squashes, large squashes like "Sweet Meat" and "Delicata."  I also have a bush variety of a butternut squash growing here and some bush beans, and I believe there is a pumpkin tucked in there.

I am training the long vines to grow towards the tree.  If anything reaches I will have them grow up it...how fabulous would that be--a squash or pumpkin tree?!  I also put in another bed right in front of my window.  Here is where I have pumpkins, melons, and watermelons growing.

I have sugar pie pumpkins growing and they are doing very well.  However, the melons and watermelons just aren't growing like the pumpkins are.  I'm not sure if it's the altitude...maybe I planted too late...? I was looking forward to having them, but I will try again next year.  I think I will put my tomatoes in the above bed next season.   As you can see by my lawn (or lack thereof), it is a bit sparse.  I am not in the business of growing grass.  Of course, the True Lawn guy noticed too and came knocking on my door with his little apprentice.  The apprentice had no idea what he was talking about and was trying to get me to spray my tree and my grass......dude, do you see the vegetables up front...we eat those....why on earth would I want to spray???  Well, they got a little lecture about the history of grass and why I despise it and if I am going to water something I should be able to eat it.  The older gentleman was nice and was trying to sell the organic line...ummm yeah, I have chickens so I produce my own fertilizer.  I don't think they knew what to do with me.  Anyways, if you are not restricted by a covenant and want more footage for growing your vegetables, try some nice beds up front.  By incorporating some nice flowers and some architecture, you can get a lot of produce AND be the talk of the neighborhood!  Happy growing, friends!

Lots of green here and some mishaps...

It's St. Patrick's Day and I hope everyone is enjoying it!  We've already had our meal of corned beef and cabbage.  Goodness, it's so good!!!!  I let mine cook overnight in the crockpot and it is just effortless!!! Yum!

We have had a few mishaps here.  My first round of seedlings with lettuce and spinach was sabotaged...we have cats.  I brought the tray out from under my lights and upstairs to our main floor.  It was left out overnight and the cats ATE all the spinach.  I think they are really needing some greens, but goodness sakes, leave my plant babies alone, LOL!!!  So that tray was done.  I've been hardening off my cabbages and mustards under the hoophouses outside and they are going gangbusters out there.  I really need to get them into the ground, but I am just so pressed for time.  I've been helping a friend all month with her home daycare because she went on vacation to Australia.  Needless to say, I prefer the plants right now because I am so excited for spring and I have so many new things going on and *sigh*, a gardener just wants to get her hands in the dirt.  But I am really happy for my friend because this home daycare business is A LOT of work and I am exhausted by the time the weekend rolls around.

Here is our green project for the day:  we transplanted 25 tomato seedlings into much bigger pots.  I am going to conduct my own growth and taste tests this year with San Marzano tomatoes vs. Amish Paste.  Does anyone have a preference out there on which one you like to grow/eat???  I've never grown either one before so I am anxious for summer to see the results.  I am super excited to can all the summer goodness as well.  I was so busy canning last summer that I never posted my production results.  I know I canned over 70 jars of jam (we go through a lot of it--plus it's great for gifts).  Hopefully, I can be more on top of it as far as posting what I'm preserving this year.  I will try!

My sweet little helper!

I hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick's day and a very blessed Sunday!

Spring is starting to spring!

It's warmed up a bit here.  I've seen the robin for a couple of weeks now.  My irises are coming up.  I guess spring has sprung!  I hope you can feel it, too, wherever you are. Here are my plant babies from the last post.

These are the Japanese Giant Red Mustard.  I started them on February 4th.  They have come along nicely.

My lettuces can seriously be harvested and they haven't been in the ground yet!  I have several tiered starts of seedlings for my lettuces.  They are just so lovely and they really do take away the cabin fever--nothing is alive--will winter ever be done feeling!

These are the cabbages and cauliflowers.  It's only been one month and they are almost ready to go out.  I have covered hoop houses in my backyard so I have been putting them out there in their trays to get acclimated.  We've been in the 50's for daytime temps and the hoop houses are even warmer than that.  I will be transplanting these in bigger containers (probably large paper towel rolls) and then putting them in the ground, depending on how warm it stays (or not).  I've never done anything for spring around here because it's a Russian roulette game as far as weather.  I think it will be a mild spring and I have my hoop houses with a layer of row cover...I'm hoping my gamble pays off!  I also have tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers going.  It's taking the eggplants forever to germinate, but I see they are about to sprout.  I've never started with seeds before for eggplants.  I have lots of new varieties...all heirlooms and I'm hoping I can fit everything in.  How is seedling starting going for you?   I have a simple set up of shoplights set up in my basement.  If you have any questions, please let me know!  I will do my best to answer them.  I will also be doing a tutorial about my chicken tunnel soon.  I have to sit my husband down and get all the measurements again...I wrote them down, but they got up and walked away like most things in this house, LOL!!!  Have a great week everyone!!!  Blessings!!!

Seedlings

It's cold here in Colorado, but I have to say it has been so mild that I fear a horrific summer of fires is on the horizon because we are in desperate need of moisture. With that said, I think we will have a mild spring.  I'm jumping on that opportunity because my first born child graduates high school in May.  I have planned the spring garden and have my fingers crossed because we are having the party at our house and I really, really, really would like to have a beautiful spring garden.  I have never really tried too much outside of greens, but this year, I've got a whole slew of beauties.

I have a variety of cabbages.  I vowed never to try growing cabbage again, but I think my problem was that I never started them early enough.  I am also trying green macerata cauliflower and purple of sicily cauliflower.  Oooohhhh, I hope they do well!!!!  Have you seen inside the cover of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog?  The Gettles (founders of the company) are among a sea of gorgeous giant Japanese mustard...it looks like a glorious bed that I just want to lay on.  The picture was so enticing that I ordered the seed and there it is in the picture on the right half.  It's a beautiful purple and green.  Oh, it is so exciting.  I have had great luck with mustard so that should do great in my garden.  I have also seeded up many different lettuces; I have my tomatoes started because you have to start early here (plus eggplant--still waiting on some seeds I ordered).  I should get my peppers going, too.  ACK!  So much to plant!  I am quickly running out of room under my lights. I have spinach and herbs as well.  I'm trying to stay ahead of the season.  What great things are you growing this season???  Stay warm and hold onto the thought that spring is just around the corner!
Blessings!

Fall into Winter...

Lots of things going on around here.  We picked all the pumpkins in October...my little backyard harvest was lovely!

The blue pumpkin (which I cannot remember its name for the life of me) was just beautiful.  It's one of the sweet pumpkins that are mostly flesh.  We cut it open and it is lovely!  I am making pies with that one.

My big field pumpkin weighed in at a little over 22 pounds.  That's the biggest one yet that I have grown!  We also have been making preparations in the garden for winter.  The coop was cleaned out and all the beautiful bedding and manure is just gorgeous...I am enhancing many of my garden beds with it.  Most of my beds can also be converted to hoop houses.  I usually use the hoop house/low tunnel in the spring for tomatoes.  I have never done it in the fall, going into winter, going into spring.  The winters here get extremely cold.  I am going to experiment with some thermal techniques.  I have three that I am using.  I have kale, spinach, and beets growing.  Of course, the weed of my garden, cilantro, is popping up everywhere.  We will see what makes it.  I think they will probably do well.  For now, they are quite snug.  We had a very light snow.  We will see how they fare once winter really packs its punch.

My husband and son have also gone hunting.  They got a large doe that yielded about forty pounds of meat! Most of that has been canned, and the roasts are in the freezer.  We have an exciting venture this weekend.  If it pans out, I will definitely post about it because it is a great secret that is worth revealing! Not only will it add to my larder, but it will do miraculous things for my garden.  Stay tuned!  I hope you all are getting your homes and gardens ready for the winter.  Blessings to you!

Summer's end update...

Wow...I can't believe we're in the middle of September already.  I started the kids' school right after Labor Day.  We also went on vacation at the end of August so I am literally two weeks behind where I should be.  I was thinking I should probably wrap up the summer.  The garden got a bit neglected this year as two of my kids were going to do a major competition and it required a lot of our time.  I still have a lot of tomatoes and my pumpkins are awesome...one in particular is the largest I've ever grown.  I'm anxious to see what it weighs!  In a few weeks it should be ready!

I've been doing quite a bit of canning.  Remember all those raspberries I told you about from my yard?  Well, I used them all up (all ten pounds) for my yearly jam session.  This year I tried many different varieties of jam.  One delicious creation has raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries.  It is delicious.  I also make a mango+raspberry=the sweet nectar of God!!!!  Oh, it's good!  Then there's the new this year: raspberry + peach.  All in all, I made 62 half-pints & pints.  While I was finishing up my jams, lo and behold, peanut butter went on sale for $1.49.  We have been skimping on the peanut butter around here because it is so WICKED expensive.  This sale did it for me...I have enough for a year (I hope).   I am not one of those people who likes to stockpile for ten years worth of food...I just want enough to last us for a bit.  I know prices are going up and I just want to be prepared.  I also canned up a bunch of peaches and some peach jam.  I also got in a salsa session.  I think I will need another bushel of tomatoes because I need to make some more.  I'm hoping to do some beets.  I have pictures to share from our vacation that goes hand in hand with canning.  Plus, there's been a lot of crafting/sewing going on, too. I hope you are winding down from the summer.  We are enjoying some cooler temperatures here because this summer was a scorcher.  Blessings to you!

Garden Harvest

Here is my haul from yesterday (plus one more egg).

The garden is slower this year because of some unforeseeable happenings that took place at the beginning of June, but the garden is starting to crank up now and I need to get back on track.  I will be putting in the fall garden (I know, I really need to get moving) and hopefully I can get some more produce.  My tomatoes are going like gangbusters, but no ripe ones yet.  Maybe within the next two weeks I'll get some tomatoes.  The peppers are just gorgeous.  I roasted them and will probably put them with the eggs.  The raspberries are almost done producing for this season.  I think I have about ten pounds in the freezer...it's time for me to make some jam!!!  The beans are just now coming in.  They are so beautiful.  It's a French pole filet bean...they are nice! Even with this heat, I still have lettuce...it's only because I have cilantro shading it.  So, still taking advantage.  I hope you are having great harvests.  It's been hard with the heat, but the peppers and tomatoes are loving it (me, not so much)!

Tomatoes and such

It is definitely that time of year and I think I have finally got a jump on summer by getting my seeds in early under lights!!!  Yay!  The tomatoes are doing quite well!  I've got my light system set up in the basement.  Always remember to handle your seedlings...if they are robust seedlings like tomatoes, you can run your hand over the tops of them.  This activates them to grow more "hearty" as if wind was blowing on them.  It gets them nice and strong.  You could also use a fan.  I also have many flower seedlings started as well as some herbs.  I am still way beyond my frost date here, but I will be putting things out in the garden under much cover in about about a month and a half...it is the only way to get summer tomatoes in Colorado!  It can stay cold here until the first of June, seriously!

I also have strawberry jam processing as we speak in my canner.  There have been some great sales on strawberries so I can say I have my first canning session of the year under my belt!  I did a crazy amount of canning this past summer, but failed to document it all on this blog.  I've been incognito for awhile but I am getting followers without me blogging about anything so I figure I need to get inspired and get writing!  It's just a busy life and I try to keep my priorities straight!!!  Thanks to all of you who have discovered my little blog here...I will try to be better about showing up!  I appreciate you guys so much!

Are you starting any fun garden projects where you are?  How about any winter projects like cozy quilts??  As for me, I need to update the blog and of course, there are a million projects to work on.  I am trying to be more intentional about my gardening.  Last year, I harvested about 125 pounds worth of food...I can't even tell you how many eggs we've gotten so far.  It's been crazy!  I absolutely love the chickens and I'm hoping we'll continue to have a stellar year.  There's my quick update and I'm hoping you all are feeling the itch for spring!  Blessings to you!

Tray of tomatoes...what am I going to do with all of these, hahaha!

Harvest

Hi all!  Lots of good stuff is popping up in the garden.  I had a great harvest on Monday.  I really need to go out today since we had a torrential rainfall last night and clean some things up out in the garden.  I have cilantro falling down everywhere.  Here's what I harvested:

I picked a ton of lettuce and prepared salads for my husband to go to work.  The zucchini are gorgeous...look at that shine...you can't get that in the store unless there is wax and who knows what else on them.  Most exciting is that my beets are doing fabulous this year.  I picked three on Monday and I expect to pick many more the rest of this week.

The way I prepare them is wrap them up in aluminum foil with some olive oil and salt and roast them in the oven until they are soft.  I cut off all the leaves, but I leave about an inch of stem left...that prevents your beets from "bleeding" out everywhere and making a terrible mess.  Once they are baked, let them cool slightly and use a paper towel to rub the skin off.  Really, it's quite easy and the mess is kept at a minimum.  The family either eats them like that or I cube them up and put them in salads.  It's quite delicious and makes me so happy to know it came from garden to table!  

Another thing that is coming on like crazy around here are the raspberries.  Oh, what joy!  The kids pick them for me and rinse them off and put them in the freezer.  Note: anyone who picks gets the special privilege of eating them!!!  I then wait until they are all harvested (mine are the type that ripen all summer, not all at once) and I make raspberry mango jam--I call it the nectar of God because it is soooooo good!!!  

I do have to scare the birds and squirrels off, but I don't mind sharing a few.  Next year, I think I will be covering the whole patch with bird netting to keep the critters away.  We have double the harvest of last year.  I need to find some good raspberry recipes...feel free to share!!!  I hope all is growing well for you!  Blessings  to you and have a lovely week.

Favorite vegetable of the summer

This is by far my favorite new variety for the garden this summer!  It's been such a fun thing to grow and everyone gets such a kick out of it when I show it to them!

This is an eight ball zucchini!!!  The plants are quite prolific--you can pick them at golf ball size up to a softball size---this one is probably in between.  They are beautiful and delicious. Between these and my regular zucchini, I have about 14 cups of zucchini frozen and shredded in the freezer, plus the plenty we have eaten already.  We just can't get enough zucchini around here!!!  Can you imagine stuffing one of these for dinner???  I'm going to do it!!!  I'll let you know how it turns out!

What new varieties are you growing???  Have a great weekend...I'm still behind in posts because I have so much to blog about, but we've got an exciting weekend planned so I'll have to tell you all about it next time!  Have a beautiful weekend...blessings!!!

Garden happenings

Cilantro
I don't know about your garden, but one of my self-seeding plants in the garden is my cilantro.  I can seriously consider it a weed because it grows everywhere!!!!  Every year, I let it flower because it is so inviting to all the beneficial insects and then it goes to seed (which I try to control) and then it's growing season is over while everything else starts ramping up...like tomatoes.  I always make salsa and can it and you have no idea how infuriated I am with myself because I have to buy cilantro...from the store...and it's not very cheap...and I had pounds of it weeks before!!!!  Well, no more, my friends...I picked half a pound of it today and I could still get a lot more...I'll keep picking as this week progresses.  I'm freezing it so that I have plenty when it's time for salsa making or if I want to make Chipotle-style burritos!!!  I saw a blog where they clean the cilantro, take off stems, barely put olive oil on it so that everything gets an extremely light coat of it, then I bagged it up and stuck it in the freezer.  I am so thrilled!  Here's what half a pound of cilantro looks like:

The salad spinner I have the cilantro in is not a small one--it's a pretty large hefty one that can really hold some greens!  (I got it at the thrift store for around $5...this brand usually runs around $30...it's already earned it's keep around here!)

Other homestead updates

The garden is just swinging along.  I have my own personal army of ladybugs...it's been so exciting to see that because it helps me feel that the garden is in balance. The lacewings are out, too, so the beneficials are really working hard this summer season.

 I will probably have some yellow squash and zucchini by the end of the week.  We've had some beautiful salads lately and we are just chomping at the bit for the zucchini!!! The peas are prolific and tomatoes are forming left and right.  All in all, it's been a good growing season so far.  

The chickens have been so fun to watch and feed.  I give them tons of garden scraps and I never knew chickens could "honk" like geese.  It's the funniest thing.  Here is something I found on clearance at our local grocery store.  I wanted to do a rooster stencil on our chicken coop, but the bargains never cease to amaze me.  This is the before...

It's a rooster chalkboard.  I paid $3.59 for it because it no longer came with it's stand.  No problem.  I didn't want it as a chalkboard anyway!  Here's where it is now!

This is actually the door of our chicken coop.  We painted the rooster white like the trim, and I hardly had to put any effort into it!!!

Here's the actual full coop pretty much finished.  I have one more thing I have to do with it if I get some time, but it is fully functional and complete!  My husband did such a nice job!!!  The flowers on the front give it a nice touch, too.

The yellow flowers, calibrochoa, I picked up from the store, and just peeking up in the back is one of two agastache (will be purple) that I started from seed indoors.  They should be a striking combination!!!  

I hope all is growing well in your part of the world.  To all my fellow Americans, happy Fourth of July!!!  Be safe and God bless!!!

Canning on the Homestead

First Canning Session of the Year
What to do with all those radishes???

With the several pounds of radishes I have harvested, I had to figure out something to do with them.  Only my husband and youngest daughter really like them, so I decided to make some radish relish so I can preserve them so they will last.  The recipe I used is here.  I have a feeling my husband is really going to like it.  He tried it with all the raw ingredients and said it had good flavor.  I'm sure it will only get better as time goes on and it has time to mellow out.  It gets such a pretty pink and rosy color.  I made two batches and got about 10 half-pints of relish!

This is a nice recipe because you have to let the whole concoction sit for three hours so you have time to get all your jars ready or do other things.  Once that is done, you boil the ingredients for awhile and then jar them up and process (again, see recipe link).  I look forward to seeing how this will taste in a few weeks, but I can rest knowing that none of the radishes went to waste!  Plus, all the tops of the radishes were fed to the chickens.  They loved them and get so excited when they see me coming!  They have been so fun...hopefully, after this coming weekend, I can show you the finished coop!

I hope your gardens are growing beautifully!  Have you started canning anything???  Happy preserving and blessings!

Chicken and garden updates

Wow...time sure does fly when you're gardening! I've got a bunch of updates so I will start with the chickens.  Here's the progression of our coop.

The coop with our salvaged window from a neighbor.

Hubby working on the run and the door has been added on.

Chickens already using the run!

Hubby is still finishing up the coop.  He's got to put on the chicken wire on the back ventilation and he's finishing up the floor.  The chickens are seven weeks old so they really needed some sunshine.  They stayed in the run all night and since it's warm, they have fared very well.  I couldn't sleep because I was so worried about a fox getting his paws/claws through the chicken wire...tonight we'll have them locked up in the coop!  I really need some sleep, haha!  The only supplies we bought for this coop are the screws and hinges, the chicken wire, shingles for the roof (I bet I could have found these but we really needed them now) and the paint (hello, $5 oops paint at Home Depot that normally runs over $37 for one gallon--who can afford that???)  My husband did a great job and we need to put up the trim and finish painting.  I can't wait until it's finished.

The garden is coming along well!  I've had my battles though.  Flea beetles are now prevalent in my backyard and they love the radishes!!!  I think I will continue to sow radishes so that the flea beetles will only bother them...a trap crop.  This is the first year I've grown radishes and they have turned out beautiful (minus the holey leaves!). 

They truly are the jewels of the garden and are so lovely to photograph!

The greens are coming on strong as well.  We had our first garden salad last night with the radishes.  My spinach has turned out really nice this year.  I've kept them spaced properly and they have just flourished.

I am up against the insects, though.  The ants have gone crazy and now I have the flea beetles.  It's an ongoing struggle, and I've found aphids, too.  I've spied a few ladybugs so between me squishing and the ladybugs devouring, we may stay on top of things.  Here's one last shot of the garden from an "aerial" perspective.  This is taken from my bedroom window.

I've laid down hay as a mulch between the boxes.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet, but I consider it the cheap man's pathway.  I would love to put flagstone or brick or pavers down, but that's not in the budget any time soon, so we'll see how this works for me.  It gets quite windy sometimes so we'll see if the hay is still there in a few weeks.  I hope your gardening and homesteading is going well.  Let me know how your garden grows and happy homesteading!  Blessings!

Garden beseiged with...snow!

Here we are at the end of April and last night it snowed again.  It's not an unexpected thing around here in Colorado.  It just puts a "damper" on your gardening.

I put out my pea seeds...for some reason I plant so late.  The snow always puts me off.  In Colorado, it seems we go from the end of winter to summer.  Spring is filled with snowstorms and hail storms and all that fun stuff and then BAM, it's summer.  It's a bit annoying, but we're making due.  My lettuce and spinach haven't sprouted yet (I probably wouldn't sprout either with this kind of weather).  Anyways, like I said with Easter, all of this will be gone by this afternoon.  We're due for some nice weather and the temps are going to warm up nicely for the latter part of this week.  My husband has been working so diligently on this backyard and rearranging our boxes and building some new ones.  I am excited for when August arrives because that's when the garden looks its best!

I will update with more photos once the backyard is semi-dry.  My husband is almost done!  I've also sown some mustard and collard greens (yummy) and am still sprouting things indoors under lights.  I need to start all my pumpkin and zucchini and squashes inside.

On the chick front, the little ladies are doing well!  They are growing like crazy!  My daughter's teacher actually bought chicks (since the incubator eggs did not hatch).  So my daughter brought home one more Buff Orpington.  That brings us up to nine chicks...like I said, I think a few of the girls aren't actually girls, but we'll wait and see.

I hope your weather is nicer than mine.  I've been cruising the web and am living vicariously through your warm locations and wonderful gardens.  I wish you happy gardening!  Blessings!