Permsteading.com

... and it echoed something fierce!

It must be that we all have been busy or away from our computers. I just got home an hour ago, after 4 days in the BIG city to the north of me. How many years do you think I can blame any rough spots (to my "customers") on being brand new on the job?

Guy, my GPS is now named "Janet". Did you ever see Rocky Horror Picture Show? I've been saying "Damnit, Janet" an awful lot this week.

George, how are the baby trees doing? Anyone eating regularly from their garden?

I ate the 1st zuccinni yesterday, it was Great. Picked 2 cucummbers this week. Peppers are forming and growing well, especially the bannana peppers. I could pick some beets if I wanted any, and the carrets are growing very nicely. My neighbor has been digging up some fresh potatos and eating them small. Small fresh potatos are wonderful, but I am letting mine get a bit more size befor picking any. The garlic is a good size now but I am waiting until the tops die back befor pulling it out of the ground. The tomatos have alot of flowers but no tomatos yet. I noticed alot of what I believe to be pumpkin vol plants growing out of the mulch I put around the gooseberry plants. I counted about 40 plants. I am letting them grow and we will see what happens. It seemed like the permiculture thing to do, lol. They should shade the ground for the gooseberrys, and I may get a pumkin or 2 for the kids to cut up at Halloween. I was given 2 yellow raspberry plants that I planted yesterday. I hope they grow, I will try and water them for a few days at least during this dry hot spell. I really have never had any yellow raspberrys but I have heard that they are the Best. Unfortunately I have also heard that they do not produce as many berrys so they are more of a hand to mouth sort of a thing. We shall see when I get a few more plants going.

I had to dig up my potatoes after the hatch of grasshoppers decided to eat all the leaves off the plants. I'm definitely getting some row covers before I plant anything else as they have started on my onions now.
We have a family trip around the field every other evening to pick blackberries. So far, in a week we have picked about four gallon of berries. We stop off on the way back to the house, to graze on the mulberry tree.

I'm eating salads and stuff, but still too cold here for much else. I've been crazy busy, had an excavator here all week. Made some BIG swales, a root cellar, and am finishing up the cob in the greenhouse. I've been meaning to post some threads on the builds but have just been plain wiped out. I'm resting up now after this huge week, it's raining and I got Oats and Buckwheat raked in the new swales right before the rain came yesterday. I'll get some pictures this week and share my work with you all. I'm excited about it. Off to roast a pig and a lamb at my buddy's farm right now.

Picked 12 more cuccumbers today, one of the plants is starting to die on me. I have this same problem every year with my cukes. They just start to produce and them start to die back on me. I have no clue as to why. I counted 60 small peppers on the 4 doz plants that I put in. A couple of small ones that could be picked to have a fresh pepper, but I will let them on a bit longer.

Graham you are getting ALOT more berrys than I am. I have a small patch that I planted a couple of years ago. 4' X 25" long. The plants are growing well, but the birds seem to get to the berrys befor I do. I have picked a few befor the birds got them though, yummy. Same with my Blue Berrys, the birds seem to get the majority befor I can pick them. I think I need a net for over top of them.

Yeah, we are surprised at how many we are getting. We have two main bushes and a few small ones along the fence line. One big one is at the top of the woodlot and that one is a lot of work in that we have to get in it to get all the ripe ones. The other big one is a mature bush on the other side of the field. That one is easier to get into but because it is on the property border, half of the good ones get left behind, although I do have quite a long reach.
We have just got back from picking the woodlot bush and it took four of us nearly an hour to get all the berries, and the haul was half a gallon. We were picking all the bushes each evening but it was too hot out there today. In the nineties with no wind.

Rained here last night for the 1st time in about 2 weeks. We got .08 of an inch. We normally get over 3" by this time in June, we have gotten just over an inch so far. Very dry here in western Pa. The wood chips that I mulched the garden with have really been holding the moisture though. When I dig them back it is very moist under them. I am very pleased. I have hauled a bit of water to the garden this year, not alot but more than I normally haul that far from the house. We need the rain. I was in Indy last week to help my son get a house ready to sell, it was very dry there as well. The grass was very brown and everything was dry. The stream behind my others sons home in WVa is almost bone dry as well. Seems like the Eastern US is having a drought this year.

I thought I'd just keep Lolly's thread here going rather than start a new one about how I've been not posting much lately. I'm long overdue for some updates on my projects and stuff, but summer is so short here, and it's finally here! I actually have put the projects on hold, the list is collecting dust, and I've been mowing the grass and sitting on the lawn. Playing with the dogs, going to the beach, watering the garden, just soaking in the sun, long days, and warm weather. I actually went surfing the last four days in a row, which is something I rarely do any longer as usually my mind is on a project around the property. Anyway, I love this venue for ideas, and I'm really glad we all came together here. I'm not going anywhere, just enjoying summer. Hope you all are having a great summer, I sure am!

I've been feeling guilty about not posting also. This new job is keeping me ... well, not really busy but "at home" rather than at the farm being able to get things done.