Gardens

We did transplant the strawberries, but they don't look so good. I'll have to see how they look come spring. I am thinking hopefully that they have time for roots to get established before fall comes on.

Everything else looks really good!

This bit of yellow is worrying.

And these glaciers just don't look as lusty as the other tomatoes.

For the pollinators.

The blue of borage is almost electric.

Add caption

Trying to show just what color they are.

Look at this PASTE tomato.

Cow update

The cows are looking good as we pass the halfway mark of summer. Our pasture has held out better each year, and this year, Violet is still eating almost entirely pasture with just a little hay when she nurses the calves.

Nick and Nora are growing well, and we've decided to take Nora through the winter as a companion for Violet. We'll keep Nick probably until November or so depending on how cow management is going once the pasture does give out. Nora is very sweet, and we've decided to breed Violet back to Jersey again. We are wondering if the Jersey temperament is better than brown swiss.

 Nick is the one on the left. Steers grow faster than heifers. But compare them all to this:

Fishing

I took the children fishing today. I like fishing and would enjoy doing it more often, but when I tried before, I found it to be a tremendous amount of work. First there was the time spent gathering and loading rods and tackle and bait and water and a snack and something to carry fish in. Then there was the unloading of all these things and the three children. Go ahead and throw in a bit of a hike in which I carried most of the gear and Sylvie. Finally, once everyone's hook was baited and everyone had a snack and no one had a tangled line and I finally cast into the water, the children were done fishing.

A week or two ago, a man wash fishing off the dam where we like to swim. Sylvie got him to show her how it was done. Since then, there has been no peace because all she wanted in the whole wide world was to go fishing. This time the difference was obvious. Ezra found the fishing gear, and Jason bought the extra rods since everyone is now old enough for their own line and an actual reel. The children loaded the car. Sylvie dug the worms. We all put on swimsuits. I did have to get a fishing license, but that was no big deal.

When we got to the dam, the children carried their own gear. I felt like I might actually get to fish. Sylvie wanted to learn to cast, but the wind was blowing so hard I did most of her casting for her. She switched to the cane pole so she could just drop her line in. Ezra and Phaedra alternated between fishing and swimming, but everyone seemed to enjoy the fishing part, in spite of the wind and all my admonitions to mind their hooks.

When we were done, we had caught three perch, all of which we released. I did actually get to drop a line in a couple of times, and I figure with a bit of practice, I will get to do more fishing. We've left the gear handy to facilitate some spontaneous trips.

The Berries

We put berries in during our first spring here, but I've looked at them repeatedly and thought, "Next year- I'll get them squared away next year." Well today I bought a yard of mulch and the children and I spent the majority of the day tending this patch.

Now the blueberries, currants, and gooseberries look like this:

I had sheet mulched around these a few times, so it wasn't too hard. I also have a better sense for how I want to tend them.



















A few weeks ago all the blueberries' leaves looked like this:

But now this is the only one all red like this. Now this plant is more representative of the group:

They have been getting the milk routine as well, but not as often. You might note there is no Japanese beetle damage here either. I think I am finally making headway with these berries.

Unfortunately, the strawberries just look terrible. I have a few rows in the house garden ready to receive plants. My goal is to have 100' of strawberries, which is about 50 plants. We'll transplant tomorrow, but it will be out of this mess:

 Then, I'll try to prep this space to be the new home for the raspberries.

On the upside, the blackberries look beautiful. The first few tasted blah, but they're beginning to taste better, and I cannot bring myself to cut these down.

Warmth

It's not quite August and here's our woodshed!

That will last us through winter, and the first two rows are left from last year, which means we will actually start the fall shoulder season with dry wood.

And here's the beginning of the pile to dry for next year.

The fallen over side is the one I stacked. We should have about two cords stacked here drying for winter next year. We are slowly stockpiling wood with a goal of having three years of wood in a cycle.

More on Milk, Amendments and Potato Beetles

I just want to mention that this year is supposed to be particularly good for potato beetles and that in past years, I have been particularly good at giving them a habitat. Last year, I even added a new type that prefers tomatillos and husk cherries.

This year, I definitely have seen the potato beetles struggling a bit more in the habitat I'm providing by planting potatoes, tomatillos, and husk cherries. They keep getting a jump when it rains and washes all that is good in my soil away. But, I keep knocking them back.

First, I waited to put hay around the plants until after they were a good size. I mounded the plants the first two times with dirt. The good thing is that it gives the beetles fewer places to hide; the bad thing is that the soil was exposed to the dry weather for the first couple of weeks, then the deluge afterwards. About two weeks ago, we got 4 inches of rain in two days and that's when the potato beetle numbers rose to what I'm used to seeing in my garden.

The larvae pretty quickly ate all the leaves off the new growth from around 30% of my plants before I sprayed my milk and complete feed foliar spray. Then, I spent about 3 hours picking all the larvae off. Then we had another huge storm that knocked all the plants over.

So this week, I was prepared for another onslaught. What I found was the growth that had been chewed away regenerated. And, the stems that were exposed by the plants blowing over were also covered in new leaves. And, though there were some new larvae, there were fewer than 5 adult beetles and only about 10 out of the 60 plants had any larvae on them. And, I found only one very small cluster of eggs.

What this means to me is that my plants are pretty strong. The new leaves mean that the plants are better able to keep making bigger potatoes. While I am still struggling against the potato beetles, I am definitely getting the upper hand. We're a few weeks, 2 or 3, away from when I figure we'll see blight this wet, wet year, and the potatoes still have so many leaves that blight might actually be an issue. But maybe, my plants will be robust enough that they can even beat blight.

I actually just really hope to not find out.

A Thought

It's an excerpt from Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer by Wendell Berry

"Beware of the machinery of longevity. When a man's life is over the decent thing is for him to die. The forest does not withhold itself from death. What it gives up it takes back."

Our culture has turned death into a thing to be avoided, which is crazy. Death, I believe, is unavoidable. Why leech endless resources to protract our one measly life?