Chagrined

I was recently berated by a family member for my slacking-off in the blog department.  I am very sorry.  I will try to do better.  We have been busy, but it's been run-of-the-mill busy with no special projects that might be interesting to write about.  Or rather, interesting to read about.  That is, unless you find interest in the following things:

A.  Chickens -- our baby chicks are teenagers now.   That means they are almost as big as the adults but not nearly as smart.  They haven't yet figured out that that big blobby yellow-headed thing (me) walking toward the coop means that food is on the way.  They still run away from people, whereas the older and wiser birds stride forward confidently.  And if I am a little slow in the food delivery the older hens will start pecking at my shoes. 

Some of the older birds have had their back feathers pulled out by their bored coopmates, and exposure to the elements have left them sunburned.  The animal humanitarian (is that an oxymoron?) in me wants to catch them and slather aloe vera lotion on their red skin.  The old timey farmer-to-be in me responds -- what, are you nuts??

The teenager chicks aren't giving us eggs yet, that won't be for another few months.  But we are averaging about five eggs a day from the older hens.  Last week a storm toppled a dead ash tree in our yard, which landed on the fence to the chicken pasture.  So we have some fence repair to do.

B.  Goats -- About once a week one of the goats will get their head stuck in the fence.  It is an exercise in patience trying to guide a horned goat head backward out of woven wire fencing, while the rest of the goat body is convinced that forward is still the direction it should be moving.

C.  Garden -- Lots of stuff going on.  I planted a variety of snap bean this year called 'brittle wax.'  It has grown well for me in the past, but this year I have discovered that unless I pick every other day, the ripe beans quickly begin bulging with seeds and turning tough.  This makes them unsuitable for canning.  Which is unfortunate since canning was the reason why I planted all those beans in the first place.  Up until this week the weather has been ungodly hot and I haven't had the stamina to go out picking beans in 95 degree temps and 400 percent humidity.  So when I do pick over half of them are too large to use.  Except to feed them to the chickens and goats, who LOVE them.

The potatoes and tomatoes are slowly succumbing to the blight/wilt thing I have going on.  Actually, the potatoes are succumbing rather quickly.  At this point I have given up trying to save the potatoes, and will wait until the tops are mostly yellow before I cut them down.  I sprayed the tomatoes with copper last weekend and will do so again today, hoping that it will give me a bit more time before they finally die.  Enough time to actually harvest a few fruit.  Right now I have loads of green tomatoes but no red ones.  Next year I will be growing my solinacae in another section of the yard, in hopes to avoid any wilt issues, and I will not be saving any potato tubers for starting next spring.  I am tired of these fungal fiends.

Other than beans we have been harvesting zucchini, rutabagas, peppers, eggplant, broccoli and onions.  In a few days I will pull out and cure the garlic. 

D.  Preserving -- I used the last of the 2009 garlic in a batch of dill cucumber pickles I made last night.  Eighteen pints of pickle slices ready for the pantry.  Other than that, my preserving activities have centered mostly around freezing.  Our jam supply is still strong (probably good enough to last us three or four years) so I haven't been in a hurry to make jam.  So far this summer we've frozen 2 1/2 gallons of strawberries, 2 gallons of blueberries, 1 gallon of chokecherries, 1/2 gallon of gooseberries and just 1 quart of mulberries (sob).  This winter as things quiet down a bit I will make a few batches of syrup/jam, when the house will welcome the extra warmth from the stove.

E.  Family -- Baseball/TBall/Archery season is finally finished, thank heaven.  For several weeks in June and July I was transporting various kids to summer activities every evening, Monday through Thursday.  I am not a soccer mom.  But with us living so far out in the country, these activities are the only way my boys can interact with other kids during the summer.  We are not of the 'playdate' ilk.  So now the monkeys fill their day with games, legos, reading, random chores, water guns, and getting on each other's nerves.

So, if all of these things interest you, then you should be pretty pleased with this post.  If not, then I probably lost you long since.  Sorry for the posting delay, I will try to do better and get more photos taken for next time.