Sunday, July 8, 2012

Triple Creek Farm, July 7, 2012

Our Nation's Birthday!  A day for flag waving and being proud to be an American. I stop and think how long has my family lived here in Virginia.  I can trace my roots back a long way.  My family and Mr. Bootsie's came to this country long before Ellis Island.  I am thankful I live in America and I, too, am a flag waving proud American.

IN THE KITCHEN
A new recipe for pesto made with lemon balm and I wanted to try it.  This was a good choice, all that needed to be cooked was the pasta and I have been doing as little cooking as possible in the house.  There is a camp stove outside which I can on and this is where I do a lot of cooking during the hot weather.   I picked lemon balm and basil,  two kinds, dwarf spicy and lettuce leaf  from the herb garden.  Made the pesto and added to the cooked angel hair pasta and this was a great meal on a hot evening.

ON THE FARM

Monday, the pole barn is starting to take on the look I wanted.  This reminds me of the out buildings on my parents farm.  I am lucky as Mr. Bootsie lets me have my way about a lot of things we do here on our farm.  This is our first real storage building and it is so exciting.  I feel like we are starting to be a farm.



IN THE COOP

Idgie is still staying on the nest quite a bit.  We have seen some breaks in the action, I have no intention of having her sit on eggs at this time.  I am hoping she will get the message, and move with the flock.  The ducks know it is cooler under the coop and they want to stay in the chicken run.  I put them in the duck run about seven in the morning and bring them back to the chicken run about ten.  Everyone stays under the coop and they do not make a sound.  It is so strange to go to the run and there is nothing going on.  I had one of those oh! no! moments yesterday.  I was afraid something had gotten in there and hurt the flock.  That was short lived for as soon as they heard me open the gate they slowly came out from under the coop.

Grey and white are 2 of the peeps with momma

The little peeps have out grown Aurora and it is strange to see her with one of them as she is so tiny.  We are not sure about the sex of the peeps, two may be girls and the other two, I have no idea.  Time will tell.

The egg count this week is 43.  With all of this heat the girls did a good job laying.  On Friday there were 6 little girl eggs so that means Idgie is laying again.  Now can I figure out some way to keep her out of the nest and get her back on the roosting pole?

IN THE GARDEN

        TEMPERATURES in excess of 100 degrees during the day, what a week this has been.

I have been watering, and hoping that it is doing some good.  The tomato plants are loaded and I really do not want to loose them.  Peppers are starting to bloom and little eggplants are showing up.  Onions are ready to be pulled. It is time to start putting in the late garden and with the break in temperature this coming week I will be working on that.

I have been picking blackberries everyday.  I dug the blue potatoes, had a wonderful harvest.  There are more potatoes to dig but the vines are not thinking about dying.  After this hot spell, I think things will change.  Cucumbers and pole beans are starting to come in.  We are picking a few squash not nearly as many as the plants should produce.  I added some lime to some of the plants last week as they were yellowing and I do not think in was from the heat.  I believe the land needs to be sweetened.  The corn which was given first-aide is doing real good.  I would like for it to make corn but time will tell.  The cherry tomatoes are being picked daily.  It is time to pull the string bean plants and I will be doing that next week.

IN CLOSING

Every spring when you start the seeds you wonder if there will be a crop,  when the weather gets hot how will you keep your animals cool.  I am very fortunate as I do not have to leave the farm and can take my time taking care of things.  If I go away I can plan my trip and be back when I am needed.  I am wondering if there will be a good crop this year.  I was taught to always put up some of the extra because your crop may not be good next year.  This is a lesson I learned and every year I try to preserve a little more than we will need for the season.  I am hoping this hot spell will be the only one we experience this year.  It is time for me to get the canner out and prepare for the canning season.

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