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Today, as I look out my office window, it’s sunny. But it’s the first sunny day we’ve had in a week or more. In the winter, this area tends to get socked in with fog and gray for weeks at a time. What a gift sunshine can be in November. But it does make for some nice photographs.
A new Japanese maple, planted this summer. The little light dots all over? I call them the blue fuzzy butt gnats. There are about a million of them around right now.
Well, we had the final killing frost on Tuesday the 15th. Tomatoes (which were already cracked from the rain), done. Peppers, done. Summer and winter squash plants, done. Cucumbers, done. Melons, done. Farmer, done.
So here’s the warm season crops I planted this year and how they did (minus the squash and gourds, which I cover in this post, in more detail than you could ever want). Read the rest of this entry »
Pie pumpkins, Spaghetti squash, and a few Sunshine kabocha.
Alternative title – More about Squash than you EVER wanted to know.
Well, we got our first kiss of frost the other night. Just enough to take out the squash vines and make the tops of the pepper plants a little upset. The season really IS almost over. The frost prompted us to pick all of the remaining winter squash, (planted May 13th – hello 4 1/2 month growing season). Frost on the pumpkin might be the romantic image of fall’s arrival, but in reality, more than a light frost can damage the crop you’ve spent the last 4+ months growing. Better safe than sorry.
After living in a climate where I was lucky if I got 100 frost free days, it’s such a strange thing to have an entire extra MONTH of growing season here in Walla Walla. And that’s just frost free days. Of course, there’s at least an additional month of growing cool season crops like lettuce and spinach that can take a light frost. Which means that when we do finally get a frost sometime in early October, rather than running around covering everything and trying to eek out a few more days, I just let it come, say “phew” and breathe a sign of relief. Let’s face it, after starting onions from seed indoors around March 1st, I pretty much just keep gardening and after 8 months, I’m bloody tired. Read the rest of this entry »
Peppers, peeking out from under some light weight agribon (row cover). The agribon is to help prevent sunburn on the ripening peppers. It’s an experiment.
You know those perfectly manicured gardens? The ones without a weed in sight or a blade of grass out of place? You know those gardeners? I don’t trust those gardeners. Read the rest of this entry »
As I get ready to take a quick road trip to see a friend, and then a longer road trip to see another friend at the end of the month, here’s a brief view of the garden coming on like gangbusters.
Ornamental Japanese Corn growing in the perennial garden (away from the sweet corn). SO pretty.
If you’ve been following along, you know that we have a killdeer pair nesting in my garlic bed. Most birds will lay one egg a day, and I happened to find the nest on the day the first egg was laid, on May 21st. That means that the last egg (there are 4) was laid on May 24th. Which means this particular killdeer has a 25 day incubation period. (It can range from 24 to 28 days). I know this because they hatched TODAY. Well, three were hatched this morning. Hopefully the other egg will still hatch. Read the rest of this entry »
Eggs due to hatch on the 18th.
A lot of distant friends and people I’ve met via social media look to my life on the farm with envy. And with good reason. I’m blessed to have chosen this life, and my husband’s job allows me the freedom and financial stability to explore it to its fullest. But least you think I live a life of leisure, leaning on fence posts watching lambs frolic in the tall grass all day, here’s a taste of a typical day here on the farm, and the endless dialog of what needs to be done next that goes on in my head. Read the rest of this entry »
Not dead. Just sleeping in the sun. Not a great shot, but I knew if I changed my angle, the baby would wake up, or Mama would move, which is what happened moments after I took this picture.
Well, Peggy lost one of her turkey chicks Monday. I hadn’t thought about it (and I should have), but we have a big stock tank that the animals drink out of and the ducks swim in. Turkeys will try to fly at a really early age. One of the little guys flew up, probably trying for the edge of the stock tank, fell in and drowned. Damn. So now she has just one chick. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been having a terrible time incubating duck eggs. Turns out duck eggs (and goose eggs – my friend has been having similar issues with goose eggs) are a whole lot more difficult to successfully hatch than chicken or turkey eggs. Something to do with the humidity being not too high, not too low, but just right, along with air flow/oxygen. So, I’ve only hatched out 15 ducks out of about 35 eggs. Read the rest of this entry »
MilesAwayFarm
Miles Away Farm Blog 