Monthly Archives: July 2018

Farm Happinings

July 30, 2018garden, Reflections, Sunflowers, The Farmfarming, Homesteadingruthsoaper

Just a quick post with some of the photos I have taken at the farm in the past week.

This year we planted patches of sunflowers in various areas around the farm. Some of the patches were garden plots that we would not be using this year, others were spots that we normally mow but decided to let them grow up in sunflowers this year. We bought oil sunflower seed that is normally sold as bird seed and hand sowed them. While we don’t intend to harvest the sunflowers they will serve several purposes: they are available for bees and other pollinators to collect pollen and nectar, the birds will feed on the seeds, and they are simply beautiful to look at. I am not sure it is possible to look at a field of sunflowers and not smile. 🙂

We have also planted many areas with buckwheat. We use buckwheat as a cover crop to suppress weed growth and condition the soil. It is also a favorite food of honey bees. Since buckwheat is a fast growing crop we have stagger planted it so that when some of it is done blossoming some is just beginning to blossom.

This is a photo of our main garden area. To the left beyond the sunflowers are two rows of strawberries that were planted this spring. There is another patch of sunflowers beyond that. The row of trees in the grassy strip are apple trees. The next area, to the right, is where we have our vegetable garden with tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beets, Swiss chard, lettuce, green beans, cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, egg plant, peppers, cabbage, parsley, basil, and dill. Beyond that is the blueberry patch. The white patch to the far right is blossoming buckwheat. This large (main garden) area is completely fenced to keep deer out.

Some of the apple trees are loaded with apples this year. The branches are so heavy that my husband made support posts to prop up the branches. We expect to have a nice apple harvest this year as long as we can keep the crows away.

Even though we have had some periods of rain the US drought monitor map reports that our area is abnormally dry. We really don’t need that map to know that as our gardens tell us all we need to know. Last night while my husband and I were sitting on the beach and feeding the fish an unexpected rain shower popped up. Since we were sitting under a beach umbrella we continued to sit on the beach and offered prayers of thanks for the rain. As the rain grew harder we retreated to the porch of the barn to stay dry as the glorious rain watered the earth. This shower didn’t bring anywhere near the amount of rain we really need but we are thankful for every drop that fell.

Thanks for visiting the farm today. Until next time be well my friends. 🙂

I Brake For Bees

We have had several days of rain this past week 🙂 and have been able to stop watering and work on weed pulling and lawn mowing. As I was mowing yesterday evening I was reminded of this post from 2016. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Don't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care

I told my husband that I need a t-shirt that says “I brake for bees” but probably more appropriate would be a bumper sticker pasted on the back of our riding lawn tractor.

This may be something only another beekeeper can understand, and even among beekeepers I might be in the minority. It wasn’t something that I thought about before I realized I was doing it, but as I mow the lawn at the farm I often see honey bees foraging on the dandelion or clover blossoms. My natural reaction is to yield them the right of way. Of course having wrote the check to purchase packages of bees, along with reaping the rewards of their labors, I have a great understanding of their value. Now it may or may not be the case that they will move out of the way of the mower just like the chickens and dogs move out of…

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The Garlic Is Harvested

July 20, 2018Blueberries, Blueberry Pie, currants, garden, Garlic Harvest, Reflections, The Farm, Watering, Weatherfarming, Homesteadingruthsoaper

The garlic harvest is complete and our new barn is serving it’s purpose.

This photo is the loft area full of Chesnok Red garlic. Each bundle has 25 garlic bulbs. The other two varieties are hanging in the downstairs area. The garlic will hang for about three weeks before we begin clipping and cleaning it to prepare it for market.

Having the barn proved to be such a blessing. We were able to pace ourselves with the harvest. My husband primarily did the digging. He would dig one or two rows a day and move it into the barn. I mostly did the bundling. He pounded the nails into the rafters and hung the garlic and I tied the garlic nooses. Just kidding they weren’t really a noose, but I pre-tied loops in each end of the strings and the string was wrapped around a bunch of garlic then one loop was pulled through the other loop and the string would tighten around the garlic. The loop on the long end was used to hang the garlic from the nail.

At times, especially in the extreme heat, the work was grueling, but the process went pretty smoothly. We make a good team. 🙂

Besides harvesting all that garlic over the past two weeks we have spent time picking both blueberries and currants. Both have produced great crops this year. This has been our largest blueberry crop so far (we have picked over 3 US dry gallons) and I have put most of them in the freezer to be used throughout the year in pancakes and banana bread, but as a special treat I decided to make a blueberry pie.

When I was making this pie I realized that this was the first time I have ever made a blueberry pie. I will confess that I used a premade, store bought, crust but the pie was delicious and it didn’t last long.

The other thing that we’ve spent a lot of time doing over the last two weeks is watering the gardens. Rain has been very scarce here this summer. The first three weeks of June were completely dry, then on June 24/25 when the rains finally came. Over those two days we probably had three or more inches of rain. While it made up for some of the deficit, all that rain at one time damaged some of our plants, specifically cabbages. We then went into a hot dry spell and our next rain fall did not come until July 16. That day our rainfall was probably less than an inch. We had a little bit more today and the forecast is for more tomorrow. Feel free to say a prayer that the forecast is correct. We are.

Since the garlic was harvested and there was rain in the forecast my husband spent the day yesterday preparing the garlic field for next years crop. The garlic field has been tilled and seeded with rye grass as a cover crop.

Even though the garlic harvest is done I don’t expect our pace to slow down as there are so many things that need to be done. If we do get a good rainfall we can the spend more time weeding (always easier after the rain). The grass needs to be cut and my husband will be checking the bees and hopefully harvesting honey soon. The list is way longer than that and probably longer than I realize, but I’m sure you will read about some of it as time goes on.

I also hope to get back to posting more often and some of the posts I have planned include a second post about things we are harvesting (if you missed the first one you can find it here), a post about honey, and as I mentioned in a previous post I will be sharing my thoughts about natural skin care.

Thanks for reading and until next time – Be Well.

Currants – Worth Their Weight In Gold

July 12, 2018currants, Reflectionsfarming, Homesteadingruthsoaper

I briefly mentioned currants in my recent post Pickin’ and Preserving and wanted to share my thoughts about this wonderful fruit. The following paragraphs were taken from a post I wrote last summer.

“You are a better person than I am,” my husband said to me as I was picking currants. “These berries are worth their weight in gold,” I told him. It has only been in the last year that I have come to really appreciate the value of currants. They are indeed a super food. http://www.madaboutberries.com/health-benefits/health-benefits-of-blackcurrants-and-redcurrants.html In the past I have made currants into jelly and wine. Last summer I began making juice from them and found this to be like an energy drink. In order to preserve the vitamin C I make raw juice. I simply wash the berries then blend them, stems and all, with some water in my nutri bullet blender. I then pour the blend into a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. My husband likes the juice with nothing added, but I like to sweeten mine with a little bit of our raw honey. We have been drinking the juice regularly, but I have also been able to put some in the freezer.

Picking currants can be a long and monotonous chore, but currants are not something that I can just pick up at the grocery store, and if I was able to find them at a farmers market I’m sure they would be priced beyond my budget (have you checked the price of gold lately?). Fortunately currants will stay ripe on the bush for quite a while so I can pick a quart or two a day and go back for more a day or two later. We also grow 4 different varieties which ripen at different rates, so while I am about finished picking two varieties, one variety is coming into it’s prime and the last one is just beginning to ripen.

I have had a couple of readers mention that they love currants and now I am curious. Have you ever had currants? Where do you get them? How to you eat/preserve them? I would love to hear from you.

“If you wouldn’t eat it, you shouldn’t put it on your skin.”

July 9, 2018Reflectionsruthsoaper

The skin is the largest organ on our body and many of the things that we apply to our skin can be absorbed into our body through our skin. Do you know what you are putting on your skin? I am currently planning a post concerning the use of natural skin care products, but right now much of our time is being consumed by the garlic harvest, so that post is going to be delayed. For now I would like to refer you to a related post written by my new friend and fellow blogger Angela at The Naturally Smart Life.

Angela’s blog offers “Simple suggestions for a smarter life, a better you…Naturally” In this post she shares some tips on avoiding chemicals in skin care products and provides information about some of the natural products that she uses which now include Don’t Eat It! Soaps.

Thanks for reading. 🙂