Category Archives: Weather

Catching Up

Aloe Soap, Apple Pie, crochet, Making Soap, Pie, Pumpkin, Reflections, Sewing, Snow, Weather, Winter

Hello and welcome.

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my posting so today I’m going to be playing catch up.

From the Garden

Back in early October, my husband harvested our squash and pumpkins. Like nearly everything else, we had a nice crop this year. I put a lot of squash and pumpkin in the freezer, and we’ve been including squash in our meals once or twice a week.

We shared some with family and friends and still have some fresh in the storeroom.

I made five or six pumpkin pies in October. They are my husbands favorite.

By the end of the month, he had his fill of pumpkin pie, so we finished the month with apple pie.

But we still enjoyed some butternut squash with dinner.

Crochet

I dropped off the meandering paws afghan (can you see the paw prints in the crochet pattern?) that I made earlier this year at the Humane Society. A donation for them to raffle off at their upcoming pawzar fund raiser.

Soap Making

I also made a batch of soap in October. We liked the aloe soap that I made earlier this year so much that I decided to make that again. If you’d like you can find the recipe in this post.

Things to Celebrate

The holidays will be here before we know it – Thanksgiving in November followed by Christmas then the New Year. As usual I will be spending time making Christmas gifts for the kids and grandkids over the next several weeks.

But first we had (granddaughter) Addie’s birthday to celebrate last Saturday. I made her this hoodie and a pair of matching black leggings. I didn’t get a picture of her wearing it, but it was a perfect fit.

On Sunday we celebrated a Detroit Lions win over the Washington Commanders. Our Lions currently have 6 wins and 3 losses and are in first place in the NFC North division.

We are hoping to celebrate another win this coming Sunday when the Lions play the Philadelphia Eagles who are in first place in the NFC East division. It should be a good game. GO LIONS!

Winter Comes Early

Sunday, November 9, was our first snow of the season. Even though it snowed most of the day it didn’t really start to accumulate until it was getting dark. We only had about an inch of snow around 8:00 p.m. but when the dogs got me up to go outside around midnight this is what I saw.

We had about for inches of snow and it was still coming down. By the time we got up Monday morning the snow was finished, and we had between five and six inches on the ground (and everything else).

We do need all of the precipitation we can get because we had such a dry summer, and since it will melt away as the temperatures warm back up later this week this snow really was a blessing.

Thanks for visiting? Are you looking forward to the holidays?

The Last Days of Spring

Cherries, Cherry Tree, Chickens, Dogs, garden, Killdeer, Nature, Pond, Power Outage, Rain, Reflections, spring, The Farm, Tomato Weaving, Tomatoes, Weather, , , ,

The Pond

Hot weather moved in before summer actually arrived. It was time to make the pond more welcoming, so on Monday, June 16 I started by raking some of the weeds and leaves out of the beach area before rototilling the beach.

My husband brought out the beach chairs and I cleaned them up. Then we set up the chairs with the umbrella and a small table on the beach.

Ruby enjoys the pond as much as I do. She brings her ball the beach so we will throw it in the water for her to retrieve.

And Ranger, AKA our beagle fish, goes for regular swims just to cool off.

I’m not really a swimmer. I like to be in the water, but I don’t like my head under water..

I use this floating ring as my watercraft. With my upper body floating on the ring and my legs kicking in the water I find I can get a good lower body workout. Probably as good as the recumbent or stationary bike. So, my goal, as often as possible this summer, is 30-60 minutes in the pond each day.

My first time in the pond this year. In spite of my objections my husband took my picture. At least he didn’t figure out how to use the zoom.

Chickens

My husband gave the chickens a mound of fresh topsoil to bathe in. We had a very happy flock.

Prayer Garden

Abundant color.

So pretty.

Killdeer Update

I didn’t get any pictures, but on Tuesday afternoon we saw our young killdeers take flight. They are still hanging around the garden area which is fine with us because they do eat a lot of bugs.

Despite the storms that brought high winds and torrential rain both of the other killdeer are still dutifully sitting on their nests.

Sweet Cherries

The second sweet cherry tree that we planted last year was more productive than the first. I harvested these on Wednesday morning. Enough to have with lunch. And that concludes our sweet cherry harvest for the year.

Except for this lone cherry that my husband discovered on our youngest tree (third tree). I never even saw any blossoms on that tree this year. I did pick and eat this last sweet cherry.

Before The Storms

With heavy storms in the forecast for Wednesday afternoon we wanted to make sure the tomato plants were supported. Last year my husband discovered a method called tomato weaving. No more cages or staking each tomato to keep them upright.

To weave tomatoes, you need a stake at each end of the row. You also need a spool of twine or heavy string. You tie the twine/string to the stake at one end of the row then string it out weaving it in and out of the tomato plants. (On the right side of one plant then the left side of the next all the way down the row.) Make sure that the string is up against the main stem of each tomato plant. At the end of the row pull the string tight, wrap it around the stake a couple times, then weave it back down the row in the opposite direction, making sure that the string is on the opposite side of each plant and up against the stem of each plant. At the end of the row pull the string tight wrap it around the stake and tie it off.

As the plants grow taller you can add another layer of weaving higher up on the stake.

Once we were done with the tomatoes I spent about an hour pulling weeds in the garden.

Here are some views from when I was on my knees in the garden.

This storm went to the north of us. It was after we went home for lunch that the storms hit our place.

A baby tomato, I would not have noticed had I not been on my knees in the dirt. 🙂

Sweet Peas

In April I planted sweet peas in two planter boxes on our deck.

This week’s harvest.

After hulling. We normally don’t grow peas because you have to grow a lot to get a decent yield. I ate these raw with my lunch. 🙂

After The Storms

On Wednesday the storms dumped three inches (7.62 cm) of rain on us. We didn’t have any flooding, but the ground was saturated with standing water in areas. We got more rain Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Our gardens that were doing so well are now struggling. We will likely lose some tomato plants – hopefully not all.

The water level in the pond is up. It is littered with cottonwood seeds but the water is refreshing.

We are currently in the middle of a heat wave, experiencing record high temperatures and intermittent power outages but that’s a story for another day.

Thanks for visiting.

Catching Up

canning, garlic, Grandchildren, Rain, Reflections, Sewing, The Farm, Tomato Sauce, Weather

There were so many things in August that I wanted to write about but didn’t – this is my catch-up post.

Weather

The rainy streak that we had in July continued into August as our gardens continued to flounder. We were blessed that we didn’t get any of the severe weather, tornadoes, high winds, and hail, that other parts of our state experienced. We also did not have any power outages. We didn’t have our super-hot “dog days” of summer that we normally have in August, but we are having them now. Yesterday was hot and today, September 4th, we have reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit with a “feels like” temperature of 103 Fahrenheit. This weather is supposed to stick around for another day or two but today will be the hottest. A good day to spend indoors with the air conditioning on and writing to you all.

Back to School Shopping

It’s been about a decade since I’ve done back to school shopping (my youngest daughter graduated in 2014) but when Tina mentioned that they had received school supply lists from Jackson’s and Addie’s teaches I thought maybe I could help out by buying what they needed for school.

It was like stepping back in time when I walked into the same store where I bought school supplies the last few years my girls were in school, and saw all the notebooks, folders and others school supplies steeply discounted for their big back-to-school sale. I was flooded with fond memories.

The lists for a kindergartener and a first grader varied greatly from that of the high schoolers that I last shopped for. I bought crayons instead of highlighters and red and black pens, and safety scissors and glue sticks replaced the multitude of three ring binders with dividers and spiral notebooks. Hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes, items I would think should be supplied by the school, are now a priority.

Jackson and Addie started back to school on Monday and I saw a picture of them walking into school with the new backpacks I bought attached to their backs. That made me smile.

I also made them each a new pair of pants. I had planned to make the t- shirts to match but time got away from me, and I have not got around to making the shirts.

Books

Oure local library had a used book sale in August. When we walked in they handed me a plastic grocery bag and said that it was $2.00 for whatever fit in the bag. I ended up with two bags full, about 20 books for $4.00. That should keep me in reading material through the winter. My husband found a partial set of Audubon Nature Encyclopedias. They were printed in 1964 and were a first printing. It was the first 5 books in the set (A through IN) they have some lovely photos and illustrations and will make for some interesting reading. He paid $1.00 for the set of 5. Now that’s my kind of shopping! 🙂

I wonder if I should start doing some book reviews or at least some recommended reading posts. Several of the bloggers I follow do book reviews but is that something you would be interested in hearing from me?

Like Winning the Lottery

One afternoon as I was getting up from my recliner I happened to see something sparkle on the floor in front of my husband’s recliner. I didn’t think much of it at the time other than to remind myself that I really needed to do some vacuuming. A short time later I happened to glance down and notice that the diamond was missing from my wedding ring. At first I started to panic. Then I remembered the sparkle that I had seen on the floor. How it ended up there I’ll never know but indeed it was my diamond. (Angels perhaps?)

I just can’t imagine, of all the places it could have ended up, what the odds of it ending up there and me noticing it are, but it has to be at least equal to winning a million or more in the lottery. Though the monetary value of the stone is nowhere near that of a million-dollar winning ticket, I don’t think I would have been happier if I had won the lottery.

After two weeks at the jewelers my ring is back on my finger and as good as new. 🙂

Canning

In early August I mentioned to my husband that peach season would be coming up soon and I wanted to get another half bushel to can this year. Not wanting to miss out my husband called the orchard where we got our peaches last year and found out that they had quarts and pecks but would have large amounts later that week. Early the next week I knew I would have time to can peaches so on that Tuesday my husband went to the orchard and picked up a box. As it turned out they needed a few days to ripen so I ended up waiting until Friday. I canned 21 pints of peaches and made 7 1/2 pints of peach jam. They taste like summer in a jar – oh so good!!!

In addition to the bread and butter pickles I made last month we had enough cucumbers for me to make 5 more quarts of garlic dill spears. Since I still have pickles left over from last year we will have more than enough to get us through the year.

I finished up last week canning 14 quarts of tomato sauce. I also have 5 gallons of tomatoes in the freezer waiting to be made into sauce. Since I still have some juice left over from last year we decided to share our abundance of tomatoes with our neighbor who was also doing some canning. God is good!

Garlic

The garlic that was harvested and hung in the barn in mid-July was finally ready to be cleaned.

It took me about 4 hours over the course of two days to clip and clean the approximately 330 bulbs this year.

Twist and Turns

I mentioned in my previous post that life had taken some twists and turns and I know some of you might be concerned over such an ambiguous statement. I apologize and assure you that we are well. We have, however, started exploring our options for building a house at the farm. We are mostly in the research stage – gathering the information that we need to make decisions. I do think this is going to be a long process and pray that it will be a good experience.

Don’t be surprised if someday in the future you see a house in the background of this photo.

Thanks for visiting!

July 2023 Recap

Birds, Blueberries, Cucumbers, Dragon Flies, Flowers, garden, Mosquitoes, Pickles, Rain, Reflections, The Farm, Weather, Wild Flowers

I feel like I just wrote my review of June and already we are more than a week into August. July 2023 is history but let’s take a look back to some July stuff.

Weather

Our July weather was anything but typical. While we didn’t suffer the extreme heat that much of the country did, we had a very wet month. Typically, we spend a lot of time watering the gardens in July but this year there was no need for that. In fact, we had much more rain than we needed for some of our plants to thrive. My husband saw a report that our area had over eight inches of rain fall in July. Our average rainfall far the month is less than four inches. We were blessed though that we didn’t get any of the large hail or damaging winds/tornadoes or power outages that areas around us had.

Gardens

Blueberries have been our superstar crop this year. I mentioned picking blueberries in a couple of my previous posts and we have continued to pick them into August. I told my husband that since we pray for God to provide for our needs, I assume that God is telling us that we need to eat lots of blueberries.

We have also been picking green beans and cucumbers. Some of the green beans went into the freezer but most we enjoyed with our dinners.

So far we’ve had enough cucumbers for me to make 6 pints of bread-and-butter pickles which makes my husband happy because we only had one jar left in the pantry from last year.

All of the cauliflower died and much of the cabbage either died or is struggling so I was surprised to see that broccoli plants forming crowns.

I would be delighted to pick a few bunches of broccoli this year.

Our squash and pumpkin plants seem to be faring well so far.

We are seeing small squash and pumpkins on many of the plants and even some cantaloupes starting to form fruit.

Colors

The colors this year are beautiful – lush greens and bold colored flowers.

The lavender continued to blossom and was heavily foraged by bumble bees and honeybees throughout July and well into August.

I was surprised to see that this cosmos that came up voluntarily from seeds that were dropped last year is white while all of cosmos last year were all pink. I not sure how to explain that – likely is has something to do with the plant’s genetics. I’m now waiting for others to blossom to see what color they are.

It was the very end of July when the hibiscus began to blossom.

Purple coneflower in a patch of wildflowers.

Early in July I decided to dig up some Black-eyed Susans that were outgrowing their designated spot at the house and plant them at the farm. I wanted them in the front corner of the fence where I can’t get to with the riding mower. My husband planted them for me and for several weeks we’ve been waiting for them to bloom. Now they are. Black-eyed Susans spread through underground rhizomes and by seeds that they drop so my hope is that they will not only fill in this corner but spread some along the fence as well.

Mosquitoes

The wet weather has been ideal for mosquitoes. Did you know there are more than 3000 species of mosquitoes worldwide? Around 60 species in Michigan alone. I found this very interesting article that explains about different types and where and when we might expect them to hatch, grow and live.

The mosquitoes that we are currently plagued with would be categorized as floodwater mosquitoes – these eggs are laid in depressions in the ground that flood or hold water when conditions are right. The eggs may remain viable for up to seven years.

While dragonflies, frogs, toads and many of the bird species that live on, or visit, the farm are known to dine on mosquitoes, apparently there are more than enough to go around because more often than not a trip to the farm means dousing ourselves with that horrible bug spray in order to prevent being eaten alive by these vicious blood suckers. Sadly, I’ve not spent as much time outside as I normally would because I try to avoid the use of chemicals as much as possible.

Birds

Sometime during the last week of July our green herons returned.

Each year the pair shows up in late summer and spends several weeks with us. Since we have never seen their nests or their young, I assume that by this time they have raised their young and then stop at our pond for some fine dining before they migrate south for the winter.

They seem to be pretty comfortable with us, flying up from the edge of the pond to the windmill and waiting there until we passed by.

You might remember this post from July where I showed you the life ring that had become a bluebird house. Well, we have since learned that there are baby bluebirds being raised there. (I tried to get a picture of them but it just looked like a black hole.) We are enjoying seeing the bluebirds coming and going as they care for the young. When doing some reading, I learned that bluebirds commonly raise three broods per season. I also found interesting that sometimes the babies from the earlier brood will stay around and help feed the next group of chicks.

We do plan on getting some new life rings next spring. I think we will also be buying or building bluebird houses.

Thanks for visiting and I you enjoy the rest of August.

Sunshine On My Shoulders 😀

Birds, Chickens, Chicks, Daffodils, Dogs, Fencing, Flowers, garlic, Killdeer, Nature, Pond, Reflections, The Farm, Weather

Over Easter weekend we had beautiful spring weather and throughout the week, that has followed, it seems that the weather has just gotten nicer each day.

On Easter Sunday, when we went out to the farm, I wore jeans and a jacket over my long-sleeved shirt, each day I have found it necessary to wear lighter clothing until yesterday, and again today, I have broken out my summer wardrobe and am wearing shorts with a tank top and enjoying soaking up that long-awaited sunshine.

Let’s take a look at what’s been happening at the farm this week.

Sunday

For about the past three weeks my husband has been working on fencing in the entire farm. It’s a huge undertaking as the 7.6-acre farm measures 1000 ft (304.8 m) by 330 ft (100.5 m). When it is all done he will have pounded in more than 260 fence posts and strung more than 2600 feet (792.48 m) of fence.

The small fence posts in the above picture line the east side of our back field. He has the entire back field fenced at this point and is working diligently on completing the front of the property.

In the above picture the fence lines the front of our property on the west side. When this project is complete we will no longer have to worry about Ranger and Ruby and even the chickens wandering onto neighboring property or into the road. It will take a large load off our minds.

There seems to be an abundance of robins this spring. Some of them have even sat still for pictures.

The fence in the above picture which had enclosed the main garden area is also being removed.

The pond level is up from last fall but it has yet to overflow like it does most years in the spring.

Ruby did not hesitate to get her feet wet as she enjoyed a cool drink from the pond.

Things are beginning to green up. I’m sure the thunderstorms we had last week helped.

Tuesday

Tuesday the weather really warmed up so we were able to move the chicks to the farm.

My husband set up their chicken wire enclosure. He designed it so they have access to the coop through the small door with hopes that they will learn to go in the coop at night.

He also put up a divider inside to coop so they do not have access to the big door.

I bet you’re not surprised to see Ranger watching the babies.

Like robins, we have an abundance of red winged blackbirds.

Some of them posed for pictures as well.

I also got a rare picture of a kildeer that was hanging around near the beach before Ruby chased it off.

The garlic that we planted last fall is coming up nicely.

As I looked up to see if the maple trees were getting leaves yet I noticed what appears to be a Baltimore oriole nest. It seems too early to be a nest build this year, so I am assuming it was from last year or maybe even the year before.

I only say “the year before” because I noticed a second one in the same tree. I don’t know how likely it is that two pair of orioles would nest in the same tree.

Some of the chickens had wandered into the field next door. This won’t be a problem once the fence is complete and it really isn’t a problem now because that neighbor doesn’t mind.

But Ruby thought it was a problem

and took it upon herself to bring them all back home.

She really does have amazing herding instincts and skills. If you have ever tried herding chickens you understand how difficult it can be. It took her less than two minutes to round up eight hens and bring them back over to our farm.

Thursday

The chicks are doing well at the farm, feathering out nicely, learning to forage

and maybe even learning to get back into the coop.

It was a great day to be in the pond, at least the dogs thought so.

Ruby discovered the (bullfrog) tadpoles and has now become obsessed with watching for them and trying to catch them. I suspect she will spend a lot of time there this summer.

Ranger just wanted to go for a swim to cool off.

When deciding to put up the fence my husband and I discussed the likelihood that the wildlife presence on our farm would be altered. Not necessarily a bad thing. While deer, fox, racoons and other animals can get over the fence it’s hard to say whether they will or not. I suppose it depends on what there is to motivate them to do so.

However, I never considered that the fence might be a problem for a pheasant. Pheasants can fly and could easily sail right over the fence.

This male ringed-neck pheasant was very confused and spent several hours trying to find an opening in the fence.

Eventually Ruby spotted him. I’m not sure if he flew or ran when she chased him but I think she did him a favor as he did clear out of the area. Hopefully he found a different route home.

I’ll leave you with a slide show of flowers that are blossoming at the farm. Among them are daffodils, forsythia (beginning to open), and primrose.

Thanks for visiting.