Corgi Hill Farm

Garden Update

It's been a while since the last Garden Update but honestly trying to take pictures in a deluge just isn't a lot of fun.  I was beginning to wonder if I should start building an Ark in the basement but finally today the sun returned.  There have been some wonderful success stories and one sad passing in the garden.

Today after tasting our frowsy lettuce from the four large beds we planted it was apparent that the excess of water had taken it's toll.  The lettuce left a nasty bitter aftertaste. 

I have to admit I have eaten my fill of greens by this time so I'm not mourning them all that much.  There is one bed of sweet Romaine left and we'll harvest that tomorrow.

We have some onions in flats that will take over the lettuce beds and perhaps we'll plant some more greens in a few weeks.  For right now it's all about the peas.

Shelling peas, snap peas and pea pods.  Wes is 6 feet 3 inches which gives you some perspective on the success of our peas and trellis structures.

We had fresh snow peas for dinner with some fresh shelling peas and I put up two pints of shelled peas to the freezer.  They'll be a tasty treat in the cold of winter.  Said winter, by the way, that still seems to be lingering.  In the mornings we bundle up a bit, me with my shawl and blankie and Wes with his flannel shirt and coffee.  Slowly the house warms to roughly 68 degrees but honestly for July this is downright chilly.  I'm about to go hunting for a large flat rock so I can lay myself out like a lizard and get some inner warmth going.

I'm a bit worried about the beans, zukes and cukes but they do look nice.  Hopefully they'll ignore the overnight lows in the 40's and 50's and take off with the day time temps in the 70's.

The onions are doing quite well and we're going to thin them a bit this weekend and sell some of the excess.

We do like onions but there's no way the two of us can eat more than 300 over a winter *g* 

Finally, the one garden oddity that has me really wondering is this watermelon and his siblings.

I threw these seedlings out in the cold of May under row cover and they've thrived!!!  We had several hard frosts which killed the winter squash (wimps) but these melons and the Hale's Melons have survived and thrived.  I have no earthly idea if they'll grow up in time but I have more row cover and I'm going to baby them until either they do mature or the garden freezes over. 

Today was a lovely day in the garden full of heat and promise.  While the rain has not given us much of a break and the lack of heat precludes the abundance I was planning for the tastes and joys of this garden are all good.  I spun on the porch during the early afternoon breeze and Agatha laid herself out on the daybed in a sunbeam.  What more could a family wish for!

Cleanliness is next to....

Time lost!  It's not any great mystery to most folks that cleaning takes up an inordinate amount of time these days.  Anti-bacterial this and that, washing machines, dish washing machines, major dust suckers (aka dysons) and more.  Apparently somewhere around the Victorian era it was decided that cleaning took too much time and labor saving devices should be introduced. 

Many labor saving devicies aka electric machines were introduced but as far as I can tell they might have saved labor but they didn't save time.  Now that you can get things REALLY clean it probably actually takes as much time as getting it clean ENOUGH.  Modern lighting hasn't helped much either because now you can actually see when things are a little dirty instead of when the dust bunnies attack.

I realized the other day as I was washing up seedling pots in the rain (it's always raining lately) that I spend about 1 hour every day cleaning something.  I tend to do a load of laundry each day since I wash by hand and do smaller loads.  Doing laundry this way uses the power of water as a universal solvent by soaking and a bit of elbow grease from me on spots.  A load every day takes me approximately 15 minutes.  I wash dishes at least twice a day which takes about 10 minutes.  (using the Corgi pre-wash is a freebie).  I wipe down counters with a vinegar/water mixture and a rag, 5 minutes.  Generally I'll pick a room of the house to dust and declutter daily, 10 minutes.  Washing myself at various times of the day probably 15 minutes.  So there you have it, an hour a day spent on keeping this home and me clean enough for me and mine.  

If I was using a washing machine and a dishwasher I could add approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours of electric usage to my bills each month and I honestly can't see much time savings at all.  We won't discuss a clothing dryer which is a huge waste of energy.  

In the end I see cleaning as something that needs to be done.  I enjoy a clean house, but I'm not anti-bacterialing everything in sight.   I let the floors get a little frowsy during the week and I don't automatically throw clothing into the laundry basket unless it's small clothes or truly dirty.  Honestly I think my husband's work jeans only get done once a month and that's because they walk themselves into the wash tub! 

Cleaning should be something we do to please ourselves, not something we are brainwashed into doing because of a marketing campaign that pushes chemical cleaners and electric devices as what everyone should do.  Grab a rag, some vinegar, maybe some baking soda and clean for a few minutes a day.  That's really enough and like I always say....  It's all good!

Independence

There is much ado these days about independence.  Being free from the grid, from consumerism, from the agri-franken-food chain and having the freedom to be whatever you can be.  Unfortunately this country has a wide variety of road blocks to this freedom in the forms of laws, zoning, ordinances and social conventions.  It's a long journey to independence but I figure it's just like eating an elephant.  You grab a spoon and eat one bite at a time.

I feel pretty free from the consumer culture from whence I came mostly due to the fact that I police myself with regards to on-line clickey-clickey and I just don't go "shopping".  Having "wish" lists at various vendors helps as does the "watch" list at Ebay because I can just list the thinks I think I want in that moment and walk away.  Very frequently I never get those items because the momentary I want moment is over.  I like this.

Instead of going shopping I spend fabulous afternoons like yesterday's with friends like Gayle and we have a nice lunch, spin lovely yarn, natter about nothing in particular and in general have 4-5 hours of amazing fun and it doesn't cost anything at all!  That beats going shopping in my book by a long shot.

One of my wishes for independence is to be free from foods that make me sick.  Growing our own garden has been a riot this year.  Seriously hysterical fun between two gardening noobs who can read however many gardening books there are out there and then try to make it work.  We've probably made every mistake there is with unscreened not so aged manure, concrete block raised beds (we should have used wood), beds too big, plants planted too close, not enough peas (can you ever have enough peas?), too many seedlings,  trellis that could support growing toddlers, etc., etc. 

However.... Mother Nature must like us because despite all the things we should have, could have, would have done if we had 20 years experience the garden is edible and good.

Yeah, the rainy northeast weather is making things a bit behind but I'm confident the sun will come out eventually.  So far we are eating lettuce, peas and spring onions and they are so sweet and wonderful!

The potatoes haven't blossomed yet but they are about 4 feet tall and we can hill no more.  If we actually get a bunch of potatoes out of this row I'm definitely going to have to dehyrate a bunch because it looks like there's going to be enough for a family of 20, not Two!

Of all the goofy heat loving plants that did survive frosts, rain, cold and wind this Saskatchewan Watermelon is amazing.  Flowers everywhere and vines reaching to Canada.

Our weather has not been very nice to the Beans, Jalapenos or Cukes but the peas are loving it and honestly only about half are even making it into the house *g*

I'm already making plans for next year on how to be more independent from the grocery store food chain and I'm lucky enough to have a fabulous friend in Gayle who is going to show me the road of meat rabbits and meat chickens.  Now I just have to figure out how to shoe-horn them into my tiny acre in accordance with the zoning bylaws. 

Agatha and Taffy agree that having food on the hoof so to speak would be down right tasty!

Defining Enough

In making so many changes to our lives Wes and I have had to continually define what is "enough" for us.  Being Child Free our version of enough is more than likely much simpler than those who have children to raise.  Our frame of reference for enough does not include vacations, retirement, sick days or many of the other benefits of working in the formal economy.   In fact after reading various publications of the Nearings we really sat down and figured out that we could have enough and enjoy the rest of life without much trouble at all!  (moving 2500 miles to be closer to family, getting rid of half your posessions, living in 1/4 of your former living space, 4000 square foot garden... not much trouble at all *laughs a bit hysterically*).

When we started our journey nearly two years ago I was a veritable shopping maven.  I stopped weekly at TJ Maxx which always had some little bauble or trinket I had to have.  Several times a week I would peruse the magazine racks at Barnes and Nobles and usually pick up one or two decorating eye candy type journals along with a Caramel Machiatto from Starbucks.  Going out to dinner was a weekly event at a very nice restaurant (which I have to admit was more because I adored the owners) and we usually had takeout at least twice a week.  In short, a typical American Life.

Today our monthly income is probably what I spent on the above pleasures.  I find that while I miss the company of Wes & Scott at their restaurant I don't miss the expense.  (honestly, I can cook quite well but those guys were fabulous to spend time with).  I actually don't miss TJ Maxx all that much because it's much easier to shop Etsy for ideas and make things myself or have the occasional splurge and support another artist.  Having 1/4 the decorating space means I just shop the boxes in the attic to decorate and I can always go to other garage sales for stuff.  I have to admit I miss the occasional Caramel Machiatto but I found a substitute that I make at home for pennies.

All of our changes have happened because we re-defined what is enough for us.  I am constantly having to rein myself in from big ideas and expansion of various business models and remember what is enough for us.  It's far too easy for me to become a workaholic, tendencies that served me well in various corporate jobs.  Now I have to remind myself that we chose a different enough for us so that we could enjoy life a little more, take time to sit and watch the rain fall gently (or not so gently as it looks like it's starting to pour out there) and that we don't feel the pressures, ulcers, stress headaches and irritations of our previous lives.

I made a huge decision this summer to become part of a local Farmer's Market instead of having a village Farm Stand on my front porch.  I had visions of dollar signs running through my head as tourists flocked to my booth and ordered special baked goods, cleaned out the ones I had baked for the market and wiped out all the vast quantities of produce I would be able to grow.  ROFLMAO!!! 

Looking back (isn't hindsight a wonderful thing) I realize I probably should have lived in the area for a year before I made decisions about income opportunities without information.  It is our first large garden and the weather really has kicked our butts.  Climate change, season shift, sunspots or El Nino our garden definitely did not produce as much as I thought it would. 

The economy seems to be inhibiting the tourists and honestly there are far too many other Saturday events to make our tiny Farmer's Market a priority.  With two well stocked farm stands and two farmer's markets within a five mile radius I think maybe this was not a decision that will pan out in the long run for me personally.  I will see out the season but I'm having some regrets about trying to do more than my porch farm stand on main street.  I think some of my pining is that there have been some fabulous Saturday events I wanted to attend but I did make the commitment to do the farmer's market so could not attend other events (yeah, that's a bit of a whine, got any cheese?)

On the other hand my online ventures have done quite well, exceeding my wildest dreams and focusing on those brings me much happiness and joy.  I have other ideas that I'm just getting started on and high hopes for those as well.  I also plan to open that porch Farm Stand because it's really what we wanted to do in the first place.

It's always a crapshoot making huge changes in life and coming back to the basic premise of what is "enough" for Wes and I has to be the baseline from where we go forward.  It's a constant reminder that being able to enjoy our lives is more important to us than anything else and we need to do enough to pay the basics and then kick back and remember....  It's all good!

Arachnophobia

Checking into Netflix yesterday their pick of the day for me was the movie Arachnophobia.  If you only knew how funny that was...  I've seen the movie and managed to cover my face and hyperventilate through the final scene when the spider the size of a Labrador Retriever tried to eat the homeowner.  Seriously, my phobia isn't nearly as bad as it used to be, if they leave me alone, I leave them alone.

Fast forward to this morning and picture if you will a simple scene of girl carding batts and watching a sit com of interesting characters.  I didn't braid up my hair today, something I usually do when I'm drum carding because it was still a bit damp this morning. 

As I'm carding fluffy batts of Merino, Yak and Silk I feel a tickle at my widow's peak.  Thinking it's a hair out of place, a curl not where it should be I gracefully brush the top of my forehead.  This was the last graceful move for several moments.

The next thing I knew there was a light "plop" into my bosom and when I looked down there were eight legs, fangs, beady eyes and this quarter size spider staring back at me.    Aaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

I jumped up, started flailing at my chest, realized the drum carder was still running (danger, danger!), flipped the off switch, ripped all my clothing off (dress, shirt, sweater, bra) into the middle of the living room floor, checked the girls (the boobs, not the dogs, they were staring in awe a the spectacle), realized the blinds were wide open in the front room that faces MAIN STREET!!!!  ZOMG!  I grabbed the pile of clothing, ran to the bathroom, chucking them into the laundry room on the way. 

At this point I know there's no more spider but he might have friends so I brushed my hair with forceful strokes, hoping the beast had been a loner.   My breathing is now slowing down after shrieking agh, agh, agh across the tiny cottage. 

Okay, time to check the clothing.  It was tempting to just toss the whole pile into the laundry but I do my laundry by hand and I'm not that much of a masochist to toss perfectly clean clothing into the pile when I can check them over carefully.    After I checked all clothing for visitors and found none I bravely got back on that horse and put them back on.  I also tightly braided my hair.

All of this took about 3-5 minutes.  Seriously.  An entire comedy act for the Corgi girls in a flash as Wes had just made the daily post office run.  I explained what happened when he returned and after he picked himself up from rolling on the floor laughing he very nicely vacuumed the living room for me just in case the beast was still scuttling around. 

Gotta love a man who vacuums for ya!

p.s.  Netflix will never rent that movie to me.  N.E.V.E.R.

Wet Busy Bees

I've been an infrequent poster ever since I started gardening.  The gardens should (and do) make for great blog fodder, if I'd remember the camera and stop long enough to take pictures.  These past few days have been wet, wetter and wettest around here.  We are getting enough moisture to not have to water but not enough heat for things like the Jalapenos, Beans and Tomatoes to take off.  The peas on the other hand are having a grand time!

Wes came bursting into the house this morning exclaiming that we had pea pods!!!  I simply had to take pictures and prove it *g*  We also have many kinds of lettuce growing and it's feeding us, some of the farmer's market folks and the slugs.

We have used the diatomaceous earth and it seems to help a tiny bit when it's dry but that's been far and few between.  Wes has been hand picking most of the slugs and flinging them into the street to make nice greasy smears.  The slug population is definitely far less than it was a few days ago.  I also did my duty on slug patrol but I have a milk jug and a pair of chop sticks.  I just loathe touching those slimey beasts!

My little fiber business has taken off and today I actually received an inquiry today for a wholesale account.  I did my happy dance of joy at the compliment but had to turn down the offer as I'm just not comfortable with doing wholesale.  I really love the interaction with my customers and I don't think I'm capable of churning out batts in the quantities needed for wholesale orders.  Today I started making Animal Free Fiber batts and calling them Veggie Batts.  Bamboo with Firestar and a touch of silk.  Vegetables and bugs... works for me!  Here is Cherry Lime rickey.

Oddly enough in the garden I lost all my winter squash but my Hale's Melons and my Saskatchewan Melons made it.  It makes no sense so if I actually get a melon this summer I'll be shocked and awed.

Everything else is growing, albeit slowly since our nights are still below 60 degrees.  We're inching up day by day and I'm crossing my fingers that July will see the nights above 60 and the days not too far above 78 or 79 but I really need just a bit of soil warming.

As usual the girls could not care less about the weather as long as they have treats, belly rubs, toys and cuddles.  They are happily tugging each other to and fro with the remnants of an old popped ball.  Takes to to tug and they do make quite a pair!

Color is Good

This afternoon's Batt Attack.

Treasure Hunt in my Purse

Monday Wes and I journeyed to New Hampshire to see my grandfather.  Along the way there is a TJ Maxx which used to be my all time FAVORITE store.  You never know what you are going to find in there and honestly it was rare that I didn't find something.  It's a good thing the nearest one is 90 minutes away.

I had a short list of things I wanted that have been difficult to find here which included candles, tea for my grandfather who likes Yorkshire Tea and they always have it and a long sleeve shirt for me since summer seems to be taking it's own dang sweet time.  I always surf through the purses too because I love a new purse.  That was an eye opener.

When did purses become the size of small rolling luggage bags!!!  Honestly most of the purses there you could fit a toddler in and I don't have one of those (nor do I plan on acquiring one).  My current purse is 10 inches by 6 inches and has a 4 inch gusset at the bottom that tapers up.  It's actually a bit too big and I was looking for a slightly smaller purse.  I guess it's time to make myself one because finding a purse that is just right seems to be an epic journey of frustration.

I clean out my purse once a week of all the detritus and it does get interesting but it's all small stuff.  This week's haul:

Notepad, 4 old notes, recipe for organic fertlizer
Sunglasses, 2 hair bands, nail file
3 tampons, lipstick, lipgloss, reading glasses, tums (the over 40 pocket)
9 receipts I didn't need and 2 that I did
1 pencil, 6 pens (WTF?)
Chopsticks (for picking off bugs in the garden) and old fortune
Truck Keys
Listerine thingie, mints (nothing like breathing dragon breath at the Farmer's Market Customers)
3 seed packets (that I've been looking for!)
Wallet with credit cards but no money
Loose change and a few loose dollars (that should have been in wallet)

None of the things above require a lot of room and I suspect if I had a slightly smaller purse, maybe I wouldn't let it get so dang messy.  In any case, I'd probably at least find the money quicker *lol*

Norma Tells all but I have Proof

The proof of the ZOMG Dessert, yes Mr. J is teeny and adorable like parts of Norma** and a good time was had by all.

I had more for dinner!

**Norma has little teeny feet too!

Polish Luggage

Part of my growing up years were in the Chicago area and my maiden name is Zurawski.  The cemetary where we buried my dad and grandmother is one of those where as you look at headstones you wonder why they didn't buy a vowel.... so I feel well qualified to talk about the joke of my childhood which was Polish Luggage or traveling with your stuff in either a paper bag or a box. 

Today as I looked out over the seedlings and did some head counting I realized I'm woefully short on garden bed space.  I have just enough over by the 2nd planting of peas for the Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans.

In actuality I wasn't sure they were even going to come up but last night as I checked things here this one was and a few of his buddies.  I yelled across the garden to Wes... "Hey Honey!  The Kentucky Wonder Poles are up".  The look on his face was priceless *lol*  I can only wonder what the neighbors thought!

Other than that space every square inch of the garden has been given over to greens and the 106 tomato plants.

Since it is now $3 for a bag of nice greens that feed the two of us having these four beds for greens only is something I'm not willing to give up for the zukes, cukes and a few other seedlings.  After thinking for a bit I came up with the solution.  Boxes.  We have boxes and we have dirt.

Wes dutifully filled boxes with crapy dirt, leaves and good dirt and we'll now have room for various things that are on the seedling table.  There are smaller seedlings that can be tucked in here and there but for the most part I want the viney stuff at the edge of the garden and it can head out into the yard.  We've already lined the fences with tires and I don't want any more of those although they seem to be very good containers for the potatoes.

I'm thinking that I might actually get some taters out of this lot and it's probably time to start hilling them up next week.  Now that they are up they are growing fast!

The peas are climbing to the sky finally although we've not been nearly as pro-active at sorting them out and such, it might be a bit of a mess but I suspect we'll get some in the end.

From what I can tell this area is about 10 degrees below normal for this time of year.  I've been scouring the net for long range forecasts, crystal balls, fortune tellers and what not to figure out what the heck is going on.  Found it.  I also found a weather type guy from the upper midwest that figures those of us in the upper part of the U.S. may be in for a cooler summer, early fall and snow up to your neck winter.  If I could remember his name I might try to smack him down but honestly the way it looks right now I'm thinking I'm going to be wearing shawls all summer.  Sheesh!

On the bright side of a cool summer there will be less bugs.  Also on the glass half full side I might be able to grow lettuce all summer long and maybe if I can find some room (or more boxes) I might just start succession sowing more peas and grow a bumper crop of those.  I'll find a way to make it all good!

I have started knitting in the evenings again since the handspun is kind of piling up.  I ripped out an entire skein of Kauni that was a Pi shawl and send that frogged yarn off to Sweden.  While I like the feel of Kauni I just don't like the long color repeats.  I really prefer tonal type yarns, not stripey.  I also just wasn't in love with the project and for a pi shawl, you really gotta feel the love.

My purple phase.  The socks are Koigu in a purple colorway and the shawl is a Weaver's Wool Mini Shawl out of my own handspun that I'm doing in tonal colorways and in layers (not stripes).  It's almost an hour of knitting and I've already decided to rip out the piece, restart it in the light colored yarn, then transition to the medium purple and finish with the dark purple.  This is probably one of my all time favorite shawl patterns because it sits on your shoulders really, really well and for working around the house that's a good thing.  The socks are my basic vanilla sock toe up and that works for me.

The girls are liking the cool weather and spending more time ensconced in dog beds.  Now if Agatha would only fit *in* the bed instead of across the entire thing *lol*