And it's June........

It's peony season!  And iris season and sweet william season and lady's mantel season and so many other seasons as things are finally awake and ready to bloom.  It's been a spectacular year for roses!  Every rose bush I have seen is loaded with blooms and buds.  I guess it's true, roses like to drink! 

This past month has been exhausting at times.  Every morning I'd get up and race to the wheel barrow. Happy to say all the mulching is done!  The rain barrels are in place and now to get everything hooked up!  So far we really haven't needed them this year.  We seem to get rain when we need it but I know that is about to end and the dry spells will be here. 

Mother's Day was a day off and we took a spin out to the Black Door in Madison.  What a great get-away spot for an afternoon.  The food was good and the drinks even better. 

I love small plates instead of a big meal.  I don't need to come home and nap after small plates :) 

 

Then home for a nice FaceTime with the Alaska Sisters.  I'd call that a perfect day! 

Monday it was back to finish up mulching and start planting annuals.  The baby chicks were evicted from the kitchen and moved to the studio.  And now a month later they're about to be evicted from the studio to a bigger pen.  

By May 15th I thought OH NO! here comes summer.  It was ridiculously hot and I still had so many projects to get done. 

Thought it was a good day to cross one quick project off my list.  Deciding it a good day to put a new trellis system down the driveway for tomatoes.  Thought I'd be out by 1 or 2 pm.  Nothing says welcome summer like standing on a hot asphalt driveway digging post holes but they were done by evening and so was I.... stick a fork in me! 

And the garden kept doing garden things.... What a Spring here this year! 

I slammed marigolds and a few other perennials in the front beds, big mistake.  Summer really wasn't here yet and then the rain and cold hit again.  I think I have lost half of the six flats I planted.  They were becoming root bound and really needed to go out. So between being thrown into the elements and being root bound, they struggled.   

All the pots and flower boxes were planted.  Potting soil was made this year, decided I could do better than the big box store stuff and it was a significant savings. 

May 18th arrived and I went into hyper cleaning mode.  Living in a small house is a  wonderful thing as I can pretty well whip this place into shape in a day and half.  Floors scrubbed, bedding laundered, wall scrubbed etc.  May 19th, Rachael's roommate from Alaska arrived for 4 days.  She had appointments at Cleveland Clinic and we were so happy we could offer a bed and hot meals!  While Raina was at the clinic I pulled out all the fence posts in the old garden, rolled up the old fence and planted more marigolds.  We took a trip to Middlefield to stock up on pork, sending it back to Alaska in same box the frozen salmon arrived in.  We'll see who the next meat mule is! We are calling that a win for everybody!  Raina departed on Thursday afternoon with a box of pork and happy to head back to Alaska as the weather in Alaska was better than the weather in Cleveland!  

The studio has been clean out ...... again!  All tools put away.  Garden piles put away or removed.  The shed got a good cleaning again and we still have one more shed to go.  It houses all my booth stuff from years of doing shows so that is going to be bitter sweet but I can honestly say I am done doing do shows.  Not so much done doing pottery but in these uncertain times; weather & political, my priorities have shifted and I am much more interested in growing food.  The disposable income is not out there and people are worried about the current state affairs.  The raku kiln has been disassembled and bricks saved for a future pizza oven.  Those years are over too.  Amazing what turning 70 will do for your priorities. 

Finally on May 25th I started planting peppers and tomatoes!  I knew we were not quite done with the cold weather but all this stuff needed to get in the ground.  Sure enough May 31st frost warnings went up.  I was hoping the lake would keep us warm and it did but we dropped to 38 degrees.  I covered everything the night before and was happy I did, 38 degrees is just too cold for peppers, tomatoes, squash and melons.  Yes, I have enough frost cloth to cover the half acre of gardens.   

Meanwhile things had started producing! 

The rhubarb has been out of control this year, there are three big bags sitting in the freezer waiting for me. Rhubarb BBQ sauce is on the horizon. 

And of course the flowers......

The hoop house has been cleaned and cucumbers are in residence.  They seem to like their new home. 

 May 26th we hosted the neighborhood Memorial Day picnic.  Canopies were up, the grill was hot and the parade came down the street, then the neighbors arrived.  No one on Casement will ever starve! 

The party ended around 10:30 pm and we all waddled home.  It was another perfect day.  I have to say we live in a great neighborhood.  I love that we have a core group of 10 people who have lived here a very long time and we enjoy hanging out for holidays and getting together whenever. 

By Tuesday it was back to planting tomatoes, fixing trellises, wrestling a big ass hydrangeas out of the ground and replanting in the back 40.  The hole was replaced with hot peppers, eggplant and watermelons. 

and yes, this is the front yard :) 

The great pepper experiment started.  I mixed up more potting soil and filled 10-10 gallon grow bags.  I planted one pepper and one marigold in each bag, sprinkled with azomite and moved them to the back 40 against the fence.  I want to see if these portable peppers will grow as well as the peppers in the ground.  

It's been a very busy month as May always is and I suppose will continue to be.  It has kept me away from the news and TV and for that I am grateful.  I love plants, that is all.  The dehydrator chugs away nonstop on the counter and I'm about to drag the canning stuff out of the nooks of crannies in this old house.  The basement isn't as empty as I thought it would be as I have canned throughout the cold months this year.  I guess canning and preserving season never really ends. 

I've spent so much time on my hands and knees but have made some amazing friends.... 

This one has much better opinions than anything coming out of Washington ☺️

Welcome June! 

 

 

It's Green again........

                               Seems like it's been a cold wet Spring.  A day to work outside and two to work inside.  I'm not very good at start/stop living so this Spring has been a bit of a challenge.  I think I am so far behind but last night as I was hauling the 100th wheelbarrow of mulch I thought; Hey, you usually don't have the mulch spread until Memorial Weekend!  You're Ok......  Phew, talked myself off that garden ledge!  And yet I seem to stay busy enough not to get a blog post out in timely fashion.  

Still managing to get two youtube videos up a week and that has been interesting and sometimes a challenge.  The haters finally found the channel so they have been banished to the ethers.

This morning is cold and rainy again so a recovery day from an 11 hour mulch extravaganza yesterday.  Yes, moving slow and hearing my body talking to me when I really want it to shut up and behave!

So what has happened around the old homestead since the last post?  Lots! 

After last years drought I decided I was going to try valiantly to get a backup watering system.  So much time and effort was put into hose dragging last year.  And the veg garden definitely suffered, even with a top dressing of mulch.  

Grabbed a 275 gallon IBC tote off marketplace and hope to grab one or two more in the next few months.

For the front garden I grabbed these: 

I have used sprinkler hoses in the past and just turn them upside down and use them more as a soaker hose.  A handful of mulch on top and no one knows they're there.  75' should be enough for the front beds where I plant hot peppers, melons and eggplant each year.  Ya, our city has an ordinance against that stuff in your front yard but they'll never know because they will be mixed in with annuals and perennials and small shrubs.  Stealth gardening is a must in this city.  

The gutters have been fixed from all the ice damage last winter and I should get the rain barrels hooked up in their new home next week. 

I planned to order 8 yards of mulch this year, not the traditional 22 yards.  I have converted quite a few of the paths and beds around the fruit trees, asparagus beds and berry bushes to wood chips. 

Broccoli and Cauliflower are looking so good this year! 

 I ran to the local mulch factory and you got a better deal if you ordered 10 yards so I went with 10.  I might be stuffing mulch in my pockets at the end of this pile!  Mulch in my opinion is worth it's weight in gold; suppresses weeds, keeps tender roots cool in the hottest months and helps keep moisture in the ground.  Keeps the garden soil from blowing away too!  

One chicken is just not cutting it for the compost pile so on one of those rainy days I ran up to the feed and seed and they had just got in loads of fluffy, chirpy, baby chics.  I had been hunting for months and thought I would be driving to West Virginia because rumor had it WV had baby chicks at the farm supply stores.  Chickens being the new toilet paper of 2025 were in hot demand.  I had planned to wait it out and just knew they'd be showing up on marketplace when everybody got sick of tending chickens for a few butt nuggets. 

But they were in the stock tanks waiting for me.  I vowed I would only buy the chicken breed that works well here; Wyandottes! If they didn't have Wyandottes, walk away.  Do not buy asshole chickens again..... Rhode Island Reds will never see this backyard again.  

Using great restraint I bought 4 baby chicks.  An Olive Egger, an Americana, a Blue Laced Gold Wyandotte and a Gold Laced Wyandotte.  While I work in the garden, Mozart plays softly in the background of the kitchen for above average chickens 🎶

the Olive Egger has a different personality and usually by herself so I'll be headed up to the Feed and Seed to pick up one more Olive Egger ...... safety in numbers I think. But as the state of Ohio has minimum purchase of 3 chicks I could be in trouble here.  

On those rainy days I got a bit of canning and baking done.  

Canning:

 

Chili

 and a few more jars of garbanzo beans.  

Still need to restock the canned potatoes but then I'm sure it will rain again. 

I also stocked up on a few more jars and every time I go out I pick up lids.  Right now they are in the stores but they could get scarce very quick as I learned during covid. 

I'm going to need more shelves at this rate.....

Laundry detergent got made so should be set for awhile. 

and a bit of baking...... 

The rhubarb is ON!  Thought I would clean out the freezer from last years strawberries and made a batch of Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Bars.  They store in the freezer very well for 3-4 months.

The months bread allocation got baked and safely tucked in the freezer.  

But all in all I am so ready to get annuals in the ground, clean out the hoop house, finish the fence out back, refurbish the chicken coop, and harvest a few herbs.  All those seeds started when the snow was flying and they are ready to get in the ground.  I am ready for flowers again 💐

Be well, be safe, stay busy, eat snacks and don't watch the news....... blessings be!

 

Its Super Bowl time for gardeners!

Every morning I sort of watch the news; mostly wondering if we invaded Greenland yet. 

Every morning I listen to 5 minutes, mostly for the weather and then exit under the flashing light. 

Ran over to the Feed and Seed with the intent to buy 5 pounds of potatoes and bought 15 pounds of seed potatoes; Norland, Kenebec and Eve.  

Installing 4 new beds and moving way to many concrete blocks for my old decrepit body.  Also installed insect netting over all the brassica and greens beds.  The white cabbage butterfly has already emerged! 

Everyday I try to get up and get moving.  The weather has been start and stop.  One day we have 28F degree windchills and the next day it's 70F degrees.  The ever growing pile of clothes, shoes and boots by the backdoor is alarming!  Garden gloves and seed packets in every pocket.  All the tools are out due to so many projects going on all at the same time.  

I have been at Home Depot so much, shoppers have started asking me where stuff is located in the store.  Happy to say I am still rocking the gift cards.  Currently I have $1 off a gallon of gas.  Just playing the game. 

The hoop house is loaded with kale and lettuce!  

This has been the best addition to the garden in years! 

The cold tolerant plants have all been transplanted, YAY!!

Broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, 4 varieties of kale, chinese cabbage, 3 varieties of head cabbage, more lettuce, onions, peas. 

The 15 pounds of seed potatoes have all been planted too. 

The fence project continues.  Top boards are in place and the bottom vinyl coated fence was trenched in and tied to the cattle panels.  I still need to install a bottom board but it's looking pretty good!  And the gate was installed! 

On the days it was too cold or rainy to work outside, inside stuff got done.

Enchilada Sauce.  This is a great recipe and one that I will make again.  It is in the Ball Canning Book. 

Since I made the enchilada sauce I thought I should make tortillas too.  I will never buy tortillas from the store again!  These were that good and so easy! 

With price of olive oil going up and up due to climate change and mind numbing tariffs I decided to render 10 pounds of leaf lard.  

And just like that Easter was here!  Had a great time with our neighborhood for Easter.

My contribution this year was old fashioned potato salad, dinner rolls and cassata cake. 

I planted a damson prune plum in the back forty to accompany the superior plum planted a few weeks ago. 

There is just so much going on its hard to keep up.  It's been so good to keep a planting diary this year because I get to the end of the week and think; Did I do anything this week?  Phew I did!  

The more I watch the news the more I plant.  The tomatoes and peppers are ready to be moved to the hoop house and I will be happy when I am not lugging them outside every morning and night.  This year I've been moving 22 flats of flowers and veggies.  I'll be happy when they are in the ground! 

There has been time for beach walks too..... weekends are sacred.

And Spring is happening, although it's been a bit chilly.

So stay busy, eat snacks and plant seeds!