Grow your own
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Celery ..growing wild?
Posted by Moo on 06 Dec 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own, Uncategorized, farm
I took Bo out first thing this morning for his walk around the farm, over the field and back again. I got excited as by our old little shed that used to house the pump for the well water I saw soem frozen celery. “ah! “I thought. “Growing wild. We had wild asparagus, now wild celery! I’ll come back later and take some photos of it and put it on my web!”
Later, this time fully awake, I went out with camera and took some pictures of it. It looked like mature celery with white leaves. “Strange” I thought. “And the wrong time of year!”. Then Bo the dog came and sniffed and lifted the celery stalk out of the ground and it was very obvious the celery had been cut with a knife at some time, and this was browned. Then the solution hit me!… The animals had moved it from the manure patch and into the field area. Maybe the wind had blown it and ‘planted’ it in the snow where it looked to me like it was growing!
Memo to myself: make sure you are FULLY AWAKE before making assumptions!
Veggie garden
Posted by Moo on 21 Oct 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own, farm
When I returned from the UK I noticed that there is nothing now in the veggie patch. The cabbages that I had looked forward to having ..especially the red cabbage that I had intended pickling!….had been eaten!! All the heads had been removed and the stalks were all that was left. I am not sure if it was the deer or the skunk that had feasted on them!
Update on the veggies, fruit and nuts.
Posted by Moo on 16 Sep 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own, farm
The corn is all picked now and the corn plants have been pulled up and put on the compost heap.
The pepper plants produced little red chilli peppers, but the plants are so tiny that I am surprised they produced anything at all!!!
A lot of the hazel nuts have been blown on the ground. They are now big enough that they can be eaten, unless like the last lot that were blown off the tree that had very tiny nuts or nothing at all inside the shells.
The tomatoes are still producing.
The apples have mainly fallen from the trees and been eaten by the deer. A lot of the apples did have worms in or were wasp eaten.
The plums have all been picked from the tree at the back and made into jam or eaten as they were.
There are still lots of pears on the first pear tree. The second pear tree pears are not yet ready to be eaten.
The beetroot is jsut about ready to be pulled and the few carrots that are there are ready too.
The cabbages are growing still but I see the caterpillars have been enjoying the leaves.
I picked a cucumber the other day!!!! I think there is one more to pick soon!!!
Using fruit and vegetables
Posted by Moo on 08 Sep 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own
I have had a surplus of tomatoes and so far have made some salsa and also some red tomato chutney. Both are delicious!
Also I had some surplus plums from the fruit tree at the front of the house and have made some plum and apple puree jam (called summer fruit jam!). That too is tasty!
Apples
Posted by Moo on 24 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own
Our apple tree that produced about ten apples last year is laden this year. We previously thought that they were all goi to be wormy and not at all good but it seems that we have some good ones on the tree as well! Delicious they are too and just about ready to eat! We have picked the odd one here and there and it is time to pick more!!!
Plums ready! Pears still hard! Corn tasted!
Posted by Moo on 23 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own
The plums on the front tree are ready at last. I say ‘at last’ because by the 8th August last year I was making Jam and canning (bottling) the plums. This year they are later and are only just ready. They have been falling on the floor for days now but the ones left on the tree each time have not been ready to eat… till yesterday! We now have two big bowl fulls picked and are eating them when we fancy with Bo’s help (yes he likes plums!!).
We tasted pears off the first pear tree today. They are hard like a turnip but just as we like them!!! They are delicious though I have to say that most people would not like them like this.
The other day we picked three corn cobs and had them cooked with butter! Yummy! There are no more ready but it won’t be long before we are feasting off them again!
New compost heap in veggie garden
Posted by Moo on 13 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own
We have been busy in the veggie patch again. It needed lots of weeding after having several weeks of me doing nothing with my “frozen shoulder”. The peas are now over and the plants pulled out. The zucchini are still producing lots. The tomatoes are slowly ripening. The corn is looking good but won’t be ready for a few more weeks. We are making a compost heap in the veggie garden…. we chose that location so that the animals won’t be rummaging around in it since it is in a fenced area. Also it will be nice and handy for putting on the veggie garden once it has composted down!
tomato and peas ready!
Posted by Moo on 23 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own
Today I had my first tomato off the vine! Delicious!!! I had it in an omelette with some courgette (zucchini) off our own plants too. The other ingredients were what I had bought from the store!!
I also am eating peas off our own pea plants. However I know that there will never be enough for a meal as I always eat them straight from the plant.. much the nicest way in my opinion!!!
harvest time: zucchini ready!
Posted by Moo on 16 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own
The zucchini or courgettes as I call them are ready! At least some are each day!! I have already had two good feeds off them. The radish too are there ready to be pulled whenever we need them. I have eaten the raspberries off the bush that is beside the car-port with help from Bosun! (I didn’t know dogs liked raspberries!) The peas are fattening up nicely and the corn is growing taller daily. I still see no signs of the onions but the carrots are begining to grow (though whether we will get any big enough to eat is another matter!)
Helpful neighbours
Posted by Moo on 04 May 2006 | Tagged as: Grow your own
The universe is working to help us! I have been wondering how I was going to get the vegetable garden ready for seeding. We have rotertilled some of it (we rotertilled on the autumn but it has grassed over again).Unfortunately I find the rotertiller very difficult to start. I am alright when it is going but the starting is another story! So I need soemone to start it for me each time and that is where the difficulty lies since there is usually no-one around that I can ask. Now, today I have a visit from the father of a neighbour who asks if he would mind if I let him tidy up a bit of our land near the roadway that the person who harrowed didn’t do. He asks for nothin in exchange. Would I mind?!!!!! NO I would not!!!!
We continue chatting and he asks about us,etc, the usual small talk. I mention that we are doing our vegetable patch but it needs more work done on it. He immediately offers to do it for me, in exchange for some of our horse manure. Fantastic!