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Hi Everyone,
Today is Mother’s Day, and for the first time in eight weeks we were able to go to church. Our church has been having drive-in services (meeting in the parking lot in your vehicles), but they start at 9:00 in the morning. We live over an hour from church, and in order to make it to the regular church time of 10:00, we have to get up at 5:00 in the morning. Getting up at 4:00 was not an option; therefore, we have been spending our Sunday’s sleeping in, getting the chores done, resting, and listening to a sermon online from another church. I have to admit that sleeping in until 7:00 is much more preferable than getting up at 5:00, but it was nice to see our church family again, fellowship, and listen to some good sermons in person. Everyone was also glad to have their piano player back—and it was nice to be sitting at the piano again.
We had a week packed with accomplishments, abundance, amazement, and adventure.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
We had a goal that had to be accomplished by Wednesday night—finish the last of the spring garden planting (that is everything but the sweet potatoes, for you plant those in May and June). While all the squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, eggplants, leeks, beans, peas, okra and flowers were all planted—there were still a few things left to do. I had fifteen paprika plants, eighteen cayenne pepper plants, four fennel plants, eighteen cinnamon basil plants and eighteen lettuce leaf basil plants that all needed to be transplanted somewhere into the garden. Where I wanted to plant the peppers had become a nursery bed for 10 little trees, and a large crop of white sweet potato slips. I was planning on removing a bed of oregano, but it looked better this year than last so I couldn’t make myself pull it all up—plus Mom was not in favor of it. So instead of four beds to grow peppers in, I now only had one. Mom and I weeded it Monday night after dinner, and then we walked around trying to figure out where to plant the rest of the peppers. I found a long row of bok choy that was not growing as well as I wanted, so with the help of another family we pulled them all up and they had a meal out of half of them and we had a meal out of the other half. Then on Tuesday evening I was able to plant all the peppers. The basil was to be planted where I grew the multiplying onions. First I had to pull them up and lay them out to dry, and then I had to weed the bed and compost it. That bed was all ready by Monday afternoon and I was able to get the basils tucked into their new bed. I harvested the last of the radishes, and then I planted the fennel in its place. Did you know that radishes last for months in the fridge? The lettuce is growing strong in the garden, and it is nice to have a stash of radishes to add to the salad along with the fresh onions and carrots. By Wednesday we still had a list of things to do. I had to finish weeding the trellis so that I could plant the noodle beans (3 feet long beans). I also wanted to start some lettuce and flowers in seed trays—my direct sow flowers are not having much success in sprouting (some are (cosmos and zinnias) but not all (marigold and gomphrena). I wanted to start some balsam, but I wanted to make sure that they came up and the weeds didn’t over take them—so I started them in a seed tray. There is a slight possibility that the marigolds are starting to come up. I needed to plant some fresh thyme in an urn whose thyme had died, and I needed to transplant some everglade tomatoes from the walkway cracks in the raised beds to a trellis in the long beds. While looking at pictures of French gardens we saw a long arbor that had decorative gourds growing on it. All the little gourds were hanging from the fence down the long corridor that the arbor made. It was so pretty. I had planted cucumbers on one of the trellises, but they were seeds that I had saved and evidently I didn’t save ripe (mature) seeds—for they didn’t sprout. We now had an empty trellis and I was looking for a vine to grow up it. When we saw the gourd picture we knew exactly what to grow up the trellis—and we didn’t even have to go buy any seeds. We still had four little gourds (three mini pumpkins and one bumpy gourd to be exact) left over from our Thanksgiving décor. They hadn’t even begun to rot! We grabbed a hatchet and whacked our way inside and removed all the seeds and planted some of each under the trellis. I cannot wait to see how they do. The last thing on the list was to transplant some spearmint into a pot. I used to have a large spearmint bed, but the nut grass and betony took over it and the spearmint has just about died out. In a few little nooks and crannies you could find a sprig or two hiding here and there. I got a large old metal washtub that I had poked holes in years ago, and I filled it with dirt and compost and filled it with all the spearmint sprigs that I could find. It was now after 4:00 on Wednesday afternoon—and the garden work was finished. Now all we have to do is keep everything watered, weeded, and watched.
The other accomplishment was accomplished by our plumbing and building crew—the Cranes. They were able to spend every morning last week working in my bathroom. Two water pipes had busted in my bathroom requiring the whole house to have to be re piped. This also proved to be the perfect time to replace the kitchen sink, and the floors in all three bathrooms. Last week’s goal was to get my bathroom working, so that they could then focus on the guest bath (where I had been camping out for a while), so that they could replace the wall in my bedroom—which they had to tear out to re plumb the hall bath. The whole wall didn’t have to be torn out, but because we have textured walls—it was easier to just remove the whole wall and replace it with shiplap instead of sheetrock. My bathroom will need a new paint job, my bedroom will need a new paint job, and I think that it is time for some new décor. Hey, when you have lived in a house for over 20 years, it is time for a fresh look. The plumbing in my bathroom was all done, but the floor had to be replaced—which meant the whole sink, counter, and toilet had to come out. The floor started out being a little tricky because the bathroom has lots of nooks and crannies, but once the in’s and around’s were accomplished it was smooth and fast sailing. By Friday afternoon my bathroom was 95% put back together—and I could move back in. I didn’t have time to clean the bathroom from top to bottom on Friday—for we had special plans for the night, but come Saturday afternoon and into the evening I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I got it all clean just in time to move back in to take a shower and go to bed.
ABUNDANCE
Just as we finished planting the garden, it was time to start harvesting the herbs. I had read that the best time to harvest herbs is around the full moon—and that was Thursday. The weather was just perfect—not too hot, and not rainy. The day started out with Mom encouraging me to get out of bed and head outside to see the full moon. It was a little after 6:00 in the morning, and the moon was going to bed after being up all night. It was so bright that you could hardly look at it—they said it was a super moon (when the moon is real close to earth). Later that afternoon I headed to the garden with the dehydrator trays, and lots and lots of baskets to harvest the herbs into. Each basket was filled with a different herb—some baskets held a gallon, but others held about four gallons. I filled one basket with peppermint to make teas with. Other baskets were filled with rosemary, parsley, sage, thyme, and oregano for cooking and making my Garden Herb Spice Blend. I am most excited about the oregano for I have been out of it for a few years and have refused to buy any since I had it growing in the garden—but I just couldn’t get around to harvesting it. Then I harvested some plantain and comfrey so that I could make more of my Soothing Salve—of which I have been out of for a few months. It was around 5:00 when I headed inside with seven baskets and one arm load full of herbs. The next step was to get the whole harvest into the dehydrators—thankfully we have three of them! The peppermint, thyme, and oregano went real quick—for I left them on the stems. The parsley and sage took longer because I cut the leaves off of the stems so that they would take up less space in the dehydrator. Mom made some little bouquet garni’s to be used in soups and stews. The comfrey probably took the longest to prepare because it needed to be washed, spun dry, and then cut up into smaller pieces that would fit on the dehydrator. By the time I got to the plantain—the dehydrators were full, and I was totally exhausted. I usually hang the plantain in the van to dry—it is a perfect hot house to dry things in. Thursday night I was too tired to tie up each plant, so I used clothespins and clipped them to the metal frame of the greenhouse. They stayed there until Saturday evening when I needed to water the plants in the greenhouse. At that point I did tie them up and hang them in the back of the van. All the other herbs were dry by Saturday—and now I just have to find the time to package them. I almost forgot—while Thursday began with watching the full moon set, we ended the day watching the full moon rise. It was bright and beautiful—but the harvest moon in the fall is by far the biggest and my favorite.
AMAZEMENT
Friday was spent in the kitchen—just as soon as the milking was done. Our dear friend Amelia—the mother of all those hard working, eager beaver Crane boys that like to come and help out on the farm—was having a special birthday, and we wanted to surprise her with dinner. First on the menu to make was chocolate pudding. I haven’t had chocolate pudding since I was a teenager—so I did not have the perfect recipe in my files. Thanks to Google I was able to find a very delicious, easy to make, and superbly tasting chocolate pudding. Once the pudding was in the fridge, and the spatula and bowls were licked clean, it was time to start the honey mustard chicken legs. Mom made up a fresh batch of mayonnaise so that she could make some stuffed eggs, and I could make some potato salad. Last on the menu was a fresh garden salad—and this was a real deal for the lettuce, carrots, radishes and onion were out of our garden. Everything was done by a little after 3:00, and we headed over to spend the evening with Amelia and her family. It was nice to see firsthand how the boys’ gardens are growing, where the bees are housed and how the bee equipment is kept. Then of course there was the fellowship—and it was grand. We left there around 10:00, and it was way after 11:00 by the time we got home. I climbed into bed at midnight—and fell fast asleep.
ADVENTURE
Forty-five minutes later though I was rudely awaken by the phone ringing. I missed the first call, and really missed the second phone call. When I checked to see who had called, I saw that it was the police and another person. I did manage to answer on the third try—the phone is in the kitchen, not in the bedrooms. On the other end of the phone was a neighbor telling me that we had best hurry up and get outside—there were cows EVERYWHERE!!! Somehow our front gate was open and our whole herd of Jersey milk cows had left the pasture and entered the yard, where they then went down the road. I guess someone called the police, and they called our neighbor thinking they were his cows. By the time the police and the neighbor found the cows, they were back in our yard. It was 1:00 in the morning now and we found ourselves herding cattle in the dark with flashlights. Thankfully our cows do come when called. It took about 15 minutes to get all 24 cows plus two calves back into the pasture. Then we stood around talking to our neighbor for another 30 minutes. The policeman left just as soon as we got outside, and started calling the cows. It was 2:00 by the time we climbed back into bed—and I was glad that it was Friday night and we could sleep in until 7:00.
ANIMALS
This week has also had it adventures with animals. Last Sunday started off with Honey giving birth to a little heifer that we are going to call Blossom. That gives us one more cow in the milk tank—but Rosepetal is due in six weeks and it is time to dry her off.
On Wednesday we were blessed with two new baby ducks. A family at the beach loves hatching ducks every now and then, and when the ducks get a few weeks old they send them to the farm. Last time they hatched us some Buff Orpington ducks. For years I have had my heart set on Khaki Campbell duck, so this time they hatched us some of those. Only two survived, and there is talk of doing another batch—and hopefully they will be more successful. Right now the ducks are enjoying life in the greenhouse—and their favorite food is dried mealy worms.
Speaking of birds—we were due a shipment of 50 chicks last week. We have been getting 50 chicks every other week, but last week we were supposed to begin getting 50 every week, and then in two weeks we will be getting 70 every week. The birds were supposed to arrive Thursday, but we never got the call from the Post Office. When I called the hatchery, they said the birds were a late hatch and got shipped Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday night. So I expected them to arrive Friday—they didn’t. They didn’t arrive Saturday either. I sent an email to the hatchery, and they called us Saturday night. Thankfully, our birds had never been shipped. I say thankfully, because many of the birds that were shipped got delayed in the postal system and died. I wish that there was a local hatchery—but it closed about 10 years ago.
I hope that you had a great week, and that this week will be even better!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare