Too bad I never went to sleep last night LOL!  Long story but I’ll give you the short version after I share some gardening news with you.

Saturday morning and afternoon we had a great time outside in the garden!  It just felt so good to get out and dig in the dirt, ya know what I mean?  There’s just something about getting back to the Earth and enjoying the great outdoors with the plants (veggies in my situation) and animals (cows and chickens for me!). 

Kitty and Davison (our Black Angus “puppy” cows) are getting so fat!  And they are so spoiled too.   I would have never imagined in a million years that I would begin to love cows!  But I’m really attached to them and I’m glad that we’re going to keep them through the winter and into the Spring.  To the casual passer-by they are just two black cows or steers.  But we can see how they are both so unique and different in everything they do and how they act.  Kitty has a “moo” that sounds like an elk call.  Davison has a very deep “moo” that will rattle the windows LOL  The shapes of their faces and necks are different, the “tuffs” on the top of their heads are different…. we can just see how beautiful they are and how individual each of them are.

Now the chickens, we’ll they are just so entertaining!  I had a little fun with them today.  Most of the hens had already gone into the next boxes to leave their “presents” for me (eggs) and I thought I would give another peek just to make sure one of them didn’t slip back in to lay another egg.  Well, I interrupted “Miss Priss” (her nickname for today).  She is one of the Rhode Island Reds.  She gave me a look like “Hello, can’t you tell I’m busy in here?”  Take a look:

So I quickly excused myself and went back to the garden to work a little more.  I decided I would go back later (which I did) and this time she was ready for me… head first waiting for me to open the nest box door…

For some reason she was just taking her own dear sweet time laying her egg today….   Now Buffy, she wanted to play Peek-A-Boo…

And she caught me in this pic:

DH worked on flipping the compost bins which is a big job considering they are 3×3x4′ tall and… there are 4 bins!  We really needed to flip them so that we could get some air mixed up and fluff them some AND, we also needed more room because we’re running out!  I was able to use a couple of wheelbarrow loads from the compost bins.  Some of the material on the very bottom was close to being finished - so that is what we used to supplement several of the raised beds that I was going to plant in today.

Later this morning (after I’ve had a little sleep), I’ll be going out to do some planting in those beds that DH prepared for me.  I am so excited that we are making our own compost from the leaves that fall out of our trees, from our kitchen scraps, from our steers’ manure, from our chickens’ manure, and from the lawn clippings that we obtain from our yard.  It’s had to tell in the picture above, but this stuff is rich and black. 

DH asked me what are we going to do with all of this compost.  That was an easy question to answer…. I told him that we’d be using it in the new raised beds we are going to build for the Spring planting LOL  Between that and supplementing the raised beds we already have, I’m sure that I’ll find a home for all of this compost.

Now a quick explanation of what I was blogging about with the peas and the tomato cages…. I planted “Alaska” which is a shelling pea.  The vines are supposed to grow to be 2 1/2 feet high.  So I planted the seeds around the base of the tomato cage and I’m using the tomato cage as a mini trellis.  And, around the tomato cages I planted some lettuce and some chard in the empty space.  Here’s a pic:

OK, time for me to end this post and get some sleep…. now for the reason that I haven’t been to sleep all night.  Well, around 2 PM I headed up to the office to meet another volunteer who is working on “the project”.  Well, we have so much work to do up there and we stayed until very late and until we were very tired - until 3 AM.  As we locked up and were headed to our vehicles, I saw a dog in the parking lot.  At first it scared me because you never know if stray dogs are mean or nice.  Well, the office is right next to a 5 lane highway…. I told the other volunteer that I was afraid that the puppy would get hit by a car.  Well, when I said “puppy”, he stopped, turned around and looked at me and wagged his tail.

That was it… I couldn’t leave him.  He came over to me wagging his tail and was the sweetest thing ever!  He was a full-grown chocolate lab.  No collar or tag.  I took him inside the office and locked him up in the bathroom while I ran to WalMart and purchased treats, a water bowl, a food bowl, a collar and a leash.  Oh, and I found him a huge rawride bone to chew on.  When I came back to the office, I got the collar on him, loaded him up in my vehicle and took him home.   So this morning, he is in the living room, relaxing and occasionally looking over at me and wagging his tail almost like he is saying “thank you” for saving me.  I woke DD and DH up and they are both in love with him already.  He’s just the sweetest dog.  He even knows how to sit for a treat and he minds pretty good too.

He’s definitely someone’s pet because he teeth are pretty and clean, he’s been trained a little, and even his toenails are clipped (meaning he’s a dog that also lives inside the home).  Let’s hope that he’s “trained” too or I’m going to wake up in a couple of hours to a mess by the front door LOL

And wow, it’s almost 10 AM LOL!  I have lots to do this morning…. heading down to the office at 2 PM for some volunteer work.

First though, we have to finish up in the garden area this morning.  DH has just left to go to the feed store to purchase more calf feed for the boys, Kitty & Davison.  We are trying something new - we feed them 1/2 of their daily feed in the morning and the other 1/2 in the late evening.  Inbetween they eat all the hay that they want.  This new schedule is working better for them…. hmmm, how do I know?  Well, you can tell alot about an animal by its poo.  When we feed the entire amount of feed for the day all at one time, it’s just too much for their stomaches I think.  By splitting their feeding schedule between the morning and late evening, they seem to do better.

This morning I’ll be planting at least 2 more raised beds with some carrots and some beets.  Last year the carrots were so sweet!  The difference between the carrots we grew in the garden and those I last purchased from the store… well, let’s just say “no comparison!”.

I want to do something with the SWC that I grew tomatoes in this past summer but I’m just not sure what would really be a good veggie to grow in them for the fall/winter.  EG seems to be having very good results with broccoli so I might try something like that… maybe some broccoli raab since I haven’t had very good luck with broccoli. 

You’ll get to see some updated pics of the garden this evening… I plan on taking some pics if I can find my camera today LOL.  I want to show you how I will be using the tomato cages as a trellis to grow the Alaska Peas on.  Plus, I am using the space around the outside of the tomato cages for my lettuce and chard.

Something else I planted yesterday was some of the garlic that I purchased a while back.  I know… a little late getting it into the ground LOL   I was hoping to get it planted about 2 months ago but the lack of time interferred with the garden.

It’s time to start thinking about some of the goals that I would like to set for 2010.  Can you believe it’s already November?    One goal that I have for 2010 is to acquire 2 rabbits for our little farmette/homestead. 

I already have the perfect spot for them (pre-planned of course).  I don’t plan on having the rabbits for meat initially.   It’s their manure that will benefit us the most.  Rabbit manure can be used straight in the garden without having to worry about it burning the plants,  So it’s a great way to improve the soil in raised beds as well as supplement feed the plants.

Another way that the rabbits will be beneficial — worms…. I plan on growing worms under the rabbit pen.  And guess who will get some of the worms?  The chickens!  The worms will be an additional source of protein for my chickens.   So there are 2 immediate benefits to having the rabbits here on our little farmette — manure for the garden as well as a place for me to grow worms for my chickens.  Of course there’s always the benefit of having rabbits to pet, hold and love :-)   When I was young I had rabbits for pets.  Rabbits make great pets because they are nice and quiet LOL  Plus, they are a great way to quickly dispose of garden scraps and green vegetable scraps - they turn this into a great manure that is mild and can be immediately used in the garden.

A 2nd goal for 2010 that I’ve really been thinking alot about is a chicken tractor.  Patti uses her chickens to prepare her raised beds for planting.  How?  Well, they consume the spent veggie plants, scratch and eat bugs in the raised beds, and till up the soil all while leaving poo to supplement the soil.  What I would like to do is build a chicken tractor that can also function as a rabbit tractor too.  We have plenty of grass and land and I could also use the “tractor” to graze the rabbits.

Just some ideas to think about for next year.  Well, I need to get outside and get busy!  I will check back in later this evening with some pics!  Have a great Saturday!!

Well, today I decided that I needed a day off.  I needed a day to “catch up” on sleep and things around the house and garden.  I’ve been working until pretty late every night and sometimes into the early morning hours.  Unfortuately, that hasn’t left me much time to do anything around the house. 

First of all, I went to bed early last night and slept until around 1 AM.  I got up, got on the internet and started browsing through all of my favorite blogs that I needed to catch up on.  It seems like most everyone is slowing down on their gardening efforts with fall and cooler weather kicking in.  Here in the South, it’s awesome weather to grow so many veggies!  I got sleepy again about 3 AM and went back to bed.

It was time to get up this morning at 6 AM so I could get my day started and get DD to school.  But, even with all of the sleep I had, I just felt pretty run down and worn out.  So after I took DD to school, I went out and fed/watered the chickens and calves and visited with them for a little while.  I came back inside and decided that I would lay back down for a little while.  Well, that little while turned into 1 PM!  I guess my body just needed some R&R for a while.

After picking DD up from school this afternoon, I went back out to feed and water as well as get some more seeds into the raised beds.  In the garden I have the following veggies planted:  lettuce (Red Sails & Romaine), peas (Sugar-Snap & Alaska), carrots, turnips, broccoli raab, radish, and some swiss chard.  I’m really getting excited about growing cool weather veggies.  In the South, we have so many bugs to worry with during the summer months.  About the only time that we get any relief is during the cooler winter months.  We rarely have freezing temps (only a couple of times over the winter months) and when we do, we try to cover the garden to keep it from freezing, which has worked so far.

The two types of peas I have planted are Sugar-Snap and Alaska.  The Sugar-Snap vines can get as tall as 55-65 inches!  I have them planted so that they can grow up the 7′ high trellis that I used for the tomatoes last summer.  I also have more of them planted where I normally plant my pole beans.  So these peas will have plenty of room to grow :-)  I can’t wait until they start producing!  They are 66 days to harvest.  I hope that I have enough planted to allow us to eat fresh snap peas as well as plenty to blanch and put in the freezer.

Now the Alaska pea vines do not get that tall.  The package says that they will grow to be about 2 1/2 feet tall.  These peas are the shelling variety (like English peas).    I have them planted next to the 3′ high fencing that surrounds the garden.  I also decided to use some of my tomato cages as trellises to grow this variety on.  I will try to take some pics and show you tomorrow on my blog.  I placed the tomato cages inside the raised beds and planted the pea seeds on the inside of the tomato cage.   They have already germinated and aren’t too far from grabbing hold of the tomato cage.  On the outside and around the tomato cages, I have planted some Swiss chard.  This raised bed is going to be beautiful once it’s mature.  The chard I planted is the 5 color chard.

I took a pic last week while I was outside working one morning…. it’s a picture that only a gardener or farmer can really appreciate LOL!  It’s 3 days worth of what I picked up behind the calves to put into my compost bins….  DH and I keep the grazing field “picked up” of the bombs that Kitty and Davison leave for us.  We do this for 2 reasons.  The first reason is that I don’t want my back yard smelling like a cow pasture and the 2nd reason is that this stuff is GREAT for the compost pile!  I like to keep everything cleaned up and tidy even if it’s in the calves’ area.  We keep it picked up using the pitch fork and the wheel barrow and then toss it into the compost bins and cover with some leaves.  You wouldn’t believe how that keeps the smell down.  When you walk into our back yard, other than hearing the calves mooing and the roosters crowing,  you don’t “smell” them and wouldn’t know that they are there.  Anyway, here’s an idea of how much manure 3 day’s worth looks like:

Our wheelbarrow has been used so much… unfortunately this week while I was going around picking up “bombs”, one of the handles broke and part of the underneath bracing broke.  That on top of the tire that must be air-ed up on a regular basis and it has several holes rusted through, well… we need a new wheelbarrow!  This is a tool that we just can’t do without around here.  For my birthday last week, my mom sent me a check — guess what I’m going to use that money on?  LOL

In closing, I would like to share a video that I took with my cell phone.  The quality is horrible but still, you will get to see how sweet Kitty and Davison are and how they are like big puppies.  I took this video last week when I went out to feed one morning.  You’ll get to hear Capri crowing several times - he’s such a loud-mouth!  I am hoping that I can get another video with the calves moo-ing so you can hear the way Kitty moo-s.  He sounds like an elk!  Anyway, enjoy!!

Finally we’re going to get a break in this muggy, wet and humid weather we’ve been having.   It’s not that it’s been particularly hot, it’s just that it’s so humid and that makes it feel hotter that what the actual temperature is.  But over the upcoming weekend, it’s really going to start feeling like FALL again!  Yeah!!!

Fall has to be one of my most favorite times of the year.  I love the cooler weather to say the least.  There’s just something different about the air… almost like you can smell the FALL season.

Fall here in the South is great.  The temperatures aren’t too hot and aren’t too cold. It’s a time when all of the oaks (water oaks) loose their leaves.  We have so many oak trees in our yard!  So, it also means a time to get out the blower and the rakes.  Of course, I’m looking forward to some more leaves for the compost bins this year.  Actually, with as many leaves as we get, I might just have to convince DH to build a couple more!  He originally had built 2 for me and then added 2 more bins right beside the first 2.  Here’s a pic showing one set of bins:

We put all sorts of things into our compost bins…. leaves (of course), lawn clippings, spent plants from the garden, clean out from the chicken coop and even cow patties from the cow field.  We kinda clean up after the cows like some people do after their dogs LOL!  But hay, it’s great stuff for the compost bins and eventually for my garden LOL.

With the change that we already had with the cooler temperatures a few weeks ago, along with the shorter daylight hours, the grass just isn’t growing as much as it had been.  That means we’ll have to go ahead and get some hay for the cows this week.  DH has plans on making a run to the feed store to check out the types of hay they have available.  Plus, our friend that we purchased our steers from also has hay that we can buy from him.  DH is planning on building a hay feeder above the “feed” feeder today.  This will keep the hay off of the ground so the steers don’t waste it.  If it falls out of the hay feeder, it will just land in the regular feeder.

Well, lots to do before I get my day started.  Maybe I will have some pics to post this evening of the new hay feeder

Looks like it is going to be another dreary, rainy day.  We have an increasing percentage of rain for the forecast….. just looking at the radar tells me that we have a storm coming from the southwest….

Hopefully, today sometime, we will have yet another blog on Ft2Garden.com….. it will be a blog about HONEYBEES!  My sister in Mississippi and her son will update the blog periodically.  This is their first year with a honeybee hive.   The first post will be the hive setup that we did earlier in the Spring (in April).  Pretty soon she will be ready to make a 2nd harvest of honey and will have a blog post (and hopefully video) on that as well.

I’ve been pretty busy this morning working on the blog as well as putting up some more banana peppers.  This time, instead of just slicing and preserving them in vinegar, I decided that I would use the “dill pickling” recipe that I had found this past summer online at allrecipes.com   Instead of making the entire amount, I halfed the recipe since I didn’t have 8 jars of peppers (I had 3 jars).  Here’s the link if you are interested in trying it:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dill-Pickles/Detail.aspx?prop31=1  You can also pickle cucumbers (of course LOL), green beans, okra, and garlic.  Now we just have to wait for 8 weeks before they will be ready

I love reading gardening blogs and I have quite a few that I have links for on the right side of my blog.  There are still more links that I am in the process of adding.  But, as I’m going through and getting the links set back up, I’m going over to each blog and reading what I’ve missed in the last month.  The opportunity to learn from what others have posted is just tremendous!  Everyday that I learn something new!  Well, I’ve got to share something with you that you’ll love, especially if you compost.  This blog entry is from Gamine’s Garden — it’s about a compost screen that her husband built for her.  It fits perfectly over her wheelbarrow (because that’s the way her husband built it) and doesn’t shift around.  It makes her job of screening the compost so much easier.  Here’s the link to her blog post:   

http://gaminesgarden.blogspot.com/2009/09/compost.html

and here’s a pic of her compost screen:

Tonight I will post a link to the new HONEYBEE blog :-)  So check back for it!

WOW - just an update on the weather:  the storm that is heading our way is moving pretty quickly…. it will be here very soon now.  Lots of rain for the garden which I desperately need!  This will help with the fall planting!

We are having a bit of a “cool front” move through the area and this morning, our low temp is forecasted to be 51 degrees.  We’re at 52 degrees at 5 AM.  Last night I turned off the A/C unit and opened the windows and turned on the fans!  Anytime that I can do this, I do because it saves on the electric bill plus I just love an “air-ed out house”.   The high today is forecasted to be 81 which isn’t too bad.  Later in the week, we’re supposed to have an increasing chance of thunderstorms.  We do need a little rain so I hope that we get some.  It will save me having to water the garden.  For some reason, I can hand water everyday — it’s just nothing in comparison to a good ol’ rainshower from Mother Nature.

How do you like my Mother’s Day “Pitch Fork”???  Probably the strangest Mother’s Day gift ever, but hey, I’m a practical kinda gal you know??  I told DH that I knew what I wanted for a gift (I had changed my mind from “no gift” because I didnt’ really need anything).   But I needed this!  And it is awesome.  Oh man, what a difference it makes when moving compost around.  So yesterday afternoon (after it cooled down) DH demo’d the pitchfork.  He flipped the compost pile over and then back again into the 2′x3′ bin.  He’s got the pile all mixed up again.  It was still warm but needed some air I think.  This pitch fork did the job.   I’ve just been adding to the pile with more grass clippings and kitchen waste.  I probably need to just start a new pile now and let this one finish up.  Oh, but something yucky — on the edge of the pile just barely under the new grass clipping was the weirdest worms that were eating a banana peel!!!  DH made sure he mixed them up and put them in the middle of the pile to cook.  I think I need to be a little more careful and cover up the kitchen waste deeper in the pile to keep this from happening in the future.  I don’t like bugs LOL!

So, for all you Moms out there — how was your Mother’s Day?  I hope that you had a great one and that it was filled with time spent with your family.  Time is the most important gift of all that I believe we can give.  It’s better than any gift you can go and buy.  Other than my pitch fork, I had a wonderful day with my 2 kids and my DH.  And he cooked all day too!  We had a great breakfast and ended the day with a wonderful meal of smoked chicken and steaks.  DH got me a smoker a while back and we’re beginning to use it a good bit now.  The meats cooked on it are so juicy and tender — full of flavor.  To me it’s the way to go and beats a grill hands down for cooking.

Well, it’s almost 5:30 AM — time to get on the ball and get ready for the work week.  Hope you have a great Monday!