Goodbye, July

It's hard to believe, but the mid-month of summer is almost behind us. Part of me hates to see it go. It's been such a wonderful summer so far. But, with a new month comes new adventures! And it also brings us one step closer to autumn, my very favorite season.

Today is the last day to sign up for the Midsouth Homesteading Conference and Festival at the early-bird price. We have a wonderful line up of speakers and classes for the conference (see image below). I will also be teaching a couple of classes on soap making and keeping goats. The festival is also coming together nicely, and we have several vendors already. I am most excited about the kid zone I am planning, however. There will be pony rides, fun games, a straw bale maze, face painting, a seed-planting station, and a few surprises! I love seeing children involved with agriculture. Check out the event website for more information or to snag your last chance at cheaper conference tickets (the festival is free with $3 parking).

Our pumpkin patch is doing so well right now. It has been a real joy watching the pumpkins develop and grow. Really, it's true of any gardening activity, but these pumpkins are probably my favorite. We have tended them so closely since planting that every stage has been noted. We're also learning a ton about these delicate plants. It ain't easy or cheap to grow a pumpkin patch! These plants are probably better guarded than any garden this side of the Mississippi. We check them at minimum every other day, and they are surrounded by four strands of electric tape to keep out critters. We're also driving 1 hr 15 min round trips to irrigate them. 

Padre and the water tank. The tank holds 1,000 gallons,
and it takes about 5-6 tanks to fully irrigate. Pumpkins can DRINK.

One thing I have absolutely learned is that pumpkins truly are a needy lot. They are prone to fungus and susceptible to a myriad of pests. But when they are well cared for and growing successfully...beautiful. Just beautiful.

They have these huge leaves and looongg vines that shade out almost all of the weeds. We haven't needed to weed the patch since the first couple of times, because they grew so fast. It really seemed like they grew overnight.

They're flowers look downright tropical, and they're even prettier before they open up.

But the best part by far is the itty bitty baby pumpkins, which grow so incredibly fast. It's just astonishing how quickly the fruit grows! I'm not kidding when I say that it seems like the fruit is bigger every single time we go to the patch.

They went from tiny little cupcake imitators, to bright green, striped orbs...

...to pale fruit that's actually beginning to look like pumpkins!

And the Jack-Be-Little's grow even faster!  

They're already recognizable! 

The worst part of pumpkin growing is definitely the fungus, diseases, and pests. We had to resort to a commercial fungicide, because homemade remedies weren't cutting it and we were going to lose our entire crop otherwise. Normally I prefer to avoid things like that, but I have basically the same philosophy with my plants as I do my animals: when homemade, natural remedies aren't cutting it, I will *responsibly* use commercial means when necessary. And believe me, the fungicide was necessary. Too much time, money, hard work, and care have gone into this pumpkins to lose them to a stinkin' fungus!

The aphids aren't going to win this round, either, because they've got a hot date with some dish soap today...and something tells me it's not going to go well for them! And just for the record, commercial pesticide is the very last thing I will use. The situation would have to be very, very dire, because I have no desire to kill off my beneficial bugs -- including our precious pollinators. So the two lady bugs I saw munching on the aphids should live to eat another pest, but the aphids will be going down the drain, suds and all. If I do ever have to resort to pesticide, I will use neem oil. It's a natural alternative that is reported to be very effective. 

Thankfully the aphids were only on a couple of plants.

The pheasant chicks are really astonishing to me. I've been around them before, but haven't actually raised any myself in quite a long time. The difference between pheasant chicks and chicken chicks is incredible! The pheasants move so fast. I doubt I could get a decent picture of them if I tried. And they eat so much! Even with two feeders, I can hardly keep them full. They'll be old enough to go in the ground brooder soon...assuming I can catch them to move them over!

In disappointing news, the four does I bred for fall did not take. I expected as much from one of them, but the other three honestly had me fooled. I must admit I'm disappointed, but this does give us more time to finish revamping our barn and building kidding stalls. The two we had already got dismantled to make way for our new design. We were running behind on getting it finished, but now we now have months to complete a project that we were going to try to complete in mere weeks. With Cookie and Oreo going to their new homes in just nine short days, this will also give me a nice break in which I can focus on our pumpkin patch and the upcoming conference and festival. So even though I was looking forward to the pitter-patter of little hooves, I guess this really is for the best. 

Cheers!

July in the Garden

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone has a safe and fun celebration this weekend. My family and I went to watch our town's fireworks display and ended up finding the perfect spot right underneath the show. It was spectacular, albeit very loud. What better way to celebrate our country than a beautiful light show?

Anyway, we've reached the middle of the season. The garden has slowed down now that everything is planted. There's quite a bit of weeding to do if it will stay dry long enough, which you shall see in the images, but the rush to get things in the ground is over. This spring's kids are almost old enough to go their new homes, and the fall birthing season is still a couple of months away. The garden isn't ready for harvest just yet. All in all, things have hit their stride and will be much lower maintenance for a few weeks...at least in theory. :)

Our poor little bottle tree is sparse looking! We'll have it fleshed out soon, though.

We've had some trouble with our tomatoes. We lost a few plants to Southern Blight/white mold, and have been picking leaves off of others as they get affected with blight. The warm wet weather we've had is what fuels fungus such as blight. Milk washes, baking soda drenches, and apple cider vinegar water have helped some but it's an ongoing battle. We also lost our first, biggest tomato to a renegade hen who jumped the fence. They're making again, though, so I'm hopeful we'll at least end up with enough for one batch of salsa!

He was going to be a pretty one, but alas. The chicken beat us to it.

Can you believe this puny plant, which has really struggled with blight, has a tomato?

The lettuce has bolted, so its season is over until the fall. So pretty, though, isn't it? It could practically be an ornamental.

The bush peas are doing the best, as always. Peas are pretty fool-proof. We've never had a failed crop with them. They're blooming and vining and making tiny pea pods. We'll be having fresh peas for supper in no time!

Our bush lima beans are doing well, too. Lima beans are my favorite legume.

We planted a later crop of pole beans and peas, and they are coming up well...but so are the weeds!

Our cantaloupe is blooming. The first blossoms won't make fruit, but it's a sign that my favorite melons are on the way!

I planted a few sweet potato plants, which is a first for us. They haven't bloomed yet but are doing well, aside from the weeds that are over taking them! Yikes!

Okra is growing like a weed, too...but it also needs to be weeded, as you can see.

Can you spy the volunteer watermelon?

Our watermelon got planted late, but it's coming on. Our garden retains moisture well, but sometimes in a rainy season that means complications in planting and weeding!

We also planted an Arkansas Black Apple tree this year. It won't produce for a few years. We may not even be living on this land by the time it's in full swing, but it's never a bad investment to plant a tree.

Our pumpkin patch, which I don't have pictures of, is doing really well. However, it is the worst for the weeds. Right after we planted the rains came and didn't let up for a while, and the weeds just took off. We'll be tackling it this weekend, and working on weeding and mulching the rest throughout the weed.

We also have some new life here at Tiramar. Our broody hen just hatched several (I just realized I haven't even counted them! Whoops!) pheasant eggs and one chicken egg. (I put a chicken egg under her with the pheasant eggs just in case, so that she wouldn't reject the smaller eggs.) One hatched out weak and has had to spend a lot of time indoors. I'm not sure he will make it. I tried returning him to mama, but he just wasn't strong enough yet and I had to remove him again. A second chick had a really rough hatch and spent the first 24 hours indoors, but I have since returned him. He is doing so well that I can't even tell which one he is at this point. These guys will stay with our hen in the off-ground brooder for a while and then be transferred to a tractor, where they will finish growing out. I'm hoping a couple might be butchering age in time for Christmas dinner. Hopefully the chicken chick, which came from our RIR rooster and a Black Copper Maran egg, will be a hen!

Yes, they are in a modified laundry basket. Their wooden nest box ended
up not being big enough, so we had to improvise!

You can somewhat tell in this image how much bigger the chicken chick is.

Is this one giving me the stink eye?

Clever camouflage, but I can still see you.

Now we weed, and then we wait for the harvest and for the time to start planting our fall crops. Fall goat kids should be on the way, too. We won't be in a lull for long!

Cheers!