Random updates, comments, and observations since my last
Around The Homestead.
I'll start with a report on my blueberry dehydrating experiment.
Click here for what that's all about. After 7 weeks, I can report that only the blueberries that were dried the longest (15 hours) remain with no sign of spoilage.
Speaking of dehydrating, we've had a second round of cantaloupes so I dehydrated some of those too. Many of you have told me how good these are, and I trust your recommendation!
In general, food production and preservation are slowing down to a point where I can start to focus on some other things. I'll have to do a tally post soon. Still to be harvested are the pumpkins (of which I have only two, very disappointing), sweet potatoes, popcorn, sunflowers, and amaranth. Okra, sweet peppers, and black turtle beans continue to produce well. Everything else is getting to be slim pickings until the fall garden starts producing.
Piliated woodpeckers have moved into the neighborhood! We both love woodpeckers, but piliateds are our favorites. I hear them, but they're shy, so I've only seen one, feasting in
our blueberry bush. We do hear them calling back and forth to one another though.
We've also spotted hawks again. We had them frequently when we first moved here, but they seemed to migrate elsewhere after our neighbor
clearcut all that acreage. Not only are they back, but they are surveying and hanging out on our property. I saw one take off from the very
tree Riley and Katy got stuck in near the animal's shed. With chickens and small cats, that's a concern.
Speaking of
that clearcut property, it remains as is. No development, no for sale signs, no "improvements." It just sits there growing brush. It turns out that the property has been in the family for generations, with each generation receiving the benefit of selling of the timber.
I went out hunting for
muscadines the other day. Actually
Charlie and I did when we went on one of our walks. Nary a grape did I see!!! I am really disappointed about that, as wild muscadine jelly is my absolute favorite. There's still one vine in the woods that may have some. I'll have to go check. If not, perhaps I can
find a local pick-your-own.
After all that work putting down landscape cloth in
my battle to keep my strawberries and comfrey from being smothered out by the "wire grass," I am annoyed to report that the stupid stuff
did not do the job!
The grass just pokes right on up through it, even with several inches of mulch. The directions tell you that it needs at least 5 to 6 inches of rubber mulch, to which I thought "Ha. It's about profit not results."
It was an expensive lesson learned. The bottom line is that cardboard is cheaper, faster to put down, works better, and is compostable!
Speaking of the
comfrey (in the pic above: strawberry plants in the foreground, comfrey plants toward the back) the
goats love it. Next year I'll be able to harvest it once a month for feed, compost, or mulch. I need to figure out how to dry it too; I'll probably need to make drying racks though. Just what I need, another project.
Do you remember what I told you about my chickens'
egg color? Well, it seems that as the Laying Ladies have matured a bit, their egg color has become more typical for their respective breeds. The Barred Holland is laying whiter eggs, and the Wellsummer eggs have gotten darker, though sometimes I still can't tell them from the Delaware's.
.
The color in the photo above isn't completely accurate. I find the flash washes out the green, so I took it without and tried to lighten it with The GIMP. It should give you an idea anyway. From the left: Welsummer, Delaware, Ameraucana, Barred Holland, & Ameraucana.
I'm not getting enough
to freeze a lot, but I'm grateful for what I can do.
Speaking of chickens, I've discovered that they don't mind sharing one of the dust bath spots with Charlie.
One project I haven't mentioned in a loooong time is
painting the house. On the project list, the new front door needs to be installed first, plus the front porch is sadly in need of repair. We can't get to these until we finish the HVAC ductwork and some insulating of the crawl space. These things will need to be done before we are ready to paint. I am however, finishing up some scraping, sanding, and priming on one last section of the house.
The fall garden is just starting to come up. Some of it that is. I'll post about that soon. My big duh was when I set out the soaker hose and let it run for a good hour, only to discover that I didn't hook it up to the hose connected to the house. I ended up with a huge puddle where it wasn't needed.
sigh One step forward, two steps back.
Lastly, kitty news (there's always kitty news.) Katy discovered my big pot of catnip.
I reckon that's it for now. Unless you can think of something I forgot.
that the whole concept came together for me. I have read similar content elsewhere, but that book really brought home the reasons why. 
