Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[WIchickMama]

Morning, not a 4 am wake up for me but 5 am.

Lots of rain last night, inches! And more expected today, though a day in between for a little drying would be nice. Now to wait to harvest potatoes.

I feel like I got nothing done yesterday and it was a waste of a day off from work. I mean I ran youngest to a drs appt and a birthday party, and I picked about 50 banana peppers to process but that was about it. Some days I need a day but then I always feel unproductive the next day. So today I work!

 

[Callender Girl]

Jim had a Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) grandmother. As a youngster, he joined a Native hobbyist group, Makowaian, whose mostly white members studied the culture, learned the dances (sometimes beating out "Native" dancers in competition) and followed much of the religion. A few years ago, he was given the honor of carrying the POW/MIA flag staff at the White Eagle Pow Wow in Iowa.

The memorial up North was mostly a secular affair of historic re-enactors, although some of the attendees and speakers were Native. Jim had his Native pipe ceremony last year, four days after he died, in keeping with tradition.

I've also been up since 4 a.m. and on the computer. I wish I could retrain myself to sleep later because there aren't really any projects I want to do at that time of day.

I know how you feel, Anjanet. If I don't keep furiously busy, I fell like I have to make up for it the next day and do lots. I'm trying to teach myself to just appreciate the day without having to keep track of all I did or didn't do. Not very successful yet.

And, I sure would like to see some of your rain. It was predicted overnight here, but I haven't seen a single drop.

 

[jvls1942]

yeah, some days i do things and then feel like I could have done more.
like yesterday, I did some tractor work, but didn't get around to turning my compost pile. and that is one of the things I set out to get done.

 

[WIchickMama]

Hey all, how are you doing? Canned some beans and pickles yesterday and today I will hit up a corn stand (or two, lol) on our way up to gymnastics for the youngest. Weather has been amazing. Shuffled around some wood for the winter this weekend, moving older stuff to totes to use and freeing up space for some more green stuff to dry over the winter.

Started pulling some pepper and tomato plants that don't have any fruit on them and working the soil where they were. I got 3 spaces of lettuce and 2 spaces of carrots planted for some fall veggies. I am going to try and overwinter some of the carrots this year. I had built some hoops for my garden boxes on the deck and covered them with netting for the spring (deck is the veggies we eat often that don't need a lot of time to produce-onions, radish, lettuce, spinach, etc) and will try and cover with plastic this fall so that I can hopefully be pulling carrots in Dec and Jan. I know my grandma used to do it, so it can be done!

About time to put the flip flops and sandals away and grab the fall/winter shoes, sad but September is here next week! I can't believe it. I love apple picking and can't wait! I wish there was a place to pick pears around here but I have yet to find one. And grapes, I would really love some grapes. I have tried a couple times to grow them and no luck at all.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm doing okay. Still up and down with my dog's health. Today she ate, and barked and guarded a dead bird while contemplating eating it or not. So it's a much better day for me.

Hotter than heck outside in the sun. Shade is nice. Froze a few more quarts of tomatoes today. Plants are looking sad. Been producing enough for my needs. I see our corn is tasseled and making ears. Hopefully we get a few before the critters eat them all, or a hard frost hits.

September is my favorite month. My birthday is on the 30th. Many years it's still too hot out, but occasionally the end of September can be wonderfully cool. I'm looking forward to the end of the growing season, and some wonderful fall weather.

 

[jvls1942]

I'm glad the pooch is feeling better.
dogs sure are resilliant .
we are canning a few quarts of tomatoes that our DD gave to us .
I had help this time. sure makes an easy job more easy.
I am putting two new extra light fixtures into two dark corners of the garage. I have string on/off switches for them. I don't need them to go on every time I go into the garage.
I am making myself walk more. today I went to F&F and did not use the handicap cart. time to quit babying myself.
I have been going up and down the step ladder quite a bit while putting up the light fixtures and stringing wire along the ceiling.

 

[Callender Girl]

Looks like everyone is being more productive than I am. I think I am having what one of my friends calls "the end of summer blahs." Maybe it's that, maybe it's because I don't have a major focus like I did when I was working on Jim's memorial and trying to get ready for the trip up North.

In any case, I need to get moving, motivation or not.

Yesterday, I discovered one of the very few good things to come out of the drought. Cleaning out the duck shelter tops my list of unpleasant chores -- so much muck and smell. However, a combination of adding a boot tray under the water dish and the lack of precipitation (half of the shelter is open to the outdoors, protected by hardware cloth, of course) made the job drier and hardly bad at all. By comparison, that is.

My garden was mostly a failure this year, hampered by drought, my own laziness and some very determined plant-eating pests. I grow herbs and flowers in pots on the deck. Squirrels love to drop out of the trees, onto the railings and dig out all the dirt they possibly can. Last night was pretty quiet. All the red pepper flakes and chili powder I sprinkled in the pots seems to have discouraged the freeloaders.

Sounds like we might get some rain today, fingers crossed. My yard is the color of a desert -- except for the thistles and lamb's quarter. Of course, those are thriving.

 

[jvls1942]

Barb, you don't have to be productive.
do as I do. write about something you are doing or have done. even if it isn't true. Nobody is going to check up on you.
truely , we canned six quarts of tomatoes.
DD Barby says she might have some more tomatoes for us. We gave her a quart. I suppose she thinks we will give her another if she gives us the tomatoes. we probably will.

 

[Callender Girl]

Actually, Jim, I do have to be productive; I think it is hardwired into me. After all those years at the newspaper meeting multiple deadlines every day, I still can't truly enjoy a day of doing nothing -- especially when I can see how much needs to be done!

BTW, last night a friend who still works at the paper came over and said the publisher, when he found out she having dinner with me, asked her to see if I was interested in doing some writing for them. Pretty soon, I think I will have told everyone who still works there NO!

Lisa, I hope your dog is having some good days.

Anjanet, I wish you could have some of my pears. I have a giant pear tree that is just loaded this year. I picked a few yesterday but would rather have apples (new trees are still too young -- my apple trees are always falling victim to some tragedy just as they are starting to produce).

Great news yesterday -- a couple of friends who have chickens are coming down from Minnesota next week to help me build runs for two of my coops. One, the Taj Ma-Coop (an overly built but lovely structure) hasn't had a proper run since it was put up last year. The other -- my avatar coop -- has NEVER had a real run. I just put metal posts in the ground, attached some woven wire and threw bird netting over the top. I don't worry about my chickens in those runs because I close up ALL the coops at night and when I'm not at home.

Something is eating big holes in my tomatoes right before I think it's time to pick them. At least the spoiled ones are big hits with my poultry. It's like watching a game of keep-away. One of the smallest hens picked up a tomato yesterday and was given chase by at least a half dozen of the other girls. Better than TV!

The aronia bushes are loaded, but since I still haven't used al the ones I froze last year, I think I will just let the birds harvest the berries this time.

Aside from a few tomato plants, the veggie garden is pretty well toast. So, I am about to start pulling out all the stragglers and applying a nice layer of goat poop to, hopefully, boost next year's plantings.

 

[jvls1942]

I finally finished the garage lights.
ended up with three new fixtures.
I have a fixture in each corner and one in the center.. I can turn off two of the corner fixtures with string on/off switches. when all of the lights are on, there is not a shadow anywhere. nice..
today I am sharpening up a chainsaw and going to cut a large branch off of one of the black walnut trees. It hangs too low and Annie hits her head on it when she is mowing the grass. gotta keep her happy or else she might quit mowing
we have to do something about all of these red squirrels around here. just way too many.