I picked another 1/4 pound of green beans, some kale, basil, a few carrots and some fingerling potatoes for DD this morning. Getting all that put up and straining and jarring up the yogurt I made with the grandkids yesterday was a bit tiring. I needed to do errands before lunch. Lunch ended up being at 2:30 pm. On top of cleaning up and preparing the garage for the stove pellet delivery, the old chicken’s coop needs a good cleaning. I clean the poop boards every morning but I think the old shavings need refreshing. Tomorrow is our annual “Christmas in July” feast. I’m not smoking a whole turkey, just the breast. I can roast the rest of it in the oven or the Ninja oven. I air roasted some chicken thighs in that the night before last and they were really tasty. Time to get moving again.
Today’s harvest.
I watered the garden first thing this morning then picked a couple big green onions and some kale that I'll cook with scrambled eggs later today.
Got all the grass raked into piles. Cleaned all the pallet wood out of my garden cart/wagon and pulled it around to the grass piles with my lawn tractor. Forked the grass into the wagon and unloaded it next to the garden. My mulch pile is replenished now.
Out of the 24 okra plants I started there are 4 that made it. They're only 8 inches tall now and I really hope it has time to produce. I love fried okra!
The fingerling potatoes dried off and I cleaned them up. I grow these for DD. If you’ve never tried them they’re delicious. These would cost $5 or more (if you can find them) in the local grocery stores.
Carrots, onions and canned pears all won blue ribbons!
Goats were, apparently exhausted after the move to fair! This is Mollie -she didn’t even budge, eyes didn’t move, when I came over to give pets. She is one of the mommas.
Tonight and tomorrow morning, I bake for a few entries. Bar cookies, and biscuits. I’m hyping up Butterscotch scotchies with toasted pecans, orange peel and white choc chips for the bar cookies. Biscuits - I’ll do the traditional cut (flaky) biscuits, and a creative one.
Yesterday, I was supposed to apply a sealer to grout in a house 40 min away. After only moving 1 mile in an hour, I rescheduled. The traffic is insane here with tourists. I made it back home & decided to weed the garden, then clean coops. I did get the garden about 40% weeded, & the chickens loved the fresh picked weeds. I also checked over the apple trees & when I did, I found the culprits that ate the leaves. Bagworms!
Bagworm on apple tree, they make their protective case from whatever leaves are on that particular tree.
I was very surprised, as I thought they only attacked evergreens. I never even saw these things when I lived 80 miles north. So I do not have a lot of experience dealing with these little jerks. I knew some insect had kicked the apple trees butts. Bagworms? Nah, couldn't be...But there they were, the few that were still there, anyway.
I then checked the nearby evergreens & wow, tons of bagworms! So then I shifted gears, the rest of the day, I collected Hundreds of bagworms til it got dark. I got the fire pit going & burned several 5 gallon buckets of bagworms. I guess finally getting all that rain a few days ago not only brought about a zillion fat Junebugs zooming around, it also got the bagworms crawling. I have a long row of Green Giant evergreens, they resemble Leyland Cypress. The 1st 4 trees & a few others down the line had the most bagworms. I picked over 200 bagworms just from 1 tree. I need to do something in that area...I strive to be organic here, which is difficult enough, with neighbors on all sides spraying who knows what. My 1 tree at the other end, by the farm field...whatever they sprayed has killed that tree. Anyway, thanks for listening. I hate posting a negative post, but it is what it is.
Bagworm on evergreens.
Can you see the worms? It is not easy, they are camouflage experts. In a slight breeze, their bags will move, like a lady's dangling earrings. There was no breeze yesterday but if I gently moved the branches, I'd see the dangling bags then. Most of the bags are green as the worms add to their bags as they grow, so the green leaves are hard to spot. Eventually, the leaves dry out & turn brown, so I can spot them easier. Some bags were green & on top of branches though, so they didn't dangle. If I looked at the tree, I'd see the bags themselves move, as the worm was poking his head out to eat.
Well, on a positive note...the flock enjoyed garden weeds & honeydew melon.
