Crepe Murder

There was a break in the rain today and we tried to take advantage of it.  It wasn't exactly warm, but it was warm enough that I shucked my faithful Walls jacket and worked shirt sleeved. 

Sprout and her dad began construction on the boxes for the raised beds in the new market garden.   This is a new enterprise here . Phase one will consist of several beds on this south-facing hillside.

Since they didn't seem to need my help, I decided that it was as good a day as any to start pruning.  I started with the crepe myrtles in the duck enclosure.  Most everyone else has already cut back their myrtles, but I don't think it matters that I am a bit late.  Dormant is dormant, isn't it?

Sprout came around the corner and saw what I was doing.  "My horticulture instructor called that practice 'crepe murder', "  she observed.  I have to admit it does look violent, and I normally wouldn't cut anything back that severely, but that seems to be the common practice here and well, everyone does it this way. ( And if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?)

Even in today's gloom, I can tell that, murder or not, this opens up the small kitchen garden to more sun.  I don't think Hobbly and Heidi, the ducks, care for it too much.  They act like they miss the cover and are hanging out around their hutch.  I guess they don't realize that their whole pen is covered over with bird netting to protect them from owls and hawks.  Come summer I may need to add some shade cloth, though.

Everything is soaked through.  The ground squishes and sinks when I walk on it.  It is risky to take even the four wheel drive truck down to the barn, so I walk it...but that can be risky too.  It seems I slide down in the mud almost daily.  And warm!  Supposed to be in the fifties all this coming week.  My bulbs are up.  Some even have fat buds ready to bloom.  I try to tell them it is only January, but they don't listen. 

 More storms on the way tonight.

Of Mud and Bean Soup

This morning I was awakened by, of all things, a thunderstorm.  It was so warm I took my coffee out to the porch for a few minutes, a rare treat on a January morning.  It isn’t cold at all, but it is very dark and dreary and the fire in the fireplace is comforting. 

The weather is going to change, of course.  That is one thing we always know here in our mountains.  We can have three seasons in one day.    Late winter is always especially confusing for the plants, and of course, all the freezing and thawing and rain turns roads and farm paths to mud, mud, mud.  Can’t even drive the four wheel drive truck down to the barn at present.  

We ate the last lettuce in the garden last week.  It did finally get too cold for it.  Amazing that we had lettuce in uncovered beds this late.  My kitchen garden is truly in a very  protected spot.  We still have carrots and kale.  If the bunnies leave us any, we will have broccoli and spinach as soon as the days lengthen a little.  This is my first attempt at a fall/winter garden.  May I just say brussel sprouts alone were worth the effort! (Not that anyone else in my family agrees with that sentiment.)  If I had put forth a little more effort and covered everything every time I should have, it would have been even more of a success.

The seed catalogs are here again with their bright and hopeful photos and descriptions, and it is time to plan the next garden.  This year  will be very different in that our daughter plans to plant her first market garden on the farm in the spring.   I am helping her with the planning aspects of the project.  Her dad will be helping with the marketing.   I can tell already that while related to growing a family garden, it is different in ways other than just scale.  It will be an interesting undertaking, and will hopefully grow into a business for her.

The chickens were still managing to get themselves picked off by unknown predators.  In light of that and the fact that they will need to be kept out of the market garden, we have built them a bigger run and tightened their house so now they are back to being confined.   As soon as I think they have learned to come back to the hen house to roost, we will start letting them range for a few hours in the afternoons in good weather.  It’  a compromise on being free range all the time, but we can’t afford to feed chicken to the wildlife or garden seed and produce to the chickens.

The goats are in their  little pen as well.  We will be expanding that as we get funds.   We have found that for us the only truly reliable goat fence is made of sheep panels.  They are expensive and we will probably only be buying a few at a time.  We will keep the goat herd small as a result.  I have arranged to breed the three does in February which should give us July babies-- An odd time for kids, but February is when I can get the buck, and the kids will come during summer vacation from school so I will be here to help if needed.  We won’t keep all the kids for sure. 

Another storm is rolling through as I write this.   Thunder and wind.  Rain driving against the house windows.   For supper tonight it’s 15 bean soup and cornbread—hearty and cheap.  A good meal for a rainy night.