R-I-P, Summer Garden 2010! Tilled it up last weekend and am ready for a fresh start. Spent a Saturday with the tiller and wiped the slate clean. Wouldn't dare think of pulling out the patch of Zinnias bordering the garden though.. It is supplying every butterfly in a 5 mile radius with nectar, so it's comforting to know they can get one last sip of sugar before fall really sets in! Its not uncommon now to see a few butterflies fighting over a flower. Notice the little skipper butterfly in the background? They are small but very fiesty and will chase other bigger butterflies away.
One of the highlights of the week was a visit from fellow blogger Erin and her two farmer boys Finn and Loch (ages 5&7) they came out to buy some eggs and pick some flowers. The boys got to hang out with the hens and made this darling observation..." Chicken butts are cute! "Have to say I agree - and here is a close-up of our birds little fluffy, downy, cushy behinds!
What? not impressed?? Might not look like much - but couldn't be more stoked that we are going to pick it up in a few days. About a 4 hour drive to nab this little baby, but it's hard to find these in our neck of the woods... It is the moving parts to an old hay wagon - which will be the foundation to our farm project "The Eggmobile!" The Eggmobile is the invention of Joel Salatin, a well spoken, forward thinking, Virginia farmer featured on the movie - Food Inc. (if you are into farms and food - watch it!!...)
Monarch season is in full swing here and I have witnessed monarchs flying past me on their way to lay eggs on the Milkweed plants. Here is a shot of one laying eggs, and a caterpillar in the background- cool!
Love the caterpillars. They are poisonous to birds, and their bright color alerts predators to the yucky taste. These bugs are amazing and fly all the way to Mexico to overwinter!! Just crazy to me how they can fly that far, weighing less than a paperclip!
They grow so quickly here is one a few days old and another about a week older.
Now that the temps are cooling down a bit, you can find bumblebees out in the field falling asleep on the flowers. Literally stopping to take a little nap. kinda cute! Here is a big fuzzy bee on a tithonia - mexican sunflower.
Ma and grandma picking the remaining flowers left on the zinnias. Starting to putter out - both the flowers and the flower pickers! haha!
Starting to take shape. Can't wait to see it with the roof and decking all done. Another reason why we need the hurricane to take a detour!!
Not to mention Our field of 10,000 sunflowers are really going gang-busters here, Lets hope they make it through our the windy friday of Earl passing by. about 30 days left til blooming.
Mowing around the field.
Jeruselum Artichoke blooming in the garden. Kitty in background.
Last pic is our Basil in full swing. Has been such a delight to go out and pick all summer long and toss into salads, tomatoes, pizzas, sandwiches and pesto. As soon as the first cold front hits next month, this stuff will be toast, but still plenty to enjoy for now!
One of the highlights of the week was a visit from fellow blogger Erin and her two farmer boys Finn and Loch (ages 5&7) they came out to buy some eggs and pick some flowers. The boys got to hang out with the hens and made this darling observation..." Chicken butts are cute! "Have to say I agree - and here is a close-up of our birds little fluffy, downy, cushy behinds!
It is as fluffy as it looks! The boys are learning a ton about gardening and homesteading through their mix of backyard gardening adventures, 4-H camp, and visits to local farms. If you have little ones, Erin's blog is a must read. http://gardennow-thinklater.blogspot.com/
Have to admit i am pretty addicted to watching what the kids are up to on any given week as they are learning and exploring a ton of fun activities. Hope we can have some similar adventures with our own little farmer kids one day!
Well with all this fuss about chickens lately, glad we have our own backyard birds and fresh eggs.... which leads us to our next project on the horizon!! We have been expanding our flock and have been looking all around and finally found this on craigslist ---->
What? not impressed?? Might not look like much - but couldn't be more stoked that we are going to pick it up in a few days. About a 4 hour drive to nab this little baby, but it's hard to find these in our neck of the woods... It is the moving parts to an old hay wagon - which will be the foundation to our farm project "The Eggmobile!" The Eggmobile is the invention of Joel Salatin, a well spoken, forward thinking, Virginia farmer featured on the movie - Food Inc. (if you are into farms and food - watch it!!...) We are re-creating this movable hen house so we can give more structure to the girls day outside and in turn they will be improving the farm and providing our customers with more free-range eggs.
One thing I have learned in the last year regarding keeping chickens is that no matter how many acres of property you have, they always prefer to be where they shouldn't be, preferably scratching through a freshly mulched flower bed, pecking at a prize-winning heirloom tomato ripening on the vine, pooping on the driveway or standing by the butterfly bush to get some easy prey, ... ack- no more!!
The great thing is that they will have an official "job" to do on the farm after this is complete - we will rotate them to specific areas of the property with their portable fence and hen house on wheels - in order to clean up the bugs, aerate the soil, and eat the young clover... and the best part -they will leave their fertilizer where it should be (aka not on our driveway:lol). Yippee! More pictures to come as that project progresses!
Monarch season is in full swing here and I have witnessed monarchs flying past me on their way to lay eggs on the Milkweed plants. Here is a shot of one laying eggs, and a caterpillar in the background- cool!
Love the caterpillars. They are poisonous to birds, and their bright color alerts predators to the yucky taste. These bugs are amazing and fly all the way to Mexico to overwinter!! Just crazy to me how they can fly that far, weighing less than a paperclip!
They grow so quickly here is one a few days old and another about a week older.
Now that the temps are cooling down a bit, you can find bumblebees out in the field falling asleep on the flowers. Literally stopping to take a little nap. kinda cute! Here is a big fuzzy bee on a tithonia - mexican sunflower.
Ma and grandma picking the remaining flowers left on the zinnias. Starting to putter out - both the flowers and the flower pickers! haha!
Of course, one unstoppable force is in the next photo - dumpling, coming along on his building project.
Starting to take shape. Can't wait to see it with the roof and decking all done. Another reason why we need the hurricane to take a detour!!
Not to mention Our field of 10,000 sunflowers are really going gang-busters here, Lets hope they make it through our the windy friday of Earl passing by. about 30 days left til blooming.
Mowing around the field.
Jeruselum Artichoke blooming in the garden. Kitty in background.
Last pic is our Basil in full swing. Has been such a delight to go out and pick all summer long and toss into salads, tomatoes, pizzas, sandwiches and pesto. As soon as the first cold front hits next month, this stuff will be toast, but still plenty to enjoy for now! 
Nate and I just sat here and read the whole thing, we are so in aw of you guys... It is SO cool. love the pictures, the stories, and especially a peak of ma and grandma. Tell them hey.
ReplyDeleteSo we are curious about the building project???
Its going to be our designer vegetable stand - A place to sell and market our flowers, honey, eggs, and also help local farmers sell their fruits and veggies. Lots of tourist from the beach in our area, so we hope to create a fun way to get them out to support local farms, pick flowers and learn about farming, couldnt hurt with helping us gain some exposure for the B&B as well! Thanks for the feedback. Yep grannys still kickin it homestyle in her terminator sunglasses. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, awe is the word. Your basil looks devine. How did you manage to get them so nice looking with all this heat? How much do you water and fertilize?
ReplyDeleteI am a new reader, found you through Erin. Your farm looks amazing. What a blessing to have such a wonderful place. I am praying that Earl makes a turn and goes out to sea or just fizzles out by tomorrow. May you all be safe.
Thanks for the props! The kids enjoyed your place so much! They were excited to eat your eggs because they actually were "friends of the chickens" now LOL! We made a huge quiche will our homemade salsa and it was delicious! Love that eggmobile and can't wait to see it in action! I really hope Earl doesn't wreak too much havoc for you, I know you are counting on those flowers for the big event! Hopefully since they don't have heavy floppy heads to weigh them down they will come through well. Make sure you check back in and update us on the storm at your place, I've been tying everything down today!
ReplyDelete