June 2012 Gardening and Homesteading

[blue gecko]

June is usually a bountiful month gardenwise. Local Farmers Markets are in full swing and pick your own specialty orchards/fields are ramped up with blueberries, blackberries, early peaches, late strawberries, raspberries etc. The bounty is incredible.

Our own garden got a late start on some things but its coming along now. We're gathering seeds from the mature plantings: Cabbage, radishes, different kinds of turnips, spinach, chinese mustard and soon cilantro (corriander) and sugarsnap/snow peas.

This has been a very buggy year and the squash bugs have hit us hard. We'll replant at some point but not right now. We've been mulching and watering and praying for rain. Its terribly dry, not a good sign. Its also been unseasonably hot though with this last front the wind is out of the Northwest and it feels very, very nice.

All the critters are doing very well and it sure is nice to have those broilers in the freezer! The ducks and chicks are fully feathered out and the geese are not far behind them. We have to do a bit of pond work so in the meantime we have little plastic "ponds" to keep up with. They sure are cute all piled up in those "ponds" splashing and playing.

The goats are really putting a dent in the brushy stuff in their pasture. They are quite the eating machines! We're enjoying them very much.

[DBA]

I've been feverishly planting all my vegetable plants the last several nights now that the last risk of frost has passed. Only 20 some tomato plants, a hand full of pumpkin and squash, half a flat of leeks and maybe some turnip and more peas to go.

[blue gecko]

This evening we went to the downtown "Art Walk", a first Friday of the month sort of thing where the downtown businesses host artists and musicians and serve light hors d'oeuvres and wines. There is a new farmers' market that coincides with these kinds of activities and we had a chance to visit with some of the vendors. We've got an order in for pickling cucumbers (squash bugs have made a mess of ours) so we'll still be able to put some up this year. We'll probably start some later on but for now there's no point.

[blue gecko]

DBA, your season is so short! I can imagine the frenzy required to get everything in as quickly as possible. Do you ever use cold frames or hoops/reemay to give yourself an edge?

[Mousehound]

I have a stupid question (being a Greenhorn/City-Slicker). When animals (like chickens, ducks, geese, goats, or other food animals) eat ticks that are sick, do they carry the diseases to the meat, milk, eggs, that they produce?

[Catbird]

Originally Posted by DBA

I've been feverishly planting all my vegetable plants the last several nights now that the last risk of frost has passed. Only 20 some tomato plants, a hand full of pumpkin and squash, half a flat of leeks and maybe some turnip and more peas to go.

I envy you the peas. Here in East TN, the window for English peas is so short that it's all but impossible to get a good crop. In the 6 years that we've been gardening here, we've gotten one good harvest of peas that are still sweet and not tough and starchy. Regretfully, we've come to the conclusion that it's just not worth the garden space and effort.

I miss them.

[blue gecko]

Originally Posted by Mousehound

I have a stupid question (being a Greenhorn/City-Slicker). When animals (like chickens, ducks, geese, goats, or other food animals) eat ticks that are sick, do they carry the diseases to the meat, milk, eggs, that they produce?

Tick borne diseases are blood transferred. Eating a tick takes it through the digestive system and the disease isn't carried in that manner. There are some diseases that can be passed through the digestive tract i.e. liver flukes, coccidiosis but even then it doesn't pass via milk, eggs or meat. Other parasites like hookworms, roundworms and trichinosis can be passed through the meat though cooking temperatures kill the organism.

[Mousehound]

So even if we eat deer meat that has a lyme tick hanging on it, passing the lyme to the animal, we can't get it when we eat it, not even as jerky?

---------- Post added at 06:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:41 AM ----------

I don't mean us eating the tick.

[Mousehound]

I found my answer.

You will not get Lyme disease from eating venison or squirrel meat, but in keeping with general food safety principles meat should always be cooked thoroughly. Note that hunting and dressing deer or squirrels may bring you into close contact with infected ticks.

There is no credible evidence that Lyme disease can be transmitted through air, food, water, or from the bites of mosquitoes, flies, fleas, or lice.

http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/Transmission/

[CanadaSue]

Thanx - I hadn't even begun to think about things like that yet.

This climate change stuff has dimensions to it I'd never imagined having to be concened about.

[blue gecko]

We picked nearly 5 gallons of plums yesterday to add to the 5 gallons we picked a few days ago. Now there's 5 gallons of plum wine started and several bags of plums in the freezer

We had a marvelous (a little scary hail and wind wise) rain last night and its still sprinkling today. We're really happy about that!!!

[DBA]

Originally Posted by blue gecko

DBA, your season is so short! I can imagine the frenzy required to get everything in as quickly as possible. Do you ever use cold frames or hoops/reemay to give yourself an edge?

I have portable cold frames that I've used in the past, even those red water jackets for tomatoes. This year I started too many plants and the way I wanted to lay everything out it wasn't practical set them up. I had to use my reemay for the plants I had already potted and were too heavy to bring in side.

[DBA]

Originally Posted by Catbird

I envy you the peas. Here in East TN, the window for English peas is so short that it's all but impossible to get a good crop. In the 6 years that we've been gardening here, we've gotten one good harvest of peas that are still sweet and not tough and starchy. Regretfully, we've come to the conclusion that it's just not worth the garden space and effort.

I have problems with corn and was about to give up. This year I'm going to try a new spot out back with the pumpkins where there is more sun.

---------- Post added at 02:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:21 PM ----------

My plums just finished blooming and the cherries and apples are in bloom now.

[MaxTheKnife]

Oh my!! The plum wine is bubbling like crazy!!! I can hardly wait......

[blue gecko]

^^^It does seem quite happy!

Today we did some more seed collecting. There's something rather soothing about the process of stripping seeds and pods, sorting out the trash, sieving, winnowing and bagging up those tiny treasures. Today it was corriander/cilantro and we ended up with a couple of pounds of seed! We're waiting on some select peas and parsley to mature but thats about it for the moment.

[blue gecko]

Yesterday we cleaned out 2 more raised beds and planted a new crop of green beans and corn. Got some small okra transplanted into "holes" in other rows and watered everything in.

This morning we left early and went to the poultry swap. Picked up a nice Buff Orpington hen and some local honey then went to the downtown farmer's market. We mostly go there to visit with friends but came home with some nice squash and a giant green tomato to fry. Later after we got my dad settled we made another trip to town to the feed store and stopped by another farm market where we got some beautiful tomatoes and eggplant. Max made the most wonderful salsa with the tomatoes! We've been doing some more watering in the shadier beds with a little iron sprinkler we got at an auction some time ago. They just don't make sprinklers like that any more.

[blue gecko]

This morning we mucked out the chicken house/goat barn, limed the floor and put down fresh straw. I love the look of things when they're nice and fresh! After lunch we went to town and picked up 50 bags of peat humus to top off raised beds and to repot/start plants. We'll wait til this evening to unload them. Its just too hot to do that kind of work. While we were in town we picked up some organic fertilizer, a new spray nozzle and some hose splicing supplies. Watering has become a priority here. Its dry, dry, dry. Burn bans are on and everything is looking pretty wilty. Still the garden is doing well and mulching has been its saving grace.

[blue gecko]

This morning we unloaded that humus and spread 30 bags of it here and there in the raised beds. Got more field peas planted and a new planting of melons then watered everything in. Animal chores are done and we're sipping tea and cooling off

[blue gecko]

Its soooo dang dry! We're watering every day and trying to get outside chores done before the sun gets too high. Tomorrow we expect temps near 100 degrees. Holy smoke this is the middle of JUNE!!! It feels like August. Everything is wilting. The forest looks so sad. We need rain.

[Catbird]

We're having the same problem. We were lucky and were under a nice little cloudburst one day last week. But aside from that, it's been incredibly dry. We're in full-on watering mode now and it's only June!

[blue gecko]

Its overcast today but I'm afraid its just a tease. We spent the morning doing chores, mulching and watering.

[blue gecko]

Yesterday we put up shade screening over the tomatoes. Perhaps with the heavy mulching and shade they'll make it through this hot spell. We spend a lot of time watering in the mornings and making sure the animals are prepared for the heat. Forage for them is getting scarce. The bugs are going deeper and greenery is drying up. The feed bill (and water bill) is increasing, oh well.

We have a friend who sells at the farmer's market and were able to pick up 20 pounds of cucumbers for pickling yesterday. So today we make pickles!

The plum wine is almost ready to rack!

[Mousehound]

I thought you might have a well on your property with a garden as large as yours. Could you do some water catching in winter for a cistern type of set up, or rain barrels?

[blue gecko]

We do have a well, Mouse. It just isn't enough during drought conditions. We also have some rain catchment containers but even that isn't enough. We have plans to improve our catchment situation with guttering and more rain barrels. Just takes time and money. Right now even the livestock pond is dry and has been for weeks. Its a terrible situation. Farmer's only got one cutting of hay with little hope of another cutting anytime soon. I've never seen it this dry in June. When we walk around the farm it sounds like rice crispies under our feet. Fires are a big worry. On the upside we're having a really "mosquito" season LOL, there's nowhere for them to hatch!

[Mousehound]

OMG! Let me send you some rain. We have more than enough. Our whole area is lush greenery.