Sunday, June 26, 2016

The Week Gone By

Lots of rain this past week which has made working in the garden . . . sporadic.  Yesterday we had a storm roll through (again) and two real gully washers came down, one of them accompanied with 1/2" hail.  The hail didn't last long enough to do real damage in the garden.  As far as I can tell.  But I haven't made a close inspection yet.

The toddler geese didn't seem fazed by the heavy rain, just walked in their typical "follow-the-leader" type manner from one spot to another looking a bit puzzled.  I kept yelling at them to go in their house for shelter . . . to no avail.  When it started to hail, they had the sense to bee-line it for the shelter of some pines with low hanging branches.

There was a note on our local Internet community "bulletin board" this morning of someone on a nearby lake looking for two sections of his dock that blew away in the storm.

Now this morning I see we had more rain overnight which definitely means no work in the field garden today.

My potatoes need to be hilled up again.  Along with the rain we've also had unusually hot, humid weather, and the taters have been growing by leaps and bounds.  I can't seem to keep up with them.

The garden is giving us as much wonderful lettuce and salad greens as we can eat.  My big planting of radishes (I love 'em) is coming in with a vengeance.  There are blossoms on the two cherry tomato plants.  The strawberry plants are absolutely loaded with berries but no red coloring is showing yet.  I'm hoping they will start being ready to pick in another week or ten days.

I harvested a bunch of garlic scapes this past week and have a jar of them fermenting on the counter.  Also did a jar of radishes.  It will be into this coming week before we can sample either batch.

There is a young fella in the area this year who is baking bread in an outdoor brick oven and selling it at our small farmer's market on Saturday morning.  I try to bake my own bread regularly kinda/sorta as often as I can but summertime is a hard time to keep up with it so I've been buying bread from him at the farmer's market.  He makes a wonderful ciabatta (my fave) and an all-whole wheat sourdough to which Papa Pea has become addicted.

I took advantage of the stormy weather yesterday to clean house.  Boy, did it need it.  Of course, it always feels sooo good when that task is done and everything is spic and span . . . which seems to last about half a day.

Hubby and I have both been short of sleep lately and were exhausted (so what's new?) last night.  Maybe it was the atmospheric pressure, but we crashed before 9:30 and slept this morning until . . . holy cow, seven o'clock!  Other than having a slight, dull headache (I think from sleeping so hard), I feel great this morning.  Seriously though, we need to start winding down earlier each day (how many kajillion times have we said this?) so we can get to bed earlier.  We're both morning people and would be delighted if we could get enough hours of sandman time each night to arise ready to whip our weights in wildcats (and that's a lot of wildcats) around 5:30 each morn.  Wish us luck.

Well, once this weather settles, we will have lots of weeding, mowing and weed whipping to do.  Speaking of which, we're waiting for my very own weed whip to be delivered.  I can't manage the one Papa Pea uses as it's about 15 feet long (okay, maybe a smidge shorter) and heavy.  So we did a little research and my dear husband ordered one I should be able to handle.  Is he good to me or what?

18 comments:

Fiona said...

Our me are such gems....I actually enjoy splitting wood but Ralph uses a double bitted axe which I loath! He bought me a really nice axe at the Amish hardware last fall, the Amish men are still laughing at those darned crazy english! I got to enjoy splitting wood and I think Ralph even likes the new axe!

Mama Pea said...

Fiona - Not only are our men good to us . . . but they're SMART, too! ;o}

Sue said...

I really think you'd like the EARLY mornings. This time of year is hard on me for getting to sleep--it's light until almost 10:30 and our bedroom faces west. I put foil on those ones--it looks like a meth house here, but at least it's helping. I love my 4 am so much--no darn sun is going to keep me from it.
(But don't talk to me after 8 pm)--I'm toast by then..........
Glad you're getting plentiful rain. we got our first rain in over 2 weeks. It was so dry here--nothing is growing. Today's rain should get the ball rolling..........

Mama Pea said...

Sue - I'm toast by 8 p.m. and I don't even get up at 4 a.m.

Good to hear you got your much needed rain. All of our rain, and hot weather, has finally made my little plants look like they're actually going to grow.

We had high winds again today. (This is getting old.) It blew one of my cold frames off a bed of peppers, snapped one right off at ground level and landed on another one that (remarkably) looks like it may survive. Always some fun going on . . .

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

I have had success with a "whipper snipper" that I won. It runs on battery power. It came with two battery packs and a charger. It is lightweight enough for me and the "string" never snaps off or needs reloading. The only drawback is the battery power only lasts a short time and it takes many hours to recharge. But I think of it as forcing myself to rest between sessions. (I could never manage the big gas powered trimmer - too heavy and cumbersome, and the electric one constantly had problems with the string coming loose and the cord pulling out). Hope your trimmer is perfect for you!! -Jenn

Laurie said...

Yippee! Sounds like your garden is starting to explode. I love radish and cucumber sandwiches with mayo. Have you ever tried one? I wish I could get to sleep early, too. I would love to get up by 6 am, to get work outside before it gets so hot. But it doesn't seem like I can get in bed before 11 pm. You are the second person I've heard say weed whipping. I've never heard it called that before. We call it weed eating. HaHa! Happy gardening and weed whipping!

Kim said...

Yup, we weed eat in WV too! Glad to hear those ducklings are getting the idea to shelter from the hail.

Susan said...

I finally found a weed whipper that I could handle - it's cordless and I LOVE it. I sure wish we could get some of your rain. We've had the high temps, but it is dry, dry, dry! Of course, you can keep the hail... I wonder if it's these long days that are keeping us awake way past our bedtime? I can't sleep if it's light out. Blackout curtains?

Lisa said...

Call it weed eating here too and Yes! I have my very own weed eater that I cherish too! It's a quick start, about 14 years old, that I have to buy new parts for every year and will cry when it finally goes out. Sooooo wish your rain would find its way here. Have a great day! :)

Mama Pea said...

Jenn - My "tool" is a battery operated one also. The battery is supposed to last somewhere around 45 minutes, and we have two so theoretically I should be able to get my trimming done with the two batteries. We shall see!

Mama Pea said...

Laurie - The name for "trimmers" seem to vary with the regions of the country! I've heard weed whacker also.

I LOVE radish and cucumber sandwiches. Trouble is our cukes come in so late that the radishes are all done by then! :o(

Mama Pea said...

Kim - Sometimes animals seem kinda dumb, other times pretty smart. (I guess that goes for humans, too!) ;o)

Mama Pea said...

Susan - I'm sure the long, light days have a lot to do with our not being able to get enough sleep. I know here we just cannot seem to shut down early enough at night! It's a problem!!

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - Take good care of that geriatric weed eater of yours! It seems really hard to find a good one that "fits" women!

I'll do a rain dance for you. We certainly have enough for a while!

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

It's wonderful news to hear you didn't have major damage with the storm rolling through.

A good night sleep makes for a world of difference when trying to function and do chores the next day.

Yay on finding a weed eater that'll work for you!!! I had issues holding on to the weed eater for periods of time because of it's weight. Hubby bought me a Black in Decker with 2 batteries. I love it, it's light and easy to use.....perfect for me :-)

Susan said...

And....fermented garlic scape recipe...pleeeeeze?

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Gladly . . . IF it turns out!!

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - Mine is a Makita . . . hope it works out for me as well as yours does for you!