Late May Early June Garden

Last year we burned up in a drought. 

This year would someone please throw us a life preserver. 

Oh what a fickle thing this Midwest weather is. 

Give me a good Louisiana hurricane any day: ) 

The good news I have a good roof over my head and am underground which gives me great comfort during tornado season. 

The second good thing is that I live high in the hills. Everything else around is flooding I think. If this farmstead goes then the  whole state is gone. I listen everyday to local road closings and flooding information and it is still raining! 

My poor crops are a bit soggy but that is life I guess. It could be much worse.

I have stopped planting anything and will not be back in the garden until it dries out. Lets hope the weeds aren't knee high by then : ) 

I did manage to get 3 rows of Jade green bush beans up in the picture above.

My carrots in the raised bed with my strawberries and rhubarb are just putting on secondary leaves. I am unable to grow carrots in the ground because I have too many rocks. Carrots don't like rocks! These carrots are Scarlet Nantes.

I am also trying a new beet called Cylindra. It is an open pollinated heirloom and kind of grows long like a carrot. They are supposed to be good for slicing and making pickled beets which we eat a large amount of. I also have a partial row of traditional bulls blood beets in the garden about the same size. 

I also stuck a few Australian Brown Onions that I started from seeds in this bed. 

I also have a row in the garden of Walla Walla onions

And a later crop to set out the first of June or there abouts. We like to dehydrate some of our onions for cooking and making onion powder and freeze some for cooking as well. 

My Southern Giant Curled Mustard Greens have come up thick and as soon as I can get into the garden I will start thinning. The thinnings make great spicy greens to throw in with lettuce in salads as do the beet thinnings.  I like to can my mustard greens in jars and they make a great addition to the meal in Winter when greens are scarce. 

Black Seeded Simpson Leaf Lettuce. An old heirloom open pollinated standby and my family loves this lettuce wilted with boiled eggs, green onions and bacon drippings. This will be thinned soon also. Notice the tiny weeds coming up also!

Lina Cisco Bird Egg Beans, this is an open pollinated horticultural type shell bean. This variety is a family heirloom open pollinated horticultural type bean that I got my start of from Seed Savers Exchange many years ago. It was brought to Missouri by covered wagon in the 1880's by Lina's grandmother. Lina Sisco was one of the six original members of the Seed Savers Exchange, which was founded in 1975. It makes a large horticultural type bean with maroon markings. I use it as a shell or dried bean. It cans great and makes a thick and rich  gravy when the beans cook down. Grows wonderfully here on my Missouri farm.

With all this rain I am praying that the potatoes don't rot. We shall see and are contemplating pulling the straw off simply because it holds so much moisture and trying to traditionally hill them instead. We have pulled all mulch and straw off of this garden simply because with all the rain it was becoming a quagmire of mud underneath. We can always put it back if it dries out. Heavy mulch works GREAT in a drought but not so well in a monsoon because it holds all that moisture. My daughter Fred brought over a half bag of Yukon Gold seed potatoes left over from planting her small garden in town. We stuck them out as well. O WIse One doesn't care for them but someone will eat them.   

My poor corn : (

Golden Bantam, an open pollinated heirloom sweet corn came up well but if it turns off hot could scald out with all that standing water.

Got 4 rows of Louisiana Red Beans up before the rains. The ones that germinated are fine the ones that were not germinated washed up in the torrential rainfall. 

The Jade green beans also germinated well. An open pollinated variety but not considered heirloom this is the greatest green bean I have ever found for this area and out performs most local favorites. It was funny that I started selling them to some of the local produce stands and now everyone is growing Jade.

 I'm a trend setter...Who knew ?      

Cabbage Jersey Wakefield and Broccoli Premium Crop were both planted for the second time and bore the brunt of this last rain/hail/wind storm. We are hoping it will come out of it... if not then we will attempt to plant a crop in July for the Fall (for the third time). Luckily I have plenty cabbage not only in the freezer but also sauerkraut in jars. I may have to buy some heads locally for some freezer slaw though. We really enjoyed that freezer slaw last winter!!

On the flip side the hay fields are lush and green and with goats to keep in hay during the winter we have allowed even more of the property to grow up into hay. Hay was a rare commodity last year and we hope to be able to have plenty for our two little weed whackers goats. We have an agreement with a neighbor that cuts and bales it for half. 

And at last the time is approaching to set out my tomato and pepper plants. As you can see by the pictures they are healthy and stocky plants. Not root bound in any way and ready to go into rich garden soil. With stalks as big as your fingers they should be able to withstand some winds. They have been moved back and forth from the porch and have been exposed to full sun and winds in an effort to prepare them for the garden. They are more than ready.    

I have two and a half trays of these Brandywine tomatoes and am trying a new tomato called Oxheart. All together I have 52 tomato plants to go into the ground. 

Still left to set out as the temperatures warm and the rain slacks some are onions, peppers, tomatoes and basil. I have lots of dill volunteers in the flower bed from last year and the chives have reseeded as well.  The sweet potatoes sprouts are starting to leaf out well but I will wait awhile to try to set them out. I have not planted pumpkins, acorn squash, watermelons, okra and cantaloupes. I do have cucumbers up but will plant more later. I have also planted more Jade beans and a small amount of yellow squash which have not come up as of yet. I planted about 1/3 of a row of French Horticulture beans in an attempt to get a start of the seeds. I have 3 rows of Pink Eyed Purple Hull peas up as well. 

So far this growing season is turning out to be late, wet and unpredictable. Last year this time we were picking peas and this year I have replanted peas twice. Once to be ate off by a rogue groundhog and once to be shredded by the wind and broke off almost at ground level. On this crop I will also wait till fall, buy them or do without. 

Such is the life of a gardener it seems here in Missouri. Everyone tells me if you don't like the weather wait an hour and it will change. One thing about it is that it isn't boring. I have survived tornadoes that uprooted trees less than 50 feet from my door, endured floods, hail and droughts. Last year it was hoards of rabbits and blister beetles and another drought not to mention the lone tropical storm/hurricane that made it this far north. 

With gardening like this it's a wonder the human race isn't extinct!!!

Never the less we flourish and fall to our knees every night and thank God for what we do have and ask for blessings for those who do not, we pray for forgiveness and patience to endure and persevere. And we throw in a little extra prayer for good weather, no hail, no wind, no drought AND no floods or torrential downpours daily.

We don't want much do we : ) I bet God gets tired of me whining like a spoiled 2 year old!

This has turned into a small novel and I just heard that we are again under a tornado warning.   Guess we will go put the animals up and batten down the hatches. I can't promise a post for the next couple days as I have guests coming tomorrow. My God daughter and her Australian boyfriend are visiting from Louisiana. He has aspirations to return to Australia I hear and open an organic farm/restaurant endeavor. I think I may enjoy having young people that share my garden interests to share with : ) I have the entire Hickery Holler gang cleaning and sprucing up things for our guests.

See ya Monday! 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Work Continues On The Goat Shed

 

As time allows, in between mowing and gardening, we continue to work on our goat shed addition. The original front part of this building houses the chickens on one side and a small room on the other that the baby goats have grown up in. Now that they are big goats we have been working on this new addition added to the back of the original structure. It will be partitioned down the middle and will provide two new pens. Each with a door, window and it's own fenced enclosure. The best part is that everything has been either foraged or recycled. The neighbor had a barn blow down last year and in exchange for my husband helping to tear down the debris was given the materials that built this structure so it has cost us nothing so far but labor. I have a 5 gallon bucket of red barn paint on order to complete this project and it still needs doors and some trim but for the most part is done. Once that is done the pens will be sprayed with vinegar and pressure washed and I have several sacks of lime to whitewash the interiors.  

In between rains we dig holes and set posts for the enclosures. With this project completed this will actually give us four total pens and two of those extra pens completed for whatever we happen to have that needs one. All four pens will have their own fenced in area and a barn/shed area for bedding down at night. We have some used wire that was given to us and some that we have already purchased for another project long ago. It won't be anything fancy but it will be nice to have extra pens to separate animals if necessary. Sometimes that odd animal that is injured requires separation from the flock or maybe that mama hen with chicks. This allows us that room.

As you see we still have much work to do and our summer is pretty well planned out between gardening, canning, mowing, painting, and fence building. Last week we had grandchildren on three different days as well. We are not as fast as we once were on getting chores like this done but are thankful that we still can. We always manage to have more projects than we do summer weather! 

How are your summer projects coming?

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter     

The Fruits Of Our Labor

We work hard daily on this farmstead and this time of year it becomes evident with the fruit trees, vines and brambles. Strawberries ripen on the plants sweet and red. 

Small, tiny, green clusters of new grapes hang on the vine in the early morning dew

Wild black mulberries hang on the trees in the ditches and fence rows around the farmstead.

Clusters of young immature apples thrive on the three apple trees scattered throughout the property

Peaches cling tenaciously to the limbs of the blood red peach trees. These trees have survived last years' drought, May snow storms, high winds, late frosts and torrential rains of late. What will the future bring? Will they provide a harvest this fall? Only time will tell. But for now they are loaded!

The rhubarb has taken a beating of late but with much of it already in the freezer it has done it's job for the year. Just thinned, newly fertilized and mulched it can now concentrate on growing the rest of the year without being harvested.  

The blackberries are lush with all the recent rains and are just starting to bloom. The promise of a heavy crop looks good. It has had a good addition of rabbit manure around it's roots and been weeded and mulched for the year. Now it is just a matter of keeping it watered well and tying up the runners to keep them off the ground. 

And the new raspberry additions seem to be flourishing. O Wise one tilled a bed full of rotten straw, goat manure and compost to make a rich bed for them. Once planted they were mulched down well and have enjoyed the heavy rains of late. I am new to growing raspberries but will give it my best. I think we are off to a good start and appreciate my neighbor sharing these with me so much! 

And last but not least the new strawberry plants planted just a few short weeks ago and then snowed on the next week are coming out. I lost a few but they will fill in with time I hope.

So as you see with just 3 apple trees, 4 peach trees, 2 plum trees, 2 crabapple trees and the wild mulberry and cherry trees tucked here and there along with 6 grape vines, 2 blackberry vines, 150 or so strawberry plants, a half dozen rhubarb crowns and a dozen or so raspberry plants we are able to keep ourselves with enough fruit canned and frozen to last us through the year. This provided plenty of applesauce, pie filling of all sorts and canned fruit, jams, jellies and juices  to satisfy our sweet needs and then some left over for me to experiment with my wine making.   

Some years we get a bumper crop of one fruit and some years the other but always something! And ALWAYS a blessing.

What fruit do you grow?

Blessings from The Holler 

The Canned Quilter

A Holiday Weekend To Remember

A front moved through Hickery Holler and the surrounding area this holiday weekend bringing heavy rains, strong winds and hail to the area. The crops on my farmstead were not spared the wrath of nature.    

Fortunately the bulk of my seeds had already sprouted and come up and were not washed away. As you can see in the photo above the Golden Bantam corn is a little soggy but did not wash.  

The red beans that sprouted managed to have enough roots to  hang on in the photo above but notice the bean seeds that had not sprouted lay on the top of the ground. 

These are my Jade green beans. O Wise One looked at this picture, scratched his head and commented "maybe we should have planted rice"! We don't call him O Wise One for nothing : ) Don't forget that this garden sits on the top of the hill.

This is my second planting of cabbage, replanted just last week after the groundhog visited and ate off the first batch. Looking a little sad and broken aren't they. There's always Fall  I guess. 

The hay fields are lush and green this year but you can see the way the grasses are whipped by the wind and rain.  

The rhubarb also took a beating with those great big leaves. I will try to pick some of the stalks and salvage for the freezer. I already have a nice supply frozen up so once the damaged stalks are removed it will leaf back out and do fine. 

Notice the night crawler trails on top of the soil where the worms come to the surface after a rain. Looks like a worm super highway doesn't it. 

With rain predicted for almost everyday this week I have a feeling things are going to get a lot soggier before they improve. We had a nice, quiet and relaxing weekend after a very busy week. I had kept Hank for 2 days last week and then babysat both boys Saturday night until midnight. By Sunday I was exhausted and just rested up on Sunday and we barbecued on the porch on Monday. Nothing fancy just threw some chicken quarters on the grill along with grilled asparagus and a salad.  I had also made a cherry cake that we snacked on all weekend. We are very thankful that we did not have more damage and there were no tornadoes like in Oklahoma last week. Most of this week I will have to find things to occupy myself in the house because until that soil dries out some the gardens are too wet to get into. 

Hope everyone else had a safe holiday weekend!

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter 

Impossible Pie

 

Right now I have lots of eggs in my refrigerator! Lately I have seen several different postings and recipes for this pie. It uses lots of eggs, makes it's own crust and to me tastes similar to a coconut custard only a little denser.  This recipe has been out there for a long time and when I ran across it I thought I would take advantage of all those eggs. We were not disappointed. I'll post a link to the Granny Miller site where you can find the recipe. There is also a Youtube video on katzcradul's youtube channel with the recipe. 

Granny Miller's Impossible Pie

IMPOSSIBLE PIE RECIPE

• Preheat oven to 350°F

• In a large bowl combine

4 eggs
2 cups of whole milk
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup of melted butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup shredded coconut

• Mix well with a hand beater or electric mixer.

• Pour the liquid mixture into a buttered 10” or larger pie plate or casserole dish and bake for about 45 minutes or until a knife comes clean when inserted into the center.Don’t try to use a smaller pie plate or dish with this recipe, because you’ll be sorry when you’re cleaning the bottom of your oven floor. The “pie” will puff up while it is baking and if the plate isn’t large enough it will spill over the sides.

Remove the pie when done and allow it to cool. I think Impossible Pie tastes best after it has been refrigerated.

So if you have lots of eggs give it a try and see what you think! Some of you younger cooks out there give it a try. I love the way these older recipes come full circle again and again. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

The Return Of The Flowers

My mama's Rugosa Roses are blooming again and the smell of roses is on the air. Can there be a more beautiful smell on earth. With the windows open you can detect that scent all through the house. 

The spirea or bridal wreath as my mother always referred to this shrub is  putting on quite the show right now.

 The bees are really swarming to the chives in bloom.

 

And they especially love the cheddar pinks or dianthus with their strong scent of cloves.

The Iris are just starting to bloom,  the Columbine have been blooming however for about a week. With the return of the Columbine the hummingbirds have showed up for this year as well. 

I love that combination of red, yellow and blue.

 

The Knockout roses are especially lush this year with all the rain but have not started to bloom yet. 

 

The pink Knockout going down the steps have one or two buds just open but are loaded with buds.

After a long brown winter it is so nice to have many of these old friends come back and cover my beds with color. What has May brought to bloom in your yard this week?

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Farm Cute!

Is there anything cuter than baby bunnies?

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

A New Season

Well we have finally traded in our coats, gloves and hats. Now you find beat up garden clogs, straw hats, sun screen, shades and good gloves are the preferred outfit of the discerning farmer/gardener. My feet/hands or both are always dirty it seems!

Our days are filled with planting seeds, mowing, raking, mulching, etc. 
 

 The tinkling sound of my old jar lids hitting against their wire supports marking my garden rows sound like lots of wind chimes tinkling on the wind

The gardens are greening up fast and new life is everywhere. The incubators are full of chicken and turkey eggs. The raised beds full of strawberry and rhubarb blossoms. The rabbit pens full of babies.

The wheel barrow is permanently parked out by the flower beds and every time I walk by I try to pull at the least a hand full of weeds or so. 

As I hang and take laundry off the lines I rake a little or pull weeds on my many trips from the porch to the clothes line. As the mother of 5 I learned long ago to multi task. Eventually it will all be done. It always is! But right now it seems we have a thousand things to get done and the clock is ticking.  

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter