Sunday, August 01, 2021

Serene Sunday

 Josiah and Livie met us for lunch after church. Stacia and Allie had decided to get Livie involved in a baking project. Stacia had a new tart idea percolating in her mind and set about recreating it. 

Baking is serious business. The more I watch Stacia develop skills, the more I think she really may open a Christian cafe as a community hub. I can see it happening. 



Michael had mentioned needing to get a big, dead spruce out of the yard before CyRi's wedding. We have about 11 more dead spruce trees to get down. We took 5 down last year.  Josiah commented, "Let me know when you want to take that tree down and I'll help you...." 


There's no time like the present! 

When the big one came down we could see MORE dead ones we'd not noticed before. 

I hadn't been in the garden for 10 days...what with crazy prep week and then being gone last week. I decided it was time to get into the garden and see what I needed to get done. The animals love gardening.

Dash LOVES kale
Our little flock

We have been debating adding some more reds to the mix. They are great layers. These gals aren't producing much - but enough to keep our little family in eggs. The girls don't eat eggs, the boys aren't home for breakfast...Michael and I rarely eat eggs...Grandpa loves eggs for breakfast...and we bake a lot. We aren't sure that we need to increase the number - the flock was twice this size a couple of years ago. The thing is we know that some of these will begin to die in the upcoming year....and it would be nice to have mature layers when that begins to happen.  

ANYWAY - I was about to give a garden update. I was AMAZED how quickly the garden had grown. We got a late start - Mid June....but we've got a few good sized cucumbers.


The radishes are flourishing, as is the kale, lettuce and swiss chard. 

This was my first lasagna bed. I have 4 other lasagna beds planted. It is clear that things are growing BEST in them.... 


For instance these beans.....

...were planted the same day as these beans....in one of the beds begun the traditional way...with garden soil. I see the same with the Kale in the two beds. They both get the same amount of sunlight. 

I have baby cabbages....
    

And teeny, tiny asparagus.

 

There are a lot of snap peas.

The cheddar cauliflower didn't work. The old standbys are forming up nicely. 

I only planted 3 squash plants this year...as opposed to 12 - 15 last year. I have 5 little zucchinis. The yellow squash doesn't' have blossoms yet. 

 
I'm itching to carve out time to get into the garden. All my flower starts died. I've not planted near what I did last year...but I'm having fun.  I'm coming up with a plan for next year. I think I will ORDER seeds and get them started inside early and be ready to transplant by the end of May. I was simply too overwhelmed in April and May to get it done.  Maybe I'll find a greenhouse that has starts for EVERYTHING I want. LOL