Harvesting Seeds and Herbs

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Sunny 59/80

Jared let me sleep in this morning while he went and fed chickens. I finally rolled out of bed around 8:30!

Today we planted my extra cucumber seedlings that I grew in my window sill over by the chicken pen. And a few wild Morning Glories too.

Then I gathered a few hand fulls of herbs (oregano, thyme, sage, mint, and lemon balm) and a few juniper berries and added them to the apple cider vinegar I had made from the cores and peels from the apples Dad gave us at Christmas. This will make an aromatic thieves vinegar that can be used diluted for cleaning or full strength in a spray bottle as a chemical free insect repellent for when I go outside. I'll let it sit in the cupboard stirring daily for about a month. Then I'll strain out the herbs, throw them in the compost and it will be ready to use!

I currently have some vinegar that I had infused with orange peels and sage for spraying. I had to use it today so I could wade amongst the tall wildflowers to gather the seed pods of my Columbine.

You know they're ready when they rattle when you shake them and the seeds are dark black. They look like clusters of tiny little pea pods.

It's only a little after noon so there may be more chores that fill my day but I don't foresee many. Tomorrow is Monday. Jared will go back to work. We won't know until Wednesday if he'll be laid off again on Thursday and Friday. If so, I think we have plans for finishing the other raised bed, maybe some more mulch, I'm sure we'll think of more. 

Until next time,

Becky

Early Morning Chores

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Sunny and 72* at 10:30 a.m.

It's finally starting to warm up and quick! Garden chores are best done in the early morning and late afternoon. Herbs are said to taste best when harvested in the early morning. 

This morning started for me, like most mornings. I wake up with the sun, about 6 a.m. I head out to feed the chickens and let them out of the roost. I then fill my birdfeeder for the wildbirds and check the hummingbird feeder. Then it's time to feed the cats. 

Last night I started a loaf of sourdough in the bread machine. All that was left to do this morning was turn it on. By 8:45 we had fresh bread.

We ate breakfast. Jared replaced the igniter on our Frigidaire gas oven -- it went out when I was baking my last loaf of bread in the oven, last weekend.

Then we walked down to the mailbox to mail one of Laney's thank you cards -- she graduated this year and has received a lot of encouragement and support from friends and family.

Then we took kitchen scraps to the compost pile and made our way to the garden. I needed to plant some dill, do a little weeding and just do a daily inspection of my plants. 

Two of my tomato plants are setting blooms. My 'Big Boy' is nice and healthy but no blooms yet. 

When we planted the dill, I had a few seeds left in my original packet and then a whole stationary envelope full from plants I harvested from in the past. Jared suggested taking my remaining harvested seeds and placing them in the nice ziplock foil lined package the originals came in. That's a great idea! 

I'll confess, in years past I am terrible about timing my cilantro and dill for when I need them for canning. Hopefully, I waited long enough this time so that my dill will be mature and ready when the cucumbers are coming off the vine. 

I had plans to cut my herbs this morning but it was already super hot and late in the morning by the time we made it out there. I'll try and get that done tomorrow, as well as harvesting some spinach.

Until next time,

Becky

Plastic Drum Raised Beds

This is Jared's fourth layoff week/short work week/long weekend. 

Thursday we took our youngest daughter for her driver's exam (She passed!).

Today we picked up where we left off last weekend -- finishing at least one of our plastic drum raised beds.

We started by determining how tall we wanted it to be. 32" let us cut three legs from each 4x4x8. Then Jared notched one end of each leg to fit the top of the 2x4 frame.

Then we attached our legs.

Then we attached each cross brace (top and bottom -- to support the barrels). 

We then added two more screws and washers to secure the ends of the barrels to the frame.

Then it was time to measure and cut the decking boards using 45* angles for our face frame. 

Then Jared used  pocket hole screws to keep the 45* angles of our decking boards snug and secure. We then flipped it over, evened it up, and attached to the top of the frame for a nice finished look. 

Then I drilled several drainage holes. Be careful not to drill into the cross brace that supports the barrels (ask me how I know 🙄). 

And here's the finished product. Two more to go.....

Until next time,

Becky

Raised Bed Gardens and Lumber Shortages

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Wednesday evening when Jared got off work, we drove up the road a ways and bought three food safe barrels for $15 each. We're planning on using them to build some raised bed gardens. We liked the below plans best:

Oklahoma Gardening by OSU

Thursday we went and bought mulch. 

Friday after we built our compost bin, Jared cut our barrels in half.

Saturday he went to buy lumber, screws and washers. He only got the screws and washers. Lowe's was out of 4x4's again. The effects of Covid-19 seem to be far reaching at times. His first lay-off week we finished the chicken pen and when he went to buy lumber they were out then too. He then went to Anderson's to buy our lumber. That didn't work this time though because he didn't get there until 12:30 and they as well as TH Rogers both close at noon on weekends. 

I decided to use the day making a little flower box from the few good planks left over from the unused quarter of privacy fence from our compost bin. 

A little paint really made it look much better. I added some dirt and a few seeds I had collected last year; Black-eyed Susan's and Zinnias. I can't wait for them to grow and bloom.

That brings us to today...

We woke up later than usual and it was HOT and HUMID. We did not want to work outside. Ashley and I made a batch of soap. And Jared did some organizing around his desk. Then it started to cloud over and cool off (barely). He headed out to straighten up the shed and I met him later to use what lumber we had to make a little progress on our project. 

We measured and cut three 2x4s per barrel. We clamped them in place, drilled pilot holes, and attached them using screws and washers. The video recommends three per side. We used five.

We were dripping wet and pretty tired so we called it quits after assembling two. We'll get the last one next weekend. 

Jared plans to try Anderson's lumber Tuesday after work to buy 4x4s and a few more pieces of lumber. 

Wish us luck.

Until next time,

Becky

Check Lists

Jared has been "laid off" the last two days of the work week for the past three weeks due to the effects of Covid-19 on production lines across the world. He has chosen to spend these long weekends working on my honey-do-lists and a few projects of his own. 

Today we tackled taking our old back fence from Park Drive that was damaged during a storm and turned it into a compost bin for me.

 

We started by cutting it in half....

And then we cut each half in half again. We had three good quarters and we didn't need to use the damaged quarter. 

We then took one of the many old 2x6s that were piled up in the woods of our property when we bought the place and ripped them making 2x3s. We then screwed those together to make corner posts. 

We used some of the 1xs that I had salvaged from the house when it was shipped here. They were used to hold the plastic sheeting on that protected the interior of each half. Anyway, Jared used those to stiffen up the bottoms where the planks had been cut in half. 

Then all that was left was to screw the three sides together. 

There was a lot of hoarded piles around this place when we bought it. One was a pile of bricks. I used a few of those to keep the bin from being directly on the ground  to hopefully prolong the life of my bin. They also promote air flow. 

I placed our bin between my two wildflower patches. I am so excited to have this done!

Until next time,

Becky

Something to Scratch

Today Jared and I purchased a load of mulch from the city. It was only $15 for them to load our pickup full. We were honestly shocked at how full they filled it. Three huge loader buckets full and pressed down between. 

Their three buckets equalled close to 15 of our little tractor buckets if not more. I meant to count but I didn't think of it. Jared shoveled each bucket full all on his own while I dumped each load into the chicken pen. 

Our poor chickens only have rocks and hard compacted clay ground to spend their cooped up days in. They desperately needed this mulch. It also will help with health problems from them walking, pecking and scratching around in their own poop all the time. 

I think they're going to be much happier. 

Here's a picture of what they did have. I think two more truckloads will cover the whole area but that's a whole lot of work for poor Jared. 

Tommorow we have plans for building a compost bin. Severe weather is in the forecast so we'll see how much that hinders us. 

Yesterday I cleaned out the nesting boxes to mulch my garden. While doing that I found this little fairy egg burried in the straw. 

Until next time,

Becky

Garden -- And New Habits

I am terrible about keeping detailed, organized records and even keeping up with records most of the time. I am more of a do-er and it always feels like record keeping is a waste of time. I know that's not true and it's something I want to work on.

Genealogy is one of my many hobbies. While sharing with Jared some of the local news from where my family is from during the early 1900's -- one article mentioned it was a great huckleberry year. My husband remarked that that's something our generation won't have; print snippets of the little mundane things that go on in our lives. That's where the idea to start back on this blog came from. Last year (2019) was a great huckleberry year for us too! This year, not so much. I'm hoping it will be a good year for blackberries though.

With the theme of good harvests I figured I'd start by blogging a little bit about this years' garden. I'm a little late to the game as far as exactly what I planted and when. But there are a few things I can remember, or look back on the seed packets for specific varieties.

Here's the layout of our Garden so far. After the peas, beets, and spinach are done for the season, I plan to plant squash and zucchini in that bed.

This garden sits inside of a 10' x 10' dog kennel we had purchased for our dogs when we first moved out here. Patrick and I lived in the RV while waiting on our manufactured home to arrive and that was a small space for us plus 4 dogs. The kennel also let me leave the property and leave the dogs behind.  Once we had a house we no longer needed the kennel. The wildlife proved a menace as far as growing edible things so I decided to have Jared build me raised beds inside the kennel. It has worked perfectly. The vine crops can climb the chain-link fencing making more room for other crops in our small space. 

This weekend we have more garden plans but more on that when it happens.

Below are a few pictures of our garden.

Peas, beets and spinach

Tomatoes, pole beans, marigolds and basil

Strawberries

Cucumbers and bush beans.