Cold is Finally On its way! Its Mid-November!

Ah Fall!  When the trees start changing color and the air gets crisp and cool, NOT!  Fall 2016 has been warmer than any other fall I can remember, with temps in the mid 70's in the afternoon and 59-65 at night.  Crazy!  I picked asparagus in mid-October and new volunteer squash plants were growing in my compost pile.  However, with the lack of cool or cold nights we have had very little color change this year.  The photo, above, is a picture from last years New England visit at Mom and Dad's.   The leave here are falling from the trees without changing to any color except brown.  Very uneventful.

This all means we have far more summer veggies than in the past, but also more BUGS than ever before, so it kind of equaled out.  I spent more time on bug control duties than ever before but I am also harvesting for more asian greens,radishes,  peppers, green beans, tomatillo' s and melons.
And the fruit!
Apples and pears bigger than ever and plenty of pecans for the squirrel and humans to share!  The nuts are all over the basement curing.  I have to start cracking them and bagging for the holidays.

The chickens are now laying eggs regularly.  They love clucking around the house while Steve works on the foundation because with all the fresh dug dirt is easy picking for bugs!  Those eggs must be very rich in protein.

All in all not a bad fall for harvesting.  We are actually getting tired of applesauce and apple pie.  Can you imagine anyone getting sick of apple pie?  Time to start baking pecan pie!

SEPTEMBER- THE FIRST SNAP OF FALL! LET'S MAKE SOME COMFORT FOOD!

I have been remiss in my posting all summer.
Lots of work being done on the exterior of the house,  including foundation work on all walls, french drains installed around perimeter, new retaining walls on sides of driveway, new deck, new roof and new front entry, have been keeping me too busy to post new entries.

Late September now;  the cool nights are a refreshing change from the heat of early September heat.  I even have cut about a pound of asparagus this month as it still thinks its summer.  Zucchini and cucumbers are still growing as well as the melons, watermelon and cantaloupe

But now the snap of autumn, very cool mornings will beads of dew on all the newly planted greens, glisten all over the garden. In the 4 new raised beds, which will be hooped in the winter, I have planted radishes, Pac Choi, Napa Cabbage and Spinach.  I also planted more carrots and green beans in the rows replacing the tomatoes that have bit the dust.

The photos above show the beautiful Swiss Chard that I am picking often (it thrives on rejection I think) and the green peppers that also like the cooler weather.
Nothing better than a dish of Stuffed Peppers. 
Make a fresh pot of Marinara Sauce with fresh basil, garlic, and tomatoes.  
Clean 8 to 10 green papers, cutting out the center , stems and seeds from the top.
Stuffing is made with sauteed Italian sausage, 1 lb. taken out of the casings, 1 lg. chopped onion, 2 stalks of celery, (diced) 1 sweet red pepper (chopped), thyme, garlic,( minced), salt & pepper.  Mixed in 1 cup of cooked brown rice.  
Stuff peppers, pour Marinara over them to cover, top with 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.  I don't cover mine as I like my peppers to still have some crunch.  You may cover yours with foil if you like yours softer.

 I just made an Italian Minestrone Soup with Chard, Cannelli Beans, Zucchini, Orzo, Tomatoes, home-made Chicken Broth (2 cups) 1/2 bottle of V8 juice, 2 cups chopped chard with the stems, one large onion, chopped , two stalks of celery and 2 garlic cloves.  You can throw in any veggies you may have, like carrots, chopped potato, green peppers or green beans.  I used Orzo pasta instead of adding potatoes.  Simer soup for at least 1 hour.  The longer it stands, the better it tastes, so make it a day ahead and put the pot in the fridge.

Planting Time Once Again!

This is a photo of preparing for planting last year.  Well, since Steve is too tied up with foundation and landscaping work for this spring and summer, I am tackling the planting on a smaller scale and much like they did back-in-the-day, without machinery.  I have a feeling I will be in great shape after the month of May is over.  I just started this past weekend and already logged 11,000 steps on Saturday and 19,000 steps on Sunday.  I'll have to have Fr. Garry out to bless my garden and hear my confession because I have missed mass and am not resting on Sunday!  But he sure will enjoy the eats!

Asparagus is sprouting and I picked 5 lbs of kale yesterday to rotate the Kale box to peas for the spring.  Already the chickens are delighted with the fresh dug dirt and keep scratching up my planted peas.

Peekachoo, our peacock and the peacock from next door, who is not a  full Indigo Blue male, so we call him Carbon Copy, had a fluffing contest which went on for about 30 minutes yesterday afternoon.  It was no contest really, but you couldn't tell Carbon Copy that.  He was not admitting defeat!
Peekachoo has really grown into a gorgeous male with a six foot tail of iridescent color.

Make your own Salad Dressings! Easy and Better For you!

FOR ALL THOSE GREENS YOU GET OUT OF THE GARDEN, DON'T SPOIL THEM WITH STORE BOUGHT SALAD DRESSING!

Over the winter my Kale, Mustard Greens and Lettuce has kept me supplied with fresh greens.  I don't buy prepared salad dressing, I make my own.  Here are 4 easy recipes to whip up your own to keep your salads fresh and free of unnecessary ingredients and calories.

Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette:
This is great with bitter greens, like Kale, mustard greens, beet greens and don't forget those spring dandelions, Appropriate for a salad for 4.

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
4 TBSP real maple syrup or Agave Nectar
freshly ground black pepper.
Place ingredients in a canning jar, shake vigorously, then pour over salad and toss.

Light Italian Dressing
This makes enough for 2 or 3 salads, depending on the size.
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1/3 cup White Wine Vinegar
1 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese
 tsp liquid from prepared minced garlic
fresh ground pepper
1 tsp onion powder (or add fresh sliced onion to the salad)
1 tsp dried Italian herbs (if you grown your own, I use basil, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme
Place ingredients in a canning jar, shake vigorously.

French Vinaigrette
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
fresh ground pepper
That's it.  This will yield enough for a very large salad or 3 small salads

Blue Cheese or Gorgonzola Dressing
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup crumbled cheese
fresh ground pepper
2 TBSP cream or milk
Place all ingredients in a blender and pulse until mixed.  If creamier consistency is desired, reduce the milk or cream to 1 TBSP.  Enjoy!

Once you start making your own dressings, you'll never go back to a bottle.

These ladies kept us busy and warm this past winter even though we had only one snow day all season.  You can see the dusting, of white, outside the window,  in the back ground.  Clockwise is Patchoulette (she's the very old lady, now she's almost 12, then Skittles who is 1 1/2 and Snicker who is also 1 1/2.  All very different personalities and entertain us greatly.

Now it's  time to get rolling on the tilling and planting.
During the winter I covered my raised beds and now have Lettuce, Kale, Parsley, a bit of Spigarella, Swiss Chard, mustard greens and a few beets.
I walked out to feed the birds this morning and see our first 5 stalks of Asparagus.  Its April 8th and I can't remember having it this early before, but I am glad.
Our fruit trees are all pruned and blooming nicely. Apple Blossoms are so beautiful, white with shades of bright pink in the center.
The pond has been full throughout the winter and we are hoping for good rain this spring but not as much as last year.
This winter we realized something was eating all of our chickens.  Last fall we had 18 hens and now we are down to 5 hens and 1 rooster.  We suspect we know what happened but it does no good to dwell on it, We are now being more vigilant at watching and defending our birds territory.

I have been working hard at cleaning out the ducks pen and setting fresh hay.  Next, this weekend, I will tackle the chicken coop. A couple of weekends concentrating on shoveling sh--  which results in a season of clean happy birds.
When I worked for Saks Fifth Avenue, I never imagined I would be shoveling composted bird poo and loving it. How times change!

Its hard to believe that you get to  pick a bunch of beautiful greens like this in Missouri during the first week of December, but this year was, once again, far from normal.  So much more rain in the spring and summer, right through August, that caused all our apple and pear seedlings to drop from the trees.  I had never experienced this before.  I stopped by an orchard on my way back from a short trip to Springfield and asked the owner about the lack of fruit.  She told me you have to spray the trees at the peak of flowering with a substance that allows the fruit to form correctly and not drop from too much water.  She told me to call her in the spring and ask about it again and she would share all the info with me.  Cool, I will definitely do that.  Of course, she also appreciated the fact I walked out of the orchard with arms full of apples to keep me satisfied until I got home to Connecticut at Thanksgiving to raid my Dad's Orchard stash.  Pounds Granny Smiths and Golden Delicious went home with us.  Steve complains the car still smells like apples!

Anyway, with a warm fall and no freezing in sight, right up until the middle of December, my crop of greens are doing well.  We covered our boxes of greens and hope to keep them growing right through the winter.  Swiss Chard, Russian Kale, 3 kinds of lettuce and lots of green Italian parsley.

With all the rain, we noticed we have many more Squirrels showing up and living around our Pecan Trees.  Now, with the drought for the past few years we had no meat in the nuts.  And, not a Squirrel in sight.  Well, this year we have plenty of them.  Only to realize in October that our pecans are big and meaty and we missed them all.  No wonder we have lots of Squirrels, they ate all the pecans! I got about 4 cups of them, that's it. Ah, you live and learn.  We just hope those Squirrels have not decided to make our farm their forever home!

Over the holiday break I tallied my yield for 2015.  Last year I yielded $2,345.00 worth of produce.
This year we planted less varieties and more of each variety planted.  Much easier to manage, but none left to sell. I honestly can't keep up with having 60 pounds of tomatoes ripe at the same time like last year.  So the tally for this year was $1,397.00.  Not too shabby!  And as you can see above, I haven't finished getting all the yield.

With the longer warmth, came critters staying out of hibernation longer.  In a 3 week period, from early to late November (temps were still in the 50's) we lost 11 chickens.  What a bummer.  Even our teenager chickens we hatched ourselves.  Steve has begun working on the new chicken coop which will have a huge chicken run to keep our babies safe while we are away at work.  They will be able to Free-Range on the weekends.  Well, I better get back to my seed ordering!