Down On The Farm...

Lots going on around Sand Flat Farm right now. I sure do miss y'all!  Canning season is here!  I have two 5 gallon buckets of plums and four 2 gallon buckets of plums, two more buckets full of cucumbers.  And these don't even make a dent in what's still left on the trees and vines!  I put a bunch of squash in the freezer, too.  I juiced plums all day Wednesday and came out with 5 1/2 gallons of juice. And that was only HALF of the plums!  But K's coming to do jelly and so is my sister and my dad, so we'll have plenty for everyone - AND THEN SOME, I do believe!

What is it?  I mean, one year we have very little rain, or too much rain, or it's too hot, or there's a late freeze, or there's not one.  I guess all the conditions were just right this year.  It's been about 4 or 5 years since we've had such a nice growing season.  I know it's not over yet, and it's getting a bit hot and dry already, but with our mild winter and early spring, it seems that most of the gardens here are well on their way to bringing forth a bounty of goodies!  We do our best on the garden each year, but God sends the rain and the sunshine and makes the conditions just right so our gardens will grow and flourish.

Here's what I did with part of the squash...  I divided it up into the big ones and the smaller skinnier ones.  The smaller ones I chopped up  and put in quart sized freezer bags for boiling or making casseroles. They freeze well.  The bigger squash I cut the necks off and saved the wider parts to slice up for making fried squash.  I'll keep these in a gallon bag and just take out what I need for Tony and I.  There's LOTS of squash and flowers on the vines, so I'm sure I'll be putting up some more of that.

We've got pintos about ready, the green beans are making, the purple hull peas are coming on, too.  The tomato vines are loaded with big green tomatoes - best I've seen in several years - and up to now, no blossom end rot, just hornworms (which the chickens are enjoying!)  Only thing that didn't do as well is my onions.  I decided to plant them in my raised garden boxes, but I believe they prefer the sandy hot soil in the main garden.  They stay too moist in the raised beds. That's the only thing I can figure... You learn something new every year.  Sometimes, the hard way!  Good thing Daddy has gobs of great onions in his garden!

Here's a few current pictures of the garden... if you're interested...

My raised beds below...

Can you see this rogue pumpkin (I think) vine that is growing right in the middle of the corn?  Last year we threw our fall pumpkin remains in the compost and a few of those seeds came up in different spots in the garden.  Think I'll leave those and see if we get any pumpkins this fall!  I hope they're not stealing moisture from the corn, but from the looks of the corn, it seems to be okay!

Gypsy is going around the yard and garden areas digging huge holes to lay in and cool off.  I don't know why she can't use just ONE hole - she's got to have several.  What she does is run down to the pond, go swimming and then come back to the house or garden and dig her a hole to lay in.  She drug up a big ole snapping turtle carcass that stunk to high heaven the other day.  We also found a goat skull that she's been chewing on - thank goodness it was already bleached white.  Now, the turtle - it was another matter.   It still had bones in it... Why do dogs like to roll in stinky stuff?  Then, they wonder why we don't wanna pet 'em. And since Gypsy is a "leaner" and has to be touching us all the time, we could possibly smell like turtle carcass, too!

Even Bug, the chihuahua, has decided that she likes chicken poop - either eat it or roll in it.  I started banning her from coming outside when the chickies are out of their pen. Yuck.  Speaking of chickies...

I liked the light in this picture.  Most of my chicken pictures have one or two blurry chickens. They are always moving, flapping, bobbing, strutting around - (note to self - figure out the correct setting on the camera to prevent blurry chickens.) 

All's well on Sand Flat Farm.  Just busy.  Jelly  season is upon us as well as pickle season, pea pickin', bean pickin', tomato cannin', salsa makin', corn shuckin', puttin'-stuff-up-in-the-freezer season.  That's what's goin' on down here on the farm.  How 'bout you???   ;-)