Garden Veg

We finally got some rain last night - enough to cause a power outage at 2 AM.  It came back on right before J & I left for school and work.  I woke L early, intending to take her in to the office with me, but she was spared at the last minute when the lights blinked back on.

The rain was also sufficient to give a good drink of water to the newly planted rye in the garden.  JP managed to get it planted yesterday just in time.

I couldn't help him because I was busy making 25 pints of my special recipe applesauce.  We are set for the next year.

These potatoes were from some volunteer plants in the garden - we dug them up over the weekend.  We also dug some carrots and pulled kohlrabi.

I decided to make some roasted veg for dinner using the above vegetables, plus onions, half a sweet potato, garlic and some rosemary from my herb garden.  It was based roughly on this recipe, and it was delicious.

Harrowing

 You might say that this pandemic has been a harrowing time - I would agree.  I would also venture that harrowing the garden is much less stressful!

After tilling the garden yesterday, the soil was left quite uneven.  Rather than spend an entire day raking the garden by hand, JP built a harrow out of a packing pallet, a cattle panel and some rope, and he pulled it around the garden with the ATV.  It worked quite well!

We have some sense of urgency to get our rye planted, as there is actually rain in the forecast for the next couple of days.  Our last rain came more than 3 weeks ago, so we need to make the most of it!

Gardening

 Today the whole family went out to the garden to work.

We dug or pulled the remaining plants, including carrots, chard and kohlrabis.  I had already picked and pulled the beans and tomatoes the day before.

We removed the plank walk ways, and then JP used the tiller attachment to till the entire garden (with the exception of the blueberries and strawberries.)

Now it's a blank slate.  We will be planting winter rye as a cover crop in the near future, which can be tilled in at spring time to provide biomass for composting.

You can see a jumble of vehicles in the background.  That is the well drilling rig, which is currently not working.  The new parts are on order, and then the cherry picker is required to repair it.  There is also a trailer load of  the pipe for lining the well at some point in the near future.

Dashing

 My 3rd quilt square is called a Churn Dash.

I have one more square to piece for my sampler, and then I learn how to do sashing, borders and quilting!

4 Patch

 My second quilt square was a 2 color 4 patch.

I am enjoying the sewing, but my machine is STILL not working.  It appears that I am in the market for a new sewing machine.

Turd of the Day

 Late every summer for the past couple of years, I have found a solitary turd outside our main door or one of the garage doors in the mornings.  This tells me that we have a night visitor, who enjoys walking around our house and randomly pooping in front of a door.  Weird.

This year is no different.  For the past couple of weeks I've been finding the turds.  This was last Friday:

Stella could care less about the pooper!

This was the day before, in front of Dad's woodshop - 2 turds that time!

They are fairly small, so I know it's not the dog or the cats.

Dad actually trapped a few raccoons over the summer, as we were having issues with the trash being ransacked and the kitty food on the veranda being burglarized.  So I was pretty sure it wasn't a coon.  They actually gnawed a hole in this 5 gallon bucket to get to the cat food! 

I tried to identify it using my Mammal Tracks and Sign book, which identifies many different types of scat.  The closest I can find is skunk.  I find that fairly disconcerting!

Dad got a trail cam for his birthday in May, so I asked if he would set it up in front of the garages and see if we can positively identify the secret night time pooper.  So far, the beast is in hiding...

Quilting

I have had a bit of guilt for many years that I never learned to quilt.  I come from a Mennonite background, and quilting is such a Mennonite thing to do.

It's a long story, but to make it brief, I recently discovered that I woman here in town was offering one-on-one quilting lessons.  I decided to take the plunge.  The end product will be a wall hanging size with 4 squares, each featuring a different pattern - a sampler of sorts.  I opted for a holiday theme (although it may not look much like it from my first square.)

So, here is my first quilt square that I did today.  It is called a "split rails" pattern.

I feel like I'm finally on my way to becoming a true Mennonite!