It seems like our beavers’ forecast is coming true. We haven’t had a speck of rain for 10 days. But we’re not complaining. We’ve been getting a lot of hay up after such a slow, rainy start. And the warm sunny weather has made our garden boom. Our sweet corn has lots of ears set, the squash are loaded with baby squash (the Hopi Pale Grey squash vines are HUGE), the beans are begging to be picked, and, boy-oh-boy, are there ever tomatoes! Our favorite Bill Bean tomatoes are so loaded with one-pound-plus tomatoes that they look like green pumpkins under and on the vines. You’ll remember that last year we harvested one that weighed 3 pounds on a scale.
Will baled 130 more square bales yesterday. Our poor round baler blew a bearing (we thought). Will started taking things apart and found that not one bearing is shot but five! Parts ordered and should be here tomorrow. So we’ve got more square bales to put up in the storage barn.
Our favorite milk cow, Lace, was in heat Sunday so our friends, the Zups, came over Sunday night to A.I. her. Lace is SO hard to catch in heat but this time, it was a full-blown one where she was even trying to jump up on ME. I hope she took. We’ll know September 1st, when she has a blood test taken.
We had a mother turkey sneak off into the woods to lay eggs and she came off the nest with 8 babies! Then she tried to run away with them. As we have lots of foxes, coyotes, lynx, bobcats, fishers, and wolves, we herded her into the chicken run/orchard where they’d stay safer. Did you ever try to herd a mother turkey and babies? It’s like herding minnows! — Jackie
I don’t know about others wild/tame creatures, but here we had a pear tree so loaded it almost broke the limbs. After spending two weeks watching over that tree from morning to night, we got exactly 2 dozen pears. Between the birds and the squirrels, there was nothing left.
AND THE DEER! Until this year, we didn’t know anything that would eat the leaves off the tomato plants, but looking at the tracks left behind in the dirt, the deer are loving our tomato plants, not the tomatoes. So if this is signs of what is to come, I think we’re going to have one early, cold, winter, too.
We lost our beets to the deer, and our okra to the moles/voles. Our sage is still hanging in there, lol. OH, and our cucumbers were beautiful and productive, and in one day, they had turned up their leaves and went limp as mowed grass.
Cindy,
The lower leaves on many of our beefsteak type tomatoes tend to dry up. It’s not blight but just the way they grow here. We like it because you can see your tomatoes! With more nitrogen, you do get more leaves that stay on the plant but then you get less tomatoes.
For your vole, try traps inside a container that will let the vole in but not your cat/chickens/kids, baited with red potato. That should help a lot. Keep trapping until don’t harvest any more voles. They seem especially thick this year. When we hay we see dozens every day! The hawks like that though.
Dallen Timothy,
Let us know how your fall garden does. One thing I’ve learned is that you’ll never succeed if you don’t try new things! And I’ve had success with lots of things people told me would never work. The best of luck!
I can’t speak for the beavers, but other critters around lower WI are saying winter will be early. They’re eating like it’s their fall fattening frenzy already!
Wow, Jackie, your garden looks great! My Bill Bean plants are the nicest looking right now. So on the bottom of your plants you have some dead leaves and stems. Is that blight or a normal part of tomato growing? I can’t wait to eat these fruits too. They are huge. The Tigerella seeds that we got from you are great plants too. Nice shaped tomato.
We are doing many beans now too. We also have at least one vole near the potatoes. They or he/she have been chewing on the red potatoes. We put in one of those noise makers since that worked over by the house. Any other suggestions? I am sure chasing this vole is crazy like trying to herd your mother turkey! That must have been a site to see!!
Yes, the beavers have been right. We have been very dry all of July. We did have rain 2 days ago, which was very needed. I cant’ wait until they tell us what we might have this winter. They are much better than the computer models that the weather man uses!!!
Wow, Jackie, that garden looks awesome! Makes me hungry for baked squash and a tomato sandwich right now. We’ve had cooler weather lately here in the Arizona desert at around 100-105. It’s been wonderful, and I even decided to put in a very late summer/early fall garden. Our average first frost here is toward the end of November, so last weekend I put in some beans, corn, summer squash and even a few winter squashes to see if I can get some veggies to pick before the end of November. So far it’s going great…now if we can just avoid any of those 112-120 degree days, which don’t bode well with the garden. As the weather cools down into the 90s and 80s in September and October, I think I’ll be getting some produce. I’ve never tried it this time of year, but I’m hopeful.
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