Yesterday, I spent the day mowing big weeds (yep, we sure have those) with the riding lawnmower, in between plots and down paths, not to mention those growing in areas we’re leaving fallow due to earlier drought and then rain, then more drought, killing corn and plants in other plots. Whew! I’m talking about two acres of it. Then I went back and got the baby Kubota and tilled the fallow areas in the Sand Garden. I’ve still got to do those in the Wolf Garden again this afternoon.
I went out just now and picked another ripe Sweet Granite muskmelon. They’ve been ripening quickly and there are a lot of nice, big ones out there! I am teaching seed saving classes at two of our local Chippewa reservations and am saving a couple of different kinds of seed tomorrow and Wednesday so folks can not only see how it’s done but also taste a bit of the reward.
Our corn is coming on nicely and I should get a nice bunch to can up, despite the third planting being done in late June. For a while, I was kind of hoarding the canned sweet corn I have, thinking I wouldn’t get any. Now, it looks like there’ll be a nice big crop. Thank you, God!
The beans, also, are coming along wonderfully. I even picked a few that had already dried to take to the seed saving class, as I will some tomatoes also, along with some lettuce heads with seeds already on them. It will be a fun class! And boy, do we have the nice squash this year! I have Hopi Pale Grey and Porcupine squash that must weigh 20 pounds already and we have about a month (I hope) before frost. And Gete Okosomin? Wow, there are some as long as my arm and as thick around — so early too.
The peppers are slow, due to the heat causing their blooms to abort, but now they’re blooming like mad. I’m hoping for a late, bang-up crop. We’ll have to wait and see. But isn’t that what most homesteaders get good at? Ha ha! — Jackie
I’ll do my best to get a small fall garden out
I’m just about running on empty.
I haven’t gave up yet
Your garden is so beautiful.
Take care 💖
Here in Eastern Washington Spokane the tomatoes are already ripe (some of them) and Rosemary and Thyme and Basil and Parsley are thriving huge. Jackies Zennias attract so many pollinators that the garden is very happy and also pretty! The smoke from the fires here cleared out finally and the temps are cooling down into the low 80s. That smoke engulfed us all so much that even the birds were laying low! We are all relieved for the fresh air and the small wonders that are miracles to be grateful for. Considering how thorough fires are, it is amazing how very resilient we are when compassion plays a part; The kind consideration of our fellow citizens from all over this country has impacted us greatly. What a truly united people we are, when push comes to shove, eh! And this is comforting to know when it comes your turn to need help…
The weeds were so bad in my garden I just pulled the vines of the squash that remained and mowed everything down. Sad garden year for me this year. Hopefully next year will be better. This is why I can up as much as possible when I do have a good crop, lol. I want to get it tilled well and hopefully slow the weeds for next year. The seed saving classes sound fun! I think that is something we all need to know and I personally need to work on that more. Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge! Sending prayers for a blessed week.
Thanks so much! Yep, our weeds are so bad in our beans, which were weeded by hand and not a weed left in the rows, a month ago, that you can’t see the vines!! But I pawed around and found the vines had tons of bean pods on them. So, I’m not mowing them. A few of my squash are the same way, but still I’m seeing squash. Whew!!
We did one seed saving class last evening and will do another this evening. These are for the Boise Fort reservation and I’m so tickled that so many people are starting to garden and saving their own seeds!! Those classes are so much fun.
Just to hot here in Southern Illinois area
Just getting a tomato here and there, just one at a time – really good to eat.
I actually forgot what a real tomato taste like :)
Have to babysit the fowl now something came in and got 5.! I was even outside off and on heard nothing.
So I babysit now for a couple 3 hours.
They are so funny, especially dusting themselves :)
Maybe next year will be better.
No more crazy hot weather.
This Thrusday or next 101° temperature 🌡️ This is after being in the low 80° for the high and 62° at night
It’s soooo nice!
Boy do have a green thumb or what!
Wow
Take care ❤️
Sounds like you’ve had a time of it. I’m so sorry something got some of your chickens! We worry about that every night as we don’t let our dogs out at night because we have wolves they might tangle with. But we have lots of fox, coyotes and a few raccoons that will all gladly have chicken dinner. I’ve had a raccoon chew a hole in the side of our coop and get in and carry off a hen. I set a trap on the side of the coop, right below the hole and caught him the next night.
Those high temperatures are brutal! Hopefully, with fall, they will go down to bearable. Do consider planting a fall garden with short-season crops so you don’t “waste” a gardening year.
Here in Copper Basin Alaska it was highs in the 80’s ,Sunday and Monday we had lows of 33! Since I’m only growing in the hoop houses and green house I can keep the season going until about October 1, after that we loose daylight too fast. Tomatoes just starting to ripen, enough Adam cucumbers for one batch of pickles and carrots any time we need them. Enough other eatables to accompany meals. One son coming a week at a time from 500 miles away to help. He has been tilling in weeds on the outside garden ground so we can keep it open. Next year maybe he can come and plant and I can hand weed from my stool and share crops around the extended families.
a week at a time
Holy cow! From 80 to 33 degrees F??? What the heck is our weather coming to? We’ve had forties, but…..
Our tomatoes are also just starting to ripen but boy are there a ton of them out there, literally! Our peppers are starting to flower and set some tiny peppers. I’m praying for a later fall so they’ll ripen. The ones in the hoop houses will be okay as we can heat if we have to. Not so with the ones in the gardens.
It’s great your son can come help you. What a blessing that is!!
I used to camp near Essex MT in July. We’d wake up to frost on our tent and eat dinner at over 100F.
Jackie,
Sometime could you write about meal preparation? Not so much recipes, but the time. You always are so busy but put great meals on the table. I find after a full day on the farm, and getting older, that I struggle for ideas, energy and time.
I enjoy your articles, columns and blogs so very much.
Thanks for all you do.
Jackie has a cookbook that might help called Jackie Clay’s Pantry Cookbook. You can purchase it on this Backwood’s Home website in their store.
I thank my home canning for the ease of putting tasty meals on the table. I can come in tired and dump a few jars together in a casserole dish and by the time I’ve washed up, we have a roast beef dinner, chicken pot pie, etc. And, like Lisa said, there’s the Pantry Cookbook. No recipes in there are time-hogs! Nor do they require unusual ingredients.
When I’m busy, I do a lot of casseroles and pot pies, as I cheat and buy frozen or refrigerated pie crusts, so I don’t have to make them, then just dump, dump, dump. Likewise, I cheat and buy cases of Aldi’s cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup, just for these quick meals.
Wow! Your tomatoes pictures are beautiful. Reminds me of Dad’s garden when he was alive. He could grow anything and we loved all of it. I like the way you do your beans, too. After all the sweat, worry and fretting, isn’t it wonderful to see our great reward of harvest!
I really love growing pole beans up on cattle panel trellises; 3 steel t posts and you can put up a whole lot of beans on each side of the panel.
I love just walking around in the gardens, looking at everything growing out there. Okay, not so much the weeds! Lol
Oh all your crops look wonderful!! I just love all the tomatoes hanging there. I have been beating myself up about weeds now I see there are quite a few of you that have the same problem. Lawn mowing sounds like a great idea!!!
I think everyone has a lot of weeds this year so don’t feel bad at all. I saw one perfect garden this summer with absolutely NO weeds and even the berry plants were staked up and totally weed free. I wanted to come home and bulldoze the gardens, weeds and all. But, of course, I didn’t and despite all our weeds, we’ll have a wonderful harvest. Persistence pays!
Harvest in full swing here-piles of tomatoes. I got all the winter heating wood in the shed. We use a grapple on the skid steer and pile it in the shed. I don’t stack it anymore. Weather is perfect. I have another 30 ft row potatoes to dig-slow going for this old man. I note multiple pumpkins for the grandkids. Some trees have turned colors I believe due to heat stress and poor rainfall. My onions are drying nicely. I’ve never saved lettuce seeds and need to learn that. It’s fun to teach if you have enthusiastic students.
@Everett – some are turning here in N. IL also. We’re not too far behind on rain but streaks of heat and no rain take its toll.
I wish I had another 30 ft row of taters to dig – I really need to get my other planned area for taters in motion. I’m want to start decreasing the number of days per week that I work. Hoping to be down to 3 days come next planting season, we’ll see.
Boy Everett, you’re making me feel behind times!! We don’t have our wood in the shed yet but we do have a nice pile, already cut up. We need a ton more though. And our tomatoes are just starting to ripen so we have enough to eat but not much more. There are hundreds of green ones out there that look great, however.
Hey, we have a time hand digging potatoes too so Will switched to using the tractor with a middle buster. He got it at L&M Fleet Supply, locally, for around $200. It’s one of the best buys we have ever made! He hooks it up to the 3 point, straddles the row, lowers the little plow and drives down the potato row slowly. The middle buster rolls the potatoes out of the ground with nary a cut or bruise! You need one! It also makes furrows to plant potatoes and tomatoes, among other handy uses.
I saw red leaves today! I think it was the heat and drought stressing the trees, as some leaves are actually falling now.
Weeds – they are worse than ever this year. I finished the strawberry patch but need to start back at the other end digging out a different grass. And what seems to be the never ending common violet. Upside is the last heavy quarter of it doesn’t have the other grass and only one area of violets.
San Marzano paste tomatoes are ripening at a fast pace. We’ll be out of town for a few days so will likely share some slicing tomatoes and cucumbers. There seems to be some kind of blight in the town where dad lives so slicing tomatoes are in short supply.
So cool you are sharing your seed saving knowledge. Far too many are unwilling to share knowledge for fear someone will do better than them.
It is our wish that many folks will do better than us!!
I’m so glad your tomatoes are coming on nicely. I can’t wait for our hundreds of green ones come ripe! Then it’s canning time with force.