Blueberry Pruning

The blueberries are pretty much done producing for the year. There are still some berries hanging from the branches, but so sparsely that it isn't a productive use of time to pick them. Keegan is ecstatic that the end of berry season is finally here. Have I mentioned that he really dislikes picking blueberries? Brad and I made it official today by pruning the bushes. I like doing it right at the end of berry season. It gives me the opportunity to see where the best producing areas are, where the thick overgrown areas are, and where the majority of scraggly dead growth is. It is much more difficult to tell during the fall/winter when there are no leaves. Also, the berries grow primarily on new growth so pruning while there is still plenty of time left before the end of growing season gives the bushes a chance to produce lots of new growth to replace what was pruned. Many people disagree with this and prefer to prune in the early spring, especially in areas that have harder winters. Having done it both ways, I prefer this timing for this area (zone 8B).

Every year it is almost painful for me to cut branches off of my beautiful bushes. Last year I pruned particularly heavily and I felt terrible about having done it for months. That is, until this spring when the bushes started blooming and I realized just how many berries I would have this year. The bushes were so heavy that I had to prop them up in many places. It was the best year we have ever had, with a close second being the year after we first moved here after I had to rescue the nearly dying and badly overgrown bushes from the advancing forest. Following suit, we pruned heavily again this year. We really needed to though. Despite thinking that the bushes had plenty of room a few years ago when we transplanted a few bushes, they have grown a great deal and are crowding each other out. The overhead trees have also grown a lot and are shading the bushes more than I had planned.

Blueberry bushes produce most berries on growth that is 2-3 years old and the least on growth that is more than 7 years. Each year I remove some of the oldest growth to allow more room for the newer canes to grow. Today we removed some of the biggest and oldest branches, which I had been putting off for years. Along with the old growth, some of the thicker growing and crowded areas were thinned a bit. It seemed like a ridiculous amount of branched piled up, but I think it was probably about the same amount as last year. Possibly a bit less in total but bigger branches. The bushes look so much happier already! They have so much more open space to allow sun in and more growth. We also completely removed the rose of sharon bush that was planted in the berry grove. I really hated to do it, but it was taking up prime blueberry real estate and negatively effecting the growth of the berry bushes. I console myself a bit with the fact that both of the little rose of sharon bushes I planted a couple of years ago have started really blooming this year, so they can act somewhat as a replacement for the big beautiful bush that we removed. A little blueberry bush was beginning to grow under some much taller bushes so we rehomed it. There wasn't enough sunny spaces left that would not be shaded out in the next couple of years to plant it near the rest of the bushes, so it now resides on the south side of the property near the chicken coop. Hopefully it will be happy there and will be joined in the future by any other volunteers we manage to transplant.

I lost count of how many gallons of blueberries we picked this year. I know that I froze at least 2 possibly 3 more gallons of berries since the last that I mentioned here. I will have to go back and look to see how many we froze before that. We need to make wine soon to clear the ones that weren't used up from last year out of the freezer. I also need to make more pepper jam now that the jalapenos have started producing. Hopefully next year we will have a good berry year too because of the work we did today. Oh how I love blueberries! I, like Keegan, am not sorry that picking season has come to an end, though. Now it is time to begin dreaming of next years harvest, and try to forget how itchy and sweaty the actual harvesting part really is.

Blueberry Pepper Jam

At a local farmers' market last year I stopped at a vendor table that was selling jams and jellies. I came across some strawberry habanero jelly and had to try it. It was AMAZING! Not only for typical uses like on toast, but over cream cheese and eaten with tortilla chips too. I knew I had to learn to make it. Since we have blueberries coming out of our ears right now I figured that would be a perfect way to use them. Luckily when my MIL and Keegan went back to the you-pick recently, they not only brought me tomatoes, but also jalapenos. Half of them went in this jam. Once my jalapenos start really producing I need to make some more. Nobody else likes my jam but I am officially addicted to it. Soooo good. Brad is a very picky eater, and Keegan is hesitant to try new things, especially when he thinks it might be spicy. This isn't spicy though. First you get the pepper jelly flavor, then the berry sweetness, and then at the end you get a slight twinge in the back of your throat from the spice. I couldn't find a recipe for it so I made my own. Luckily I thought ahead and made sure to write it down so I could replicate it if I like it. Very glad I did! I usually cook by just adding things as I go. I did make sure to make this recipe canning safe so it will store well.

Blueberry Pepper Jam

In a small sauce pan combine

1/2 cup Lemon Juice
2 cups Jalapeno Peppers finely diced (seeds and all) I used my ninja
1 cup Vinegar
1 tsp salt

Simmer while prepping the berries

In a large non-reactive pot combine

12 cups Blueberries (I chopped mine up in the ninja/ food processor)
7 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
Pepper Mix from above

Boil to thicken stirring frequently to prevent burning.

While boiling place a glass saucer in the freezer to test the gel of the jam. To test gel simply place a spoonful of the jam on the plate and leave it for a minute. After about a minute swipe our finger through it. If the jam doesn't flow back into the empty space immediately, but either not at all or very slowly, you have reached desired gel. If not rinse the plate and place it back in the freezer and boil the jam a bit longer. Blueberries have a lot of pectin in them so they typically don't need added pectin to gel. It works best in smaller batches though.

Once jam reaches desired gel fill sterilized pint or half pint jars. Boil in water bath canner for 10 minutes for pints and 5 minutes for half pints. Allow to cool. Check seals. Remove rings. Done! This made 6 pints, plus enough for me to sample.

Day Off

I have begun to reclaim my house. Shampooing the carpets last week meant that every single piece of furniture had to be moved, including everything that was formerly sitting on it. Because the carpets took a couple of days to completely dry, not everything could be put back in its home immediately. That, paired with going to the you-pick the next day and bringing home nearly 200 lbs of produce that had to be dealt with immediately turned my whole house upside down!

Slowly... very slowly, things have been returning to normal. Brad has been doing a lot of organizing and moving things to storage to free up some space for baby. I have been doing a lot of food processing. Keegan has been tending to most of the animals' needs, which thankfully have been few. The roosters are being very mean, though. They need to be dealt with soon. He also helped me pick almost 4 gallons of blueberries yesterday, which I also processed. That was a hot and miserable task that seemed to take forever! In reality it took nearly 3 hours, and because it has been storming every evening, and I wasn't up until late, it had to be done in the heat of the day. We had put it off for 4 days instead of our usual every other day picking schedule, because it has been storming. No more of that!

The current pantry total for this week is:

Salsa
    - 10 pints
    - 3 half pints
    - 3 quarts
Tomato Sauce
    - 7 quarts
Crushed Tomatoes
    - 5 quarts
Blueberry Jam
    - 14 pints
    - 15 half pints
Frozen Blueberries
    - 1 Gallon
Bell Peppers
    - 3 Gallons Frozen
    - 1/2 Gallon dehydrated (equivalent to ~3 Gallons chopped)
Onions
    - 2 dehydrator loads in progress and many more to go

Onions are the only You-Pick produce left to finish processing. They are still on the back porch drying out between storms. I have been covering them with a tarp and uncovering them when the sun comes out. I'm proud of myself for processing everything before one single thing went bad. Usually I have to toss at least a few soft tomatoes and peppers. I was on top of it this year. I may still have a few soft onions after it is all said and done. Brad was a huge help. He washed a good deal of it while I processed. We have some left over bell and hot peppers to use fresh and about 2/3 gallon of fresh blueberries that wouldn't fit in my 5 gallon stock pot last night. I will probably use some fresh and freeze the rest. Lots of bags of stuff need to be taken to the deep freezers at my in-laws'. We don't have room for a chest freezer here yet. I am going to try to process much more this year that can be stored at room temp.

The garden is doing well, despite my having spent very little time tending to it. Thank goodness for the rain and my having mulched heavily last week to help combat weeds. I need to spend some time out there soon retying tomatoes, checking for insect damage, and weed eating the rows. Cucumbers should be ready soon! That means pickles will soon join my pantry.

For now, another storm is echoing in the distance. Maybe I will get to take some pictures after the rain passes. I really need to get some cleaning done inside. Brad is at work and I miss having him home. Mostly, I think I will take some much needed down-time. There will be plenty to do soon enough. I need a lazy day.

U-PIK

 Yesterday we went to pick veggies at Charlie's U-Pik. This is our haul. We got 3 5 gallon buckets of onions, 3 of tomatoes, 2 of peppers, 2 cantaloupes, and a watermelon.

It didn't seem like nearly enough when we were picking and I was really wishing that we could have gotten more. Once we got home, however, I felt a bit differently. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into! All of these veggies have to be put away, and soon!

 The onions are on the back porch drying out. It looks like it may rain for the next few days so I may have to bring them in.

The first order of business was to make Pico de Gallo with some of the tomatoes that got damaged in transport paired with some peppers and onions. This is a gallon sized bowl. Half of it was gone within minutes. Keegan and Brad are good sports and love helping me out when it comes to taking care of some damaged produce. Today I made 10 pints, 3 half pints, and 4 quarts of salsa. I got to use my newly fully functional stove that Brad fixed for me. I only have one big eye and it has been broken for nearly 6 years. He was amazing and fixed it for me so I would be able to more easily can this year. It barely looks like I used any tomatoes. Tomorrow will be tomato sauce day. Once the kitchen table is cleared a bit I can cut up some peppers and onions to dehydrate and freeze. We also picked another gallon and a half of blueberries this evening.

The chicken shuffle happened this afternoon. We had a bully rooster in the babies' tractor so we went ahead and transferred two of the most bullied roos and the 8 hens from the babies' hoop coop to the big coop. The 3 silkie roos that we have been having problems with have been moved to the new gentlemen's club. The hens followed Keegan around all day. He has laid claim to them all as his now. So much for him fussing about having to take care of my chickens. He even caught each one and put them in the coop tonight. He is amazingly proficient at catching chickens and he made quick work of it. It probably didn't hurt that it got him out of picking blueberries for a while. Hopefully they will learn quickly that they belong there and go back at night on their own soon.

We saw a raccoon in the big oak tree behind the turkey coop last night. We will have to keep a close eye on that situation. The game cam crapped out so I can't set it up to keep an eye out. Brad has been working of fixing it all day.

Just a Note

Mostly for myself so I will remember. I really want to try to keep up with how much produce we produce on the homestead this year. It will be really neat to be able to look back on it at the end of the year. Keegan and I picked a gallon and a half of blueberries this evening. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, other than standing eating them straight out of the basket, which I may or may not have been doing... They will probably go in the freezer because we are supposed to be going to the you-pick tomorrow and will be overflowing with fresh produce that will need to be put up immediately.

Also, we shampooed the carpets yesterday. Finally! Wow that was hard work. Very much worth it though. A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Blueberry Pickin'

Officially commenced tonight! That is, picking for them to be picked, rather than stealing the precious few that could be found to eat on the spot. There weren't many (maybe a pint?) but there were more than I could leave to be devoured by the birds without feeling guilty. Especially after the miserable failure of a garden last year. Anything I can successfully "put up" I need to take advantage of, or else be found wasteful and risk being smited again this year.

Those baskets that we got from picking strawberries are going to come in so handy for picking blueberries! We usually use a variety of bowls or a large plastic strainer that need to be either held in one hand while trying to pull down branches and pick berries with the other, or set on the ground for the greedy chickens and turkeys that are always swarming our feet like little sharks to pilfer from every time we move more than a foot from it. These baskets are light weight, have a handle that can be strung over an arm, and are woven plastic so the warm berries can breath rather than mold if they are left over night. The only thing that could make them better is if they had shoulder straps like they use at real berry farms. Even better, we have 3 of them so each of us can have our own! 

Also of note, our little water barrel/ garden came alive today. For years I had an old wooden half barrel on the corner of the house to prevent a giant rut where the water came off of the roof the hardest. Sadly, when I moved we had to empty it to bring it with us which apparently caused the boards to dry out and come loose. It never held water again and eventually rotted away. My brother somehow became the owner of a GIANT heavy duty plastic flower pot. It is at least hip high to me, and I'm almost 5'10". It was in perfect shape other than the very spotty coat of black spray paint that someone had splattered across half of it. It didn't have drainage holes in it, so every time it rained it filled completely full of water. I immediately envisioned a water garden. My brother collects things that he may be able to use someday (it must run in the family) and he really didn't want to part with it.  Reluctantly, he gifted it to me with the promise that I would get Keegan some fish to put in it. I easily agreed since in order to have anything around here with standing water in it you either have to have something in it to eat mosquito larvae or put poison in it. I don't do poison. 

I bought some lovely green spray paint that adheres well to plastic and Keegan did a fantastic job of painting it. I figured it would be just the job for him. Artistic and creative, with a bit of a destructive feel to it. He dug out the elephant ear plant that I planted under the rain spout in January, and moved it out enough to put the planter on the other side of it. We added some fish tank rocks and sea shells that I had been saving to give the fish a bit of texture in the bottom. Finally, he leveled it well and filled it. After all of his hard work, today we took Keegan to get some fish. We got 20 Comet Goldfish. They are the little fish that they give away at the fair when you play that game where you throw the ping pong balls at a tiny bowl of water for like $5 a shot. Those things are tough little fish. My mom was telling me earlier today that she read that they can live over 20 years if properly cared for. I have had some live at least 5 years to be over 6 inches long. They sell them for like $0.20 at the pet store as feeder fish for small snakes and such. These ones will be put to work to earn their keep, but will hopefully live a long and productive life. Like all of the animals here. I am going to buy some kind of floating aquatic plants very soon to help provide them a bit of shade and to help oxygenate the water. I will use the water out of the barrel to water and provide nutrients (supplied by the fish waste and algae) to the nearby plants, which will be replenished by the rain from the roof. The roof is metal so there will be no harmful chemicals from it harbored in the water. I hope it will be a perfect system. Regardless, seeing the pretty little fish swimming around makes me smile. 

Walk About

Just some photos to show how the weekend on Sunflower Hill went.

I love hanging clothes on the line! It is one of the best things about summer. In my opinion, anyway. I don't hang clothes in the winter because the dryer helps to heat the house. In the summer, hanging clothes drastically helps to reduce electricity usage and from undue heat entering the house. I even hate to use the oven in the heat of the summer.  I can't wait to get to hang little cloth diapers soon!

I cut all of the wood for the bean/squash arbors on Friday evening and put them all in stacks to make assembly easier.

  The big garden is hiding behind the clothes line.












Of course, where ever I am, the boys are not far behind.

 It doesn't look like much at the moment, but I have high hopes for my garden! I'm already excited just thinking about it.











One of the first little tomato flowers! MmMmM Fresh heirloom tomatoes are in my future.

 I tied all of the tomato plants up to the trellis this morning before I watered the garden. I just used ripped up pieces of some old t-shirts Keegan had outgrown. I tried two ways of tying them. Some I made a loose loop around the plant under a sturdy branch and attached it to the fence. On some of the taller ones I attached the tie to a lower part of the stalk, looped it around the plant a few times up the stalk and then attached the tie to a higher part of the fence. I'm curious to see if one way works better than the other. Some of the lower leaves, especially on the smaller plants, are still showing signs of flea beetle damage. I hand killed all that I saw on the plants while tying them. I didn't see anymore caterpillars or damage from them.

A new little sunflower peeking through the soil.

Beautiful broccoli and peppers all in a row.

Happy little cucumber plant. This is one of the few that came up with the first planting. I have spied a couple smaller ones coming up from the second planting. No cantaloupe yet, though. I'm still hoping. I love melons and have been craving them!

This is where I planted the corn and pumpkins. I spotted a single corn leaf peeking through the soil this morning. Hopefully its friends will join it soon. The guineas like to check out what I'm doing when I take walk abouts. They always keep their distance and never bother anything in my garden though. I wish the turkeys would take some lessons in manners from them.

 Until the herbs I planted inside are ready to be transplanted outside, and I manage to get the herb bed turned and prepared, this is my little herb garden on my back steps. Complete with oregano, rosemary, and lavender. I also have a couple of flowers simply because they make me happy. Thankfully the chickens haven't eaten them yet. I sorely miss having fresh basil. I have lots started inside!


This is why I'm in such a hurry to get my bean/squash arbors built. These are the seedlings I am keeping safe in the spare hoop coop tractor. The beans are already looking for something to climb, and the squash will begin vining soon too. I'm worried that transplanting them will hurt their roots if I don't hurry.

 My serenity garden is starting to really come alive. The irises have gone, but the day lillies are blooming now, soon to be followed by the Easter lillies.

 And again, the boys are not far behind...











Meanwhile, in the other hoop coop tractor the babies are doing great. Always happy as long as they are fed and they love to be moved to fresh grass everyday. They make happy chirpy sounds and search feverishly for any bug that is in their new found area.

 My blueberry jungle. I don't think they have ever grown and taken over quite like this. I had to tie some of them up to train them to grow in the right direction this weekend. While I was at it I staked and tied up the peach and fig trees.








Yummy, yummy, blueberries! Not quite ready yet, but soon.

My little peach trees.

I'm so excited about my peaches! There are 20 or so on this tree. I waiting with bated breath to see if they make it long enough to ripen. I have found a couple smaller peaches on the ground under the tree. Apparently the tree couldn't handle that many and dropped a few. The blueberry bushes do the same thing.

The bean/squash arbors got their final coat of paint this morning. They have been drying for a while but the plan is to do the final assembly this afternoon. We shall see what happens. I had hoped to get them done by now and have been working on them for days. Keegan spent the weekend with a friend so he wasn't here to help me. I never realize how much I rely on his help until he isn't here. I was lost without him! Even going to the grocery store was more difficult without his help. He is back now. Presently, laying in the floor playing with the new chicks and turkey poults that have hatched over the last couple of day. They are promised to a friend and should be going home with her in the next couple of days. We love them while we have them though. :)

There's Nothing Quite as Beautiful as the Sunshine After the Rain

And OH the rain! The sheer amount was amazing! We nearly doubled the rainfall record in the area. Everything always feels so fresh and clean after a good hard rain. It is refreshing and beautiful when the sun come out. I feel kind of guilty saying that. Luckily, we escaped the really severe storms. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those effected by the damaging storms north of us. We just had flooding to deal with. Yet another moment when I am thankful to live on a hill! One of the few in the area. Our driveway needs some serious work though. It did already, but the ruts are now beginning to resemble the humble beginnings of the Grand Canyon in places. The work Keegan did a couple of weeks ago saved the top of the driveway (near the house), but the other side took in all of the water from the main road and now "the bottom" yard is full of what little gravel my driveway still had. Hopefully I can borrow the big bucket tractor from my in-laws soon to fix the driveway and bushhog.

We still have the small tractor. It overwintered here. A small bridge down the back road that separates our homes was torn down last spring (2013) so they could replace it. That was the only way to get the tractor from place to place without loading it on a truck. It hasn't been completed yet. Over a year later. Did I mention that it was just a small bridge on a country back road? Once the bridge was basically joining the two sides of the road and could hold the heavy road equipment, the locals just started moving the signs and driving across it. Eventually the road crew just stopped putting the signs back. I need to make sure that the water didn't wash the road out so we can trade tractors. The bushhog attachment on this one rusted through and broke at the end of last summer so I can't mow with it. I normally wait to bushhog until the dewberries have been picked but for some reason they don't seem to be doing as well this year. What are normally the best patches are pretty much bare this year. I will have to check on them again before I mow them down though. Maybe I will still find some. Maybe the addition of guineas is the reason I can't find any berries this year when there were TONS of flowers just a month or two ago? The blueberry bush look AMAZING though and are so full of little berries that I have had to prop them up in several places to keep them from collapsing under the weight. Hopefully they all make!

Yesterday I transplanted my peppers into larger pots. Since the tomatoes are no longer under the grow light in my kitchen I had lots of room to plant other things! Which, of course, I did. I planted herbs and flowers. Some of the herbs are from seed that bought from a company last year that I didn't have too much luck with. Hopefully they will come up. If not, I needed to use them anyway because I can't just throw seeds away. It breaks my heart. Inside I have planted mint, lavender, oregano, garlic chives, sweet basil, long leaf basil, parsley, cilantro, dill, sage, and phlox (flower). Also, outside I planted 5 larger containers of marigolds (seed my parents gave me when they visited for Christmas), and I transplanted a pineapple plant that I had rooted inside. I wish I had more space, pots, and potting soil! I have a seed starting addiction...

I didn't mention before, but a little over a week ago I had my first batch of turkey babies hatch! It was a poor hatch though. I'm not sure what could have been the problem unless the temperature was too high. It is set to stay steady at around 100F. Only 10 poults hatched. Several made it to the end but never absorbed the yolk completely and either pipped and never made it out, or just never even pipped. Only 1 guinea keet made it out but it wasn't doing well and the turkeys were being too rough with it. I put it under a broody silkie who took great care of it until she went for a potty break and another hen killed it. I feel terrible about it. In all honesty, I'm not sure if it would have made it anyway. I kept the poults for a few days to make sure they were thriving, but all have now been sold. I'm not sure if I am going to keep any babies this year. We have tweaked the temperature and will hopefully get a better hatch this time. I set turkey eggs a little over a week ago and then a couple of days ago I added Easter Egger eggs to all of the empty spots. Turkey eggs take 28 days to hatch while chicken eggs only take 21, so this way they should all hatch together. I have a friend who is wanting baby chickens so I am hatching her some out.

The baby chickens are loving their new freedom in the larger hoop coop tractor! They are still the friendliest chicks I have raised. They also seem to be more dependent on me to care for them. Or at least, they know if they need something to let me know. Loudly. The second they run out of feed, rather than foraging in the grass for bugs or plants to eat, they chirp (cry) constantly until I go feed them. I have been keeping them close to the house while they are still little so they are a bit more safe so there is no escape. Maybe it is that the "baby crying trigger" part of my brain is already more active than it has been in the recent past, but I can't stand for them to sit and cry like that. They actually got me out of bed at 6am the other morning because I could hear them crying through the window and I couldn't sleep until I knew they were fed and quieted. I was looking forward to a few more months before that happened! Oh well...

I need to work on the garden some more. The tomatoes made it through the storm. The mulch wasn't even disturbed. I am thrilled! I was worried about them. Having them in above ground beds helped the water drain off well. I did something a little different this year. Last year I used long sticks to stake the plants. The stakes kept falling over under the weight of the tomatoes. That, and the unending downpours we had, made them succumb to blight really early on in the year. The caterpillars, stink bugs, and aphids finished them off. This year, I decided to use a trellising system instead. Brad put in three 8ft posts at either end and the center of the tomato row. He also helped me stretch woven wire onto the fence. It is aligned with the top of the posts, leaving over a foot tall gap at the bottom. I will secure the plants to the fence as they grow. I let the plants get really tall and leggy this year and buried them on their sides in a ditch, only letting the upper leaves remain above ground. This should allow the plants to root along the entire length of stem underground.  I am also prepared to use several different organic pest control options this year. I really hope that we have tomatoes this year! I still need to transplant the spare tomatoes into the bare spots. Broccoli and peppers are also waiting in the spare hoop coop to be planted soon along with lots of seeds!

Brad is amazing and got me a speed charger for my weedeater and chainsaw batteries! Now instead of it taking 8 hours per battery it will only take about 1 hour each. I should be able to get much more accomplished now! The rest of the garden needs to be cleared. Also the azalea bushes in the front need to be pruned, which is much easier with my little chainsaw than shears. And the bigger stumps need to be cut down from the back so that I can bushhog the brush back there when I get the tractor. That surpasses the azaleas. The pig electric fence also needs to be taken down so I can mow that area. I'm not sure if I will have pigs this year or not. Unfortunately, the electric fence charger seems to have stopped working! Brad took it apart and fixed it, but it only worked for a few hours and stopped again. It is finals week so we will see if he can fix it again once he finishes the semester up and has time. I sure hope so! Regardless, the fence is fast and easy to put back if we need it later.

While Brad was being amazing, he also got me a new pneumatic door closer for my front storm door! I know.. it doesn't sound like much but it made me so happy! I only mentioned it in passing and then it appeared at my door. My front door no longer slams shut every time it closes like it has for years! I'm still getting used to it. Keegan keeps picking on me for needlessly trying to grab the door before it slams behind me. I guess it takes me a bit longer to adjust to change. Oh the little things that make me so happy! It was just one of those little things that I always wished would get fixed, but never made it to the actual list because it was so trivial. I can't help but smile every time I walk through the door and I open it from time to time just to watch it close slowly on its own.

Well... time to stop writing about getting things accomplished and actually accomplish things! Hope everyone has a beautiful sunshiny day!

Blooms Abound!

Beautiful Azalea Bush 

Bumblebee on a Blueberry Bloom

The blueberry bushes have been blooming for almost 2 weeks now. I love all of the delicate pink bell-shaped blooms! I heavily pruned them late last fall and, as always, it broke my heart and I worried that I had cut off too much. I know better, but it still bothers me to cut off what seems like perfectly good branches! The amount of blooms this spring is spectacular! Apparently the bushes really appreciated my work. I'm guessing that the fertilizer I gave them earlier this year when the buds barely started to appear, and the good dose of heavily used chicken bedding from when the coop was cleaned recently, helped a lot too. Despite the abundance of blooms, I was initially worried that we would still have no berries this year! Usually there is a steady hum emanating from the area near the bushes from the hundreds of bees busily buzzing back and forth. This year it was silent. Not a single bee was anywhere in sight. No bees means no berries, regardless of how many flowers we have. On top of that, we had a couple of hard freezes last week. Thankfully, the freezes seemed to have had no effect. Even better? There are now bees! Only a few at first, but now there are tons of them buzzing around everywhere along with a couple of hummingbirds that seem to be enjoying the blooms as well. I guess the cooler winter just made them a bit late this year. They are here in time and that is what is important!

Peach Tree in Bloom

My peach trees have also gotten me all excited. They are covered in pink blooms too! I know that it is probably a bit early to allow them to produce, having just planted them last year, but I can't help myself. I pruned them about two weeks ago so at least they aren't wasting as much energy on growing unneeded branches, but I can't bring myself to remove the blooms. I want to see what happens. While I was pruning the peach trees I also staked and pruned the pear trees. They are not blooming yet, but they are getting beautiful new spring leaves. I'm so happy that they made it through the winter! The grapefruit and key lime trees were not so fortunate. Most winters they would have managed, but this winter was the coldest on record for many, many years, and they just didn't have a chance. Perhaps cherry or plum trees would make a good replacement? My new goal is to find some of those for a good price this year. Maybe if I choose to get more citrus trees in the future I will plant them on the south side of the property or keep them in pots in a greenhouse. The fig trees are next on the list to be pruned and staked. They badly need staking! The figs grew an amazing amount last year! Leaf buds are starting to appear on those too! I am so excited about my little orchard!

Strawberry Blooms

If fruit bushes and fruit trees aren't enough, the ground berries are flowering like crazy too! There are big white dewberry blooms as far as the eye can see! They are everywhere! I can't wait for them to grow into big juicy blackberries. Fresh berries growing wild with basically no work other than picking them = Amazing! The strawberries are peeking through the mulch and starting to produce little white flowers too! Sadly, not as many are appearing as I had hoped this year. It may be early yet, though. Last fall I mulched them with shredded paper and hay and I fertilized them this spring, but I think the soil may be too compacted for them to grow well. It was my first garden when I moved here and I wasn't very experienced. I didn't make paths through it or make it narrow enough to reach from the sides, so the giant bed has to be walked through to get to the middle. I need to get a metal pole and loosen the soil a bit and see if that helps the plants do better. I really need to put a fence up around them or I won't get any strawberries before the chickens steal them all anyway (like every year). Regardless, strawberry picking season at the you-pick farm starts in less than 2 weeks and I definitely plan to go! We went through the strawberry and mixed berry (blue and dew) jam I made last year entirely too fast and I need to make much more this year.

 Frolicking with my Entourage 

I feel like I am in my own little Garden of Eden. I am so blessed! I know better than to count my chickens before they hatch and counting my berries before they are picked is equally as bad, but I am excited and looking forward to whatever may come. For now I will frolic happily through my fields of flowers. Closely followed by my herd of chickens and turkeys, I'm sure. :)

Blueberry Pickin' Time

It's that time of year again! The hot humid time in summer when the blueberries need to be picked. We try to pick them every other day so that the berries continue to ripen rather than having a sea of green berries covering the ground under the bushes. The bushes will drop unripe berries if not picked properly, or so has been my experience. The birds usually do a good job keeping the blueberries picked if I don't... I am willing to share some but not too many! While blueberry picking can be peaceful, being outside at this time of year isn't usually too comfortable. It is hot during mid-day and the biting bugs come out at dawn and dusk. The trick is to try to pick them faster than the bugs can cover you in bites. I'm failing miserably so far this year! I attribute it to the good pruning I gave the bushes last fall and timing the fertilizer right this spring. They are producing like crazy!  I try to give them a good dose of fertilizer right as they start to flower, but don't always get to it in time. The rain has been very cooperative this year as well. We have given the bushes 3 good pickings, each taking about 2 1/2 hours. So far we have put 3 gallon sized bags of berries in the freezer and today we got a 5 gallon bucket about 3/4 of the way full. Not bad for 2 large bushes! There are 5 or 6 smaller ones, but they aren't producing much yet and because they are short, the chickens and turkeys steal the berries before we get to them. I never knew chickens could jump before I saw mine discover blueberries. They are hopping all over the place! Its so amusing to watch that it is almost worth allowing them to steal my fruit!

5 Gallon bucket nearly full of berries <3

 The berries are so sweet and juicy! Its difficult just to get them into the bucket instead of them ending up in our mouths! I think that Keegan eats more than he puts in the bucket! I'm looking forward to making blueberry jam, blueberry habanero pepper jelly, and blueberry cobbler, just to name a few things! We may end up with more blueberry wine this year, and I would like to try dehydrating them for trail mix as well!. It is always nice to have some in the freezer for pancakes and muffins later in the year. There are usually never enough berries for everything I want to do with them, but this year may be a first! We will see. Now to get them all picked and put up!

As always, the turkey-heads are nearby. Just in case I might drop a few. Always willing to help!

Spring time!

 What a beautiful spring day it was today! The feeling of a refreshing warm day spent outdoors after being cooped up inside for what seems like forever, is priceless. The blueberry bushes are in bloom and the bees are busily flying from flower to flower, happily pollinating them so I will have delicious blueberries this summer. I fertilized them earlier this week and today they got a nice long drink of water. The strawberry patch, garlic, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and flower beds had fertilizer applied today as well as a healthy drink.

 The babies got to come outside for the first time today! They are feathering out nicely and since it was warm today I opened the hatch and let them out into the chicken tractor run. The other chickens came over to visit them. The hens really weren't too interested in them, but the roosters were fascinated. Especially Jack. He loves babies. He is such a good rooster! The babies flew around and has a swell time while I cleaned out the brooder.

I dug carrots today, with help from the turkeys and my newest foster little Chicago (whether I wanted it or not...). I was really impressed with how many I got! While I was digging them I went ahead and turned all of the soil in that bed over and replanted the bed.
 

I planted spinach in one third of the bed, lettuce in 1/3 of it, and in the back I planted sugar snap peas and made a tee-pee for them to climb. It is really too late to plant them but Keegan loves them and I thought it was at least worth a try. In the bed behind that is broccoli and to the back left are brussel sprouts. They are plants that I planted in October of last year. They have been slowly growing all winter and I am hopeful that they will still produce something.

I was feeling so productive when I got done cooking dinner that I even made pizza dough for dinner tomorrow ( Keegan has a soccer game and I know it will be late when we get home), baked pumpkin bread for breakfast in the morning, and baked Italian bread. Brad got into it before I could take a picture. He tends to wait by the oven for it to get done.

I planted Amish paste, Cherokee purple, and German stripe tomatoes, bell, jalapeno, and pepperoncini peppers, and eggplant seeds on Tuesday, and I noticed that one of the Amish paste seedlings has broken the soil! I hope the rest of them join him soon. My next project is to build a shelf for the kitchen and hang the shop light I bought over it for the seedlings. After that I am going to work on new (smaller) hoop coops for the chicks once they outgrow the chicken tractor, and maybe for the turkeys until then so I can separate breeds while they are laying. Such a beautiful and productive day!