Making Improvements

 My garden did quite well this year. I think it could have been much better if I had used my head a little more. I have been a farmer for most of my life but I didn't use that knowledge when it came to my garden. If I had gotten a soil test done at the extension service, I would have known that my garden needed lime. I always did soil testing on the farm, why didn't I even think about it for my garden? When planting crops on the farm,  seed spacing and row spacing was always considered to prevent overpopulating. I planted some things in my garden way to close. This caused lower production, smaller vegetables, and in some cases, latter blooming caused by lack of sunshine. I also made some other silly mistakes. I say silly because I know better. The soil here is somewhat heavy. Root vegetables do well in loose soil. All I had to do was take my hoe and loosen the soil every once in a while. Just like cultivating a corn field, it will slow down the weeds and loosen the ground so the roots can grow. I did this in the garden, just not often enough. My biggest mistake was planting things to close together which made it hard for me to work in between the plants. This also created a problem for sunlight to get to all the plants. The taller plants shaded the smaller ones reducing yields. I know better, just never thought about it when I was planting. Another big mistake was during the dry spell in June and July. I needed to water the garden every night and sometimes in the morning too. The problem came because I have village water here. With the hot and humid weather, the water authority increased the amount of chlorine they were using. Vegetables don't do well with a lot of chlorine. I need to make a rain water collection system and install a filter on my household water system..
  The most important thing that I learned from this year's gardening experience was THINK!!  Don't take things for granted, pay attention to the plants. These plants know how to survive in nature. With the right help these plants not only feed themselves, but they will feed us too. I need to put my experience to use and not ignore what I know to be the proper way to do it.

No Excuses

  I've been neglecting my blog for almost 2 months. It's true, I've been busy with my garden, canning and freezing this year's harvest, but that's not an excuse. That's why I planted a garden and that's a lot of what this blog is about, my daily experiences. So here I sit, at my computer, telling you what's happening in my life today in central New York.
  I can't work in the garden today because it's raining, so it's time to get caught up on other things, like housework. I'm doing laundry and making tomato sauce for supper. Actually I'm making zucchini Parmesan with the sauce. The tomatoes are still ripening and the squash are still  producing. The beans are done but what a crop they made. I have 8 gallon bags full of beans in the freezer plus we have had several meals with beans this summer. I sold some and I gave some away to friends. 2012 was a good year for beans. The fall peas are starting to pod and the fall beets are doing well. The garden of 2012 isn't done yet.
  This spring I bought 25 strawberry plants. I planted them in a poor location so I've been transplanting them. I'm up to 64 plants and still have more to go. I'm looking forward to the 2013 strawberry crop. I also bought a Doyle's blackberry plant that is supposed to produce up to 30 gallons of berries. Mr Doyle told me that I might not see 30 gallons a year, but if I followed his instructions, I would get over 20 gallons for sure. Time will tell.

  My latest project for the garden is building a greenhouse using my old 10'x20' tent frame and covering it with 6mil plastic. Once that is done, it will be time to build a tow behind the tractor roto-tiller. I bought an old tiller that has a bad motor. Now I'm building a drive system like the PTO on farm tractors so I can hook it behind and run it off the tractors motor. Finding affordable parts is the challenge, but I will keep looking. As I make progress on my projects, I will get pictures to include to show what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. The why of the project may be a mystery to some but to me it's simple, it will be fun to do.

Memories

 Every once in a while I just drift away to what I call my "happy place". I know it's not real but in some ways it is. This happy place is full of my memories. Times in my younger days, times of better health, and just times of pure fun and enjoyment. Our heads are full of such places, some we remember fondly while others may bring a tear to our eye. Either way, these memories are what has made us what we are today. Yesterdays events helped shape today and all of our tomorrows to come. I hope that I never forget being at my grandparents farm and walking down the lane to the swamp. Here amongst the cattails was the spring where the cows drank. In the spring of the year there was always a crop of pollywogs in the water and us kids would watch them grow into frogs. I don't know who owns the land now so I haven't walked that lane in almost 50 years. The barn and all the farm buildings have been gone for forty years and my grandparents house has been gone for at least 10 years. I'm not sure if the horse chestnut trees along the driveway are still there or not. All I know is that in my memories everything is still the same as it was and us kids are in the meadow playing baseball. At the house that I grew up in, I can still see my grandfathers old guernsey  cow standing on the hill under the apple tree. And there is gramp in his garden on top of the hill. Memories. As long as I have my memories, things that have long since changed will return as they were 50 years ago when they were here, alive, and well. Our past lives in us because we are a product of our past. As I can pickles today, I'm reminded of my grandfather in his garden years ago. Maybe I'm carrying on a family tradition by gardening. Canning and freezing the vegetables that I grow is not only going to save me money , but it's helping to keep my memories alive.

It's finally RAINING

 In the last 3 days we have gotten about 2" of rain. This usually wouldn't be cause for a celebration but this year it is. That 2" of rain is more rain than we have seen all together since the first of June. I'm grateful for the rain that we have received because I know there are places where rain is needed even more than we did. The weather has been changing over the years. This change has sparked many arguments over the cause . My belief is that the change may be caused by 2 factors. One is man's blatant disregard  for his surroundings. We have raided the earth of it's natural resources and replaced them with trash. We keep burning fossil fuels and adding to an already polluted atmosphere. Then we complain about the price of these fuels. Then when an earth friendly power source is mentioned, we the people who want cheaper power, complain about scenic pollution. They have built several wind farms in my area and it's sparked several arguments over noise and scenic pollution. These wind mills aren't noisy at all in comparison to these huge power turbines at power plants like in Niagara Falls. And as far as scenic pollution goes, the power lines needed to transport the power from point A to point B, are a nuisance to those whose land they cross to bring power to those who are complaining about the new systems. Humans want their cake but want to eat it too. Humans don't care if their wants and needs are an inconvenience to someone else. As long as they have what they want all is right with the world.
 The second reason for this change in the weather, once again this is just my opinion, is the normal progression of the earth and the rest of the solar system. If the earth didn't go through a process of change, we would still be living with dinosaurs and many other extinct species of plants and animals. We know that change happens constantly throughout the universe so wouldn't we be crazy to think that the earth and our sun weren't going to ever change? We have 4 seasons because of the earths position with the sun. Maybe we are just a bit closer to the sun than we were 100 years ago. Is there a way to measure exactly how close we are and is the angle exactly the same? I don't know the answers to these questions nor do I know if anyone knows for sure. All I know is that things are changing and we as part of this universe had better get used to that fact and be ready to adjust our lives to new conditions.

Just keep plugging away

 Sometimes it seems like I'm making no progress at all. We are 4" short on rainfall for the season so it's water the garden twice a day in hopes of saving the crop. So far, so good. I've been able to pick and freeze both green and wax beans, peas, and squash. The tomatoes, cukes, and lettuce are on the way to getting ripe. Then just for more excitement, last Monday I developed an infection involving my dialysis. Every time I get a bad cold, as the cold germs are leaving my body, I get an infection. So now, as I shell peas and slice beans, I can do a treatment laced with antibiotic. Just one more adventure to embark on.
  My garden this year has been quite successful. The only 2 vegetables that I tried to grow that I had problems with were celery and parsnips. I should have looked into how to grow celery before I did almost everything wrong when I planted it. The parsnips on the other hand, have me confused. I've never had problems growing parsnips before but this year has been different. The first planting of parsnips didn't germinate very good so I made a second planting. The second planting was even worse. I've got 6 parsnip plants in an 8" row. Maybe my seeds weren't all that good, I can't find any other reason for the poor germination. Oh will, I'll try again next year
  Sunday night I made fried chicken with a twist. I sliced chicken breasts into strips, dipped the pieces in egg then flour, then fried until crisp and brown. Now the twist. In a bowl I melted !/4 cup butter. Then I added some minced garlic, a bit of cayenne pepper, and some mustard dipping sauce and mixed it all together. I added the chicken to coat then placed the chicken on a rack on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. The parchment paper will catch the drips so they don't cook fast to your cookie sheet. Then I put the chicken in the oven at 425 degrees for about 7-8 minutes, then turn the chicken and let it cook for 5 more minutes. I may hurt my arm here patting myself on the back because I gotta tell ya, IT WAS DAMN GOOD!!!

It's Raining

 For the first time in 2 weeks it's raining, a nice gentle,soaking rain. For the last 2 weeks it's been hot and dry here. When it's 95 degrees here, it's hot. Then you add the humidity and stuff starts to bake. I know it gets hotter in other places and the humidity is worse, but dang-it-all, it's been hot.The lawns are all burned brown and if people don't water their garden, they won't have one. A vegetable farmer on the hill behind me has been watering his whole farm. He hasn't got line enough to reach his pumpkin patch so he hauls tanks of water there. Once in the field, he can then run lines to water the pumpkins. I've been watering my garden twice a day. If I don't, the plants wilt and look like they will die. Wilted or dead plants don't grow much for me to pick and eat. As it started to rain, I could almost hear my garden take a sigh as it soaked up the rain. This rain is coming just in time to give my cucumbers a boost. They just started blooming so it shouldn't be long now. Everything is coming along well. The only complaint that I could have is that I'm not fast enough to keep up to the garden. But all in all, I'm not doing to bad at keeping up. I've already got more beans and more squash in the freezer than I had last year. My garden is doing just fine and I'm doing the best I can to keep up. So far, so good.

Round 2 has begun

 I just finished picking the first round of peas on the week-end. Those crazy pea plants have already blossomed for the second time and are already forming pods. I've never seen the second blossoms before and I didn't even realize that they would blossom twice. I know that string beans will blossom twice but even beans I never seen blossom so soon after the first picking. I'm not complaining, I'm just astonished by what my garden is doing. Having time to work in the garden really makes a big difference. I can't wait for my tomatoes to ripen now that my romaine is starting to head. The iceberg is still leafy and hasn't started to head but it will soon enough. Maybe the iceberg, the cukes, and the tomatoes will all ripen together so I can just pick-a-salad when I want it. My herb garden is coming along, except for the rosemary. The basil smells so good. Soon it will be time to pick the garlic as the stems are starting to turn brown. The thyme and the green onions are also coming along well. If nothing else, I've had a good time growing my garden and hopefully we will get to enjoy it throughout the winter.