Lots going on in the garden this week. It was cooler and drizzley and the fruits of my labor are starting to show. I’ve been eating lots of lettuce and harvested the largest kohlrabi. Zucchini, beans, and tomatoes are starting to fruit. These potatoes, the cantelope, and zucchini are beginning to flower. The corn is about waist high and about 1/4 are starting to tassle.
I got a new toy! Errr…I mean frugal tool. I don’t have a dryer so a clothesline is kind of an important investment for me. I have a line strung across the sunroom that the previous owner left me, but if it’s cool or humid they dry slowly in there and can get a little musty smelling. Plus all the moisture probably isn’t the best for the room.
So I ordered this umbrella clothes line from wallyworld to take advantage of quick drying times in the wind and sun outdoors. The last owners also left me a little concrete foundation for this puppy, so all I had to do was open the box…yay.
Now that I have some wheat on-hand to make flour with, I decided to find out what else I can do with it. One recipe I came up with was Wheat Cereal. It’s really simple and can be thrown in the crockpot the night before for a fast breakfast in the morning.
I was kinda expecting this to be hard to swallow. But with some applesauce, brown sugar, and cinnamon it was pleasant and rather oatmeal like.
We had our first real hot (and horribly humid) days this week after a long series of rain storms. The spinach immediately shriveled into a pathetic little lump in response to the heat. Everything else is going crazy though! My corn is suddenly knee high, beans are flowering, tomatoes are constantly needing sucker relief…it’s wonderful!
The lettuce mix is especially exciting right now. It’s what’s been harvestable and producing wonderfully. I’ve been having salads every night, with the occasional kale and kohlrabi leaves thrown in for variety. If the poor beets hadn’t been bun ravaged I’d be harvesting their leaves as well. The seeds planted to replace them are making good headway though.
I got a new family member! She’s an adorable 8ish week old kitten that I got from a farm. She didn’t mind the drive home, she actually slept through it. She’s happy as a clam, completely unbothered by her new environment, and soaking up the attention…just amazing.
I have her closed in the bedroom now until I can introduce her to kitty. He’s not happy about the whole thing. Even with her closed off he’s been hiding behind the couch most of the time. Shes tottered over once to say hello, she sat down a foot in front of him and got a hiss in return. When I left the door open last night kitty spent some time by the door. When he entered to snuffle around she flopped on her side and watched to see if he’d approach her, and resumed playing with me when he left. She’s such a cool character I’m sure they’ll be able to get along soon enough.
Any name ideas?
I know the blog has been a bit quiet lately, but that’s because I’ve been ever so busy behind the scenes. I’m doing more time consuming chores like scrubbing laundry, dehydrating food, and grinding wheat. This is also my first spring in my first house. I needed all the “yard stuff” like lawnmowers and shovels…then I needed to use them 
I’ve also done a bunch of stuff to get the house the way I want it…like painting, digging gardens, and putting up shelving.
Here’s another little project I worked on recently that I thought was worth sharing. I got a 50 gallon rubbermaid container and drilled holes in all sides…transforming it into a perfect small yard compost bin. One that won’t offend neighbors eyes or attract critters. I seeded it with shredded junk mail and a shovel full of dirt, then started heaping in my kitchen scraps and yard waste. It’s looking good so far. I opened it this weekend to turn it for the first time and it looks like things are starting to break down nicely.
I’m not sure if you’ve been shopping for organic compost lately, but it’s pricey! One bag of the “good stuff” was easily the price of this bin, so I think buying a composting making machine like this was a much better choice.
I learned a few things about spinach this week. I should have been paying attention to it before some threw up seed stalks and caught my eye, for one.
I’ve never grown it before so I didn’t realize I should have started harvesting as soon as there were just 5 or 6 leaves on the small plants. I cut down the ones with stalks and the rest have been snipped back in hopes of getting some last minute production out of them. I’ll be having green smoothies for a few days, which is not a bad thing at all.
I’ve also realized that I could have planted much more in the space I allotted. They grow quickly enough that I could have put them in the 3×6 area I left open for my vining plants to fill in later as well. At least I’ll get another go at them in fall and have a better idea of what I can do with it next spring.
I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before…but I love the idea of homesteading and have been taking baby steps towards self-sufficiency. About two months ago I invested in a hand crank grain mill
I’ve been using half hard and half soft wheat for general purpose flour. It’s worked out excellent in breads. They don’t seem to rise quite as much, but the loafs are super moist and keep through the week.
