Storms

So many have emailed and commented concerned about not hearing from us. Well the late spring and early summer storms have been coming regularly. We had problems with the air conditioner due to power surges and have since lost the coffee pot and the roku streaming box for Netflix. Now we have lost my computer. It is dead ! Today we are boxing it up and mailing it to my middle son for him to repair it. His diagnosis is a power surge has corrupted the program files. I am typing this on my daughter's laptop and I am not very good at it. I miss my own computer.

We woke up this morning to more heart break with overnight storms that took out one of my peach trees that was loaded with unripe fruit. We also lost a crabapple tree also with fruit and another huge limb from the maple tree out by the garden. The large brooder that held a mother hen and 14 baby chickens was blown over and this morning she huddled in 2 inches of water struggling to warm her dead chicks. I cried......

Life can be so hard on a farm sometimes. I guess everyday can't be great but sometimes it just seems like we sure could use a break.

But we are all healthy and safe. It may take a week or two to get my old faithful computer back up and running so please be patient. In the meantime I have been canning new potatoes and today I pickled beets. I canned the last of the mustard greens and made 10 jars of strawberry jam. As I struggle to understand the devastation of these storms and the loss of animal lives that we are responsible for we are also thankful for the blessings of the land we farm. We are thankful that the loss of technolgy, although stressful, can be reasonably easily replaced.

So for all of you out there who follow this blog I shall have to take a short vacation from blogging. I shall miss all of you but have plenty to keep me busy until I am back to update everyone on my exploits again.

Stay safe out there and remember us in your prayers.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter 

Domestic Solitude & Spring Casualties

As Spring gradually gives in to the hot days of summer.... the cool weather crops start ripening. The cabbage are putting on heads, the peas and greens are winding down. The last several days have been devoted to picking, washing, shelling and preserving those crops. The strawberries were washed and frozen until I can get jam made with them. The peas were picked and I turned the radio on low, listened to the slow steady drizzle of rain through the open screen door on Monday and shelled, washed, blanched and froze a dozen bags of peas. They will be eaten plain, go into stews and casseroles and even pea salads. I made a pot of creamed peas and new potatoes for O Wise One for supper and he was in heaven.  

We have been enjoying spinach salads for almost a month but they are starting to bolt so they were pulled up and fed to the pigs.  The mustard greens are also ready and I canned 11 jars on Monday also.  We love canned mustard greens in the winter when the snow flies and greens are scarce. We will also plant a fall crop of mustard greens to can as well.   It was so nice to be able to open the doors on Monday with the cool weather and enjoy a day in the kitchen. But alas all good thing must end.....

Mother Nature decided we had enough reasonable weather and decided she needed to dice things up a bit. And along came the spring storms with winds gusts and rain. Now we bid farewell to the giant Maple tree that sat at the top of the hill. She had been there when we purchased the farm 14 years ago. Standing sentinel at the top of that hill for probably close to a century. Guarding the old farm house that once stood on the property. Shading the old barn that once stood here as well. I planted grandmas hosta beneath her and she now shaded part of our driveway. But now she is gone.

 There were once three of these giant maples on the property and she was the last standing. The first two being lost in a tornado several years ago. The Redbud tree is also a casualty of this same storm. This was planted by us over a decade ago... a volunteer in O Wise One's mother's yard. We moved it to our own yard. So for the rest of the week we will be cutting and burning wood and cleaning up a mess. The large maple fell into the flower garden and I know that the rose trellis is under there as well as a bird bath. So as we dig everything out I hope that these will not be too terribly damaged. The hosta under the maple will probably have to be moved because they are shade loving plants and without the maples shade they will not like it there.

All in all we are thankful for our garden's many blessings that we were able to preserve over the weekend and doubly thankful that our wind damage was minimal and no one was hurt. In light on the tragedy in Joplin our loss of a few trees are minor. We pray that the crazy weather in our area will stabilize soon.

 Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Saturday Morning

The daisies are blooming. Nothing says summer like daisies and I love them.

This week has been a scorcher here in north Missouri. The temperatures have hovered in the mid nineties with humidity levels making it feel at least 100. We have been rising about 5:00 am every morning to get our morning work done before the heat gets oppressive. We have tried to do all our picking first thing before anything has a chance to wilt and get it inside and cool.  

And of course Thursday was the hottest day of the week and our air conditioning went out. Is that Murphy's law or what? So we spent all day Thursday waiting for the repairman only to have him come and not even take ten minutes to change out a part. It seems that there is some sort of surge protector and with all the high electric usage we must have received a surge that blew this protector out. Thus shutting down the unit.  All is back to functioning now. We had noticed the light kind of flickering but never thought anything of it.

Although I grew up without air conditioning it sure is nice and I will admit I am spoiled. I do try to keep it to a minimum and open the windows when it is cool. But when temperatures get like this that Air conditioner goes on!

It has been a full week just with the normal chores and O Wise one and I had a barbecue Friday afternoon for a couple of friends visiting. Just the normal burgers, corn on the cob, baked beans and strawberry shortcake for desert.   I made some deviled eggs to take to a church function and how cute is this tray. It belonged to O Wise One's mother. The little chickens in the middle are a salt and pepper shaker.

This morning I am doing laundry and as I wait for the laundry to dry on the line I have a  five gallon bucket of peas to shell. The second one! These will be blanched and frozen. And peas still hanging on the vine. I will not complain at all but rather be thankful for our bounty. Boy I sure am tired though.....those 5 am mornings are a killer. 

When Baby O was little she would walk around all the time with a pocket of these to eat raw. You have never tasted sweet peas until you taste them fresh from the garden and raw.

When I get finished with the peas I hope to have time to make a batch of strawberry jam.

So as you see my weekend of canning is planned. I'll try to check in on Monday and hope everyone has a great weekend.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Broccoli Noodle Salad

With both Broccoli and peas coming in fresh right now we are eating lots of salads. This is one of our favorite.  I have added additional add ins such as chopped black olives, diced ham, chopped zucchini or tomatoes. Get creative and add whatever your family likes!



6 ounces uncooked multicolor Rotini (about 1/2 of a 12 ounce box)
2 carrots shredded
1/2 small onion finely diced
1 head of broccoli finely chopped
1 cup frozen peas
3 hard boiled eggs finely chopped
crumbled crisp bacon to taste (for garnish)

Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 Tablespoons honey
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup half and half
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions eldente.  ( DO NOT OVERCOOK)
Drain pasta and place in large bowl
Add peas, shredded carrots, diced oniopn, broccoli and chopped eggs.
Toss and set aside
In a separate bowl mix dressing ingredients and stir well to mix.
Add to pasta vegetable mixture and toss well.
Refrigerate for atleast several hours and serve.

 Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Feeding Chickens

While I am no expert on raising chickens I received this Anonymous comment several days ago on a post I did on taking care of chicks. 

"I'm growing some chicks. i got them pretty small but have had them for about a 1 1/2 months. They won't eat just anything, which I don't like. They don't care for sweet potato scraps and they won't eat the sorghum or the sunflower from the extra cheap bird seed I bought. They don't even like potatoes that much. They also crave too much fat and protein. A lot of times if it ain't a bug they don't want to hear about it. They go crazy over scrap meat. I don't like that. How do I make them less picky. I can't remember the breeds. But I have one white/yellow and 2 black chicks. The black chicks are very slow to catch on to new food and they all follow the bigger white/yellow chick. I'm sure he is a rooster."

I had to snicker as it reminded me of my 11 month old grandson sitting in his high chair refusing food from a spoon. He only wants it if he can feed himself. A couple of points I would like to make......

1. Chickens are naturally foragers or opportunistic feeders. They walk around my yards and scratch and peck all day long. Most things such as potato peels and such my chickens will eat. Maybe try withholding other feed for a little and let them get a little hungry and I bet they will eat it : ) If not remember to rake it up and dispose of it so as not to get any sort of insects (maggots) in it.


2."they won't eat the sorghum or the sunflower from the extra cheap bird seed I bought."
Are you giving them grit? Your chickens when they were young and I am assuming you were feeding them commercial chick food had grit in it. Once they start eating grain or big chicken feed they need grit in the crop to digest any grain and it must be kept available at all times. Even if our chickens free range we still always have a small tub of grit available for them. My husband and I help alot of kids in our area with their 4-H poultry projects. We got a call a while back from a parent asking us to come look at their sons chickens that they were dying. The birds when we got there had plenty of feed and water but were starving standing in their pens because they had no grit in their crop to digest the ingested food. Eventually the crop gets impacted and the chicken dies. Along with that grit I would suggest a little ground oyster shell for the calcium. This is available at most feed stores.


3.   "They go crazy over scrap meat. I don't like that."

Some people do give their chickens and poultry meat but I do not. Once we went to a kids house who also had chickens as a 4-H project. They had been feeding their chickens raw meat scraps also. Their chickens were dying also. My husband cut open the crop of one of the dead chickens and it was full of undigested meat and the entire crop was impacted with maggots. Sorry to be so graphic. My other fear is that by feeding them meat that I could inadvertently cause them to become cannibalistic toward each other. Chickens will peck each other to death. I have seen a hen have a bleeding sore and the other chickens peck it until she dies. I always quarantine any bird with injuries and stay away from meat.

Also in this hot weather if you do throw meat to them it would not take long to spoil. Below I have a link to a site describing botulism symptoms in poultry.

Botulism in Poultry

Also never let anything stay in there long enough to get an infestation of maggots. Always pick up anything that could spoil and dispose of it.

Chickens are not hard to keep with a little care. I feed my chickens "Scratch"  which I buy at the feed store every morning.  It is a mixture of grains which I throw out for them to scratch around in. I also throw them some cracked corn and laying mash every evening.

In between I give them cooking scraps and vegetables from the garden. In the winter I give them regular bird suet when it is very cold . You can buy it or find plenty of recipes on the internet.

When I pull those young weeds from the gardens I give them to the chickens first to scratch and peck around in.

At least every week they get fresh wheat straw thrown into their pen to scratch around in. As a treat throw them in a head of lettuce or cabbage.

I let them out to forage only when I am outside in the area to watch them because we have a very bad problem with stray dogs, cats and even foxes and coyotes are not far off as we live near the woods. The top of my chicken yard is covered with mesh to protect them from owls and hawks.

Lots of fresh water daily especially when it is hot. And keep their cage clean !!  I clean my chicken house every week composting the straw and litter. I rake my chicken yard every week and collect anything that they don't eat such as twigs, corn cobs or anything that may have been left over.

I keep a small container of clean wood ashes in the shed. Every so often I throw a pile in the corner of the chicken yard for them to roll in. This helps to control mites and parasites and chickens naturally love to dust.

If you get into trouble here is a wonderful site describing chicken diseases that may also help.

Poultry Diseases

If you take good care of your chicks they should give you fresh eggs and entertainment for years to come  .

Good Luck Anonymous!


I would like to hear if anyone else out there feeds their chickens meat!

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

June Garden Update

One of the things I love about blogging about my gardening is being able to look back and see what I planted last year, and when, and even being able to record the garden progress through the present growing season. For instance....... 

This is that same garden view as above posted on the 6th of May

And again posted on the 20th of May

And again I am posting just a little over 2 weeks later the first week in June. Wow look at the growth in just 2 weeks.  And for us a permanent record that we can look at next year to help decide when to plant.   

These are all cool season crops such as potatoes, peas and onions. The first week in June and we are enjoying spinach and lettuce salads and the first lettuce planting has bolted and we are feeding to the chickens and rabbits. The second lettuce planting we are enjoying now and just planted a third planting of lettuce in a shadier spot to hopefully enjoy later into summer. We know that this planting will depend greatly on the heat in our area.  We cut our first broccoli heads this week and enjoyed a broccoli and noodle salad as well as enjoying our first pot of fresh mustard greens with the thinnings from the mustard row. We also cut the first spinach of the season also eating in a salad. The beets continue to grow and are starting to put on roots.

The peas continue to bloom and the pea pods are just hanging on the vines and if they continue to get plenty of rain we should have a bumper crop this year to freeze. 

This week the temperatures have all of a sudden went into the 90's with unbearable humidity. We have struggled to continue with the weeding and mowing and have started getting up at daybreak to work in the garden to beat the heat. Planted 7 rows of Jade green beans, 6 rows of "Kandy" corn, set out 30 tomato plants and planted 6 rows of red beans. Also 1/2 a row of field peas 2 more rows of onion sets and 4 hills of zucchini and 4 hills of yellow squash. That night we got a gentle rain which is just what we needed to get those seeds off to a good start. Waiting now for garden to dry some so we can get back into it to do some more mulching. Next week we will add crushed egg shells, powdered milk  and Epsom salt to the dirt around the tomatoes to help with blossom end rot before mulching with straw and putting the rings on the tomatoes for support.

The potatoes are blooming and we continue to pull dirt around them regularly. The potato plants themselves are almost 3 foot tall now and the dirt mound atleast 18 inches. Hoping they are not all bushes with no potatoes. No synthetic fertilizer used at all this year only side dressings of rabbit manure. No pests other than a few cabbage worms which we are picking off by hand thus far. If it continues we may have to put a light dusting of seven dust on the cabbage but time will tell. Only if absolutely necessary.....

Still to plant: field corn, pumpkins, peppers, basil, dill, okra, watermelons, cantaloupe, horticulture beans and sunflowers. 

We hope that these 90 degree temperatures move on and some milder 80 degree days return. That high heat and humidity are rough on these two old people. 

Here's hoping that your gardens are growing well also.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter 

Strawberries

It's June and right on cue those June bearing strawberries are ripening! Growing strawberries was a challenge for me here on the farm. I grew up in a town in Louisiana known as the " Strawberry Capitol Of The World". As a child our family farm produced strawberries and bell peppers for market. Why the difficulty growing a crop I had been around all my life?

In the south strawberries are grown as an annual. Small plants are planted in rows in early February under plastic sheeting. In south Louisiana where I grew up you would pass acres and acres of strawberry fields. The berries depending on where you lived started ripening about May and by June there were strawberries everywhere. Then the berry plants were pulled up and the plastic destroyed until the next growing season. I can remember when I was a very young child and before plastic was so readily available they mulched the berry plants with pine straw.

Here in the north strawberries are grown as a perennial. The plants are planted in early spring which for me is about April. They are mulched with wheat straw which is readily available in our area where wheat production is heavy.  The plants are left there to produce runners and fill in the bed for about 3 years or until their production starts to decrease and then they are pulled up and a new bed replanted.  

For me I planted new plants last year so part of my bed is year old plants and then I added to my bed this year so the addition has plants that are just a few months old. I like this because I will always have a portion of my bed with established older plants therefore insuring a constant yearly harvest. When it is time to take the older plants out and replant them the newer plants will be in full production. It took some getting used to growing strawberries this way but I like that they are totally organic There are no plastics only organic mulch. Just another way of going green.   

The first big berries are eaten fresh and frozen for later use. As the season progresses the berries tend to get smaller and these berries I use for strawberry jam and maybe some strawberry wine. The grandkids love my homemade strawberry ice cream. So even though I had to relearn an old skill I now again produce my own berries for my family.

As I continuously tell my daughter............

Bloom where you are planted honey : )

Bloom where you're planted ......

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter



Thelma and Louise Do California

Yes we all remember Thelma and Louise! Well we have our own here in the Holler!

None other than.......

Baby O and Fred.

These two... from the time Baby O was little have regularly went on "sister dates". Never having a sister I am not sure what transpires on sister dates. I had 4 brothers and believe me honey I did not want to go on no dates with them! I just know that these sister dates  involves alot of giggling and usually me contributing money : )   This was a regular occurence up until Fred  married and became a mother. Occasionally they still go on sister dates when she can sneak away. 

Well as we all know Baby O won first place in the state in FCCLA competition and will be going to California to compete in nationals. This is in Los Angeles in Mid July. Well O Wise One and I have decided to opt out.  Been there .... done that.

I'm thinking LA in Mid july.....Hot....

Did I mention....... Hot

O Wise one and I learned our lesson 3 years ago doing Orlando theme parks in Mid June. 100 degrees in the shade chasing hyper grandkids on steaming sidewalks in crowds. Lots of traffic and noise. This was a ...VACATION

So instead Fred will be flying to LA to be the cheering squad and moral support for Baby O....

Think of it as a giant sister date.

The tickets are purchased for both girls and the hotel rooms and rental car.

Lots of Insurance.

When you get our age you think about Insurance alot!!!

But the catch is the girls have to make their own spending money. So this weekend they are having a giant garage sale to help with their California Sister Date Official Fund. They made homemade candles and goodies to sell. They are raffling off a quilt (donated by me) on the 4th of July, all to help with their expenses.

Nothing like teaching that responsibility lesson young.

As we speak O Wise One is going through sheds and Baby O is cleaning out her closets.

Did I mention I am smiling.........ALOT  : ) : ) : )

Yep O Wise One and I are gonna stay home in the air conditioning. Maybe we will watch Thelma and Louise and garden and maybe we shall go fishing...

The house all to ourselves.

And sit in the shade of the front porch and drink iced tea..

No kids!

No cooking ...

Isn't vacation  Fun.....

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Peonies

When I first moved north to Missouri the hardest thing for me was getting used to the changes in season and learning to garden in a colder climate. One of the biggest surprises was the peonies. In Louisiana we never had peonies but on Memorial Day I was thrilled to go to the local cemeteries and see a patchwork of beautiful peonie plants blooming at the graves. In the south when you visit old graves you usually find roses on the graves not peonies. My peonies bloom faithfully here on the farm always around Memorial Day. The one downside to peonies is that the spring rains wreak havoc on them. Even with wire frames the rains tend to beat the blooms and bruise them. If not supported your peonies will stay on the ground more often than not. But for the short time that they bloom they are glorious. This year has been no exception with rains and even a little hail in the past 2 weeks (and lets not forget that high wind) the peonies are fading quick. Their giant mop head blooms bruised and browning. But for that brief moment what a beautiful show it has been.

The rains and cooler temperatures have helped to bring on the other flowers as well. The "Knockout" rose was aptly named and amazes me every year at it's blooming even into the hotter months of July and August.

The Coreopsis are just starting to bloom with their bright yellows. They volunteer freely throughout my gardens blooming in abandon everywhere.

And remember several posts ago we talked of the invasive tendencies of the purple yarrow. This yellow yarrow is much better behaved and a beautiful and well behaved addition to any garden.



As the late spring cool temperatures and rain start to give way to the oppressive heat of summer we marvel at the blossoms. The daffodil, peonie, violets, pansies and columbine give way to the daisies and summer flowering plants. We know that by July the blossoms will be much less plentiful. But for now we smell the roses and are thankful for their beauty.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter