Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I'm back...

After a long day of travel, V and I arrived home Monday night.  Sadly, he came down with a cold Sunday night and was a miserable flyer.  But we had a lovely trip and the weather home was beautiful. We were able to see a lovely sunset above the clouds:
I've been dragging for the past two days.  I think I need a vacation from my vacation!  The garden has not miraculously weeded itself or recovered from the weird weather of the year.  But a few firsts!
Last night we had our first watermelon.  One of our two melons that set on. This is a Golden Midget from Baker Creek.  It probably could have ripened for another day but we were excited to eat it.  It was small enough that we finished the entire melon in one sitting- handy because I really hate having a watermelon taking up so much space in my fridge.  Definitely one to remember next year.
And today another first:
5 EGGS!!  INCLUDING OUR FIRST BLUE EGG!!!  WOOT!  This means that the little girls are starting to lay.  I've had my eye on a couple of them for the past week or so.
We have the potential for patchy frost tonight.  WAAAY too early in my book.  I don't really think it will be a problem- they're forecasting 34 but the sky is clear so who knows.  Honestly, I don't really care if the garden gets hit at this point.  After 4 days of not being picked, I only got half of a 5 quart pail of tomatoes.
But we do have peppers:
So, just in case, I picked a pail of peppers to freeze.   Guess what I'm doing after dinner...

Not much else is going on here.  The children are settling back into the routine of school, the chickens are doing what chickens do, the cats are being catty and the dog is ruling over all.

Oh, and a question.  I've got some quite overgrown pattypan squash.  I've been splitting them and feeding them to the chickens.  But does anyone know if I can store them like a winter squash for the winter?  I may try it just to see what happens.  I don't see why they wouldn't work.

6 comments:

  1. Wow! That is indeed a blue egg! One of my Ameraucanas lays a light green egg, the other started laying a tint pink egg, a year later it's more cream white. Glad to hear your trip was lovely.

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  2. How do you tell that your watermelons are done? They say when it "slips from the vine" but my vines usually die before the melon is completely ripe. Thanks!

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  3. I'm not familiar with that variety but squash freezes quite well and that is my preferred method for preserving it.

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  4. Leigh- I read somewhere that you can try to predict the color of the egg your Ameraucana will lay by the color of it's feet. I've got one with dark blue feet and one with olive. I'll have to see if the other one lays green eggs.
    Halfhippie- I think it depends on the variety. These actually turn yellow on the outside when they are ripe so it was a no-brainer. Others will get a yellow spot on the underside where they contact the ground. My Dad always used the "tap on them and see how they sound" test. He was seldom wrong but it's really something you have to learn.
    Ed- I know that they are actually edible gourds so I'm guessing they should store well but may dry out inside. I'm planning to use them for chicken feed so they have some fresh veggies in the winter and I'd rather not fill up my freezer with them. I do have a few frozen already for our use.
    Judy

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  5. Sometimes, taking time off can take the stuffing out of you! Hope you're rested up after your vacation. That is a beautiful melon! I tend to freeze my winter or hard squashes as well. If I am able, I will cube and can butternut and pumpkin, but more likely I run out of time and just freeze it. Speaking of which, we are being threatened with a frost warning tonight and tomorrow night. Seems darn early to me!

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  6. Glad you had a good time and I agree - I always need a vacation after taking a vacation LOL!

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