Well, it's official: the garden is empty. I took out the Brussels Sprouts today, and we might be able to eat a cup of very small of them. I crowded them out, so they grew but the edible sprouts were small ( Read more... )

I took a leap of faith last week and took a job at the local Breadsmiths Bakery in Wauwatosa. I was a mixer which meant that I had the bread recipes and mixed the ingredients together. All told there were about 20 breads that I mixed. Every 15 minutes a new bread would be mixed and set in plastic bins to proof. Here the bench people would shape the ( Read more... )

We are set. The yard is decorated with gourds, pumpkins, warty squashes, scarecrows and tiki torches. We don't like the half-dead stuff that seems to be so popular, so we try and focus on the harvest aspect of it. We purchased a pumpkin costume for Pria, but she easily removes it and does. So, I'm wearing the pumpkin costume, Leah is going to be a ( Read more... )

There have been two frosts, at least, now and the garden is cleared of vegetation, excepting the winter squash and Brussels sprouts. Yesterday, I lightly raked cow manure into the soil and applied straw as a weed suppressor. The baled straw came from a dairy farmer near Kewaskum, WI ( Read more... )

Mikala, a 4th grader that I care for after-school, and I planted 27 cloves of garlic this afternoon ( Read more... )

Planted two short rows of winter wheat today. Just a thing of interest to me. I'm not growing enough to eat or anything like that ( Read more... )

Andy, my brother, is married! It was a fun wedding. Leah and I camped on the farm in Mora and spent a lot of time cooking and arranging floral bouquets (Leah).

My sister-in-law Lindsay has developed a love of baking with sourdough starters. Her enthusiasm is infectious, so I sent out for yeast starter that she suggested: Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon ( Read more... )

I went out to the garden this morning and the bees were making such a ruckus over the summer squash. Actually, the honey bees prefer the squash flowers, and the bumblebees love the corn tassels ( Read more... )

The garden is really doing great, and Leah and I are constantly amazed. The spinach and marigolds did especially well this year and I took plenty of seed from each for the coming years or to share with others. The spinach is hanging in the garage to dry. The peas need to come out, and while they were tasty, the yield was not as great as we expected ( Read more... )

Today is a day off for me, so I got up at 7 and started in the garden. Before Leah got home (she does overnight staffing for elderly women in their homes for a company called Rent-a-Daughter), I harvested:

• Kale 42 cups
• Chard 36 cups
• Garlic 12 heads
• Lettuces 30 cups
• Spinach 1 cup