Summer's first Harvest!

After what seemed to be FOREVER I have finally had my first summer harvest.


My 'Hansel' Eggplant was the first to produce some yummy summer delights!


Also I was able to finish the garlic harvest. As of today I have drying in my basement 35 heads of garlic. It is a wonderful thing when you walk under the garlic and get that delightful smell drying garlic!

I am hoping start harvesting Walla Walla onions this weekend, but I also would like to get started on canning some of this wonderful summer fruit I am running into this summer. Maybe a little of both?!?!

Olympic Peninsula

Well I have survived the first week of the Misters’ vacation! We headed over to the coast for our first visit to the Olympic Peninsula.

The drive over went very smooth. We made a stop at Pikes Market; I had heard so much about this place. However I wasn't impressed, it seemed more like a tourist attraction then a real farmers market. I guess all the wonderful markets we have here at home have spoiled me. We then headed out to the Edmonds Ferry crossing. The fare for crossing was a little pricey, but since the kids enjoyed it so much it was well worth it.

After a 45 minute boat ride we were back on the road and heading toward the campground. We camped in the Olympic National Forest at the Klahowya campground, on the Sol Duc River. Rosey is posing in front of the river, seconds later she in naked in the river.

We spent one day at the Hoh Rainforest.

Needless to say this place gets ALOT of rain...

This is in the actual National Park so we had to get a doggie-sitter to watch the mutt for a day. We only did two short trails, but it was great to get to see some of the beauty (and slugs) that Washington has to offer.

We spent a few hours at Rialto Beach. A breathtaking beach with a great view of the Flattery Rock National Wildlife Refuge.

This year the Park is celebrating a historic event. They are REMOVING a dam!! When I heard this there was no way that I could not head over and check it out. I always love when the bureaucracies realize they did something wrong! Over 100 years ago some guy had the bright idea to build a dam or two on the Elwah River (I guess at least it was for power!).Here is the Glines Canyon Dam on the left and the Elwah Dam on the right

Well finally the parks department saw that the amount of power the dams produce is not as important as the ecosystem that is has destroyed. So after 20 years of BS the dam is coming down!! And so it is the ‘Last Dam Summer’! The NPS is handing out these hilarious buttons to all visitors, even the kids! Rosey took advantage of getting to say dam.

I can’t wait to visit over the next several years and see how this beautiful river takes back the valley.

The Elwah River at the soon to be removed Glines Canyon Dam

Good Times!!

Spring Harvest!

Our spring harvest this year was very short unfortunately. We were able to get a lot of great batches of radishes and turnips, but all the other crops seemed to bolt very early this spring. The arugula and spinach only grew about 12 inches and then sent up those dreaded flower spikes! On the bright side the chickens we fed very well this year!!

Snake steak for dinner

I had my first run in with a snake today. I should have known that it was there; the dog had been signaling that something was in the area, but I just ignored him and went back to mowing. As I was mowing a path to the garden when I almost ran it over. It scared the crap out of me! And then it went straight into my garden, of course. Armed with my shovel (always my weapon of choice!) and the dog I went after it. Once I found it and saw that it wasn’t a Rattlesnake I just shooed it out of the garden.

I kind of hope it comes back and eats what ever has been burrowing in the garden, as long as it doesn’t bring any friends along.

After all this Rosey and I were discussing snake safety and she declared that she wanted to kill it and have snake steak with pepper for dinner. Yum!

Spring has arrived!!

Spring finally is in full swing after what seemed like a short and mild winter. The fruit trees are all blooming and are once again buzzing with bees. Also all the chickens are back to laying us lots of pretty eggs.

We finally got our first blue egg from our Ameraucana hens. AppleBelle was very excited since these are the hens she will be showing at the State Fair this year.

The tulips I planted last fall are beginning to bloom; and the garlic from last fall is looking like it will have a wonderful harvest.

We have decided to only grow heirloom veggies this year and ordered all our seeds from Sand Hill Preservation Center. We also will only be growing heirloom flowers, most of which we ordered from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Both of these companies sell seeds which are GMO-free, which is surprisingly getting harder to find. We will no longer support any companies that sell gene-altering seeds, mostly because of all of the dangers and unknowns that are associated with them. I will now climb down off my soap-box.

Garlic time!

On Sunday we planted garlic bulbs in the garden. It was just like planting any fall bulb. Twice the depth of the bulb itself, and since this is my first time growing garlic I am very excited! We planted a mix of several different varieties that we got from a local garlic farm. I’m hoping that by this time next year I will have garlic breath!

First official frost!

This week the temps have dipped down into the high 30's and a few of the more tender plants in the garden have begun to show the effects. On Monday night the temps were low enough that the plants in the garden had frost damage by morning. All the zucchini and French beans were slightly damaged. A few of the pumpkins, and tomatoes were black.

The frost didn’t affect anything up on the deck so I’m sure that this had to do with the location of the garden plot. My neighbor suggested that I cover them, but I’ve decided I’m ready for the next phase of the garden and will let nature take its course. Anyway the frost is supposed to make the Brussels sprouts taste even better! (And the fruit flies are finally GONE!)

With the rain we received yesterday and the cold temps I knew that we would get a good frosting. So I enlisted the girls to help and together we cleaned off the remaining tomatoes and peppers. Last night was the first official frost. The grass is once again covered in light white. It even crunches when you step on it.