June 11-17, 2023

Weather | 6/11, 0.31" rain, 60°, 68° | 6/12, 45°, 74° | 6/13, 55°, 81° | 6/14, 57°, 88° | 6/15, 59°, 89° | 6/16, 59°, 84° | 6/17, 53°, 87° |

• Sunday, 6/11: Electric Fence Activated & Plants Transplanted
  
  • I woke around 4 a.m. and rain was dripping off our roof...yahoo! I went back to bed, happy.
  • We watched from the living room window as bluebird fledglings flew around the yard.
  • Mary picked snow peas and black raspberries. She's finished off one quart of raspberries and started a second bag.
    
  • I tightened all 11 wires of the electric fence around the far garden. Partway through the job, Mary asked if I would be able to get the electric fence going today. I said yes, so she started transplanting garden plants.
  • Mary transplanted 47 plants into three rows of the far garden. They were 15 pepper, four tomatillo, and 28 tomato plants. Now, she doesn't have to march them up and down the stairs every morning and evening while taking them out in the morning and bringing them back inside before dark. Most of them were over two-foot tall.
  • I weedwhacked under the far garden's electric fence. The first time always takes several hours, since weeds and grass are tall and established. While cleaning out a big comfrey plant, gobs of green goo splatted all over my face and glasses. Mixed in with tiny oil blobs from the trimmer's exhaust, I experienced interesting viewing through my glasses.
  • While Mary finished transplanting, I hooked up the electric feed wires from the near to the far gardens. A test of all hot wires showed a maximum electrical charge at the far reaches of the fence. We finished right as darkness fell, around 9 p.m.
  • As Mary walked the last cans of water to the tomato patch, she heard the sound of UNGH, UNGH with every step she took. It's the sound of this one cow that we hear every summer in the pasture north of our property. Mary was tired and thought that sound was coming from her footsteps, or maybe her back! She actually stopped walking to make sure it wasn't coming from her. We laughed about it, later.
    
  • Mary and I enjoyed a bottle of blackberry wine in celebration of getting the electric fence running on the far garden. Chore number one of 6,000 jobs to do is finished. CHEERS!!!
    
    
• Monday, 6/12: Snow Peas & Chicken Coop Prep
  
  • I have solid aches and pains from the extensive weedwhacking I did yesterday.
  • Mary and I watered droopy plants in the far garden. They were in shock from getting transplanted, followed by today's full sun. Thank goodness the temperatures were lower. Just minutes after watering, they were looking good, again.
    
  • Mary processed and froze 23 bags of snow peas, for a grand total of 31 bags in the freezer.
    
  • I got an email that our chick order shipped today from Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, MO. These 25 chicks, known as the Frypan Special, should be in the Ewing Post Office Wednesday morning.
    
  • I tightened holes in the chicken coop. I screwed two pieces of old wooden lathe onto the west wall to cover an opening seam between two OSB wall boards. I bent a piece of tin waste cut from the end of a valley used on our roof and screwed it onto the lower northeast corner of the coop, where chickens pecked a hole through the wood so that daylight was showing on the inside. Cleaning the coop, putting up the wall dividing hens from chicks, and installing a heat lamp happens tomorrow.
    
    
• Tuesday, 6/13: Big Snow Peas & Chick-Ready Coop
  
  • Mary watered all of her transplants. They were sad, again, but showed less wilt than yesterday. Of course, they were great after a good drink.
  • She also picked snow peas. They're producing very well this year. One variety, Oregon Giant, is making pea pods that are three inches and growing (see photo, below).
    
  • I weedwhacked the area around the compost bins, where tall grass and weeds took over this spring.
    
  • Then, I cleaned the chicken coop, taking six big wheelbarrow loads of chicken manure and bits of hay to the compost pile. The final sweep of the coop floor was so dusty! I was glad to wear the new 3M respirator. It works wonderfully, but I need to add eye protection to what I wear while cleaning the coop. My right eye was badly infected from chicken manure dust this evening. Sheesh!!!
    
  • Mary helped me install the inside wall that separates hens from chicks in the coop. She added hay after I finished the wall. We put up the heat lamp light and threw in the chick feeders. The coop is ready for tomorrow's arrival of chicks.
  • After several long days of outside manual labor, my sore muscles and body parts are overwhelming. I plan on sitting on my ass and watching baby chicks all day tomorrow!

  

  Oregon Giant snow peas.

• Wednesday, 6/14: Healthy Chicks Arrive
  
  • While eating breakfast, I got a call that chicks arrived at the Ewing Post Office. I finished eating, drove to Ewing, and brought them home.
    
  • We got three extra for a grand total of 28 very healthy chicks (see photos, below). I watched them for a good part of the morning. Most are either Rhode Island Reds or Buff Orpingtons. It's too early to tell which variety. Two are nearly white and two are white and gray. There are two black ones that are probably Australorps. I spotted a pasty butt issue that Mary fixed in the mid-afternoon. All 28 chicks are eating, drinking, and running around like track stars.
    
  • Mary picked a big supply of black raspberries. She's onto the fourth quart bag in the freezer.
  • She also picked more snow peas. This happens to be Plato's favorite. He's always available if a pea pod gets away from Mary while she's processing them.
    
  • I called into the CVS pharmacy and the local clinic to get my doctor to forward info to the pharmacy so I can get glycometer strips paid for by Medicare. It took talking to a nurse to get action. Immediately after I called the clinic in Lewistown , a text came in from Sam's Club that meds were ready. Nearly a week after my CVS visit, there was no response to CVS from my doctor. Talk to a nurse if you want action.
    
  • We've discovered that popcorn tastes really good with meat rub spices sprinkled on top of the bowl. Our favorites include three we picked up at Sam's Club, which are Parmesan & herb by Elizabeth & Eleanor Premium Seasonings, Japanese BBQ with soy, ginger and garlic by Kinder's Premium Quality Rub, and smoked onion and jalapeno by the same company. Using these spices is cheaper than the normal popcorn additives, per shake, and much tastier.

New chicks after taking lid off shipping box.

Within the first hour, these chicks hit food & water, pronto.

• Thursday, 6/15: Trip for Meds
  
  • A morning check of the chicks showed that they were great, running all around, eating, drinking, and growing. We think they doubled in size overnight. We're even seeing wing feathers on a couple of them.
  • I called CVS and after hearing what seemed like hundreds of computer clicks over the phone, my prescription for glucometer test strips went through the Medicare system. It took a week, but at least CVS accepted it, unlike Sam's Club, who does cartwheels trying to dissuade a Medicare customer from ever purchasing the strips.
    
  • Mary watered all transplants. Only a couple plants showed wilted leaves. They're gaining roots enough to sustain leaves through daytime heat.
  • I went to Quincy, IL, via Lewistown, MO, so I could buy gas at the lowest-priced gas station around, which is in Lewistown, at $3.19 a gallon. I got two meds at Sam's Club, strips at CVS, bread at Walmart, and food to go at a Chinese restaurant called First Wok. It was Hunan chicken.
  • Mary started mowing the north yard while I was gone. After returning, we ate what was the best Chinese food we've ever bought from a restaurant in Quincy.
  • On the way home, I heard on the radio that ag experts say northeast Missouri is now under a severe drought. Crops look very stressed.
    
  • I finished mowing the north yard and continued into the west yard, almost finishing it before I ran out of gas in the mower right before sunset. While I mowed, Mary emptied wheelbarrow loads of grass clippings in the far garden rows, in between doing evening chores. All garden rows are now mulched.
  • The setting sun was bright red. Eastern Iowa is under a smoke advisory. It's probably affecting us, even though the meteorologists are not mentioning our area.
    
    
• Friday, 6/16: Several Seeds Planted
  
  • Mary saw a scarlet tanager while picking raspberries. HERE is what they look like. It jumped up on a branch in front of her and sat for awhile. These birds are really stunning. We hear their call all of the time, but it's rare to see them.
    
  • Mary picked another bunch of black raspberries. Her main patch at the west end of the west lawn is dwindling, while a couple other berry patches are picking up in ripe berries.
    
  • Mary and I planted muskmelon, watermelon, pumpkin, and acorn squash seeds. Since we are overrun with eggs, I placed one egg in each hole. Mary shoveled in compost. I followed up with wood ash. Mary mixed up all of that. We both added soil. I placed seeds in the ground and Mary covered the ground very lightly with bits of grass. We finishing three rows on the south end of the far garden.
    
  • We watered all seeds, transplants, and the rest of the garden.
    
  • I pulled radishes out of the last tub growing radish plants. Most were bolting, but I got several good radishes. I planted two tubs with red sails lettuce. Two other tubs of that same lettuce look great. The tubs are beyond the north end of the woodshed, so they're shaded for part of the day. I think that location helps to keep the lettuce from bolting.
  • On our nighttime dog walk, Venus was setting in the west. Smoke in the night sky turned Venus as red as a giant, flaming Mars. Every night we see several lightning bugs across the fields and in the trees, which is amazing, since we're experiencing a dry spring.
    
    
• Saturday, 6/17: Most of Gardens Planted
  
  • I balanced two months of bank statements.
  • Mary processed snow peas and put nine packages in the freezer, for a grand total of 40. We only froze 22 packages last year. There still are several pods developing, with blossoms throughout the pea patch.
    
  • Mary and I planted all of the rest of the two gardens that we can plant. That included 27 hills of sweet corn, 13 hills of sweet potatoes with at least two to three plants per hill, six hills of potatoes, three hills of zucchinis, and two hills of cucumbers. We're waiting to plant where the snow peas are located. They're still producing and growing. The Oregon giant snow peas I call pea trees, because they're so tall.
  • Mary has a catbird that's adopted her. She said it was sitting on the northeast fence post of the near garden, dropped down in about a foot from her shoes, snatched a moth that Mary kicked up, and flew off with it. That same bird follows Mary around the garden.
  • Our heat lamp bulb blew when we powered it on in the evening after four years of service. We always have a second bulb on hand. The new bulb is a lot brighter. All chicks are thriving.
  • I watched a video on Facebook of Mark Roehl, a high school classmate, running his boat in Kachemak Bay. It looked like he was on the Homer side of Yukon Island, heading home. It brought back memories of that area. A big difference now is the number of boats running all over the water.