Planting the Garden

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Momzoo

These pictures are about 4 weeks old, but I felt I had to get them posted, so we can have a record of our progress.

The view of the garden area, it is a 100×70 foot plot.
I thought it would be enough
we will be adding more next year
(shhh, don’t tell Dadzoo, he doesn’t know yet)

Another view of the garden.
Under the little hoop house are onions, they have been in there since the first of April and are thriving.

Little Man “owns” the pumpkins this year, and he got to help me plant them.
He is going to make a great little farmer and a wonderful pumpkin grower.
(we are planning on having a lot, and hopefully will be able to sell some for his piggy bank)

The pumpkin patch with little paper hats to keep the critters (quail especially) from eating the seeds before they sprout.
Sassy “owns” the cucumbers, and here is her “pickle patch”.
We planted two hills of eating cucumbers, and the rest are for pickling.
Sassy and I are going to make lots and lots of pickles this fall, it will be a first time for us both and we’re excited for the challenge. And one corner of the garden has three goose-berry bushes.
Someday I am going to make goose-berry pie,
doesn’t that sound all old-timey and romantic.

I tend to be a bit of a romantic
in case you haden’t noticed!

Clean up

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Momzoo

Our property has a lot of…. stuff, laying around.

Piles and piles everywhere
mostly construction debre

A lot of unusable wood and ruined plywood, 2×4’s and posts, brick, vinyl, beer bottles, milk crates, misc metal parts, rock, and garbage.

And it is all over, covering much of the property.

As part of the cleanup effort we have been spending our evenings gathering up wood pieces and stacking them.

The ~~slaves~~ kids bring the boards and misc pieces to Dadzoo, who cuts them into 16 inch lengths and then they are stacked, or if they are smaller than 16 inches, they go into a scrap bin.

Stacked just so, they will be used in the wood stove this winter, and the smaller pieces in the fire-pit outside.
(this is just the very start, we have a lot more where this all came from)

While it is frustrating to see such a beautiful place be mistreated and used as a garbage dump, we can help but see the blessing in free firewood.

(Lou found this stick while picking up boards and played Gandalf the whole evening, jumping in front of her, very annoyed, sisters saying “You shall not pass!”)

These are pictures of parts of the unspoiled pasture, I never knew there were so many different grasses here in the high desert, or so many shades of green.

So lovely.

Learning to Like Cats

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Momzoo

I am not a cat lover.
It was bred into me.
I was born to a Mother, who didn’t like cats.
No, “didn’t like” is way too mild, she HATES them, she has a cat phobia, she won’t even look at pictures of cats.
It’s a pretty strong emotional reaction.

Anyway, as a child of a cat hater, I learned to hate too. I never wanted a cat, I didn’t like them around, they annoyed and irritated me, digging up my garden and flowers.

Then we moved, to the country, and we have mice, lots and lots of mice.
Everywhere.

And, after much thought, and a post from a friend on facebook looking for a new home for her cat, a mouser, who was neutered and had all his shots, I gave in.

The cat hater got a cat.

And is slowly starting to like/love this cat.

Our cat is named Stitch, he is an adult cat, that honestly has the soul of a dog.
Not knowing much about cats, only the bad stuff, I figured he would be aloof and onery, eating my chickens and using the garden for a potty.

Was I wrong.
He is friendly, pleasant, good natured, doesn’t potty in the garden, comes when I call him, teases the dog, watches the chickens, and goes on walks with us.
(funny, huh, when I walk in the mornings he follows the whole way, I’ll walk a couple miles with this funny guy trailing me)

Most of all, and what finally won me over.
He loves the kids.

And is so patient with Monkey and all her tail grabbing and ear pulling.

I have yet to sit with the cat in my lap or even pick it up…. my past prejudices are still strong, but I do give him a bowl of cream on occation. And Monkey adores Stitch.

Opening the Hive

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Momzoo

This post is very picture heavy, I’m sorry but I just couldn’t decide which ones to include and exclude, so you get them all!

Two weeks after we got our hive Dadzoo and his apprentice Boo opened ‘er up to see how things were going.
It looked good, really good.
So good they had to add another box, and we are now cautiously optimistic about our future honey production.

This is my favorite picture. It shows new eggs, newly hatched larva, older larva, capped cells, adult bees, the whole life cycle in one photograph.

Sassy, the Lizard Whisperer

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Momzoo

We have a lot of little lizards scuttling around this here place of ours. I guess, considering it is the desert, and there is a fair amount of rocks and sand it would be a given that there would be lizards.

Sassy holding a newly caught lizard

I just didn’t think of it before.

Monkey holding the lizard with help from Boo

She liked it just fine, until the lizard started to climb up her arm, she didn’t like that one bit.

Anytime it is sunny outside and we walk about the property we find lizards. Which means there are snakes too, and the rattling kind, but I try not to think to hard on that and think only of the lizards, since they are kind of cute and don’t bite or inject poison into peoples bodies.

Lizard hanging out with Little Man

Our little Sassy has become quite the lizard wrangler, she had found a method that works almost all the time and had caught quite a few of the little critters. We keep the small reptiles around for a little while, but let them go after a while, lizards are good to have around, they eat bugs, and bugs eat my garden, therefore, lizards are our friends here on Quail Run Farm.