MORE BUSY TIMES!

Well, its been a very busy couple of weeks around the keeslar farm.  As you can see, we are gardening a lot-the new boxes (got a wonderful deal, talked the managers down to a great price on the lumber this early spring at a certain store!  I always talk them down on the price of stuff in the discount area!!!)

So got the 4 new boxes built behind the house, and 4 more out by the other boxes...(see photo below)

Still need to add the landscape timbers around the boxes (we have those, just need to do the work!)

The saw dust comes like this:

all bagged up.  I traded for these this last late winter, and finally got to pick them up this last 2 weeks!  (they have been ready but we were not ready to get them!!)

I like this around the boxes, the plan is to allow the saw dust to break down into soil, and then flip that into the boxes, adding more boards to make the boxes taller (as we grow older we will have to bend less that way)  this spring we picked up tons (yes TONS) of free compost (like the FREE stuff) and filled the boxes!  That was a lot of shoveling!  Mostly by me-until the last huge load...then Scott helped a lot!  

The garden is growing well, as long as we water it often.  It is so dry!  Our grass is so very dry!  I want to water the lawn where the animals eat, but it would prob drain our well.  So got to just buy some hay.

I had the grand children over a few times, a week or so ago, had the older 3 over for a week.  We went bowling...

Here is Zack and Logan!

Adreana with Auntie...Adreana was not feeling well, she was to have surgery the next week, ear tubes, tonsils removed, and anoids removed.  She has a 40% hearing loss, and since this day-has had the surgery.  The doctor who operated on my children (adreanas dad, uncle and aunts) did her surgery!  He said that she had the worse case he has seen in a very long time!  She is hearing better now!

I was very grateful for Stephens and Anastasia's and Nalanis help that day!

The kids "rescued" a baby bunny from Todd the cat, because it had a piece of fur off from it, and was bleeding.  We decided to just "let the bunny go" over in an area where maybe Todd could not find it.  Dont know if it lived or not, but the next morning, the children found a dead baby bunny under the back steps, with out -well with out its head- so they think it did not.  :(  They were sad.  But we had a talk about the abundance of rabbits (eating my garden) and Todd doing the job of keeping them away....

It is called life.

This past weekend I had all 5 grand children here!  We took them to the drive in movies...

Before we went, we had a pizza party at the house.  We arrived to the drive in before the sun went down and set our chairs out, we drove both the truck and the car.  We sat out in the chairs eating junk foods (pop corn, chips and snacks.  This was the first time the kids had been to a drive in.  They thought the screen was huge!  Zack asked me how many times we had been to a drive in, and I told him too many to count!  (when we dated, it was the thing to do-drive ins all over the area....)

Zack telling his story!  

Then the next day, Grampa took the kids swimming... they all about drowned grampa!

yes that is grampa about under the water in front of one of the grand children!  

Well its been busy, and its not slowing down any time soon!  Must rebuild the chicken house (already built the new little baby chicken house) and re-do the front steps before some one falls (me) !

Keep enjoying your summer! 

BUSY WEEK ON THE FARM- Sheep day and more!

Our sheep sheerer -Zach Danberry

This past week we have been very busy around here! 

the original 4 boxes, with new mulch in 3 of the 4

 First the garden boxes-4 more were built up by the house, and 2 more by the other 4 that I have done in a previous year and location.  This past early spring, we scored a great deal at a lumber yard, purchasing a pile of out door lumber, metal siding and a variety of  lumber for about 1/3 of the normal price.  So that meant the original cost to build more garden boxes was reduced greatly!  I love deals!  Then came filling them. 


 We would either need to rent a digger (a back hoe or a skid loader like machine) or I could purchase a load of top soil to be delivered, or buy it by the bag-at $1.27 a bag and needing about 40 bags for each box.  Not something I could do at all...so again, depending on GOD who works out all details....just like the sale for the lumber,  HE provided free mulch --the good stuff -with no toxic yard scraps (where people have used toxic products then trim stuff and send it to be mulched)

And there was enough to fill all of the boxes, refresh the first 4 boxes and also start another small garden spot that we will keep tilled and it will also be our  spot for asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, horseradish, and melons.

The next thing was Sheep day.  Once a year we hire a young man to come in and sheer our sheep.  The wool is not really worth much, but we do save it-if we an find a way to clean it it would work to stuff for pillows and stuff like that! Dont like to waste anything!


When we do this, we open it up for the home school community to come with their children.  It is a chance to learn a little about sheep, and their care.


This year we had a nice turn out of students and parents.  

My youngest two grandchildren

The children watching and waiting for the sheep 'show'

the sheep, watching and waiting to be sheered

Next year, we hope to provide a stew of Lamb!

BUSY BUSY SPRING!!!

some of my garden boxes, chives growing in the back bed, and garlic in the front bed.

Spring is always a very busy time around a farm, even a small farm like ours.  Now that we have had no children at the house for 2 years to do child labor (family joke-so no one may send me hate mail) it keeps Scott and I very busy!

Scott on the tractor with the brush hog, going to mow along the road up front of our property...

I keep up the mowing-mowing about 3 acres total-up in the front yard, along the driveway, behind the house, and along the fence row going to the woods, and also in front of the woods and the "trails".


 Scott only mows with the brush hog (a huge mower attached to the back of the tractor) and he does not want me to use it.  He says its for safety reason, that I might tip it over or something by taking the corners too fast, (he HAS driven with me in the car before...) but I think it is so the tractor stays a 'mans' farmer toy thing...you know...that manly-man attitude..."only men can do this"...ok...let him have that one.  


He only has to use the brush hog up by the road, where the ground tips too much and I could actually tip my rider lawn mower over, and then he does the weed whacking.  I have been trying to make it so he does not have any edging like that to do.  As I plant flowers and stuff I want to put a type of edging around the beds so I can  mow right up to the edge....but that all takes a LOT of work, creativeness and time (and money-which we are extremely low on-right now) so I have to be VERY creative or just work VERY hard at weeding by hand.  So----he still weed whacks, it is just too much for me to weed by hand! 

one of many new 'flower beds' finished this spring....

(I also do not do the weed whacker-there are some jobs that are JUST mens jobs)

what is left from a huge load of rocks and broken cement pcs

I have moved the above pile myself-which is ok.  But wow!  between that and all the weeding, my carpel tunnel syndrome is really acting up, hands are numb all night as I sleep and for a few hours in the morning....makes getting up in the middle of the night for a birth sort of hard to do!  But fear not (those of you who might read this and I am your midwife) weeding season -the major amount of it-will be done in a few weeks!


I have worked very hard this spring on my front flower bed.  It use to be a huge herb bed, with a river and 2 water falls, and 2 ponds. The river does not run anymore (it was all done by a pump and water falls-circled from one pond to the water fall, down the river to the water fall into the pond) The upper pond was for plants.  Now it is a jungle.  I did not do anything with it for 2 years, and have been trying to tame it this spring.

one of two ponds -see all the weeds in the back ground!

showing the water fall (not running) above the pond....

The garden....before taming the jungle

You can see the rail road ties to the left in the photo, that was the 'upper pond' and the stones to the right of that is the lower pond and water fall.  The 'river' went up the hill, where the water from the lower pond was pumped to the upper water fall, close to the house.  the structure you see to the right of the photo, is a beginning of an arbor for the wisteria plant. I will put the 'after photos' up when I have it done!

The above boxes are last years raised garden boxes, we are adding mulch to them as you can see.  We have built a total of 6 more, and had to do a few runs with the truck and wagon- for the free mulch (old cow manure) as our little farm does not make enough of this for our garden.  We have some that is 'cooking' but wont be done until next year.  So I have been poop scooping for a few weeks, and I have about 4 ton yet to do!  Will be very busy!

So that is it for now...

I will post more story's and photos as I get all of this done!  Lots of work!  Have a great spring everyone!

Tomato Horn Worm

Well, they are out and eating my tomatoes!

A week ago, there was no sign of any insects or damage and today while weeding, I saw damage to the plants and signs of tomato horn worms.  


Time to go 'worming'. 
Below, is how most of my plants looked a week ago and most of them still look like this today...

 Now, look at this!  See below!  The tops are eaten right off!  I will not share my tomatoes with any worm!  No I will not, I am very stingy with my tomato's!~  (well when it comes to insects anyway!)

Look at the tops of the plants- this is showing that you have a tomato horn worm eating away at your plants.

This is the poop that the worms leave behind.  If you see this and your leaves or tomatoes eaten into, look for the worm!

And now in the photo below, is the worm!

Can you see him?

Look close!

Click on the photo to enlarge the photo and see if you can find him.

Here is another photo of him below...

And below is a closer photo of him...

This one is actually a tobacco hornworm.

Fat little things aren't they!  I usually just pull them off. They have little suction cups on their little 'legs' so they can hold on well, and they will hold onto you too when you grab them!. 

The poky thing coming out of its hind end area, is not sharp, But it scares away other bugs because they think they will be stung.  That is one reason why it is called the tomato horn worm/Tobacco hornworm--the poky thing.  You can not get stung by one of these so don't be afraid. But do get rid of them or your plant will not do well.  These worms do not just eat one tomato, they eat a little of every tomato! 

You can see the underside of this worm above. If you do not like to touch them, then just break off the leaf or stem they are feeding on and remove them that way.  Do not just throw them into the yard, trust me, they will be back! You need to destroy them, or remove them to a field or something.

 They can get to be about 5 inches long, and really fat like a marker.  But they are often hard to see as they blend in with the leaves so well.  If you see signs of them on the plants, leaves and tomatoes eaten, then look for their poop, that is usually 'fresh' from the current location they are eating from.  Sometimes you have to just get a lawn chair and sit down by your tomatoes and just 'look' for awhile .

 It takes patience, like those games where you look for hidden things in the picture.  One worm can destroy your tomatoes in just a few days.  They grow fast, so one day they might be really small and the next a big fat worm! 

  I do not use toxins on my farm at all, so I have things like this -and other bugs-to deal with on a  regular basis... 

 This means I have to go out every few days and check my garden.  But your out there anyway, weeding and harvesting --take time to look for the worms too!

 I would rather pull off bugs and feed them to the chickens than use toxic stuff on my plants to keep the weeds and bugs away!  

I know there are organic sprays out there, and I have heard to get an old blender and blend up these bugs and other ones and then spray the plant with their chopped up guts but I would rather not do that!  That is just too gross for me!

By the way, if you ever see one with white things on it like this, (photo below) that is good!  That is from a wasp that laid its eggs on the worm, and the wasp's larva are eating the worm!  So leave it alone! the wasps are good bugs for your garden!

braconid wasp, Cotesia congregatus. 

The wasps like the following plants: Parsley, dill yarrow and Mustard, so these in your garden close to the tomatoes might attract them. The braconid wasp consumes nectar and pollen.  They do not sting humans unless you attack them first. So they are not really harmful (but if you are sensitive to them, still carry your epi pen when gardening).  

My chickens and the peacock just love them, they are a treat for them-so I will continue to pull them off the plants- along with all the other bugs -by hand.  

Oh and by the way, this moth that is made from the tomato horn worm (see photo below)

is not currently endangered so you are not hurting anything to get rid of them in the moth stage or in the larva stage (the horn worm).  

If you do not want to kill them, that is fine, I suggest that you plant a few plants are just for the larva of moths or butterflies then, and move them to those plants. I do that with some of my plants such a Lovage.  

If I find the caterpillar for a swallowtail or monarch butterfly anywhere in my garden, then I will allow them to live, even at the expense of my vegetables!

Happy worm hunting!

How To Use Stevia

Stevia Plant

A question was asked about using stevia.  


For me, sugar is very very sweet.  But so is honey for me!  I am not fond of extremely sweet things, possibly because I do not eat that way at all, so I taste the sweetness more so than others.  


I think the stevia plant is very sweet too!  One leaf taste to me like I am eating about a teaspoon of sugar!


But it has a low glycemic index (basically none) so healthier for everyone, esp me (I am a insulin / diabetic)


I experimented last fall with canning some pickles.  I love pickles, garlic kosher dills are my favorite, but I do like slightly sweet pickles too!  (one time I enjoy sugar!) But since I do not want the sugar I tried to substitute some stevia leaves for the sugar called when cooking/canning.  What I found was what tasted very sweet to me to directly place a leaf in my mouth, it took much more to get the desired effect from the plant when canning.  I did a 1/2 pint jar of pickles with about 5-6 leaves and it needed more.  


So to answer the question of how much to use?  Not sure.  (boy don't you love those type of answers!)


I suggest experimenting prior to the canning season (if you are planning on using the plant for canning) and purchase a few cucumbers from the store, canning up a few 1/2 pints now and testing them out.  I suggest 1/2 pints because they will be ready sooner than waiting weeks as for pints and quarts.  (my recipe has me wait about 6 weeks before opening a jar of pickles...)


I am also going to try to extract some sweetness from the plant-just like doing tinctures that I make for pregnancy and delivery...that can be used when cooking.  It will be in a liquid form when I am done.  I will be working on this from the stevia plant.  I will post later what I did and if it works or not-just need to let the plant grow some more first!


Hope that helps some....let us know what you find out as you experiment too!


Oh!  Have to show my first tomato is on and I can hardly wait until it is ready to eat!!! Ummmm!!!!!

Family Up-Date for the Farm...

Boy has it been a busy few weeks!  
Between "work", new babies, work around here in the farm,there has been no time to blog!


This week I turned 48.  Although we do not really celebrate birthdays, it does still mark another year older!  


Scott and I had planned to go out of town, to see our youngest son and his wife, (we wanted to anyway) but I have been busy helping to cover for another midwife, so those plans were canceled. 


 Then we thought maybe we would get the older three grand children for the weekend, and take them to the drive in, but that too had to change when I got busy this week with births!


So we plan to get the grand children another weekend!


We thought we would still try to go out for the evening...since we have not went out other than going out to dinner...and I have been wanting to go to the drive in for over a year. 
It is just something fun to do that we use to do all the time!


It worked to go this weekend, which happened to also be my birthday day...I did not think about that until two days before!  I actually forgot it was my birthday this weekend.  


Friday evening there was a storm that went thru...a really bad one.  So no trip to the drive in...since we would not be able to even see the show!  Instead we went Saturday evening. 


 The show began about 10:00 pm, and ended about 1:30 am.  We saw Marmaduke, and the A team.  It was like a blast from the past (that is a movie too!) seeing everyone sitting out in lawn chairs, or on top of their autos, children playing catch with a beach ball, and people just visiting!  Such a simple time it was years ago...when going to the drive in was a normal thing to do on the weekend...



We had a wonderful rest on Sabbath-but had a funeral in the morning, headed out to attend that and we went to the wrong place.  By the time we figured that out, and if we would have kept going -we would have ended up being late-over a half an hour so we did not go.  Frustrating to make such a stupid mistake. (so sorry Pat)

A week ago, we worked in the garden...here are some photos of my garden... above is some of the onions, cilantro (in bloom) broccoli, celery and pepper plant in the lower right corner...

Here is the lettuce...

 One of the pepper plants, (we have about 20-25 of them planted) see the small pepper started on the upper part of the plant...

One of the rosemary plants, and to the lower right of the photo is one of the stevia plants...you can see the chives in the back ground...

ok, need to get some things done then stop for the evening...keeping busy today too!

Greeted a wonderful little Amish baby girl this morning,the families first girl-they have a boy now that is a year old, so he is now a big brother.