My Country City Kids ~

Years ago, David and I began to desire a more simple lifestyle.  We began to search for land out in the country so that we could follow our plan of becoming more self-sustainable by growing our own food and raising animals.

For some reason, we feel that God wants us to stay here in the city on our little city lot for now.  And as much as we want a place out in the country, we know that we need to be where God plans for us. 

However, our desire for a home out in the country has never gone away.  Not only that, but that desire has been passed along to our children.  They often talk about “when we get our place in the country, can we have a horse, etc.”. 

We live in the city but we are what I call “country-hearted”.  We live simply here on our city lot.  We grow some of our own food.  We hope to maybe have some chickens in the future.  I’m trying to figure out where to put a new clothesline and David is trying to figure out how to design it like I want it. We are “blooming where God has planted us”. 

Last night, we planted our fall crops.  Kids were playing in the dirt.  Bats (!) were flying over our heads doing their echolocation thing.  (Which is very cool, by the way, but BATS!)  We were getting dirty but enjoying the pleasure that comes from growing your own food. 

 ~You think he had a little fun?~

And we realized that you don’t have to live in the country to live a country life. 

Start where you are.  Don’t wait until everything is perfect before you begin to live your dreams. 

Bloom where you are planted.

And if you want horses in your pasture…

don’t let little things like city ordinances or the lack of a horse stop you!

 

~Garden Notes ~ June 21, 2010

 

~Cucumbers a-plenty, cucumbers galore~

 

 

~Green beans in various stages~

~Beautiful wildflowers adding touches of color~

~Insects – some busy helping and some busy hurting~

 ~bees and dragonflies~

 

~results of squash borer worm which left one lone yellow squash for the family & me~

~Corn that tells the story of little critters~

 

~First picture taken on Saturday and second picture taken this morning.  Some stalks were stripped bare.  I’m pulling corn this evening and am going to enjoy fresh corn from the Farmer’s Market instead.  The little critters left us very little corn.~

~Sweet surprises from the compost~

 ~These little squash plants sprouted around the peppers as a result of the compost that I used.  I dug them up and planted them in various places in the garden.  I’m waiting to see which types of squash plants that they are!~

~Mulch that works~

~I haven’t been able to make it out the homes of our country-living friends to harvest some pine straw so I used the leaves from the yard compost pile for mulch.  It has been a life saver.  This row was weeded and mulched about 3 weeks ago!  It has definitely kept the weeds at bay.~ 

~Yukon Gold potato harvest and an early morning helper~

~Summer surplus from a neighbor~

~Okra, tomatoes, and a kershaw (curshaw,?) ~

I’m really not sure what the squash plant is.  My neighbor said a kershaw or something like that.  He said it was in the pumpkin squash family.  I’m going to google it but if you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.  I’m really not sure what to do with it.~

 

~Farmer’s Market goodness~

 ~We keep local honey around to help combat allergies.  When I saw this honey with the honeycomb, I could not pass it by.  My impulse buy was honey!  We also bought some fresh peaches (yum), a watermelon, and some tomatoes at the famer’s market.~

~A yummy book~

~I have wanted this book for a while and when we saw it at Cracker Barrel, David bought it for me. (click picture for link to amazon for book information)

Gardening woes

~I’ve been working on a post about dealing with burnout that I was going to post today but it’s just not quite right yet. 
As I went for my morning tour of the garden, I found out that some buggers are feasting on my plants.  I knew that I would be searching the net today for a solution so I’m sharing what I’ve found.  If you have any good advice on this topic, please share it with me!  Thanks!~

First, it was the mysterious holes in the soil.  (I still haven’t figured that one out either.)

Now, there are these holes:

Why didn’t I see these when I was weeding in the garden last night?  Ugh!  I knew to look on the bottom of the leaf and my suspicions were confirmed.

Can you see those little green worms?

Those are cabbage worms or cabbage loopers.  They are the larval form of the Cabbage White butterfly.  More information can be found here.

So I’ve been searching for info and here’s what I’ve found:

1.  To prevent infestation, use a floating row cover.  Ok, a little late for that one.  One article suggests using nylon stockings to cover the head of the cabbage until harvest.  This prevents the worms from burrowing into the cabbage head.

2.  Pick the little buggers off and smash them.  Yuck, yuck, yuck!  I started to do this earlier this morning but I was grossed out.  (And I want to be a homesteader! LOL)  I think I’ll see if my kids want to do this one for me! 

3.  Purchase bacillus thuringiensis (BT) for  a serious infestation.  I’ve not heard of this before but one article said that this is an organic method of elimination.  I also saw where someone suggested Neem Oil.

4.  Dust your cabbage with flour.  The worms will eat the flour, swell up and burst.  Nice visual, huh?  Whoever said that gardening is serene and peaceable never had to fight little buggers eating holes in his or her food.  More suggestions in this forum.

5.  Spray your plants with can milk or powdered milk.  I’m seriously considering doing this.  I have some canned milk in the pantry.  What can it hurt?  This link is to the article that names various types of methods to fight the cabbage worm.  This suggestion is actually in the comments to the article.  Another commenter suggested dusting with diatematious earth.  Of course, be sure not to breathe it in.

So, I guess I’d better pull on my gloves and get to smashing! 

Blech!!  :0)