Sept 8 2006
I was up early enough this morning to see a skunk in the veggie patch. I quickly put Bo on leash as I didn’t want him chasing it and getting skunked! Jaxx was still sleeping but on hearing Bo’s excited bark he was up in no time but by then the skunk had gone!
I also saw four deer on the three acre field, and three of them came across, passed the fruit trees and went down the side of the house and onto the road. The other deer went another way as it saw we were in its way as it hasn’t been as quick as the other three!
Then three more deer on the same field, but they crossed over it going from west to east.
I have had a surplus of tomatoes and so far have made some salsa and also some red tomato chutney. Both are delicious!
Also I had some surplus plums from the fruit tree at the front of the house and have made some plum and apple puree jam (called summer fruit jam!). That too is tasty!
The sit on mower is back in action after having the tyre pumped up. It needed an inner tube as well since i must have damaged it riding it back to base the other day with a flat tyre. So on Monday and again this morning I was back mowing.
Both days I have had to nurse the mower round. It needs the choke now to get it going at all and once going it stops everytime the choke is pushed in. Not good! However I have managed to mow a good section of the 3 acre field and some of the back acre so am happy with that! Every day it works is a bonus!
Sept 16 2006
The corn is all picked now and the corn plants have been pulled up and put on the compost heap.
The pepper plants produced little red chilli peppers, but the plants are so tiny that I am surprised they produced anything at all!!!
A lot of the hazel nuts have been blown on the ground. They are now big enough that they can be eaten, unless like the last lot that were blown off the tree that had very tiny nuts or nothing at all inside the shells.
The tomatoes are still producing.
The apples have mainly fallen from the trees and been eaten by the deer. A lot of the apples did have worms in or were wasp eaten.
The plums have all been picked from the tree at the back and made into jam or eaten as they were.
There are still lots of pears on the first pear tree. The second pear tree pears are not yet ready to be eaten.
The beetroot is just about ready to be pulled and the few carrots that are there are ready too.
The cabbages are growing still but I see the caterpillars have been enjoying the leaves.
I picked a cucumber the other day!!!! I think there is one more to pick soon!!!
took down all the metal irrigation pipes today. Our weather has cooled down significantly and I figure there isn’t much longer left for irrigating before the water gets turned off anyway. Plus the pipes had come apart and needed me to put them together again so I took the easy way out and took them all apart and away for the winter!
Sept 21 2006
I have cooked a lot of the beetroot and sliced it and put it in vinegar in jars.
I have made a lot of stewed tomato and put it in the freezer.
I returned from my trip to the Uk to find that there is nothing at all left in the veggie patch! The cabbages... white and red... that I expected to see growing healthily had all had their heads eaten! by deer or skunk I wonder??!!