Monday, July 30, 2012

Home Again

We got back last week, Wednesday night, and itès been busy, busy, busy since.
Picking beans, cutting beans, blanching beans... About 9 gallons so far. My back aches. My legs ache. My thumb aches. Why do I love beans? We'll be well fed and organic this winter!
My hugelkultur bean bed is an overgrown tangled mess of beans. The dry beans in the centre are still flowering, which means I can't let any of the green beans go to seed yet.
While I was gone, Husband, the Littles, and my parents all picked beans. They all agreed, I planted too many beans! lol.

The greenhouses have filled out.  I'm yanking the squash plants out of greenhouse #1.  The corn is touching the roof in there, with tassels on.  That's the sweet corn.  No ears yet.  Peppers are filled out and lush, with tons of flowers.  Green tomatoes everywhere.  Pickling cukes are producing, and I canned two jars so far.  Beets and mangels are huge. Peas are still producing. I feel like I'm in some alternate universe where the garden overproduces. It's amazing!  And most amazing- the weeds did not go crazy while I was away!  Except the perennial bed.  It's a disaster.
We're out of potatoes, so I thought we should just dig up a couple of volunteers for supper the other night, before the tops die off and I can't find them. 5 plants produced this bounty. That's more than we got out of 4 feet of hilled rows last year. We'll keep harvesting these to eat fresh until I run out of volunteer plants. There might be enough to get us through til fall.

The puppies grew like bad weeds while I was away.
That's my boy Smitty, laying with his mom. He's still smaller than the rest, but just as spunky and adventurous.
Wonder and a bunch of her little ones. 5 of the pups left to go to new homes yesterday. Brownie, Belle, Miley, Giligan and Goldie. That leaves us with one black female, Shaniqua, and two tan males, Shaggy and Sam, who need homes. And they're just 8 weeks old today! Pinky will be staying with us as well.
Our trip was good. Lots of visiting, family we haven't seen in a while. No surgery for #1. It was found to be ineffective, and they've stopped doing it. He's three letters shy of being legal to drive right now. They've recommended rigid contact lenses. Because they'll scrape his eye lids and annoy him, his brain may tell his eyes to slow down, which might get him over the edge. and practicing the letter charts, at a distance, to help strengthen the muscles. We have to go back in six months so he can be retested. Oh joy. Winter driving on a long trip. I think I may let Husband take him on that one.

 The Littles did great while I was gone. Grandma had to wake them up once, and Husband had to do a few repairs, but they survived, the critters survived, the garden survived. All is well.
#2 returned from camp on Saturday.  He was a little home sick, but now he's missing camp.  Go figure.  He figures he grew a couple of inches, but I don't find it as noticeable this year.  Probably because he was already towering over me when he left.  It's good to have him home!




8 comments:

  1. Wendy - been wondering about you and am glad that you are home safe and sound. glad to hear the garden is doing so well - we are still waiting on our beans and you are up to your eyeballs in them - bahahahahahah! glad number 2 is home!!!

    your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Thanks, kymber. Yeah, I'm glad I went ahead and stuck them in the ground early this year. I like the rotational planting for the space as well. It's much easier to remember where I left off with the picking with stuff in between them.

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  2. hey wendy - good to see you back !!

    nice harvest you have going there - you should be full-on stocked this winter - good on you!!

    do you mind sending me a few pics of your greenhouses? i am building this fall and always copy success.

    jambaloney@gmail.com

    cheers!!

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  3. So glad everyone made it home safe and sound. And isn't wonderful to come home to a producing garden. Like Magic! Nothing better then greeny beans. Mine have been coming in slow but steady so we've been enjoying a few for dinner...if they make it into the house.

    Oh those puppies! I imagine it's hard shipping them out to different homes...or maybe not. I know how rascally pups can get. Glad you're keeping pinky. It will be fun watching her(?) grow.

    Glad you're back. We missed you.

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    1. Thanks, herdog. Yes, I think we're all glad to be back.

      The first few I was okay with. Then someone came last night and took the last three!!! I cried.

      Pinky(f) and Smitty(m) are here to stay. The hardest part was choosing my boy. In the end colour won, and I kept my Waldo look alike. I still bawled when Shaggy left though. He's so much like his Grandpa. I hope I made the right choice!

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  4. Green beans are absolutely one of my favorite vegetables. Those will be good this winter.

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  5. Glad someone is getting a good bean crop. Bush beans were mowed by critters this year. Maybe the pole beans will survive. The rodents seem to have trouble distinguishing them from tomatoes when they are planted close to each other. That is probably the only reason why any beans survived.

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  6. Don't you just love the volunteers?! I've read that they are stronger than the seeds that are planted because they are exactly where they like to be and loving it ;-)

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