Missing Willow Farm

Jack discovered the pond on our front yard while waiting for us to be done with digging sweet potatoes in the garden.  Evidently, he decided his toy needed a swim, too.  We don’t trust him not to run off still, so he doesn’t go out unsupervised.  I think he needs to go for a boat ride!

Actually, a turkey.  A big one.  She’s a bourbon red, the kind that Barbara Kingsolver wrote about in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.   I need to get a photo of our two week old chicks.  I swear they eat their weight in chick feed every day.

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We grow persian limes, key limes and meyer lemons in pots.  They go into the greenhouse over the winter and seem quite happy here.  We also have a banana tree but it’s never fruited.  I’m thinking we’re probably the only local citrus growers.  Gin and tonics at our house!

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Tiny nibbles in one of my precious pumpkins….  I cut off the chewed part, baked it off and now have a plethora of pumpkin to play with.  The chickens were very very happy with the scraps.

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We just picked up our entries.  I do know how to pack a beautiful jar!  🙂

We spent a good amount of time this morning working in the greenhouse.  We have three of our four indoor beds planted with carrots, kohlrabi, spinach, lettuce, beets, broccoli and dill.  One entire bed has soybeans planted in it.  We will put peas, cabbage and cucumbers in the final bed.  Some of them might not do well but that’s OK.  We learn more and more every year how to best utilize it for winter veggies.

We went to the opening night of our county fair last night, and counted 53 ribbons for Missing Willow Farm!  We earned 28 first, 18 second and 7 third place ribbons.  That’s a record for us (and maybe the fair, too).  🙂

County fair check in was yesterday.  I’ll get a preview of how we did tomorrow when it opens to the public, pick up is next Sunday.

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My annual goal of growing a pumpkin came true this year, and then some!  I think we started them too soon in early June.  I don’t care.  They make me happy!

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We always have a few of these laying around.  They’re good for temporary stock enclosures and chutes for handling our animals.  This year, we put a few to really good alternate use… as trellises in our garden.  They are 16 feet long, so when bent and fastened between two raised beds, they make the perfect structure for cucumbers and tomatoes to climb on and are plenty tall to walk under.