Sorry I’ve been away for a couple of weeks.  Just lots of things going on….

I was looking back at my blog to find the recipe for homemade liquid laundry detergent.  And, I found that even though I wrote that I would post the recipe for everyone, I didn’t!  YIKES!  The reason I was looking for it was because I was telling 2 friends about it and told them that I would email them the recipe.  So, I found it and I’m going to post it for you now:

YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 – 5-Gallon bucket or pail (clean)
• 1 – Bar of Castile soap or Fels Naptha
• Arm & Hammer WASHING Soda (not baking soda)
• 20 Mule Team Borax
• A wisk
• 1 medium cooking pot
• Measuring Cup
• Grater

First, I want to tell you where I was able to find my ingredients – you can buy the Castile Soap at Cracker Barrel   Yep!  Also, I had trouble finding the Washing Soda but did locate it at Ace Hardware (the only place I could find it in all of Mobile, AL).   Now, if your Ace Hardware does not carry the Washing Soda, I believe you can order it online from Ace Hardware and possibly have it shipped to your local store.   Next, can you believe it, WalMart (in my area) actually carries the 20 Mule Team Borax in the detergent isle.   Our WalMart is carrying less products that ever before…. to save money of course LOL

Grate your bar of soap.  Put 4 cups of water on the stove and heat to almost boiling (always keep the water below boiling).  Slowly add your grated soap to the water while stirring (just a little bit at a time so it does not clump up).   Stir until the soap is all dissolved.  Pull the pot off of the stove top and then slowly add (while stirring) 1 cup of Washing Soda and 1 cup of Borax.  Stir until all is dissolved.

Add about 3.5 gallons of cold water to the clean 5-gallon bucket.  Then pour in the hot soap/washing soda/borax mix into the 5 gallon bucket.  Stir well to make sure everything is mixed up really good.   OPTIONAL:  Add and mix in 10 drops of your favorite essential oil PER GALLON of laundry detergent for added scent.  Leave uncovered for 8 hours (you can make this in the morning and it  is ready in the late afternoon, or you can make it at night and it is ready the next morning).  The mixture will have congealed – use your wisk to mix it all back up again into a liquid.   Use a funnel to pour the liquid detergent into clean, used laundry detergent bottles that you have saved.

Before using the homemade liquid detergent in your washer, shake the container to mix it up, then use 1/4 for medium-sized loads and 1/2 cup for large-sized loads.  This detergent is not very “soapy” and does not make lots (if any) bubbles.  But don’t worry, it is still cleaning your clothes.

I don’t know if I’ve posted this before, but I use white vinegar in place of fabric softener.  Just fill the fabric softener holder in your washing machine with vinegar and let the washer automatically dispense the vinegar in your rinse cycle.   Believe it or not, it will make your towels so absorbent!  You will really notice a difference when you use one after bathing.

The heat and humidity have just been unbearable!  And, according to the forecast, we have more to look forward to

Excessive Heat Warning from 12PM to 6PM again today! Heat Index values will be between 110 and 115. Scattered T-Storms are also in the forecast.

From what I understand, most of the week is going to be like this.  I went out to feed at 8 AM and still came back inside with my clothes soaked from sweat…. it’s just hard to describe to anyone that has never experienced hot hot hot and humid humid humid!

On the cow front….. Davison has injured his foot.  We don’t know how, but on Sunday morning when I went out to feed, Kitty came running but Davison stayed laying down under the trees.   I went out to check on him (very carefully, because you never know about injured animals) and could tell that he wasn’t putting any weight on his right rear foot (after he stood up).  I gave him a scoop of feed so he wouldn’t have to walk and he ate very well.  Then he started hobbling over to the feeder for more.  So his appetite is fine – nothing wrong there.  And his foot seems to be just a tiny bit swollen.  So he’s getting around and eating just fine for the last 2 days – he’s just “hobbling” and not wanting to put alot of weight on it.  DH said it doesn’t look broken and isn’t swollen hardly at all.  I am hoping that he will re-coop ok and be fine.  Each day seems to be a little better.  But since we don’t have a “shoot” to put him in, it’s a bit difficult to examine his foot really closely.  When he’s eating at the feeder, we can see it very well on the side of the fence – he’s only about 6 inches away.  We’ll keep a close eye on it!

The older “chicks” are now ready for the chicken coop!  And I couldn’t be happier!  It’s time for them to GO from my hall bathroom!   They will be living in a medium (intermediate) metal dog kennel for a week or two in the chicken coop.  I am hoping this will get them more adjusted to their mom, aunts and uncle (or dad) who are outside.  I’m thinking a more slow introduction period will be better LOL   I am just worried about them going out and getting picked on by the grown up chickens.  So, we’ll see how this works.   The other two baby chicks are doing fine!  They are such sweeties…. I am so happy to be adding 5 new chickens to my flock – and they are babies that come from my chickens!  Isn’t that cool?  I am thinking that next Spring, I might add more pullets to the flock by purchasing baby chicks and raising them until they are old enough to join my existing flock.  That way if I’m continually adding new “stock”.  I’d like to try several other breeds too.

The garden is  horrible…. everything is dying from the heat (as expected).  But the okra, peppers, eggplant and “butterpeas” are growing well.   I’ll have to harvest the butterpeas this coming weekend (maybe very early in the morning when it’s cooler though).   It’s just been too hot to do any real work outside.  I need to pull up all of the spent plants and amend the soil again – I need to get it ready for fall planting.

Got to run — a busy day today.

Well, we’re getting to the end of July already.  It doesn’t seem like it should be this late in the year already!

Here on the Gulf Coast, in our hot and humid environment, July and part of August are probably the worst two months for gardening.  It seems like some years are hot and dry (and everything is parched) or… it’s hot and humid (and everything is molding LOL)   2010 is one of the hot and humid years…. the cucumbers and squash are all molding and the tomatoes are baking on the vines LOL

It’s actually getting so hot here that today, as an example, we have a “Special Weather Statement for Upper Mobile, AL“:

Issued by The National Weather Service
Mobile, AL
12:57 am CDT, Thu., Jul. 29, 2010

… DANGEROUS HEAT INDEX VALUES EXPECTED FRIDAY INTO THE WEEKEND…

STRONG HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL GULF COAST REGION THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THIS PATTERN WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE WAY TO VERY WARM TEMPERATURES TO MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH SUNDAY… RESULTING IN DANGEROUS HEAT INDEX VALES EACH AFTERNOON… RANGING FROM 105 TO 110 DEGREES.

HEAT INDEX VALUES WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE TO NEAR SEASONABLE LEVELS BY EARLY NEXT WEEK AS HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE REGION CONTINUES TO SHIFT WEST AND WEAKEN.

DANGEROUS HEAT INDEX VALUE COULD CREATE HEAT RELATED ILLNESSES IN MANY PEOPLE. PEOPLE WORKING IN THESE CONDITIONS SHOULD DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS… STAY HYDRATED AND TAKE EXTRA BREAKS IF NECESSARY. RESIDENTS AND FAMILY MEMBERS ARE ALSO ADVISED TO CHECK ON THE ELDERLY IN THESE CONDITIONS.

It can actually get too hot here on the Gulf Coast for blossoms to set fruit on many vegetables — tomatoes is just one of them.  This year I’m even  having some problems with my snap beans setting fruit.  I think the pollen just gets too hot.  The pods will only have 1 or 2 beans in them…

But there are a couple of veggies that do thrive in these conditions — one is okra and the other is banana peppers!  I’m still harvesting plenty of these.

It’s time for me to start planning and planting for the fall garden already.   The tomatoes will need to be started inside this weekend. They will need to grow inside for about 4 weeks before transplanting outside into the garden at the beginning of September.  And about 2 weeks before being transplanted, I can start some cucumbers and yellow squash.

The chickens are not laying as many eggs now because of the heat – I do keep a big shop fan blowing into the coop and circulating the air for them.  I think this helps them alot.  I notice that sometimes they will be standing at the screen door of the chicken coop enjoying the cool breeze from the fan, their feathers blowing around.

Speaking of chickens….. and maybe CHICKS…. I have two more babies!  One was born last Wednesday (JUL/21) and another was born this past Monday (JUL/26).  So I have both of them together   At first, the chick that hatched on JUL/21 was pretty lonely all by himself!  I was glad that another chick hatched so they could both have company in their brooder and not be alone.

The other 3 babies are looking like miniature chickens now!  And it’s about time to introduce them to the outside flock (and get them out of the hall bathroom!)  I will be purchasing a small wire training kennel (the kind you use for puppies) and put these babies into the kennel and place it in the coop.  I’m hoping this method will work well to get all of our “introductions” out of the way before turning them loose with all of the grownups.  I plan on keeping them in the kennel and inside the coop for at least a week, maybe even two.  Then, one night DH and I will go out and remove them from the kennel and place them on the roost with the others.  They can all “wake up” together the next morning and hopefully integrate into the existing flock with no problems.  I guess I’m just an overly protective mother LOL

I cannot not yet tell the sex of any of the first 3 babies…. but I am keeping my fingers crossed for PULLETS!  Fozzy, the one rooster I have, is plenty enough for the flock!  And more than one rooster in a small flock of chickens is just too much.  Actually, sometimes having 1 rooster is too much LOL

Something else that we’re having alot of trouble with is SQUIRRELS!  They are eating the tops off of all the pole beans….. they walk along the top of the trellis and just nibble away!  Around here we have so many squirrels – it’s just unbelievable!  Since we haven’t had any major “storms” (aka, hurricanes) since Katrina, they have multiplied like crazy!  This Spring we even had one (or maybe more) get into our attic!  As soon as it got really hot in the attic, they moved out.   Squirrels are actually rodents and can cause alot of damage to small gardens.  It just may be time to invite a squirrel hunter to the house to take some of them out or…. try to find a trap and move them somewhere very far away from here.  Don’t get me wrong…. I do like squirrels, but too many of them are bad news.

Well, it’s 8 AM now and it’s surely not going to get any cooler LOL  So, I’m headed outside to feed the cows and chickens…

Have a great day!

Read this article from the Huffington Post:

The Unholy Alliance: Monsanto, Dupont & Obama

Ronnie Cummins

Founder and Director, Organic Consumers Association

Posted: July 11, 2010 08:47 PM

President Obama knows that agribusiness cannot be trusted with the policy and regulatory powers of government. On the campaign trail in 2007, he promised:

• We’ll tell ConAgra that it’s not the Department of Agribusiness. It’s the Department of Agriculture. We’re going to put the people’s interests ahead of the special interests.

But, starting with his choice for USDA Secretary, the pro-biotech former governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, President Obama has let Monsanto, Dupont and the other pesticide and genetic engineering companies know they’ll have plenty of friends and supporters within his administration.

President Obama has taken his team of food and farming leaders directly from the biotech companies and their lobbying, research, and philanthropic arms.

Michael Taylor, former Monsanto Vice President, is now the FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods.

Roger Beachy, former director of the Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, is now the director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Islam Siddiqui, Vice President of the Monsanto and Dupont-funded pesticide-promoting lobbying group, CropLife, is now the Agriculture Negotiator for the US Trade Representative.

Rajiv Shah, former agricultural-development director for the pro-biotech Gates Foundation (a frequent Monsanto partner), served as Obama’s USDA Under Secretary for Research Education and Economics and Chief Scientist and is now head of USAID.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan, who took Monsanto’s side against organic farmers in the Roundup Ready alfalfa case, has been nominated to the Supreme Court.

Now, Ramona Romero, corporate counsel to DuPont, has been nominated by President Obama to serve as General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

DuPont’s lengthy record of lies, crimes and misdeeds are well known, and the company’s efforts to deceive the public and cover-up risks of its products continue to this day.

Corporate Crime Daily reports:

DuPont brought genetically engineered “Bt” crops to market, despite concerns raised by scientists, environmentalists and organic growers who noted that the Bt crops threaten to destroy the usefulness of Bt sprays, valued by many as the world’s safest and most important biological pesticide.

Genetically engineered Bt is not the same as the long-used Bt sprays. It is an activated, high-dose toxin. DuPont claims its Bt products are safe, but there is evidence that Bt crops can trigger allergies and there have been many reports of sickness and death in animals exposed to Bt crops.

Installing a DuPont lawyer at the USDA would create a terrible conflict that would no doubt be resolved in favor of this powerful company rather than the people’s interest in food safety, public health and environmental sustainability.

President Obama should stand by his promise, and withdraw his nomination of Ramona Romero, or the Senate should refuse to confirm it. This would be a positive step in turning the Department of Agribusiness back into the Department of Agriculture.

I’m actually still here… just been busier than you can imagine.  There are alot of things going on right now.

I hope that you had a wonderful 4th of July holiday!  For me, it was very nice and quiet… except for the fireworks my sister (also my neighbor) shot off and scared the daylights out of Sam (the Chocolate Lab).  He received lots of love and attention from me last night to keep him calmed down LOL  I kinda wonder after a while if he was scared of the fireworks or maybe he had just figured out that acting afraid and barking would get him more attention…. smart dog, eh?   OH, why was my 4th quiet?  Well, DH has taken DD to Kentucky to spend a month with Mamaw    DD loves Mamaw and loves Kentucky too.   And this gives her some quality time alone with Mamaw every year where it can just be the two of them.   DH will be coming back home on Wednesday (or at least that’s what we planned).   He tries to do as much as possible for his Mom while he is there – and she has a list a mile long LOL   But when he only can get up there a couple times a year, he wants to make sure that he can help her out as much as possible since she is living alone.  ME?   Well, until we got our chickens and cows, I used to go LOL  But I just about have a full time job down here taking care of them 3 times a day.  Right now I just don’t feel comfortable enough to leave and trust someone else to take care of them.

I’m getting ready to sit down and eat my lunch – which today consists of yellow squash, soybeans, and some Kentucky Blue Lake POLE Beans…. I just finished a cucumber that I had peeled (awesome!)   I still have to blanch some okra to freeze and cut and pickle some peppers in a little while.  The garden has been so productive this year already.  But, it’s time for me to start planning on the Fall garden already!  Can you believe?  I’m already been busy re-planting some of the garden that was harvested.   I should be able to get a 2nd summer crop from some of it.  Then I’ll try to get an early start on some of my fall veggies this year.  I think I planted some of them too late last year.

Well, I have some BAD NEWS and I have some GOOD NEWS….. and I’ll go with the bad news first ;-(    I lost 5 of my chickens to my outside/backyard dogs!  Yes, I know… it was everything I could do to NOT go out and shoot the 3 dogs that killed my chickens.    I lost Capri (the Barred Rock Rooster), Buffy (the white-ish colored Aracauna, Speckles (the hen Barred Rock), and two mixed color Aracaunas….   That left me with my 3 Rhode Island Red hens, Fozzy (the Aracauna Rooster), 1 mixed color Aracauna Hen and QUACKERS… she’s the crossed-beak Aracauna.  Depressed was not even the word to describe how I felt about losing my chickens.  I was mad and sad all at the same time.  But one thing that never changed, I will have chickens…. period!  Even if I have to buy some more is what I thought…. UNTIL….

Guess what?  Do you remember me telling you about the broody Rhode Island Hen I have setting on eggs… well, they started hatching the next week!!  Now I have 3 baby chicks!   I couldn’t believe it!   The first one that hatched looks like a Barred Rock (I think it may be a hen because the front of her feet are “washed”).  I am not sure what kind of shell she came out of though.   The second one came out of what I believe was a Rhode Island Red shell but…. the daddy is definitely Fozzy, the Araucana Rooster!  So, this one is a RRR/Aracauna cross and is beautiful!  I think it’s going to be a rooster though because it is growing so fast and is so much larger than the other two (typical of rooster chicks!).  The last one was a little black chick (that would be a Barred Rock) that came out of a Araucana egg!  The front of it’s feet are also washed so I’m hoping it’s a SHE…

The broody hen is still setting on more eggs!  Other chickens are laying in the same box as her (sometimes even on top of her!).  So the eggs are accumulating!  This morning I went out and marked all of the eggs with an “X” with a pencil,  There are 7 eggs under her!!  But this way I can take out any news ones.   If not, she’ll be setting on eggs for the rest of her life LOL  I am really hoping for some more baby chicks – I would like to get my layers back up to the number I had before.

You may wonder what I have been doing…. well, one thing is that I started a blog just on the Gulf Oil Spill.  Things have gotten crazy in the Gulf – we’re now at Day 75!  I am beginning to wonder if this is ever going to stop spewing oil.   There is oil all over the beaches, oil in the marshes and dead sea life everywhere…. it’s a horrible situation and to be honest with you, I’m really getting concerned about the chemicals that could possibly be in the air now – chemicals from the oil and chemicals from the dispersants being sprayed.   I am so glad that we no longer live directly on the coast – we are probably about 12 miles (as the crow flies) from Mobile Bay and about 32 to 35 miles from the Gulf (as the crow flies).   I am getting very concerned about hurricanes this year…. who knows what they could blow in on us.  Here’s a map to give you a better idea of our location:

You can see where Dauphin Island, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach are located as well as where Mobile is located.  All of the beaches along the coast have been hit with crude oil…. and, now the Mobile Bay has oil in it.   This is really on the scale of a disaster now… there’s no two ways about it.   But, if you’re interested on day-by-day updates of what’s really going on, check out my Gulf Oil Spill blog.

Take care! — Judy

Good morning   I’ve already been out in the garden this morning taking some pictures.   I’ve also done the feeding/watering of our critters (chickens, cows and dogs).

Something that I thought I would share on this post is hand pollinating vegetables…. with the absence of many honeybees who pollinate so much more efficiently, some vegetables have to be hand pollinated if you want to get any fruit to set.

At the beginning of this season, I didn’t see any bees at all and I was pretty worried about my yellow squash setting fruit.  After several baby squash fruit just shriveled up and fell off the vine, I decided that I had better do some hand pollinating until some bees come back around.

On squash plants, there are male blossoms and female blossoms.  There are usually many more male blossoms than female.  The male blossom just looks like a flower on a long stem coming from the vine of the squash plant.  Notice in this photo that there are several male blossoms (only one is open):

The inside of the male blossom has a single stamen with pollen on it and looks like this:

Now, let’s move on to the female squash blossom…. it looks dramatically different — like a baby squash plant with a bloom on the end:

The inside of the female bloom has more than one stigma and looks like this:

Notice how the female blossom does not have pollen on the stigma.  Well, to hand pollinate your squash, your goal is to get the pollen from the male flower stamen to the female flower stigma.  There are several ways to do this.  One is to take a Q-Tip and collect pollen on it from the male flower stamen and then transfer the pollen to the female flower stigma.  Another way (the method I use) is to pick the male flower, remove the large yellow petals around the stamen and then use the male flower stamen to transfer pollen to the female flower stigma.  It’s very easy to do and will guarantee that your squash is pollinated and that you get fruit in the event that the bees are not visiting your garden.  As a note, squash flowers are only open a few hours in the morning and then close up.  So try to do your squash hand pollinating early each day.

There is another vegetable that benefits from hand pollination especially when grown in square foot gardens — and that is corn.  If you’ve even seen a huge commercial crop of corn grown in the field, you’ll notice that they plant their corn pretty close to each other.  There are several reasons for this — 1 is when the corn grows it will shade out the weeds and 2 is that by planting the corn fairly close, the farmers are assured of the pollen falling from the tassels to the silks and pollinating the ears when the wind blows.

Let’s back up… what’s a tassel and what are corn silks?  Well, here’s a pic of some planted corn with arrows pointing to each part:

Here’s a close up of the tassel:

Each little stem of the tassel has flowers containing pollen… when the wind blows or the corn stalk moves, pollen drops from the tassels and onto the corn silks.  Here’s an even closer shot of the tassel that contains pollen:

I take a pair of scissors and clip off a stem of the tassel (carefully, you don’t want to knock all of the pollen out) and then I shake it on the silks.  Here’s a closeup pic of the corn silk:

Each strand of the silk must be pollinated — each strand of silk is connected to one kernel of corn

Another way to hand pollinate corn is to take a clean white envelope, open it and tap the tassel so that the pollen falls off and into the envelope.  Then, use the pollen in the envelope to sprinkle over the silks.

I hope that I’ve helped to explain how to hand pollinate yellow squash and corn in your garden.

Ah yes, we have a broody hen in the chicken coop     It’s one of the Rhode Island Reds this time.    She’s really doing pretty good sitting on the eggs.    I’ve only found her once “confused” and on the wrong nest LOL    She had gotten out for a bite to eat after I fed one morning and when she got back into the nest box, she went into the wrong one.   I just left her in the nest box she was in and placed her eggs back under her again.   I don’t know if this will affect the hatchability of the eggs or not – I don’t think she was off of them very long.  But we’ll see… who knows?  They might hatch.   If they do, then great and if not, well, nothing lost (except a couple of eggs, eh?)

Here’s the video – hope you enjoy it!  You’ll notice in the video that she’s missing feathers on her back.  This is natural and it’s from the rooster mounting the hen during mating.  So nothing is wrong with her

I finally found out how to get the video from my phone to my computer.  I didn’t have my video camera outside with me on this particular day so I just used my phone.  It does take pretty good videos

I know that I tell everyone how Davison & Kitty are just like big puppies – well, more like 750 lb puppies LOL  But, our steers are the sweetest, most gentle and tame animals.  It’s because we love them and we treat them very well.  They are absolutely spoiled!  They love to have their head scratched and they follow you around when you’re using the pitchfork and getting up their poo (for the compost bin).   They are just amazing animals.  And maybe to you, they might look just alike, but they are as different as daylight and dark to us.  Their personalities are different, they are built just a little different than the other, and they even have a different MOO (Kitty sounds like an elk!).   Davison loves the plums that fall from the plum tree; Kitty could care less about them.  Davison loves it when I feed him a stalk of corn; Kitty just wants the ear of corn LOL   Anyway, I think you’ll really enjoy this video of the two playing around and acting crazy.

I was busy, busy, busy outside in the garden today!  I got a good bit accomplished too, so that makes me feel pretty good.  I also was able to take some pics so I can now share what the garden is looking like!

OK, how about an update on the tomatoes in the SWC (Self-Watering Container) waste parts?  Well, it looks like every darn one of them has the fusarium wilt now    So, tomorrow I will probably go out and cut them all down and throw the vines in the burn pile.  I’m thinking about just adding some compost to the mini raised beds and then planting some Blue Lake Pole Beans and making good use of the trellis.  I still have the tomatoes that are planted on the other side of the garden and so far they are doing fine and not showing any signs of wilt (keeping my fingers crossed!)

Here’s what all of the tomatoes on the North side of my garden (with the wilt) look like:

At first, just the tops will start to wilt and fall over.  Then, after a day or two, the entire plant will wilt and start to die.   I don’t know how common the wilt virus is in the Northern U.S., but it seems to be pretty common down here in the South.

Now, so far (knock on wood) there is nothing wrong with my Butternut Squash vines!  Did you know that Butternut Squash are resistant to Squash Vine Borers and also Powdery Mildew?  So that makes them pretty easy to grow.  Notice I didn’t say “immune”, but resistant.  Last year I lost the 1 Butternut Squash I had planted to a SVB    I can’t wait to harvest my first fruit which should be ready pretty soon.   Here’s a pic of the largest fruit so far:

and here’s a pic of the next largest:

Sorry the color in the pics are not too good – I took them with my cell phone.

The Asparagus is growing like crazy…. I haven’t harvested any more of the shoots since it was very cold.  The shoots are still rather small but I think by next year I should be able to have a decent harvest of Asparagus    Here’s a pic  – doesn’t it look so soft and fluffy?

Something that looks like it’s going to do well again in the garden this year is the Banana Peppers!  Last year I had a bumper crop and this year looks to be the same.  We do like these peppers because they are not hot – they are very mild and are great sliced and then pickled in straight vinegar.  We like them on sandwiches and in salads.

I’m getting a couple of Blackberries every day now   Not quite enough to do anything with but still a nice little snack   Also, I notice that one of the vines is blooming again!  Is there any such thing as everbearing blackberries?  Hmmm…

I have two different varieties of corn planted in the area where we extended the garden this year.  I didn’t realize that the plants were going to be so different though LOL  On the left is Early Sunglow (a yellow sweet corn) and on the right is Peaches N Cream (a bi-color sweet corn).    Just look at the difference in the tassels at the top of the plants!

The Pink-Eyed Purple-Hull Peas are doing great!  Thank goodness for a bean like this who loves high temperatures LOL.   I can’t wait until it’s time to start shelling these beans.  They are awesome!

Now the Purple-Podded Pole Beans are not doing to shabby either…. To me, these are gorgeous beans!

I took some pics of the squash plants that had powdery mildew on them…. I hope this will help anyone who might have this problem and didn’t know what it was.

I sprayed the milk, baking soda, dishwashing liquid, and water mixture on these plants today (as well as the squash plants on the other side of the garden that haven’t gotten this disease yet).  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it works well, because take a look at how tall these squash plants are:

When I was spraying the top and underneath of all the leaves, it gave me a chance to look for bugs and bug eggs.  And, guess what I found?  SVB eggs…. I was able to remove a ton of them and squish them!  Hopefully this will take care of the population of these critter that we have.  So far, we’ve caught and killed 3 of the adults!  Here’s a pic of a SVB egg (circled in red):

It just looks like a tiny brownish, oval dot that is usually layed on a blossom, sometimes on the fruit, or most of the time on the underside of leaves and stems of the squash plant.  The eggs are very easy to remove and squish.  It just takes a little while to go through each leaf (front and back) and make sure you’ve found all of the eggs before they get a chance to hatch!

Well, the rain is what ended my day working in the garden today.  I’ll leave you with a couple of pics of rain falling through the trees

Lots of things going on today! We have things to finish up outside in the garden and yard – then it will be time to come inside and do some chores like laundry and cleaning (UG!)

I’m charging my camera batteries now (they were completely dead) so maybe I can take some pics of the garden.  There are so many things that I want to show you… first there are some problems in the garden already this growing season :-0   Yes…. these are all problems that are actually occurring because of the amount and frequency of rain that we’ve been having here on the Gulf Coast.  In just June alone, we’ve had rain every day (for all 5 days so far) except for 1….. and in those 5 days of rain, we’ve already had 9/10ths of an inch.    Mix all that water in with the heat and we’ve got a very hot and humid situation down here.  Hot and humid isn’t the ideal growing situation for many veggies such as tomatoes and squash.

Tomatoes — so far, I’ve had to remove 6 tomato plants because of fusarium wilt.  This is a very bad soil fungi that only attacks tomato plants.  What does it do to tomato plants?  The waterfeeding system to the tomato plants becomes blocked.    Well, it’s easy to tell when your soil is infected because even though your plants have been watered, they wilt and resemble a plant that needs to be watered.  Then they start dying….  This fungi loves warm, humid weather.   I think that the only reason that I haven’t lost all of my tomato plants on this side of my garden is that I have them planted in the waste portion of the SWC (Self-Watering Container).  Here’s a picture I took last year showing how I used this waste portion to plant my tomatoes in (as well as the trellis wall we built for the tomatoes):

In each little “mini-garden” I have 2 tomato plants planted.    So the soil in each is contained and I’m hoping this will keep the fungi from spreading as fast.  I am removing  all of the tomato plants that show signs of wilt too.  I do not know if the fungi can be transmitted if the leaves of an adjacent tomato plant touch (this is a question for EG!)  .  So, I’m hoping to salvage as many of these tomato plants as possible this year and hope that I get some fruit from them.  As a backup though, I have 2 other raised beds planted with tomatoes on the other side of the garden

So what am I going to do for the future?  Well, I will have to remove the soil from these mini-raised beds and dispose of it (and not in the compost bins!!).  Then I will disinfect each mini-raised bed with some bleach water and soap before putting new soil back in.  What is the alternative?  Well, it would be to grow something other than tomatoes in these beds.   I could use this area to grow some pole beans up the trellis during the hot summer months and just have my tomatoes planted somewhere else in the garden.  Those are my two options.

Now, onto the next problem in the garden – Powdery Mildew on the yellow squash plants…. yes, another problem because of the amount and frequency of rain as well as the high temperatures.  The plants are still producing and I have found an organic treatment online (at www.veggiegardener.com )  Here’s the “recipe”:

“I have used a solution of milk, baking soda, and liquid dish detergent to effectively control powdery mildew in my own vegetable garden. Here is the spray recipe I use:”

• Using a hose end sprayer, remove the bottle from the sprayer.
• Fill the bottle with 1/2 quart of milk (I typically use skim milk, but any milk will work)
• Add 3 teaspoons of baking soda
• Add one drop of liquid dish detergent
• Mix contents well
• Reattach bottle to sprayer. Attach sprayer to water hose and spray the top and bottom sides of infected leaves
• Reapply solution once a week (or in my case, everyday since it’s been raining everyday LOL)

I’m not really sure exactly what kind of “hose end sprayer” he’s using but I did an online search about using milk on powdery mildew and found that people use anywhere from 50/50-milk/water to 10/90-milk/water.   On the baking soda, I’ve read to use 1 heaping tablespoon per gallon of water and that more than that could actually burn the squash leaves.

Since I am going to use a hand-held spray bottle, this is the “solution” that I’m going to spray on my squash plants…. I will let you know if it works or not:

• 1 hand-held spray bottle
• Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• Fill 1/2 with warm water
• Mix contents well
• Add 1 drop of liquid dish detergent
• Fill last 1/2 of bottle with milk
• Mix contents well
• Spray tops and bottoms of squash plant leaves (both infected and un-infected leaves)

I hope this works!

What else for garden chores this morning?  I will be staking a bed of tomatoes (on the other side of the garden from the wilt infected tomatoes) that are growing like weeds LOL  They are falling over everywhere – this is something I should have done 2 weeks ago….  And, I have some more yellow squash plants on the other side of the garden that need staking.

Next, I have harvested all of the corn in the raised beds around the chicken run.  We’ve had corn on the cob for dinner twice already and, I’ve frozen 3 bags (4 ears each bag).   I still have a big gallon ziplock full of shucked corn in the refrigerator — some we’ll have for dinner tonight (with BBQ ribs) and the rest will be blanched and frozen    In this bed where the corn used to grow, I will be amending the soil with compost and planting some Blue Lake Pole Beans.  This will provide us more beans to eat as well as some shade for the chickens when they are out in their run.

Well, got to go…. it’s only getting hotter by the minute outside LOL   I hope that you have a wonderful day and get to play in the dirt in your garden.

Good morning   Sweet Sam-bo the Chocolate Lab had an early morning call with nature so I’m up this morning at 4 AM LOL  Now he’s back asleep and I’m wide awake!  This coffee sure does hit the spot.

First, an update on my chore list:

• Make Laundry Detergent (my first time!)
• Bake Bread
• Make something with frozen Pumpkin
• Eggs – make custard
• Clean Kitchen top to bottom — STARTED
  
• Clean Bedroom top to bottom
• Start cleaning/organizing in garage this evening
• Take garbage to road for pickup
• Sort/Organize coupons – STARTED
• Cook Lunch & Dinner

As you can see, I got a pretty good way on the  “easy” items on the list…. It’s just those cleaning ones that I don’t like to do LOL

An update on the Homemade Laundry Detergent — After sitting in the bucket, covered with plastic wrap, the laundry detergent was completely cooled down and ready last night around 8 PM.  So, it doesn’t have to sit a complete 24 hours…. I would say more like 12 hours is plenty enough time.  My detergent had completely gel-d!  I mixed it up really well with my hands first, squishing up the lumps and then I used the wisk to make it back into a thick liquid again.  Then I added the essential oil (I used grapefruit) and then started filling all of the empty store-bought laundry detergent bottles that I had saved.    Last night, I washed my first load in the homemade detergent   It seemed to clean fine – I really didn’t notice a difference at all.  I used vinegar in the rinse water like I normally do, and then partially dried the load and hung the clothes up on hangers to finish drying.  This morning, I smelled the laundry and it smells clean – so that’s all that matters.   I’ll continue to use this first batch and see how it does and let you know.

Frozen Pumpkin – we always end up with frozen pumpkin in the freezer.  Last year, it was from a pie pumpkin I grew in the garden and from one that I purchased.  I usually make pumpkin pies on holidays – but this year, another family member made the pies, so I have several packs of frozen pumpkin in the freezer that I needed to do something with.  I found a recipe for Pumpkin Bread:

Hope you have a good morning…. it’s time for me to top off this cup of coffee and get busy in the kitchen

I’ve gotten started on my chore list for today, but for some reason, I’m just in a slow mood LOL  The homemade laundry detergent is made and is cooling in the 5 gallon bucket, my bread is finished baking as well as the Pumpkin Bread Loaf… and I’ve just finished eating the most wonderful tomato sandwich — yep, just sliced tomato on warm, fresh-baked bread with mayo, salt and pepper.  Now, I’m ready for a nap!

Yes, today is a day that will be spent doing chores around the house.  DH is outside already this morning finishing up the trimming of the azaleas and several low limbs from the trees.  He’s going to pile everything up and hopefully burn it (the stuff is probably too green though).  It is so nice to be able to see through all the way to the chickens and cows now   I didn’t really realize how tall those azaleas had gotten over the last year since we trimmed them last.

My day is starting off with updating my blog   This really helps to get me motivated and organized for the day.  I use this time to get my thoughts sorted out and figure out what I need to do.  Now, on to my list for the day!  What I do not finish today will just roll over to tomorrow’s list LOL

• Make Laundry Detergent (my first time!)
• Bake Bread
• Make something with frozen Pumpkin
• Eggs – make custard
• Clean Kitchen top to bottom
• Clean Bedroom top to bottom
• Start cleaning/organizing in garage this evening
• Take garbage to road for pickup
• Sort/Organize coupons
• Cook Lunch & Dinner

I will be writing another post about the Homemade Laundry Detergent (with recipe)!  Well, got to run.  What’s on your agenda for today?

Today was one of those days where you get a good bit accomplished, but…. you’re not just dog-tired from the work you’ve done.  We’ve had a good bit of rain lately, actually alot of rain — 1.5 inches this weekend (and not including today).   Something that the rain has brought out unfortunately, is the bugs.  And it’s not just any old bug, it’s centipedes!  Oh my goodness, they are everywhere!  I’ve never seen so many in all my life.  They were just mounded up on top of each other – thousands of them!  Our house is brick and it is surrounded by many trees.  The centipedes must love the shade because they are crawling all over our brick and even up as high as the eaves and soffet.   Today we made a trip to Lowes to try and find something that will kill all of these bugs before they start getting into the attic and then the house.   This is something that we’ve never had any trouble with in all the years that we have lived here.  These centipedes are small and brown and look like this image:

I think they are baby centipedes because they are small…. who knows if they bite or not.  I don’t want to find out LOL   So, anyway, off to Lowes we went and came back with Spectracide^® Triazicide^® Insect Killer (concentrate).  I have a sprayer that you pour the concentrate into, turn the dial to the correct setting, hook up the hose and spray away.  The sprayer automatically mixes the concentrate with the water.  I have had this sprayer for years and haven’t used it.  Insecticides are one thing that I hate to use around my house and only will if things get so out of balance that I just don’t have a choice.  Today was the day I didn’t have a choice with these centipedes.  I applied the spray all over the outside of the house… now, let’s hope this stuff works!  I am so glad that my house is pretty far away from my garden… I wouldn’t want to get this stuff near my veggies LOL    The weirdest thing is that I read on the label that this stuff can be used on vegetables!  Yes… on the following:  Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cavalo Broccoli, Cauliflower, Chinese Broccoli, Garlic, Head Lettuce, Kohlrabi, Leaf Lettuce, Onions (bulb), Mustard, Pop Corn, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Tomatillos.   Well, I can tell you for sure, there’s no way that I would use this in my garden!  After I sprayed, my next stop was the shower ASAP!  I wanted to make sure that if one drop of this stuff got on me that I washed it off.

DH trimmed the azaleas in the back yard that are between the house and the garden area.  I was really happy about this because now when I look out the back windows, I can see the chicken coup and even the cows if they are in the field on this side of the property.  That was a very big job that he tackled and I’m so glad that he’s almost finished (he’ll probably finish up the task tomorrow).

Guess what I did this evening just before dark?  I harvested a good bit of my corn that I have planted on the East side of the chicken coop!  Of course I had to try an ear (raw) outside… it was so sweet!  And the kernels were filled out so well.  Also, there was no bug damage like last year.  This is because I used the BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) spray on my corn this year.  That reminds me, I need to re-spray the big plot of corn since it’s been raining lately.  I always make sure when I spray the BT that I don’t spray anywhere near the tassels where the pollen (and possibly bees) are.  Also, I spray late in the afternoon/early evening when any bees would have already returned to their hives.  I wouldn’t want to do anything that would poison the bees that help me pollinate my garden.  My May 22 blog post has more info about BT and it’s use in the garden.

From Wikipedia — Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 31 in 2010). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. soldiers who died while in the military service.^[1] First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the Civil War), it was expanded after World War I to honor dead Americans from all wars.

You are not going to believe this, but this morning while DH and I ran to Lowes to pick up a few things, I actually heard someone say “Have a happy Memorial Day”.  It kind of took me by surprise…. “HAPPY” Memorial Day?  Then I realized, the person who said this just didn’t realize or share the same meaning and purpose of Memorial Day as I do.  Memorial Day is a tribute to all of the men & women who have DIED while serving our country and fighting for our freedoms.  It’s a day of honor and gratefulness.  Each and every person that died while serving in the military and defending our county was someone’s son, daughter, mother, father….   that’s what I think about when I think of Memorial Day.  I also think about all of the men and women who are currently serving and I know that their loved ones must worry so much — and wonder, will they come back home alive or in 1 piece.  So, to all those who have served and to those currently serving, thank you so much for everything you do for this country!  Because of you, we live in the best country in the entire world – the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The day we lose our will to fight

is the day we lose

our FREEDOM