Posted by pete on August 29th, 2010 in DayToDay and Photos ·
of the garden that is. Dug another 10 lbs of potatoes on Sunday. I am getting about 2 lbs per plant, not bad I guess when you consider, the last 5 plants I harvested all came from one single seed potato. One potato producing 10 lbs more potatoes, I can live with that. Sundays dinner was all from the garden, aside from the olive oil, pumpkin seeds and Parmesan in the pesto.
Despite the heavy and prolonged rain we had at the beginning of last week, we are still very dry. The river finally rose a little on Tuesday, but now is back down to below normal levels.
Spent some time Saturday working on the trail and then, once again, most of Sunday trying to recover. Unless there are any big storms in the next couple of months, most of the digging and chopping work is now done until spring, the rest of what I have planned is just side cutting, i.e., cutting trees and branches encroaching on the path. Side cutting also includes making sure the tail is still accessible when the snow pack builds up. I definitely have to do some work after the first couple of good snow storms.
Tomatoes picked during lunch on Friday
The fancy white and red sunflowers are opening. The “white” sunflower is actually just a really light yellow.
I am not sure where these guys came from, but I have just let grow. There was quite a bundle of them when they first sprouted next to the herb bed. I must have dropped a small seed head when I was cleaning up last fall.
Posted by pete on August 22nd, 2010 in Photos ·
It has been crazy dry this summer. We got a good bit of rain Saturday night and have a good bit in the forecast now for the next couple of days. Now, of course, the eastern Adirondacks are are all under a flood watch. Still, the river has yet to register any of the recent rain.
The river out front amazingly low. All but the largest rocks in this picture are typically underwater. Many of rocks that rarely ever, even in low water events, feel the air have a white mineral rings around them or on their tops.
Now would be a great time to pick up some of the metal crap from the old mill. Quite amazing how much junk there is in the water.
I am tempted to just rent a truck and start hauling.
Sunday was a nice misty rainy day. Starting to feel a little fall like.
As we got a bit of water on Saturday night, I wanted to swing by the train and see how some of the revitalized drainage was working. The mist and clouds were hanging low and would blow through the trees from time to time. Looking up the hill, just over the trail head.
I am happy to report that the drainage is working quite well. Yet, it is amazing when you start watching each rock, to see just how much they move from week to week. This one was a bit of surprise and I just had to take a picture. The perspective of the pic is a little disorienting and you get no sense of the trail or the surroundings. At this point, the trail is quite steep and this rock had to have come from quite a ways up the trail and subsequently landed in the trough of one of the waterbars. The rock waterbar is just downslope, off the right side of the picture, and is about 1.5 foot tall. The right side of the rock in resting on the bottom of the trough. Would have been quite a surprise to be hiking and suddenly see this little pebble rolling downhill toward you.
Posted by pete on August 22nd, 2010 in DayToDay and Photos ·
I feel like I am behind in everything. The year has just flown by and I don’t really feel like I have done anything but be a slack jawed observer. The garden is winding down, but it is time to start some new rows of lettuce what will be growing in the cold frame and hopefully provide greens into the first snow. The first planting of beans was disappointing compared to the last couple years. Luckily I did a second planting and Saturday I harvested a nice bunch of wax beans that were destined to be the first good to be used to try out the new pressure canner. It is still supper supper dry, but it looks like there is nice consistent rain forecast for the next couple of days.
Saturday’s picking. Nice looking wax beans. Little over a pound, which gave me two quarts worth of beans. The canning event was mostly successful and I think from here on out the pressure canning will be 100% successful.
The onions are drying nicely on the porch. I don’t think I will lose a single one. Lots more onions and potatoes next year.
Posted by pete on August 19th, 2010 in DayToDay and Photos ·
After my last chair, that I had for years, folded in mid recline, I thought it was time to think about a new. A real chair. A grown up chair.
Office furniture has always been crazy expensive, but trying to green up a little sends it over the top. Nonetheless I took the plunge and bought a Leap by Steel Case. Thank goodness for interest free credit cards. I was a little disappointed that it was not shipped blanket wrapped as advertised, it came in a box.
Now the adjusting begins, this chair has numerous adjustments and it is going to take a while to dial it in.
On less expensive news, it has gotten much cooler this week and Ember has been enjoying the breeze sleeping in the high window in the living room.
Posted by pete on August 17th, 2010 in DayToDay and Photos ·
Dug some red ‘taters tonight. Quite a good looking bunch for just 6 plants. Still have four other sets of potatoes planted here and there. I am definitely going to expand the garden next year so I can plant more potatoes. I need to keep them less crowded. The plants on the edge definitely had larger spuds than those that were crowded out by the beans and in the shade of the corn.
It is amazing what we think is and accept as fresh in the grocery store. Fresh dug potatoes just split apart when touched with a knife. Dinner was taters smothered in garlic and herbs from the garden.
The garden continues to fill out, gladiolas are in full swing now and some other things are getting their second wind as the temps begin to noticeably cool.
Posted by pete on August 15th, 2010 in DayToDay and Photos ·
Spent all day Saturday working on the trail and all day Sunday recovering. The trail has been neglected for some time and is a quite old trail, so it was poorly designed in the first place. Most of the morning was spent clearing and reshaping waterbars on the steepest section. If you think my stories of trying to dig flower beds in the backyard sound bad, I can tell you they pale in comparison to trying to dig on the trail.
The remainder of the day was spent clearing blow downs, which included breaking down a 30 inch diameter 20 foot section of a pine that had shattered into three pieces length wise. The monster was the last one of the day and took almost 2 hours itself. I wish I had a taken a picture of it. It is amazing what you can do with good sharp hand tools if you know how to use them.
I was quite surprised by the number of people who stopped to chat and how openly appreciative most folks were. The ones who weren’t we mostly the same ones who did not get why I would be doing such hard work and not being paid for it.
My pack with all my tools strapped to in.
Posted by pete on August 13th, 2010 in DayToDay ·
It is rare that you can see 30+ shooting stars an hour on a clear night and it is also amazing how many you waste wishing for a picture of one.
Posted by pete on August 1st, 2010 in DayToDay and Photos ·
I can not believe that it is already August. Busy day today. Cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, worked in the garden, canned 10 pints of dilly beans, 4 pints of blueberry jam, and baked bread. Now I am beat.
Some of the results of the days labors.
This morning it was again in the mid 40s and even though the day was only in the 70s, Ember retired to the wood pile instead of wandering through the canning factory.
Posted by pete on July 29th, 2010 in DayToDay and Photos ·
That is a beautiful sight. Little bit less than I was looking for, but still a lot of wood. Each row is alittle more than 8 feet deep and about 5 foot high.
Posted by pete on July 25th, 2010 in Uncategorized ·
Today was just lovely. Mid 70’s and breezy. Was planning on going kayaking but ended up spending all day working in the yard. Some things in the garden have gotten a little over grown and a little crowded. So I hung the mustard up to dry, pick the first round of beans, and pulled some onions. The “pile” is almost all split and I will be done with it this week for sure.
Pulled these onions up early because they were being crowded out by the carrots.
On July 4th I started some oyster mushrooms inside using some of the sawdust from the chain saw. Three weeks to the day I have my first mushroom. Can’t wait to see they pots explode in the next couple of days.
The first big tomato from the garden. A 1.2 lb Cherokee purple. Just had to put the full sized dinner plate in there for reference.