Posted on 02/03/2024 6:04:04 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
❤️
I think it’s really called pokeweed. At least, the internet seems to think so.
Here is a search page about pokeweed links from the University of Delaware Agricultural Extension site:
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(The Truck has not moved but someone did walk out to the barn to look after the cattle! Brrr!)
“if breakfast is later than 8am, they are jumping on the BED to get me up and rolling! “
This made me think of this old youtube -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q&t=16s
We made a ‘run’ to the new house Friday, spent the night, & came back yesterday. We did get rained on about 20 minutes from the house, but I knew there was a slight chance & had the trailer loaded with stuff that could take a little rain. I could tarp the loads, but trying to get a tarp tied down so it’s not blowing all over the place going 70 mph on the interstate is a ‘chore’. I do have a cargo net that helps - nothing is getting blown totally off of that trailer ... tarps, bin lids, or anything else.
My SIL was an hour away baby sitting so she came by to see the house & we walked around the property. The sun was out & if the wind wasn’t blowing, it was very pleasant (previous day was very cold, wind blowing straight into the garage which made unloading the truck/trailer ‘not’ fun). It turns out that the spot I had picked out for the new compost bin is co-opted by the burn barrel. It’s out of sight on the back side of the pole barn & I like that spot for being invisible to the house ... not sure if I can squeeze the compost pile in or not. The burn barrel is on cinder blocks (I think) so it should be movable .
The raised beds ... I would like to put them on the back side of the shop. They would get plenty of sun (south-west exposure) and I have water right there, plus all my garden stuff will be a couple of yards away in the shop & handy. I didn’t have a chance to check it out in detail, but ‘something’ is going on back there .... maybe an old foundation, remnants of some sort of rubble pile ... the ground has a bit of a ‘rise’ to it, then drops off a bit. A “terraced” garden, maybe? I have a pile of stone that has some promising pieces in it & I am really good at dry laying stone (20 years of practice maintaining the AT). Next weekend, it should be in the 50’s there, so I can spend more time looking around and planning.
I suspect this year is going to be ‘no’ garden - just get the beds up there & in place, get some dirt in them, put up whatever fencing I’ll need (deer herd in the neighborhood). I do want chickens so somehow working out a chicken tractor is going to be a priority ... I do not want a ‘fixed’ run/coop. Chickens do an unbelievable amount of scratching/digging & from seeing what my SIL’s chickens do to their chicken run, I’m not a fan of that arrangement.
At some point, we’ll be spending more time at the ‘new’ house rather than here ... we haven’t quite hit that point yet, but it’s getting closer & I’m very much looking forward to it. Everything is different there ... laid back, pastoral, friendly people, extended family we enjoy, fabulous mountain scenery.
Sundogs are SO pretty! I had to explain them to my 6 year old one winter when we saw one. In the end I said ‘It’s an Optical Illusion.’ (And then of course had to explain what THAT meant, LOL!)
Weeks later, he was pointing out something in the sky to me and said, ‘Is that another one of those ‘Obstacle Delusions?’
LOL! At least he was sort-of listening. That kid had a million ways to make things funny...without ever meaning to. ;)
Thanks, Pete!
Progress! :)
Boyd. One of the current 'Cats In Residence.'
Second current 'Cat In Residence,' Eva Grace. "Eva! Get OFF the counter!" "Technically, MOM, I'm not ON the counter!"
Twin sisters, Tess & Tilly, begging for cheese. (RIP, funny girls.)
And, here's your 'Ithaca Fix' for the week:
Love that picture of your Ithaca, saving it. He looks good. Cats, meh we have had a few. Never more than 2 at a time. They either disappeared, probably coyotes or died of old age, our last one. I am more of a dog person but after 16+ years with Yogi and at my age I just can’t see getting another dog. Losing them is too hard. Plus I just can’t let them loose around here, too many deer to chase and predators for a small dog. You do have nice looking cats.
Qiviut; If you are lucky, you have the remnants of an old dairy barn and build your garden walls on the foundation and your garden inside!
Since you are in a place with history at some time you might rent or borrow a metal detector from someone and check around for metal, old tools, dropped coins! (If you can and do, good luck!)
"Obstacle Delusions " That would be something like this!
https://www.indy100.com/viral/man-tries-to-time-travel-drives-his-car-through-wall-of-a-building-7287546
"A man told police that he was trying to “time travel” after crashing his car through the offices of a shopping centre - and coming out the other side."
"The Dodge Challenger ploughed through a wall in Pensacola, Florida taking out a wall connecting a financial advisers and a coffin-making business."
"The uninjured driver told police, before going to hospital for evaluation, that he had been attempting to travel through time before the crash."
Pictures from the February Garden. I really did not intend to Winter Garden this year.
Dug up the remaining few leeks. (1 Mussleburgh, several Blu de Soleil, and a few Jaune de Poitou.) They survived -20 weather for a week under the snow and were fine.
Broccoli Gypsy (left side ) and Broccoli Castle Dome (right side) under cover on 1/28/24 after 7-10 days under a a blue tarp to protect against the -20 weather.
Same plants on 2/3/2024. The Gypsy broccoli (24" approx height) survived and produced small heads, and is beginning to produce side shoots. (I removed the center heads some of which had frost damage, and am encouraging side shoot production. ) (Note the interplanted lettuce.)
The Castle dome broccoli was damaged by the cold and I pulled them up. Variety Gypsy which is small enough to grow in a low tunnel and would be a better winter garden variety.
Some Cauliflower (Varieties Amazing and Dugesh ) Giant Red Mustard, turnips. The cover collapsed on the weight of the snow. Cleaned them up and re-covered them. (No straw for mulch at this time.) Not too hopeful but will see what they do they survived this long, maybe we will continue to have warm weather and they will surprise me.
Tess & Tilly... Look like conjoined twins!
Major task accomplished today - moving our mailbox to the other side of the driveway.
For whatever reason, when the folks moved here, dad sited the mailbox at the edge of the driveway, directly across from the neighbor’s driveway. The road is narrow, about a lane & a half. The neighbor himself has backed out & broke the mailbox wooden post in half some years ago. He put it back together with deck screws & surprisingly, it held together another couple of years.
I guess it was Christmas deliveries, but the post was getting hit a couple of times a month & the last swack actually bent up the mailbox itself & again, the post was totally broken in half ... I had it barely hanging together with a bunch of 3.5” deck screws.
I was searching for a way to mount the box on a metal post when I lucked on a $13 piece of metal that is made for mounting a mailbox on a T-post. “Redneck” as someone described it, but “easy” (and cheaper than a $40 wooden post).
So the box is moved to the other side of the driveway where it should not be hit. I have a metal fence post driver which made putting in the post pretty easy. Now we’ll have to see if the mail carrier is happy with it - it’s to PO requirements as to distance from pavement edge & height.
My ex got them for me after my favorite cat of all time ‘Tim’ had passed. They were always foster kitties, so hadn’t had a REAL home for any of their 4 years.
Of course, we had three dogs at the time; two Black Labs and a Basset Hound, so those poor cats spent nearly a YEAR living in the basement before everyone was integrated into the household.
Tess & Tilly never were more than a paw’s length away from one another their whole lives...and they died within weeks of one another 10 years later. Now THAT is True Love. *HEART*
Those leeks are perfection! On years when I grow them, I like the ‘Blu de Soleil’ variety, too.
Great work on the broccoli! Your system works great. :)
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