August Update in Pictures

This has been the summer of rodents, fishing, too many chickens, and relaxing.  I'm hoping that it will turn into the fall of nuts, deer, and less chickens.  On the first Saturday in August, Naomi, Maria and I went to Paradise Lot, the home of some permaculture self-described plant geeks that boasts a 1/10th-acre edible food forest in Holyoke, MA.  While their goals are somewhat different from ours, it was incredible to get to see what they're doing and how.  Below are some pictures from our visit, followed by our usual update photos.  The book, Paradise Lot, is a fun and funny read about their experiences.  On to the pictures!

The pond at Paradise Lot.  

Maria and Naomi listening intently.

a view of the back

Aquaculture setup in their bioshelter.  It was really cool, and had carp, catfish, guppies, and golfish

Blueberry, Juneberry, and whoops something else. 

This was in their bathroom.

And back to our stuff:

The pepper plants are really struggling this year. 

Taters!

I sowed this bed with turnips and beets for fall.

Some Boston Pickling cucumbers hanging through their trellis.

My brother helped me built this cinder block raised bed to grow greens away from rabbits, but mice came in and chewed the growing tip out of the seedlings. 

Escape hole.

Jerusalem Artichokes

some nice Scarlet Runner beans

They'll keep on going if you let them

The tomato weave is working out really well this year.  I learned to keep on top of it.

This was my next plan to have a critter-free greens bed.  Oak posts, deer netting, and scrap wood stapled to the bottom of the netting.  We'll see if it works. 

Garlic Party

I admittedly haven't been keeping up with this blog nearly as I would like to.  The main reason is RABBITS.  Rabbits are making it REALLY hard for me to grow many things this summer.  Every season, I try to focus on a new crop, either to learn more about growing it, or to produce a substantial amount of it.  This year, I planned to grow a quantity of shell beans that would at least put a dent in the amount that we eat throughout the year.  As of now, we don't have even half of the bean plants we had last year.  As soon as they came up, rabbits ate the growing tip right off.  I replanted, and replanted, but it didn't stop them.  There are more rabbits than I can possibly keep up with. 

On the good side, I grew a LOAD of garlic! The photo to the left is just some of it, as Naomi was hanging it to be cured.  It tipped the scales around 75 lbs, which is about ten more than last year.  The bulbs seem to be of higher quality, too. 

Something else I've been meaning to do is to have a garlic taste test to put all the varieties we grow head to head.  That way we could make some more decisions about which varieties to grow. 

I've got high hopes for tomatoes, potatoes, and fall greens (which will be protected from marauding rodents).  I'm also hoping for a good harvest of rutabagas, turnips, and beets.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.