Racing The Clock

So much to do and so little time, that’s the story of my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m rarely bored.  This week will be non-stop action.  At the top of my want-to-do list is getting the Iris Quilt off the frame and bound, with hopes of sharing a Friday finish blog post.

As you can see it's close to being finished.  

  But I'm not holding my breath on a finish this week because there's much to do on the need-to-do list. Last week I finally started working on the flowerbeds and veggie garden.  Last year I decided to take the year off from the veg garden, you know, let the soil rest. The garden became a jungle.  So last week while Mr. Podunk was tending to the beehives I decided to burn off the garden mess.  As you can see the fire tried to creep out into the yard.  Oh, but what's life without a little excitement.  It kept me on my toes!

Over the weekend, Mr. Podunk tilled the garden.  The planting will begin this week. With our late start this year we can’t grow cold crop veggies, but we’re still going to try for a small batch of snow peas. If I plant them on the garden’s south side, where there’s more shade, they should do fine. Over the next two or three weeks, I should be able to get the whole garden planted.  Well, that's the plan, we'll see how it goes.

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A Day In The Garden

 Hey Quilty Friends!  Yesterday was a quilting bust.  I didn't even step foot into the Studio.  The morning was spent relaxing (surfing the internet).  Then as soon as it was warm enough to get outside it was time to start working in the garden.

This week I'll be moving a mound of gardening soil that has been sitting under this tarp all winter.  Mr. Podunk will not be helping due to a recent lower back issue.  

Since I don't have his man muscles I've rigged up a hillbilly wheel barrel.  Moving the pile of dirt a 5 gallon bucket at a time will take a little longer but it's the best I can do without man muscles and a real wheel barrel.

The tubs you see below also need to be moved from one side of the garden to the other.  They are full of dirt so I'll use the same method in picture above to move them.  Hopefully it will work without having to take the dirt out of each container.

The gardening project may take a few days to complete.  Thankfully it's supposed to be sunny and warm all week.  However, I won't be spending all day in the garden.  I think four or five hours a day is plenty for this ole girl who needs a little quilting time too.  

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Whats been keeping my busy?

As much as I would like to spend every waking hour in the studio it's just not possible.  Believe it or not I've other loves besides quilting.  If you told me when I was in my twenties I'd love vegetable gardening someday I would have laughed in your face.  Back then my gardens were limited to flower gardens with a few tomato and pepper plants worked into the landscaping.  These days I'm starting to feel like a low end prepper.   You know those crazy people you see on TV that think the world is coming to and end.  Trust me...I'm not one of them, I just like gardening!

 Many of my friends think that gardening is just plain nuts when you can buy fresh organic produce at new fancy expensive markets.  Well all I can say is... it taste's better when I grow it, and I know there's absolutely no chemicals in my organic garden.  No chemical bug spray, I'll make an organic mixture and I've planted Marigolds, bugs hate the smell of them.  If it were left up to me we would have cut down the trees to make the fences instead of chemically treated wood.  But sadly some things are out of my control.  As you can see below we use grass clippings from our yard and our neighbors down the road to mulch between the row.  This is great, it keeps in moisture, feeds the soil and best of all cuts down on weeding so I can get in the studio someday soon.  You might also notice my plant markers are lids from store bought food containers.  Yes we are big on up-cycling, recycling and reusing.

Every year for the past 6 yrs or so our garden is expanded.  This year I asked Mr. Podunk to enlarge our main fenced in garden.  That gives me another 3 rows of planting space.  The red space shows our expansion this year.

Not every one likes or needs a fenced garden but its a must in Podunk.  The deer will destroy the garden without fencing.  Not to mention what the chickens would do...very destructive little girls.   Life is a little harder in the country.  Just look at poor little Red(chicken).  She took a good beating from the neighbors dog a few weeks ago. 

And the oh so cute bunnies will taste everything in a garden until they find something that's edible. BAD BUNNIES!

Our original fence wasn't bunny proof so we've added chicken wire to the existing fence and gate.

The focus for the last couple of weeks has been building my own potato towers.  It's not pretty but the wood was free, all I had to do was walk into the woods and cut it down.  This is my first year growing plain ole potatoes so we'll see how it goes.  They're sprouting so I think we may have some fresh potatoes this fall.

 Even our raised beds need to be protected from the critters.   That fencing below does nothing to keep out the moles that seem to think this is their new palace in Podunk.  Being an organic gardener is a test of patience.  So we've decided to try an old fashion remedy of Castor oil and dish soap...we'll see how it works.  

I've also had to treat the sweet potato bed I made a couple weeks ago.  We won't be planting in there for a few more weeks so I'm trying to prevent a new mole condo complex from popping up.

 The castor oil mixture seems to be doing a pretty good job over in the spinach and onion beds.

 Today's agenda is pepper pants.  I've not even started clearing this bed of weeds and moles so it's gonna take a few days.  Hopefully I can weed and evict the moles today.  Then plant once the moles have pack their bags.  Sounds like I might be able to fit some quilting into my afternoon and evening!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Catching up

It doesn't take long for the yard to take over when ignored.  So yesterday was spent catching up the outside work instead of in the Studio quilting.   It's been raining so much we couldn't mow.  That made my job yesterday a little longer than expected.  As I complained to myself about having to spend so much time working in the yard I realized that it wasn't so bad I just need to take a minute to look around.  My Peonies are opening, such a gorgeous flower.

Last year not one Peony bloomed.  For some reason they didn't have ants to help them along.  Did you know a Peony can't bloom on their own?  The little ants are a happy sight indeed!

After the mowing, the garden is next in line.  So I let the chickens do a little free ranging, I can keep an eye on them and the dog while I weed the garden.  They seem to love the fresh cut grass.  Don't get too excited little chickens that grass is mine!

  And those grass clippings that the chickens love so much will need to be put on the garden later today after they dry out a bit.  Grass clippings on top of newspaper is a great organic way to keep the weeds under control.

This is our main garden.  We also have 3 small raised beds and one raised tomato bed up by the house.

Thankfully Mr. Podunk takes care of these two smaller beds.  

  

As I was pulling the last of the weeds in the garden rumbles could be heard in the distance.  Oh there's a storm brewing...great.... more rain, just what I need!

The storm looks worse than what it was.  This picture hasn't been altered or edited.  I love how it came out.  It only took about 20 photos to get one good one.

Well I better get busy or I'll have another no sew day!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Harvest Time

Still no sewing..sniff, sniff.  The garden is starting to ripen.  The last 2 days harvest have been processed.  Ross made some refrigerator pickles.  It's his own creation of just dumping in ingredients and testing.  

Of course I get the harder jobs...LOL...so I measured and froze some zukes for the winter months. 

Then I made this delicious Zucchini Lemon cake, you can find the recipe here.  

 5 gallons of laundry detergent finished the day.  You can find the recipe here.  I changed it up a bit and doubled the soap and the powdered ingredients. 

The containers aren't pretty but they work.  

While weeding this morning I ran across all of these!  Looks like I'll be in the kitchen awhile longer.....sigh....

Until next time "Quilt out of Your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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