Homestead Happenings

 

Welcome back to Homestead Happenings,

where we share what's going on 

around our Piedmont property.

We have been blessed with fairly steady rainfall,

and the garden and I are mighty greatful.

The cattle panel arch is being taken over

by the Cushaw squash vine.

This is a first time plant for me,

and I have to say that

I appreciate its exuberance!

Although I have only found 3 squash on the vine,

they are quite large.

The one I harvested this week weighed in at eight pounds.

Soup is on the menu this weekend,

and I should have enough to make some other goodies as well.

A good friend told me that they store up to 9 months in her cellar.

The Seminole pumpkin had a growth spurt this week.

The two squash varieties I'm sharing with you are showing promise,

as I have had no pest issues with either one.

What a blessing, as I don't use even organic methods of pest control.

The green beans had been replanted

when my climbing beans failed to germinate.

There are also drying beans on this teepee.

The gift of rain has made all the difference.

A volunteer squash was found growing in the chook run.

Here's another that was harvested and cooked.

It tasted like a baked potato, for some reason.

My friend Jannah gave me some of her

amazing yellow zucchini.

I sauteed some of it and made fritters with the rest.

Such simple food that tastes so good.

sea oats

The seed pods on the native milkweed are huge!

I will be saving some of these for future planting,

although they seem to readily volunteer.

This is the host plant for the

tussock moth caterpillar.

You can read more about it here.

canna lilies

Almost ready to start laying!

A bit of shuffling has been done with regard to the chooks.

My efforts to integrate the two flocks

didn't work out too well,

so I separated them.

The bonus is that since the new girls (seen here),

are so congenial, Betty has a friendly place to hang out.

After Queenie's unexpected passing,

she has seemed a bit blue.

She and the new girls seem to get along fine,

even sharing the coop and run without issue.

The bullies have been moved to the "eldercare" coop and run.

I hope your summer is going just the way you like it.

Be Blissed!