My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Day 12: Twelve Days of 2023


              This is my recap of December 2023. Early in the month as the weather cooled significantly I had a little scare, thinking that Esmerelda had mastitis.


I got Digger Dog's new house all finished, just in time for rain.

                                                                                                                 

The mountains got a little bit of snow.


And I got almost 2 inches of rain.




 I got my new Greenworks 60v. battery powered chainsaw out of layaway and tackled a pile of catclaw I had cut down with the sawzall last year. Oh my, the chainsaw is so much faster and easier!


Little Jupiter went to his new home


My Farmer Boy came to visit.


I've been trying to work on the junk piles and clean up this mess 15 minutes at a time.


I picked the radishes I planted earlier in the fall. They were soooo good!



There have been some mornings even colder than 28.


I hope everyone has had nice holidays. Time to get down to business. Lots of things planned for this coming year!

Monday, January 1, 2024

Day 11: Twelve Days of 2023


I'm recapping 2023 one month at a time. This is November. Digger Dog on his way to the vet for his annual check up and rabies booster. He did pretty good with the vet but he howls and crys the entire time we are in the car, going and coming.


Digger tunneled under the fence into the girls pen and was in there chasing the girls around. 


The coyotes here are bold. They were coming in under the fence and I had to go up on the hill and plug the hole.





Since Digger destroyed his house I had to drop other projects and build him a new one.





The tabby cat is Tink. The tiger striped is a stray that comes around to eat.


Storm is pretty much healed up from her foot injury and gets a hoof trim.


Sunday, December 31, 2023

Day 10: Twelve Days of 2023


I'm recapping 2023 one month at a time. This is October. I almost stepped on this gopher snake. I think it was hurt.





Bambi was in heat and acting goofy.


The tomatoes are still coming in. We haven't been even close to freezing yet.




The Superior Farmers Market welcomed the Burro Races.


Friends gave us lots of cull apples and the goats enjoyed them a lot.



I discovered I had a gas leak and spent a lot of time digging up the gas line through gnarly tree roots.


Tink, the old cat.


Finally got the little raised beds ready to plant. 


 The spring pullets began to lay.


Digger destroyed the roof on his house.


The coyote comes right into the fence.


Digger goes crazy over the silliest things. In his defence I did find a dead mouse in his pen the next morning.

I can say for sure Storm didn't get bred as she's had several heat cycles since this incident.


Another coyote sighting.


Storm really hurt herself. (she's fine now)





Saturday, December 30, 2023

Day 9: Twelve Days of 2023


If you are new here, I'm recapping 2023 as one post per day. This is September. I started working on putting a solid roof over the girls pen instead of tarps.


A Colorado River Toad stuck in the squirrel trap.


I don't think these were the same two toads as this one looks much bigger. These are poisonous to any animal that tries to eat them, they have poison glands on the back of their heads.


I went to fill a chicken water and when I brought it back in discovered this king snake under the cinder block. Since it didn't move at first I wasn't sure if it was stuck or what.



 

Did you know all the baby scorpions ride on mom's back?


Bianca, Queen of the Coop. Sadly I lost Bianca recently but she lived to be about 14 years old and was a great broody hen.



This coyote comes in close, right to the fence some evenings to tease Digger Dog. 



I discovered that I still have root knot nematodes in at least one area. These things suck big time and I am sooooo over them!


The tomatoes are still coming in.


I cleared out the cucumber vines from the small raised beds to get ready to plant fall crops.



Getting a solid roof over the girls pen



And done.





Friday, December 29, 2023

Day 8: Twelve Days of 2023


This is my recap of August 2023. The amazing tomato garden is in full swing. Lots of cherry and yellow pear, Fourth of July and Early Girl tomatoes.
A pretty dragon fly


Some gnarly looking Armenian cucumbers. They did ok but not super.




This whole year was super hot and very dry. I don't think I've ever seen a summer with such little rain.


Eggs are coming in.

Pinto Bean, Bambi's daughter was the single doeling I kept this year.


Digger started jumping up on top of his house to bark at coyotes and then slept on it when it wasn't too hot.


 
I had never seen scavenger beetles here before. I don't know where they came from but they appeared to eat an entire carcass hair and all.

Hard to see even with my flashlight, but that spider has dozens of babies on her back




We had some amazing clouds but not much rain.




Thursday, December 28, 2023

Day 7: Twelve Days of 2023

 

This is my recap of July 2023. I had a super tomato garden compared to the last few  years




We had many days at 105 degrees and hotter, with no rain in sight.


What did Digger Dog find now?




Some clouds and pretty sunsets but all the rain passed me  by.


I'm surrounded by packs of coyotes.


The goat bedding heats up like crazy in the compost pile.


Bambi likes people; other goats not so much.


A little salamander of some sort that was in my kitchen sink looking for a damp cool spot.


Some kind of giant fly

Sacred Datura pops up here and there around the place

Another baby king snake.



Unlike the dwarf breeds of goat my Nubians are seasonal breeders with the does coming into heat sometime around July/ August until mid Janurary at the latest. Well this July was a pretty crazy start to the breeding season.