Harvest Monday

Fresh Goat Milk

Welcome to Harvest Monday, a blog hop hosted by Dave over at Happy Acres Thanks Dave! Milk is still the most abundant harvest this week with a total of 13 gallons and 7.25 pints. 

Japanese eggplant, Lemon Spice jalapeno

eggplant, Lemon Spice and other peppers

There were some eggplants along with Lemon Spice jalapeno and a couple of other peppers. Totals are down because it's been hot and dry and I just haven't been able to get out and water like they need it.

Cucuzzi

Still lots of cucuzzi and the vines are still going crazy. Some folks at market are adventerous and giving them a try. Leftovers go to a friend with pigs, she says they love them. Just over 6 pounds. I'm wondering if I missed some.

colored eggs

Still just getting about 7-8 eggs a day mostly from the new pullets. Giving serious thought to hatching the bigger blue ones from a couple of Legbar hens. Chicks that hatch now will begin laying in spring and will lay well most of the summer and fall when the older birds quit to molt. I just don't know if I have the time and energy....

Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out what other folks, in other parts of the world are harvesting too.

Farmer Friday

Sunday about 430am

Welcome to Farmer Friday, a recap of the past week. Saturday I went to the Superior, AZ Farmers Market, it was a good day. The weather is still too hot but we were able to be inside in their Chamber of Commerce building. Then Sunday as I was filling the kettle the faucet came off and water was shooting everywhere. But I was able to shut the water off pretty quickly and fixed it later after I did chores.

Fresh Goat Milk

I made cheese a couple of times during the week with the overabundance of milk. Most of it ends up in the freezer which is getting pretty crowded.

I spent about 2 hours on Wednesday morning cleaning up stuff in the driveway. I would really like to be able to drive all the way up to the shed and goat pen to unload feed instead of carrying it all the way up. Not happening any time soon but I'm a little bit closer.

Filling a raised bed

I haulded a lot of mostly finished compost and topped up two raised beds. It's really still too hot to plant most fall crops but I needed to make space in the compost area and I want to be ready as soon as it cools off a bit. I could add shade cloth and sprinkle a lot to get seeds going but really don't have time to babysit things right now.

Then I spent a lot of  Friday morning turning about 2 cubic yards of compost. There is still about that much more to go and then I will have room to muck out the girls pen. I will be really happy when I can get some of the hillsides fenced off for the goats. A lot less pen mucking then!

Nice wrap

I had two .22 rifles, both of which had been having issues. A friend looked at them, used parts from one to fix the other and added a nice wrap to the stock. We went up the creek to check it out. We discovered that some of the ammunition I had was the cause of jamming. It really didn't like a couple of brands at all. So we sorted all of those kinds out of the stash. I should be good now for varmint hunting.

I hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Harvest Monday

More Japanese eggplant & a lone Lemon Spice Jalapeno

Harvest Monday is a lovely blog hop hosted by Dave over at Happy Acres Thanks Dave! Not a lot to harvest this week, some Japanese eggplant, one or two jalapenos, a few other things.

Honeynut squash

Honeynut squash

Most of the Honeynut squash were ready to pick. There are still a few solid green ones out there, I don't know if they will mature properly or not because the vine looks mostly dead. But I was very happy with the ones I got. A few still had green stripes but their skins are hard and their stems are hard and dry so I think they will be fine.

Cucuzzi

More cucuzzi. The vines have gone crazy. I was thinking of beginning to chop them back, thinking it would cool off soon but we are still at the 100+ mark. I have been selling a few of them at market. Of course no one here has ever heard of them so I have to educate them. Many of those that have tried them have been coming back for more, saying they liked them, so I will probably grow some next year, just maybe in a different spot.

Fresh raw goat milk

The goats are doing well. Bambi is still at her steady 6 pints a day. Esmarelda was hitting 12 but then she came into heat which dropped her to about 8 for a couple days. It's coming back up though since her cycle is over. 

chicken eggs

While egg production is no where near what it should be for the number of birds I have, the 7 new girls are now all laying regularly. As soon as the weather cools down I will be reducing the flock quite a bit. There are too many old nonproductive birds out there, they are not even breaking even on their feed bill.

I do have a couple of Legbars which lay blue/green eggs of good size. Those girls are only about 2 years old and they are laying right now. I have been keeping their eggs back because I would like to hatch some. Birds that hatch now will start laying in spring and fall hatched birds tend to be bigger than those raised when it's warmer. They will also lay most of the summer when the older birds quit to molt. I used to do a fall hatch regularly but haven't in a few years. I'm actually not positive I have the time and energy but going to give it a shot. Worst case scenario I get overwhelmed and either find someone to raise the chicks for me or sell them off. Time will tell.

Harvest for the week of September 30th

Eggplant 1# 9 ounces

Cucuzzi 8# 12 ounces

Eggs 46

Milk

Bambi 5 gallons, .5 pint

Esmarelda 9 gallons .75 pint