A Little Seed Saving

Sweet Magnolia pea seed

It was a grey drizzly morning this morning (although we didn't really get any rain) so I spent some time putting up seeds.

First up was a big bowl of dried pods from the Sweet Magnolia purple snap pea. These are really beautiful pea plants with purple flowers and pods.

Sweet Magnolia seeds

Even the seeds are pretty, shades of brown and green, sometimes speckled.

Got them jarred up and started on the mustards. There was a small amount of red mizuna mustard.

red mizuna seed heads

When I cut plants for their seeds I usually just stand them upside down inside a feed sack and let them sit in a warm dry room until they are completely dry. In the case of mustards the seed pods will pop open, dispersing the seeds. You can hear them popping sometimes. To make sure all the good pods have popped I just slap the seed heads against the side of the bag.

seed and chaff

The stems and seed heads go to the chickens and I pour the seeds and chaff out into a bowl. Most of that chaff on top is empty seed pods and easy to pick off a little at a time.

Then I'll swirl the seed around in the bowl and blow on it, which the chaff is lighter and most of it will blow off, leaving some pretty clean seed in the bottom.

Red Mizuna Mustard seed

After the mizuna I worked on the 3 bags of Giant Red Mustard seed heads, but didn't quite get finished yet.

The physical act of saving seeds is pretty easy. Just pick almost ripe seed heads and let them finish drying out. If they are in wet juicy pulp like melons or tomatoes, then I mash the pulp and let it ferment, then rinse and dry. The fermenting process helps kill seed born diseases and it eats the pulp, making it easy to get clean seed. Some plants do have special considerations however. Like corn. With corn you have to save seeds from 100 plants or more in each generation, so that you keep up enough genetic diversity for the plants to continue to be healthy.

Oliver or Oliva????

Back at mom's house I finished cleaning up an empty pen and moved some babies. One baby is an olive egger but I"m not positive yet if we have an Oliver or an Olivia.

mm boy or girl, that is the question

Then my sister refused to come out of her trailer because this spider was on the outside of the door. So I rescued it and put it over in the plants. I'll see if we can find out what kind it is, it's pretty interesting looking.

unknown spider

Two More Trees in the Ground

Nanking cherry

My Nanking cherry bushes which I grew from seeds are mostly doing OK but a couple of them need some iron & nitrogen. I added an organic iron product awhile back, but so far it doesn't seem to be helping. So I loosened up the soil around them a bit with my digging fork, then added some vermicompost. I hope this helps them perk up soon.

loosening up the heavy clay soil

vermicompost

Vermicompost is the compost made with earth worms. It is very concentrated in nutrients and in plant growth hormones. I have used it to save many ailing plants. This batch I scooped up from the worm bin without bothering to seperate the worms out, so there will be worms in this area now too. Earthworms help break down organic matter, concentrate plant nutrients in a plant available form and help loosen up tough soil.

Desert Willow

Yay! I got to plant 2 more trees today! A desert willow which have really pretty lavender/purple flowers. The other one was a Mission Fig. I think Mission has some of the biggest figs I've ever seen. This gives me 6 fig trees of 5 varieties.

Mission Fig

The Compost Chickens  finished out their first week with a full dozen eggs layed with ZERO commercial feed. Check out their own page for more information!

Two More Trees in the Ground

Nanking cherry

My Nanking cherry bushes which I grew from seeds are mostly doing OK but a couple of them need some iron & nitrogen. I added an organic iron product awhile back, but so far it doesn't seem to be helping. So I loosened up the soil around them a bit with my digging fork, then added some vermicompost. I hope this helps them perk up soon.

loosening up the heavy clay soil

vermicompost

Vermicompost is the compost made with earth worms. It is very concentrated in nutrients and in plant growth hormones. I have used it to save many ailing plants. This batch I scooped up from the worm bin without bothering to seperate the worms out, so there will be worms in this area now too. Earthworms help break down organic matter, concentrate plant nutrients in a plant available form and help loosen up tough soil.

Desert Willow

Yay! I got to plant 2 more trees today! A desert willow which have really pretty lavender/purple flowers. The other one was a Mission Fig. I think Mission has some of the biggest figs I've ever seen. This gives me 6 fig trees of 5 varieties.

Mission Fig

The Compost Chickens  finished out their first week with a full dozen eggs layed with ZERO commercial feed. Check out their own page for more information!

Just Another Day on the Farm

soggy soil blocks

Ooops! My beets popped right up in a few days in their soil blocks, so I moved them outside to a part sun location before transplanting to their bed. Then it rained. Ugh, the trays are full of water and the blocks are dissolving. I drained as much water out as I could, then I put them back indoors for a few days, as more rain was expected.

yay most of the seedlings made it

mini bell peppers

green and red okra plants

I had some red okra seeds that were pretty old but a couple of plants came up. Planted some green okra from seeds my friend Glenda gave me.

red root pig weed

lambs quarters in the beet bed

The rains have put new life into things, especially the 'weeds'. Of course I leave a lot of lambs quarters and pig weed growing around the gardens. I cut them back and cut them into pieces for the chickens.

compost chickens!

compost chicken eggs!

The compost chickens are actually laying more eggs now than they were living in the barn eating expensive feed!

hay string hinges

I guess six years is a pretty good life span for a hay string hinge before it gives out.

But I haven't had time to fix it yet.

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I have planted seeds along this strip 3 times now and each time the pigs have gotten in and torn everything up trying to get to the squash inside the hoop house.

Whats here, a pathetic little dill plant, something I don't recognize and what I am hoping is Tithonia, or Mexican Sunflower.

What is this?

Of course I can't quit, so I added more compost and more seeds, this time dill, hollyhock and calendula. Hopefully they will grow!

homegrown seeds

Trombonccinno

The Trombonccino squash are getting huge! I'm leaving these to be winter squash, those big ones are about 3 feet long.  I can't hardly walk through here now. The birdhouse gourds are finally running and blooming but I don't see any gourds yet.

A Week in Pictures

tying chicken wire over chain link

It's been a really long week, but I did make quite a bit of progress. Tying wire to chain link panels for the compost chicken experiment.

3 cut ends? mmmmm

mulching tomato plants

Mulching tomatoes with cardboard, junk mail, newspapers, topped with a little composted manure

Arizona Pistachio

The tree seedlings were getting root bound, so I potted them up into bigger pots.

soil blocks

I made up some trays of soil blocks and planted beets. Growing seedlings on the side in a protected area is a great way to get more out of your garden.

cardboard for nest boxes

I did minor repairs on the mobile coop and added some cardboard and shavings to the bottoms of the nest boxes.

almost ready

I have no idea why that pic is sideways. It's right side up on my computer. Almost ready for chickens, added a tarp for more shade over the top, some shade cloth on the sides, some bird netting for hawk protection.

Got everyone moved in, except one old biddy that escaped. I caught her the next day, but she's still over at mom's house. I'll bring her over in a day or two.

I'm getting a little routine going with them now. Each morning I shovel up the material they've scratched down back to the top, then add the days load of manure and wet it down. Later in the morning I'll toss weeds and kitchen scraps on top. That pile is heating up really nicely.

These hens are from 2-4 years old. A 2 year old and a 3 year old have been laying about 3-4 eggs a week. The 4 year old has been laying shell less eggs for months and it is not for lack of calcium. I think her shell glad is just giving out. So far the two laying are still giving me eggs plus I found a thin shelled egg in the coop this morning, so maybe someone else is going to start up again. These girls have had no commercial feed since July 29th. I did remember to bring them some oyster shell over today.

Tinkerbell and Lil' Bit

Tink and Lil' Bit seem to be getting along pretty well. I think there will be some kittens coming along in a couple of months. I was delighted to find the remains of a huge rat by the front door, so they are doing their job.

HARVESTING

Swill Chard

Fridays during the summer are my big harvest days, getting ready for our Saturday Globe-Miami Farmer's Market.

This bed of Swiss Chard was looking a bit ratty so I harvested some for market. I cut back the rest and gave it some fresh compost. It should perk up in a week or so. The rest of the leaves will go to the chickens.

after cutting and top dressing

Rainbow Carrots

The carrots have not fared so well this year. The soil is just not in the best shape yet. Also I don't think they got enough water when it was really hot.

Rainbow Beets

The beets on the other hand have done very well! The big yellow ones weigh just over 2 pounds each!

Gold Rush Zucchin

The Gold Rush Zucchini, on the other hand are doing very well this week. The rain we had really perked them up. However, they are sprawling in the walk way and it's hard to get through the hoop house!

Large Red Cherry tomatoes

I picked almost 10 pounds of cherry tomatoes and about 20 pounds of large tomatoes. Oops. I forgot to take a picture of all the big tomatoes!

More Erosion Control

dawn on the Pinals

Well I got up early and got started before it got real hot. I got another 1/10th of an inch of rain at my place yesterday evening. Not much but better than nothing.

I did notice that a big gully had not washed out in the bigger rain the other day, so I decided I needed to check the little ditches and check dams up on top of the hill.

I did some work on the way up. One small gully did wash a good amount of water down the other day, so I wanted to go to where it starts and do some work.

lower down

higher up

looking down

before

after

I'm making small cuts across the slope, as level as I can, to try and slow the water down a little so it can sink in, instead of running off.

Before

after

small earthworks

this old road cut has caused a lot of erosion.  I am pleased that the earthworks that I did earlier this summer are holding up.

I only have to work on a couple of areas.

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On this part there are 2 slopes to work on, the old road bed and the hillside next to it.

beginning of large gully

above the large gully

before

after

If we get 2 inches in an hour, all of this is for nought. But if it comes down slower, this should help.

rough country

Further down the road cut, there is even more erosion. I really need to get up on top of that slope and do some cuts up there. But it's too dang hot right now.

a really big gully

good morning bees

more of the big gully

Working my way down the old road cut there are a couple of really big gullies. Too big for me to do much about them, especially at this level. I will have to get up on the very top of the hill and work on the head cuts, then work my way down.

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After I got back to the house and cooled off I tied up the cucumber vines. 

Then back to moms house. My farmer boy helped fill up water buckets. He likes to play with the little chicks, too.

catching chicks.

chick wrangler