Sunday Reading - Fall and Winter Projects

 

Almost to mid-September. The garden is really winding down now. Lots of ripening Tomatoes and bean pods drying up nicely but the Melon-types have either been abandoned as I fed most of what was left to the goats and sheep or mercilessly attacked by Squash Bugs and Cucumber Beetles.

The Potato experiment is still going though. The plants kinda bloomed individually on their own a little sporadically but so far all the stems above ground seem green and lush, not drying out. Going to be interesting how it turns out with the odd conditions we had this Summer. I may find out I have a root and some stems with a pile of hay and no potatoes under there. I planted a 110 day variety so I am gonna let them go a week or so more before checking. I did not really plant them until the end of May so I figure I hit 100 days the first week of September more or less. Like I said I did see blooms but it was only a plant or two at a time like they were not all in sync. 

The Garden expansion is done. I added a 20' by 40' section by expanding into the sheep pasture a bit. I left most of the fenceline to use as a permanent Melon and Cucumber trellis and will just ground mulch up to it on either side. Half the new area is tagged to be a permanent Sweet Corn square that I can alternate from front to back each year. 

This leaves me with Barn repair and maintenance, which will include getting the old chicken area redone for a bit more expansion. We down graded our chickens from 30+ hens down to 10 a few years back and we started using a smaller outdoor coop up closer to the house. Mostly this was due to varmints after the old watchdog... Who was the greatest watch dog that ever lived, went blind and became basically an indoor dog. Now that we are thinking of expanding back out it will be a good time to refurbish the inside coop setup. I also have to replace the roof on a center leanto type section that is on the side of the barn. The rafters there have finally rotted enough that they are starting to leak and not hold the roofing sheets in place. This is a newer section added on within the last 50 to 60 years or so. It was newer when my parents bought this place when I was a kid in the 60's. That 1960's lumber rots unlike the 1800's stuff used for the rest of the barn.

Lastly I really need to figure out my water issues around here. The well's we have around the place are pretty much dry now. They oldest hand dug well with still get some water from the table but will often go completely dry in Summer. Honestly none of the wells are deep enough anymore to be safe for Humans IMO anyway. Drilling a new well to the depth we will need to go will be outrageous but my previous attempts at water catchment has been less than thrilling. The volume from rainfall is fine it's year round storage that is the real issue here and the cistern is so old I don't trust it for drinking water storage either. We are far enough South that complete freezes almost never happen but thaws and re-freezes do and they form layers where water gets trapped and will bust the storage containers. No matter what they are made from.

Basically I had to stop using any enclosed storage method except the cistern but that means the bugs move in and algae on my catchment tanks. We may have to bite the bullet and go to a much more expensive solution but I am hoping to avoid that. Seems our location means we have to prepare for the entire range of possibilities in this particular location. Also the dam on my small pond is going to need some love real soon as well.

At least I should keep busy as long as it isn't too darn cold and wet.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!