Gardening 1 A In The Central Sierra Nevada Range.

Good Morning Froggy. This little one was sitting on the screen on one of my bedroom windows this morning in a small space of  sunshine on a 51 degree morning.  48 hours earlier he wasn't there as the low temperature for Saturday at 5:30 AM was 72. I am certain he was out and about looking for breakfast. Today he just wanted to stay warm.

I thought about blogging on the new generator but since gardens are the number one topic in blogland I decided to jump in with the rest of you .  I am grateful to be able to pick the brains of multiple seasoned gardeners and/or homesteaders to bounce ideas off of. I as some of you know was not the gardener of our family. I dappled and did a few small gardens on Ash Creek (the off gird homestead) the last year or two prior to Geoffrey passing. I also did two small raised beds last Spring of 2019 to occupy myself while selling our 42 Acres of Paradise after he passed. But Geoffrey was the official "master" gardener for  all the years the children were at home and after. I was the "master" food preserver and goat herder.

Last Fall I got a wild hair and grew some snap peas, kale and spinach. With fairly decent results and since our winter was without snow on the ground and no days of continuous freezing I pretty much had fresh goodies through until mid spring when I evicted them with thoughts of a summer garden taking their place.

During a long weekend visit with a my friends middle daughter Moriah we constructed these 2X8 foot above ground containers of shelving the seller had left in the shop when he moved out. They went together nicely. I put a layer of hardware cloth on the bottom to gopher proof them before I filled them with soil. I also put to use the two 60 gallon stock tanks that were left behind as they didn't hold water well .

In the beginning when the plants were littles.

A cart that was used on the left behind riding mower became a herb garden when the mover died and it was left by the side of my barn road since I could no longer pull it to move yard waste and more. 

There has been funky weather periods of Spring is here and no it is not . Winters back wood stove is chugging along and then opps summer is here. Another several combinations there of until we pretty much have stabilized in  a moderate zone or so "they" say. Let us not forget the most recent 21 degree differential in only 48 hours.

The plants went in late April and early May. So were are we now almost in July? 

Tomatoes Indigo Rose getting bigger daily and the plant is full of different stages.

A stock tank full of happy mixed beans. Life is an experiment! 

My favorite basil Lavender and it grows in a perfect dome shape. Co-existing with a honey dew melon . I may have to move the basil soon to give the honey dew more room. Another crazy experiment.

Lemon grass a first for me and I guess I need to brush up on my Thai recipes.

Sun Gold plant loaded and the first almost fully ripened tomato.

Below is the top of the same plant just going skyward.

What I didn't picture a fully loaded eggplant, zucchini, cucumber and a pumpkin. I figure I will get what I get but learn a lot and spend some quality time with the plants. So much fun to go out in the morning and see them grow exponentially overnight!  I am finally beginning to understand the Jack and the bean stock concept lol!

I Intended To Write Another Post But It Wasn’t This One

This is the SE end of my front porch. At least the top part of it. 

Look more familiar now?

Oh wait what is that at the top. Chinking ? 

Nope. Not cabin chinking but garden burlap dipped in peppermint essential oil. 

Scratching your head “Boy this gal has lost her mind. Poor dear.”

Let me share my morning coffee on the porch. Coffee check, cinnamon toast check , glasses check and phone. About half way through coffee whoa Nellie what is all over that end of the porch? If those are mice they are big poopers . Just so happens a few days ago I was scanning an article about how many folks think they have mice but on closer inspection you realize not rodent poop but the darling of the fertilizer world  quano more specifically bat quano.  

There are days I adore my iPhone not many but this was one of them. I learned today that bats aren’t crazy about eucalyptus oil. Frantic search of soap making EO stock yikes all out. However recalling another article that said mice and bats share some preferences. So with a backlog of info fighting mice in my barns I grabbed the bottle of peppermint EO. Added it to a dilution of about 1:10 with water in my garden sprayer and marched back to the porch hollering “it is Evac time 🦇.”

It began slowly. Then in earnest they came large , small young, and old. By the time total Evac was achieved I felt at least 100 numbered this colony. One of the young ones got a tiny wing caught between two porch boards. I worked gently with the soft end of a broom to help free it. I relocated a few of all sizes who were too stressed to leave on wing to a darker cooler area to wait out the day. My goal was to move them out not kill them. Yes bats can transmit disease but my goal was to discourage them from colonizing on my porch. Also they are very helpful in many ways. 

I have had a long list since I moved in that includes bat boxes . After this morning that will be sooner than later. The burlap is a stop gap measure and may not work . But until I can get another body up here it is all I can do.  Ultimately I may need to get a snap board in place plus the bat boxes we should be good.

Oh the other post? Next time soon and I mean in the next day or two. Pinky swear 🙃

2020 And We Just Finished Off The First Half?

Am I the only one who feels like "I can't believe half the year is already gone?" And am I the only one who feels like we have spent at the least double time in those 6 months feeling more like 12 months?

And "Holy Goat Bat Girl " the amazing thing is  I keep thinking back to last year this time. I was living in a time warp. In nine months I became a widow, lived through lots of weather , put a house on 42 acres on sale, sold same with 45 day escrow (it was the livestock clause lol) , purchased a house I had never seen in person but my family had . Everyone needs a good posse bless them :-). Moved this entire farm for the third time  in 13 years. All in the same amount of time I could have brought another child into the world. Just a comparison mind you.

So I also feel very absentee here in blog land. I know I have kicked  a few "shorts" out to y'all and blathered about just wait until you see what is next. But I will be darned if I ever got that far. And I am now at the other side of the tunnel and still am not sure what caused my lack of follow through. I can compile a list of reasons  excuses but what the heck no.

I even contemplated riding off into the sunset on Longfellow ( my 12 year old still stunning as ever buck boy)  but it never happened. I could see the news with photos at eleven . Gently geriatric woman and aged LaMancha ride into sunset during pandemic and OMG  both sans mask ! But it gets quiet enough around here and what would I do without you all? I even tossed social distancing and started occasionally posting on Instagram. But I felt as if I am cheating on friends. Sigh. . .

So I will pick up where I left off and sort out photos while I tackle the last 10 months which encompassed three major projects although I believe I pretty much did justice to the huge fencing project . I will begin with the whole house generator  have even had to use it twice since it was put in place. I love it <3

I promise to then regale you in the log cabin restoration , moving of the laundry room from the bedroom closet to the shop. The chicken coop and coop yard you have seen but a few doodads  have been added as recently as last Sunday.

Helen 2005-2020

Blind but brave the most amazing cat I have been blessed to share life with.

Little one you certainly proved by how you lived your life that attitude is everything. 

Inspired all who knew you and your story.

❤️ We Shall Over Come One Day 💙