Another Gardening Season in the Books

This was not a good gardening year for me. I planted a lot, and harvested very little.  We had quite a pest problem, mostly of the deer kind, but also some woodchucks.  It seemed like every time things would sprout and start growing well, they'd get eaten down to the ground.  Then the plants would try again, sending out new shoots, just to get raided in the night and eaten down again.

Truthfully, other than a few select areas of the garden, I just kind of gave up after we got back from our Myrtle Beach trip in July.  In fact, some parts of the garden got plowed under at the beginning of August because it was clear, at that point, that the plants were not going to have time to mature and produce anything even if the varmint pressure had been greatly alleviated by then. 

For future years, we are going to have to take a hard stance on keeping the deer OUT of our garden.  A mesh fence seems a simple solution, until you take into account the size of the garden (roughly 125' x 75'), the fact that deer can jump a six foot tall fence from a standstill (I've seen them do it at other farms), and the need to get a tractor and implements into and out of the garden in more than one spot (so, large gates that are also super tall and have mesh to keep deer and other things from crawling under or through the bars on the gate).  Because there's no point in buying materials and putting in the labor to build a fence if it won't be impenetrable to the wildlife that we are trying to keep out.  

Anyhoo, this is what we did manage to get at least a small harvest of:

Asparagus.  The deer don't typically eat this, so we got to eat as much as I could remember to check on during the short and quick growing season.

Garlic.  It was a really good year for garlic.  Toad helped me cut the bulbs from the stalks once they were all dried down, and he was amazed at how big some of the garlic was.  We chose the biggest heads of each variety and I planted those for my 2027 crop.

Onions.  While they weren't huge, I did harvest almost every onion I planted.  Especially the Red Rivers.

Cucumbers.  For the first year in about four years, I had a good cucumber crop.  Not huge, but enough that I canned enough pickles to get us through until next year.

Grapes.  It was a big grape crop, although earlier than expected.  DS2 picked about half to make wine with, and I missed the rest because I was too busy to get out there and pick them before the critters did.

Tomatoes.  I got a very few tomatoes.  Mostly the cherry/snack sized varieties, and really only about a dozen of those.  My tomato plants got repeatedly eaten early in the season, even with tomato cages around them, and not very many of the plants recovered enough to even put out blossoms.

Green peppers.  Same stoy as the tomatoes, only with less of a harvest.  Four?  Three? Peppers total.

Turnips.  Far from a banner crop, my turnips actually did better than in previous years when I planted them.  Most were not huge though; in mid-October when we decided to put the garden to bed for the winter I pulled what was left and came up with a couple almost-baseball sized turnips and the rest being a little bit bigger than a golf ball.

Potatoes.  I feel like I really did my potatoes an injustice this year.  I didn't get them hilled when they were supposed to be, and as a result they didn't produce much.  Each plant gave me at least one potato, and some gave me four to six, but for the most part it was a puny crop.  As always, the red skinned potatoes were the most abundant.

Live and learn.  The season is over, all the stakes and tomato cages pulled and put away, and the garden turned under until next spring.  As they say in sports "There's always next season."

Thankful Thursday, November 5th

 Many years ago, in November, I did a Thankful post on Thursdays.  I'm going to try to do that again this year.

Today, I am thankful for:

*A new grandson!  I'm still trying to wrap my head around how DS2 and Surprise managed to keep this a secret until after he was born, but overall I'm just so excited to have another grandbaby.

*The socks I'm knitting for Faline's birthday are almost done.  Which is good, because her birthday is coming up later this month.

*We finally got a little rain.  It's been a very dry fall so far, which has been really helpful for getting outdoor pre-winter chores done, but things are very very dry here.  So rain is welcome.

*DH's colonoscopy went well.  As the Snickers commercial goes "You're not you when you're hungry," and DH becomes rather a bear when he's hungry.  So doing the whole special diet days ahead of time plus the liquids only restriction the day before plus the icky prep drink made him a rather difficult person to be around.  Add in the fact that he has needle-phobia (trypanophobia according to Google) and he was a bundle of nerves--but veins that were incredibly hard to get an IV started in--in addition to being extremely hangry.  The scoping itself was anti-climactic and he doesn't need to do this again for seven years.  I am extra, extra thankful for that!

*A really good book.  I got ahold of my library's brand new copy of Bonnie Garmus's new novel and it is indescribably good.  If you read her first book, Lessons in Chemistry, and loved it, you definitely will like this one.

What things are you thankful for today?

Secret, Secret, I've Got a Secret

 Actually, I was flabbergasted when a secret was revealed to me: I have another grandchild!  This makes 9 plus two step-grandkids, for a total of eleven!  This new one is a boy, bringing the score to seven boys and four girls

DS2, Surprise, and Lucky came by this weekend so Lucky could see us on Halloween and do a little trick or treating.  What they didn't tell me was that they recently welcomed another son into their family.  Those dirty rats kept a secret from us all for nine months:  that Surprise was pregnant with their second child.  

Now, when she was pregnant with Lucky, they didn't tell anyone for the first five months of the pregnancy (she had had two previous miscarriages).  So for them to not say anything right away wasn't unusual.

This time, nobody noticed that she was pregnant during our family vacation on Myrtle Beach--when she was about six months along. Surprise looked like she'd put on a little weight, but didn't have a noticeable belly, and it's not nice to ask a lady if she's gained weight (therefore, nobody asked).  So for whatever reason, they decided to wait and see how long it would take any of us to figure it out.  And since they live about 40 miles away from the majority of us and are both very busy (especially DS2, he travels a ton on his job just like DH used to), we didn't see them much between late July and now.  

DS2 and Lucky had come by a few times in September and early October, but Surprise had stayed home and we were all told she just wasn't feeling well that particular day.  No one caught on; although I did say to DH after the early October visit that I was getting suspicious that either they were having a rough patch in their marriage and that's why Surprise hadn't been around or they were hiding something from us.  Like maybe another pregnancy they didn't want to be public knowledge until they knew it was going to be a healthy full term one.

HA!  Healthy and full term he was!  And now he's going to forever have the name of Secret on my blog.

DD2 (and Honorary Son, they were Slinky Dog for Halloween) meeting Secret.

Guess what my next quilting project is going to be!

Au Revoir, Little Black Mare

 LBM, the Little Black Mare, has gone to a new home.  This is something that started in motion a couple of weeks ago, and that I wanted to wait until it was a done deal and she was at her new farm to post about.

Her owner had told me this past spring, that since she never had time to come over to this little place here and do anything with the LBM, that she was probably going to try to find her a new owner.  Meanwhile, she wanted to keep the LBM in training with me, so that the LBM would have the best possible chance at the kind of new home the owner wished to find.  

All summer and thus far into the fall, I've kept up the regular rides with the LBM, especially taking her out trail riding, as a trail riding home (rather than a horse show home) seemed like it would be the best fit for the LBM's temperament and build.

In the middle of October, I got a text from the owner, asking if I might have time to take some pictures of LBM and send to her, so that she could forward them on to a prospective buyer.  She had been in contact with this person, who had turned out to be someone she'd actually known in the past but lost touch with several years ago, and felt like he would provide an acceptable home for the LBM.

Being that I was not super busy, and it was a beautiful day, I was able to run outside, grab LBM from her pasture, brush her up and take a couple dozen pictures.  One of which is above.  After putting LBM back in her pasture, I went through the pictures, chose about 7 or 8 of the best ones, and sent them to her owner.  The owner was very pleased with the pictures (I'd done them as close to professional sale ad pictures as I could with just me to handle the horse), and the prospective buyer was too.  He requested to set up a time the following Saturday to come meet the LBM, see me ride her, and possibly ride her himself.

That day came, another awesome weather day, and everything just seemed to align perfectly.  The owner liked him.  I got a sense that he would be a good match for the LBM both personality-wise and skill-wise.  He liked the LBM.  And, importantly, the LBM seemed to really like him; she calmly did everything he asked of her even though he was a total stranger.  A match made in heaven, if you will.  

A verbal deal was made between owner and buyer, the three of us set up a date and time for him to return with a check (for the owner) and a trailer (to take the LBM to her new home in).

Five days before she was scheduled to leave, I split up the LBM and the Poetess.  They had been pasturemates since about the second week of operation as a horse farm at this little place here.  To (hopefully) make the LBM's departure a little easier on both of them, I started a pseudo weaning by separating them, but just by a fenceline.  This forced them apart, yet they could still see each other in the adjacent pasture and could touch over the fence if they felt necessary.  They took that right in stride, often grazing calmly on opposite ends of their pastures from each other, not at all worried that they could no longer be side by side all day.

The first 10 minutes of separate pastures.

Because the LBM's owner had prepaid for October's training sessions, I continued to work the LBM as scheduled.  I did adjust the focus of the rides to less arena work and 90% riding outside the arena.  Her new owner was hoping, as long as the weather stayed favorable, to maybe take her on some trail rides with his friends and their horses yet this fall.  So I rode her all over my property, looking at every thing that could possibly be spooky and trekking right on past it without any blow-ups or getting eaten by any monsters (like the buck we scared up in the woods).  

On our last ride around the property, I took some pictures from on her back, with plans to share them with her owner (seller).

On the path between my pastures and the neighbor's grain field.

In the back side of my woods.

On November first, the sale was completed.  The LBM followed her new owner into his horse trailer, and away she went to her new life.  The Poetess watched, intermittently called out for her friend in the first two hours after the LBM departed, then settled back to grazing.  Exactly the reaction I'd hoped she would have when I decided to separate them days ahead of time to make the final separation less traumatic for them both.

Goodbye, Little Black Mare.  I'm so excited for your new life of adventuring and exploring more trails with your new owner.

Books Read in 2026: October

 Freckles by Cecelia Ahern. I love Cecelia Ahern's novels.  Unfortunately, there are a few that I cannot get from my library because not only does that particular library system (county with about a dozen branches) not own a copy, apparently no library in Michigan that participates in the state interlibrary loan system does either.  So I will in such instances buy a used copy off eBay.  This is one of those 'hard to get' novels: I had to buy it.  In a way, I found the novel much different than her others; most of it reads rather dark and depressing.  I hurt for the main character and hoped that the hole she seemed to be falling/digging herself into via her personal choices wasn't going to end badly.  I won't spoil the story, but the closer I got to the end of the book the more I liked it and I could see the author's trademark storyline (or, at least what I count on her books to contain) become revealed.

One For The Money by Janet Evanovich.  Other than a short Christmas-themed novel, I had not read any of this widely known author's books.  While I hadn't been very impressed with that one holiday book I did read, I've heard glowing recommedations about this series and I was determined to finally give it a real try myself.  Well, turned out I DNF'ed it after about three attempts to read it.  Just not my style, I guess.  A bit too crass, and fluffy at the same time.  Sorry Janet Evanovich fans, Stephanie Plum is just not for me.  In a way, I guess that's a good thing, as now I don't have to worry about getting ahold of the two dozen-some books about her.

Murder on Millionaires' Row by Erin Lindsey.  This is a book I had picked up at a book swap either this spring or last fall.  Set in the late 1890's, it sounded like it could be interesting. For most of the book, I really liked it.  There were a few parts I found a bit unrealistic (interactions between classes, genders and races being specifically mentioned appropriate for the time period, yet a page later being more modern day), and I was willing to overlook them because it was fast paced and I was interested in solving the whodunit portion, as it is supposedly a mystery book.  After more than 250 pages, I just couldn't go on.  Not only were the interpersonal depictions getting annoyingly modern, the paranormal aspect of the story that had just been a passing mention in the beginning--and I thought went along with the time period as lots of people at that time believed in spirits, etc.--kind of took over and depictions of that detracted from the whole mystery aspect for me.  Paranormal is not my genre, and I lost interest in finding out whodunit.  I was really disappointed because the book had started so promisingly and I had been looking forward to a mystery set within that time period.

The Jump by Natalie Keller Reinert.  I stumbled across this one at my local library, saw the horse on the cover, read the blurb, and it sounded appealing.  It sucked me in.  Comparing my personal experiences through 40+ years, I found this book to be believable (horse themed fiction books written by people with little to none actual horse farm/training experience drive me up the wall) and accurate in its decriptions.  Can't wait to look up more by this author!

A Little Complainy-ness

 This week has not been bad.  Just a few irritating things that I'm going to get off my chest.  If you're curious, read on.  If you've had enough irritations of your own this week, feel free to skip.

ONE

These stairs finally got me.  We built them out of railroad ties 20+ years ago.  They are part of the retaining wall, also built out of railroad ties, that hold back the earth between the upper level of yard behind the garage and the lower level of the patio and backyard (we have a walkout basement).  Being wood, and already old when we got them--they had been used under honest to goodness train tracks for who knows how long before being deemed no longer usable for that purpose, then removed and sold for $5 each--the railroad ties have decayed over the decades since we built with them.  Several of the steps are no longer horizontally level, and a few not only tilt side to side but also back to front.  

Replacing the retaining wall and stairs has been on our project list for about four years now, but it will be an expensive and time consuming project and we haven't been able to do it yet.  First there was DH's shop to build so that we could  finish off the barn for housing horses and not kayaks, canoes, lawn mower, snowmobiles, tractor, bicycles. . .  And then there was the whole horse fencing and stalls and tack room project. . . 

Well, on Wednesday I was heading down these stairs and I fell.  About 3-4 steps from the bottom, my foot slipped on an uneven railroad tie and it plus my other foot went flying out from underneath me.  In a split second of self-preservation (trained into my brain from going off horses over the years?), I shifted my weight so that I would neither pitch forward and whack my head on the patio pavers, nor backward and whack my head on a railroad tie.  Instead, I sat down, whacking my tailbone --OUCH!-- and my right elbow --OUCH!

Nothing broken, just some scratches through my shirt sleeve, some lovely bruises and a tailbone that does not appreciate riding a sitting trot currently.

TWO

So much junk mail in the mailbox this week!  Not only annoying political flyers (whose saving grace is that we can burn them in the wood burner for a teensy tiny bit of heat), but this crap that was made to look potentially like some sort of (wedding?) invitation that was hand addressed but when you open it is actually from a company that makes replacement windows wanting to sell you some.  UGH!  Waste my time opening it to see what it is, only to toss it into the burn garbage pile.

THREE

This trash bin was supposed to be taken out the evening before.  It's my husband's responsibility to take it from behind the garage, where it sits during the week, to the end of the driveway.  I'm the one who actually goes around the house and barn and gathers up the trash and puts it all into the bin, DH just has to take it to the road once a week.  

I had told him, as he saw me with a full trash bag in my hand before dinner that evening, that I was going to put the bag into the trash bin, and then the bin would be ready to go to the road.  A couple of hours later, I asked him if he'd taken the bin to the end of the driveway.  "I forgot.  I'll do it in the morning," was the response.

In the morning when I went out to feed horses, I noticed the bin was still behind the garage.  So, while I was cooking his breakfast, I reminded DH that he needed to take the bin to the road.  He said he'd do it when he left for work.  An hour after he left for work, I went out the garage door to head to (my work) the barn to get horses turned out and there was the bin, still behind the garage.  

I ended up lugging it to the end of the driveway (500') before walking back to the barn to turn out horses and start my next several hours of barn work.  The man swears he hasn't developed increasing memory problems this year, but I'm finding that hard to believe.

FOUR

My foldable wooden drying rack broke.  WAAAHHHH!  This is probably the third drying rack I've had in the 35 years since I left my parent's home at 19 (the others having succumbed to the dangers of existing near young children).  I love this thing, especially for drying delicates and other Do Not Dry in Dryer items of clothing.  I'm tempted to grab DH's wood glue and have a go at fixing it, but then it won't be foldable any more as once glue is involved the support won't rotate around the dowel.  Maybe I should just put a new one on my Birthday/Christmas List (since they are both in December I have one list) and hope the gift faeries/elves/my loved ones bring me a new one.

Okay, that's all my complainies for now.  Thanks for listening (reading?)

Check, Check, and Check

Last weekend, we got a few major/minor tasks crossed off our to do list.  Major because they are important, minor because each of them was relatively small.  All of them needed to be done before winter weather hits.

 Cellar insulation

Last January, I noticed that in several places down in my cellar, the insulation was missing.  Or that rodents had chewed through it. Both of which were letting in a major amount of cold air.  Since my well tank and the water lines that go into the house are located in the cellar, all that cold air in January was a problem: my water line froze in one small spot.  And, because DH was out of town at the time, I 'fixed' the problem the way that was available to me at the time: I stuffed rags/old clothes into each spot that had an air leak.  

I was able to thaw the water line, and the rags stayed in place the rest of the winter.  Actually, until this past weekend.

DH used some pieces of that thick pink insulation board to make patches to cover up the leaky spots.  He also used a can of expandable foam insulation to seal things up where the pink board didn't fit.  Now there should be no frigid gusts of air to freeze the pipes in the cellar during the winter.

Feed room faucets insulation

A couple of times last winter (both in January if I remember right), the water faucets in my feed room froze.  Inside the tack room, the water for the sink still flowed just fine, so we figured the problem was in the wall where the water lines run from the tack room to the feed room.  DH thought he had put enough insulation in the stud cavity, but apparently not.  He'd used fiberglass batts, which were kind of hard to snug tightly around the pipes.

His plan, when the (supposedly frost free) faucets froze, was to wait until summer, and stick some expandable foam insulation in the wall specifically around the plumbing.  Summer came, and he forgot (his short term memory has become a worry of mine this year, but that's a topic for another post).  I reminded him in September, and after his memory had been refreshed, he said it was on his list to do yet this fall.

So I was really happy when, can of Great Stuff in hand, he announced he was going to add insulation to those faucets.  As you can tell from the photo below, there's a little bit that needs to trimmed off the wall on the tack room side.  Hopefully now we truly do have freeze proof water in the feed room!

Stall #1 floor

This stall has been a tool room/storage area ever since we got the mats laid two years ago.  While we were building the tack room--for about an entire year--we not only kept a table full of tools in here, but also many, many totes (awaiting those shelves to be built after the tack room itself was walled in) as well as the bales of pine shavings I use for bedding the stalls.

Being so long unoccupied by a living animal walking around on the mats, we had some opportunistic rodents tunnel their way in under the outside walls and move around the gravel under the mats to make themselves nice little runs and nesting sites.  And now that the tack room was (finally) finished and I no longer needed that stall for storage, having holes and tunnels under the mats was a problem.

We had some gravel leftover from making our gate pads this past spring, and I had earmarked it for fixing the stall floor.  I just needed DH to make himself available to help me remove the mats, shovel the gravel in the low spots, tamp it solid and level, then put the mats back in place.  He, of course, did not want to do this in the heat of summer, so it was very low priority on his personal to do list.

Well, the hot weather is long gone, and the little pile of gravel left in our parking area awaiting the floor repair needed to be out of there before the snow falls and the parking area needs to be plowed.  So, it made its way up to the top of DH's to do list (finally).

Removing the mats was no fun.  But the floor repair itself was pretty quick and easy.  And the mats were much easier to reinstall than they had been to install back in 2024!  I'm glad to have that done.  Now my priority is to get another boarder horse so that it can live in this stall, which should do the trick for deterring any new sub-mat excavating by rodents.