No fair!

Things are just not well here. All my chicks, ducklings and goslings are gone. I am angry and ready to quit. I want to move farther out from people. Why on Earth would you move out into the country just to steal from your neighbor's? That was not how I was raised. And I was raised in town.

Yes, we know that it is a two legged predator that has stolen our birds.

Now there is need to dress out a rooster before they kill each other. 3 roosters and 4 hens are left. The roosters will fight and end up killing each other and possibly a hen.

I am so sad. I feel distrustful.

I will be in the barn with a shotgun if you need me.

not to kill, but to scare.

Low Impact Week

Sorry feed readers for the 3rd post, this is what happens when you read other peoples blogs after updating your own.

Crunchy Chicken is hosting Low Impact week. Though I will not be joining, I thought many of you might be interested, and I am supporting her and the others participating.

If you decide to sign up, let me know. I will be interested in hearing about how you make out.

I was just outside working in the garden, my mind wondering {so that I could ignore the pain and sweat} and thought if I was to host a challenge, what would it be? I came to the conclusion that it would be a Earn Your Own Way in This World challenge. Why, because I do not believe there is a way to leave no impact, you can lower of course. But the point of earning your own way, is that although you are leaving footprints left and right, you have more respect for where your food comes from, you clothing and such. Plus it's about self reliance. You will learn more about your immediate environment, and become just as selfish as us homesteaders.

That's what I would do for a challenge, but of course I am not hosting one. My readers are ones that want to learn just as I am. You are already participating in your own ways. And for that, you have earned my respect. Now go plant something!

The pepper

Treat your pepper in the same manner as your tomatoes.

Peppers are perennials if you live in all year warm climates.

6 pepper plants does our family of 5 just fine.

Some of my harvested peppers {and carrots} from last year

Tagged!

I have been catching up on blog posts, and it looks like I was tagged back on May 4th, by abbagirl74

Here is a list of favorites.

5 everyday favorites:
Coffee
reading your replies
writing
baking
snuggeling with kids

4 mood-lifters:
hearing thank you
reading your replies {you people crack me up}
coffee {can you tell it's morning}
kissing my husband

3 reasons to get out of bed:
children
animals
garden

2 people you love:
{only 2?}
My parents

1 thing you love about yourself:
I have no real answer for this one. I don't ever think about it. I readily see my flaws, things that I need improvement, but loving something about myself {and not make it sound conceeded?} I just don't know. I am Phelan, plain and very tall.

Asparagus

I'm not a fan of the asparagus, though many members of my family love them. They have asked that I grow them, so my third degree questioning of my poor neighbor was for all of us. I'm still not going to eat them.

I walked over to the neighbors, lucky for me, he was outside tending horses.

"How does your asparagus grow?"

He looked confused, as if I had actually said, "purple elephants fly yellow umbrellas before squashing pussy cats."

"Your asparagus, what do you do to get them to grow."

His face finally lit up, he understood. Now we could communicate.

Here is what he told me, it is not verbatim because I had to ask questions and things got out of order. If I posted it as is, it might make us sound like we were a little tipsy;

Get one year old roots, starting from seed is possible but difficult. Choose one side of your garden, keeping them together. The spot should be free from shade, and have rich soil, deep and well drained. The one side location is so that the permanence of your crop will not be bothered by the cultivation of the rest of your garden.

As soon as the ground can be worked, dig a trench about 1 foot deep and 10 inches wide where the first row will stand. At the bottom of this, you should place about 3 inches of mature compost hummus, or well rotten manure. Mix it into the dirt at the bottom of the trench {the garden claw comes in handy for this}. The next row should be about 4 feet away.

your one year old crowns should be placed 18 inches apart, and 10 inches below garden level. Cover the crowns with 2 inches of sifted hummus and watered well. During the summer, fill the trench slowly with a mix of fine topsoil and compost. Don't fill too quickly, asparagus won't grow well, it stifles them.

After planting, asparagus will thrive for many years with little care. Keep the weeds out, keep trees away and add organic material liberally every year.

It is a good idea to have a cover crop planted after cutting season, like soy. this should be planted in between the asparagus rows.

If good growth occurs the first year, cut the shoots carefully the following spring. But better if you wait another year. The spears should be cut when they are 6 inches high. Cut the base at ground level.

Mulch well in the winter, remove in spring. And Carefully cultivate around the rows.

Chickens are great for insect control.

There you have it, from my neighbors mouth to your eyes.

A little of that

Welcome Kansas City Star readers!

Victoria Sizemore Long, a writer for the Star, wrote up a quick little paragraph about my blog yesterday. We have had a few visitors stop by.

I want to update you on how my father is doing. He is still in the VA, and is waiting for a bed to open up in Hospice. It doesn't look as though my father will be coming back to the homestead. I was looking forward to showing him everything I have learned, his father's family own a huge cattle ranch back in the day. It a matter of talking now, rather than showing him, and it's hard for me. I will try and not allow this to effect the homestead, but who am I kidding. The thing is that I will not be throwing it all in, though I do show up to rant about a lousy day, I am determined to stay this path.

I do not care for asparagus. I do not grow asparagus, but that my friends will not stop me from asking the neighbor how it's done. He grows them every year. But that is up to you, do you want me to give the man next door the third degree on how his garden grows, and then relay it back to you?

Looks like peppers and eggplant are next on the topic list. There is a large world of veggies out there {as well as in my garden} I will go through the things I have placed, but if you want to know something sooner, please let me know.

My Favorite Cabbage, the Brussel Sprout

Favorite Cabbage? Nope, they are my favorite vegetable, period.

I have received much flack over loving Brussel Sprouts, it hurt my younger years. Yet I did not allow it to get to me, well not too much. I had to hide under the sheets in the dark, to munch on them, less my friends would catch me.

But now, I am out from under those sheets, and shouting to the world, ok those that actually read what I may have to say. There is no shame in brussel sprout love! I should have realized that back in the day. Back when my friends could smell the lunch of brussel sprouts I had just eaten, back when those friends would question me, after the statement of "eeewww. . . you're eating those again?" and "why can't you like normal vegetables?"

And then I discovered fresh picked brussel sprouts, then I knew that this love would never be tamed. Hello, my name is Phelan, and I am a Brussel Sprout addict.

Now is a good time to start sowing those plants. Treat them like you would any late cabbage. They need ample amount of compost, for they are hardy feeders. Plant them out in July. When you do plant them out, snap off a few leaves, so they do not spend energy on them. Set your plants 16-20 inches apart. In October, once again break off the lower stems. Harvest your lower buds first. Before your first killing freeze, transplant the stalks into your house/greenhouse/basement. If your soil is moist, the buds will continue to mature. They are a late season vegetable, and a few fall frosts {but not the hard ones} will improve the plant.

A rough weekend

There were three instances yesterday that we prepared to run to our cellar. Luckily, one tornado turned, and the other two died down before it go to us. We expect storms today, but not as severe or active as they have been.

There has been a lot of flooding, we have been lucky on that as well. Just a bit of standing water.

I also made a mistake on the tomato watering. I apologize. Please read the comments of One More Thing on tomatoes. Thank you Crazy Mumma and Mel.

I am rather sleepy this morning, storms kept waking me up {that and I had to watch Dance of the Dead} I will be back tomorrow with a post on my favorite veggie, the Brussel sprout.

Here it comes

Last night wasn't too awful. We watch other towns get hit with tornadoes, but we were safe. That system didn't move on like they said it would.

Another small town was wiped out. I didn't catch the name, but I did know the lake it was near. 90% of the town gone, which equals 30 houses, so it isn't getting the coverage that Greensburg is getting.

Currently at 1030 am a tornado was spotted on the ground an hour Southeast of us. If this storm continues following the same course, it is headed straight towards us. Maybe it will peter out.

Have a day!