Hey all, I've been off forum for a bit. My garden this year is only so-so. I'll include pic's. I agree with a lot of farmgal's comments lately about garden, agricultural concerns. The spring start...which was a hot start made for early bolting-I cut my rhubarb couple times to avoid it. I find were going from flooding one year to drought the next. Hard to plan to grow when it's always a surprise. They say this is the new norm!! The smoke from the fires dont help either. It gives you a gloomy perspective, literally and figuratively. Hope everyone's safe from the fires and doing well.
I've been using my chicken and duck waste a lot this year in the garden and I have seen an improvement with less weeding and improved results by covering the beds with thick straw. Could also be that the garden PH is finally coming into its own.
I completed the watering system to each bed row and find watering enjoyable and much less time consuming now (I have a full time job so it's wonderful to have that up and running). The water system is coming from my well this year but I hope to have the greenhouse roof gathering rain water next year as I already have a huge catchment ready at its side. My catchment off the house waters all my plants there. Slowly but surely!!!
I've included garden pics and my deck (where all my tomatoes are). I've also included my chicken and duck pics because they contributed. We hand built a pond (yup, stone by stone) in front of the house to catch rain and eventually house fish. Never mind.. the sound it adds to the tranquility out here! I'll see if I can find a pic.
And to you folks just starting...don't feel overwhelmed, frustrated or as if you can't do things to prepare yourselves. You can, but it will take a while. Bit by bit, year by year...add another bucket, add another garden bed row, add a pond. People in my group use to comment that they didn't have money to prep. I'm not a wealthy person either and to boot...I'm cheap as hell! So don't let money be the excuse! Bucket by bucket...before you know it, you have three months of food for your family set aside!
It's a great feeling!!!
And the chickens and ducks take a bow!
On one hand I could tell you that the weather is changing and it is to a point. On the other hand so far it pretty close to what I told my hubby to expect and I am pretty sure I know most of the challenges coming next year. So far this is third round of flood and then drought cycle we have had on the farm in the years we have been there.
What is up with the weather from my end..
HARD FAST RAIN.. we are getting the rain but we are not getting gentle soft rains.. its here! Its hard and its gone.
Heat, Heat coming sooner then normal, Heat staying high into the 40's not for a day or two but from three to five plus
Humidity .. this has a direct effect on the plants in terms of pollinators and fungus and other diseases.
Cold with those nasty "warm rise ups" that lead to ice storms and such
Storms-winds.. I do not know how its going in other places but the storms here are strong, more higher winds
So far the two things we are not as prone on the farm is Flooding.. it happens all around us but so far its going around the farm.. and fire.. so far we have not had to deal with fire in the same way others have.
So for me the answers are multi point.. in some cases its about choosing different seeds and plants.. This year really proved that case in point.. My roma's tomato's where like nope.. but two other kinds of paste types are doing really well.. I had never grown them before. They are smaller then my normal but they are heavy producers so while it means a bit more work on my end, I will take it.
One of the good things is that some of the changes means that I can now grow sweet potato's and rice.. On the flip side I am now a native bee breeder, we will see if I expand on it, but I am breeding (aka giving a helping hand) to both mason bee's and leaf cutter. By collecting and overwintering the Mason bee's and leaf cutters I can stagger out their hatching every two weeks to make sure I have a pollination crew for my spring hard and soft fruit producers.
I have created new gardens as shade gardens because the main gardens are to hot for full sun and I have like you worked and continue to work on different ways to grow staples with manure, compost, mulching and so forth.
We had to take down our big tree's and I will be hiring to have someone come in and dig out and help me create a rain garden to help keep those hard and massive rain's to our land and keep our water table an well refilled, as well as keeping our main steel roofed rain collection systems in place.
I am also changing my focus a touch on the farm.. I am leaning down the animals programs and increasing the gardens including tree hay, pastures, fodder production and such. Don't get me wrong the farm will continue to produce meat, eggs, milk, manure, wool, feathers, hides and such but on a smaller scale and we will take that extra time and move it over to growing even more of our own household food and even more important, our livestock's feed.
Loved your photos..
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
Thanks farmgal,
We're on our third flood/drought loop as well. Our rain is much less this year but more hard and short blasts(for the most part). Hail not as frequent as last year, but still a garden cruncher. The fires from BC cover our skies with smoke-which reduces the 35 heat slightly but creates horrible health concerns in these provinces. Sore eyes and lungs. The animals are equally affected.
I too, am concentrating more on gardening than animals this year. Didn't even breed the goats this year. I changed up my potatoes as well and am happily surprised-banana Dutch potatoes-they're doing well!! My Yukon's leaves got demolished by hail so I will see what's under soon.
Good luck with harvest!
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Thanks peppercorn. I got sick of coddling "Preppers" a while ago.
Best read of the month. https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-08-22/when-i-woke-up-this-week-the-sun-was-blocked-out-by-smoke/
Secondary read goes to this https://cassandralegacy.blogspot.com/2018/08/why-is-it-so-easy-to-deceive-people.html
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
Thanks peppercorn. I got sick of coddling "Preppers" a while ago.
C 5 you are still stuck in preacher mode from your days....., as one. With its must be's, have to be's,can deviate from the script aproch.. I wouldnt have wanted to know you then.
An alternet way is to just lay out your wares on the table, some people will be interested others not...no point getting worked up about the not,if you do it will detract from your engagement with those closer to liking your wares. If it isnt coming in to focus yet,.I will cut to the chase, neither you I or others are going to effect change in the trajectory coming, In the short life span we have left.Lets just make it as comfortable for ourselves to enjoy the declining and diminishing little pleasure life has not yet taken away.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Carlin summed it up best, a front row seat to the freak show, find humour where you can, while you can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9CjBtv7j78
This guy also has developed a attitude I can appreciate, much like Carlins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCGkVyyDOcU enjoy!
its one of his best ones about not giving a damn.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
But back to gardening...so little rain, at least in my area, even the trees are suffering, 6 inches is all I have had, the ground is very dry. I have heard from a couple people way east of me that they have had even less rain than that. I just ran out of water for the house and had to have 4500 gallons delivered (220.00)
I think I may have to get the well working and use that water for the gardens in the future.I would be interested in hearing from others who have rain gauges up what their rain fall was like in Alberta. Actually I suspect not many people have rain gauges.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
We're all going to have to go for more drought resistant veggies and try to change with the changes.
Peppercorn...luckily my barrel catchment on all but my greenhouse has been enough to keep my medicinal and fruit bushes well. My garden... I've been using my well water during times when it's really dry. My sister who lives on Salt Springs Island (not at ALL a Prepper) states it's dryer there than she's ever seen and that's in a coastal rain forest. The wonderful thing our group achieved this year is; we could finally purchase a deep simple hand pump. What a wonderful pump!!! If you have a shallow well it will cost significantly less. Unfortunately our well is 300ft deep-so we had to save a bit 😕 . It was a huge concern for a while for me that we be able to have hand pumped water on site. Big relief!!! I will include a photo of it soon.
I would be interested in hearing from others who have rain gauges up what their rain fall was like in Alberta. Actually I suspect not many people have rain gauges.
Only tracking as far back as May, but my electronic rain gauge says 3.84" so far. There's been a bit of mist lately, but nothing really measurable. Lots of much has been helping with moisture retention, but that isn't cheap either! After trying for months to get arborists to drop their chips/mulch at my house (I even offered to pay a "delivery fee"), no one seem interested to come deliver in the county. So I caved in and got a dump load of mulch for something like $800!!
Back to the original question... What is Up with the Weather????
We had a heat wave for about a week and a bit just recently and found out that we had a surprise frost Friday night!!??!!?? The forecast was for an overnight low of 6C so didn't take any measures. The next morning, I was chatting with my neighbour and she told me she saw a light frost on her windshield early in the AM. Things looked ok at first in the garden, but now it's clear that all my squashes have been badly hit and about half of my peas and beans. So far the rest looks "ok". 25 August frost!?
Back to the original question... What is Up with the Weather????
We had a heat wave for about a week and a bit just recently and found out that we had a surprise frost Friday night!!??!!?? The forecast was for an overnight low of 6C so didn't take any measures. The next morning, I was chatting with my neighbour and she told me she saw a light frost on her windshield early in the AM. Things looked ok at first in the garden, but now it's clear that all my squashes have been badly hit and about half of my peas and beans. So far the rest looks "ok". 25 August frost!?
Got up at 530 this AM and its 3 degrees, was as low as 3 degrees a couple weeks back. I dont remember overnight lows as extream but I also dont remember the smoke from BC reducing the sunlight as bad or for as long.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
So here on the farm Zone 5a in Ottawa valley area we still have warm days, total its a high of 31 but we are starting to dip down into the mid-teens for the nights, this is shifting the gardens and plants nicely.. some of the plants are putting on the push and others are responding nicely to the cooling nights and are just starting their fall blooms for later fall harvesting.
We are pulling finished plants and are still fall planting out seeds and such. Its late to be doing fall planting, I will see what we get, some thing should have been done three weeks ago but in the heat and droughts it would have just baked the seeds, so the question is what we will get for yield with this two or three week behind planting.
I have been getting fairly steady rain at least once or twice a week and even my pastures are now growing again.. my paddock that is my fall flush paddock for the sheep is looking great, I let them in for a day and its up to their shoulders. For those that don't do sheep, you want to increase their calories by ten to 20 percent a few weeks before and during breeding season, by flushing them in this way, you greatly increase the odds of them setting twin at breeding time.
IF and its a big IF we get the fall I expect, we will have our first hard frost in mid to late Sept and then we will have a long productive fall for the cool crops until Nov..but I have been known to be wrong. My crop of Litchi tomato's which can take those fall frosts and keep trucking are full grown and in full bloom.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/litchi-tomato-zmaz09djzraw
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
This past Saturday morning was 2 degrees with a fog and heavy smoke. Very moist outside early that morning and a little concerning, although everything looks to be okay here. In a few areas, there was a light touch of frost on different things from what I heard from family and others that I talked to at a local farmers market that morning. Then on Sunday evening we finally got a good rain, 1 1/4" worth according to the rain gauge, kinda nice not to have to go out and water first thing in the morning for a change. This was the first significant amount of rain at one time that we have had all summer.
Very cool here today, only as high as 12. Quite a change from the heat that we had.
