What is happening in June on your homestead?

I've come to the conclusion you only do what you can do best. Our best is growing vegetables, so we concentrate on that & make plenty of money selling them. We buy meat from a family that raises beef, pork, & chicken naturally & on pasture.
When a car or truck needs repair it goes to a certified mechanic. Hopefully he will buy some of my products. So far this is working out well!
Bernie

Darius,

After all the propaganda I've posted on the subject, are you willing to give Asian Carp a try when/if you get your cold smoker?

...just asking.

I agree...wished I could have started all this years ago when I was younger and in better health...,.just didn't know at that time how badly I wanted to do this or have the place to do it.

Podster, 'bout them trees...that was one of the first things we did when we moved out here. Plans and ideas have changed so much in just 8 years. The fruit trees and bushes have been moved several times. Fortunately, we are quite happy with everything's placement now, especially since they got some size to them now. Well except for the other 3 cherry bushes that will be moved this fall.

Bernie, my sentiments exactly!

A little thunder and a little rain again this morning, but I'm not complaining. Needed to slow down a bit and plant some seed trays.

Domer... I don't know anything about Asian Carp. I have seen farmed carp near several places I have lived; they are bottom feeders and fed soy cereal pellets so I haven't tried any. The trout I can get is local, stream-fed, not farmed although there is a lot of trout farming around here. The state hatchery is in my town.

I expect a huge learning curve once I get a cold smoker built. So far I only have acquired a firebox. I have a great plan for the smoker unit, just no funds. Anyway, fall to winter is a better time to cold smoke because I won't have to keep the summer heat out.

Darius, you probably got to seventy 'cause you weren't eating all that smoked bacon, trout and sausage. lol

Lizard, thanks for reminding me to check my two plum trees. They're off on the edge of the woods and I forget about them.

Regarding what's happening at Maypop...we are picking yellow squash and zucchini, arugula, lettuce, radishes, snow peas, pak choi, green cabbage, and greens (collards, turnip, kale, mustard, chard, & beet). Red cabbage is taking its time. I'll pick first cucumbers tomorrow and beans by the end of next week. Tomatoes are about two weeks away. Tomatillos that got worms last year have volunteered everywhere. I see lots canning in my future. Pears are still small and blueberries are still green. Blackberries are turning. Speaking of blackberries, if a part of me doesn't have a tan it is covered in chigger bites. Drat those cursed creatures!
Laurel

I keep telling these Texas Chiggers what a great place Atlanta is but I still got a herd of um hanging around here. =0)

LOL! These chiggers are actually in Cleveland, GA (Appalachian foothills). Too many lawn chemicals in Atlanta to have chiggers. :) Wouldn't need to treat the dogs for fleas and ticks if I didn't bring them up here.

Ok, it’s time for an update. It’s hot, it’s humid, it’s dry, and it’s miserable. How bout ya’ll?

Got all but a few of the plums put up, sold, and given away. If anyone is wondering how stuff like this sales, we put up “Fresh Plums” on our sign and people came out of the woodwork. Just about every one of them where complaining about how nasty tasting the store bought ones were too.

The black berries are finished.

The stinkbugs are moving in on the tomatoes so they won’t last much longer.

Have a few more blueberries to pick.

Had the first of the sweet corn for supper last night.

Peppers are coming on strong and made salsa the other night.

Mainly just tiring to stay cool. Ya’ll be careful and watch the heat where you have it cause it’s a killer.

HOT here yesterday. Spent most of the day at the doctor and in town. No rain yesterday but it has been raining for days. Can't get to the garden. :(

My yarden is squishy too, Caj. Weeds are in tough competition with grass for growth. A couple of tiny tomatoes starting to appear. Sugar snaps finished. Cabbage starting to head (somewhat). Red raspberries are ready to pick but one row is so weed-clogged with prickles that I have to do serious weeding first.

Found a neighbor who will give me used lumber and tin for my chicken coop. My sister got a scrap 45' x 8' roll of white FRP (fiberglas reinforced plastic) from work that I can use to line the inside. (They line refrigerated tractor-trailer walls with it.) I'm thinking to use it as a floor covering, too. With a 4" layer of straw on top, it should make cleaning the coop poop easier. No seams. Compost bin adjacent.

Now I just need a strong boy to dig the holes for the corner posts; I'll have an elevated but tight coop. I want the posts set deep but not in concrete. I may do a soil cement, though. Now, besides energy, I just need a door and windows. That's for the coop. After that I'll need fence posts and chicken wire...

We bought a oll of wire yesterday to build a new coop. The chickens up the hill are knee deep in mud. Poor things. I also have chicks a few months old that need bigger pens.

One of my raspberry canes has wilted and the other is starting to do the same. Shame because they are heavy with fruit. I was really looking forward to those berries. Guess I'll have to enjoy the wild ones instead.

I think I'm going to try Haystack's method of bedding the chickens in sawdust that is 6" deep and only changing it one a year. I need to find out more about it. May only be able to do that in a totally covered coop.

Figured I'd better check in, while I was in the house taking a break. I've decided if this garden doesn't kill me this summer, that next summer will be a breeze. LOL! Putting in close to 50 hours a week on it. Time is probably equally divided between weed removal, pest brigade, watering and plant tending/harvesting. What was I thinking!

Hang in there!

I'm crippled but inspired. The garden is not yet at full tilt. There are always going to be disappointments. They can be composted or turned under. We are drowning in zucchini and yellow squash. There will be a big bean harvest in a day or two. We are starting to pick cucumbers. Two days ago there were two and today ten. lol The snow peas are still providing, but I'm letting most go to seed because the seed is three years old and I want fresh seed for next year. We have tons of volunteer tomatillos. I like them in fresh salsa but have never had them canned. I might be looking for recipes. Been battling flea beetles forever on eggplants. Tomatoes are late but most are grown from seed. I've got twenty five plants in ground. Twenty are heirloom or open pollinated. They look good. I let my winter squash reseed for the first time and have weird squash developing. I grew Acorn, Delicata, Butternut, Zucchini and Straightneck last year. They can all cross even though some are summer and some are winter. I've got pumpkin sized looking straight neck on twenty foot vines. Should be interesting.

Took photos today of the weird squash and will try to upload when I can. I'm business traveling the next few weeks. Internet will not be consistent. Made my SO climb into, and around, the chigger hot spots. Sharing the chigger love. lol It's hard to explain the dozens of visible chigger bumps, noseeum ankles, scratched up legs (blackberries) and scraggly nails to family and business associates. That and squirming in your seat at the restaurant 'cause those chiggers you can't scratch in public are acting up between appetizer and entree. Homesteading is great, but I frankly enjoy a reprieve.

Paint the chigger spots with clear fingernail polish. it will sufocate them.

Actually not though we used to do that when I went to camp as a kid. The chiggers are not in the bite. They bite and leave. The biggest hot spots are near blackberries. The asparagus seems to harbor a fair share as well and then on the edge of the garden where there's lots of leaf litter. There is relief in anything containing pramoxine. The proprietary name is PrameGel, but look for a cheaper generic lotion containing pramoxine in any pharmacy called something like "anti itch lotion". It's a miracle for insect bites and other itches.

That must be an old wives tale.

Benadryl makes a coating spray that works well for me - also good for poison ivy.

Horrible night here. We were up ALL night with a collicking colt. Thought we lost him several times. Couldn't get through to the vet. Tried every remedy we knew. Walked him most of the night. 2 rings of bute paste and kept him from thrashing around when we let him lay down. About 2:00 we got some cooking oil in him and he had a bowel movement. He was still bloated and trying to roll. Got some pepsi into him and he passed some gas but was still in trouble. About 4:00 I made a "dallis: syringe from a 20oz syringe and some tubing from an old nasal canula. thank he Lord I keep that kind of stuff. Got a good dose of pepto and milk of magnesia down him. He rested easy for an hour on his chest and then "woke up" and started to nibble the grass around him. A few minutes later he stood up and it's like none of it ever happened. I laid down about 6 this morning and my legs were hurting so bad I could hardly breathe. Poking around today trying to get the feeding done. Thank the Lord for Knock being here. he is such a help to me. I still have to climb the hill if I can make it. Maybe I'l let Knock "do the hill" by himself. He has been feeding and watering the goats for days now. The chickens shouldn't present much of a problem for him and the guard dog, Cowboy, loves Knock like there is no tomorrow. Sounds like a plan.

So glad it all turned out okay. Is Knock there to stay?

I imagine that spending the night with a colicky horse is awful, Cajun. Cudos to you for the nursing care. We're so lucky that it never happened to us and now we are out of the horse business. Hoping to learn about Knock, Cowboy and the goats as we go. I've got terrible chicken envy. DD has chickens in suburban D.C.. We are not in one place enough to have chickens yet.

Sharing some squash photos here starting with acorn...

And a delicata...

But wait, what's this? A delicorn? An acota?

And how about this one? Is it a straight neck/butternut? A straightnut? A butterneck? It must weigh at least three pounds.

Oh, please tell me they don't cross pollinate that easily!

Those are so cool. You have to let us know how they taste. You might want to try saving seeds if they are delish.

Knock is here for 5 more weeks. He is such a big help to me. Wants to do all the heavy work for me so I don't "hurt myself". So sweet.

Cowboy is our guard dog. A big lug for us, a lethal weapon to anybody else. He keeps varmits away from the chickens and goats. He is bull mastiff, boxer, german shepherd cross.

I have 3 nanny African Pygmy goats, Marble because she looks like a marble countertop, Dusty because she is light brown and tan, and Mollie. She was already named when we got her. She was a bottle baby so she is very gentle. A pest actually. LOL

I need to build a new chicken coop.

Sorry, Robin... but they DO cross that easily...

Here's a science lesson, and it refers to the attached drawing:

Pollination may occur between vegetable cultivars, creating new cultivars. For example, plants in the Cucurbitaceae or gourd family belong to four species among which crosses may occur. The success of such crossing depends on the species to which a variety belongs. Plants belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family produce separate male and female blooms on the same plant. Insects are usually required to cross-pollinate blooms.

Species joined by a solid line do not cross, but crossing may occur between species connected by a broken line.

The more common varieties of gourd, pumpkin, and squash belong to the species indicated below:

C. pepo: Casserta, Cocozefle, Connecticut Field, Delicata, Early Prolific Straightneck, English Marrow, Golden Custard, Orange Gourd, Pea, Gourd, Small Sugar, Table Queen or Acorn, Tours, Tricolor Spoon Gourd, Uconn, White Bush Scallop, Winter Luxury, Yellow Crookneck, and Zucchini.

C. moschata: Alagold, Butternut, Calhoun, Chirimen, Dickinson Field, Golden Winter Crookneck, Kentucky Field, Large Cheese, Sugar Marvel, and Turkish Honey.

C. mixta: Green Striped Cushaw, Japanese Pie, Silverseed Gourd, Tennessee Sweet Potato, and White Cushaw.

C. maxima: Banana, Boston Marrow, But-tercup, Delicious (all types), Essex Hybrid, French Turban, Hubbard (all types), Mammoth, Mammoth Chili, Marblehead, and Olive.

Pumpkins and squashes do not cross-pollinate with cucumbers, watermelons or citron. Watermelons and citron both belong to the same genus Citullus and, therefore, will cross-pollinate each other. Muskmelons and Casaba melons will cross since they are both in the same genus Cucumis and also in the same species melo.

Here's a tip on how to get non-cross-pollinated seed:

You can plant squash of the same species and save seeds too. Check your blossoms the night before and pick a male and female that should open the next morning. Take a bit of masking tape and tape the blossom ends shut. The next morning, pick your male flower and untape. Untape your female and hand pollinate it. Tape it back shut, and mark that blossom with a bit of yarn or something. Squash produce so many seeds, that you can do 2 or 3 flowers and have tons for growing or selling. Then let everything grow and pollinate as they naturally do. When harvest time comes, you have your marked squash to save seeds from.

Adding to what Darius posted your squash will not cross the first year. It's just that mine crossed from last year's squash and then popped up before I planted out seed. Since summer squash and all my winter squash are C. pepo, except for Butternut, they can all cross as stated above. Then there is the school that says C. moschata (Butternut) can cross with pepos. I'll let you know what happens.

I had to pause this response at SO's request, to go examine two sets of entrails left on the deck by our Plotthound. We've been back in Atlanta just a few hours, but she's a machine. Really puts a dent in the wildlife. Bigger than a squirrel and one had a fetus. Probably possum. At least she had the good sense to "let loose" the entrails. We've had trips to the ER for enteritis from her hunting forays. She grabs trees and shakes the critters right out. That and eight copper head bites, because she digs those out of the ground, is a good reason to not own this breed.

Do you just mean the actual fruit itself will not be crossed the first year? (Will look like it is supposed to look.) I know the seeds inside could be crossed... just trying to clarify.

'Pore' hound.... or is it 'pore' owners?

The "fruit" is always true to the mother plant. The seed inside that fruit may be the result of cross pollination. So only plant protected seed as darius described.

Always something! Appreciate the lesson and will gather my tape and string, so I can start checking blooms.

Yes, so it cross pollination will not change the fruit forming this year but if you save the seed of the squashes in the same family you'll have surprises next year. They may or may not be tasty. The blossoms are yummy chopped on salads or added as pizza toppings.

I'm on the road for the next week. Will check in when I can. Thanks for the interesting thread.
Laurel

This may seem a stupid question but how does one tell a male from a female flower?

Here's the answer in pictures...
http://forums.organicgardening.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2241078301/m/6311004901

Here's another one
http://www.backyardnature.net/fl_sqwsh.htm

Great pics, Darius!

Cajun, I didn't know either till last year. But after having it explained, it's easy to tell the difference on the plants.

Garden is looking much better since Al took over the watering. He's putting up frames for the climbing beans. He's really jumped in to work with me in the garden.

I knew the fruit was on the back of the bloom but i didn't realize every bloom didn't have fruit. Thanks, Darius.