Week Three - Garden Shot Saturday...on a Monday this time!

These garden shot Saturdays just keep getting later and later. It's Mother Nature's fault, I swear. Things have been so wet in upstate NY this year. As I type this, we've actually gone 24 hours without rain, given a brief shower yesterday. I'm hoping it keeps drying out a little, because most garden things aren't happy at the moment because they've actually had *too much* water!



The radishes are getting really close to being ready to be thinned out. I'm hoping if it stays dry this week, next weekend's picture will be of thinned out radishes. I planted carrots in with them, but haven't seen any carrot seedlings yet. Here's to hoping...





The dill is just starting to come up. It's very cute and I tried to weed it out the best I could. I'm glad I planted dill this year because.....





The cucumbers are the only thing that has been *loving* all of this rain. They look amazing so far. This means, at the moment, I need to plan on making some more pickles. Bread and Butter most of all.





I have a handful of pea plants. Most of them are underwater. Next year, I'll plant rice, I swear. By doing this, it will not rain and we will be in drought conditions, I figure!





The beans are growing on both sides of the fencing now and are looking pretty good. If it dries out, I'll hopefully have some blossoms by this weekend.





The bottommost pepper leaves are starting to turn yellow, which means they are water logged. I'm not sure how many peppers I will get because I think the rain kept the bees away, but this is something else I hope a few dry days will cure as well.




I'm not sure what to expect from the eggplant. This looks like a spent blossom, hopefully?




The tomatoes are still wilted, but there are blossoms that remain. Like the peppers, I'm hoping a few dry days improve their situation.





Some compost onions have sprouted up.




The cherries seem to be turning right on schedule. Unfortunately, so much rain has led to some early drop and some spoiling on the tree. I would love enough for a pie, but that is really questionable at this point.





The apples seem to be growing well. I swear every day they are getting larger. Some branches are bending to the ground and I really think I should be tending to them and picking off some baby apples that are not forming. That's what June drop is for though, right?





The wild grapes also seem to like the rain. After a week of nothing new, they finally appear to be growing. They won't be ready 'til fall though, so they have plenty of time!




The blackberries are beginning to form. Yet another plant that needs some sun sooner than later.





The mulberries are also just starting to turn. The rain hasn't hurt them to speak of. I just don't remember if they are the white ones or the more traditional purple ones. I guess another time will tell item for the list....




Wednesday I get to pick up the first share of the 2013 Summer Share Season. I still think I'm going to post on Food Friday, but we'll have to see. Two more days, I can't wait!

WIP Wednesday - 2013 Stitch Edition

I can't believe it has been over a year since I did a WIP Wednesday and had some stitching to show for it. It's not that I haven't been stitching, I just haven't been photographing. In my own defense - I have finished 5 quilts this past year.


So, over at Fandom in Stitches, they are doing a Doctor Who Stitch-a-Long and I signed up because it was embroidery, which I can do, but in a very functional (read "not always pretty") way. So, I took it up to challenge myself and because it's Dr. Who! I've been a Whovian longer than anything else as I am progeny of a Trekkie and a Whovian - so I couldn't wait to see these patterns! I haven't been disappointed yet! (In the patterns...my embroidery skills...that's another thing)

There are five patterns out now but I only have the first two done so far.



William Hartnell, the First Doctor. Done in back-stitch in a disappointing fashion. Methinks I need more embroidery classes/learning.





Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor. I was a little more adventurous this time. Although you can't tell in the above picture, I added some green for his recorder and his spiffy bowtie.




I'm actually really proud of how well some of this came out. The fingers in particular were fiddly, but I did the nails/fingertips with a stem stitch and I think they turned out really well.




For the recorder embellishments, I did a circle of French Knots and then circled around them with a circle of green. I'm not a huge fan of French Knots, but I really think they gave it the added dimension.




This is the part I'm most proud of though. I did the entire number 2 in stem stitch and I <3 it! I wish I could now stem stitch everything! I love how it doesn't look all broken and dash-like like back-stitching does.


Next up, a class piece. It's a Jenelle Perrin piece called "Long Spring Sampler". She has one for all four seasons, all of which we'll be tackling over the next couple years or so. I have a thing for this palette, as I have two other pieces in this palette in my bedroom. After this is finished, I should put them all together.




Section One




Two - my favorite section!




Three - not finished yet!




Everyone needs what I call "a 10-year project". Like my Polar Bears. The difference in this one is that it's one thread over one on 32-ct. fabric. I'm a sadist. It is a gorgeous piece though. Here's the link to the HAED site for it: Among the Cherry Blossoms.





Can you believe I never did a monthly club or anything? Actually, I can, because I've never been a fan of any of the ones that have been at my LNS. Until these Sheep Virtues. They're really adorable. You'll have to take my word on it until I have something of substance to show you.




I've coveted a Chatelaine for a while now. They're absolutely gorgeous. Talking to some of the ladies at my stitch night, a couple either had ordered some or wanted to start one but hadn't. Three of us decided to form our own little rogue group and buy our own Chatelaine patterns. Finding out that one of them had a phoenix motif, I had to do that one first. You don't see them yet, they're in the last round. The first round is a temple and water garden.




I love these lanterns. They really make it, although they take a lot of thread!



How long before I finish something? Any takers on an over-under?

Week Two - Garden Shot Saturday...on a Sunday!

Oi. Since the first pictures it has rained...and rained...and rained here in the Northeast. It had just stopped *raining* and was more misting when I got on the garden enough to take these pictures. I almost had to call for rescue as the "wet part" of the garden was very like quicksand and I almost got stuck in the muck!


So, I'm just going to show you the things that have changed. No sense in re-inventing the wheel again...



My beans were the first things to come up. They're planted on both sides of the garden netting because last year, I learned that black beans climb. I've also been burned previously by so-called "bush" beans that end up climbing anyway, so I just usually give them something to climb to begin with.





The peas have started to come in slowly. I think I have three or so, but I'm sure the rest will come up eventually too.





The peppers have some blossoms.





So do the tomatoes. Despite being chewed on/off by something....I'm not sure what. I've never seen something come and lop tomato tops off like that.





So odd....





I'm hoping that this turns out to be some dill....





Those are definitely radishes. Hopefully I'll see some carrots emerge too. Then it'll be time for some thinning out.





The cucumbers don't seem to mind the rain at all though. Which is awesome. I can't wait until they start climbing!





The apples continue to grow and some varieties are starting to turn a little red.





As does the occasional cherry.





The blackberries are in all their glory and in full bloom. I hope this rain tapers off - then we'll have a bumper crop!





Especially with the help of all our honeybees (rather, our neighbor's)!

Here's to a week with less rain (according to forecast) and more garden growth!

2013 Garden - Garden Shot Saturday

This year, in addition to my "Food Friday" posts, I decided to add a Garden Shot Saturday. This is the third garden at the farm house, but the second really successful one. The first year was a dug up plot in the backyard that didn't amount to anything actually coming out of it. The second year was a combination of seeds, seedlings and the "surprise" part of gardening; since we use our own organic compost mix that we make from kitchen scraps, sometimes you get seeds that don't break down. So, last year, I had a wide variety of random tomatoes, cucumbers and even a couple muskmelon that came up!

This year's garden consists of:

3 types of peas (snow, snap, shell)
3 types of beans (green, black, edamame)
3 peppers (all bell, different colors)
3 types of tomatoes (paste, eating, cherry)
2 eggplants
cucumbers (I know most are cucumbers!)
18 hills of corn (sugar)
radishes
carrots
spinach
lettuce mix
dill



In addition to all that, there is a variety of fruit on property.

crazy amounts of wild grapes
13 apple trees (a mix, three are crabapple for the birds) - all producing
5 pear trees (new, non-producing yet)
12 rhubarb plants (non-producing yet)
a plethora of wild long blackberries
2 red raspberries (domesticated)
2 mulberry trees (1 producing, 1 non-producing)
1 cherry tree (red and sour, 50+ years old)


And now, for my favorite part, the pictures. Ideally, this will be a weekly post, detailing the growth in the garden.


The garden as it stands now. It's pretty large, 10x20 I'd say without measuring.





From L->R: Peas (1 row), Beans (2 rows), 3 Peppers (in the back)




Tomatoes and Eggplant




Cucumbers




Everything Else



Front to back it is: Radishes and Carrots (front row), dill (middle), spinach and lettuce mix (third row), corn (vertical rows in back)


Now, the fruit trees/plants:

Wild Grapes/Frost Grapes




Rhubarb




Blackberries Abound!




Cherries




Apples




Mulberries





Seeing it all laid out like this, I really understand how easily I get so busy with food prep and storage from July-October. I can't wait to show you next week's growth! Also, tune in soon for the return of Food Fridays as the CSA Season starts!