Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report~ Week 17

it's a good thing i planted all those potatoes! Dave and i keep saying that to each other and chuckling! between rain, deer and the tomato blight, potatoes are all our garden is producing! (unless you count a few onions) I've been steadily selling my potatoes at my little produce stand, and while Dave still can't quit his job at Lowe's, we've been thankful for the extra income. there are several bags of potatoes out there~ both yukon gold and red Pontiac~ along with a coffee can to deposit the money. with the exception of yesterday when 20+ pounds of potatoes were stolen, we've found the honour system to be working very well. i just wish i had something else besides potatoes to sell...

the tomatoes are not doing very well at all. the lower leaves are all turning yellow, and so far we have absolutely no red, yellow, orange or any color other than bright green tomatoes. even the high tunnel tomatoes are no further along in ripening, although they are HUGE!

the high tunnel has been a disappointment. we fully expected to have tomatoes by now, but it's not even on the horizon! the plastic has totally disintegrated, and next week Dave and G will replace it with better plastic that should last 4 years. i plan on putting my cauliflower and broccoli in there when the tomatoes are finally done. hopefully since the broccoli and cauliflower are cold weather crops we can at least get a crop before the really cold weather. next year we plan on having the high tunnel down in the lower garden with sweet potatoes.

the ducks are very happy, and every afternoon i let them out. they love to go to the run off puddle we have, and waddle over all in a row. whenever you see one duck, you're sure to see all the rest. we have noticed that Indian runner ducks aren't the smartest bird on the block, but they are very comical and entertaining to watch.

the buckwheat in the LG has been tilled under, and another crop planted. it took 6 weeks~ from planting to cutting down and re-seeding. (that includes almost a week of letting the buckwheat decompose before tilling it under and planting the second crop.)

one crop that i did manage to harvest from the lower garden was beets. admittedly, it was a very small crop, but G and i went through the row and pulled out the biggest beets. we gave the tops to the pigs (who loved them!) and i canned 6 pints of pickled beets. between the critters and the poor soil, the beets did not get as big as they should have. we left lots of beets still in the ground, so there is still hope for the beet crop... hopefully next year will be better. but then again, I'm not sure why I'm so worried about it~ I don't even like beets.

in case you're wondering, here's a fairly comprehensive list of things that deer, groundhogs and rabbits like to eat:

* beets

* carrots

* beans

* summer squash

* butternut and acorn squash

* cucumbers

* sweet potatoes

* cabbage

* broccoli

* cauliflower

* sunflowers

and as my Sunday school class and M pointed out: I'm not bitter. or resentful.

but, to end on a happy note~ we have lots of sunflowers planted sporadically and eclecticlly all around the house. between the toddlers and the chipmunks, there are cheery flowers popping up all over in unexpected places. and at this point, I'll take anything that's growing and producing happily~ no matter where it is!