Thank God We Finally Got Some Rain!

Oklahoma has been in a drought.

The last week or so some weather has wound through the state, usually setting up east of us, and moving east. That evil rash of tornadoes over the last week? Fired up right here in Oklahoma - about thirty miles east of us, heading east. I do not relish heavy weather, not one bit, but we got nary a drop of rain out of all that commotion.

We've been keeping the garden alive with the garden hose. You can certainly keep your garden alive with a garden hose, but rain is the magic potion, and by golly, we finally got some, awaking early Easter morning to sounds of rain.

Not scary - no particular wind to speak of - a little easy lightening, a little light thunder - and rain, from light mist to gentle showers, most of the day. Enough to bring a little standing water in the low places, but not so much as to make the muddy places unbearable.

The birds are all thrilled. You should have heard them out there, singing their happy songs. It was a pleasure to hear!

Speaking of birds...

Birds have a sort of language. The specifics are different for different breeds, and, within breeds, may differ regionally - avian dialects, so to speak - but one consistent thing I've noticed is that they all use warning calls when they detect a threat of some sort. Around here the warning call we hear most often is one we refer to as "calling cat," a brief squawk that actually sounds like the birds are calling, "Cat! Cat! Cat!" I cannot reliably differentiate between a bird calling "Cat!" "Person!" or "Hawk!" but I definitely know a warning call when I hear it.

I was out by the well house  a week or so ago, heard a bird calling "Cat! Cat!" and looked up to see what kind of bird it was.  I stood still, looking toward the sound, trying to triangulate in on it and caught a flash of movement. I focused on the area of movement and saw a woodpecker working its way around the tree. I love woodpeckers and the way they work a tree - it's like they're standing on this vertical surface, moving side to side around the tree, which is what this woodpecker did.

I stood very still, watching, as the woodpecker made its way left and right. I noticed a perfectly round hole in the tree under an old stump of broken off branch, and thought, gee, wouldn't it be funny if a bird lived in that hole? As I stood there watching the woodpecker work its way around the tree, back and forth, it came to the hole and peeked in.  Looked around (as if to see who was watching). Poked its head in the hole. Pulled its head out and looked around. Head and shoulders back in the hole, one last glance out, and then disappeared into the hole!

Awestruck, I stayed put, still watching, and saw a second woodpecker just a few branches away.  I'm thinkin' we have a little woodpecker family making a home right out in the Sweetgum tree behind the house!

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Pleased as punch to have gotten some rain, I stepped out to the garden to get a few photos. Too many to post in this blog entry, but I will give you a teaser and a link. Here is the teaser:

Three Sisters - Beans, Corn, Pumpkin 

...And you can see the rest of the photos from today, if you wish, at http://gallery.me.com/vlnewby#100079.

As always, thanks for reading :) 

Vicki~

This Year's Garden

As we continue to prepare this year's garden, here is a note about what we have in so far:

Potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, onions, sage, mint, lavender, rhubarb, horseradish, turnips, carrots, cabbage, lettuce and dill.

Yesterday we planted some beans called "Ireland Creek Annie Bean," an heirloom shell bean with a bush habit with "superb delicious flavor, makes its own thick sauce." I'll let you know about that later in the season.

Also some wax beans, some Edamame Soy beans, some Cilantro (which I LOVE) some Borage, more dill, and some castor beans.

Castor beans are not for eating - they are highly toxic. This particular variety is a red-leaf variety. Castor plants are tropical guys, but will grow as seasonal annuals here in zone 7. Why in the world would I have a poisonous plant in my garden, you may wonder. They are spectacularly ornamental, true, but Grandma Susie always had a castor plant out by her garden behind her house. She said they kept the gophers out of the garden, so we'll see about that, too.

I still have green beans, pole beans, squashes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and tomatillos to plant. Oh, and Sweet Potatoes, when the slips come in. I have a bed saved for the Sweet Potatoes :)

Will keep you posted!

In any endaevor, to achieve success, create a plan of action and follow it. If you don't have a PLAN for the future, your mind will just replay the past.

We built 4'x8' boxes, 1' deep for raised beds, a dozen of them. Have potatoes in four of them, Roma (sauce) tomatoes in one, other heirloom eating tomatoes in another, and beets & parsnips in another. Planted in plain raised rows we have onions, turnips, carrots, cabbage, lettuce & dill, besides the leeks, onions, chives, rhubarb, horseradish (thanks Renay!) and other herbs we have out there already. I stayed too long in the sun today, for which I'll be sorry later, but we sure got a lot done today. Good Day, yes.

Steve just observed that although it doesn't seem like it, the drive from our house to downtown OKC is the same distance as the Tappan Zee Bridge in to Manhattan.

What'm I going to cook first?

My friend Renay in Cooperstown asked me what I's gonna cook first, now that all our inspections have passed.

I'm going to wash up "Vishu the Preserver" (my 22 qt canning pressure cooker) and can some homegrown carrots. They overwintered nicely in the ground but I had to pull them so the guy could run the tiller in the garden.

Okay, I hear you wondering, she calls her husband "the guy?" Ehhh - no. A friend of ours came out and ran the tiller so Steve could stay on task with the house.  Put in a good eight hours tilling that garden up, but I did have to get the carrots out first. So I'm going to can them. I already have a box of new jars!

Tomorrow I am going to make up a nice, big cheesy tuna casserole with a crispy topping. Oh, are we looking forward to that!

I have to ask Steve if we can put stuff in the kitchen cabinets yet, because they don't have doors yet ("We don't need no steenkeen doors!") and I have to see if we need to put another layer of polyurethane on the cabinets.

March 21, 2011

I am thrilled to report that as of 9:30 this morning, our house has passed all inspections! Thank you City of Mustang, Building Inspector Jerry Calloway, and Administrative Assistant Gayla Early! Gold Stars to you!