Poor Man's Greenhouse

Well, Mr. Adams and Ron flew back to the boat to go back to work, and I am down in Oregon visiting my Mom and Dad for a few days, but before we all left town I put the boys to work helping me move the pea tunnel. 

Every year I rotate the peas to a different row. They could be grown in the same spot, but they do so much better if they are grown in a different spot each year. Unfortunately, the tunnel is not easy to move, and I didn't have a lot of time, so the guys very kindly agreed to help me.

Once the peas are planted they MUST be covered with row cover or the ducks and other tweety birds will find them and eat them all. Don't ask me how they know they're there, they just do. Usually I cover both sides of each side of the tunnel with a narrow strip of row cover, but it is SUCH a pain. So, this year I just covered the entire thing! Now it's like a greenhouse. You just go in one end and it's easy to water and weed!

It's a poor man's greenhouse!

I soaked the peas overnight and planted them the next morning. Right before I got on the plane for Oregon.

Thanks guys!

A Few Random Things

The other day while I was out working in the garden, Connie came over and did my dishes, washed the eggs, and cleaned the kitchen..........wasn't that just the nicest thing?  Never underestimate the power of a good deed....it meant SO much to me! Thanks, Connie!

photo from 2012

Levi made a really HUGE wooden hammer in wood shop....

My friend that has the really cool greenhouse also has the COOLEST chicken and duck hutches you will ever see......Hobbit Houses!

Ben gave me this monkey planter......I call him "Pepper-Head" or "Basil Head" depending on what I plant..

I think we underestimate how tough seedlings are...at least tomato seedlings. I culled a few tomato starts and set them on the floor 3 weeks ago. They have not been watered and are bone dry. But look at them! They are totally fine... they aren't as big as the good ones, but they aren't dead either.

On dry days the ducks eat alot of food at night, but on rainy days they hardly eat any. I think the worms and slugs are moving around more when it's raining.

And, just because it's such a fun photo.....Here is Levi with his adorable prom date, Celia....

Insidious Shade

When the sun rises over the mountains in the morning it shines over our neighbor's house, but it is blocked by some trees that cast an evil shadow....one that moves slowly over my garden for several hours...

The neighbor has always said we can cut them down, but we've been putting it off, and the trees just get taller and taller! Well, since Mr. Adams has this week off and is in town, we decided that this was the time to get it done.  First we rented an excavator....

(One of these days I'm going to buy one of these things!!!)

Then the guys used their lumberjacking skills...

And then Mr. Adams just picked up those trees and drive them right up the driveway!

(Did I mention that I want one of those things?)

And then, he stacked them up all over the yard.....unfortunately I was too busy to get a photo of that amazing site....there were trees everywhere. Finally, they used the excavator to hold up one tree at a time while they limbed them and cut them up for firewood. 

So now, when the sun does decide to come back out again, there will be no shade on the garden, and....

we have this amazing stack of firewood, ready to be split and stacked!

It's a thing of beauty......It's a beautiful thing.

And now this sits on the kitchen island, where everybody has easy access to it....

When The Tide Is Out The Table Is Set

The weather was beautiful again today, so before church this morning I headed to the beach......It was low tide and I needed to collect more stuff.

I am always amazed and humbled by how good the sea is to us.....the beach is just loaded with good things at low tide....everything we need for the garden - when we need it.

Right now you can get seashell sand (coarse or fine)....

Herring eggs....

Herring eggs on seaweed....

And starfish...

But you have to be willing to schlepp lots of heavy buckets up to the truck.....

And sometimes the beach is slippery or covered with boulders....

I always say that the success of your garden here in Sitka will be in direct proportion to how much seaweed (and other natural amendments) you add to it. And you need to add it every year....because the rain washes it all away by the next season.

So get out there! Explore your local beaches and bring home some of this great stuff! You can't get this stuff in a box........and it's FREE!

(Just be sure to rinse out the back of your truck out with fresh water after you unload it.....Husbands hate it when you don't do that!)

Secret Recipe Of 11 Herbs And Spices

Today was beautiful, so I was finally able to finish the carrot row side supports and start sifting the soil. Sifting soil is a job for the  "Super-Sifter!"

This is the deluxe model.....it comes with side boards so I can "charge" the wire with straw to hold the dirt in, and the sifter is on hinges so I can simply lift the handle on the side and dump the rocks into the wheelbarrow. I think I should go into the manufacturing business, don't you?  Ha, Ha.

If you turn and look in the other direction you see the daunting task I face...

Whoa....one foot in front of the other, remember?

As I sift the soil I'm adding other great stuff to it too...kind of like Colonel Sanders' secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices, but it's seashell sand for the calcium and drainage.....

Beach mulch that was collected last Fall for the low-nitrogen organic material and decomposed leaves...

And a layer of starfish for the phosphorus....

Yum, Yum!  Well, maybe not so much, but it sure makes for some delicious carrots!

Eggs

This morning when I let the ducks out, the females urgently made a bee-line for the seashell sand pile. And then they just gobbled it and gobbled it!  When I went in to collect the eggs and I could see why....

16 eggs!!!  14 females and they layed 16 eggs!  That's a record for me.

Here are some interesting egg photos from this week....
Look how small this egg is, and how rough it is. It will probably take a hammer to open it!

we call these tiny eggs duck farts

If you are a squeamish person this next photo might gross you out....but someone bleeds almost every day when she lays her egg...

Poor thing!

Overall I've been real happy with the egg quality this year- they are much bigger than they were last year.

This morning we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground.......Yuck! It made for a really muddy day working outside.  It didn't seem to bother the ducks, however!

When I dug a trench to direct some of the water away from the work area they had to mess around it that too!

Silly ducks!