This week we got a break from the pediatric hospital and were able to focus on the homestead and get caught up around here.
Gardens
We got all the gardens weeded and did a little harvesting. Strawberries are coming on nicely.
Normally, winters are too harsh to overwinter herbs in the garden, even with straw protecting them. So each year we start new sets of herbs, even the perennial varieties. Last fall we were busy with Mr. Smiles’ medical stuff and I never got the herbs pulled out of the garden. Then we had a very mild winter. We were very surprised this spring when we found a sage plant that had survived and come back. It is now 4 times as big as it was before and is going strong!
So this fall we are going to do our best to try to overwinter some of the other herbs, just in case it is another mild winter. If we could get them established then they would probably be able to keep overwintering even when it got colder.
After 6 years of dreaming the first two apple trees have been planted at Willow Creek Farm!!! Took us long enough – but with a farm there is always something higher on the to-do list it seems. The two varieties we got are Red Prairie Spy and Sweet 16. Should be a good combo if they can survive our climate. There are a lot more factors to consider here than just lowest winter temp. We have a very short season, only 10-12 weeks frost to frost. So will the trees blossom in the spring and then get frosted and survive but never produce? Will they produce but never get to harvest because of fall frosts? Time will tell, but we desperately want apple trees here, so we are giving it a try. They are settling in nicely so far. We are watering them weekly with root stimulator and we pulled all the tiny baby apples off of them so they can focus on their roots. Next year we are supposed to be able to get a 10% harvest and take the rest off to help it establish, and then in 2020 we should be able to get our first real harvest!
Heritage Arts
I have knit 15 more scrap squares for my sock scrap yarn afghan.
I am hoping to get the third row of squares hooked onto the afghan this week.
The girls and I have also been sewing a lot this week. Sunshine finished her first-ever quilt made all by herself. Little Miss made another toddler bib. And I worked on some more hospital clothes for Mr. Smiles.
Chickens
The silkies are getting old enough that we can now tell most of the cockerels from the pullets. We are trying to figure out what to do with the cockerels. We want to keep one for breeding, but will the rest be worth butchering?
We are collecting the fertilized eggs for Batina’s set this weekend. Hoping to get them underneath her tomorrow and start the 21 day countdown to chicks!
Another beautiful week on the farm!
Willow Creek Farm 
It is hard to believe that apples do better there than here. We have a very long growing season, with very minimal frost, which is great for growing most fruits, but not so great for those that need a good chill. We have about eight cultivars at the farm, but some of those cultivars would not be so happy in the Santa Clara Valley, just a few miles away. Apples in Southern California are even more difficult, with only a few cultivars that produce in the higher elevations of the Santa Monica Mountains (which are not really very high), and they are not of the best quality. We just grow them because we can, not because they are good.
LikeLike