Mushroom Log Update

Last fall Jon decided to inoculate some oak logs with mushroom spores.  When we moved across the country in March, the logs went with us.  The movers were a bit skeptical about moving these logs and the driver of the truck said these logs had to be the oddest thing he has ever moved.  The logs were not covered with protective blankets during the move and were instead, tucked into the smallest cranies the movers could find in the truck.  When they arrived in West Virginia they were then placed in storage along with everything else because of the closing delay.  When they finally arrived at the new house, we placed them along the tree-line in the back woods.  After all the moving and handling, and removal of the wax by the birds, I figured the logs would probably not sprout mushrooms and eventually get absorbed by the forest floor.  They were pretty much forgotten this summer and were never watered or placed vertically into the ground according to the instructions.  To our surprise, Jon discovered some mushrooms sprouting out of the logs this week!  Take a look!

3 Days later, the mushrooms grew this much!

Our first meal with the mushrooms!

What do we do with all this squash?!

Like most things in the garden this year, we planted more seeds than we needed.  In Portland, we never had much luck with squash so this summer we planted several mounds of butternuts, acorns, and pumpkins hoping for a few of each.  Well, we received more than just a few:

19 butternuts

22 pie pumpkins

22 acorn squash

What a harvest this year!  We left them on the porch to cure for 9 days and then stored them in the basement on top of a pile of newspapers and straw.  We have a crawlspace under the basement (which keeps the basement warmer than most basements) so I don't know what the best method for storing squash is for our home?  Any suggestions?

One wheelbarrow full of zucchini and pie pumpkins.

What do we do with all this squash?!  If you have recipes for ways I can fix the pumpkins besides pies, breads, and soups, please comment below!  This fall I made Pumpkin & Orange Spiced Jam and Acorn Squash Jam.  I made a batch of each and surprisingly they were both very tasty!  It is recommended that they be served with blue cheese and on top of yogurt as a dessert.  Spread on toast is fine with me!

It's that time of year again, building a scarecrow!  It's so nice having a porch with an overhang that keeps things dry.  This scarecrow will actually be left outside all season this year!

Vacation Time!

It is good to be back home after the 3 week vacation in Wisconsin and Minnesota.  We were sent home for a family wedding and decided to prolong the visit to include camping, fishing, and time with friends and family.  It was a whirlwind of a vacation with a lot of activity, but it is good to be back checking up on things and working on projects.  I decided to veer away from the normal blog posts to include some pictures of the trip since many of my blog followers have already asked me to post a few pictures from the vacation! Enjoy!

Having some good old fashioned fun with tubing behind a boat!

Paul is determined to catch the biggest fish on the trip

but Mamma beat him to it.  My favorite kind of lure is the frog.  I bounce it off lily pads and rocks which always results in a huge splash from a large fish such as this Northern.  We released this fish back into the lake.

To get to Perent Lake you have to paddle this very long and windy creek for several hours.  Perent Lake is located in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota.  If you enjoy canoeing, this is the place to go...1.3 million acres of protected wilderness.  On our trips we have seen: moose, bear, bald eagles, loons, beavers, and more.  It is a serene place where you can go days without seeing or hearing another human being.  Depending on the lake you are on, motors and airplanes are non-existent.    

Notice the big smile?  Jon is still smiling after portaging this old aluminum canoe over a very rocky portage.

Having fun at the wedding!

The First Egg!

I imagine most chicken keepers can remember the excitement they felt when they discovered the first egg in the nest box.  Our ladies have been laying for a week now and each day we are happy to discover the small eggs in their straw bed. The first week we collected 14 eggs!

I suspected that egg laying was soon to begin when I noticed a change in the chickens' behavior.  In particular they were more boisterous and started pecking at my shoes and the ring on my finger.  Seeing this change and noting that they were 17 weeks old, I decided to open the nest boxes and fill them with straw.  Besides the times when they were given watermelon and apple peelings, I had never seen such a frenzy in the coop until they were given straw.  All three nest boxes were demolished in a matter of minutes!  The coop was a mess when I returned each evening.  After 3 days of re-making their boxes, the straw was finally left alone.

I scratched eggs off the grocery list this week!  The one little brown egg looks a little lonely with all the white!

Harvesting Apples

Can it really be time for apples??  Jon and I are really trying to keep up with all the produce that is coming in with living in a different time zone.  Our pumpkins are orange and the plants are dying back; the butternuts are turning tan; and now a friend's neighbor's apple tree is dropping its apples!  This apple tree is the largest apple tree I have ever seen!  The owner says throughout the years people pick a bag or two of apples for applesauce and pies, but he doesn't care for apples and just mows over them.  He was more than happy to have someone take them away...and we were more than happy to pick them!

We don't know what variety these apples are but they are completely green and super sweet!

The apples aren't as juicy as some varieties but we managed to make cider with about 10 gallons of apples.  Made 8 quarts.

This is the best kitchen gadget ever---the apple peeler, corer, slicer!  This little device has saved me countless hours over the years.  It took maybe 25 minutes to fill both of the soup pots in the picture below. 

Two soup pots full of apples and cinnamon sticks are boiling down for applesauce.  Two full pots of raw apples yields 7 quarts after the apples have cooked down.

Even the chickens enjoy the apple scraps...in addition to the seeds they find in the cow manure marinating in the front yard. 

Several batches of dehydrated apple slices were made with the solar food dehydrator. 

There is so much fruit right now that we're having a hard time keeping up!  This week we ate the first watermelon from our garden.  This watermelon was the juiciest I had ever tasted.  The chickens LOVE watermelon seeds.

The Garden Has Turned Into a Jungle!

This is our first year of really bringing in the harvest from our own garden.  In years past we grew enough to sustain our family with fresh vegetables throughout the summer with a little excess to can and give to friends.  This year however with a different growing climate and a lot more space, we are really bringing in the harvest with plenty of leftovers for friends.  Jon is thrilled to finally grow melons and bring a 5 gallon bucket full of produce to me in the kitchen!  So far I have canned 54 pints and 11 quarts of pickles, in addition to 2 gallons of refrigerator pickles!  After all that we are still picking more cucumbers and Jon continues to bring grocery sacks full of them to work.  We are so cucumbered-out that I do not remorse over the dozen or so that we find that have already yellowed.  The chickens have had their full and barely touch any that we leave in their presence.  Needless to say, only one cucumber plant will be grown next year...

Here is a snapshot overlooking most of the garden. Squash, cucumbers, and melons are along the fence on the right side with carrots and broccoli front and center with beans, okra, tomatoes, and corn behind.

Our first homegrown cantaloupe!  We didn't know when to pick it because the shell didn't look finished yet; but the bees and insects thought it was ready because they would sit on the melon and suck out its juices!  We figured if they are sucking out the juices, then it must be ready to pick!  It sure was tasty!

Do you see the corn tassels in the back?  Well, the pumpkins have taken over and are practically suffocating the corn.  We didn't realize how many vines a pumpkin plant produced and how long they stretched.  

Here are three baby watermelons almost ready to pick.

In Portland they would only reach the size of our fist by fall.

Who ever heard of pumpkins ripe in July?  Well, here are 2 of our almost ready to pick sweet pumpkins.  I hope some of the pumpkins don't ripen until fall because I would like to use them for decorating!  I see a lot of pumpkin bread, pies, and jam...  In Portland our pumpkins turned orange in late November. 

Here is our long line of squash.  With 6 acorn squash plants I counted 16 squash (so far...).

As we know, vine plants don't have boundaries.  The butternuts felt a bit claustrophobic and decided to go into the field.  Here is one big butternut just starting to change colors!

Here is a butternut squash plant climbing the fence.  If you look close you can see a small butternut.  We hope it doesn't tear the fence down when it gets big!

And because Jon is silly, he left supper on the counter for me one evening...tomatoes and okra!

Queen Bee Has Tight Boundaries

So...after introducing the 2nd nuc of bees in early June, I have performed 2 hive inspections to make sure this queen is healthy and laying eggs.  Both inspections confirmed that she is indeed alive and laying, but the problem is, she is only laying on the original 4 frames that came from the nuc!  There are empty frames of drawn comb next to her, but she refuses to lay eggs in them!

At first glance when opening the hive, one would assume that all is well because the bee population is in fact really large and they are filling out frames with comb, etc.  When digging a little deeper, you will notice drawn frames with no eggs and larvae but 4 frames packed to the edges with capped brood, pollen, and nectar.  It's almost like the queen works really hard and then takes a vacation until the cells are empty.  This discovery after 2 months is a bit unnerving for a beekeeper.  I did notice 2 uncapped queen cells which could indicate a replacement queen, but I have been told that most hives keep a queen cell around as a warning to the queen...

I don't know if there is anything a beekeeper can do to encourage expansion.  I thought I could switch frames around but I have always been told that this a no-no.  Thoughts anyone?

Sorry, no pictures for this post.