Scenes of Summer

 

(I should probably repost this in January or February to remind us just how beautiful and warm Hadley can really be!)

Do You Remember Summer?

With this everlasting cold and scads of snow (along with the sorrow brought on by the untenable hike in WMECO/Eversource's charges), I am in desperate need of some bright, colourful reminders of warmer days.  Enjoy the following pictures and spend a moment reminiscing of summer:

Happy thoughts of warmth and sunshine!

Chicks and Flowers in the Autumn

It's such a beautiful day today that I had to let the chicks out to enjoy it.  I hate keeping them cooped (!) up, but when I'm not home most of the day, and when I know I'll have the new dog outside, I tend to let them just roam their run and coop.  But today is gorgeous, and they are enjoying the freedom.

 

They are hanging out under the lilac bush -- in these pics you can see Penelope (top), our Buckeye chicken; Olive and Ivy (middle), our two Speckled Sussex; Clementine (bottom), our Buff Orpington; and in the bottom picture on the right, just out of the frame is Mabel, our Silver-Laced Wyandotte.  They are happily dust bathing, napping, scratching for bugs, cooing and chirruping, and staying warm in the sun.

And now, just a few more...

I was happy to notice this week that our Mexican sunflowers have finally decided to bloom.  What a wonderful burst of colour for the fall! 

A few days later, and we have a few more blossoms and more getting ready to pop.  What beauties!

Enjoy these opening days of October.  They have already been amazing!

The New Year Arrived, the Last Year Gone

I have been feeling a bit guilty about not writing for so long, but with a new child in the house and the starting up again of school, I just couldn't force myself to sit at the computer and blog.  But now it's a new year, and at the very least I should recap a little of the last few months.

Scenes from the Kitchen Garden's ChiliFest:

My own harvest pictures (isn't that corn amazing?!)

All Hallow's:

And a few lovely autumnal scenes, graciously provided by Mr Madley:

I just love where we live -- isn't it a beautiful place?!

I feel I must make mention of the devastating fire that took out a plaza on Rt 9.  There has been much media coverage, and I hope you have taken the opportunity to donate to a relief fund.

And so the new year begins.  I have great plans for the garden and have already begun mapping it and looking through the seed catalog (hulless oats, hard soup beans, flour corn included in the anticipated plantings).  I plan on purchasing and raising a few chickens this spring, but in the meantime need to construct their coop.  I'm sure there will be plenty of information and pictures forthcoming on both of those pursuits.

Enjoy the snow that may be on the way, and keep yourselves warms in the upcoming arctic temps.
Happy New Year!

Dahling -- You Look Radishing

Let it begin -- let the garden excitement really begin.  The sugar snap peas are clinging to their supports, the shelling peas are popping, the spinach is almost ready to eat, the beets and carrots and brussels sprouts are poking their heads up above the ground, the lettuce is looking leafy, the garlic is growing by the day, and the radishes... well, the radishes are sparkling.

I had never planted radishes before, but a whole packet of sparkler radish seeds came as a gift with my order from Comstock Ferre this year, so I decided to plant some -- about a 3-foot row.  And they sprouted.  And they grew.  And soon they were the only leafy bits in the garden (not counting the garlic, but it's not exactly what I would call leafy).  I was so happy.  I planted them March 30, and today, May 10, I pulled up my first one.

It's beautiful.  Radish-red on top, creamy white underneath.  It is definitely more root veggie than I got in my garden all season last year.  And tonight it will be eaten -- greens and all.  The greens will go in the salad.  The radish, well if the radish even makes it to the salad, we'll be lucky.  I anticipate gobbling it up straight.

Happy gardening!

*The delightful title of this post comes with compliments from Mr Madley.

My Com-Post

Gardening season.  The season I long for all through January and February.  If I could successfully plant in February, I certainly would, but I seem to live in the wrong part of the country for that.
Since moving to Hadley, none of my gardens have found success.  A few spindly tomato plants, some leggy lettuce, a few peas, and a couple of happy zucchini, but no onions, no real tomatoes, few beans, and absolutely no melons.  When you see the results of my soil tests, you might understand why.
My subsequent research into amending my soil suggested compost and fertilizer (not a big surprise...).

I've been working on making my own compost, but started late in the year last year, and it's not ready yet.  So last weekend my friend, Mrs Robin-Hood's-Forest, and I took her truck out to Bear Path Farm to collect a load of super-rich compost.  Upon arrival, the proprietor was busy loading up a truckload of compost for delivery, but I suspect that had I given advanced notice, he would have been happy to load my friend's truck for us (actually, I don't have to suspect -- he told us so).  However, he also has a self-serve compost pile, and we spent a little time shoveling a cubic yard of the compost from that pile into her truck.

The compost piles at Bear Path Farm.  Visit the website to read about the process and ingredients.

Mrs RHForest's truck loaded with compost.

We trucked that compost back to my yard and tossed it all into the garden, where I spent the rest of the afternoon turning it in to the sandy soil.  The garden bed looked so much happier and healthier after that, and the next day I planted peas and spinach.

Dark, rich, unsifted compost.

My little garden bed, with compost and hay dug in.

I have since added a little organic fertilizer to the garden, and I will keep you up-to-date as things get planted and start growing.  I am super excited to have my garden started, and I'm hoping to get some more things planted this week/end, if the weather and schedules cooperate.  Since I usually begin craving my garden in February, I'm quite proud of myself for waiting until the end of March & beginning of April to truly get underway.

I mentioned that we met the owner of Bear Path Farm -- a nice guy, a hard worker, and a quick responder to queries via phone or email.  You can contact him through the information on his card:

And a special thanks to Mrs RHForest for the photo of the compost piles, the use of her truck, and her hard shoveling work!

Summer Reading Extravaganza!

If you didn't get to stop by the Summer Reading Kickoff Party at the Library on Wednesday night, here is some of the fun you missed -- it was quite a circus!

Fortune telling and face painting.

Balloons & water sprinkler (it was hot!).

The library's resident clown...

Hot dogs -- yummy.

Candy.

UMass Amherst Juggling Club

Popcorn and cotton candy.

Mmmm.  Tasty!

Hula hoops and hula hooping.

The balloon lady.

And a good time was had by all!
The library summer reading program promises fun all summer long -- the kickoff was just the beginning.  Kids and teens and families are invited to participate in a variety of activities at the library this summer, including a Desert Island Party, Build Your Dreams Cardboard Mania, and a guest Illusionist.  Plus, kids can earn prizes for reading this summer -- just get to the library and sign up. 
The library is a great place for anyone to go during the summer -- books, movies, magazines, computers, activities, book groups, and even air conditioning!  And, of course, it's free.