Shallots

I really like shallots. They are small little onions in the shape of garlic and very pretty color. The ones I planted have a deep purple outer skin underneath the dry outside skin. The taste is of a mild onion, and most people think of them as being a little more gourmet. I guess because, why not grow or use an onion rather than a shallot?

A lot of people grow them from the small bulb, starting in the Fall. If you are growing from seed you can start in the fall, but earlier than the planting of the bulb. You can grow them fine from seed if you have a long enough growing season. If you can grow onions, you can grow these. I harvested mine in July, and I started them in March/April.

They like good soil, like onions, and lots of nitrogen. For longer storage cure them for several days before bringing inside. I found the inside of my greenhouse to be pretty good. I than put them, about 1 pound per paper bag and have them on a shelf in the basement. The best place is a cool dry area with good air circulation.



English Vintner

Planted

Taking a short break from other things, and talk a short bit about the garden.

I finally got around to planting some lettuce. Seeds from two romaine lettuce heads that sprouted this spring, it was probably the last ones to bolt, so it was some of the better ones to save seed from. I planted thickly, sprinkling on an area 3ft by 3ft. I did two areas. On the one area I cut up comfrey and sprinkled it on.

It rained today, so I am hoping they germinate well, along with the cooler weather this week.

My peas are finally bearing pods. Picked a dozen today. The pole beans in one area are slowing down. The others farther down, probably getting more moisture are doing well. I am selecting the straight long ones for seed. I have saved out a dozen or two so far.

Some of my brassica are trying to be eaten by worms...

It is about time to plant shallots and garlic. I will probably plant garlic up by the fence, where it is drier, and closer to the deer. The deer don't like garlic, so it is better to have it closer to the fence where they well come. I really like shallots. The ones I grew were so pretty. A deep purple color. They are easier to grow than onions because they don't get as big. :) I'll probably grow some more from seed in the spring, and grow some from bulbs this fall.

The weeds are finally dying down. I will feel motivated to do a lot to the garden with the cooler and dryer weather. And when the weeds die down...

The greenhouse is in need of repair. It's gonna cost me $100 for the roof. The cost of the plastic is $70, plus $25 dollars shipping. I guess 4m plastic is fairly heavy...

Anyway, gotta work, see ya!


English Vintner

Natural Gardening

Here it is, spelling and all that checked by my dad. So, here is a more refined version of Organic Gardening, put down in better structure than before (I've mentioned here and there about it, but never really sat down on it)

Organic Gardening/Farming
Why should farmers and gardeners grow things ‘organic’ or more natural? On this issue you might say I side more with the ‘liberals’ than the ‘conservatives’. However, do not put me on the far left, for I do not belong on the far left. You might say I am a little left of the center. So, my point of view will be more to the left than right, because that is what I believe to be the best. I will not be citing anything directly, though through the last eight months of research I can remember a lot that I will be putting down here.

I think one of the first reasons most people should consider natural (I prefer that to organic, because organic is not always in line with how I will consider growing the way the ancients did) growing is the fact that you can get up to seven times more for the space! I think that alone should make most people reconsider how they are growing things.

The second reason is this. Why do we need to poison our land and ourselves to grow things? I mean, how do you think people grew things 200 years ago, in the start of America? Or, for that matter, how do you think Cain gardened? There is no need to be putting toxic chemicals into our land to produce 1/7 of the food we could be growing. I mean, seriously! Gardening solely on nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium using poison to kill insects, diseases, and plants has only been used in the last 100 years. Why, after 6000 years do we feel the need to poison the earth so to speak, when we could be doing a much better job?

Have you ever wondered how a plant grown again and again on one plot of soil can produce so many vitamins out of just nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium? Well, the fact is, it can’t very well. This could be another serious thing farmers need to think about. The food you are growing, is it as healthy for you, has as many vitamins and nutrients in it for you as it used to? The fact is, with our agriculture we are eating food that is no longer getting us the things we need. The nutrient level of crops grown naturally (using Sea Crop, paramagnetism, and good organic soil) is much higher than that grown on poisoned land with chemical fertilizer.

Agriculture today spends a lot of money on poison, and fertilizer. If you were to grow naturally you could cut poison out completely (you might have some instances when you might have to spray with something, but the alternatives to poison are MUCH better), and fertilizer almost out completely. You could grow a crop during the summer, and get in two green manure crops during the winter and spring. You could grow rye and vetch during the fall/winter, and than another fast growing spring crop. This would not only add all the nitrogen your plant would need (along with many other things found within the plant matter), but also add organic matter to your soil. Did you know that soil with a high level of organic matter holds water WAY better than other soil? Growing naturally would cut down your costs on poison to zero, your fertilizer to almost nothing, and your water could probably be cut in half.

It is sad for me to see the way we do agriculture. We could do it so much better (like most things in life in a fallen world, with fallen men) than we do. The amount of research on agriculture is fascinating to me. Someone has come up with a weed killer, using boiling water. It is a holding tank that keeps the water right at about 200F. It is on a truck and has several hoses leading off of it. It kills the weeds better than most poison, and does it instantly. If counties and states would use this to spray around electrical boxes and along side walks where they are trying to keep the grass down, it would cut the cost down a LOT!

Someone has done research with SEA CROP. It is concentrated nutrients off the coast of Washington. It increases plant growth and it makes the plants hardier to drought and freezing. Someone had some lettuce and greens. He sprayed it with SEA CROP. During the winter it froze, and in the spring time, unfroze and started growing!

A lot of the research with SEA CROP is in conjunction with ORMUS water. From a magnetic water trap.

Paramagnetism is Nature’s secret force to growth. The Irish monks of old were using it to garden, the Japanese have been using it, volcano ash and soil has TONS of it. You can actually test out this theory if you are doubtful of it.

Take two pots. Fill both with potting soil from the same bag. Sow radish seeds in both of them, the same amount. Now, in one put a paramagnetic stone, and in the other don’t put anything. Water them exactly the same. After 8 days, pull them both up by the roots and see the difference!
To get paramagnetic rocks you must find a place that sells rocks of some sort, hobby store, landscaping supplier? Rocks that are strongly paramagnetic include the following: Magnetite, Hematite, Basalt, Shale, Red Sandstone and White Granite, to name a few.

I believe that America has a chance at changing, and we just might be able to do it. If you do any research into how ancient civilizations did farming you will see a common thread. They didn’t use poison! :) The fact is, changing old habits is not an easy thing to do, so it is up to the coming farmers to decide if they will go with the big corporations, will they go what seems the easiest at hand or will they go with the smaller farmers, who are testing out growing naturally, not using poison, and getting good results? It is up to you and me to spread the word, natural growing.

I hope you enjoyed that. I still would like to write another essay on sorta how to do it. I've told you the method, but I would like to write one kinda on doing it.


English Vintner

High Fructose Corn Syrup

It is amazing what money will do for you. It corrupts you.

I was talking to a friend and he said he heard about one of the big food companies asked this guy to do tests on HFcorn syrup. So he did. Unfortunately the tests were not in their favor, so I think they asked him to come up with one in their favor, since he wouldn't, they fired him and got someone else to do it.

When the big companies put out reports you have to be extremely cautious in believing them. They get the reports from the people they want and have it written the way they want. They have the power and the money. The other side is not working for a big company and so is a lot more likely to contain the truth about things. Though, don't believe one thing you read, but get confirmation from it from other websites. I generally don't take something as being true unless I look it up and get 3 other websites or places to agree with it.

High Fructose Corn Syrup recently put out an article (well, they didn't, but someone high up) that they were changing the name. Because of all the bad conitations it has. Well, hopefully most people are not reading the labels and since it doesn't say HFC syrup, they will buy it, or so they hope. The pressure from the people has made a lot of the big companies come out with HFCS FREE products, ketchup, and lots of other things. I am hoping that now that some companies are changing names, that they will not go back to using HFCS and call it Corn Sugar.

Some companies it is now legal (you gotta find some way under the fence, right!) to call it corn sugar. So, be on the look out for things that have Corn Sugar as some of the companies will be switching.


What is wrong with HFCS? First off, it could have mercury. And mercury poisoning is not good, though I would believe that a LOT of americans have it. Did you know, we are just about the only place that uses it? It is because america grows the corn. Go back to the pilgrims, we were growing the corn the most over other countries. So we use it. Coca Cola in other countries uses sugar, but because HFCS is so cheap they use it here. Some of the ways to make HFCS is altering it using mercury. Not always, but there is no way to tell which ones have mercury and which don't.

The second reason. Fructose. I have become convinced, due to reading, that fructose is not good. Unfortunately a lot of people switch to Agave nectar because it is 'natural'. Well, its not really. It's basically maple syrup, except has fructose, and lots of it. Even more so than HFCS!

Whats bad about fructose? Well, studies have shown that fructose is sweeter, making you gain weight faster by it. Fructose is broken down much faster, and converted to fat.They have shown also that your risk of heart disease and cancer are higher when eating fructose. What about fruit, doesn't it have fructose? Well, yes. But in much smaller amounts and fruit has so many nutrients and vitamins. So, eating fructose in its natural form is fine, its when it is concentrated like in HFCS and in Agave nectar.

So, what should I use? Well, we use Sugar for a lot of things, which is mostly sucrose. For special diets we have xylitol. Which though expensive is one of my favorite and probably the best sweetener substitute. It is 1:1 with sugar which is why it is expensive. It was actually invented so to speak by the Fins in Finland. Right after World War 1 I think. They had a shortage of sugar and found that the sap of birch trees contains high amounts of xylitol, a sugar alcohol. Alcohol, I'll get drunk? No, sugar alcohol means your body absorbs the xylitol like the way it absorbs alcohol, instead of absorbing it like sugar. Xylitol is use in gum in america, but not much else. In Finland and a lot of europe it is much more popular.

The other sweetener I like is stevia. Some people don't like the flavor, but I love it. I put it on cereal and in baking things, but I am just about the only one who eats it. My mom and a lot of people don't like the sorta aftertaste, some what like licoruse. It is much cheaper than sugar though. And the ratio can be as high as 300stevia to 1 sugar! So, buying a small container is like buying 50 pounds of sugar.

I hate aspartame, it makes you fatter, slowing your metabolism. Along with other side affects. I am not totally against Splenda, but don't know as much about it. I would prefer splenda over aspartame.

Any questions that I might be able to answer? : )


English Vintner

Genetically Engineered?

After reading two articles in God's World that I disagreed with I decided I should try and write my own thoughts about it. I am not the extremist that the article talks about, but neither do I side with them. I have done my own research on how the ancients farmed, and believe me, they did WAY better than modern America or other countries are doing. America NEEDS to change the way they do agriculture, our world needs to change the way they do it. Why? Because of one simple fact. The way we are doing agriculture, WILL result in world wide famine. Yes, thats right, starvation. If we (humans) had kept our farming methods to the way the ancient Irish/Celtics did it, and the way just about any ancient culture did it, we would find the results astonishing!

I was doing some research on ancient ways the Incas did farming I think it was (Inca, Maya, or one of those S. America/C. America peoples). I was reading that about 20 years ago the people farming the same land as they did 1500 years ago were almost to the point of starvation, crop yields were down. Than, a company came in and got them set up using Organic methods of farming. Within the next 7 years they had increased the production by more than double.

They did two test plots. One was conventional modern farming, the other was ancient inca farming. The ancient inca farming had yields more than 7 times that of the conventional gardening.

You see. We think that by coming up with new poisons (we constantly have to be coming up with stronger herbecides, fungicides, insecticides, and such because the plants and insects change and are not affected by the poison any more, becoming stronger than before!) and by providing 3 elements to the soil we can farm. Now, let me state right now, I have a respect for any farmers, because they are underlooked. What I HATE, hate might be rather strong, what I dislike strongly are the people above them, the big guys. But, I'm getting off track slightly.

We think that our farming methods are better than before in history. In fact, we are so obsessed that our methods are better, that we think it IMPOSSIBLE to farm without using some sort of poison.

You, know, its hard to change old habits. But someone did it about 120 years ago, and that is the habit we are in now, why can't we change back to better ways?

We are fallen human beings. And, without Christ, the natural thing for a human to do is do evil, sin. True, we live in a fallen world, but why do you think we need poison to kill the weeds? I'm trying to stay organized here.

People ignorant of better ways, will stick with 'what works'.

Are you aware of the company Monsanto? They created Round Up. When first released they said that it was biodegradable up to 40%. Recent studies show 2%. What, so they lied? Yes. A company that big lies, cheats, and does anything and everything to gain money and power. The community around where the company produces the Round Up and other things are mostly dead. The fact was, they had a stream running through the town that carried out all the deadly chemicals and run off. What? The company now is producing genetically modified organisms, abbreviated to be GMO. They alter the genetics of seeds. Well, isn't that was breeding does?

Well, sort of. The genetically altering of these seeds are hybrids (according to the research I've done, if you have other statements saying something else, please let me know). A hybrid means that the seed, most of it, 75% or so is not going to produce anything, it is, sterile.

So, why use hybrids? Well, I don't mind some hybrids, ones that farmers take two different kinds of soybeans with characteristics and breed them. So, a short soybean with a good producing soybean to get the two in one soybean plant.

However, when you genetically alter the seed, so that it will resist a deadly poison, what happens? Well, for one thing animals won't eat it. You grow a field of GMO corn and you won't have a single crow eat any of the young tender plants. Wait, we want to eat food that animals won't? Also, GMO corn, deer won't eat. What is it about it, how can they tell the difference?

Did you know that in natural disasters you can't find wild animals among the dead? They have some instinct that tells them when something is coming, earthquake, volcano, tsunami.

But, that is not all. So, now we have seed that animals won't eat, ok. Well, if animals don't like it, WE DO! However before we eat it, while it is growing, we will spray the field with a poison that if it touches you, could cause harm. So, we spray the field, not weeds grow, supposedly reducing labor and equipment and millions of dollars. But, that is using the conventional way. If you used the ancient method the cost would be cut by MILLIONS!

What do you think happens to the poison once it is in the field? Well, at some point it gets down either to the water table, wouldn't you like to have a well right next to your nieghbor who has a field of GMO corn and sprays roundup on it? Lovely, poisoned well water...

If it doesn't get to the water table it runs off the land into ditches, and eventually to lakes, rivers, streams, and eventually to the water you drink.

So, one of my biggest things about GMO seeds is that you are spraying round up on the field! Not even so much that they are GMO. But that they have to spray round up on i!

You know, Monsanto, will grow a field of sugar beets (well, not anymore, the Judge in CA just ruled out GMO sugar beets, which is good, except that 90% of US sugar beets are GMO, so sugar prices will rise) and have an organic farmer growing next to him with sugar beets. The pollen from the GMO beets gets into the ORGANIC farmers seed. He saves his seed. Than, Monsanto tests his seed, finds out it has GMO in it and sues the farmer. Usually winning, and putting him out of business. Nice! Put the small farmer out of business.

Is this the kind of company you support and want? A money power hungry company that is out to rule the world? Wait, rule the world? Well, see what you think after you read this next bit.

After the Haiti earthquake Monsanto sends 'for free' 100s of tons of seed. Thats good, right, helping out this 3rd world country? Well, Haiti knew better, they had a march and burned all the seed. Why? Well, a couple reasons.

1. In the past Monsanto has gone to 3rd world country, offered them GMO hybrid seed, for free, the first year. What the farmers don't know is the fine print. In the fine print is that the farmers MUST buy from them EVERY year, new hybrid seeds. And because the seeds are hybrids the farmers cannot save it. And now the farmers are going bankrupt because they are having to buy year after year seed, instead of saving from year to year. In fact, a large amount of sucicide deaths of farmers in India are being linked to GMO seeds. They get into the contract, start using them, and than go into depression.

2. Hybrid seeds. I touched on this some what in the above one. Hybrid seeds cannot be kept from year to year and that, is not sustainable agriculture.

Did you know, some of the seeds Monsanto grows are tomatoes and pepper plants that grow and are so toxic to touch that you have to wear a suit to handle them? Many many links of women who are pregnant working in greenhouse with GMO seeds that have this same herbicide and the babies have birth defects. They have traced it back to this!

So, the way to fix this, world wide famine that will come if we continue the way we are farming, is not by spraying more poison. Did you know that their are now 10 super weeds that are not affected by roundup? That number keeps rising. How soon will it be before we have to find another stronger poison to replace round up?

You see, the way to fix this is to work WITH nature, not against. Paramagnetism, is the way to fix this. Organic agriculture, if you want to call it that. That is, using crop rotation, not using any pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, etc. There is much MUCH more to soil and crop growth than, NPK. Or Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Pottasium.






English Vintner

Well well well

Its been a while, I know. But life has been busy. In fact, so busy I've hardly had time for gardening.

If I wasn't working on school the last three weeks I was busy researching. I have recently been introduced to ORMUS, White Powder Gold, Magnetic Water Traps, and Sea Crop, and the like.

Most of that has only been rediscovered in the last 50 years. So the research on it is quite recent. Besides that research I have been looking at a website that has thousands of inventions, mostly the ones that people would not take. They had a whole bunch of cool ones on agriculture. One man has made a machine that will play different tunes to a plant, and he now knows what tunes will make it grow as if it has fertilizer.

IF you are interested in any of this let me know and I can send some links of stuff over. I'd be happy to talk through email about some of the stuff if you want to talk to someone who is interested in the same stuff.

So yeah. Chemistry has been hard, mostly the math part. I enjoy math, if I can understand it. I would not say it is my strongest point, but I can do it better than some. I love science, or else I wouldn't spend hours at a time looking up stuff like the stuff I do, or wanting to know, Why do you put egg in a recipe? Is it to bind the ingredients together, make it rise, or both? So, I have a tendency to want to know why and how things work, get to the bottom. I am not satisfied with just knowing that it works, but want to know why.


I think in a few weeks things will settle down a little bit more than now. I guess the other reason life was so busy was Londa, Jedidiah, I all had fair booths at our County Fair. Agribusiness. I was doing NC viticulture, Londa did Blueberries, and Jedidiah did Cotton. You set up your booth, they are judged (we didn't win any prizes, though most people thought I should have gotten second or third, the judging is just really good. IF the kids who set up the booths could judge and decide on one that was not thier own, I am sure mine would have been in the second or third, everyone loved it) But oh well. So the next week we come in and have to teach 6 classes a day. To classes that are ranging from 20 people if they are public schooled, to 12-15 kids if they are christian schooled. And on the first day homechoolers came. BUt so few came that they made each family a group, or class. So my two homeschooler classes were 2 kids and than 3 kids.

I had christian schools and homeschoolers the first day. I didn't realize that I had christian schoolers. It explained the next day why the teachers on the first day were so much nicer, more interactive, more responsible of the students. I mean, a christian school education is a good jump from public school! But you could tell the homeschoolers. :) With both the classes I picked up the homeschoolers early, and so I had about 20 whole minutes to talk. So I went into much more detail, didn't have to strain my voice. : ) And enjoyed those classes, those classes probably made it worth it. Plus the $85 because I participated in it.

Garden? Well, weeds are high. But, the thing is, the weeds are not high in the raised beds, they are just high in the paths and such and in the strawberry bed. I tell you, digging a deep bed really makes for a pretty much weed free bed. I didn't dig out the strawberry bed, Maybe I'll do that this winter. The creek is drying up. And no rain for the next 2 weeks. I am hoping my garden will make it, with no water. I guess if I get desperate cutting a whole bunch of polkberry stems might help. I could also work on a dew collector... : ) I planted fava beans Wednesday I think it was. I'll let them over winter and hopefully get a nice good spring crop of them.

I am hoping to build a magnetic water trap soon so I can start watering my plants with it, so that they will survive drought and frost. I am also hoping to buy some Sea Crop. Sea Crop is probably the best mineral supplement out their for your garden. From Sea Crop's website you can buy 1 gallon for $59, however you dilute that to 2% to 4%. So it should last a while. I'll leave you now. I'm sorry I am not as organized as most of the time.

Oh, I just bought two books of Amazon! One book by Philip S Callahan Paramagnetism, and Carrots Love TOmatoes. After reading through parts of Carrots love Tomatoes at my Aunts I knew I had to get it. And after reading through parts of Paramagnetics online I knew I had to get it also! So, I am looking forward to the arrival of them.

Here is the link to Sea Crop. If you want to learn more of what it can do click on all the headings on the left and it should show you results of things they have test grown with it, lemons, walnuts, and other veggies. http://www.sea-crop.com/order.html

English Vintner

Garden Update

I got up at 6am to do some gardening. It's too bad it is pretty dark at 6. But I started some work. I pulled up a few weeds, added them to the compost, added some kitchen scraps, added some dried hay, then added some comfrey and some more weeds and some composted compost! : )

I took 4 wheel barrows of compost and put it around the garden. I am trying to make room to turn the compost. I put 2 wheel barrows where I grew the rutabaga this spring, and plan to do peas. It is about 4 inches thick all over that bed! So lovely looking! I Also put some on the wheat by the sweet potatoes, some around the pole beans and at the end of the bed. I then put some around the old corn stalks. I am planning to leave the corn talks up to give the good insects something to hide in this winter. I have another watermelon growing. Hopefully with chicken wire over it the deer won't eat it. I also have another melon. I think it is a muskmelon. It doesn't look like cantaloupe, and not quite like watermelon. I am hoping I get something from it, it is about 4" diameter.

My loofa are all over the place. But don't seem to be setting fruit yet!

My tomatoes have gone all over the place. Next year I will know that I need to support them or else do fewer. I can hardly walk the pathways anymore because the tomatoes are sprawling so much. I picked enough beans for supper last night. And a couple dozen tomatoes. Most were green. I can't let my big tomatoes ripen on the vine, or the bugs eat them. The cherry ones can get pretty ripe and I am picking a few every other day. I picked one leek to go with the beans. I also picked 4 cucumbers from the new vines, and Jed picked 7-8 from the others. Composted anything over 6" and kept the others.

Speaking of cucumbers. The fermented dill pickles seem to be doing well. I took some scum off the top Saturday and Yesterday. They smell good! Fermented cucumbers are suppose to be a lot better for you than cucumbers. I guess cucumbers don't have much in them, and fermenting them, like kim chee (spelling wrong I'm sure) makes them better for you. Like yogurt or something.

I found a grape vine. I wish I was good enough to tell which were muscadine and which are wild, but unless I see fruit I can only really guess. I plan on using it for my display for the agribusiness fair. I have most of it written up. I still have lots to do though. I am just trusting in Him to help me get all the things done I need to do. I'm trying not to rush, and yet not be lazy.

English Vintner

Camping

We had fun camping out Friday night at Stonemoutain State Park. About 2 hours north from here.

We finally left at 3:45pm, got to the camp a little before 6pm.

Most people set up both tents while I set about making the fire. Because it was a state park, and the campsites were so close together, they didn't really have any firewood to gather. You are suppose to buy it. Or, if you live in NC you can bring your own. So I brought stuff that we have been seasoning for the last 4.5 years. :) Probably 25 pieces. Enough to have a good bed of coals to cook over Friday, and then have something to cook over Saturday morning, and then more after breakfast. We ended up leaving actually 4-5 pieces of wood, for the next person.

We saw plenty of deer while at the park. 7 on our way in, and then another 5 while at the camp, and then some here and there.

After breakfast, before lunch time we went to a hiking trail. Hiked what I would guess to be about 3/4 of a mile (though not really sure) to the Hutchison Homestead. It was pretty cool, especially since I'm kinda into that. It had a sign that talked about each building. The house, garden, corn crib, black smith forge, shed, and barn. Talked about what they actually did in the barn and the importance of it, often times it was built before the house was. The corn cribs were as skinny and tall as possible to keep the corn dried out well. The garden, they had a few main crops and then had a few side ones. Not like us now, who have access to seeds from anywhere, to anything. Imagine, growing gathering seed, that was an important part of living on a homestead. Leaving some of the onions over till next year to spring up and form seed etc. Four genarations have lived in the house. Since 1850s. It is no longer in use now, but as a historical element. Mr.s Hutchison was a good healer and would visit around the county with her herbal remedies. Her favorite herbs were: ginseng, and two other herbs, that I didn't know, so I can't remember, though they had common names. It wasn't like the herb was thryableial or something. :) I also saw the spring house (wasn't much to look at, the creek that ran through the property is about the same size as ours. It is wider in places, but shallower in places. I am assuming that it was a bit bigger 150 years ago. They also had the wash tub for washing down by the creek. In the cellar of the house they have cans of things that were from the first generation.

Then, we went to another hiking trail that was .6 miles to a waterfall. The waterfall was on the top of a mountain. Stone mountain is on the top of the moutain. On top of the moutain is a huge giant granite 'hill'. Hence the name, stone mountain. It is probably 500ft up at least. And a big dome shape. The waterfall is coming down the stone. The waterfall we saw the waterfall water was only about 6ft wide in most places and maybe a foot deep. Until you come to the drop off. At the drop off it is about an 80º angle I would guess for the most part, with a few out juttings. And it falls 200-300ft down until it hits the bottom and makes a very COLD pool and then flows off down the river. We went down via stairs to the bottom and played around in the water and looked up at the waterfall. If you started sliding their isn't much you can do. Though, I did put myself in the situation and try and think what I would do to try and save the person, if I could. I like to put myself in situations like those, so, that if it does happen I have already gone through it in my head. I guess you would say I'm trying to stay at the ready, reflexes.....

We got back to our campsite, packed up, ate lunch. Then it was about 1:30pm when we finally got out of the camp site. On our way down we stopped by a small winery and cidery. It was very cool for me. They have 15 acres, and I think 5 are planted on. They have chardonnay that was planted 04'. Some nice looking grapes, that are ready to be harvested soon. It was just fun to see a small winery like that, the dream that I have. The guy who gave us a tour of the winery, showed us the equipment they had out side for pressing and storing the grapes. And then inside the winery, the wines they had in big bins, finished bottles, how to label a wine bottle, and how to put on the top casing.


This week is suppose to cool down a bit, getting down into the low 60ºs. First time since the first of July!

English Vintner

Cucumbers

My 6 cucumber vines that are on the fence behind the greenhouse are succuming to squash bugs and stink bugs. I picked 3 off of it today, and expect maybe a dozen or so more. However! The vines I planted back in June are just now ripening! I picked 6 today! And should be getting a good harvest of them regularly until the frost. I would say probably cucumbers have been the most consistant thing for me to get out of the garden, and an over abundance, I have had to 'compost' several dozen! We can't eat them fast enough, and sometimes I'm too busy to pickle them.

My pole beans I planted the same time as the cucumbers are just starting to produce, full of flowers! The stinkin' deer came by last night and took several dozen leaves off of them! Thankfully, because they are pole beans it is not as easy to get at, and the cucumbers are on the other side. While squash can be tricky to grow because of the insects or disease, nothing likes them. I mean, I guess the deer did eat the small watermelon, and likes melon leaves, but as far as cucumbers/squash with the prickly vines, deer don't generally eat them, and neither do most critters. The only time I have known a deer to eat squash was last year, in September, I had a pumpkin vine growing by the strawberries. The deer came along and ate ALL the leaves off one of the vines! I guess it was pretty hungry, because I have not had them eat any squash vines so far. I'm actually trying to locate where the deer are coming through. I don't think it is from behind the greenhouse, and I don't know if they come around to the front. At one point I thought they were coming up from the creek by the black raspberries and trellis with tomatoes. I am not sure where they are coming from though because most of the foot prints have them leading south to south east out of the garden.

I am planning for next year. Setting more priorities, and then if I have room going with more specialty. I want to do at least a full bed of potatoes (100sq ft), maybe more. Will Sutherland recommends your first garden be mostly potatoes, and then big seeds, like squash and stuff that don't need much weeding. And then by the 3rd or 4th year have it pretty good so that you can do small seeded stuff. I want to do 50sq ft of carrots, the same amount for parsnips. I would like to do 50 square feet of onions and then 25-50 sq ft of shallots and leeks. I want to do 100 sq ft of beans, about the same for peas, at least. Cucumbers, cabbage, sweet potatoes. And of course squash. And I would like to try to do some melons (cantaloupe and muskmelon).

Speaking of melons, my cantaloupe vines by the onions are growing REALLY fast now, something like 4-6 inches per day. I actually have expectations of maybe a melon before the frost (might need to protect it with plastic if it isn't quite ripe?). Speaking of onions, I pulled up the last 3 that were growing, raked it out, found 3 more. Then I forked it over and smoothed the soil with hoe and rake. I then planted rye and hairy vetch (I should have gotten 2lb of hairy vetch).

Once we get some walnuts I am going to harvest most of my basil and make a big batch of pesto (or several). It then should resprout and continue getting basil until the frost. In which case, I plan on potting it up and putting it inside the greenhouse for a week or two or bringing it inside our house.

My peppers are finally producing. I have several banana peppers, and several sweet bell peppers. Several more eggplants on the way. And lots of green tomatoes. A lot of the brassica is coming up, kale, brussels sprouts, chinese cabbage.

The wheat in amongst the sweet potatoes is doing well. The sweet potatoe vine is doing pretty good, growing pretty prolific. I might get a small tuber before the frost.

While my cousin was here we went down to the creek and found some BIG elderberry bushes, and picked quite a bit, enough to make half a pint of jam, and a few cups of elderberry tea. I now know where to go for flowers or berries next year as well.

By the looks of it I should get a fair amount of asparagus next year. Most of it is at least 4-5 feet tall.

Well, I'd better go. I've been up for 2 hours, but most of my family has only been up for 30 minutes...


English Vintner