Late Summer at Ramsey Farms

The wild muscadine vines are the first to show signs of cooler weather. When the fruit is gone, the grape leaves begin to slowly fade to yellow. The majestic oaks are next. In the garden, things are still going fairly strong. There is yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes still growing. The green beans just started producing and we've harvested one small turnip though the turnip bed is full of dark leafy greens, the beet seedlings up are, and the lettuce is popping up.

Turkey and deer are on the move. You can hear them in the woods. I listen to turkey hens while I hang clothes on the line. A family of deer gallops across the front field from one wood to another. I need to build a tree stand so I can watch and photograph the wildlife! 

In mid-September Chief Farmhand, Chris applied fish emulsion to the growing plants. The curcurbits (squash, zucchini, cukes) showed indications of a nutrient deficiency, likely nitrogen, which fish emulsion (think fish compost tea) is full of and can green up plants. It's like a vitamin for your plants. That stinks like the Dead Sea. The plants really did green up and come alive after the emulsion. The smell only lasted a couple of days at most. We are going to be making our own fish emulsion in the future with a little help from our river.

We also purchased our winter cover crop seed: crimson clover. This will look gorgeous this winter. Then in spring, the crimson clover will be tilled into the soil which will enrich the soil with nitrogen and other trace minerals to continue supporting growth next year. The land we now use as our garden lay fallow for many years and our sandy soil doesn't hold nitrogen the way heavier more clay-like soil does.

We will continue to supplement the soil by incorporating compost, manure, cover crops like the crimson clover, fish emulsion, wood ash, and Epsom salt (magnesium) over the years to boost the health and vitality of the soil over time in order to produce a higher yield and better quality produce. The idea is to avoid chemical fertilizers, insecticides and other potentially harmful substances on our garden. By planting beneficial plants, we can entice the right kinds of insects to come into our garden to help with pollination and ridding us of harmful insects.
On another note, the oven died! We "roughed it" for about two weeks...and then...una cuisenéire arrived! My new oven is so nice! Stainless with a smooth ceramic glass top (not the nasty old timely dirty, can't-keep-it-clean coils) and it is 5.9 cubic feet of cooking space that steams itself clean inside, roasts, bakes, convections, broils, boils and warms. There are five burners! Five! I get really excited about this kind of thing. I hated having to buy an oven unexpectedly, but that's what life and emergency household savings funds are for, right?! Besides, who wouldn't want their very own cuisenéire?! (The box had the word "cuisinéire" on it, I decided that sounds so much better than "oven", right?! So henceforth the oven at Ramsey Farms is christened Cuisenéire.)

We have tested the cuisinéire several times including a batch of my daughter's pumpkin muffins just yesterday using our homegrown pumpkin of course. They were delicious and the oven performs perfectly! I am so ready to attempt a new pie crust recipe and dive into a warm buttery pumpkin pie! The cuisinéire has a proof setting, too, so today I plan on making farm bread to further test-out the new oven and all its fun features.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ~ Albert Einstein

 What's the last thing you got really excited over? When is the last time you lost yourself in an activity you enjoy? Have you stood still and watched the sun set or rise in the past week?

make it your best,

Ramsey