December 10, 2015

Good morning, It sure has been some pretty wild weather swings this fall. It's hard to believe we were just buried in ice and now we are basking in the sun. NOAA is making a mention of potential winter weather again this coming weekend. They are not too sure if there will only be a cold front or a cold front with precipitation. Let's hope if it is winter precip that it is snow. (They are now calling for a brief rainstorm.) It doesn't bring power lines down like ice can. Snow is entertaining with the chickens. They just don't like it. Not so with the ducks. The other morning before I could break the ice, one of the duck hens was perplexed that she was standing on top of the duck pond and wasn't getting her morning dip.

What with this crazy fall, one glorious sunny day there was a curved bill thrasher in full spring chorus. Maybe it knows more than I do. But I am pretty sure it is the beginning of December. The earliest I have ever heard them start singing is toward the end of February. Just last week a cactus wren was visiting the garden and collecting fowl downy feathers. It was pretty funny, if the feathers were soap suds it could have looked like a rabid bird but instead it looked just like a pillow with wings. Not sure how it could see to fly. Now the question is, is the bird preping for some real cold weather or getting ready to be in a eggy way. If the latter I sure wish it would give my chickens a pep talk on laying eggs. Although from a low of no eggs to one egg we are now up to six eggs a day. I would like to think that we will be buried in eggs any day now. But we still have the coldest part of winter to come, that is if the weather forecasters got it right.

Well anyway since we are getting nice sunny days, I am going to give my temporary green house a whirl this year. This simple structure is constructed with 9 gauge fencing wire, a sheet of greenhouse film, and a sheet of agribon 70 fabric anchored with rocks. I might say a lot of rocks. Two winters back I tried this. It was sunny all winter after art walk weekend. It was impressive in the fact that I did not need to vent on sunny days. And kept the bed warmer on freezing nights. As long as the day time temps stay in the 50's and 60's we should be good. The mid to upper 70's with creeping into the 80's interior temps in this structure begin to be questionable. Thankfully save for one event it has not been too windy so far this fall / winter, so maybe I could vent. The combination of the fabric and film worked pretty well with a proto type. I am very curious to see if that winter's results can be replicated. I am optimistic especially if the winter remains sunny. A cloudy wet winter could make for a different ball game.

Let' hope that the curved bill thrasher and cactus wren know something we don't!

Last weeks greens harvest was a little diminished from previous weeks because of the ice and cloudy weather. I have covered both the chard / kale bed and the Asian green bed with greenhouse film / fabric. Next week should see some growth from warmer soil. I am thinking of covering my lettuce bed similarly. It seems the spinach along with a lot of the other winter crops do not mind the cooler weather, In fact it is what makes carrots sweet, and also helps with the flavors in the kohlrabi, cauliflower and broccoli. By the way the broccoli and cauliflower are looking pretty nice. Maybe they will be heading up soon.

The tops have died back on the sun chokes, so I will start harvesting them soon. I still have an abundance of sweet potatoes and a whole lot of butternut squash. I should have sweets into January and the butternuts maybe into March. And if the film on the greens beds work, I hope to not have the usual winter veggies into spring veggie shortage. It all depends on the weather.

It is all good!!