Author: Richard

breakfast and garlic harvest

Breakfast this morning (Father's Day) was a simple affair.  We wandered to the top of the hill and picked a couple containers of blueberries and blackberries. The other ingredients were steel cut oats (pressure cooked 7 mins), flax for omega 3 fats, soy milk and a spoon of my own honey. And it tasted good and was filling. Also this morning, early, I finished harvesting my garlic.  May have left it a bit late since some of the stalks had detached and there are now garlic cloves Read more [...]

the dna cop-out

We generally accept responsibility for our actions but not for our circumstances.  When I told a nonagenerian I was fortunate to have good health and to retire in my early 60's, I was told "that's not luck, that's decisions made". Food plays a big role in people's lives, and I don't mean survival.  To quote: "some eat to live and some live to eat".  I am (mostly) in the first category.  Folks with health problems usually resist changing their diet - food is one of their chief enjoyments.  Read more [...]

the wonderful world of free internet college courses

I didn't post this site at all in May.  Not because I had stopped my growing activities or lost interest but because I was completing 2 demanding courses on electronics and programming and am in the middle of a new course on Python programming. College education of your choosing at your convenience with the world's best colleges for free!  If you are interested and can make time available, this is a bonanza. My education in South Africa and England was in law, accounting, business and the Read more [...]

my 4 mowers, and mower deck repair

I have 4 mowers.  I use a scythe (21" blade)  to clear the growth under  fruit trees for which it is ideal.  Extend the blade to the near side of the trunk and pull sharply toward you and the weeds are leveled, all while standing a distance away without worries of snagging branches or snakes (I refer to the venomous ones - copperheads or occasional rattler).  It is also useful on a hillside where riding a mower is iffy. For how I peen my scythe and hand sickle, search "peen" on this site. Next Read more [...]

early summer activity

It's been a good April and May - frequent rain showers to minimize hose watering and keep my +6,000 gal storage tanks fully topped.  Lettuce, onions and garlic have grown well though the lettuce is now bolting.  My lettuce, kale, chard and turnip greens taste real, they have a flavor missing from store bought greens, a lot of which are raised in greenhouses or insect free conditions.   Now I am wondering if there is some advantage to eating kale, chard and turnip greens on which insects previously Read more [...]

mites on the chicken

The Ameraucana has been less energetic lately.  Though she eats with relish there is little determination and if even a junior hen approaches her bowl she moves away.  Therefore she eats separately from the others.  She has been looking bedraggled and this morning she was in the nest box though she no longer lays eggs nor was she being pestered by the rooster. Time for an epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) bath. But why so many brown flecks of dust in the water?  Or I assumed they were Read more [...]

what to do with surplus eggs

Spring is production season and my hens are producing 6-7 eggs a day.  Although there are 10 hens, 2 are retired (Gimpie and Ameracauna) and 2 are matrons (Onyx and Lady MacBeth) so the main producers are the 6 offspring. My running group certainly enjoy the free range eggs with deep orange colored yolks, as do my neighbors who watch out for me when I am elsewhere.  But we had 5 dozen extra and this morning we tripped to CARES (Community Assistance Resources and Emergency Services) a local charitable Read more [...]

Bose Wave Radio/CD – quick repair

In July 2014 a power surge incapacitated a bunch of electronic equipment - see my tale of 2 destroyed desktops.    One of the affected items was our Bose Wave Radio - a small package with good sound, for which Bose is well known. I stored the radio in the basement until I was ready to work on it.  Caution - if you are not competent working with electricity, leave well alone.  I was prepared for the worst - having to test and replace defective components but was hoping for the best - a Read more [...]

2 simple lessons learned – garlic and the chicken coop

I first planted garlic in fall 2010 - 4 varieties 1) organic California Early White – softneck ($4.99 lb); 2) Elephant garlic – very mild like a leek ($4.99 lb);  3) organic Music Garlic – hardneck  ($12,99 lb.) – the only reason I bought this more expensive variety is because my family is into music; 4) organic Dujansky  – hardneck ($9.99 lb).   They grew well, I harvested them and each fall I planted out the cloves for the next year's harvest.  In fall 2014 I must have planted out Read more [...]

the beautiful and the ugly

This time of year we have at our feeder the residents (northern red cardinal, blue jay, mourning dove, chipping sparrow, indigo bunting, tufted titmouse, and our state bird the brown thrasher which has as many calls as a mockingbird) and the visitors (dark eyed junko, white breasted sparrow).  And this year a striking new visitor - the rose breasted grosbeak. I count the grosbeak and buntings among the beautiful. Next to the chicken coop is a mulberry I planted some 4 years ago and, tho Read more [...]