The Worm Farmer- Nighttrain Garden's & Worm Farm

I met Kenn White at our local gas station sometime last year.  We struck up a conversation when I saw the the sign on his van indicating he is a worm farmer, something I don't see just any old day.  I took his card but got busy with one thing or another until I ran into him again yesterday, at the same gas station, while he was packing up his flats of home grown peaches while his little dog rested in the shade of a large umbrella next to his table. As it turns out he not only specializes in natural and organic soil amendments but also sells a variety of organically grown produce ranging from vegetables to fruit.

I introduced myself again and we chatted for a while about his peaches, what he feeds his worms and projects he hopes to be involved.  As we discussed the various charitable organizations that might take leftover fresh produce (many only want canned items) we discovered we basically belong to the same church!  Our priest is in charge of two churches, both of which we may (and do) attend.  This  gives us the option of one Saturday night Mass or two times on Sunday morning. 

   He does  not yet have a worm farm website for Nighttrain Gardens and Worm Farm but he did point me in the direction of an article that our local paper had about him and the Eisenia fetida worms he raises- link below to both the article and photo.  

I would love to see more community gardens, a community kitchen for the public to can, dehydrate and bake produce into tasty treats (donating a portion to the food banks),  school gardening projects, and public sustainability projects.  
I think Kenn would be a great fit!  

Worm Castings Article and Photo Credit
Worm Photo Credit

My Little Garden Cart

My little Garden Cart

 Light enough to pull one handed

and fold up flat for convenience

if you want to store it in the garage.

It was a cast off by a former customer

so my husband offered to take it home to me!  Good husband.

It's been out of commission for awhile.

We finally remembered to take measurements

before we left the house to make sure the 

new inner tubes fit!  

And they do.

It is currently filled with sticks and twigs,

leafy branches and thorny roses that I trimmed.

Now when I remember to wear full coverage shoes,

I will take it down to the wood's edge and make

a nice pile that will eventually make its way back 

into the soil.

    

Rooting Around and Starting Over

It's a bust - we're starting over.

I salvaged some onions and a few green beans

but the big garden was a failure.

We had a wet, sloppy, cold Spring

followed by a sudden burst of the 90's

and no rain.  The garden weeds had grown out 

of control and then amazingly, everything wilted.

The squash bugs are in check but we find we 

have an infestation of what I think are flea beetles

on the squash (acorn, not the pumpkins).

On top of it I've felt terrible for three weeks,

doing better now but I wasn't up to gardening.

There's a  potato peeking through the straw

which is hopefully a good sign that more lie beneath.

So the hubby took to the garden with the tractor 

and the tiller, cutting weeds and mixing in the spent

straw from the coop then we watered it down well.

It's difficult to tell but there are three beds across (one unplanted) 

and one  narrower bed across the bottom of the three. 

This is where we typically have the pumpkins and

additional squash such as zucchini and yellow squash.

There are still some tomatoes which appear to be OK

but the acorn squash is suffering as did the butternut squash.

He mowed down the artichokes that had dried up but 

avoided the sage, zinnias and onions so they are salvageable.

The Fall garden should be much better!

I hope.

Linking to  Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop

A Very Close Call

Saved by the Tail.

Don't you hate finding feathers on the porch?

We were seated in the dining room when all of a sudden

there was a huge commotion out on the front porch.

We looked up just in time for my husband 

to see a bird flying away, escaping by the skin of his teeth 

or in this case, by the barbs of his feathers.

You can see what was left behind!

These tufted titmouse birds have either 

no fear or lack any sense.  

I've seen them land right next to the cat 

and once right on me!

The culprit-

Not the black and white one (Spot)

It was Rumbles!

 That was one lucky bird, let's hope it learned a lesson. 

Act Casual, Maybe She Won't Notice

Miss Puffy Cheeks! 

What Are You Doing?

Guard duty you claim?

By the way, keep the tail in

I saw the mess on the floor.

Yep, they discovered the lip of the brooder.

Now a bunch jump up and then down,

Up and Down all day long.

So far no one has jumped to the floor.

It's a matter of time.

OOps, spoke too soon!

This was a three weeks ago,

a more innocent time.

It looks like we have one rooster

and the rest are gals.

 Bird tries to keep up

but his feathers are a bit wonky,

I'm not so sure what sort of hairstyle it is

but it's mighty strange.

Out in the coop batch #1 awaits the general population

and batch #2 will go into protective custody.

I should have incubated a month ago!!

Bird will be very lonely until batch #3 hatches.

  Some of the older gang.

    Now that we are down to only one rooster

(aside from the chick)

maybe the hens will grow more feathers back!

Bees, Birds & Blooms

I snapped some photos of the flower garden

during our brew day today, an Irish Stout

that I'll be posting on in a day or so.

The  temperatures have been in the 90s

after a very wet Spring so 

now things are looking a bit more like our summers.

The bees are loving all the blooms 

from cone flowers to iron weed and what 

remains of the bee balm and butterfly bush.

We've had yellow butterflies, large and small black ones

that playfully flutter by each other, competing for 

sweet nectar.   Today a hummingbird moth was checking

out the iron weed.

There are bees all over this,

large and small to very teeny tiny.

The chicks also were on the receiving end of 

Brew Day munching on the grains used 

to make the wort.

I didn't hear any complaining from them or the humans

on the other side of the courtyard.

Soon our second batch of chicks will be joining the coop while

the first chick batch is released into the general population.

They have spent the last few weeks in the coop but

sectioned off by chicken wire.  They  squeeze up

next to the older ones (as their roost in also

divided by the wire) so they are used to touching and

being together now. The second batch will go

into the divided area to repeat the process.

I have to hatch a couple more to keep my little Special

Needs chick company since it can't leave the house so 

until someday when it gets big I guess I'll be rotating chicks

in and out of the house!  

More on brew day coming soon.

My New Drug of Choice

I KNOW it's sinful.

I KNOW it's my entire caloric intake for the week.

It's Probably full of stuff that isn't good for me

but I'm weak

And, I love Denny's

I at it ALL

 I had to see the doctor today for my back

which he thinks may be a vertebrae issue  

plus have some regular blood work done

so I hadn't eaten all day and it was nearing lunch time.

Denny's happens to be very close and it wasn't crowded.

This was a featured special.

I did check the rest of the menu items:

salads, sandwiches, etc.

I tried to turn the page, but it called to me,

"Kaaaathy- pick me!!!"

It's two perfect slices of bacon

Two perfectly cooked eggs

Wonderfully crunchy hash browns

and this pancake concoction that I've never seen before-

it had frosting on it.  

FROSTING! The kind that is a cream cheese glaze 

like on turnovers or bunt cakes.

It's not FAIR to offer frosting on pancakes

that also are loaded with blueberries and strawberries

and whipped cream

and syrup.

My waitress, Mary, was wonderful too.

She doted on me.

(I think they feel sorry for lone diners)

My coffee cup never emptied.

She got about a 50% tip.

Waitresses that work that hard to please deserve it.

I ate almost every last bite -- of everything.

 I'm stuffed.

I think I need a 12 step program.

I'm glad Denny's is in the neighboring town!

Photo credit

Who Let That Fairy Godmother In?

Remember my cattle panel squash?

The nice acorn and spaghetti squash that I was 

growing on the side yard?

Well, obviously something is not right here.

Someone let a pumpkin lovin' fairy godmother

into the yard and turned my yummy squashes

into pumpkins- next I'll be overrun with mice!

It's a darned good thing I love pumpkin,

probably a whole lot better than acorn squash

considering all the pies, cookies and cakes 

pumpkin can make.

But how did it happen?

 I didn't grow these from seed

that would have been in the bigger garden.

Were these just volunteers

 or 

. . . . . 

Did someone play 

Switch the Tags

at the nursery?

Hmmmmm

Roadside Memorials

Little memorials scatter the roadside in and around our community.

 Tender tributes to accident victims, some horribly tragic.

  My first encounter out here was a lone cross with the inscription Moondog.

Then there was the tragic dump truck accident on Hwy 44 

near Six Flags where five family members were killed when

the driver of the truck didn't notice traffic had stopped.

In this accident a carload of teens were killed when

an oncoming vehicle crossed the center line.

They say the parents could only identify their children

by bits of tattoos that survived the fire when the vehicle burst into flames.

 Some are motorcycle accidents,

some may have caused the accident, or not.

It seems there is controversy over allowing these markers 

but for now they exist and serve as a reminder.

Not necessarily to slow down,

or don't drive drunk,

or don't text while driving

 although we should keep that in mind.

It reminds me to say a quick prayer as I drive by

because regardless of what happened

the goal is to get souls to Heaven.

And how many silent prayers do they get from passersby?

 How fortunate that these markers just might 

remind us to send up an extra something for these victims

and their families.

My mother in law told me once that every time you hear

a siren, make sure to say a quick Hail Mary because

you never know how many others are saying one too

and we can use all the help we can get.

Cross Beaked Blind Chick Update

Bird is still with us!  

He's (she's) about six or seven weeks old now

but barely larger than the new hatchlings 

which are about three weeks old now.

For those that are not familiar with Bird,

I found him at a farm supply store and took him home

since he was unable to compete with the normally formed birds.

He is missing an eye- maybe it never formed,

his skull is deformed, bill crossed and 

feathers are developing strangely and

sparse or completely missing in places.  

He has frequent seizures where it hurls itself backwards

almost collapsing into himself and shakes his head

until he comes out of it. Sometimes it helps to hold

him tightly and call out to him.

The one eye that he has is blind so he needs a lot of help.

He eats in a small tub, pecking until he has his fill

(actually we don't know if it's a he or she) .

I have to give him water with an eye dropper

because even though he is able to drink a bit

out of the regular water container he has 

trouble finding it due to being blind plus

whatever is affecting his brain makes things difficult

for him.  I know he may look somewhat gruesome

but he is just adorable as I hold him and he

reaches up his head for water drops.

Since he can hear, I am trying to train him 

to know that when I say "Drink" that means to

expect water to drip into his beak. I know 

he still wants more if he sticks out his little tongue

and he's finished when he shakes his head.

While I was on vacation I stopped at the vet and

he showed me how to trim the beak when it gets too long

plus how to stop the bleeding if we accidentally nick the

blood vessel. A coating of flour will work or

anything to clot the blood.  He was the hit 

of the office, everyone stopped what they were 

doing to see why a chicken was a patient

and when they laid eyes on him, they got even

more interested.  The most interested ones were

the patients- the feline variety.  Boy did their eyes get 

big watching my chicken chirping and hopping in 

his clear plastic tubby!

You can see he is missing the other eye completely.

The vet said the chick could live for quite some time

since it's been getting good care.  He may become a house chicken

which would be OK since we have no other inside animals

and if he remains small I can easily keep him contained.

He needs company though. I will need to hatch a couple more

eggs so he has some.  The last batch must have imprinted

on him since they think he is their mother.  It's funny how

they run to him and hide beneath what little wings he has.

I'm sure he'd be lonely in a tub all day long without anyone else.  

Well there's the update.

 I've been a little under the weather so posting is minimal 

but I hope everything is going well for you all.

Quick Shake

Want a quick shake without a blender?

This is my version- a little rough but pretty good.

I've been on a liquid diet for the last week

due to another bout of diverticulitis

so I wasn't in much shape to haul out the

blender and then clean up the mess

so I put a couple of soft scoops of ice cream in a glass

added milk and syrup

Stirred it up a little using some chopping motions

and it wasn't bad!   A nice change from 

jello, pudding and broth plus

I could make just a tiny bit.

Not the perfect shake but perfect for this situation.

Squash Babies

Squash babies!

These are my cattle panel trained vines

and so far, very few squash bugs

nothing like the ones that trail on the ground.

Although our weather can only be called Wet,

we are trying to keep at least part of the garden 

going with squash and tomatoes doing well.

I don't know what happened to the cukes

unless it was just too wet and cool.

Rooster Tales- No Longer King of the Coop

What goes around comes around.

That's all that you can say, someone had to win.

In this case, Mr. King of the Coop

is now Mr. Where's My Tail?

If you'd been nicer, maybe Rooster the Younger

wouldn't have hit his breaking point.

Maybe he wouldn't have done whatever he did

to break your spirit.

Now you hide in the coop beneath the nesting boxes,

head to the wall.  It's so pathetic.

I shouldn't feel sorry for you,

I witnessed how you treated the young guy.

Now the girls are his and you have your corner.

I'll throw you some treats out of pity.

The newbies are watching all of this too.

(Where did the white one come from??? 

I don't have white chickens.)

 The problem of having two roosters -

We kept the younger one because the older one was never fertile 

or so we thought.  We seem to have a chick in each batch

that isn't completely a buff so who knows!

The older one is was a bully.  He ruled the yard, the younger ruled the coop

but then something terrible must have happened.

The older one is completely broken. 

Creepy Tree

 It watches, 

smack dab in front of the house

with it's creepy eyebrows, 

stubby nose,

corkscrew tongue and

twisted hands.

They think I'm crazy, but just watch-

see the photo below.

The two top lines are it's pinched, evil eyebrows.

The second line it the pointy nose.

Then just a little lower down by the bent line,

the tongue twists out of its mouth, 

corkscrewing around

above its reaching arms

ready to grab an unsuspecting passerby 

at night

in the dark.

Maybe I read a little too much Grimm's Fairy Tales

when I was a kid,

Maybe too many scary stories around the campfire.

Nonetheless,

  I want it cut down.

It's creepy.