The year is ending....

December 16, 2011:  The year is rapidly ending and I haven't posted since early November. Well my excuse is I have been on the road!  Now that the gardening and canning work is done for the season I finally was not tied to the homestead and its demands. I made a long overdue trip to Los Angeles to spend some time with my oldest son, Benjamin. We spent some time in Las Vegas (no, I didn't win) and really enjoyed our side trip to the Hoover Dam and new bridge near it. Boy the water level was low, thanks to endless development in Nevada and their water demands as well as a dry year out there. Las Vegas was fun though and we did visit the Pawn Store made famous on the History Channel's "Pawn Stars" TV show.

After a few days back in Maine I boarder a train for a consumer conference in Washington DC and then traveled on to Richmond VA for a visit with the relatives there, especially the elders, Ruth and Ralph. After those day I returned via Amtrak to New York for some nice time with Roxi, Julian and Cotton.  We went to Rockefeller Center and saw the big tree, ice skating pond and some stores and went to the "Top of the Rock" for a breath taking view of New York City at night.

I returned after this ten day trip and did a second craft fair sales effort of my canned goodies and began the process of preparing for the Christmas visit of the whole family for the holidays. In the age of on-line shopping we all are ordering things to be delivered here and there has been a steady stream of trucks in the driveway: USPS; UPS; and FedEx!  The tree is up and the baking of cookies and other goodies is about to begin.

It has been a very satisfying year at the "Schlaver Seed Farm."  The garden did well with far more crop successes than failures.  The canning was a big success with a grand total of 436 jars put up!  Many items are in the freezer and a lot of potatoes, squash, garlic, herbs and onions are in storage. The freezer also has many bags of veggies and fruit. I am loving my new kitchen and living area and look forward to enjoying it together with the family. We will no longer be crowded at a table too small, the crowded walkways and kitchen area.  Part of the time will be spend shelling beans for there are still two bushels of dried bean pods to empty and then put the beans into jars.  I plan to make a big pot of chili this week before the family arrives using some of the garden raised kidney beans. I am sure I will end up with a full winter's supply of the three varieties of beans grown when the shelling is all done. The wood stovc is going strong and the wood piles are ready for whatever the winter weather brings us.

I wish all the blog readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!



Fall Surprises

November 4th:   October had several surprises here at the Schlaver Seed Farm.The biggest weather surprise had to be the record-breaking October snow storm. Right before Halloween 5 plus inches of heavy, wet snow hit, bringing down many branches still full of leaves and for many, but not me, power loss. An "extra" visit from the Brooklynites let them enjoy the snow experience here. As the pictures show below, one day Cotton was having his final fling with his sandbox and Hot Wheels jeep and the next day he was making snow angels with his mom.

Earlier this month my sister, Marcia, made her first visit here from her home in Michigan and kept busy shelling beans for me while catching up with family tales and news. David was able to show off his nearby condo to her as well.  He traveled to Notre Dame after she left for a long overdue visit back there and missed the snowstorm. A few remnents of the snow are still here as the nights are cold and the days are sunny but fairly cold.  The first hard frost only happened on the night befor the snowstorm that hit October 29th so it was a long growing season. When the frost hit the beautiful dahlia blooms ended their showy display.  Now I have to cut back the debris and dig all the tubers as well as the gladiola tubers for winter storage.  This is one of the several garden cleanup tasks remaining.

While I have had to wait several days for the snow to melt and the leaves to dry again so they can be gathered, I was able to borrow a powerful wood splitter from a friend. I had a big stash of cut logs from recent tree cutting and gathering so was able to tackle the splitting with this machine instead of the backbreaking wood of hand splitting with my trusty maul, axe and wedges. For four days I went at it for about 4-5 hours per day and now have about two full cords of split wood for next winter.  I need to now stack and cover it for the year-log seasoning process. I have plenty of wood already set for this winter. I put a small amount on the deck right near the door and the wood stove; another small pile in the garage near the ready-to-go snowblower and have big stacks in other nearby locations that I access throughout the winter. The splitter was still a grueling task for so many hours as many of the logs were big and some were in four foot sections so they needed to be cut with the chainsaw first to stove-sized length. I could not' be happier though, to now have so much of next year's supply in hand. I will be even happier when it is all stacked for that is a pretty big task remaining to be done.

November will be focussed on final garden cleanup and leaf gathering now. Many tasks remain such as protecting the strawberry and asparagus beds, and removal of the remaining plant debris. The only crops still in the garden are some leeks and some horseradish awaiting harvest. I continue to sell my jam, salsa and pickles and many beans are still piled up awaiting shelling. I made a big pot of chili this week using some of the recent bean harvest...it was good!

Summer ends quickly and Fall is now here!

October 3rd  The month of September simply flew by and now the Fall is here and all the new tasks and weather changes that means.  A lot of "Cotton time" did occur in September though since he had his 4th birthday on the 13th. The New Yorkers were here for a long weekend before that date and it was filled with some birthday activities, including his second visit to the Seaside Trolley Museum. The pony ride occurred in Brooklyn New York though. I went there for a long weekend myself and he had his debut on a pony named Snickers.  His skitishness about doing that soon turned into a happy thrill.

On the home front I can report that September was fairly cool and rainy and the harvest soon was slowing down.  The tomatoes flourished and salsa making was strong but by the end of the month the tomato patch quit producing. The tomatillos are still going though so now the production of green salsa is catching up to the red variety.  The next batch I make should push the jar total over the 400 mark. My first sales opportunity will occur this Thursday at the Saco Bay Garden Club Fall harvest potluck meeting. I have also notified the Union Church community of the direct sales possibility. I am taking orders!  schlaver@maine.rr.com  I plan to donate 10% of all 2011 sales to the Saco Meals Program.  My supply of jam includes blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, rhubarb-orange, peach jam and I have both apple and peach butter.  The pickle choices include bread and butter, both dill and sweet spears, hamburger dill or zuccihini chips, pickle relish and dilly beans. Of course there is either green or red salsa.

I have had specutacular sunflowers this year thanks to the seeds Julian gave me last Christmas. The birds have enjoyed them a lot as well. Speaking of animals, to my surprise my late summer garden has excperienced a deer invasion. Fortunately most of the damage has been confined to eating leaves like all the sweet potato plant leaves and the beet tops. I decided I better harvest the pumpkins and winter squash as two pumpkins were also devoured, presumably by the deer.

It is now the time of year to return to some wood cutting to begin developing the piles of firewood for next year so it can begin to season over this winter. There will be tons of garden cleanup work to tackle as well and then there is the annual leaf gathering ordeal!  Ah Fall...but the colors will be so pretty!

I should mention that I have approximately three huge bushel baskets of bean pods now separated from their dried plants. This will result in many jars full of dried beans, like pinto, cannelini and kidney beans. Baked beans or chilli can't be beat for a cold winter's evening meal. The shelling of the pods is to be a big fall project and I am hoping upcoming visitors all pitch in on that task.

Irene Visits the Farm

August 30th: Hurricane Irene did not do much damage here in Saco. We only got about two inches of rain in total. The pictures below show the only damage. A lot of small branches littered the yard and my third planting of corn suffered significantly. The biggest impact was the loss of a fairly large black walnut tree between my property line and the large Field Garden. It split off on the top and now needs to come down and be turned into firewood. It will be a challenge to cut down since the large upper part of it is hung up in a nearby tree. This project will be tackled in the weeks ahead.  I do have sufficient firewood cut, split and stacked for the coming winter.  This will start the stockpile for the following year.

I continue to enjoy a good harvest and a busy canning season. As of today the tally has reached 235 jars of various items, mainly jam and pickles so far.  My neighbor's peach tree needed to be completely picked before the storm hit as all the fruit was ripe and ready and would have been knocked off the tree for sure in the high wind. I turned this bounty into jam, peach butter and canned peach halves in syrup in addition to some baked goods.  I am looking forward to the next fruit harvest, namely the first grape harvest from the now three year old grape arbor.

The first ripen regular tomatoes have now been picked and soon a ton of them will follow.  The grape and cherry tomatoes are endless as is the neverending cucumber harvest. The green and yellow beans continue to flourish and the pepper harvest is doing well.  My sweet corn is being attacked by racoons as well as wind storms but I have enjoy a fair amount of tasty corn ears this year. I even managed to put some in the freezer for a mid-winter treat.

Cotton at "Summer Camp"

August 18th  I am writing this late in the evening on the night before Cotton's parents return from Brooklyn to reclaim their son after his eleven day stint with "Pops", his second 2011 stay at "summer Camp" with me. We had quite a time together! He certainly loves his time here on Ferry Road but I am sure will be glad to see his parents tomorrow.  The garden may have been neglected a bit during this period of time but it is mainly at the point when it is simply growing food and triggering a lot of harvesting while the weeds finally play second fiddle.

Before Roxi and Julian left to return to New York and their busy work schedules they managed to do tons of work here on the farm organizing the garage, working in the gardens and helping me further organize the new kitchen and prepare for the canning season. Roxi has plunged into the wonders of jucing fruit and veggies for nutritional beverages so I resurrected my old, but good juicer that has been pretty dormant for many a year. Cotton sure loves to watch the "vegetable poop" (pulp) it produces.

He enjoys my neighber, Pipe Smoking Paul's backhoe and other machinery as well as sitting on my knee on the riding mower among other activities. He is also shown here watching Ms. Clarence the rabbit that sits in his garage hutch, enjoying the fruits of the garden and adds her fair share to the compost pile.

The most exciting outing of Cotton's visit here happened just yesterday when we traveled to Portland and took a ride on the old narrow gauge railroad along the shoreline of the harbor in the city and visited the attached museum. Cotton is quite the train buff and loves anything related to trains. He rode in the cabbose and sat up in the "cupola" part of it where the train crew would observe the condition of the many freight cars in days gone by.  He managed to persuade me to buy him a wooden train set in the museum gift shop that he is constantly now playing with here.

We also had a great day at the nearby ocean beach last weekend. He is constantly visiting the gardens and like to stand there and pick blueberries, blackberries and cherry tomatoes right off the plants and eat them. He eats bowlfuls of sliced cucumbers as well.  This coming Saturday we all will take a boat ride to the Wood Island Lighthouse off of Biddeford Pool for a visit. That activity should cap a great August time in Maine.

I should certainly give a brief garden harvest report for the faithful readers, though. The cucumbers are growing like crazy as well as the zucchini. I am ahead of last year's canning totals for the pre-tomato harvest point in time. I have done 175 jars of just jam and pickled products and there appears to be no let up in the harvest so that total will climb. I am a little worried about the tomato crop for this year as few are red yet but the weather has pointed to a later harvest so maybe all will be well if the rest of August is hot and so is September.  The sweet corn is almost ready and should be a bumper crop.  Potatoes are plentiful and most are still underground. The garlic was all harvested and with great results.

The heat has arrived in Maine!

Much of the U.S. has faced an endless heat wave and drought this summer but Maine has just joined the trend with some high 80's to low 90's in recent days. I really never complain about the summer heat in Maine for high humidity often is not part of the process at all and even if there is a typical heat wave it is only a matter of a few days each summer.  Also, there is an ocean beach barely a mile away!

The vegetable garden welcomes the heat for now the growth spurt begins in earnest. I would still say the typical harvesting of various eatibles is about two weeks behind last year's pace.  This spring was cool and less rainy and growth was slower. The big tomato bed shown below has a long way to go. These sixty tomato plants are much smaller than they were in in mid-July of 2010. My starting plants were fairly small though so that was an additional factor. My landscape cloth method to help give the plants a chance against the prolific weed growth seems to be working. I still find handweeding to be a regular necesity but it isn't nearly as difficult of a process this year thanks to the cloth. One picture shows a bed of cucumbers, squash, etc. and each "hill" of the plants has a cloth rectangle buffer zone with the plants in the middle of it. I plant a lot of beans for dried bean use and a photo below is one of three beds of them: red kidney; cannellini; soldier beans, and pinto beans.  They stay in the garden until the plants and bean pods are completely dried. I better throw a bean shucking party this year for reducing this harvest of dried plants to jars of individual shelled bean varieties will be a big project this fall....many hands will help.

Vases of flowers are beginning to be an easy addition to the house now.  The shasta daisies are in full bloom and all over the place.  The hydrangea bushes get biggier and bigger each year and other colorful flowers grace the flower and vegetable gardens.  As the season goes on the range and beauty of flowers gets better and better. Unlike many gardeners, my efforts here have not been carefully executed to have constantly changing blooms but the gardens are not too off the mark on that score for there is now much new color to follow the earlier tulips, irises, daffodils, et al that started the colorful look in the spring.

The harvest tally so far has been eight weeks of incredible asparagus and I only just reluctantly stopped that harvest so the plants could begin the process of going to seed and renewing themselves for next year. The rhubarb continues. The strawberries are done for the year but yielded about 40 quarts and 43 jars of jam in addition to lots of  fresh berriy eating and some giveaway baskets.  Lettuce from the garden has eliminated the need to even consider buying at hte supermarket for the rest of the summer.  The first meal of Swiss chard has happen as well. The first zuchinni and yellow squash are nearing the dinner table as are the first of the cucumbers. The snap pea and snow pea harvest was a small one but tasty. A few small broccoli heads have been harvested as well.

Blueberries are right around the corner now and should be prolific as will be the blackberry crop. Green beans are a matter of two weeks away as well. I don't expect any tomatoes until August though.

On a daily basis I pick the Japanese beetles off the grape vines but aside from this daily burden I can report the thrill of watching the many grapes grow in size, pointing to the first grape harvest on the grape arbor in this, its third year.

So while the hot sun limits the amount of garden work one can endure as July moves along, I marvel at the rapid growth of the veggies and patiently await the big harvest. The visitor calendar is rapidly filling for the month of August but all family and friends on that schedule will certainly enjoy the tasty results and the fun of simply standing in the garden and eating some items right off the bushes/vines like blueberries, blackberries, cherry tomatoes, grapes, peaches, apples, etc!

The kitchen is Complete

July 2nd: The perfect large "farm table" was located and purchased by Julian and Roxi at a local antiques store and added to the house to complete the kitchen remodeling.  Ironically the color of the old barn board top and the sturdy legs match the new cabinets and butcher block perfectly. I am thrilled for a large table to serve the crowd on those holiday dinners or other gatherings was my desire. It is perfect for just sitting around to socializing, making puzzles, spread out pictures and papers or most any activity.  These images also give you further views and more perspective on the overall room. The images do not show the view out the deck doors that is directly to the left of the table in the first photo.but on a sunny summer day it can't be beat. The view and openness for air and heat circulation was a major goal of mine with this project. I so wanted to eliminate the wall that was the barrier between the kitchen and the rest of the space.  Now it is all one open, grand room.

I can now shift my focus more to the gardening tasks at hand as the summer weather really begins in Maine. That means confortable high seventies and low eighties in temperatures and only rare days of high humidity. Maine is sure a delight in the summer!  I continue to harvest asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb and lettuce...the only edibles so far.  The weeds are flourishing and keep me very busy but the veggies are growing too. I just planted more sweet corn since the first planting is now several inches high.  The cool spring and slow to arrive hot weather has set growth back by about two weeks on such things as corn, beans and tomatoes but I am not worried. I have cut off the garlic "scapes" and soon will harvest my largest crop of garlic in my gardening years here.

As the Furth of July weekend is at hand I am quietly pondering my good fortune to be here in Saco Maine on this wonderful property. I especially think of my mother now too for on June 30th we honored her on the ninth anniversary of her passing in her 89th yeear. Her hard work and frugality enabled me to buy this perfect retirement homestead and I will always honor her and my father for that by caring for it as best I can and sharing it with family and friends as they both always did with their home back in Mount Prospect Illinois.

The Kitchen is Ready for Strawberries

June 24th:  FINALLY!  The kitchen is done!  Only a few minor tasks remain. The "stone wall" isn't complete since more tile is on order to complete it to the ceiling above the window. The floor hasn't been refinished yet either. But I reclaimed the kitchen yesterday just in time to make my first two batches of strawberry jam.  Today I will bake some rhubarb pies. With the addition of a constant supply of asparagus, I am enjoying these first three crops from the gardens...in great abundance this year. I can start harvesting lettuce as well now but must wait a few weeks before anything additional.  I can cut of the garlic scapes now and the garlic plants really look great so I hope for a big harvest in July.

I have done a ton of planting this yer with three major beds of beans for drying: pinto, cannellini, Jacob's Cattle (soldier) beans and kidney beans. My first planting of sweet corn has emerged so it is now time to add some more rows for the succeeding crop. The potatoes and onions are doing fine.  Many cucumbers, winter squash, melons and summer squash seeds have been planted as well.  The tomato plants number about 70 and have much growing to do before and red fruit will appear.  I am very pleased that the tomatillos self-seeded as per usual and I will have an abundance of them again for my green salsa making.  The pole beans are starting to climb the trellis's and all other veggies are moving along on schedule. 

I expect  this to be a great year for fruit for the blueberries and black berries are prolific on there plants.  Many, many tiny grapes are forming on the vines for the first grape harvest on the grape arbor. The first picking of strawberries yielded nine quarts and more than that are ready for the next picking.  These are all from the Field Garden beds for the Raised Bed Garden berries are always a bit later to ripen.  The two asparagus beds yield a pound or two every other day so has been a regular item on the dinner table for a few weeks now.  My newest planting of a third asparagus bed should be ready for some picking next year to even make the yield greater.

But the biggest news this late June has to be the kitchen.  The huge island with its walnut butcher block top is the spectucular center piece of the room now.  What a treat it was to be able to SIT DOWN to prepare all the strawberries for the jam instead of endlessly standing at the old kitchen sink.  I am in the process of relocating all the dishes and equipment to the new cabinets with their easy to use sliding shelves.  I love the granite counter and stone wall too and the new oven and cook top have preformed their initial duties very well.   I am so happy with it all and look forward to playing host again to family and friends and sharing the bounty of the gardens.

Early June Activities

June 4th : An update from the Schlaver Seed Farm is long overdue. There is much to report after a ten day visit by Julian, Roxi & Cotton from New York. First of all I should note that the kitchen remodeling project is not finish but huge progress has now given me a fully functional kitchen even if I am not moved back into it with all pots and pans et al. A terrific electrician was found and he is working hard on the project. The cook top work; the sink is in and along with the dishwasher means no more struggles in the bathroom as the source of water and dishwashing. The oven is in and operational as well. The granite counter top and under cabinet lighting is a real treat and a beautiful work spot for me. The refrigerator is now encircled with cabinetry and a bookcase completes that end of the room. The huge island with its walnut butcher block top make meal prep, and serving appetizers and plating food easy and enjoyable. Roxi and Julian enjoyed sitting on stools at it and doing laptop work as well. The new ceiling lights are not fully installed yet nor has the ceiling been refinished or the floors resurfaced but the light is in clear view at the end of the tunnel!

The major project that Julian took the lead on was power washing and refinishing the front door small deck and the large deck off the living room. In addition the entire railing around the deck was power washed, sanded and primed boy Roxi and Julian. Of course there were weeding, planting and other gardening activities. The 60 tomato plants and 100 sweet potato slips are finally in the ground as well as many other plants and seeds. The weather has been perfect with sun and warmth but not too much heat for all this activity and almost no rain to slow us down. We have been eating asparagus almost daily but have a couple weeks to wait for the strawberries.

Cotton spent endless hours in his sandbox and tried to fully participate in all other activities in the garden, lawn mowing, and painting. He is a very busy, active little boy when at “Pop’s house.” He has discovered the wonder of worms but does not enjoy spiders at all. He will now spend a full week with me without his parents and then the two of us travel Amtrak trains back to New York.

Blossoming Inside and Outside!

Yes, the kitchen is blossoming into its final form and the apple trees in my neighbor's orchard are in bloom as well.   There has been a big construction delay because the electrician expected to do the project has failed to start at all.  The crew installing the cabinets and doing all the other tasks have done a great job working around this problem. It will not be ready by Memorial Day for sure but I might get lucky and have a sink at least and the cook top in place and functioning. The granite countertop by the window is to be installed on Thursday the 26th and the plumber and gas company are to come on Friday to finish the install of the sink and cook top.  If onl;y the electricity work was done as well so the hood fan, lights and dishwasher on that wall also worked for the weekend!

No new ceiling lights are in place yet, of course so the ceiling and the floor refinishing has to be delayed as well.  Hence the project will certainly linger on well into June.  But I love the look and am anxious to make some rhubarb pies from the rapidly growing rhubarb. In early June the first of the strawberries will be ready for jam making and the canning season will begin.  A functioning kitchen better happen fast!

The weather here has been cold, rainy and endlessly cloudy with minimal moments of any sunshine.  Hence any seed planting has triggered few emerging signs of growth. We really need some sun and heat!  No late frost or flooding as in past years but really no better gardening results with the weather we did receive. I continue to do what I can with wood cutting, weeding and garden bed preparations but yearn to just be planting seeds and veggie plants and watching them grow.