Homesteading: Fall is Upon Us
Notes and updates from Rancho del Cielo Azure!
Fall is always a special time of year here on the farm. It is the time where farm activities begin to wind down for the year. It is a time where we set about winterizing and preparing for cold weather. The days here in Virginia are getting chillier but with very little rain. Snow flurries are projected for tomorrow. This time of year, the moon is larger, the sunsets are more brilliant, and the air seems cleaner. It feels wonderful to be alive and working outdoors.
The greenhouse is now completed as of this summer. It was built onto the side of the old house - the one that we also finished rehabbing this year. This is the building that we use as an office now. It gives us space to work, as well as somewhere for our researcher and webmaster, Anita, to do her magic.
It has taken us seven years, from start to finish - to get this ~100 year old house re-habilitated. New chimneys, a wood-burning stove and oven, a bathroom, and a new insulated standing-seam metal roof have capped off the project.
We have moved the tender perennials into the greenhouse for the winter. This job requires a hand truck these days - as there are so many plants, and some of them are quite large.
The lemons and limes have provided well for us this year - fall and early winter is when they come ripe. We have one “tree’ that has been producing like crazy. Jill is just popping those small fruit whole into the freezer. We plan to grate them directly into recipes - leaving the lemon frozen, so that we can put the unused portion back into the freezer or defrost them for juice.
The citrus plants will go back out in the spring, as soon as the danger of frost is past and back into the house or greenhouse in the fall. They do require fertilizer a few times a year.
The biggest problem with citrus is the bugs. Whether it be Asian stink bugs, ants, thrips, or some other plant-eating insect - the smell of the flowers and the fruit attracts insects. A simple spray solution of dawn dish soap and water in a sprayer seems to do the trick most of the time.
When I was a teenager and young adult, I worked on my father-in-law’s lemon and avocado ranch in Goleta, CA. Thrips were the biggest problem we had with the lemon trees. So, things seem to often come around full circle. As here I am - still tending lemon plants.
The photo on the right - below, shows how some bug came along and chomped off the leaves on our largest lemon tree. Most annoying!
A year ago or more, we had a particularly tasty red dragon fruit that we bought from the grocery. Jill took some seeds and planted them in the aero garden. She then transplanted them into pots, then bigger pots - now they are thriving in the greenhouse. At first we thought - what excellent houseplants, as they do so well indoors. Until they grew, and then those soft, fuzzy hairs on all the cactus stems became cactus spikes! Those dragon fruit cacti are painful to touch!
That said, they are a cool plant and would be a fabulous houseplant in the right location. They remind me a lot of Christmas cactus.
Yeh - we bought a couple of cute little one-foot banana plants about three or four years ago. Those bananas are now the monsters that ate the greenhouse! If we can wrestle them out of the greenhouse next spring, Jill intends to plant them in the ground - and let them live their best lives for the summer and die a natural death next winter. They have just gotten too darn big and have outgrown their already huge pots! Banana trees would suck water from a firehose - so if you have them as indoor plants or out - be sure to give them plenty of water.
When we were in Tokyo last month, we learned all about wasabi and how most of the wasabi served and sold is actually horseradish. But that the true wasabi root has a mellower, more subtle taste and heat. However, it is harder to find in the shops and more expensive.
Jill, being Jill - immediately set out to learn more.
That resulted in her planting some wasabi root that she bought online. Those have now sprouted and seem to be thriving.
The wasabi leaves, which look like lily pads suspended in the air - are also edible and can be used in salads or sauteed. The taste has been described as ‘pleasantly spicy.”
So, when those plants get a little bigger- expect an update on the taste of wasabi leaves and stems.
On the farm, we picked up a load of hay yesterday. This time of year we are going through about 60 bales a week - a lot of hay. Gonzo and Gizmo had to help unload.
Curious Gonzo still ignores the mandate that she isn’t allowed in the house. She finds a way in every chance she gets.
Once inside, she immediately likes to settle in for a good groom and a nap. Unfortunately, she has little awareness of bodily functions. Geese eat grass all the time, and that grass comes out of the other end on a very regular basis.
Emu has become quite the guardian animal. Since he has grown up - we have not lost a single free-ranging peacock or guinea.
Walking with the herd.
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I love your farm stories! There's nothing better than working the land and raising animals. Makes life worth living even though it's very hard work.
You go Gonzo girl! Mandates are unconstitutional!
But to clarify, when I say "you go girl," I mean, like encouragement; moral solidarity. Not, um, digestive processes. You know what I mean.