Rose Prairie Quilts and Farm

Boy isn't that the truth around here. For the past few years we would have starved if we had to live off what I grew but not this year. I wish I could say it's because I'm such a master gardener but I know a good part of it has to be due to the weather we have had. Example is the melon and squash patch.  In the past few years I haven't been able to harvest not one. So I planted a few extra figuring bugs or weather would take them I had a piece in my patch that is 15 x 15 ft that has had black plastic over top for a couple of years now. I have been wanting to put in a couple of more beds there but haven't gotten around to it. So I made eight openings where I planted  2 mounds of each acorn squash, cantaloupe, watermelon and pumpkins. I left 2 or 3 plants in each spot thinking I lose most or all again. But no not this year. While I was in California this past July we had an unusual amount of rain and cooler temps. Which the plants just loved.

I haven't shown or talked much about "the girls" lately so this weeks photos are dedicated to them. I have been fortunate to have lost only one hen so far this summer and it was one of the new girls. She had something wrong with her since she was a chick and I was surprise how long she did live. So out of the dozen chicks I have 10 hens and now a new rooster. Thats right they were not all girls like they were supposed to of been. Thats not the first time that has happened. After losing the  "Love Machine" we now have "Stud Muffin" and funny thing is they look the same.   The hen count is now 23 and I'm getting on the average 13 eggs a day. I added these pictures  because  I just thought they were neat. First one is the boys waiting for something that was in the squash and melon patch. Ready to pounce This is a stop sign that is a couple section lines over from us. I just think it's so cool how th

At the moment  I am a month behind on my LE and from following others who are making this quilt I think I will stay that way. I'm in no hurry or it's not a race.  And from the others I am learning techniques that is helping to make this easier. I appreciate all the work that Esther did to make this pattern for the public and very grateful that she offers it for free each month. As you can see I have marked the placement for month 2. Still need to applique the center, then comes some of the harder part, picking out fabric for next pieces. I'm making mine scrappy and I do have quite the collection of fabric to pick from. Sometime having more to choose from doesn't make it easier. Then I'm doing a pumpkin pillow out of wool.  It is a Sew Cherish pattern. A very easy project but I wish there were better instruction on how to make the various crazy stitches.  It comes with the transfers but no direction on how to do the pat

There is a couple of sayings that come to mind, one is too many irons in the fire and the other is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. That's how I've been feeling these past few weeks. With my garden growing so well and I'm harvesting everyday which means I've been very busy. I love growing my own food but then there is time consuming process of preserving it for later use. And then there is my love for knitting, crocheting, quilting, embroidery, oh heck  just about any kind a needlework or piecework. Plus there is reading, lately the only way I able to get to read a book is by listening to it.  So things I like take so much time and it's just doesn't seem to be enough. I think everyone experiences that from time to time. So as the saying goes I do have a lot of irons in the fire.  So with my knitting I haven't been able to do hardly any lately. So all I can show you is again some projects that I started and are not finished. 

This year I've had a really good crop of tomatoes. I've been able to can, freeze and make salsa but I thought I would try to make some dried tomatoes in the oven. Back in California where the humidity being so low and it seemed like it was sunny all the time and it was easy to do sun dried tomatoes outside. But here in Oklahoma with all the humidity, I didn't see how that it would be  possible to do it outside so I got on the Internet and look around to see what it would take to do it an alternative way, seeing how I don't  have a dehydrator.   Found various information and from that I just kind of put it all together and this is how I did my sun dried tomatoes.  I took the small romas that I had and cut them in half and seeded them out. Then I placed them on a wire rack on top of my cookie sheet. A lot of them said that you could just use a cookie sheet that was not aluminum or you could put parchment paper down. But there is one that had done it

This week I have been so busy out in the garden that I haven't done much else. Between harvesting  weeding and planting the fall crop that is all I was able to get pictures of. But I believe that one of the most beautiful thing is vegetable plants, so here are some of my beauties.