Striped Cucumber Beetles are evil, and must be destroyed!

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:C3ZXkI8DetWoMM:http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/files/images/striped-cucumber-beetle_0.jpg

Okay, I admit it....I cannot be entirely organic. :( I discovered these nasty little beetles on my squash, and did some research. Not only will they eat my squash into oblivion, they spread viral disease and bacterial wilt. I spend several evenings squishing them, but was afraid I would lose the battle. One poor little squash seemed to be their breeding ground. While most of the squash had just a few beetles, this one was swarmed. When I touched it they all dove into the ground where they breed. Out came the sevin! I doused the ground around this plant; today there are many dead bodies and no beetles in the garden that I could find! Victory!

Best of Times, Worst of Times

Life is busy, and wonderful right now! Glynn and I will be getting married in just 6 days! Everything is mostly under control, just some last minute odds and ends to do this week. It should be a fun party! Reception is at the Gale's field on the river, with pulled pork, a keg, and pot-luck! No idea how many people will be there, maybe 80 or so!
We have put in two gardens, the one that I started last year and a new one that Sky tilled up for us as a wedding present. It is in the front yard to get the sun, and is about 30x40', and STILL not big enough! We also have 4 raised beds in the backyard, 3 cold frames now, and have started constructing a hoop house. I am very excited about the hoop house and hope it will extend the growing season by a couple of months.
We put the manual pump on the well and it works great although even with a foot valve it still needs some priming. I hope not to ever have to rely on that for a water supply in the winter, it would be most unpleasant to have to be out there pumping water in a Vermont winter. But at least we can if we have to.
I owe DirectTV money so they turned off the satellite. Good. I will pay them eventually but have NO plans to have TV service again. Too expensive and we just don't watch it enough to make it worthwhile.
We haven't replaced or repaired the broken microwave yet, and I have pretty much decided not to, at least not in the near future. I miss it, but have learned to do without it.
Last week we picked 12 pounds of strawberries and have made lots of jam, the first canning I have done in years. It was fun.
That is the good stuff. The bad is the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico last month. The oil continues to gush into the ocean in vast amounts, poisoning and polluting everything it touches. It is too depressing for words. The environmental and economic fallout will be catastrophic. It is giving me nightmares during waking hours. I am glad we are taking the preparations we are but I doubt they will be sufficient. It is alot like being in a nightmare and screaming for help and no one listens...very few people I know seem to be as worried as we are at what is happening...are we crazy? Or are they? Time will tell. We certainly hope that we are wrong...but my gut says no.

Living without a fridge

http://sharonastyk.com/2010/06/17/sans-fridge/

Busy time!

The erratic Vermont mountain weather is slowing improving. We have had several warm-ish and sunny days in a row. I really shouldn't be complaining-the trees, flowers and gardens are all a good 3 weeks ahead of schedule this year. Glynn and I have worn ourselves out this past week. Project #1 is finishing the replacement of the clapboard siding on the south side of the house. We've made good headway on that, but it is tiring, as it requires many trips up and down the ladder, and it is a bit nerve-wracking too, since we are now up to the 3rd story!
Project #2 is putting in a manual pump on the well, so when the power goes out (which it does on a regular basis here) we can still get water. It only took a few hours and a couple of trips to the hardware store to get the parts and install them...unfortunately it won't pump! Rather than get frustrated we stopped for the day. Last night in the middle of the night I woke up with a possible solution- the water line is longer than the depth of the well, resulting in a curve to the line, therefore the foot valve is not vertical. Could this be the reason why it won't pump? I don't know how foot valves work, but we will trim off the line and see if that helps!
Project #3-the gardens. We have made another cold frame,and now have 3. Made another raised bed and sized it so that we can lay 2 old windows right on top of it-instant frost protection/cold frame! I am going to put a cluster of raised beds near the fish pond...I had a beautiful flower garden there, but it got dug up when the water line to the house was replaced. I think it will look nice when it is done. We have continued to rack up the millions of rocks brought to the surface during the well line repair. I have realized that I really have absolutely no topsoil left in the disturbed area-and don't want to pay to have any delivered. Oh well, I hate grass anyway!
That exciting June 1st date is fast approaching-that is when it is safe (hopefully) to put in the rest of the garden!
The baby chicks we picked up on May 6th seem to be thriving. I got 3 Black Astralorps and 4 Buff Orpingtons to add to the flock. I just discovered a great idea on OneStraw.wordpress.com! A chicken moat!

Water Woes

I have always been bad at keeping a journal, and it seems that a blog is no different! Life goes by,and it is hard to take the time to sit and write about it, at least for me! It is a beautiful, sunny and chilly Sat. morning, and as I write I am listening to a woodpecker tapping on the aluminum ladder on the side of the house. he has been functioning as an alarm clock for several days now in his attempt to attract a mate! On the agenda for today is a trip to the dump, getting our photo taken for the new church directory, and maybe a trip to the Rutland Farmer's Market to try our friend Jenn's pulled pork!
Not much gardening has been going on around here...even though we have had a lot of nice weather it has just been too darn cool. My lettuce transplants are surviving in the garden, but not growing. The cold frame is a wonder tho! I have to make several more of those.
A few days ago we had to have the water line from the well (we have a shallow dug well) to the house replaced. That required a back hoe digging up most of the south side yard. My little frog pond got fairly damaged in the process. Now comes the long slow job of raking and picking up the thousands of rocks that were brought to the surface, then seeding grass. We live on old river bed, under the topsoil is nothing but rock, gravel and sand. In 1998 the river that runs along the edge of the property flooded, and the whole yard was under water. One good thing that happened was that the front yard was covered with an 8 inch layer of mud! Free topsoil! Last week, in exchange for a computer repair, a neighbor tilled up a new garden in the front yard, and not a rock in sight! Just amazing! The new garden is where I plan to plant tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and squash this year. I already know it is not big enough!

Do-it -yourself laundry detergent

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109349/do-it-yourself-laundry-detergent