Changes at the Creek

Things have been changes here at Turkey Creek Garden-some good and some sad.

Dolly, our bossy chicken, has gone to live in Homer with our sweet chicken friends. Their flock is larger and they have roosters, both of which should solve Dolly's bossy-lossiness!

Here she is in the truck about to be delivered to her new home. She won't even look at us......she knows she's been bad, but I was still sad to leave her.

James and I went to Bonnie and Clyde Trade Days to replace her. I REALLY wanted to get a turkey for Turkey Creek Garden, but James reminded me that the hole into my coop was too small for even a modest sized turkey...

  so we settled for a red sex-linked instead. Such a pretty bird!!

 Oh well, out with the old-in with the new!! This laissez-faire attitude I now realize is essential to chicken raising. As much as I love my hens, they're just not as permanent as dogs.

Meanwhile in the little circle garden, it was also time to let go of the summer and make way for the fall; an attitude that I am happy to adopt.

Tuesday's job was going from this......

 to this.

Most of the flowers had shot their wad for the year, but I couldn't let go of the morning glories, they make my heart sing!!

Because this garden is relatively new, I needed to condition the soil. 

 I used peat moss. I had considered using mushroom compost, but it contains some degree of fertilizer and I have been amending these beds with chicken manure tea so I was a bit afraid of additional fertilizer.

 As always I was thankful for my perfect little Honda tiller; just the right size for raised beds. Soon the soil was ready for planting. I planted Brussels sprout and broccoli transplants, but am trying everything else from seed- collards, spinach, kale, arugula, lettuce.  I did put in a bed of strawberries and am looking forward to enjoying them in the spring.

By the end of the morning I had a clean, planted garden and a full burn pile!

And speaking of changes.......

 Look who can sit up in a buggy!!!

The Olive pit!!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Life is change.

~Heraclitus of Ephesus

Just Juice

This post is about muscadine juice, but I thought we would start with........

 the latest picture of Olive because

that's just what grandmother's do, right?!

 Anyway, the muscadines are beginning to ripen and we picked some scuppernongs last week. We have made wine and jelly in past years and it's a lot of work. This year I was just not in the mood for doing either, and retired people have the luxury of doing things only if they are in the mood to do them!!

My Master Gardening friends told me that I should just put up the juice now and then I can do whatever I want to with it later, so that's what I did.

 Washed grapes are chopped up a bit in the food processor.

 Most websites I read recommended adding sugar to the chopped grapes, but muscadines are so sweet already that I decided to skip this step. The chopped grapes are covered with water before putting on the stove, but remember that the more water you add the more diluted our juice will be.

 Then the grapes are boiled to release the juices. 

 The juice is strained from the mash.

At the second straining, through cheese cloth, the juice's signature pink color is revealed.

I froze the juice in 1/2 cup and 1 cup amounts so it will be easy to thaw for recipes. I used 1 cup of juice for delicious muscadine glazed pork chops for supper. I have found recipes for muscadine vinaigrette, muscadine glazed cheesecake, muscadine sorbet, and muscadine syrup to flavor tea or lemonade.

This treatment of our grapes has been really easy and leaves us with more options for its use. In a few weeks our old timey "black" variety of grapes should be ripe and it will be time to juice again!

Love ya'll, 

Shelli 

You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces

 — just good from fresh ingredients.

 ~Julia Child

My mom said the two most important kitchen utensils are attached to your arms... you cannot mix up meatballs with a wooden spoon, get in there, get your fingers dirty!

 ~Rachael Ray

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.

 ~Harriet Van Horne, "Not for Jiffy Cooks," Vogue magazine, 1956

Manure Tea

As much as I revel in August's reclusive slothfulness, there are things that need to be happening in the garden. The big vegetable garden has been on its own since the third week of July, and it knows this.  At some point, which is dependent on tomato productivity, weather patterns, heat index, and scheduled guests, I walk out in the cool of the morning one day and announce, "OK, guys, this is it", and the garden knows that I am done with it for the year. Then the rabbits, graveyard grasshoppers, slugs, fungi, molds pass the word that the gardener is finished battling them back and in they rush. I will let them have their way with the plants before turning the chickens out into the garden. Then it will literally be a free-for-all. I had no idea that the chickens would be such great partners in preparing the garden for next spring, but they eat bugs and devour weeds with impressive efficiency.

Meanwhile the circle garden is patiently awaiting its upcoming fall planting. The flowers have run their course and have been removed and the soil is being refortified with manure tea. This tea is made with chicken manure.

In a five gallon bucket with a lid, I put 1 part chicken poop mixed with 3 parts water.  Then the "tea" soaks for a week in the sun. Next it is poured into the beds of the circle garden. There is enough manure left at the bottom of the bucket after pouring off the tea that I am able to refill the bucket with water for another pour. 

Chicken poop is very potent due to the fact that chickens don't urinate. This means that all the nitrogen that would be in their urine is in their poop. This leads many gardeners to burn their plants by using chicken manure improperly. Chicken poop in its solid form must be cured for months before adding to the garden, but chicken manure tea can be used within a week because the manure is diluted.

I have been adding a tea application to the circle garden for two weeks and will make a final application today. Recent rains have helped nutrients from the manure infiltrate the soil, further diluting the potency, and heat from the sun is cooking up a nutrient rich soil. I will let the soil cure for another month before planting in mid to late September. Although chicken manure is nutrient rich, it can also carry some nasty pathogens. For that reason, I won't use this tea after planting. 

As you can imagine, applying manure tea is an aromatic chore. I try to do stinky garden jobs late in the evening on weekdays so that my neighbors won't be subjected to unpleasant smells while sitting on their porches, enjoying company, and barbecuing. But last week my mind was somewhere else and after mowing the yard, I decided to make a tea application before going in the house to clean up. Totally oblivious to the fact that it was Friday, I poured on the malodorous tea. About that time, Fred and Ethel broke into urgent, noisy barking and baying as a black, stretch limousine pulled into the driveway of our neighbors closest to the freshly fertilized garden. Their obviously momentous event was about to be perfumed by Mother Nature......

I just ran into the house and shut the blinds 

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

"If the grass on the other side of the fence appears greener... it must be all the fertilizer they are using."

-  Kevin Rodowicz

 "Over fertilized plants may be beautiful but are otherwise useless, like people whose energies are devoted so completely to their appearance that there is no other development."

-  William Longgood

"The earth neither grows old or wears out if it is dunged."

-  Columella, circa 45 A.D. 

"Sometimes you have to step in it to learn how to avoid it."

-  Anonymous

Turkey Creek Daylilies

Each spring, James and I anxiously await the Daylily Show. It begins in May and lasts until the Fourth of July. Each morning we ooh and aah over the newest bloom. 

Although I posted pictures last year, I can't stop myself from sharing again!

We have gotten many of our daylilies from Joywalk Daylily Farm here in Ruston. They bring lilies to the Ruston Farmers Market most Saturdays. I also select new lilies at the Mobile Flower Show each year at the Abundant Daylilies booth. But some of my favorite lilies are the ones James brings home. He keeps an eye out for the sales at Fred's and Walmart. When the daylilies-in-a-bag hit the $1 sale mark, he starts hauling them home. 

When I first opened one of these sale bags, I was astonished at how pitiful these rhizomes looked- brown, scraggly, freakish creatures!!  Without a scrap of hope that they would amount to anything, I planted them just for Jim. Today they are some of my favorites! They are starting out as almost nothing, so it takes them longer to become the big, healthy clump of your other lilies, but have patience! They're worth it! 

Love ya'll,

Shelli

          Consider the lilies of the field how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Matthew 6: 28-29

The Garden Tour: Part 4

The day of the tour...

Somewhere in Hell...

"Quiet! We need to get this emergency meeting underway; time is of the essence!! As you all know, our patient's garden show is today, and what promised to be an easy opportunity to influence SQ in a negative way is slipping through our fingers. To say it plainly, our goody two-shoes opponents are whipping our butts.  However, we still have an ace up our sleeve. Everybody welcome, Discontent."

"Good morning. My name is Discontent and I am accustomed to being used as the last ditch effort to sink a human. This week as our client, SQ, walked through her garden surveying it prior to the tour, I planted a deep seed of myself. I flooded her with a desire to run straight to O'Neal's garden center and buy hanging baskets she couldn't afford, perennials she didn't have room for, and annuals she couldn't take care of. I caused her to dream of whimsical topiaries and exotic tropicals. I made gardening magazines arrive in her mailbox that were filled with such gorgeous pictures, that she wanted to burn her efforts to the ground and start over. I filled her with pure covetousness! I gave it my best effort, but the enemy was lying in wait and routed me out before I knew what hit me. I am afraid we have lost the battle."

"No!! How did they do it? What technique did they use?"

"I have no idea...."

Somewhere in Heaven...

"Settle down!! Congratulations are in order, but first we need to hear from Contentment as he explains how he saved the day and our patient. But first, let's open with prayer...

     Dearest Lord, we praise your name today! We were losing a battle for one of your beloved children. She was falling victim to the enemies' efforts, but You swooped in with your power and mercy and saved the day! Thank you for always believing in us, and help us do a better job of believing in you. Amen.

OK, Contentment, you have the floor."

"Good morning! It was touch and go during this last week. Our patient was hit with a terrible case of discontent right at the end. She was almost consumed by a need to do more, have more, be more!!!! But I was able to chase away discontent's deceit with my friend, Truth. We reminded SQ of what she had learned about the strapping on the Belt of Truth.  Pricilla Shirer teaches that "The over-arching principle present in all of Satan's attacks toward us is deception. He propagates fantasies, causing temporal and insignificant things to somehow appear immensely valuable and favorable." We showed SQ that the truth about her garden could be found in memories- memories of her and her husband, James, building the fence, of her parents and sister laying the little patio, of her niece's fairy garden, and her nephew sitting in the chicken coop that her dad built. Those memories were the truth that made her garden all that it needed to be. 

I admonished her with Galatians 1:10...

      Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

And I encouraged her with Hebrews 13:5…

     Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things that you have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee or forsake thee.

Then I gave her a good night's sleep and she woke up this morning full of joy for the privilege of sharing with her friends the garden God has blessed her with; her thin place where He is near.”

“Great job, Contentment!  Once again Heaven gathers the troops- Peace, Submission, Humility, Contentment, and Truth – to support their beloved children. And even with those traits, it is only with God’s grace and faithfulness that we prevail.

 Well, you all deserve some time off, but unfortunately we know that our patient will be needing help again. Maybe next time it will be Honesty, Kindness, Love, or Patience that will be called upon to save her. In the mean time someone be sure there are NO MORE garden tours!!”

;-)

The Garden Tour: Part 3

April….

Somewhere in Hell….

“I’m calling this meeting to order. Today we want an update on the SQ garden tour project. My Intel informs me that Insecurity and Anxiety have been working well together and that our patient is feeling fairly stressed out. Now it’s time to add Control and Perfectionism to the mix. Would you two please present your plan of attack to the group?”

“Good morning! As you may know, many humans who fall prey to insecurity often over compensate by trying to be perfect. SQ is no different, and like many perfectionist, she is a meticulous list maker. For several months she has been starting each day with massive To Do lists and so far her plans have been working nicely thus causing her to fall into one of our favorite traps  – believing that she in control. We have several small disasters in store for her starting with catching her yard on fire. Then we are planning heavy rainfall in the days prior to the tour; rain that will flatten her corn and flop over her poppies and zinnias. Control, who has had quite a bit of success with other gardeners, will also use these rains to promote fungus and mold in SQ’s new circle garden. As she runs around in a blind panic each day repairing the damage we have done, Insecurity and Anxiety will be able to double down on their efforts and in the end we should have one frazzled, panic-stricken gardener on our hands. Of course our ultimate goal is for the patient to get peeved with God by focusing their attention on all the things that are going wrong and being oblivious to all the things that He blesses them with. We believe we have a 98% chance of achieving that goal in this situation”

“OK, I think Control and Perfectionism have everything under control. Ha! Pun intended! Next month I want an update from one of our best weapons, Discontent.”

Somewhere in Heaven…

“Let’s open our meeting this morning with prayer….

          Oh Lord, we are trying mightily to hold on to SQ in preparation for this garden tour. Please help us suppress her sinful nature and help her mature (which you would think she would have a handle on at age 56) and grow in Your wisdom. Thank you for loving her in spite of herself. Amen

Now from what I have heard, the enemy has brought control and perfectionism on board. They are mighty adversaries, especially control. Nothing is harder to reach than a human who thinks they are in control of their own lives and have no need to humbly seek God’s grace.  However, we have Submission and Humility speaking to us today about their counterterrorism plans.”

“Good Morning! We are very excited to get to work on our patient! We have gotten hold of the plans of the enemy and as always, they are unwittingly playing right into our hands. They have a series of garden disasters planned for SQ., but it will be our job to use those same disasters to remind her that she is not and never has been in control of her garden, much less her life. Everything she has is a gift of God. We will remind her of Romans 11:36…

          ‘For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things.’

With this realization refreshed in her mind, we will then help her recall the first beatitude…

          ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’

SQ needs to understand that perfectionism and poorness of spirit are total opposites. As Kay Arthur says, ‘poverty of spirit…is an absence of self-assurance, self-reliance, and pride.’  We will use a bible verse that is a favorite of many gardeners, Matthew 6:28-29, to drive home that fact that God has always had everything under control.

          ‘Consider the lilies of the field how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’

Once she relinquishes control, submits to God’s will, and adopts a humble spirit, Peace will be able to finish his work flushing out insecurity and anxiety. Soon SQ will appreciate God’s sovereignty in her garden again, and finding joy in her garden will make her happy to share it with others.”

“Well, it sounds like a great plan! We look forward to hearing about its success next month.”

;-)

 

The Garden Tour: Part 2

The following day….

Somewhere in Hell….

“OK, let’s get started with today’s meeting. Yesterday it was announced that our patient, Shelli Quayhagen (SQ), has agreed to put her garden on the Master Gardener Tour later this spring. We are all very excited by this opportunity to wreak havoc in her life. Yesterday each of you was told to take responsibility for one of her vices and devise a plan of attack. Let’s start with Anxiety....”

“Good morning! Well, first off, Insecurity and I have decided to work together. We can deliver a potent one-two punch. For instance, Insecurity will plant the idea that SQ’s garden isn’t going to measure up to Master Gardener standards, then for weeks I will wake her up in the wee hours of the morning filled with abject fear over the upcoming tour. After insomnia takes its toll, we will make sure she looks at multitudes of beautiful gardens on Pinterest exacerbating the idea that her garden isn’t good enough and she is a total idiot for agreeing to be on the tour. Next, we’ll make sure she sees commercials for the new Royal Blizzards at Dairy Queen causing her to try to eat away her anxiety. If we play our cards right she could gain approximately 50 lbs. before the tour. In the end we will render her an overweight, inept gardener paralyzed by fear in an oasis of shriveled, insect-ridden kale and tomatoes with blossom end rot.”

“Well done, Insecurity and Anxiety!”

Somewhere in Heaven…

“Let’s open with prayer.

    ‘Lord, we come to you with heavy hearts. One of our lambs has put herself into a situation where she is going to easily fall prey to her human vices. Help us protect her from herself as well as from our ever-present enemy who takes advantage of every opportunity to bring us down.  We thank you for your determined love for this poor soul. Amen.’

OK, so yesterday each of you chose one of SQ’s vices to counteract during this garden tour crisis. Let’s hear from Peace first.”

“Good Morning, I’m Peace.  I was a yoga instructor when I was living on Earth, so I am very excited to have this opportunity to calm and refocus SQ in her fight against insecurity and anxiety. I did some research on her last night and was happy to see that she participated in the Armor of God Bible study this fall. I will begin by creating a need in her to reread the chapter entitled The Shoes of Peace, especially the following passage:

          ‘Of all the things the enemy seeks to steal, kill, and destroy in your life, peace is almost always at or near the top of his list. He intentionally stirs up discord, division, disruption, and disturbance, both within you and around you….He wants you uneasy, unbalanced, filled with anxiety, worry, and turmoil. Lacking peace.’

This should give her insight. Then I will remind her that the same Bible study taught her that ‘thankfulness activates peace’. As she remembers to be thankful for her garden (no matter what condition it's in) she will become peaceful about sharing it on the tour. Also thankfulness and peace will establish a barrier to the enemy.

Then, since it’s always good to have scripture to wield in the war against the enemy, I’ll have her stumble across Philippians 4: 6-7 again…

          Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Finally, I am going to throw a few important events into SQ’s life this spring that will keep this little garden tour in perspective – the birth of their first grandchild, a niece’s play production, and a college graduation. Being out of town for these events will help her realize that obsessing over her garden is futile, and force her into a more relaxed, peaceful attitude.”

“Well done, Peace!  OK, that’s enough for today. Peace be with you…”

“and also with you!”

;-)

The Garden Tour: Part 1

Back in January.....

Somewhere in Hell....

"Settle down everyone. I've called your group together to give you some very exciting news about your patient, Shelli Quayhagen. She has agreed to put her garden on the Master Gardener tour in the spring. This is a great opportunity for us! Through the months of preparation for this event, you should be able to prey on all of her weaknesses - pride, control, greed, perfectionism, obsession, and anxiety." 

"Settle down! Settle down! I know you are excited and I agree that this is going to be as easy as shooting ducks in a barrel, but there is a lot of work to be done and it must be done very slyly to produce lasting results. Now I want each of you to take one of her vices and brainstorm ideas that can be implemented as soon as possible. Remember, the devil is in the details! We will meet again tomorrow at this same time."  

Somewhere in Heaven....

"Settle down everyone. I've called your group together to give you some bad news about your patient, Shelli Quayhagen. She has agreed to put her garden on the Master Gardener tour in the spring."

"Calm down! Don't panic!! We all know that our opponents on the other side are going to take full advantage of this situation. They will prey on each one of her weaknesses, and God knows she has many, but with preparation, wisdom, and God's grace, we can handle this. And let's not forget that every disaster also contains the opportunity to help our patients mature. Now I want each of you to take one of her vices and brainstorm ideas that can counteract or preempt our opponents' attacks.  We will meet again tomorrow at this same time, and may God be with you."

Outdoor Garden Room

For our May meeting, the North Central Louisiana Master Gardeners were graciously invited to visit the beautiful garden room of Chris and Lisa Barr. Surrounded by its tranquil forest setting, the garden room serves as a multipurpose destination for the Barr family and friends.

When designer, John Taylor, met with the Barrs to discuss the objectives of the project, Chris and Lisa told John they wanted room for entertaining, an area for cooking, an outdoor fireplace, and easy access to a woodworking shop to be added in the future. It was also important to them that the project be done with a "southern look" in mind. Guided by those criteria, John set about creating "an oasis that felt like it was miles away from the rest of the world".

Project designer, John Taylor

The existing yard was covered with Asian jasmine which, many of you gardeners will understand, took a tractor to remove!

The existing slope was enhanced with a low, dry-stacked stone retaining wall. Tall, graceful Natchez crepe myrtles were added at the top of the slope to complete the canopy surrounding the sitting area.

Handsome steps of stained concrete lead down to the patio.

 Ken Smith with Ken's Creative Concrete installed the patio made of scored and stained concrete. The wide black border created a striking effect.

The entire area was surrounded by a variety of southern plants - azaleas, sweet olive, hydrangea. Aspidistra, aka the cast iron plant, cleverly backed the cast iron sugar kettle. Ferns seamlessly integrated the new addition into the surrounding wooded area.

Chris had a fire burning in the fireplace when we arrived. It was a welcome touch on an unusually cool May morning.

As a garden designer, John said, "I do the bones of the garden, but the owners need to add their thumbprint." The Barr's thumbprint is evident in the fireplace mantle made from an old cypress tree from Chris' parents' property, amaryllis from Lisa's grandmother's yard, and (Chris was sweet to point out) lots of plants from the Master Gardener's recent Spring Plant Sale. 

It was hard to leave that peaceful sanctuary, but what a treat it was to visit! 

Special thanks to the Barrs and John Taylor for sharing their project with us!!

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.

 ~Standing Bear