Thursday, May 15, 2008

On the lighter side plus a FAB picture!




Gorgeous isn't it? My peonies this year are (or were) awesome. Sorry I didn't post more pictures. They're on the downhill now but the colors were outstanding! And along with my Constance Spry rose bush---they just scented up the whole side of the garden. Imagine what they will be like in a few more years! Wow!



Anyway---thank you for all the wonderful comments on my DNA posts---I so appreciate it.
Today though, we are back to blogging about food. One of my favorite subjects.

I ordered some wild plum trees a week or so ago to put along the side of our property and form a shrubby hedge area. They came yesterday and I want to highly recommend the place I bought them from: OIKOS purveyors of "native" and uncommon fruits *don't forget to notice that under the green bar/link section is a "subcategory" section----I missed it the first few times through and thought they didn't carry very much at first*.
They didn't say why but they up graded my size of trees on 3 of the 4 varieties I purchased. No extra shipping or anything did they charge and the trees---though in paper tubes---look great.The prices are excellent though most are seed grown which is why they are cheaper. If you have access to seeds of some of these you could easily start your own plum hedge however they no longer grow around here that we have seen so...purchasing was the only way to go for us. Yes, we could have chosen a grafted/domesticated plum but we needed a hedge to hide one side of the ram/chicken pen and we liked the idea of using something most people won't know is usable :-) So since today is cool, cloudy and rainy---perfect for planting trees---I will go outside and get started soon planting.
I would have liked to have a few more of their items, but they were either sold out or I just wasn't quite ready to purchase yet---but after this experience I will go back later this season probably.
I know some of you are wondering why I keep planting all these permanent items.I had told some of you earlier this year that we may sell our home ---but things have changed so we will be staying here. This is really good news for us since moving would have created a few problems difficult to solve easily---but some good things too which was why we considered it. However the choice is out of our hands now (in a very good way though) and so planting goes on. We are still downsizing some of our animals because of a few personal things we would like to do or accomplish now that our children are getting older. Unfortunately without farm sitters animals make some of our dreams difficult to do (Like a month long bike trip through Europe???? A long long long time dream!)

Anyway---off the rambling topic and back to food. Eventually I would like to add some paw paws and a few more persimmons to our property (we lost a few adult trees to storms). Oikos site has those including apricots which I would like to add and some more figs. Anything that can extend the season of food production here.
While doing a quick search for eventual size of my wild plums (I bought without thought of size or space!) I stumbled on a site called the natural food hub. Most of the external links are dead now but it had some interesting little tidbits on food so I thought I would share it: The Natural Food Hub.



Oh yes---SUPER SUPER SUPER congratulations to my brother and sister in law. I am going to be an AUNT again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah! (thinking girl here brother in law!!) Oh yes---and on their new home too! We didn't get to talk to you brother in law but we wanted you to know how glad we are for you! However---we notice we don't have an address yet---maybe you don't want us to know where you live now!!?? :-D

4 comments:

Robbyn said...

Congratulations, Aunt!

The peonies are beautiful, and I'm so happy for you about the wild plums. We had them growing up, and besides the terrific plum jelly, the scent of the tree in flower and in fruit is one of my BEST memories... :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link to your tree supplier. We have also been planning a fruit tree expansion, specifically pear and plum, and I'd never thought about doing a hedge. Great idea.

My mom's peonies are having their best year ever, too. Wonder why that is? Totally gorgeous and tall.

Dancingfarmer said...

Robbyn:
Thanks so much for the congrats! I am very excited!
My husband had wild plums growing up too and has very fond memories of them. I on the other hand, have never had one---go figure :-)

MrsBurns:
You are welcome---as I said I highly recommend them and they had many wild plum varieties to choose from.
I don't know why my peonies are doing so well this year (my neighbors older bush had over 100 buds!) but I am thankful--especially after last year :-)

Unknown said...

Got a post ... just for you! Tried to explain the coop construction. We might have to build a 2nd one. We got 9 chicks, thinking that with our luck we would get mostly roosters.... but only one rooster. I really think that it would be too small for 8 laying hens.... but enough time to check it out later! Thanks for stopping by! I really enjoy all the fabulous enlightenment that you provide. I miss my mom's peonies! I will be soooo glad to have my "own" place to be able to more permanant homesteading! Thanks again!
Christina
Coop Construction