Squash Pests

July 24, 2014Leave a comment

My squash patch decided to have an abundance of pests. I find it rather fun. I love diagnosing problems in the garden, I spent a couple internships in college doing it and got hooked.

First–here’s a mini guide to diagnosing your own pests.

Consistently check your plants for damage, yellow leaves, insects or other problems. If caught early, problems are managed much better.
Look for the easy answer first. Find out what your plant needs and compare it to the care you are giving it. These are generally issues like a plant in the wrong spot, over or under watering, chemical spills, etc. Most problems are caused not by insects or diseases, but the care and environment the plants are in.
If you are in Utah, sign up for the Extension pest advisories. They keep you up-to-date on problems they are frequently seeing. Their site is also were I first go to start hunting for pests. It’s local, so I’m not finding problems that don’t actually exist in my area. Pests and diseases and typically regional. If you live in another state, look for the equivalent in your area. If you start Google-ing away, sometimes it can lead you down a path that has no basis in the climate and situation your are facing.
Use the Extension office: but use caution. Unless you are talking to an agent or sending in a sample for diagnostics by an actual professional, calling the Extension can often mean talking to an intern or master gardener. They generally do a good job, but they are just normal people and their depth of knowledge can vary greatly. I’ve given less than great advice answering phone calls as the Extension when I was first starting out.
Always diagnose the problem before spraying with insecticides or other drastic action. I’ll never forget the man who brought in a some dead insects off a tree. He had sprayed before he even knew what they were, and it turns out they were ladybug larvae.

Okay, so out in my garden, I was hunting for squash bug eggs, because I do subscribe to the pest advisories and they said to start looking. I found a whole bunch, and removed them with tape. My treatment for the squash bugs is to continue to monitor for adults and eggs and remove them when I find them. I only have a small squash patch, so it shouldn’t be hard.

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While I was removing the eggs, I noticed that my leaves were yellowing. This is common for watering problems, or under-fertilization, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t the problem. Closer inspection led me to believe that I had spider mites. My best options for control are insecticidal soap or neem oil. I don’t have either on hand though, so I’m going with the third option–a hard stream of water to knock off as many as I can, and continuing to take good care of the plant.
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My last squash plant problem was the sudden death of a zucchini plant. Over two days it wilted and died. I don’t know what caused it. There weren’t any signs of insect damage from squash bugs or vine borers, cultural control was the same as the surrounding plants, and I didn’t see any signs of a root rot. I’ve seen this happen before. On this page it lists sudden wilt with an unknown pathogen as a widespread problem. So I have no idea what happened to the zucchini plant, I just know that sometimes squash plants up and die for no apparent reason. It’s okay because I have three other zucchini plants.

Swings

July 23, 2014Leave a comment

In my city, we don’t have swings at the parks. I’m not sure why, but it did mean I wanted to put swings in my garden.

I thought of a traditional swing set. Unoriginal, and often not functional. Metal swing sets tip if not anchored, and I’ve seen lots of wood ones collapse on themselves after a few years. They aren’t very cheap either.

On our property is a very large Douglas Fir. I thought it would be a wonderful place to hang a couple of swings. Later on, I saw this post, and we copied the construction of the swings. One swing is a traditional rope swing, the other we attached our existing baby swing.

The whole project took one evening, a large borrowed ladder, and cost about $50. The kids love the swings. Because they are hung on high branches, they swing high and far.

The only downside so far is the tree is rather sappy. It can get shoes and shorts pretty dirty.

Swim Lessons and T-Ball

July 23, 2014Leave a comment

This is our first year of entering the world of city recreation. I signed PB up for t-ball, and then later for swim lessons. C and I took the mommy and me class as well. T-ball was fun. PB was often found sitting down and digging in the dirt. C liked the dirt as well, they were always fifthly after a game. PB loved to get the ball, and had a tendency to get upset if someone else always got it. He didn’t quite get the idea of teamwork. Sometimes it was hot, boring, and a little long. But sometimes PB did a great job of chasing balls and swinging too.

Swimming lessons was well worth it. PB went from having no desire to go under water at all, and freaking out if he did, to voluntarily dunking himself. He wouldn’t go down the big slide, sometimes even with a parent, but now he goes down by himself again and again. Mommy and me was actually pretty good. Curtis squealed in enjoyment most all of every class. He loved everything, except getting dunked but he’d tolerate that.

Something Made Sense

July 20, 2014Leave a comment

Yesterday I had the awesome expereince of going with all my siblings to the Temple. While there, I was thinking about the work we were doing and why we were doing it. To tell you the truth, proxy work hasn’t made a lot of sense to me–but I had come across this quote early and was pondering it.

The turning of the hearts of fathers to children and of children to fathers, is the power of salvation for the dead, by means of the vicarious work which the children may perform for their fathers, and is in every sense reasonable and consistent. I have heard it said many times by those who oppose this work that it is impossible for one person to stand vicariously for another. Those who express themselves in this way overlook the fact that the entire work of salvation is a vicarious work, Jesus Christ standing as the propitiator, redeeming us from death, for which we were not responsible, and also redeeming us from the responsibility of our own sins, on condition of our repentance and acceptance of the gospel. He has done this on a grand infinite scale and by the same principle he has delegated authority to the members of his Church to act for the dead who are helpless to perform the saving ordinances for themselves (From Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith pg 222, available here).

While pondering I realized that I was able to have the experience of performing the temple work for someone that is dead, and they are then able to share in that experience. Even if they didn’t have the opportunity in this life to get baptized, to be sealed in the temple, or other work, I could have the experience over and over, and they can then share in mine. I felt blessed and privileged to perform the work.

It made me think of the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12

12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

Each of us has a unique experience, and somehow we can all share in each other’s experience. Only one man was ever perfect, only one man ever needed to be. Because we can now share in Christ’s perfection. The work of God is not just the salvation of one man, but it is the salvation of the entire mankind.

I even thought that it made sense that only a small portion of people get to know of the true gospel in this life. There are many ways of evil, but only one way of righteousness.

Matthew 7: 3 ¶Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

But the wonderful blessing is that all of us can still choose our own path and where we want to end up, no matter our trials and circumstances.

The Fate of Our Rooster

July 17, 20144 Comments

A while ago, I posted about how we had an unexpected rooster. For a while I really liked him–he was friendly, and I liked the sound of his crow. But he kept up his cook-a-doodle-do at 5:30 am for too long. Normally I”m not opposed to waking up this early–but not so much when I’m pregnant. I wanted to sleep in occasionally. Please. The horrible thing about a rooster for an alarm clock is he doesn’t have a snooze feature. Its just lots of crowing until you get up and let him out, and then he still goes at it.

My desire to sleep in won over any small desire to keep the rooster, and one night my brother in law ripped his head off. I did most of the plucking, butchering and cleaning (badly I might add–it was my first time and I had no clue what I was doing). After resting in the refrigerator for a day and half we ate him for dinner. It was pretty good too.

Our dinner of homemade bread, homemade strawberry jam, and homegrown chicken.

My toddler liked the rooster a lot. He would copy the crowing sound when he heard it and say, “Mommy, rooooster.” I wondered if we should tell the children exactly what we were doing, and we went ahead and did. They didn’t seen the actual killing of the chicken, but did see me plucking and butchering him, and knew exactly where the chicken came from when we had it for dinner. They weren’t too bothered by it either. When asked about the rooster now, my toddler will say, “Rooster died,” not sadly but just as something that happened.

I enjoyed the experience of raising and butchering my own meat. But it isn’t an experience I’m going to continue to pursue anytime soon. First of all, it wasn’t cost efficient. The chick cost $2 to begin with and then 3 months of care and feed, plus an hour to butcher and clean. He was probably a three to four pound chicken. Compared to grocery store prices–not a great deal. (Meat birds are a lot bigger in less time, and I’m not factoring in the price of a free range local chicken vs. the factory raised birds in the store, so there is a lot more to think about in the process. But a straight up economical analysis of my bird doesn’t come out that well.) I didn’t particularly enjoy the butchering process. It’s not something I want to repeat in order to get meat every time. Maybe if I actually learned better how to do it, I would be more willing. We also have enough projects and improvements in the yard that raising chickens for meat isn’t a priority. But I’m glad to have had the experience–and also glad that most of my chickens are hens that are now laying eggs, a much easier source of protein to deal with.

Harrisville Park

July 16, 20141 Comment

We found a new park, and it just might be our favorite. It’s twenty minutes south of us in Harrisville. I first found out about it when I drove by and saw disk golf stands. My husband and I, and sometimes our children, like to go disk golfing, so we are always keen to try out new courses. (By the way disc golfing is a wonderful hobby. The whole family can enjoy it, it is very inexpensive with startup costs of a $7 disk and you really only need one, and doesn’t take a whole lot of time. And you can do it anywhere, coursers are located across the country, which makes for some fun adventures on trips.) When I was looking up the course, I found out that not only did the park have a new disk golf course but it had a splash pad as well. Double win.

So last Saturday we spent the day in the park, throwing disks on a pretty good course, playing on the playground, and finishing up with the splash pad. This time the kids actually got soaked (last time we went to a splash pad they didn’t even get wet). It helps that Daddy decided to get his swimsuit on and play with them.

Roles of Men and Women

July 13, 2014Leave a comment

There has been a lot of talk about the equality of man and women. Empowered women want the same privileges, responsibilities, and roles as men. I have never felt a need or desire to join any movement of these feminist women, for I have never in my life felt like I was less than man.

It is good for women to get paid the same for men for doing the same job. It is good to not be discriminated against because of gender. But I do not desire or seek the responsibilities of men. I don’t want to sign up for the draft, I don’t want the priesthood, I don’t want to have to make a living for my family.

I am a stay at home. And it is not a degraded role I am stuck in. It is career and a calling I choose. I can grow children inside of me, I can feed my babies, and I can care and nurture for them in so many ways. What higher calling is there of being a mother? And no man can grow a child, or nurse. It is a privilege only for women.

So I am not concerned that men are stronger, more adapt at physical labor. I am not concerned that men hold the priesthood and not women. I am not concerned that there are more men in the workplace and in leadership roles.

Because I know I have been given a beautiful life, that is as important if not more so, than any of that. I have the opportunity to raise and shape the next generation. I have never felt like I was unequal to men, many times I have felt more valued.

If women demand the same roles as man, where does that leave men? Already education rates are falling in men. We should encourage them to step up and work to become the providers and leaders of our families, communities and countries. We need them in the more visibility leadership positions, in positions of strength.

So that I as a women can work in a hardly visible, but much more important supporting role. So I can shape my growing boys, so I can create a great Home that all people come back to and need.

I think I can understand that feeling about a housewife’s work being like that of Sisyphus (who was the stone rolling gentleman). But it is surely in reality the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, miners, cars, government etc exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? As Dr. Johnson said, “To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavour”. (1st to be happy to prepare for being happy in our own real home hereafter: 2nd in the meantime to be happy in our houses.) We wage war in order to have peace, we work in order to have leisure, we produce food in order to eat it. So your job is the one for which all others exist…C.S. Lewis (pg 447-Letter of CS Lewis 1988 ed.

When our lives are over, and if I spent all my time simply giving birth to raising my boys, and serving people quietly as a women, will my influence be less than a man’s? I think it will be greater. Anyone can be a CEO of a major company, but only I can bare and raise my children.

Garden Update and the Chicken Run

July 10, 20143 Comments

It’s been hot. I’ve been spending most of my time gardening just trying to keep everything irrigated. Previously, I’ve been hand watering with watering cans during the twice-weekly irrigation turn. I’m discovering this isn’t enough for the plants right now, so I’ve taken advantage of the soaker hoses already in place.

I’m glad my garden isn’t that big right now, that I’m only focusing on a few beds. If I was trying to worry about everything on my overgrown lot, I would get burned out pretty quickly. I’ve been working on an overall landscape plan lately, and it is getting me excited to extend the garden…but I’m not in a hurry to do so.

July marked the start of summer harvest. I haven’t been getting anything out of the garden for a few weeks (unless you count parsley), and just this last week I’ve got my first zucchini, tomato, and pepper. I’m excited to start cooking with more vegetables–our vegetable intake always goes up in the summer and fall.

The chickens also started laying eggs. I ate the first small egg for breakfast this morning. We have been experimenting with their run lately. We want the run to be movable and also roomy. Their current run is a length of chicken fencing with a double strand electric fence on top to prevent them from flying over. It’s not perfect, but works pretty well.

We tried just using an electric fence to give them some more room, but the chickens were not deterred. Then they free ranged for a while. I like having the chickens around the yard. My boys liked to chase them around and just watch them. Only problem is every time they free range I find something in my garden chewed on. A while ago it was the eggplant, and this time it was my fennel. I also want to focus their efforts on a section of the weed patch in the backyard, so eventually I don’t actually have a weed patch back there. (Chickens are excellent cultivators and weeders.) We’ll stick with the current run for now, but I think in the future when the teenage chickens are ready to join them and they need more room, I’ll go with electric net fencing.

Enjoy some pictures from around the garden…more project info on some of the things pictured will be coming.

Fireworks

July 9, 2014Leave a comment

Unlike most of my life when I don’t use my camera, I remembered that I had a firework setting on the fourth and actually used it. It’s pretty fun to take photos of fireworks because it is very easy to get a good picture.

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We had a family reunion for my Dad’s parents on the fourth. It was a lot of fun with swimming, food, cousins I haven’t seen in years, and the great firework display. The next day we went to Seven Peaks and did even more swimming. It doesn’t get old when it is over 90 outside.

Parkstrip Bed

July 1, 2014Leave a comment

This park strip bed is mostly on my neighbor’s yard. My neighbors are getting old, and most of their landscape is taken care of by a variety of relatives and professionals. One such person tilled up the bed, and I knew I had to take immediate action. I went out and talked to them and volunteered to take over the bed, explaining some of what I had envisioned. It was readily agreed to, and I promptly mulched it in wood chips. I then took out my design hat and and brainstormed several directions the bed could take.

I took a trip to the garden center and ended up with a currently simple, but effective design. There are three grasses Calamagrostis ‘Avalanche'(Variegated Feather Reed Grass), Deschampsia ‘Schottland'(Scottish Tufted Hair Grass), and Helictotrichon ‘Sapphaire’ (Blue Oats), and a ground cover Oenothera “Shimmer” (Evening Primrose). I want to plant more in the bed, but decided I would start with a basic foundation and add more later after I see how these plants did. (It’s cheaper that way too.)

The garden is super easy to maintain–I hand water it twice a week right now, and it will need even less water later on. The only other task is weeding, which I do once a week with a winged weeder. The weeds were coming up pretty good because of all the tilling at first, but now its hardly any work at all. (I wouldn’t have tilled the bed first if I was in charge–I would have just done a light hoeing to get rid of the weeds.)

I like the bed mostly because it is the only part of my garden that isn’t a tree, something I don’t want, or an annual. Right now it’s a bit underdeveloped, but it’ll just keeping getting better as the plants grow in.