<![CDATA[Coady's Cabana - Jane's Blog - Life at the Cabana]]>Thu, 24 May 2012 18:02:13 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Heritage Toms]]>Thu, 24 May 2012 10:42:13 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2012/05/heritage-toms.htmlStopped at Berryman Heirloom Gardens (http://berrymansheirloomgardens.wordpress.com/contact-information/)
 just outside Greenwood on our way to Nelson last Sunday. When they said they were up high, they meant it. Winding road, takes you up to 3,200 feet. Not paved but well graded. Jeff gave us an in depth tour of the greenhouse, and of course we bought!! I had to have a Fish Pepper. It is a Nineteenth Century African American heirloom. Two-foot tall plants have beautiful variegated foliage; 3" long fruits are striped and colourful, with many differing patterns and colours. These medium hot peppers were traditionally used in oyster and crab houses around Chesapeake Bay.   
We also bought a couple of Heritage tomatoes - Yellow Taxi - a full size bright yellow tomato, and Mademoiselle de Mexique which I think will be tiny romas!

]]><![CDATA[Garden Club and more]]>Fri, 18 May 2012 20:51:09 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2012/05/garden-club-and-more.htmlWhat an inspiring talk by Annemarie and Jeff from Berryman Farms in Greenwood last night at Garden Club. Annemarie has so much knowledge, she has been growing heritage veg for 35 years. Only bought one tomato, an indeterminate Roma type - Amish Paste. Will definitely have to stop by their farm next time we head to Nelson.
Planted our seeded plants out today - eggplants, tomatoes, peppers and celery. I am really hoping that one of the eggplants will be an Indian one. They got a bit mixed up in the seed trays! Still have to prick the leeks out and do second seedings of carrots, radish, beets. 
Tried the first Icicle Radish yesterday - excellent, nice and sharp, clean bite with good spice.
I think I can start to seed part of the cutting garden, since we almost have a meeting of the minds as to how that area of the garden should proceed! I would still like to work in a dry stream bed look, but my opinion isn't counting!!

]]><![CDATA[Scents of Spring]]>Tue, 15 May 2012 12:16:11 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2012/05/scents-of-spring.htmlAll the bulb planting last Fall is paying off! Gorgeous daffodils and narcissi, and many of them are quite scented. And tulips - finally glorious tulips. It has paid off to have the garden fenced against the deer. I am even getting old tulips I thought had disappeared for ever returning this year.
The lilacs are out too - double white and purple. Evening times are heaven scent!! Spring has to be the most scented time of year. I love it.
Went out for a lovely ride first thing this morning - I think Kharimha enjoyed it too. She certainly seemed to enjoy her bath when she got home. Nice to be rid of the last winter hair and all the winter dust and mud! She did an awesome job mowing dandelions as we wondered around the garden to let her dry off.
We now have a few squash plants in the ground, and are anxiously waiting for the seeded squash to appear.]]><![CDATA[Post Title.]]>Fri, 11 May 2012 08:30:37 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2012/05/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit2.htmlPicture
No matter how good the intentions, I remain in awe of those who blog on a daily basis! 
Last Fall I invested heavily in 4 fancy young chickens (pullets), that should have come into lay in October. They didn't. I thought perhaps they were hiding their eggs. They were very beautiful, particularly Lady Jane (Grey), the Lavender Orpington. They played more together, having lots of mock fights, which I had never seen other chickens do. While we were in Indian, those looking after the house and animals finally mentioned that the "Show Girls" as we had nicknamed them, were starting to crow, and showing too much interest in our other hens! 
Something had to be done! Three "Show Boys" were dispatched to new homes, and Earl Grey now presides over the hen coop!
]]><![CDATA[Finally starting 2012]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:47:10 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2012/04/finally-starting-2012.htmlHere we go. It is now mid-April and I have added nothing so far this year. We arrived back form 2+ months in India on March 8, so it has been a super busy time in the garden and house since then.
So what have we done!
We have spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber growing in our upstairs greenhouse.  Banana plants are in the new 'green room' growing like crazy, at least 10' tall now. Elephant Ears (Taro) are doing the same. They are both being prepared to go outside in mid-May.
Last year we over-produced on potatoes - about 400lbs of them that have been enjoyed by friends over the winter! This year I think our over production will be onions! Red, white, Spanish and yellow were planted. Then 200 more yellow onion sets arrived in the mail! Garlic is growing strongly, but unfortunately the tags faded in the winter weather so I don't know which is which variety. Disappointing.
The lower vegetable garden has been seeded with parsnips, 4 kinds of beets, two kinds of carrots, lettuce and spinach. There are broccoli, spinach, cauliflower and savoy cabbage plants too.
Have to go fee the chickens.... and thereby hangs another tale for telling another day!]]><![CDATA[Post Title.]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:46:26 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2012/04/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit1.html<![CDATA[Belated again!]]>Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:08:13 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2011/08/belated-again.htmlA self-evident truth I have discovered. The more there is to write about the less time there is to write.  Picture
It has been a sad time in some ways since my last post. A number of the hens and George became infested with a feather mite. These horrible things eat the feathers, and the other chickens peck at the mites, and before you know it there is blood and ...... It is not a good thing. The only way to deal with it is to humanely and quickly cull the flock.
We now have 2 of the old black hens left. They are sleeping right outside my office door as I sit here and type!
The 5 'chicklets' are off running around somewhere else. The two groups of hens seem to be integrating well, but we can't put them all togather until the chicklets are old enough to eat layer pellets. They are still only 10 weeks old, so it will be another 8 weeks. As a result egg production is way down!! Only one or occasionally two a day.
Having 7 chickens roaming around the gardens can be a little much. But mainly for the nuisance they can be inside, rather than the damage they do outside!  They love sneaking in the house and exploring. The bathroom counter was a big hit!!
Picture
The 'upstairs roof greenhouse' is really churning out the produce now! We seem to have just about come to the end of the cucumber crop, just as the peppers and tomatoes are hitting stride. We have enjoyed our first egg plant too.
In the outside garden the garlic will be pulled later this week, onions will be ready in a couple of weeks and we have been eating potatoes for a month or more. Pole beans are flowering but not producing yet. Lots of carrots and beets too. They have been great grilled on the BBQ.
]]><![CDATA[Laundry]]>Sat, 02 Jul 2011 21:22:41 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2011/07/laundry.htmlWhat a fabulous drying day! Washed all the towels from the Cabana, and had them bone dry in less than 35 minutes. The smell so fresh, nice and crisp on your skin, a a lovely natural, gentle exfoliation!
Whilst looking at the towels on the line, I realised that the Cabana goes through a lot of 'sets'of towels. This fact I realised some time ago, so I resorted to buying white towels. As soon as one part of a set has a stain,  like inadvertent lipstick or make-up, I have always assumed the whole set to be out of commission as one can't put out odd towels.
The Eureka moment was that all those odd towels are still excellent towels and the Cabana should be having harlequin sets of towels. Hope our guests agree, as this will be a new policy forthwith!! We can't be wasting towels like this! Definitely not a sensible ecologic choice. Besides, Matt thinks it is a real bonus, now the guys will know which is their towel! ]]><![CDATA[Woofer Sandra]]>Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:40:43 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2011/06/woofer-sandra.htmlWe have a new woofer, Sandra, who is helping landscape our entrance from the street. Sandra is from Stuttgart in Germany, and is a delight to have around the house.
This gives me time to do some much needed weeding in the vegetable garden!
Last night we hosted 11 members of the Garden Club to a "Lavender Social" and garden tour. I have to say this is the best the garden has ever looked.
We have been concentrating on putting in vines along the fence line too. It is lovely to have a new winery almost next door, but we need to redevelop our privacy screening.
There are lots of lettuce, spinach and herb leaves now to pick for really tasty fresh green salads
Noticed our first few beans breaking through the ground tonight, both bush and pole beans..... finally! ]]><![CDATA[Chickens]]>Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:54:58 -0800http://www.mjcoady.com/1/post/2011/06/chickens.html
About 3 weeks ago we took delivery of 30 day-old Red Rock Cross chicks from Rochester Hatchery. For just over 2 weeks, they lived in our TV room! At the end of that time they had started to peek out of the box, and Matthew was afraid they would start demanding the remote control, so they moved out to the garden shed. They grow so fast. We now have 5 chicks left. The other 25 have been sold to new homes, and as a result we have covered the costs of our little venture!
These are definitely layers. We have thought about breeding meat birds, but the killing and eviscerating stops me cold! It is very difficult to even get a service to come in and do the work, since regulations tightened up a few years ago. It is becoming more and more difficult to be self-sustaining, from the meat perspective. ]]>