The 2010 Potato Experiment and Thanksgiving Preparations

Today started out warm, if a bit wet, but that rapidly changed to cold and windy just after noon.
Apparently we are about to hit a week of frigid weather so I'm glad I had gotten around to digging my second crop potatoes from my tree trunk experiment yesterday. I have a hollowed out section of tree trunk that I have been using as a planter. Doesn't look like much, but it's whats in the soil that counts! It drys out rather early in the season since it acts like a raised bed, so very early March this past spring I put in a few potato eyes and harvested a super early crop of tubers. So then it's mid-summer and I have an empty planter and just happened to have a few leftover well sprouted eyes so I amended the soil with a load of organic matter and planted them.
The result is a nice little harvest of fall potatoes, much better results then expected.

There were a large number of nodes along the roots, so I am sure had there been a longer growing season the results would have been even better.

I added a bunch of compost and rabbit litter to the already rich soil and my plans are to plant again just as soon as the soil in the trunk is thawed next spring and then plan a second crop of fingerling's. I think I can plant them a bit more thickly as well, to optimize my space. I'm also going to utilized the three or four additional trunk sections I have since this worked out so well. See, even if you have only a container garden, you could get a double harvest of potatoes from a very small space.Thanksgiving is just a few days off, the turkey is thawing and I purchased the cranberries and oranges for the sauce today, so everything is good to go. I plan on brining the bird and roasting it on top of the wood stove. I really liked the results from the brine last year and hope things go as well again. I have never roasted a bird on the stove so I am keeping fingers crossed. I'm planning just a simple menu.

11 pound brined bird
Deviled eggs
Green bean casserole
Squash
Rolls
Garlic mashed potatoes
Gravy
Dressing
Cranberry-orange sauce
Pecan pie

Hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend, good luck to the Friday shoppers, you are much braver than I!

A gratuitous photo of my pre-schooler!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

The Boogie Monster is 3 years old!

Yup! It's been three whole years since he made his early appearance on November 4th, 2007 at 9:35 PM. Could I be anymore behind in my posts? We went to McDonalds in town since they have an indoor play place. Boogie got his very first happy meal.

He was able to climb around for a couple of hours with some other kids who were also celebrating birthdays. At one point the older boys were playing a war game and when one of them was laying on the ground after being 'shot', my little birthday boy, not getting the concept, knelt down and asked him "You all right" You all right?" What a sweet heart, he makes me so proud!

My attempt at a train cake failed miserably. ( If anyone knows how to get the cake to actually come out of a dimensional pan in one piece, please pass that info along!) I picked up a store cake and Boogie helped me write Happy Birthday and he was able to blow out all three candles by himself!

Griffin
George

After cake he opened his token gift, a pair of Thomas the Tank Engine pjs, since his real gift was 2 miniature horses we got for him a week earlier.

This week we met up with his Aunt at the same said McDonalds for lunch and more cool birthday gifts.My little rock star!
Now on to find out if three really is worse then the terrible twos!

Orchards, Apples and Pumpkins, fall adventures with Boogie.

We made a number of trips to local orchards and farms this fall.

First we went on a field trip to Kickapoo Orchards in Gays Mills, then we had another

play group outing to Vesperman Farms corn maze and finally a visit to Shihata Orchards in Eastman for their Apple Fest.

Boogie always enjoys a good sandbox, or in this case a good corn kernel box.

He's also VERY fond of apples and, given how many he eats, should keep the Doctor at bay for quite some time.

Given all the animals we have at home, it never ceases to amaze me that he can't stay away from them any where we go.

Halloween is past, it's already time to start looking forward to the holiday season.

I found a nice large roaster at an auction a few weeks ago and should be able to cook a whole turkey on the wood stove. I plan to do a brine again this year, I cannot say how delicious and juicy the breast I cooked last year was after a two day brine bath.

With daylight saving kicking in this weekend, I'll have plenty of time for knitting in the evening. There is still time to order custom hats/scarves for holiday gifts, or buy a pre-made one from my Hyena Cart shop.

Here's hoping the good weather I've been blessed with lately hangs around for a very long time!