Category: da rez blog

i am going to pick strawberries today. it is at one of those u pick farms. we bought the ones pictured at curbside pick up from another farm. they didn’t last long. the grand kids eat all the berries we put in front of them. these and the ones I grow taste so much better than the ones in grocery stores. they are naturally sweet.

we had to make an appointment with the u pick place. they practice social distancing. they dont want too many people gathering. I got one time slot. the rest of the time slots filled up in about 10 minutes. they always fill up fast. we have a u pick time at another place on sunday. that also filled up in no time. lotsa  people want fresh straw berries.

i will drive down in a little while. it will be about a 2 hour round trip drive. a good day trip. dont know how long I get to pick. I didn’t have the option to add mary. she has to watch the grand daughters anyway.

I will pick by myself. I am a good picker. I use to fill a grocery sack full of gooseberries in no time. not many people pick goose berries like they used to back in the day. gooseberry pie is my favorite. most are made with domesticated berries in these modern times.

we have 4 grow boxes full of strawberry plants. they are just starting to ripen. the grand kids keep them clean. they pick the berries as soon as the berries are ripe. we don’t get to save any. if they aren’t here I will pick the berries. I grow them because I like to eat them.

i am going today and we both go sunday to pick.  we want plenty to put away. we like berries. I bought some bare root, one year old blue berry bushes this spring. I have four of them. I have them in pots for now. I will transplant them when their root system is developed. we wont get any blueberries from them this year. we will have them from now on.

i finished building another work bench in my carport. now I have 3 of them that are 2 feet by 8 feet. the counter top is 3 feet off the floor. they give me lotsa room to store things on the shelf below the counter. my carport looks more orderly now. i wont be seen on the hoarders show any time soon.

I haven’t picked nenwezhek yet. I seen the ones I pick are about a foot tall now. that is about the right height for me. I like them when they are young. they taste more tender than older plants. after this rain they will have a growth spurt.  I will get enough to last us. mary will can them.

i gotta feed my animals before I go pick berries.

gotta work when the time demands it. cant wait until it is convenient. I tilled my corn field because of the predicted rain.  it might be muddy all week now. tilling weeded the garden and formed up the hills in the rows of corn. I also planted my mattwaoshe and rabbit beans in the corn rows. I added some sunflowers in the rows too.

after tilling, I made a dozen hills for my vine crops. I planted 4 hills each of watermelon, cantaloupe and crooked neck squash. I will add crooked neck squash in my corn too.

i have a chair in the shade of one of my oak trees. I take a break now and then while working. I had a small stool next to my chair to hold my phone and speaker. I got one of those Bluetooth speakers to blast my music while I am working.

i got done with my work and kicked back. it rained last night.  more rain is predicted most of this week. the seeds I planted should germinate. there are no weeds that will get taller. my corn will get taller though. my field garden is in good shape. I noted that my sema plants came up too.

i went out to feed the chickens and gather the eggs. it was sprinkling as I walked to the chicken house. I just walked in the rain. them old guys always said you don’t run from what we are asking for. we need rain for the gardens. I got a little damp but I didn’t care. I liked that smell of fresh air during the rain. we leave our doors open to breathe that air.

i am always more active during the spring. I have gardening and spring chores to do. i also start walking more. that is paying off. my Fitbit is keeping track of my steps. I am hitting 10 thousand steps a day quite often. not every day but most days. my weight is down. I weigh less than I have in a long time.

since it is wet I will work in the carport. I will build another 8 foot work bench. I have more nails now. I have lotsa room now that I have more storage space. I like building things and gardening. I can see what I have done. that gives me a feeling of accomplishment. I know it is done because of my labors.

i am thinking of buying some more hummingbird feeders. I have 3 of them. I like seeing the birds flying around. I hear them buzz by a lot while I am working. i have one feeder hanging by my kitchen window. we can see the birds feed when we are inside.

i have to run to town to buy more chicken feed and dog food. the feed store I go to isn’t ever crowded. I wore a mask and gloves the last time I was there. I will again. gotta be safe.

gotta go so I can work this afternoon.

we had to go to topeekie this morning. we aint got cabin fever but it was nice to get some road time, even if it was only a short drive. we had a list of things to get. we don’t run to town for just one thing.

we were out of bottled water for our water cooler. we use it for coffee and tea too. some say there is no difference between bottled and tap. they haven’t drank our tap water. it gives a funny taste to coffee. I love my coffee. I want to enjoy the taste of fresh ground Colombian Supremo coffee.

we have 5 gallon water jugs that we fill up at the water place. they aren’t busy most of the time we are there. we filled up 3 jugs. that should last us a few weeks. I wore a mask and gloves in there. only one person per car is allowed in. i like that kinda safety.

i built an eight foot work bench in our garage closet. I had to build it inside the closet. it woulda been tricky getting it inside if it was already built. I moved lotsa stuff in there already. it took a lot of clutter out of the garage.

i have some materials left over. I want to build another work bench in the car port. i needed some more nails.  I went to the lumber yard to get some. I wore a mask in there as well. people that don’t wear masks give a look to ones that do. i don’t care. I don’t think there is such a thing as being too safe. covid was spread by people who weren’t safe.

when i got home I worked in the garden. I filled 3 flower pots with potting soil mix. I added some more salvias for my humming birds. I also planted two pots with a bee pollinator mix of flowers. the flowers will draw bees to help pollinate. I will fill a few more flower pots with them. no such thing as too many bees.

i am soaking some mattwaoshe and rabbit bean seeds. I will plant them in my corn. i will also add some sunflowers in there. it is suppose to rain for the next few days. I wont be able to get in the garden once it is wet. i better get them planted today. that wont take long.

since my corn is coming up we decided to have some of our dried corn. we had some buffalo roast to put in it. mary put it on before we went to town. it was done when we got back. that soup was real good. four of the grand kids are here. they all wanted more corn soup. andrew has been helping us plant the corn the past few years.

while in town we went to a meat market. we wanted to cook out today.  we got hot dogs to go with burgers and shrimp. I also wanted jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese and wrapped with bacon. we toss them on the grill and they are good. we will also have watermelon, cantaloupe, potato salad, and corn on the cob.

we havent been to town all that much to spend our stimulus per cap. but we got serious. i mean sirius. we listen to music all the time especially when we travel. now we can drive anywhere and heard some righteous tunes. both cars have sirius radio on them. i listened to 60s music on the way to town and back.

gotta get busy before we eat.

nothing says new life to me like our indian corn coming up. i always remember an old lady telling me corn was our life. as long as we have it, we have life. i like seeing my indian corn when it appears in the spring. it makes me feel like my life goes on.

now i sit back and hope for the right amount of rain and sunshine. i am dependent on mother nature and our mishos for providing it.  they work together for our benefit. too much or not enough of rain and sunshine affects what kind of crop I get.

my vermiculture system was delivered yesterday.  now i am  a worm farmer. dont know if that is such a thing. I have to order worms now. I wanted to make sure I had the system first. I didn’t want to keep the worms without their own place. after the worms reproduce I will even have some for fishing. I haven’t gone yet.

the worm farm is smaller than I expected. but that’s alright. it is a convenient size. that will make it easier to move to my basement in the winter. i will leave it outside during the summer and fall. I will have to read on how I take care of this worm farm. i have no problem studying up on anything I don’t know about.

sometimes I think I watch the news too much. seems like there is a lot of bad things that happen in this world. good thing I get reminded that there is still lots of goodness in this world too.

a friend i met on the trail of death called me this past week. he was just checking up on me during this shut down. it made me feel good that he cared enough to ask how I was doing.

my cuz who is working on my mower called me. he said the part my mower needs is on back order. parts are hard to get nowadays. he offered to come to my place and mow and weed eat my yard. I told him he could add it to my bill. he said no, this wont cost me a thing. he and a helper of his came and mowed the yard. it really looks nice.

a friend I haven’t seen in a few years stopped by to visit. he too was just checking up on me. we had a good visit over a cup of coffee he brought as a present. I gave him some sema as a present. mary gave him some new golf balls. he was gonna send me cedar. I told him the cedar trees he gave me several years ago are about 7 feet tall. they will give me all the cedar I need.

on my birthday I got about a hundred happy birthday wishes on social media. even though I am staying home I got greetings from people I know. old guys don’t celebrate birthdays as much as younger folk but it was nice to hear from the many people I know.

these few things made me glad there are still lotsa good people in the world.

 

some people have to work at attracting birds to their yard. i am lucky. i planted over 30 trees here.  it took the last  35 years for them to get big. birds take refuge in them. i can hear birds singing all day, everyday. i like being outside where I can see and hear the birds. sometimes we leave the doors open for fresh air and to hear the birds singing.

i took this picture of a wood pecker that is around the yard. I also took this one of a humming bird. I have two different kinds of humming birds. I read that the red nectar isn’t any good for them. I changed to plain sugar and water in the new feeders I bought for them.  I have to feed them for the next few months. I am okay with that.

when i go to town I wear a mask and gloves.  it is a K U Jayhawk mask. gotta support my team. I have another mask that is kind of an Indian design. I got my masks from a lady making them for senior citizens. now people are selling them. in America nothing is free except aid for the rich.

i notice the nenwezhek is getting a little taller. I will pick some soon. I like to pick them when they are young and tender. I prefer the taste. I get my walking in when I pick nenwezhek. I like being out in nature. its so peaceful.

I checked on my Indian corn. some of it has broke ground. I always think of new life when I see that. the rest will come up soon after. I think we planted it kinda deep. that’s okay. birds will dig up the germinated seed once it breaks ground if planted shallow. then the plant dies. that don’t happen when we plant the seeds a little deeper.

I am hoping we get a good crop of corn this year. we had a few off years. we are lucky we have gotten enough for us to eat. I also take some to ceremonies to give thanks for what we have. I really value our corn. we made kakasuwabo out of the seed we had left over from planting. an old man said corn is sacred, you shouldn’t waste it.

I will plant my indian beans in the rows of corn when it gets a few inches tall. after that I will plant my crooked neck squash. I will also plant sun flowers in the corn. I got a big sunflower head full of seeds. it is the kind that grows real big. if I get enough sunflower seeds, I will salt them and roast them.

I did order the vermiculture system. a what? basically a worm farm for composting. worm castings have more nutrients than regular compost.  I garden all the time. I need to add organic matter to my grow beds every year. I will still have a regular compost pile to go with this system. I should get my worm composting system this week. then I have to order worms for it. and I gotta find a paper shredder that shreds card board for bedding.

I noticed deer tracks in my yard by the tilled garden spot. I cant believe they come this close to the house. well we do have a pond in the hayfield that they drink out of. we live in between the pond and the timber the deer come from. once I dropped a deer by my mail box. I thought that was too easy. I don’t hunt much anymore.

I have to tear out some sheetrock and replace it. it is in the storage closet in the garage. I will add a work bench in it. always busy.

my strawberries have berries on them. wont be long before they ripen. the plants have lotsa flowers on them. I don’t know if we will get to one of those strawberry picking places. they had one this morning but we couldn’t make it. my plants will have to do. probably wont get enough to freeze or can. the grand kids will eat most of these as they ripen.

my cabbages have big leaves on them. its the center head that I am after. nothing like home made coleslaw. I only have 7 cabbage plants. that wont be enough. I might buy some at farmers market to put away for soups and stews this winter.

i went to topeekie this morning with my son joe. he needed some sheet rock. so did i. I glommed onto a ride. I said while I am down there I might as well get some 2 by 4s and a few sheets of plywood. I wanna make some work benches and storage in that closet I cleaned out. it is in the garage. by creating storage space i can move things like canning jars  and large cooking pans into it. that will give me more work room in the car port.

i wore a mask and gloves while in the store. I am amazed that maybe half of the customers didn’t. the state of Kansas is gonna partial open tomorrow. I still think that is too soon. i will still stay home awhile longer. someone close to me that lives in another state has caught the virus. she stayed home and was cautious about going out. that goes to show that you never know.

that’s why I am try to be careful. some people don’t care. they are out and about but they still go around others that stay home. don’t know if they purposefully trying to take others with them if they catch it or not. they got a right to do what they want but they got no right to put others in danger of catching virus.

i thought my corn would be up. sometimes it is in only 7 days. it will be up soon. i will plant sun flowers in the corn. maybe even some melons and cantaloupe in with the corn. they are companion plants. if I have any bare spots I will reseed. it is nice to have some open areas in the corn field though when it is time to pick in august. it gives a little room to move.

i have a doctor appointment tomorrow. I was suppose to go awhile back but my appt got cancelled. I rescheduled for last Thursday and that was cancelled. so i am going tomorrow. I will have a new doctor from now on. I miss my old doctor. he took good care of me. hope I continue to get good care.

i did cleaning the past week. this week I will do some building. I have some sheet rock that needs replacing. then I will build my work bench/storage. I always have something to keep me busy.

had my first picking of radishes. normally I dont use salt.  but I added a dash of sea salt to a fresh radish and enjoyed the taste. I had them for breakfast twice now. these don’t have that hot or woody taste to them. the trick is to pick them early and not let them get that way.

I have them planted with carrots and peas. the radishes will be long gone by the time the carrots ripen. radishes help the peas. I have more radishes and peas in another grow box for a  later picking. most of the time I can plant a second crop in these boxes.

got a message from someone this morning. the guy said he lost his tomato plants to hail last night. that was in topeekie. he asked how my garden was. I said it missed us. we only got rain. my garden is doing good. I would hope so. I put a lot of work into it.

we had no trouble filling up the dumpster thing. we got rid of lotsa junk that we hadnt noticed we had. we lived in this house for the past 35 years. things accumulate. or break down. I tossed about 3 tents that were missing tent poles. kinda wished I coulda tossed a few of our worthless national leaders in there too.

we cleaned the basement, tool shed, porch and garage storage room. we spent all week cleaning. it was worth it. it kept us busy. cant be bored when you are doing something. I don’t feel trapped at home like some. I enjoy being home. we have plenty to keep  us busy.

i remember old Indians saying you gotta keep where you live clean. in the old days some would sweep their camp sites clean. one old man said if your house aint in order, your life aint right.

got a package of seeded out wild sage in the mail. it came from the Dakotas. I already planted some of the seeds. i grew some from plants a friend gave me years ago. I am about out of that. i use sage to smudge occasionally. same with my flat cedar. I like the smell of both.

I noticed a few nenwezhek plants coming up. they are still small yet. they will get to be picking size before too long. I will go pick some. gotta have some for the rest of the year.

back in my younger day I used to hunt bullfrogs. I liked the taste of bull frog legs. had to have them every spring. now I only eat them  in a place that serves Cajun food or sometimes in a Chinese restaurant. Indians aint the only ones that eat frog legs.

I haven’t hunted bull frogs in years. there weren’t any more frogs at the  old ponds where I used to hunt. I don’t think we hunted it out. we always left some. I see a few frogs in the creek below the bridge we walk over. they aren’t very big though. sure miss eating bull frog legs.

gotta go pick up the grand sons. time for their week end in the country.

been doing more spring cleaning. we got rid of lotsa things that wouldn’t be worth any thing to anyone but us. they had to go.  we got our moneys worth out of everything we had. at past flea markets mary sold things that were still good. we found more for future flea markets.

my tool shed is cleaned. my tools are hung up on the peg board hooks where I can see them. I can find about any tool I need to do chores. i made sure of that. I will be able to use my shed again.

today i have to clean out the storage room in the garage space. rez folk dont use garages to park their car, they use it to store things. that room caught all kinds of trash and junk. it will be gone now.  later I will build some floor to ceiling shelving in there. it will be usable storage space.

the dumpster thing will be hauled away tomorrow. we made good use of it. I am glad they have this service. we have been busy trying to fill it before they come get it.

my cousin ordered the part for my riding mower. I am glad it is fixable. I didn’t want to buy a new mower. this one is only 4 years old. my last mower last about 8 years or so. I put this one in my tool shed when not in use. I figure if the old one lasted that long outside, this one should last longer stored inside.

it was suppose to rain all week. it hasn’t. my corn should come up maybe this weekend. it usually takes about 7 to 10 days for it to break ground. after it gets a few inches tall I will plant indian beans.

i got a lot of happy birthday wishes on facebook. some said wish you many more.  at my age, there are more behind me than ahead of me. I will take all the years I get though. I want to see my grandkids grow.

i never was one to wear any jewelry. couldn’t wear rings because I used my hands a lot in working. I didn’t like wearing watches. felt to tied to time. now I am wearing a fit bit my daughter gave me. it took awhile to get used to. it makes me conscious of doing my step challenge and drinking water. it also keeps track of my sleep.

i have been logging 10 thousand steps a day. there are days when I don’t hit that many. some days I have way over that. as long as I keep walking I guess. thats what is important.

i sold 5 and a half dozen eggs in the past week or so. I sell them for $2 a dozen. i aint trying to profit, I use the money to buy chicken feed. the 14 hens I have are laying almost a dozen eggs a day. the breeds I have lay the big brown eggs. i get fresh eggs every dayout of the deal.

gotta get busy,

 

what do you get some one who who spent years going to garage sales, flea markets and auctions? one of these things. it is a dumpster provided  by the tribe as a service. we trash things we don’t need or want. we have this for a week then the tribe picks it up and takes it to the dump.

i’m no hoarder but I gotta get rid of stuff I accumulated over the years. some of the stuff is broken. like I bought a pump at a garage sale. I bought it to pump water from my rain barrels to my plants. the guy assured me it worked when I asked. it didn’t. it is sacrilegious to sell broke stuff at garage sales.

i had a bird bath made of concrete. I got it at the farmers market for a good price. that means cheap. as the old saying goes ‘you get what you pay for’. the concrete kept chipping off so i couldnt use it to provide water for my birds. it wasn’t worth a damn.  it too went into the dumpster.

some Indians like me gotta learn they have to get rid of stuff. i started to clean out my tool shed yesterday.  I need room to work. I have to finish cleaning it today. I park my riding mower in that shed too. I want it to last longer.

i started to mow yesterday. I was mowing and the mower stopped. I got off and it was making a kinda gurgling sound. gas was pumping out of where the air cleaner was. I called my cuz. he came after it to see if he can fix it.  that mower is only 4 years old. he says its hard to find parts. most companies want you to use them to fix things. but sears is out of business here.

once i get all my spring cleaning done I will have more room. maybe I will take my stimulus check to town and buy more treasures eh. that is if I don’t have to buy a new mower. then it will be like I didn’t even get a check. I am hoping it can get fixed.

yesterday we took the grand sons back to their mother. they stay home in Lawrence during the week to do school work. then they come to the country on weekends. on the way back we stopped to get a slab of bbq ribs. happy birthday to me.

i borrowed a chain saw from one of my nephews. he didn’t use it much because he bought bigger saws. this saw is just right for smaller chores like trimming off branches or cutting up fallen limbs. we need one so we made him an offer. he accepted. now I can trim more branches where I mow.

it is suppose to rain pretty much all week. that will be good for the corn we planted Saturday. I will do more cleaning. the dumpster goes back on Thursday. it will be full by then, I am sure.

gotta get busy.

today is my last day to be 67 years old. from tomorrow and on I will be able to look back at the times when  I was only 67.  last night 3 fires had a ribeye steak in their curb side service. we ordered that since there wont be any steak dinners tomorrow for my birthday. I couldn’t finish my steak so i had the rest with eggs for breakfast this morning.

today we planted our indian corn. my sons and grandson helped me. we got a routine down. I would drag a pointed hoe underneath a string line to dig a kinda straight line furrow. it was easy in freshly tilled soil.  the rain didn’t pack it down. some one would drop corn seeds into the furrow I made. then someone would rake soil over it to cover it. we took turns doing different jobs.

we planted the seeds deep enough that the birds cant uproot it when it sprouts. and we planted enough that if they do get some, we still have some too. we planted 14 rows that are roughly 87 feet long. we did it in a hour. we took one short break. I soaked the corn seeds overnight in rain water.

later I will plant indian beans when the corn gets to be a coupla inches high. after that I will plant squash. I will also plant some giant sun flowers and melons in the corn. they are also companion plants. I might soak the sun flower seeds with salt then bake them. if not, they will be bird seed. may be both.

once I have all them in the ground I will be done planting. then I sit back and hope I get enough rain when its needed and enough sun when it is needed. I talk about weather a lot because I am so dependent on it.

the weather guy said we might have frost last night. he suggested covering plants. I didn’t. the plants were alright today. no visible damage. it will be 35 degrees tomorrow night. I wont cover plants tomorrow either.

yesterday we finally got our stimulus check. that aint buying my vote though. we aint running to town to spend it. it will get spent. no doubt about that. it takes money to live. maybe I will buy something off the internet.

I did buy some cds from on line. I bought a  package of oldies cds. I wanted the johnny rivers, van morrison and roy orbinson cds that were part of the package. I had to take the ELO, bryan ferry and billy joel cds because they were part of the deal. last week I bought a James Brown cd. that was after I watched a movie bout his life.

I am still looking for a worm composting system since I got a few bucks. I can use it year after year. I will always garden. worm compost has more nutients than regular composting. that’s why I want this system. buy it once and use it over and over.