Mr. C's Surprise......

 Now:
On to the Strangest Story Ever Told
(Well, maybe.)

You remember Audrey? The sweet, pregnant cat who showed up at our farm about a month ago? Remember that last week we took her to the vet and the vet figured there'd be kittens within a few weeks? Remember that she was healthy, no ear mites, no fleas, and that we then brought her indoors to live with us? Remember that we were awaiting the birth of those kittens? Huh??

Well, I was upstairs yesterday morning when Mr. C. suddenly appeared, looking like THIS:

 What?

What??

What???

And there were two more,

that had somehow made their way to the house

from wherever they had been,

(maybe the barn?)

and were sitting on the opposite side of the patio door.

Actually, the first two appeared at the same time.

We heard a third, but had to let Audrey out

to find that one.

Now mother and babies (teenagers??)

are doing fine.

 The first two, eating cat food, for Pete's sake!

Audrey, doing the catly thing

Audrey, licking her kittens and

letting them nurse.

This was just the most bizarre thing. We've had Audrey in the house since a week ago today. She had shown up at our place about September 27, and because we fed her, she would always come to the porch for food, water, and attention. Some people thought she looked pregnant, but she must already have delivered her kittens. When we took her to the vet on October 20,  we were told that it certainly looked like she was going to have kittens. After worming her that day, the next day we brought her into the house to live.

She never howled like she wanted to go out, although about 5 o'clock each morning she would meow loudly a few times, and only once did she sit and stare at the door.

How did the kittens survive during the past week?  Had she left them a squirrel or something? We know she was a good hunter.

Why hadn't her milk dried up?

How did the kittens make their way to the house?

After a week without their mother, the kittens all look roly poly and healthy.

The earth is the Lord's, and all that is in it.

From Psalm 24

Praise God for so many miracles in our lives each day, most of which we don't even notice.

***

 Why did we let our James Herriot vet retire??

Wouldn't you love to see this little guy

 in your Christmas stocking??

You know you would.

Your eyelids are getting heavy.

You want a kitten.

Linking to Eileen's Saturday's Critters 

*** 

 

Be sure to enter the Giveaway
Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

 
Olde Thyme Christmas
Natural Vegan Soap


...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch


and at


Our ETSY Shop

With The Three Little Kittens,

How and When to Plant Garlic

 Garlic among the gourds

Waiting to be planted

When we were at Seedsavers in Decorah, Iowa with friends a couple weeks ago (future post), besides purchasing packets of seeds for next spring, I picked up an instructional sheet for planting garlic. I've always meant to plant garlic, but it's supposed to be planted in October, and since everything else I plant gets planted in May or June, I never seem to remember the garlic until it's too late.

This year, however, I actually marked it on my calendar in big letters on the October page: PLANT GARLIC. The biggest cloves will produce the best bulbs, so I looked for garlic bulbs that had bulging huge cloves. As you can see in the photo, they were starting to sprout before I got around to planting them.

 The good man, working the soil

Grass clippings nearby and leaves (not so nearby) were mixed to make a nice mulch for the garlic after it was planted. I didn't want to put it on so heavily that it would smother or kill them, but enough so that it would help protect them.

 Potting soil and lime worked into the otherwise quite bland, sandy soil

 Garlic cloves, laid in the trench, root end down, tip side up

6-8 inches apart, with skins still on (do not remove the paper-like skin)

Cover with 2 inches of soil and mulch with a mixture of grass clippings and leaves.  (We did this on a rainy day, which I think was probably good.)

Right about here should be the photo of the planted and mulched garlic. I don't know how I managed to miss that photo op, but I suppose it was because I was busy getting Bridger's pic. He was lying nearby, watching the procedure.

In the spring, when the garlic begins to come up, and before May 15, it's a good idea to fertilize the garlic once or twice.
Do not fertilize after May 15.
Garlic needs 1" water per week during the growing season.
Do not water garlic after June 1.
Keep weeds under control. (The mulch you laid down when you plant the garlic will help with this.)
Harvest after the leaves die back and there are still five green leaves remaining on the plant. This will be in June or July.

Everything in the garlic planting guide indicated that garlic needs to be handled carefully so that it does not bruise and deteriorate. When harvested, tie 6-8 garlic bulbs in a bundle and hang in a shed or garage that is dry and well-ventilated until they're dried for about 6 weeks.

I have a friend who used to raise garlic and braid them to hang on her kitchen wall. It was beautiful!

This photo and a great tutorial on harvesting garlic are found

at Thy Hand Hath Provided

Check it out. Jane has several good tutorials.

In NW Wisconsin in July, it's pretty humid. I'm thinking that our shop/garage will not be a good place to dry the garlic. Maybe upstairs in the house where it's dryer would be better.

After that drying period, you can trim the stalks and roots and store the bulbs in old onion sacks or netting.

Optimum setting for storage: 45-55% humidity and a temp of 50-70 degrees F. Do not refrigerate.

The Supervisor

Now that you're armed with all that great information, be sure to go out and buy some nice big garlic bulbs and plant the cloves for next year's crop. I can hardly wait for the winter to be over* to harvest our garlic crop in June or July of next year!  I can't wait to try my hand at braiding the garlic.

* I know that winter hasn't even begun, but it's always this time of year during the waning hours of daylight that we get this sinking feeling...The Big W. is just around the corner!

***

'Clover Blossom'

Natural, Vegan Soap

...and more! Check out all our handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch


***

 You'll find me at These Linky Parties:
Mop it Up Monday   and Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and The Chicken Chick and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Make it Great Monday and Made By You Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous  and  Get Your Craft On and Tip Me Tuesday  and  Inspiration Board and You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Two Maids a Baking and What's Cookin' Wednesday and DJs Sugar Shack and  Cast Party Wednesday and The Shady Porch and   We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Mom on TimeOut and  Link it Up Thursday and It's Fall Y'all and Crafty Friday (Thursday) and Mandatory Mooch and  Petals to Picots and  Threading Your Way and Lisa's Gluten-Free Blog  and I'm Lovin' it Friday and Maiden d'Shade and It's a Hodgepodge Friday  and Foodie Friends Friday and Creative Bloggers and  Serenity Saturday and Overflowing With Creativity and  Home and Family Friday and Saturday Nite Special



 

Fall Colors in Wisconsin

 Eighteenth Street

October 2, 2012

I took these photos on Tuesday, October 2. They're all from our neighborhood. The color was absolutely stunning. No wonder we love this time of year!  I was so glad I got out there with my camera because... today, just four days later when Kevin and I went for a walk, it felt more like November. Dark clouds were scudding across the sky, it was windy and cold, and a lot of the fall color has already been lost.

I hope you'll enjoy this blog postcard of the leaves at their peak of color - Autumn in Wisconsin!

 Deer stand at the edge of the [harvested] cornfield

October 2, 2012

 ATV tunnel

October 2, 2012

 View from our deck October 2, 2012

 Eighteenth Street

October 2, 2012

October 6

Fifth Avenue, losing leaves fast

(taken with cellphone) 


***


This post is linked to Photo Friday
and Sunny Simple Sunday 

***

'Frosted Apple Spice'

Natural, Vegan

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch