Rotting Onions - a Cure

 Tortuga Thursday

In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

Sadi in the cucumbers

Grasshoppers this year are in locust biblical proportions. I exaggerate only slightly. Lance has tried every natural/organic way possible to get rid of them but they thrive. Although we've been much more successful this year at keeping the weeds down in the garden, a few other areas have gone ignored. Weeds harbor grasshoppers as well as other unwanted bugs so I went on the warpath. All good sized weeds met their end. The potatoes are the most bothered.

We had little black bugs and aphids in the greenhouse a month or two

back. A bucket with some water and rotting onions set inside the greenhouse was the cure. Stinks awfully - I guess the bugs don't like it either.

Pickle jar processing

The cucumbers are beautiful this year. The jars of Pirate Pickles look great. We perfected the point at which to harvest so there will be more pickles in each jar. Consistency is important and demanded by the head Pirate, Lance.

Some of our other veggies, like the zucchini, do not get the same manic attention. Most of the zucchini goes in the dogs' food so we aren't that concerned about size. You zucchini lovers out there are probably screaming "what?" but, yes, most of it goes to the dogs.

Giant and normal zucchini

But not all...

Like tonight we had grilled veggies which is about our favorite on Tortuga. If you haven't purchased a grill pan for vegetables, you really should. Tonight we had zucchini, yellow squash, onions, bell peppers, kohlrabi, and patti pan (the patti pan and yellow squash from our neighbors and the rest from our garden). Cut the vegetables in chunks or thick slices, toss in a bowl with olive oil and lemon pepper and grill on the barbecue for about 45 minutes. Sooooo good.

The monsoons continue. The wind is the killer. We've lost about 30% of the cayenne pepper plants to the

Monsoons mean mud

storms. The rain has been great for the crops but the wind is bothersome. We're a windswept prairie. We are very happy to have the rain because the Big Chino Aquifer was in desperate need of replenishing. Wouldn't want the well to go dry.

Butternut Squash Plants

In case some of you don't know about our Pirate Pickle web site, here is the link. Hope you check it out.
http://www.piratepickling.com/

And we now have a Tortuga Flats Farm Facebook page. Please drop in and "like" us!
https://www.facebook.com/TortugaFlatsFarm

Meatball Trees and Pasta Bushes

Tortuga Thursday

In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

First, I have to give a shout out to all the readers of my blog from around the world. I'm not much of a statistics person, but today, I decided to look at the stats for this blog. I had no idea there were so many of you from Latvia looking in on my blog. I'd like to say hi to all of you who stop in from the U.S., Latvia, Poland, Canada, Russia, United Kingdom, China, South Korea, Columbia, Indonesia, Germany, India and Austria. I'm not sure blogger lists all of the countries so, if I didn't list yours, give me a shout back. I'd love to hear from you.

Picking beans, wading through grass

I'm writing this on Wednesday to post on Thursday. Here's what happened today on Tortuga Flats. Lance and I rose at 5:30 - not purposefully together. We just have similar body clocks. We drink different coffees so I made mine and he made his. While we drank our coffee, news and email got checked, mine on my laptop and his on his iPad. By 7:30, Christie and Sadi were up. Lance and I headed outside. Not too long after, Frank got up and after some breakfast he canned and canned and canned cucumbers. Meanwhile, I harvested today's garden peas and green beans. Then I edged the lawn, front and back. After that,

Cabbage

I pulled weeds from around the the outside of the yard fence. The last thing I did was pull weeds in the squash row. While I was doing those chores, Lance worked on the fifth wheel hitch and went for manure to compost. He had the lovely job of turning compost and mixing with the manure. Christie helped Frank by chopping garlic and adding the other ingredients to the pickle jars. As I write, Frank is still canning, Christie is cleaning and Lance is harvesting. A day in the life of Tortuga Flats Farm.

Squash rows

The hook worms are still munching on tomato plants, and we've found a few in the pepper rows. We've heard that in Chino Valley farmers are fighting blister bugs. Sure hope they eradicate them, and they don't move over here. Our biggest debate is the grass invasion. We've just not been able to keep it out of  some of the areas. Last year at this time, we'd all but given up on weeding. We were doing flood irrigation and with what was going on other than farming (like a wedding) we lost the battle. This year, with drip irrigation, we've been much better at keeping the weeds under control.

No meatball or pasta trees but the rest grows here.

But there are a couple of areas we were not on top of and now grass, looks like Bermuda, is a real problem. The debate is how to take care of it this year without chemicals so we don't have the problem next year. The debate rages on.

Sadi Belle is growing like a weed, too. And that's okay!

A Drip, a Trip and a Silent Owl.

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

Tortuga Thursday

Can't help thinking he'd do his job better if he could hoot.

This week flew by. My to-do list barely took a hit. I've been doing a lot of weeding. I know. I know. You heard me complain about this task last year. It's a bit different this year. Since we no longer flood between rows, we aren't over come with weeds in between. Good thing. The ground is harder between the rows and tougher to weed. The new drip system on the rows targets the plants. The weeds love it too. Unfortunately, one of the lessons we learned last year, we forgot. Some of the rows should be covered after the seeds are sowed and until the vegetables are established. That cuts down on the those air born weed seeds. Next year - well, third time's the charm. We'll remember. So, we had to wait until the plants were big enough to distinguish from the weeds. Which means lots of weeds. Lance has been spending more hours than I have. Once we get the whole field done, upkeep will be easier on the bigger plants.

The radishes are big enough to pick. Those guys are fast producers. The new sweet potato slips arrived and

Peas and the drip tape

they were beautiful. Lance got them in the ground the day they arrived. In the green house, we have leafy greens that can start showing up on our table this week. Yea!

First trip - to the dealer for service.

Two pieces of bad news this week and one is already fixed. The RV had a propane leak. Frank hooked it up and took it for the first time on the road to the dealer. They supposedly fixed it and sent him home. Within a couple of hours I smelled it worse than before. This time Frank took the hoses apart and found the real problem. Fixed. My faith in that dealership continues to dive. Second piece of bad news is the vet says Rusty needs $300 worth of dental work. I'm balking on this one. Yes, I can see his gums are red in the back but he eats anything and everything. Wouldn't he be having trouble if they're that bad? Can't we brush and water pick his teeth to health? We'll have this debate for a couple of days. I need to find the time to do some doggy teeth research.

Sadi Belle has learned what her hands are for and grabs at things with some accuracy. She pulled her bear over on top of herself and that registered surprise. So much fun to watch her grow.


It's been mighty hot on Tortuga Flats. I'm usually out of the sun by 10:00. I don't know how Lance does it for so many hours a day. But then I remember when he was not yet two years old, and we left our cement surrounded apartment for a trip to Yosemite. The first thing he did was plop down in the dirt with a big grin on his face and said "I love

Hollyhocks are blooming

dirt!"

Cyclone Season on Tortuga Flats Farm

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

The veggies that got their start in trays in the greenhouse are all in the ground. Now the greenhouse is being utilized to grow herbs.
Lance has a few veggies in there also to see how they do in a more controlled environment.

A layer of shade added

The sun is pretty brutal here so he added a shade cloth over the greenhouse to help keep the temperature down. Fans blow at both ends in addition to the attached exhaust fans.

The greenhouse just missed disaster two days ago.

The dust devil escapes

A gigantic dust devil
was headed right at us. Lance called me outside in time to see it pick up various debris from two houses over including a couple of large pieces of sheet metal. I ran for my camera, but by the time I had it open and ready to shoot the cyclone hit our neighbor's property and dropped the huge pieces of metal in their backyard. All I was able to snap was the underside of it as it disappeared into the sky.

Blackberry bushes

A few blossoms and tons of buds are appearing on the blackberry bushes. With a lot of help, I got them all weeded and mulched. I used grass clippings this year as mulch. I didn't mulch at all last year so the hope is that the mulch keeps the weeds from coming back too strong. Weeding thorny blackberry bushes is painful.

The potatoes have sprouted. Getting antsy about the sweet potatoes. We had

Golden potatoes to be

to order them on line and thought they'd be here by now. A phone call to a very dull sounding fellow told me they'd be shipped this week.

The youngest member of the household, my gorgeous granddaughter, continues to grow and amaze. She's so alert and insists on being held in a sitting position most of the time.

Rusty

The oldest four-legged creature in the house is now on pain meds. Rusty has joint problems and has been so miserable. He has trouble keeping up with his two younger companions with all his aches and pains. We made the decision to put him on meds and he's a happier old man.

Wild grass that looks like bermuda is our biggest problem so far in the veggie fields. The roots go so deep that pulling it all up isn't possible. Not sure what the solution will be. Organic farming presents its problems.

The Baby Arrives: A Story of Heaven and Hell

 2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

The last time I posted was March 4th. On March 5th all hell broke loose, with a big piece of heaven to balance it. According to the birthday book we have, March 5th is the day of heaven and hell. Our sweet Sadi Belle Whiteside, my first grandchild, entered our lives that day, and her birth date lived up to the hype.

All farm matters went on hold. All writing projects were suspended.

My daughter-in-law started labor at 6:00 am, March 4th. They admitted her into the birthing center that night about 10:30. We hung by the phone, but the night passed. On March 5th, we joined her parents in the waiting room vigil at the birthing center.

Proud Daddy wheels Sadi out

A little background: this had been one of the easiest pregnancies I'd ever witnessed. But then Christie is in amazing shape. She is a yoga practitioner, walks every day and eats incredibly healthy. She was bound and determined to have a total, no drug, natural delivery. Every indication was that she would.

Lance got zzz's while Grandpa rocked

First bottle during Mom's surgery

Okay - so - by the afternoon she was not progressing. Her back pain was so great she couldn't relax enough. She and my son finally agreed to an epidural. She quickly went from four to ten. Labor continued with my son coaching and Christie pushing. Then the contractions lessened, a side affect of the epidural. Unhappily, they consented to an inducing drug. But after over three hours of pushing, Sadi was stuck. The doctor rushed her in for an emergency C-section. At 5:24 pm, we had a beautiful granddaughter. The doctor said he'd never encountered this problem before. Christie has an odd shaped bone which turns in instead of out restricting the birth canal. Sadi's head stuck and she had the bump to prove it afterwards. Once they had her out, all seemed well. She immediately nursed, and Mom was beaming. An hour later, hell broke loose. By the time Christie made it back into surgery, she'd lost half her blood. It took eight units to get her through this. She'd pushed so hard she'd torn her cervix in two places. The surgeon did an amazing job of saving her and her chances for future children. We nearly lost her, and each day one of us tears up with the memory.

After several days in the hospital, Mom and daughter are home and doing fine. Christie has many weeks of recuperating to get through, but she's looking stronger each day. Sadi is a happy baby who is gaining weight and already has grandma and grandpa wrapped around her finger.


Yesterday was the first day we'd been able to turn some attention to the farm and me to my writing. I've just about finished trimming the blackberry rows. Frank and Lance got the supplies to build the green house. The watering system is on order. We couldn't wait any longer so we're funding it with credit. We hope to have two commercial crops, and I'll elaborate on that in future blogs.

For sure, life on Tortuga Flats Farm will never be the same!

How Cool Are Hiccups!!

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

This has been the week of seeds.

The most important little seed growing in my daughter in laws womb is nearly full term. Not exactly farm talk, but I'm so excited that this soon to be event merits mentioning. Until this week, I haven't been able to catch Sadi Belle in movement. Every time I put my hand on Christie's belly, Sadi stills. I'm taking this as a good sign. Gramma could be the calming touch or the charming touch for our newest edition to the clan. Time will tell. But when Sadi had the hiccups this week, I finally felt the life. Pretty exciting. Then yesterday, I went to Christie's doctor appointment as a stand-in for Lance. When the doctor set his stethoscope on Christie, Sadi's heartbeat thumped loud and clear at 160. Beautiful. 

We also got out first batch of seeds for this year's garden. A new local supplier offers seeds by the bucket, and they're actually local heirloom seeds. I hadn't thought about where seeds come from could make a difference. It makes sense that seeds from a particular area are going to be more acclimated for that area. This bucket of seeds was reasonably priced, and even though we won't use some of them, the cost was still attractive. I'm sure we'll plant the broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, green beans, lettuce, onion, peas, peppers, spinach, tomatoes, squash and a multitude of herbs. There are several varieties on some of these seeds. There are four or five others we will most likely take a pass on. They also included marigold seeds for free which are natural pest control plants. Winter isn't nearly over, but I'm already anticipating watching our new crop spring from the warm earth.

What a rich spring and summer this will be with Sadi and the crop both blooming with growth.

A New Old Tradition (and S'mores!)

An era ended and a new one began on 12-21-12 according to some interpretations of the Mayan Calendar. We're all still  here so I'm going with that. A new tradition started in our family which rings in a new era for Tortuga Flats Farm.

The mid-winter Solstice celebration has been around as far back as history is recorded. Cultures all over the world celebrated the darkest time of winter. Neolithic farmers were fearful that the sun and their crops might not return. Fire played a part in symbolically bringing back the warm sunny days. Romans decorated their homes with evergreen plants and had various celebrations to lift the spirits during the long winter months. Celtic traditions are many for winter and the Solstice. Native Americans had Solstice traditions. It was a time to reflect on the past year and hope for the new. Sprinkled in all these traditions across the globe were Shaman gift givers, Santas in various forms, holly, ivy, bells and all the other things we associate with Christmas.

As farmers, we decided to start our own traditions for this season. Our first Solstice included a meal with much of our own produce, a fire and reflection (and of course s'mores!) and the exchanging of gifts. I doubt the ancient neolithic farmers had s'mores but after all that reflection, chocolate and marshmallows were in order. On Christmas Eve we will have another big dinner and continue to give thanks. Christmas morning we will empty our stockings and see what Santa brought us. We'll then go south and visit the rest of our family.

We had a great time with our first Solstice. We decided it could evolve and include others in our celebration. Next year, we will for sure have one new person, my granddaughter! She won't be able to add verbally to the fire circle, but her presence will add to our richness.

If you'd like to see some more of our Solstice celebration pictures, you can go to my personal Facebook page where I've posted other shots. Click on photos and then go to the Solstice album. https://www.facebook.com/brenda.whiteside.58

And if you haven't yet "liked" my author page on Facebook, I welcome you to do so. Would love to see you there.  https://www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor

From Head to Dirty Floors

My first prairie blog stated:

You'll hear all about our trials and misfires and what works. Maybe my glimpse into retiring with nothing in the bank but love will inspire (or scare) others in the same boat. Keep the bucket handy for bailing. Oh by the way, the retiring part is my husband. I will still be toiling away at my writing career, which is in its infancy - but I work hard!

Looking forward to more sunsets

Now, we're nearing the year mark, and I thought it'd be good to take inventory on what I discovered - financially speaking first. Maybe these money saving discoveries would work for you too. A little disclaimer here on senior discounts. I'm lucky that Frank is always able to get them but there are places that go as young as 55 for discounts. You have to ask.



Hair. Funny, my head comes first, but I've always said finding a good hairdresser is harder than finding a good doctor. After paying around $150 a visit for the last few years, I had to make some changes.
Result: Beauty school hair style $6.00 plus tip
          Drugstore hair dye $8.00
Downside: My color is not streaked and multi-shaded like I prefer but I don't look ugly either - I can live with that.

Will the Verde overflow its beginning this year?

Entertainment. This encompasses a lot.
Result: Senior movie discounts - you can't beat $5 movies
           Ask for your senior discount at restaurants. Nearly every eating establishment has some sort of senior discount. Hey a free drink is worth it!
           Hotels often have senior discounts too. Ask. If you're not a senior, then travel on the cheap days. Example: During the week, Laughlin, NV has hotels that charge $10-$20 a night compared to $45-$75 on the weekends.
           Parks, both state and federal have a couple of ways to save. Seniors get discounted lifetime passes. For $10 we get into any federal park. If you're not a senior, check on yearly passes which are much cheaper than paying for each trip.
           Wherever you go, ask if discounts are available. Often, they aren't advertised. 
Downside: None from our point of view.

Gasoline.
Result: We all look for the cheapest stations. Up here it's Maverick or Costco. Another way to get cents off is to trade at a supermarket that gives points. Safeway and Frys in Arizona do and have their own stations.
Downside: The store stations are not plentiful so you have to plan your gas filling trips.

Charge card benefits.
Result: We charge most things and accumulate points. We now have two airline tickets. On my other card I had enough points for a couple of Christmas presents.
Downside: None for us because we pay them off entirely each month. So please take caution if you choose to live this way. Don't charge what you can't pay off.

Christie, Lance, Gabby, Xena

Sharing expenses.
Result: We couldn't do what we're doing if we didn't cohabitate with my son and daughter-in-law. It's working for us so far. Financially it's a win-win.
Downside: I don't always get my way! We have to agree on what big expenditures come first, and there is compromise.

I can't do a point by point on all the other aspects of how our experiment is working. I think we've barely scratched the surface. Next year won't be like this year - the farm is expanding, a baby is coming and other milestones are expected. But here are a few observations after the first year:

I've lowered my standards on neatness, others have improved.

Frank keeps asking me what part of retirement don't I understand.

Gabby, Rusty, Xena

Rusty is so much happier with a larger pack and someone always around.

Two cooks in the house makes me happy (since one of them isn't me).

I have to be careful to command myself to write and not get caught up in ALL the farm and household activities.

Shopping is not an activity anymore.

I love eating what we grow.

"Going into town" is a real thing and not just a line off Little House on the Prairie.

So much for my wrap up. Now I'll gather my thoughts on the upcoming year and what we intend to do with it. Hint: we have a tractor! I'll be a grandma!

The Humongous and the Sexy

Whenever it gets to be near the end of the year, I rethink how I want next year to go. I start making lists and marking the calendar for next year.

2013 is going to be a humongous year on Tortuga Flats. At least it should be. We have all kinds of ideas we're brainstorming. And then there's the baby! And then there's the hope I have for the mystery series I'm writing sold.

We'll need to quadruple this for next year

One of our last harvests

We're researching how we can get our other two acres farmed, what we should grow and how to sell the crop. Should we grow several things or specialize? What's our market? Two acres really isn't all that much land but still quite a bit for four people to handle. We're also brainstorming different ways to bring in help. I'm gathering Farmers' Markets information. Frank is researching crop prices and output per acre, etc. Lance is planning layout of the land and what equipment we're going to need. I'm looking into nontraditional avenues of funding while Frank is looking toward traditional means. Lance is on the lookout for the really nontraditional ideas. Hopefully, by the first of the year, a plan will unfold.

My sexy new hero looks like who??

I've established some self-imposed deadlines for my writing projects. I'm having a little trouble right now nailing down my latest hero, Mason. Who he is in my head is not translating on paper, but once I get that figured out, my newest novel needs to get completed.

I've decided to have a regular schedule for this blog and my web page newsletter. Next year I'll blog about the farm on Tortuga Thursdays. On Mondays I'll blog about writing. And occasionally I'll have guest bloggers on all kinds of subjects. I'd like to hear what you think about this sort of regular schedule. My web newsletter has only gone out sporadically when I've had something to announce. I'm going to start sending it out quarterly. If you'd like to get on that mailing list go here: http://www.brendawhiteside.com/contact.html#newsletter

Mom on her 80th last year

Last week, I spent three nights with my mom. The trip to the big city had three purposes - three month full body dermatology check, shopping with mom and an all day writers' workshop in Scottsdale. Mom and I shopped for two days straight at the mall. No wonder I'm under the weather today and staying in bed. I'm not a good shopper. But I felt like the country gal who couldn't get enough of the big city stores! My mom is eighty and she ran me ragged.

Wish I had some interesting pictures of Tortuga Flats to post, but this is that ugly in between time of year. In another week or so we'll (well, not me actually) burn and turn the land. I'll get some of that recorded.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sadie's first toy

While Frank and I were away on the weekend for my high school reunion in Phoenix and a lunch out on Sunday, Lance combed the fields for the last of many of the veggies. But he also said that if we don't get another freeze for a week or so, we could have a few more. And some of them actually like cold weather. We had a freeze Friday night which wiped out the last of all the squash and okra. It also damaged tomato plants but they're about done anyway. Today he'll get the remaining cherry tomatoes and large green tomatoes off. The peppers are done.

End of season ugly cabbage

These final harvested veggies aren't pretty. They're survivors, and I'm sure they still have plenty of nutrition.

We might see more cabbage and broccoli. The Brussels sprouts are just now sprouting. In fact, I'd forgotten we had planted them. I walk by them all the time but they look a lot like cabbage plants. I thought they were duds - no heads forming. Now I find out I should've pinched them back from the beginning to encourage side chutes. They have one main trunk with lots of little nubs showing, so here's hoping.

Relish, pickles, peppers, green sauce

Our freezer is full and the canned food has spilled out of the pantry and now lines the tops of the kitchen cabinets. This winter will be fun every time we try a new jar!
We bought a flame throwing thing to help with clean up and weeding. With Frank's discount at Home Depot, it was only $45 and will be well worth the expense. Some of our weeds are small trees. We'll scorch some of them then Lance will till back into the soil. Compost!

The high school reunion was fun. My closest friends from those days were not there; two of them are deceased. But I recognized a lot of faces - although some I had to look at the faces on their name tags. I had a lot of acquaintances in high school, never fit with any one group, so I knew a few people from all the different clicks. Although I enjoyed those years, I would NEVER want to go back. We stayed at my mom's in Sun City. Friends took us to lunch on Sunday for Frank's birthday next weekend. It was beautiful eating on the patio of Dillon's on Lake Pleasant. Great weekend.

The clutch on the chevy is shot. We have an appointment to take it in on Wednesday. $700. I practically cried. Lance and Christie sold their old clunker a few weeks ago so we are sharing our two vehicles until they get another. Which means they will pay half the clutch cost, but still... A bit of a set back for some other needed things around here.

Have you ever sold gold? I just did. I have, no had now, a gold charm bracelet that my mother-in-law put together for me of all the highlights of my life at that point in time. But I never wear it, and she is gone. So I sold it. I can't use the money to fix the car. We already had it earmarked for the back up pump on our well which is even more expensive than the car expense. If we were to lose electricity for any length of time, we wouldn't have water. Hate spending money on something 'just in case' but farmer Lance is pretty adamant about this.

On the brightest side - Christie's tummy is growing. My granddaughter is now active and making herself known. They're calling her Sadie Belladonna. Sadie Bell for short. I saw a rocking horse that makes noises when you touch the ear. I wanted to buy it so bad but seemed foolish to buy something that wouldn't get used for about three years, so I walked away from it. Ha. Went back the next day and got it. It'll look great just sitting in a corner of the nursery waiting for Sadie Bell to climb on. Next year will be a ton of fun!