Health and Healing

Here they come!

My sister-in-law, Amber and her family left their home in Arkansas to come visit us in Minnesota about 11 am.  Last update we had, was they were still in Iowa (took a wrong turn) but would still be here tonight, probably after midnight.

Madison is so excited.  She has been watching the clock and making phone calls to see where they are and how much longer it will be.  She's still up and waiting with Dad for them to arrive.

We will be meeting Amber's new husband, Craig, for the first time and his 2 boys.  I think is excited to have some kids to play with here.

Well, I'm heading to bed.  I'll see the family in the morning.
Carol

Dealing with Moles in the Garden

Moles are such a huge nuisance in my garden. They dig tunnels all through and wreak havoc with my veggies, uprooting them and such.  The watering we do sometimes ends up down the mole hole instead of the plant roots.  I was getting very tired of fighting them for another year.  So I started doing a little research on how to get them out of my garden.  Poison was my first thought..  but I didn’t want that stuff in my garden.  Traps are effective but expensive. So I looked for more affordable remedies.  I came up with one that is easy to do.   You make a mixture of castor oil and Joy dish soap (2:1 ratio).  You add a few tablespoons of this mixture to a gallon of water and pour it down their holes. 

I have been doing this with some success.  The reason it can work is that moles have a heightened sense of smell and can’t stand the smell of castor oil.  They also don’t like the feel of it on them.  After a couple of applications some of the holes were not bothered any more but I still had some.  So the next time I put in more of the castor oil mix into my gallon of water and made the applications a little stronger.  I had been using 2 to 3T tablespoons per gallon..  so I doubled that.  Well I am happy to say that yesterday while in the garden I saw that all my mole holes had not been disturbed again..  so success maybe?  We will see.     

If my pesky mole just makes holes in other areas of the garden I will try another solution I read the other day and that is bubble gum.  You drop pieces of bubble gum (or Juicy Fruit I also read they like) into their holes.  The reviews I read said this was effective and will end the problem permanently!  I guess their digestive systems can’t handle gum..  they are eaters not chewers.. haa.. haa.  So if castor oil does not solve the problem..  I will try bubble gum.   

Just thought I would share this bit of mole info for anyone else battling them in their gardens this summer..  

A look into what we have been up to this summer...

     I have been terrible at blogging these past few months.  It has been insane around here...family get-together, fathers day, fishcamp, gardening and more gardening...and life in general.  I finally downloaded some pictures and though I might share...perhaps inspire myself to blog more...even though July looks even busier than June.

The barn after I weed-wacked...getting ready to move the sheep back to the bigger pasture.  Still cleaning up from the ice storm....lots and lots of firewood.

Horticulture beans..just picked

Sad potato crop...

Small portion of the large garden...

A few more goodies from the garden..

Small garden...lots of space...the weather has been crazy this year...

Lots and lots of cucumbers and all I could get was 12 jars of cucumber relish....ahhh well, it is still early.

Not all work...some play has been involved...

Only my kids carry books to the pond..."animal encyclopidia"...good reading.

Salt and Pepper...my young ones...

Even Bigdaddy (middle) got to hang out and play one day...

The proper way to eat a birthday cake

Let me tell you of a story about a little boy who turned one year old on Thursday. He really enjoyed his birthday cake ..... really!!!!

Let me show you the story of how it went.

All gone!!!

Happy Birthday Sweetie Pie!

and a broken foot.....