Farm Fresh: Figs, Anise Hyssop, Wind Chimes and Kitchen Towels

 The figs are starting to ripen. I learned a new pruning trick for them and pinched all the scaffold branches so that they would stop growing taller and focus on the fruit. It seems to be working. 

I had to prune back the squash and anise hyssop.  They were covering my perennial herb bed of sage and oregano. We took the opportunity to harvest the anise hyssop leaves and blossoms while we were at it. I dried them on low in the dehydrator (my screens are all full!) and ground them a little in the dry blender so that they would fit neatly.  They filled a one quart jar. I love how their natural sweetness makes a delicious tea all on their own. 

Miss Sunny finally succeeded in her quest to hatch ducklings.  That brings us up to 19 muscovy ducklings hatched this year with no help from me. 

I have been reading several interesting orcharding books recently.  One that I have loved is called: Grow a Little Fruit Tree.  She encourages us to avoid dwarf rootstock (she says they are less healthy) trees, prune mid-summer and winter, and keep trees low and manageable. Another British Gardener, Harry Dodson, described the use of weights to help fruit tree branches grow horizontally (vs. the spreaders that Americans tend to use). Horizontal branches (45 degree angle) are stronger and less likely to break.  They allow more sunlight into the tree and thus allow for more fruit to grow.  I liked the idea of weights for several reasons. One reason is that they can do double duty, acting as a weight and also a way to scare birds and squirrels away from the trees.  

All that in mind, for one of our art projects this week I assigned the kids to use upcycled materials from around the house to make wind chimes. Several of these are still in progress.  But here is a picture of the ones Big Sister A and Miss L made. Miss L's is made from painted oyster shells.  Big Sister A's is made from old keys and buttons. 

I also finally finished a functional craft project this week.  It evolved in response to two constant problems: 1. kids cannot discern between a rag and a nice hand/dishtowel.  It's impossible to teach them the difference and I am tired of buying nice dishtowels only to have them be pulled out and used for messy spills. And 2. it's been impossible to keep a nice hand/dish towel in place for more than a few hours (see point #1) or it just ends up on the floor and then is dirty etc.  I had to figure out a way to make a towel that used materials I already had on hand, looked decent, and could not be easily removed from the oven door.  I came up with this reversible design and made 4 of each. It's reversible because it can tie in the front (bow) or tie in the back like an apron.