Joyce's Garden Blog

2015-04-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

After a number of years not blogging, I decided to pick it up again. I still have something to say! LOL

This past winter and spring have been very unusual here in the Pacific Northwest. While the East coast has been hammered with record breaking snow storms, we have had the warmest and driest winter that I can remember since moving here twelve years ago. Our little corner of Oregon is known for tons of rainfall from the Pacific ocean but this year has been an exception. Lots of blue skies, sunshine and mild temperatures abound. Our plum trees started blooming in February and now the lilacs and apple trees are in full bloom along with one of my rhododendron bushes! So basically we are a full six weeks ahead of normal blooming times. It is beautiful and looks like we wont have any chance of any killing frosts either.

My blogs are moving

2011-03-02T15:12:00.000-08:00

Pictured is one my hens who setting on ten eggs. I spied two eggs in the process of hatching. One of them somehow ended up out in the open feeding area but was vainly trying to hatch out as our resident rooster was trying to kill the alien! And he may have succeeded. I rescued the partially hatched chick still in the egg and carefully placed back under the hen . Tomorrow will tell if either or both of the hatching chicks make it.

I am pleased to announce that my blogs now have a new home and I hope you stop by as this is my last post on Blogger. Course I only have two followers but that's OK. Maybe more folks will find my blogs, enjoy them and maybe leave me some feedback!

The new home is www.mooreacre.com and I really like the new look too! My page is now hosted on Squarespace.com and I've spent the last couple of days moving in.

March is coming in like a lion all right! Last night we had very high winds, more so than usual. My corgi hates all the noise so he hides under the headboard of our bed. Typically March does not go out like a lamb either here in PNW. We can expect more storms to barrel through clear into late May. I can't wait for summer!

Joyce Moore
signing off....... :-)

January is pruning month

2011-01-23T18:06:00.001-08:00

We've been blessed or possible cursed with a few days of warm springlike weather. So today we got out into the orchard to get some vines and fruit trees pruned. I finally got the eating grapevines sheared back to a semblance of control. Lots of excess watersprouts and vines trimmed out. The plants will bounce back once they start growing this spring and should see great growth this year. These are young plants so just starting fruit production on a few of them. I imagine it will take a couple more years before I start seeing good production.
Matt worked on the fruit trees. Our early blooming plum tree is already starting to show growth. I fear we may have little to no fruit this year as we may loose buds due to expected frosty weather in the next couple of months. So will just have to see what Mother Nature has in store for us.

Location:Moore's Acre

Happy new year!

2011-01-02T11:50:00.001-08:00

Another year is here and yesterday I watched the annual Rose Parade. As usual, many gorgeous floats covered with zillions of common and exotic flowers and plant materials.
I spotted this photo on the LATimes web site and just had to share it with my fellow gardener friends. This roses adorned carriage was the first place winner of the Rose Parade in 1895.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Moore's acre

The holidays are Upon Us!

2010-12-15T10:29:00.001-08:00

Well, here we are, another year just about done! It's been a windy and rainy December but we managed to make a couple of trips to see the grandkids and families. Next week we conclude our marathon travels by heading south to visit Matt's parents on Christmas Day. I imagine we will take the new pickup truck with the studded tires as we may encounter some snow going over the passes.

So, to conclude my blog for the year, I thought I would share this little film of clips taken from Portland, Or to Seattle, Wa. This film was created using iMovie 11 in the new trailer format. Very fun! The film should be up for viewing later on today in about an hour (noon).

See ya next year!

Joyce Moore

A Golden Harvest

2010-10-03T12:54:00.001-07:00

A rainy day outside so a great opportunity to spin out some honey frames. Our honeybees have been working overtime gathering nectar and making us some of the best tasting honey! We love to give jars of this golden goodness to friends and family at Christmas time. A most welcomed gift that is appreciated by all.

Location:Moore's Acre

End of summer

2010-09-13T15:46:00.001-07:00

It's finally here, those last few days of warm sunshine that beckons one to sit on the porch with the sun on your back and be lazy. Not that I need an excuse! But, with our rainy season just around the corner, I am totally enjoying the weather.
We've been out collecting hazel nuts like crazy and I anxiously check my grape plants for size and any change of color. Alas, they look to be way behind where they ought to be for this time of year. I think it was just too cool and wet for them this summer. But the plants have put on a lot of vigorous growth so will be in great shape for next year!
Have one box of honey to spin out and I think we can do now that the robber bees have moved on. Hopefully they didn't steal all the honey. Will have Matt check the box this coming weekend.

Location:Knappa Acre

A Cup of Tea for Me, Please

2010-09-06T20:16:00.001-07:00

We had a beautiful Labor Day weekend and got lots done down here on the acre! Busy harvesting hazelnuts, munching on juicy ripe blackberries, and even a few ripe cherry tomatoes from our container pots on the front porch. Unfortunately, Matt had to spend most of his "spare" time wrestling with the power steering pump in his truck, but eventually he won!
Then we had a swarm of feral honeybees show up and were scouting out the box of honey that Matt had just brought home from our bees! Egads! What a mess.
We had a threat of rain all weekend but it held off until this evening. So now I am kicking back with a nice cup of Vanilla Chai tea (thanks for leaving it behind, Christy) and relaxing. Glad I got the whole yard mowed already as this weather pattern may be a sign of what's ahead.

A rose is a rose, but oh such a rose!

2010-08-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

A Perfect Rose

Click on the picture to open it full size

Every now and then you take a photo, then when you upload, you get the WOW factor! Well, this is one of those pictures. The lighting was perfect and the camera focused in on the flower perfectly. I can tell you that this picture is not retouched one iota! Beautiful, isn't it?

We have had an usually cool and wet summer so normally my roses would have been done last month so this is a real treat.

How to Clean your Pond or Hydroponics Pump

2010-08-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

I thought I would offer a video blog today since my pond pump quit working and I needed to check it out. Sorry for the "blogger" picture quality. You can view a better download here on my vimeo.com page.

So, in the video, I show you how to take apart your pump for cleaning. Be sure to take this opportunity to throughly inspect your pump casing for any cracks or other damage.

The reason we use salt only for cleaning is that salt in not harmful to fish and plants like detergent or dish soap. Matter of fact, it's benefial for the fish in maintaining their protective "slime" , sort of like how our skin protects us.

Finally, once your are done handling the pump, be sure to wash up good with a good quality antibacteria soap. You don't know what kind of "ickies" are in the water.

When you replace the screws, tighten them down to just hand tight and tighten them in alternate corners ie: top left, bottom right, top right, bottom left. That way they are all tightened equally. Regular inspections will not only help you spot potential problems but get you familiar with your pump.

Remember, Fall is a good time to clean out leaf debris and a general mucking out before the cold weather sets in. Your fish will be healthier too. One final hint: Pick up a water thermometer from your local garden center or cooking section of your favorite store. Check your pond water temperature as weather cools. When the water temp falls below 50 degrees F, discontinue feeding your fish till spring and the water warms again above 50. Their digestive systems can't digest standard fish food pellets when their body temps fall. If you can't stand it, you can offer greens like a few green peas or lettuce, but chances are, they won't be much interested during the winter when they basically hibernate at the bottom of the pond.

Thanks for stopping by!

The girls are laying!

2010-07-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

Finally, the girls are starting to lay eggs! We bought five bantum partridge cochin hens and one rooster of the same vintage as 3 day old chicks this spring. Mr "attitude" I call him is starting to challenge me when I reach in the coop but I persevere! One of the girls is finally starting to produce these dainty little eggs weighing in at 0.8 ounces where a store bought large egg weighs in at 1.8 oz. It may take a few eggs for an omelet but they are the freshest eggs around! LOL

I am typing on my shiny new Apple keyboard I got today. It is a different feel and will take some getting used to. Probably the main "buying point" was that it has 2 usb ports tucked under the two top corners. Nice! Now I can plug in my iPad and my digital camera easily for picture transfers and updates through iTunes! I could have bought the bluetooth wireless keyboard for also typing on the iPad but I don't use it that much and I wanted the numeric keypad which the wireless model didn't have. Frankly the "soft" keyboard on the iPad is just fine for limited amount of typing I actually do on it.

Looks like the Magic trackpad won't be here until Tuesday even though I ordered on launch day, dang. I didn't realized how much I was starting to hate the standard scroll mouse I use for my desktop. It looks like Apple is looking to make the mouse extinct and I have to agree, the trackpad will be really nice. Make transitions from my iPad to notebook to desktop nearly seamless.

Bee kind to me

2010-07-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Bee moving day as a kind friend has offered sanctuary for them. A couple of weeks ago I got stung on top of the head by one of our honey bees as I was mowing. Turns out I had a pretty significant allergic reaction and our Dr. suggested eliminating the liklihood of being stung again by removing the bee hives.
So our friends Lorelie and Jim were amiable to having the hives moved onto their acreage so their fruit trees get pollinated and of course we will pay them with free honey when we harvest! How great is that! Thanks, guys!
So Matt moved two hives yesterday in the pre-dawn hours to their new location. He did have to bring back one other hive that we already had in a different location on their farm for a week and then they too will get moved to the new permanent location. He said he got stung through his bee suit three times but luckily he isn't allergic. Still I think I will send him with my Epi kit just in case he were to have a severe reaction. Better to be prepared for the worst than be found dead! Life threatening reactions are unpredictable and can strike anyone even though they never had a severe reaction before. Afterall, I've been stung before and only had a mild localized reaction.
We love giving jars of honey to our friends and family at Christmas and we really need to bottle up our honey mead so we can offer some to guests at our annual family picnic next month! Yum!

Moms birthday milestone

2010-07-04T19:04:00.001-07:00

It's the 4th of July, 2010' and we are here in sunny Klamath Falls, OR visiting my Mom and bonus, celebrating her 90th birthday a few days early! She looks great and is in high spirits despite some health issues this year. I was so thrilled to see her and wish her "Happy Birthday" in person rather than over the phone. We spent a wonderful afternoon outdoors under a huge maple tree watching the robins and doing lots of laughing and visiting! And isn't that what family is all about?
If you can, hug your Mom today!

Location:Klamath falls

What happened to summer?

2010-06-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

What happened to summer? Yesterday it was warm and sunny, and today we are back to cloudy and misty! Ah well, it keeps the slug population happy. The rendered picture above is from my mother-in-law's garden taken a week ago. Had fun with a couple of iPad's apps to focus on this flower's color.
We should be back to more normal summer weather as the week progresses so for now, we are both in denial and playing on our computers and drinking coffee. But hey, isn't that what Sunday is all about?
Enjoy your week ahead.

using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Coyote Dr,Astoria,United States

Grannys garden

2010-06-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Enjoying a warm weekend at my in-laws in Gold Hill, Oregon, lots of good family times, Matt joined his sisters and walked up the road to Hanby school for their centennial celebration. They had a great time relieving the "good old days".

Heading back to Astoria shortly with our rainy weather. Dang!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:5th Ave,Gold Hill,United States

It's Rhody Time

2010-05-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

It's still cloudy and misty here today, but the yard rhododendrons are in full bloom! This beautiful purple beauty was a dollar special as it was the end of the sale and had no identifying tag on it so we had no idea what color or type it was. It's taken the plant three years to get to a size where it was mature enough to bloom, but well worth the wait!
Hope your long holiday weekend is a great one. We're staying at home and maybe if the sun comes out, I'll get the lawn mowed!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Coyote Dr,Astoria,United States

Things we take for granted

2010-05-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

We roll merrily along and sometimes we forget to be thankful for every little thing we have. Last week my dog, Toby went on a midnight raid and got into a bag of dog food he wasn't used to and ended up with a severe case of pancreatitis. He ended up in the doggie hospital for three days, but with a few prayers and excellent vet care, he pulled through just fine. I am so thankful to have him back home. It's amazing how much our entire family missed him!
I'm off to visit my Mom and sister tomorrow. Unforunately, Mom has reached the point of health where she needs to go into a care facility. Very tough on all of us but it's the reality. My sister and I are just glad that we still have her with us. She is going to be transferred to the same town where my sister and rest of our family lives, so she will have family nearby.
I am so looking forward to June and some sunnier weather. All my hanging baskets are growing and looking pretty good. The sugar snap peas have flowers on them now so will have fresh pods soon!
We have some banty chickens which we are really enjoying. So fun to wake up to the tiny rooster crowing!
Enjoy your week and will see you after Memorial day in June.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (loving it)

Location:Home

Farmville vs We Rule

2010-05-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I've been playing Farmville for quite some time and have a love/hate relationship with it. Most of the time the game plays pretty well but seems to have glitches of one sort or another on a daily basis! I love all the new friends I have made and the fun challenges we share. I hate the nag pop-ups that I have to deal with every time I go to my farm! I also dislike the new feed page format. I used to have control over my feed page by blocking the tons of apps that I wasn't interested in but now they're back with a vengeance! And there the is the recent security issues. Not good.

Recently I discovered We Rule, available on the iPhone and iPad. A cross between Farmville and Age of Empires. You start out with a small plot of land, a starter castle, and some gold coins. You buy farm plots and start planting corn which matures for harvest in less than a minute! Nice! Instant gratification and a quick build up of coin so you can build more farm plots and start building your businesses. A couple of mines for ore production, then it's time to find some "We Rule" friends! The quickest way to find other We Rule players is to go the the Itunes App store and check out the comments section on the We Rule app page. Lots of new and experienced players will post their game names that you enter in your friends section of your profile. Before you know it, your map page is populated with your new friends kingdoms that you can visit and buy goods from. They in turn, will visit your kingdom and buy goods from you! No pop ups, no begging for building materials, no co-ops. And takes just a few minutes to play. It's simple and it's quick.

It's a fairly new game so I expect it will evolve with time with more levels and stuff for your kingdom. I am looking forward to that!

BTW, my We Rule name is LadyAstoria so if you play, add me to your friends list!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Home

The best Mother's Day Yet!

2010-05-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

Probably the best Mother's Day weekend ever!
  Christy and Nate came over a couple of days early to spend some time with us. The rain storms finally gave way and we some some fantastic sunny weather! Nice!
  This picture was taken at Tapiola Park in Astoria and then we were off to the Beach! Spent time at the ocean in Seaside and had a most scumptous lunch in town. I swear I put on two pounds but man, it was so worth it, LOL
  Today we are going to plant up all my hanging baskets with a variety of blooming petunias and spend the day just lounging around till they head home. Such a nice visit and everyone is having a blast!
Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!

Joyce

Retiring?

2010-05-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

With all my tobacco seeds sold out today, I am seriously thinking of retiring! My Internet site is paid up through 2011, so will leave it in a more passive mode with my affiliated business partners and not restock for next year. I've been working up to this for a while. Bought a new home computer and my newest "toy", the Ipad which I just love! Frankly I am surprised how much this little device has upstaged my laptop! it's surprisingly easy to type on the touch keyboard so I don't really see a reason to purchase an external keyboard.
We are going to have a beautiful spring day (finally!) and my daughter and grandson are coming to visit for a couple of days. Heck, we may head over to the beach later on today and just play!
Signing off,
Joyce

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posting from my Ipad

2010-05-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

Trying out a new app to see how to blog from my Ipad.
Hoping to figure out how to upload photos. Hmmmmm

alrighty now, it works! Cool!
- Posted using BlogPress from my Ipad

What does the Ipad have to do with gardening?

2010-05-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, basically nothing but at least I put a nice maple leaf design on the home page for you to see, LOL!
Anyway, I been waiting for weeks for my Ipad with 3G to arrive and it's finally here! And yes, I love it. It's everything the Kindle wasn't, beautiful LCD screen, peppy, and a real web browser. As you can see, I even have the Kindle app in the bottom right corner so I can continue to read my Kindle books without hardly a hiccup.
A couple of surprises that I didn't care for popped up. First of all, I was so pleased to download and use the Skype app the first day and call my daughter in Portland. The audio was nice and clear on both ends. Then I find out that Skype only works on Wi-fi thanks to AT&T restricting band width! What? That totally sucks. Also the ABC Player and You Tube apps don't work in 3G either, or in the case of You Tube, you may get a downsized version, choppy and slow. Well, bummer for those who are paying for the unlimited 3G! All of those play just fine in Wi-Fi mode. Kinda makes you wonder why we all paid for the 3G version. So, for home use with wi-fi, everything is "groovy" but on the road, some major restrictions. For me, I will be happy to have the 3G when away from home and I can live without Skype (I'll use my cell phone) but will be bummed not to get to watch my favorite ABC programs. You Tube is no big loss to me as I rarely access it anyway.
I sprung for the Logmein app so I can access my home computer when away. At least I can print on my home printer that way, so any documents I may want printed will be waiting for me when I get back or when I get back in my office. I will definitely be using Evernote a lot. I just discovered not only can I download receipts and printed notes to my Evernote account, but also can do audio files too! Sweet!
The learning curve for this new device is pretty easy. I think it's going to be a great compliment to my other computing devices. I love how it conforms to me, I can hold upright , rightside up, or upside down, and as Steve Jobs says: "It just works". It may have taken Apple a heck of long time to get this product out, but it's a solid product and I think they got it right!

I feel like I missed out on Xmas!

2010-04-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I wasn't going to buy an Ipad.........seriously! I remember when I purchased my Kindle 2, telling my "Apple loving" son that I wished that Apple had come out with their mythical tablet/reader but it was not to be, (sigh). at least not in 2008, LOL

Now that it is real, I think back to what I disliked about the Kindle:

1) Really never got over that the screen contrast was grayish and had to attach a clip on light to read it in the movie theatre before the movie actually starts. I miss color too!
2) Yes, it has free 3G internet but the browser is totally antiquated! I hated how incrediable slow it was to load even the simpliest of pages. True, I could check and respond to Gmail, but it took forever! Turn a page, wait five minutes! Or so it seemed. Maybe it was only four.
3) As a book reader, yes, the Kindle was awesome. And I loved all the free books I could download even though I've barely read through the 81 on my unit!
4) I liked the size and portability of the K2. Very nice!

But ya know, I use my laptop much more, for the speed and ease of internet usage, email, etc.

So the Ipad makes sense to me. It corrects the things I didn't like about the Kindle, yet still gives me the portability I want to sitting on the porch or in a plane.

Back to my original Title line about Xmas! I read with a touch of envy of all the folks getting their brand spanking new Ipads today, whether from the UPS driver or standing in line like my Son did, to revel in the comraderie with fellow techno junkies. And yet, I don't get to play........yet.

I did go online late last night and ordered the 3G version (yes, I want internet access when at my Mom's house), so mine will be arriving sometime in the near future, maybe late April, but I'm betting on May. But hey, Apple, surprise me! I want so much to open up that "magical" box and get to play. It will be like Xmas morning! Just not today.

March comes in like a lion, and keeps coming and coming......

2010-03-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, March is a funny month here in the Pacific Northwest. It started out mild and sunny with promises of winter past. NOT!
Now, it cold, windy, and just downright miserable. We are going through the last pile of wood in our storage shed so am looking forward to getting back to some milder weather soon. Heck, my friend, Susan was commenting on her FB page about snow falling where she lives in southern Oregon a few days ago.
Not much to blog about this week, but we happen to wander over to our local feed store yesterday and found these adorable Bantum Partridge Cochin chicks who are now residing in a plastic bin in our dining room. Back in the day, we had chickens when we had kids in 4H. We love to just watch them for entertainment value. Of course a few fresh eggs ain't all bad either, but that's down the road.
In the meantime we get to enjoy their soft peeping and our dogs are going through massive jealousy!
Matt's birthday was yesterday, so I treated him to a filet mignon lunch at one of our finest resturants in Astoria. So nice to look out over the Columbia River while eating. It was such a quiet day for resturant, that the owner personally cooked and served our meal! It was absolutely scumptous and worth every penny. Course, it McDonalds from now on, LOL
Hope spring is happening where you live.

end of February

2010-02-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, the end of February and spring just around the corner for most of you. For us here in PNW, spring is already here! Thanks to "El Nino", we have had a very mild month as evident if you have been following the Olympic coverage in Vancouver, Canada. They have had unusually warm weather with slushy rain mix really playing havoc with all the skiing events! I find it interesting that the Olympic personnel having been spraying nitrogen fertilizer over the snow venues to "harden" the snow pack for the downhill skiiers! Even using dry ice in special tubes to hold up the moguls for competition.
Picture today is of a herd of elk in the field right behine our house. There were even four spikes in the herd, probably from last year's offspring. We always are thrilled to see these animals are they are quite impressive in size!
Plum trees are in full bloom and as I walked around the yard, I noticed tulips and irises starting to come up too. The honey bees are out and collecting pollen from the willow tree too.
Welcome March! Glad to see winter giving way to spring.