Happenings around the home place

Holes in a nylon flag

Holes began to appear in the white areas of the flag out front.  I had no idea what was causing it until I noticed this:

Apparently red wasps were chewing out the holes in the nylon flag.  Anyone have insight into why they were doing this?  I have since replaced it with a tougher polyester flag and the wasps have left it alone.

BIS high efficiency fireplace

During the winter, our main heat source is an EPA certified high efficiency wood fireplace with a blower.  Having moved in February, we got to use it some.  It kept the upstairs and livings areas nice and warm and burned 6-7 hours between loadings, but it wasn't sufficient to heat the peripheral rooms fully.  We had to use the central furnaces in the mornings to take the nip off.  While we were pleased with its performance, the wood I gathered from the property at the time wasn't fully dried and wasn't optimum.

Logs left by the previous homeowner

Wood split and stacked

I've been splitting existing logs and cutting dead standing timber to build a dry stockpile for the coming winter months.  There's something very satisfying about heating with wood and having good log pile put up.

Quick garden update

Stewed tomatoes, peppers, white onion, and cilantro.

Moving into the new home place in February, there wasn't much chance to build beds and build up the soil.  Salsa ingredients aren't demanding and tolerate unprepared soil well, so I planted the both existing beds with tomatoes, onions, and peppers.  Knowing that I would be busy with many other things, I eschewed open pollinated varieties and planted Burpee hybrid Romas.  Despite the unusually long stretch of 105+ degree days and low rainfall, they have produced admirably.  So much so that they shaded out the peppers and onions to a degree.

Existing raised bed

Tomatoes, peppers, and onions

Pepper with wood mulch

GARDEN EXPERIMENT:  The new place had a large pile of wood mulch onsite when we bought it, so I planted half the garden with 4" wood mulch and the other half with 4" of straw.  I have seen no discernible difference in growth or production between the different mulches.  Good to know.