Our daytime temps are in the eighties and it’s dry. So dry that Will has been able to get out and disc up our new corn and pumpkin patch, raising dust even!
I’ve got the garden nearly all planted, putting in two varieties of sweet corn, Espresso and Miracle, to try this year; Provider bush beans, three varieties of squash, and millions of tomatoes. Okay, maybe not millions but 30 different open pollinated ones, plus a few hybrids such as Sun Sugar, Super Marzano, Indigo Kumquat, and Sweet Million. I’m done with tomatoes! Whew!
But we’re looking at the new corn/pumpkin patch and thoughts of expanding our garden flit through our minds. But it’s a patch about 250′ x 250′ and that’s a lot of whatever we plant!
I’ve got to till the old strawberry spot in the berry patch where I’ll be planting Glass Gem popcorn and some cucumbers. The weeds got bad the year we fell off the barn roof and we finally gave up and plowed our strawberry patch under. This year we’ll keep it tilled and mulched and maybe next year we’ll do strawberries again there. Will saved our patch by the house by digging up all of the strawberries, pulling all of the grass/weeds from the roots, tilling the patch up, then re-planting the clean strawberries in black plastic.
It’s hot today so we’re taking it easy during the heat of the day. Then this afternoon, it’s back to work. Will’s been hauling manure from the area of the cow pasture where he fed round bales all winter. But both yesterday and today he had equipment breakdowns and it’s going kind of slow with only seven loads having been spread on our little hayfield below the goat pasture. By the way, that little field looks wonderful. I think back to five years ago when it was just willow brush, stumps, and rotten logs and am simply amazed! Shows what a little work, a bulldozer, and lots of manure can do. The clover and orchard grass are already eight inches tall and very lush. We’re supposed to get rain this weekend and with that manure on it, it will simply shoot up. — Jackie
Linda Bee,
Well, work is sort of like child birth; you soon forget the sweat, groaning and pain when you see the results. Then it’s all worth it. We just keep plodding along every day, then look back on all we’ve accomplished and feel awe.
Wally,
Ha ha. The tractor got stuck and is still stuck and the dozer threw a track while Will was going to pull it out. Then it rained four inches….and another three…. Oh well, ain’t farmin’ fun? Yep, we DO need a corn planter. Maybe a Craigslist wtb ad would work.
Holly,
You made me smile. Yes it does sound familiar. You might try using Wall’O Waters around your tomatoes and peppers when you plant them or use a small hoop house BEFORE the first spraying of your neighboring fields. It might just save them from chemical drift. Worth a try, huh?
Did you really say …”With a little work…”!!! I am in awe with all you two accomplish, and I’m envious of your passion and commitment to your homestead.
I think you might need a corn planter to plant that much corn. I think you should try a “wanted to buy” ad on Craigslist.
I am glad to see Will made it home and the tractor doesn’t appear to be getting stuck anymore.
Good luck your new fields, Jackie & Will. We have been spraying (yuck) to go after the wormwood – invasive species here – the last few years, but we are winning the battle and have good grass coming in. I planted tomatoes and peppers in the last two days while the neighboring commercial farmers with their 45 foot spray booms did their fields. Now I will see if any of my stuff survives this year. It will be a first if it does, but you have to keep trying! We cut trees, pulled stumps and dug out huge granite boulders to make a place in our sad shelter belt for 2 Haroldson apple trees, 2 Honeycrips and 1 Lucious and one Parker pear tree. It took nearly 2 weeks, a broken chain, broken chainsaw and the loss of a radiator hose on the big tractor – but we got them in. (Sounds familiar, huh?)
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