Everyone, my lavender didn’t make it. It lost its will to live. I’m sad by this. When we were first talking about gardening, the first thing out of my mouth was “I want to grow lavender”. I envisioned long rows of it, with plants that were 6 ft. tall. Bees, and butterflies frolicking. The smell, the bunches of it that I wanted to sell at the market. Alas it wasn’t to be this year. I hope this doesn’t bust you up inside as it did I. We can all get through this together.
Paul stumbled on to a video of these people on you tube maybe a year or so ago. I tried to post the link to that video, but it wouldn’t post. Could also be user error. However, you should watch their you tube video. Just query “Urban Homestead”. It’s the very first video. I hope inspires a few of you. Also, here’s a link that decided to paste, of their web site. Enjoy.
I hope everyone is enjoying the sun, hot dogs, and cheap beer. Last night and this morning Paul, our neighbor Doris, and I cleaned picked and cleaned some greens. After the weigh in this afternoon we are sitting on 14 pounds. Thank you Doris for your help. What a difference just one extra set of hands and eyes make. We are to deliver 29 pounds of lettuce for this coming up week. So tonight, needless to say we will be picking some more. In my opinion, I think our lettuce has hit its zenith and is now on the decline. The stems are getting longer and more hardy. To my glee and satisfaction if it were the case. I don’t know though and only time will tell. I would like to stretch it out for a few more weeks, possibly 4 more weeks until our bell peppers are around. We have some pepper plants that have set fruits. That’s going to be exciting when those start growing out of control. I haven’t bought a bell pepper since last summer, and I don’t intend to. Paul and I need to start thinking about mulch options. Our tomato plants, and basil plants are going to need a mulch over the top to conserve the soil moisture. Right now the heat is on in northwest Arkansas. All spring up until this point has been nice and mild and then BAM, it’s 90 degrees.
Paul says that he doesn’t feel the same way about the lettuce that I do. He’s not keeping it real. To each his own. He can feel however he wants though, it’s not his blog.
No rhyme or reason, just random thoughts that I have to get out. Let me apologize now if I offend anyone or anything. I hate the lettuce biz. When we planted it, I remember thinking such great thoughts ‘Oh lettuce, may you grow and be of plenty, and feed the locals’. We said prayers, we kissed seeds, we thanked them for what they were about to do for us, and those around us. Now, that’s all fine and well, but lettuce is a bitch. She’s doing us dirty right now. Even though our lettuce is producing like mad, feeding the hungry of Fayetteville and surrounding communities, it’s so time consuming it’s almost not worth it. Wait, strike the word “almost”. Paul and I are stuck in lettuce prison. We are slaves to it, washing, spinning, drying, again and again, until we start seeing imaginary things. I just need to stop right here though, before this blog gets rated R. Just know it’s no fun, it’s a lot of work, and we only get $4.50 a pound. Moving on. We had our field mowed down for the hay. Our neighbors across the street (Bob and Wendy) break and train horses, and brokered a deal with us for the hay. I would have even been ok with them just taking it for free because it’s tall grass that snakes like to live in, and I want it gone. It is nice though when they offer you cash. It was madness. We met all of our neighbors the day it was being cut. There were so many cars in my yard, people stopping to see what was going on. I used the word “gang bang” to describe the chaos. “It was quite the gang bang over here today wasn’t it Paul”. Annoying might have been a better word. It was annoying that everyone showed up, and kept showing up. It was as if they had never seen hay cut before. Well, that might not even be the right word. It was a lot of ‘Hi, who are you?’. A few days later they came back and raked it, and baled it, and some young, strapping bucks, and their sister, mom, and grandpa came to load the hay onto a trailer and hauled it away. EEEEeeeeehhhhh. For goodness sake they were all very nice people, and it’s nice to finally know more of the neighbors. Let’s keep moving shall we? On Mother’s Day, I planted a bunch of tomato plants and bell pepper plants. As of today, they are all doing well. We also bought some tomatillo starts at a local farm store. I’m excited about the tomatillos. Get ready Chuy. I planted 6 dahlias, and about 50 gladiola bulbs. I also picked up a peony. Let’s see if they all live. I think that’s enough for now. Enjoy the rest of your day knowing that you don’t have to pick and clean lettuce.
hours in the hot sun, gotta get the work done
wilt spots fill my eyes, pick them out
enough to make you scream and shout:
I have so much more I need to do!
I’ve got the lettuce blues
I planted some seeds today, all over the place. Come summer, this place will look like a wild jungle with all of the flowers and vegetables. We are also taking some time to work on my herb garden. Paul is filling it in with flat stones so you can walk through it. I think he’s going a little overboard, but that’s just between us. Don’t forget to call your mother.
So Becky came over and gave Paul and I a lesson in raising baby chickens. Apparently they need to eat greens, and sand. I kind of knew about the sand, because they have gizzards, yadda yadda, but I was under the impression that they get all of their good stuff from the chick starter. I guess not. Sorry chickens. Now we’ve got it under control.
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