Sep12

A look back, like a week and a half…

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I have mentioned before that it was really DRY here.  It didn’t rain for six weeks.  Due to this lack of rain, a lot of things died.  Those that did not die, suffered.  Here are a few photos.

Pathway through some peach trees to my house, dry grass.

Victory garden, the Japanese Maple Paul planted wilted and turned brown.  The tree is still alive, it just got heat stroke I guess.

View of Victory Garden from the deck.

The grass in front of my house.  I just couldn’t believe it.  It died.  But it has been raining, so now it’s green.

More views of Victory garden.

Suffering.

Herbs that died.  I believe this to be my oregano.

Sep12

Work, work and MORE work

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Thankful for the team of volunteers today, we were able to accomplish a lot.  Jason, Jen, Beth and I weeded, mowed, removed, moved, adjusted and pretty much kicked a bunch of chore ass.  Now, our north beds that had tomatoes in them are weeded and cleaned up and cages moved to a nearby spot, ready for next year.  I feel like I have more to say, just not now.  I think I need to get some pictures together for you all.  But, thanks again to some awesome, AWESOME volunteers.  Without them, there would be a lot more work for me to do!  Thank you!

Sep10

Energy was high today

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A volunteer, Rose, who has been coming out to the farm for the last few weeks came over today and helped me do some chores.  We added compost to my soon to be garlic bed for this year, took down the corn in the community garden and filled pots with potting soil which we seeded with spinach and cabbage.  I suggested we take the corn down in the community garden last because it was just something that needed to be done and I didn’t think it would take that much time.  However, it turned into a huge ordeal because after the corn was removed, we had a huge pile of stalks that had to go somewhere.  My suggestion was to feed it to the goats, which live on the other side of the farm.  I didn’t think of how heavy and awkward it would be to haul the corn stalks over there.  It was work and we had a brain child to go and get the truck to haul the cornstalks to the goats.  It was a lot of loading and unloading.  We were filthy at the end of it.  It was supposed to be a simple task, but it turned out to be more of a chore than we anticipated.

Sep9

Rain

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We have received an enormous amount of rain within the last couple of days.  It’s great, really…even though it’s a little too late, but I’m not complaining.  I’ll take it.  Lately, we have been pulling out summer crops, weeding and prepping for fall crops.  Paul broke his foot two weeks ago and hasn’t been able to do any work on the farm, so I have been up with the sun and taking care of business…and have witnessed a little “shoe on the other foot” action.  I didn’t realize all of the chores Paul did everyday.  Kudos.  It has in a way made me feel really bad-ass.  I have calluses on my hands, blisters upon blisters, I deal with chickens, twice daily……ehehhh.  He needs to heal.  I keep bugging Paul to blog.  He as a page at the top of this blog, but he says that he’s too busy.  Mmmmmhmmm.  Your foot is broken, you sit…I think you can type down some thoughts.  Please leave comments to let Paul know that his voice needs to be heard.  Thank you.

Sep6

Big Winners!

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So we went to the Washington County fair on Saturday to check up on our winnings.  Paul and I got a few blue ribbons and a handful of red for our overripe produce, which isn’t bad.  The big winners were Oliver and Isaac.  Isaac won a blue ribbon for his sunflower seed head as did Oliver.  Oliver also won the purple rosette grand champion ribbon for the junior field crop division.  I am so proud.  I was strutting around the horticulture building like a spring chicken, I’m surprised I didn’t win a blue ribbon for my strut.

Sep1

Ask and you shall receive

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So I spoke to soon on the dryness, or maybe the universe heard me and got the message because currently it’s pouring down rain. Buckets! I’m so happy, I feel the need to give a thank you speech, but I’ll spare you. Thank you rain. I love you.

Aug31

Guess what time it is!!!

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It’s County Fair time!  Yesterday Paul, the kids and I loaded up a basket full of farm grown goodies and headed to the Washington County fair grounds to enter them into the competition.  Both of the kids entered sunflower seed heads.  Paul and I entered in a plethora of things like okra, several varieties of tomatoes and peppers, onions, garlic etc.  Oliver is so excited to go and see if he has won a ribbon.  Calvin Bey was there, who is the local garden guru in these parts.  He greeted me with a nice hug and said “Go look at the baskets and see if you can guess which one is mine!”  What he’s talking about is a basket filled with five different things you the exhibitor have grown that you have not submitted in any other category.  Well, I looked at the baskets from far away and I could already tell that it wasn’t fair.  Calvin had blown away the competition again.  Stunning would be an understatement.  I told him in jest that it’s not fair to others who enter things in the fair…he’s that good.  The man had blueberries in his basket, BLUEBERRIES!  Who has fresh blueberries right now?  He said that this was probably going to be his last year entering things, but I know he’s fibbing.  You can’t keep a good man down, but you can try harder next year to have bigger onions.

Aug31

Dry and more dryness

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Our area of the world is extremely dry at the moment.  I returned to Arkansas from California anticipating rain and lushness.  It has not rained once since I’ve been back.  Due to this lack of moisture, a lot of our crops failed.  Here on the farm we have no water to irrigate with.  Well, we do, just no time or resources to make it happen.  We went into this year “dry farming”, which means we mulched the heck out of everything and let Mother Nature take over.  Imagine my fingers doing a pinching motion when I say we are this close to performing a rain dance.  Something has got to give!

A few days ago we planted lettuce, spinach, chard and kale seed in a bed in front of our house.  This means I have been hauling in water twice a day to water them in.  However, with low humidity and high winds I feel like my effort is futile.  We will see.

Aug10

Photo Essay

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So, I haven’t been able to update photos in a LONG time, so these re from last fall till the present.

Mr. Calvin Bey doing a walk around on the farm, checking the soil.

(L-R) Resident, Jesse Thomas, Calvin Bey, and myself…but don’t look at me, not one of my finest moments.

Community garden, the “Before”.

Work party, where farm residents helped to clear the space.

You’re welcome KB.

Christmas Eve snow.

Ice Storm 2010

The homestead.

Paul spent a whole day building this snow fort, which I wasn’t too happy about.  I would have caught hell if I would have wasted n entire day on that.

It lasted for weeks.

Paul found a salamander while digging.

Community garden.

The “After”.

Represent.

Plots in the community garden.

Orchard.

Planting potatoes.

Richard, the resident arborist giving pruning advice.

My onions!

The goats had babies!

El Fin.

Jul30

WE BE JAMMIN’!

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Strawberry, with and without sugar.  Raspberry, with and without sugar.  And as a special treat, apricot…all with sugar.  A little more than four dozen, in the bank baby!