Note: I am writing these entries Sunday afternoon and am doing my best to remember the day and the events. I was too tired by the evening to attempt to write anything. Good thing I took a few photos!
Friday, April 3
My project for the day was to clean up the flower bed beside the greenhouse…
I wanted to clean up the Lemon Balm and transplant the bulbs in the barrel pot in the bare spot to the left of the arbor…
It didn’t take long to rid the Lemon Balm of the dead stems which made it look so much better…
This stuff smells so good. It’s mighty tasty in some iced tea, too. I need to study up its medicinal benefits. We have enough of it around here that I need to put it to some good use.
It took a little longer to transplant the bulbs but the ground was nice and soft making the digging of the hole much easier. After I got them transplanted I threw some mulch around them…
I have no idea what these will produce. I want to say irises but I’m not sure. They were thrown in there when CountryBoy was transplanting some Daylilies and they took off.
While I was working at the side of the house CountryBoy was tilling up the tomato garden at the back of the house…
Along with tomatoes we plan on planting carrots in amongst the tomatoes and bordering them with basil and marigolds. CountryBoy planted two varieties of asparagus off to the side of this garden the other day.
Once he was finishing tilling the tomato garden he attempted to till up some ground for my flower bed. Breaking grass with a tiller is tough and I was beginning to think that my new flower bed was going to be awash when along comes our neighbor in his tractor with the tiller attached. He had come to till up our garden…
We asked if he’d mind tilling up the new flower garden….
What perfect timing!
The new flower garden is roughly 10×12 and is to the side of the outhouse…
I’m really excited about this little 10×12 piece of the farm. This is my first attempt at having a flower garden and I’m crossing my fingers that it will be a success.
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Farm news: 28 eggs
Saturday, April 4
Today your neighborhood farmers were hard at it sowing some seeds in the freshly tilled garden. We started with a row of beets. Then a row of black-eye peas. Then it was on to three rows of potatoes. We still have a basket of seed potatoes that we cut and are waiting for the cut sides to dry before we plant them…
That basket will make a fourth row of potatoes.
I’m really not sure whether to call us farmers or gardeners. Maybe we’re a little of both? We’re certainly not commercial famers but we do try to grow enough to eat fresh during the season and to put up for winter. We also give away, barter or sell some of the extras. Does that qualify as a farmer? Hmmm.
In any case, once we did all that we took a short break on the front porch. Talk about gorgeous days! I can’t seem to get enough of the outdoors these days. In fact, I’m sitting out there now as I try and catch up on my journal entries soaking in the cool breeze and the peacefulness of the farm.
After our break I decided to tackle the new flower garden. I raked as many grass clumps out as I could and then hoed five rows. What a job! I thought for sure I would pay for it that evening in the way of stiff, sore, painful shoulders but it didn’t happen. whew.
My boss had given me some dried flower heads from her garden. I spent some time breaking them apart so that I could spread the seeds in my hoed rows…
Five small bowls of seeds and organic flower matter, one for each row. I spread a lot of seeds and matter into each row. If half of them sprout and become flowers it will be a lush flower bed full of flowers that can be cut to share, to put throughout the house and up in the cabin. Fingers crossed!
While I raked and hoed CountryBoy put up a fence and planted the sugar snap peas by it. I’m typically not a fan of green peas but these… I can eat these raw – pod, peas and all – and they’re delicious! This is our first time trying to grow some of our own.
Once I finished that I threw some lettuce seeds in the now empty barrel pot beside the greenhouse.
Needless to say, it was a productive day here at the farmstead…
… which means the busy season has begun. We’ll be checking the garden every day looking for signs of successful germination.
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While I was photographing the flower garden Missy stopped by to say hello…
She loves to help me take pictures, ha!
I walked over to check the fruit trees and we just may get some fruit this year…
… beautiful apple blossoms, above, tiny little peaches we’re hoping will fully ripen and maybe we’ll get some pears.
Fruit we’ve added to the farm since moving in are apples, peaches, pears, blueberries, blackberries, concord grapes and scuppernongs (muscadines). Fruit already on the farm are the sour cherries. Our first year we had wild black raspberries by the creek but, sadly, we lost those.
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Farm news: 31 eggs and no eggs in the egg fridge. I jokingly told CountryBoy we needed to get more chicks.
Dream Valley Farmstead 