This intriguing fellow is only one of the fun finds galore on gardening days at our place! He was so not happy, that “grin” is really a snarl, if you can’t tell! Yikes!
This picture, gingerly taken by soil-dirty fingers belonging to yours truly, shows you the view from my garden facing North, toward our house. Behind the red tiller is our puppy run, current home to three adorable Australian Shepherd puppies. See our Suburban behind my potato patch? The potato patch I’m forever scaring our chickens out of. My hubby swears he is going to catch me on film and turn it into millions on “Funniest Home Videos”–I guess I’m rather a hilarious sight to behold, giving those hens a piece of my mind for enjoying the loose soft dirt around my taters. Poor taters–er, chickens.
Tonight, at 10 p.m., on my way back to the house after shutting our chickens up for the night…I just couldn’t resist a visit to my garden.
It’s one of those cool, rustly summer nights. If the wind in our state could ever be termed “peaceful”, it is tonight. Loving the sound of it in the treetops, I panned my flashlight through the garden fence, tiptoeing to the old wooden gate as if my light hadn’t already scared away those pesky rabbits who made away with my cauliflower and lettuce transplants a few weeks ago. But even the rabbit raids make for great memories, as my eldest and her daddy have taken to “rabbit hunting” with their rifles at dusk. They’ve eliminated a few rabbit pests from the property in past weeks. I’ve eliminated rabbits from my garden with good old cayenne pepper on the plants. *Smile* (Thanks for the tip, hubby’s mom!)
The garden is dry, in spite of the wonderful rain we received on Tuesday. I bend to pull some weeds in my lettuce bed and realize I’m unearthing radishes–oops. Best save weeding for daylight. Weeding wasn’t meant to be done by the glow of the moon anyway. About as unromantic as a gardener that mistakes radish tops for weeds. Ah-hem.
I’ve meant all spring to write a post about the fun we had making soil blocks at Farmer John’s, which we planted and stowed beneath grow lights in the basement. Perhaps I still will post about it, I’ve got some great pics to share, and soil blocking is a super fun and economical way to start seeds. The second picture on this page showcases my Romaine and Sala
d Bowl lettuce still in flats on planting day several weeks ago!
Here’s a picture of my wide row of yellow onions, the first thing in the garden–pic taken back in April. I’d love to keep a garden journal, from year to year, not only for the memories, but for the practicality of having a record. My memory is mush when it comes to details. Too many in my life already!
And last but not least, my garden is full of these homemade stone markers. Since we grew most of our plants with the help of grow lights, we needed garden stakes or markers to know 
what was growing where. Rather than buy blank stakes and keep track that way, my girls and I decided to paint stones. Here’s the one we did for “cherry tomatoes”. For watermelon, we painted a triangle shaped rock pink with a green “rind” and dotted it with dark brown seeds…
This will be our first year gardening “organically”. I do hope the cutworms and squash bugs don’t dampen my resolve at first sighting! I keep asking Farmer John about organic pest control, and he keeps saying…vigilant patroling of plants and a lot of bug picking.
Joy.
Speaking of Joy. My mom would agree that our favorite gardening book of all time is The Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond. Farmer John thinks it’s a must have as well. If you even think you might want to learn about gardening, this is a book you won’t be able to put down. It’s full of great pictures, how-to’s and tips from a pro on everything from starting seedlings, to tilling, creating raised soil beds, wide row techniques, composting and root cellar storage. I even take my copy to the garden with me, and have dirt smudges on the pages to prove it.
Who all is growing veggies this summer? Do you have a favorite book on the subject? Organic pest control tips? I’d love to hear them in comments!
In March, I turned down Farmer John’s generous offer of some of his rhubarb crowns to start some rhubarb in my own garden. ”No thank you,” I said, thinking that rhubarb was so unpleasantly tart there was no way my family would ever benefit from having the stuff on our place. Silly me. What *was* I thinking?
Rhubarb Crisp
“Farmgirl livin’ makes for a more cheerful person, no matter where you are. It’s hard to describe in words what that means–you just know; you just live it.” ~Michaela Rosenthal, in the Apr-May issue of MaryJane’s Farm magazine
Aren’t these “cackleberries” purty?
brooder house, completely wrapped in chicken wire so no bad guys can harm the tenants. This project kept dh and I busy till 1 am the night before–nothing like waiting till the last minute…
ept them nice and warm, and we had no casualties! Yay!
ence! Behind that grain bin is a nice expanse of green grass, home to our two field pens. When they are full of chicks, I get to traipse down the hill twice a day to check their feed and water, croon at them a bit, and move their pen to fresh grass. Thus the term: Pastured Poultry.
A horrible sight greeted me in the field pen this morning. Let me preface this gory tale by saying I haven’t experienced this scale of blood boiling murderous rage and trembling hysteria ever! And all over a chicken!
and appreciate the unique approach of this lifestyle.
Then the three girls did a ten minute presentation on the first five books of the Old Testament, courtesy of their Grandpa’s teaching them his Walk-Thru-The-Bible this past school year every Friday morning. My oldest prompted her sisters through each book, sharing chapter titles, highlights and easy ways to remember key events and places the Israelites stayed as God moved them through these books. We used a big map of Old Testament lands to trace the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Joshua. The funny/embarrassing moment during this presentation came when our youngest decided–in a fidget–to remove her button up sweater and twirl it around her shoulders and head 
and in the air above her…finally our oldest snagged the wayward sweater, amidst giggles and blushings, and they got back on task.
But the best part of the evening was the grand finale…a skit done by my good friend and her husband and three kids about the importance of being a good witness when under conviction!
Amy
Rather than cutting this part off and teaching my kids it is “yucky,” I’ve taught them that it’s good. (I guess this mostly comes from laziness!!)
I’m over at Writer…Interrupted today! Come on over and read my post, 
t’s a great day to put a basket together and leave it on your neighbor’s doorstep…how sneaky can you be?
Ever since that first unseasonably warm week in February–when in shock and awe we shut the corn stove off and bought a watermelon to celebrate–my three girls have been begging to go fishing.
ng up the evening sky as only prairie fires at the hands of control-burn-happy ranchers do. Already wildflowers and five inch shoots of spring grass green up the rocky hillsides. We have the pasture to ourselves, and entering through the third gate, a mile or so away, destination pond comes in sight.
We caught our share of little guys, and not wanting to be “baby killers” we, of course, let them go–humane jokes galore.
We fished almost the entire perimeter of the pond, breathing our woo-hoo’s to each other at each catch, unwilling to disturb the peace or scare the fish, either way. As the sun went down, we packed up and counted the past 3 1/2 hours ti
me well spent on a Saturday night…and it wasn’t over yet!
