Found a Filé Tree

Found an ear of corn I had missed. Now I've got more seeds for next year. That always makes me smile.

Farm Studies

I needed to get the grass in for composting but Pearce didn't want to get a shower before we went to eat. He's also got a test tomorrow. So, he drove the truck and I loaded the grass. During the down times while I was tossing grass into the bed he was rereading his notes.

Plucked and Shucked

Guess What’s Going on the Table Tonight

Irregular Irrigation Repair

Had a hose damaged in a lawn mowing incident. Ok, we lost about 6ish feet. I cut the mangled part out and spliced the good stuff back together. Now I have 2.66 hoses. I'll just have to see how far they reach.

Maundy Thursday Potato Barrel Prep

Pearce and Claire helping to get ready to plant potatoes tomorrow. I couldn't figure out how to show the annual listening to the Good Friday Potato message, but that's how we got started.
Years ago Dad used to call to remind me to plant my potatoes on Good Friday. He also reminded me how to plant them every year. I saved the last one. We listen to it on Holy Week every year.
Claire's contribution is that y'all get to see Pearce and I working on the barrel.

Garlic Crop 2020

Despite a late start I've got 7 potential bulbs so far. We planted 10 or 12. We may get a few more poke their heads out but seven is a good number for the chaos that is my farming.

Better Late Than Never

Didn't get the garlic in the ground in October and it was nearly Thanksgiving before I put some in pots. Got some bulbs from a farmer friend, Brandon Williams, and put them in some of my "garden pots." This weather we're having is helping redeem the late planting. It's nice that I don't have to water them either, yet.

Compost Cowboy

... Next

A tomato has donated some sprouts to our late season maters. I believe it came from jazzing up the spaghetti my beautiful gorgeous wife fixed yesterday. Really I'll be amazed if one of them makes it all the way. We'll just have to see.

Guess What I’ve Found in My Backyard.

Kin and the Art of Lawnmower Maintenance

It’s Been Awhile Hasn’t It

Growing some stuff again. Got three tomatoes from a friend and I'm going to start some REALLY late potatoes tomorrow. Not much but enough to say I did it.

The Bees Will Have the Buffet

From the scout to full on feeding frenzy. The Bee Gs (girls and guy) are trying a new feeding method. Seems the bees were hungry and needed a larger amount of food per feeding. It's not exactly how I want to use poultry waterers, but it is a wonderful idea. They can hold two gallons and that's a bit more than a mason jar.

Junior Beekeepers Unite

We put some pie pans filled with rocks out for watering the bees. This idea came thanks to a post Becky shared. It talked about bees drowning because they don't have anywhere to land and rest while imbibing. Pearce and I have experienced this, finding at least 10 dead bees in the wading pool.

Of course the munchkins had to get there pics taken with the "bee troughs". 

I never thought about bees needing water, but they do. Kristi keeping bees is turning out to be a real education. The only hard thing is desensitizing the kids to the bees. They are so funny. They'll stand next to one of the hives for 5 minutes then run when you tell them they're near a hive.

Got a Beat Down Today

The rain was a good thing ... and a bad thing. We needed the rain, but it came down so hard my sprouts suffered some damage.

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Calypso Cucs

Summer Squash

It seems the Calypso sprouts did the best out of all my plants. I need to get these babies in the ground.

Scouting the Garden

We are doing a program on planting a garden at scouts for an elective adventure for the Wolves. We planted tomatoes, cucumbers and squash last week. These are pictures of the results of one week's growth for Pearce and "auxiliary" Wolf Claire's seeds.

Funny thing about doing this adventure is that the scouts and Claire are all old hands at gardening. 

These will constitute the deck garden here at the house. We'll transplant the sprouts to big pots and keep them on the deck for easy access. 

Who Said Volunteerism is Dead

This right here is my absolute favorite kind of volunteering. I never planted garlic last year but, low and behold, I've got two of those suckers in the raised bed by the bees. Didn't see them till after I hit the bed with the weed eater. Can't wait to see if they turn good 'uns.

1 Seed, 2 Seed, 3 Seed, 4.

Pearce and Claire were actually fighting over who got to remove the seeds from the flower head. I guess we'll save two heads this year.

The Great Frame Up

This is the floor frame. Just a few screws in strategic locations to firm things up.

The long pieces from these pallets will be the lumber for framing the sides of the coop. I don't think I'll have enough slats to make safe sides for the coop though