Sunday, June 14, 2009

Tractor is back from the dead, and a really busy weekend

After a lazy week with our friend from Oregon, we had a lot of catching up to do outside. We just decided to take a week off of most everything and relax with her, so over the weekend we paid the price, lol.
The garden was so far out of control that it took me almost half of Saturday just to weed it. It's fine now, but I know I will NEVER let it get that far again, company or not. We sowed the 2nd double 45 foot row of beans, (total 90ft) so they won't come on at the same time as the first double-row. We made that mistake once, never again. We had one open row, and since we've been talking all spring and early summer about making our own sauerkraut, we put in a whole 45 foot row of cabbage, and around 8 feet of the next one. Though the turnips are looking great, the parsnips and beets never came up, so we had to re-sow them as well. Everything else though, is looking great.
The strawberries are producing a LOT of fruit from the smaller bed,and the second bed is just starting to ripen. After just 3 pickings, we already have around 15 pounds of berries in the freezer. When the bigger bed comes on, it will be a jam-making weekend for sure. I know we have plenty of pint jars, we'll just have to check the supply of seals and rings so they're all ready when it's time for the jam-athon. The other fruits are looking good too. The tiny dwarf apple tree's have small apples hanging on them, the grapes have tiny bunches of pin-head sized grapes already, and some of the new raspberries are showing signs of fruit. One day this week, I'll take a walk around the orchard next door and check on the grapes and blackberries there too....Something really tells me this is going to be a VERY VERY busy canning season!!

TAAA_DAAAA! The lowboy lives! After cleaning the carb, replacing points, condensor, cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires and changing the oil, she sprang to life like she was new. I *FINALLY* got to mow, and got it all done but the small area by the side of the house and the small area by the chickens, and ran out of gas.....figures, eh? hahaha Ah well, it can wait till tomorrow and I'll get it filled up. I'll need the gas to mow a second time anyway. It was so thick and high that it will need cut twice to look decent. If I'd let it go another week, I sware I would have had to have it baled....oops. Pffffft who cares anyway, it's grass. I can't eat it, so it comes last behind everything else.




















5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have no doubt that you would get that low boy going. You must have completely overhauled it!! lol Wow, you sure have a lot of strawberries. Yum. Wish we had a bowl full...hint, hint...debbie

Chris W said...

LOL yes we do have a lot of strawberries. You can't tell from that picture, but that is a 24" wicker basket.

Farmgirl Cyn said...

I have to find a you-pick to get strawberries....and try and get some help from someone much younger than me! I could get down, but I might not be able to get back up!

ChristyACB said...

My newly established strawberry bed didn't yield but a few pounds, but yours gives me hope for next year! Wow! I gotta say, what you do in a day is just astounding. Giving lessons?

Chris W said...

Cyn we always did the you-pick thing too, but I spent way less in root start plants than I did on one visit to the strawberry patch. Well worth the time and effort.

Christie, one thing about strawberries is don't let them fruit the first year. Pinch off the blossoms as they appear and let the plant grow and get established. They'll still send out runners to start new plants. Let those go but stay on the blossums. That STUFFED bed of ours was just 50 starts last spring.

Honestly, I do as much as I do cause I hate to just sit. There is always something to do, so I do all that I can, especially being home all day with this layoff.Besides, we rely on this garden to feed us. Every hour I spend working on it is less that we would otherwise have to spend at a grocery store. I don't mind the tradeoff at all.

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