Today in the Garden - April 21

When the end of the day rolls around my CLO (Chief Logistics Officer - Roger) and I start to wonder if we have really accomplished anything. Not a lot of things on our to-do list seem to get crossed off. So today we decided to work really hard and figured maybe we could get a few more things scratched off that darn list.

1. Plant new rhubarb starts.

 Of course that meant we had to dig up the purple coneflowers that were right next to where the rhubarb was to go, pull up the plastic that was smothering the weeds in the rhubarb bed, and lay out some landscape fabric. And as long as the fabric was out, why not lay some down by the raspberry bushes. And that meant that first the grass had to be mowed short. I needed my tape measure to figure out how far apart to dig the holes for the rhubarb. Since it was down in the greenhouse I decided to check out the newly planted corn while I was there and also see how warm it was getting in the hoop house. Glad I checked it out -it was like a sauna in there! I had to open it up and hang the deer netting over the doors so the deer didn't go in and sample my "salad bar" of plants in there.

(Add to tomorrows list:

1.      pot-up coneflowers
2. put wood chips on landscape fabric
3. mow around rest of garden

 

Heading back to the garden I noticed that Chickadees were moving into the birdhouses in the front yard. They left tell-tale grass hanging out their front door.

Add “4. fill bird feeders"

I also noticed that Roger's truck was covered in pollen -

guess we need to add

"5. wash truck"

Back in the garden I thought about the fact that it hadn't rained much in the last 2 days and, since it was pretty warm out, the new Walla Walla onion transplants were demanding water. We haven't needed any irrigation equipment yet this year, so that means everything was still hanging up in the shop. But before we could run the hoses from the well to the garden we had to find and dig out the PVC pipe that we thread the hose through under the driveway. Winter rains had filled the ends with sand and it needed to be washed out. Then all we had to do was hook up the hose, turn it on and water.

It was getting down right hot out in the new rhubarb bed. We had measured, dug some holes and added compost. Time to sit in the shade for a few minutes and stay hydrated. Don't want to over-do it on the first "over 70 degree day this year".  Ahhh. While we were resting, a very pregnant deer ambled by us - maybe 30 feet away. She didn't seem to be bothered by us - what harm could a couple of old codgers do anyway?

 Okay, enough lazing around...back to work. The rhubarb plants were soon tucked into their new home and watered in. All we had left to do was clean up and put our tools away.

Roger figured he even had time to make one swipe of the lawn mower down the grassy strip in the middle of the driveway. An hour later he was still riding the mower back and forth in the pasture. The grass was really too long there for the lawn mower. Tomorrow he'll do it right.

6. hook up mower deck to tractor
7. mow rest of pasture

At the end of the day, all we got to cross off our 5 item to-do list was

"plant rhubarb".


We accomplished only 20% of our goals today. A pretty low score.

But, satisfaction with our life - that's another story. It's pretty high.
 It's 100%

True Love

I told Roger about my dream of starting a nursery/greenhouse business.

His reply? "How can I help you make it happen?"

And this is what he did for me.

New Hoop House.

True Story.

True Love.

McMinnville Saturday Market

It's official!

Cherry Hill Farm Natural Food will be a part of the McMinnville Saturday Market starting on May 5th.

My plant starts are growing like weeds. I'm practicing putting the canopy tent up and down. My display signs are all designed and will soon be laminated. The Cherry Hill Farm banner will be ordered tomorrow. The last of the cucumbers were planted today. Corn seeds will be planted tomorrow. A batch of seedless raspberry jam will be made next week.

I'm really excited about this new adventure!

Now, if only the weather will cooperate and give gardeners some nice warm, sunny weather.

Was the Work This Hard When I Was Younger?

The older I get, the less I get done in a day.

I remember how slowly my Mom moved. Now I am moving at that pace too. When did this happen?

I had hoped to get the soil-less mixture for the new raised bed boxes mixed and the boxes filled, the sunflowers for the Saturday Market transplanted, the hoop house and greenhouse plants organized, the lemon, pickling and slicing cucumber seeds planted, the corn seed started and labels made for all the newly repotted plants.

It was too windy up here on the top of the hill to make the mix for the raised beds today. Vermiculite and peat moss was flying all over. Hopefully tomorrow will be calmer. And the pickling cukes and corn will have to wait for tomorrow too.

I love what I'm doing, though. Having my own nursery/greenhouse business has been a dream of mine for years. My bout with breast cancer has given me a different perspective on things. One of the questions I asked myself was if I had only a year left to live, what would I regret not having done.

And now I am blessed to be living my dream.

April Sunshine

Last Monday was the first sunshiney day we'd had in a long time. There was so much on my garden to-do list that I had to choose only the few things I knew could be finished in one day. The rain returned the next day . Sigh.

A couple of days a week Roger and I watch our 2 year old and 4 year old granddaughters, so we had extra helpers in the garden that day. Savannah helped Grandpa make frames for the strawberry boxes that will hold up the crop protection cloth now and the bird netting later in the season.

Roger pieced these together with pipe leftover from the hoop house we're making. They turned out really well. With the cloth in place the strawberries will ripen over a month early. And when the weather warms up I'll replace the cloth with some bird netting. This year the strawberries will be mine! (Last year the birds got my first crop of berries. I had noticed that the berries were getting big and juicy and figured that I should get them covered up soon. I headed to my local Lowe's to get some netting and by the time I got back home most of the berries were gone.)

Strawberry season here we come!

Cherry Hill Farm - New Year's day 2012

What a gorgeous day!

58 degrees, sunny....warm enough

to leave the patio door open for some much needed fresh air.

If this is any indication of what the year will be like, it's gonna be a good one!

The garden was calling my name this morning.

No way was I going to spend it indoors organizing the file cabinets or sorting the grandkids toy closet.

I've been looking at my seed catalogs lately,

dreaming about all the beautiful flowers and veggies that will be

growing in my garden this spring.

Guess it's time to do some garden clean up and get it all ready.

Today I pulled out my fall crop of snow peas, uncovered the strawberry beds, dug the last of the carrots, cut down the old bean vines, composted the dead rhubarb leaves, pruned out last season's raspberry canes and pulled out the dead cosmos and marigold plants

(there will be a lot of volunteer plants in the garden this year, lol)

I know that there will still be a lot of grey, soggy, dreary days ahead before our

glorious Oregon spring weather gets here, but today gave me some much needed time outdoors.

 My spirit feels renewed & recharged!

update on my update

Tonight we are sleeping in a real bed. With pillows. And in a warm room. The hotel opened back up today. We are on the 7th floor. Only the first floor was flooded. No hot water, but that doesn't matter to us. Really appreciating the small things.

Our boys left for hunting yesterday. They are sleeping on cots. No hot water. And loving every minute. Guess it all depends on your perspective. LOL