Gardening and Other Frustrations

“Gardens are a form of autobiography.”

Sydney  Eddiston

So true.  My garden is now a disaster area.

I spent yesterday morning being very concerned about my chickens, as there was a couple of hawks lurking around.

After they left (the hawks) I spent some time transplanting my seedlings into individual trays.

peek at the leeks

bak choy oh boy

mostly carrots with bok choy on the side

Then, I thought I would go take a look at the garden.

OMG!!!!! *#($&#)@*(#$&)

The gate was open and the neat, ordered weed matting and wheat straw was ALL OVER THE PLACE!

I had no lettuce left, no cabbage left.  The three mature collard plants I did have had the leaves eaten off.  Half of the onion sets were scratched up and the other half buried with wheat straw.  Even my irrigation hose was pulled up.  I literally stood there and cried. 

After I had saved them from the hawks!!

I went in and repaired as much as I could.  I still had some collard babies left and the peas seemed to be untouched.

And, of course, there was insult to injury.  When Jim got home and I told him what had happened, he said "Yeah, I saw them in there and wondered why you had let them in."

GAAAAAAH!!!!!!!

He had seen me in there with a hoe, making rows and setting the onions.  He had seen me in there laying down the matting.  I TOLD him I needed more straw to finish between some of the rows.  Ya think he would at least come to ask me about it....

I heard the hawks again this morning.  

I didn't go out.

bak bak

Springy Springy, Weathers Dingy

Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day.
Elizabeth Bowen

First of all, sorry about missing last week, but things were pretty hectic.  Our piano player Miss Lila died early Monday morning and the funeral was Wednesday.  It was a very good send off and she would have liked it.  There was mountains of food, as befits a southern funeral.  Then I had to get the music done for Sunday and the preacher didn't call til 9 pm so I chose some on my own.  But the ones I wanted only had organ.  After the service, I was told, in no uncertain terms, by our friendly neighborhood organic farmer not to do THAT again.  Sheesh.  You can't please all of the people all of the time.

Anyhoo, here we are again.

It was 75 degrees today.  The peach trees are budding, the blueberries are putting out and the bugs are thriving.  We will probably get another freeze before it is all over so I probably not get any peaches.

The stuff I have planted so far is starting to come up.

the onions are running

my tiller was on the fritz so I turned the soil and made the onion rows the old fashioned way, with a hoe.  My hands have gotten soft over the winter so I got a hefty blister, even with gloves.  It was glorious.

Tom...

toms

The tomatoes sprang up literally overnight, and were there this morning.

let us

collards

cabbage

The lettuce, the cabbage and the collards pretty much look the same at this stage.

last years beets

I was very surprised to find out that beets are perineals.  I obviously can't use the bottoms any more, but the greens are very good, so I spaced them out and left them.

carrots, bok choy and leeks

The carrots, bok choy and leeks are new to me this year.  We'll see how they do.

garden pea(king)

And, the peas are starting to come up.

I got the tiller back today and will try it out this weekend.

In the meantime, I've got to calk Nancy's pump house tomorrow, arrange Gmar's taxes, depoop the chicken house (my eyes were burning when I collected the eggs this afternoon).  Bad ME.  Clean my room and bathroom, wash the stinky dog, prep my green team lesson, do the music for Sunday, straw in the onions, file some paperwork, and take time to add 5-6 more things to the list.

But I still love the country.

Closing with chick flick:

bak bak

Ups and Downs

Life is like a roller coaster, it has it's ups and downs. It's your choice to just scream and enjoy the ride. - unknown First of all, Happy Valentine's day.

kiss kiss

It has been a week  of ups and downs around here.

UP:  I finally got myself back to the gym yesterday.  One of the owners called to check up on me since I had been absent for more than one week.  You won't get that in the big city!  

DOWN:  I'm off my diet again.  I got bored with all that cooking.  The food was great, but fixing it is a chore, so I have to come up with a new idea to keep on track.  I lost a lot of ground in the past week and 1/2.

UP:  I got all of my above ground seeds planted.  The peas, the collards, the cabbage and the lettuce went directly into the garden.  The peppers, the tomatoes, the eggplant and others went into the trays.

DOWN:  I went to prep the garden area for the planting and the tiller wouldn't start. We tried everything, so now Jim has to take it to the people who fixed it last year to see what is wrong.  I ended up preping the rows the old fashioned way.  With a hoe.

UP:  The day after the planting, it rained.

DOWN:  The day of the planting, I went to water the seeds in the trays and I had the watering can too full.  The water came out a little harder than I wanted and I flooded several of the tray rows, so I think that all my seeds are now mixed up.

UP: The girls are happy now that they only have one rooster to deal with.  I am getting 6-7 eggs pretty regularly now.  They got an extra treat a few days ago.  Jim came across a deer with two broken legs on the way home and had to shoot it.  The cockers got the heart and lungs.

DOWN:  Our 93 year old pianist at church went from being healthy as a horse to stage 5 cancer.  She had absolutely no pain, except in her back, then she went to the hospital cause she was feeling poorly and became jaundiced, and they found cancer in her pancreas.  We are all so shocked.  I have been picking up the musical slack by downloading and burning CD's of the hymns we need.

UP:  I got my lemon trees today.  Last year I discovered (long story) a lemon tree that could withstand the cold weather up here and finally found the place to order them.  So I ordered two of them and they arrived today.  I do need to put them in a fairly protected place but with full sun.  I'm not sure where that will be yet.

DOWN:  One of my cousin's husband is now in the hospital in Greensboro with cancer.  It seems like cancer has been the ugly news this week.

And I will end with UP:

I got my tourist information on Kentucky yesterday.  July can't get here soon enough!!

bak bak

Pilgrim's Progress

“While farmers generally allow one rooster for ten hens, ten men are scarcely sufficient to service one woman.” - Giovanni Boccaccio (Italian poet and scholar, 1313-1357

Yes Folks, Pilgrim has gone on to a better place. Oh he hasn't died or anything, he just moved on down the road a bit.  I had to get rid of him cause he was tearing up my girls.  They were losing too many feathers.  I guess that Giovanni was right.  10 hens one rooster. So Jim took him to put in with 1 rooster and 100 hens.   Apparently, Jim is having a cat problem at the chicken bus.  He has one rooster in with the layers, but needs more protection, so Pligrim gets a new job. So JW can breathe easier.  For now. On other fronts: Tomorrow is above ground seed planting.  My trays are ready for the indoor seeds.  For my peas, I had to prep the pea row in the garden.  This means that the cockers are now banned.  They HATE it. So the first order of business was to get the weeds out with the grubbin hoe. A bit of southern lingo at this point.  In the rest of the country, this particular instrument is called a mattock.  Here, it is a grubbin hoe.  NOT GRUBBING HOE.  Grubbin hoe. grubbin hoe So I went to the hand tool storage area in the carport shed, and, yup, you guessed it.... Ring Ring Jim:  Hello Ann: Do you have my grubbin hoe? Jim: Yes, I needed it at Nancy's. Ann:  I need my grubbin hoe Jim:  Well you wanted me to get Nancy's well house done* *NOTE:  it is now my fault that I do not have my grubbin hoe   Ann:  Could you please bring my grubbin hoe home with you this afternoon? Jim:  OK NOTE:  Nancy owns at least one grubbin hoe.  So, the next day, I grub all the weeds up along both sides of the fence line, where my peas will go.  I am now ready to form my row.  I go to the garden tool area of the carport shed to get my garden hoe (yes, a regular hoe). Ring Ring Jim:  Hello Ann:  Do you have my garden hoe? Jim:  Umm.  It's at Nancy's. Ann:  I need my garden hoe. Jim:  I'm at Dean's house getting the windows installed.  Do you want me to quit this job to get your hoe?* *NOTE:  It is now my fault that I would interrupt this job just to get my garden hoe back. Ann:  Could you bring my garden hoe back when you come home this afternoon? Jim:  OK NOTE:  Nancy has at least one garden hoe. I got my garden hoe back and made my row for the peas tomorrow. I'm putting my pea seeds in the safe tonight to make sure they are not confiscated to decorate Nancy's pump house. It's gonna be a looooooong season. bak bak