Oh, my. Where to begin? Our weather has been nothing short of spectacular the past couple of weeks. The last few mornings have begun sunny with a cool mountain breeze and temps in the low 60's. Yup, darned near perfect if you ask me.
The only problem with perfect weather is: what should I work on first? I have no excuse to stay indoors and quilt as I do when it's raining. But seriously, there's so much I could be working on that some days I simply don't know where to start. Kinda makes a farm chick feel a little schizophrenic. The list of "to-do's" seems to get longer instead of shorter....even though a check mark usually gets placed beside an item or two on the list by the end of the day.
Here's a sample of what's going on right now on the farm....
Lots and lots of lettuce, romaine lettuce and kale is growing in one of our new raised beds. Unfortunately, the downside of having barn cats....is having cats that think any patch of dirt is their's to play in. So, I now have very unsightly, but effective chicken wire loosely strung around the 3 new raised beds. And, I am happy to report, because the wire is so wobbly, the cats can't climb it and the beds have been undefiled by the furry critters.
Yes, I told you we were harvesting a lot of lettuce! But it's wonderful to go out to the garden and pick your salad for the evening meal.
Next up is the newest flower bed I put in this Spring. This one is in front of the tall blank side wall of the barn.
And here are the old fashioned flowers in the same bed. I planted perennials so they will come back year after year without having to be replanted. I'm all about "plant efficiency". Ha! My hope is that eventually I will have less and less that needs to be planted every year and I can sit back(well, sort of sit back) and enjoy the fruits of these early years establishing the farm.
I can't remember if I have showed you this project yet. I know, what the heck? Thank Pinterest for this one. I am taking wine bottles and planting then upside down in a circle in the herb portion of my little potager garden. Hence the string you see in the bottom of the pic. That's how I am establishing the arc of the circle. Only 80 more bottles to go!
This project is a huge one. I got tired of taking forever to mow around each and every fruit tree in the orchard....and getting smacked in the face with low lying branches. Ta-da!! Now we have nice wide mulched beds which makes it ever so easy to mow straight lines on either side of the beds. Now mowing the orchard is a breeze for me! And I don't get hit in the face with any branches.
Near the orchard is my rosa rugosa bed with an edging of purple irises......all in bloom!
And the grapevines are going crazy, too, with little bunches of grapes already forming on each branch.
Maybe we need to look into making wine this year? In our spare time....ha!
And check out these itty bitty peaches. We're so excited because this is the first year we have peaches on our trees.
And the granddaddy pear tree is simply loaded with fruit.
And our two year old cherry tree is even getting into the act. I believe there will be a lot of canning in my future.
Next up, our sweet friends, Dick and Joyce were here last weekend for a quick visit. Over the last year I worked on a quilt for Dick in red, white and blue. You see, Dick is a Vietnam vet with over 10 years service to our country. I am a member of Quilts of Valor, an organization dedicated to making quilts for service members who have been touched by war. And this quilt was made especially for Dick.
He had no idea he was getting a quilt when Joel brought him to our local War Museum. Several of the members of Quilts of Valor were waiting for Joel and Dick to arrive on a rainy Saturday morning. We surprised him and explained why we were all there. My dear friend, Barb, did the presenting and we all honored Dick for his service.
Here's a full shot of the quilt. The stars in the four corners are from the flag making company in our nation's capitol that manufactures the flags for around Washington, D.C. Quilts of Valor is the happy recipient of these embroidered originals and we are allowed to place them on our quilts for the vets.
Our strawberry patch is in overdrive these days and I was more than happy to give Joyce all the berries she wanted. We picked these beauties in just half an hour. Yikes! You wouldn't believe how many more are out there waiting to be picked.
Look at these two buddies yukking it up. Joel and Dick always have so much to chat about when they get together.
And then, sadly, it's time to say goodbye until next time. So, working in the garden, putting in flower beds, and having company.....yes, that's what I've been up to this last month.
But wait! There's more....
Deb
