Rainy Day

The weatherman was right when he predicted rain for the next 36 hours.   We had rain off and on most of the night and it's still damp and overcast this morning.   I was surprised to wake up to a temp of 57 degrees.   Hmmmmm, looks like the really cold temps won't arrive until tonight.   So I guess it's an "inside day" today.   That's ok since I would like to finish cleaning our house and go grocery shopping in preparation for our first company!   Yes, our friends Joyce and Dick will be here Saturday to spend a little time with us on the farm. 

In the meantime I had some more pics of the garden to share with you.

 It seems that the cabbage has grown another inch larger each morning as I walk down to check on the garden.   I'm so excited about our first crop of veggies!

We planted 2 different types of green cabbage.....

....and one variety of red cabbage.   One of Joel's favorite meals is red cabbage prepared "low and slow" with a bit of orange juice, a stick of cinnamon, and sliced apples baked in the oven.   We are also planning on trying our hand at making our own sauerkraut with the bulk of the green cabbage.  I'll let you know how that works out later this fall.

Can you believe how much the potatoes have grown since last week?   It's going to be so much fun to dig up potatoes later this summer.  I wonder how many pounds of taters we'll get from these plants?   Uh-oh!   Joel is going to have to get going figuring out where to put a cold cellar for storing all of our harvest.   There sure are a lot of infrastructure items that still need to be checked off our list.

I know my kitchen potager garden looks kinda sad right now, but trust me........there's a lot going on here.   In the foreground are the 10 sticks that will someday be our blueberry bushes.    Behind them is the salad portion of the potager.   Then comes the strawberry patch and waaaaay in the back is the herb/tea garden with blackberry bushes on the end.   Yeah, I know it doesn't look like much now except a patch of dirt.   But just wait until I put in paths and cute stuff.   It'll look a whole lot different than it does now....and it'll make more sense to you once the plan is complete.

I'm so glad I bought these hanging baskets.   They're so lush and beautiful and perk up the wide open spaces of the pavilion.  Can you see how much the second grape arbor has leafed out since I painted it a few weeks ago?

Yeah, I'm still waiting to see if these peonies are pink or if this plant is just teasing me.   On closer inspection I found that there are actually 3 peony plants intertwined and I believe 2 are white and one is pink.    Can't wait to see the blooms so I can start cutting them for bouquets in the house. 

Remember when I told you I had to buy a trellis for a mystery vine   Well, the vine is starting to climb its way up the trellis and I won't know what kind of vine it is until it blooms.   I feel so lucky that the farmer's wife had all these perennials planted in the bed along the rocking chair porch.   At least I have some colorful local plants to start off my collection.....you know I will be acquiring more plants.  Right?

Staying dry,
Debbie