Blackberry Winter

I know!   What in the world is a blackberry winter?   Our nearest neighbor, June, explained that the reason she doesn't put in her whole garden before May 15th is because of the blackberry winter.   I must have given her a dumb look because she went on to say, "You know, like the red bud winter and the dogwood winter?"  Huh????

Well, it turns out that here on the plateau (and probably other places as well) spring brings a couple of cold snaps, sometimes with a light frost and those cold snaps coincide with the blooming of the red buds (late March), the blooming of the dogwood trees (mid-April) and the blooming of the blackberry bushes (mid-May).   By darned if she wasn't right!   We've had cold snaps after 70-80 degree days that brought the temps back down to the 40's and even lower just after each bloom.   And now, here it is May14th and the weather man is predicting low temps in the high 30's tomorrow.  Are you kidding me?   It's been in the 70's and 80's for 2 weeks now and he says after this rain front goes through tonight our temps are going to drop.   The three of us are still fighting off the effects of Sunday's sunburn and now we will need jackets and jeans again?

Wonder what that's going to do to my garden?   The plants will either survive or they won't, there's not much I can do except cover them up as best I can and see how low the temperature drops tonight.  

 Oooooooooo, can you see the row of white blooming bushes that runs all along our property line?

 Yup, those are all blackberry bushes.   This one above our bluffs has white daisies blooming next to it, too.

 I'm not kidding when I say that blackberry bushes are everywhere on our land!  But here is the real reason I'm concerned about the low temperature.   Our orchard.   I'm not certain how low a temperature the new fruit can survive.

 These are baby apples and I sure would hate to lose them our first year.

 And look how much the grape vine has leafed out in just 2 weeks!  It's a good thing I painted the posts when I did or I'd never get a paint brush to cover all of the posts.

There are even baby grape clusters starting to form.....man, I sure hope these little guys survive.

 I'm not too worried about the granddaddy pear tree as it has survived many winters here.   This tree was loaded with a ridiculous amount of pears last fall and I can hardly wait to see what our harvest is like this year.

When I checked it this morning I saw new pink baby pears starting to form already.   I'm so excited about all this fruit on our trees.  I've got visions of canning applesauce and maybe even trying our hand at apple cider once we have enough of a harvest in a year or two.   And of course, the pears can be canned so we can enjoy them all winter long.   I've started buying canning jars each trip I make to the store so I will have what I need when the time comes to begin canning our surplus fruits and veggies.

Here is the right side of the orchard which has the row of different peach trees on the right and the pears and one cherry on the left.  Most of the trees seem to have adapted to our soil but I am afraid the plum, one peach and maybe the crabapple tree may not make it so I'll have to keep an eye on them to see how they do this summer.  If they don't make it we'll just replace them and try again.

The left side of the orchard has all the apple trees and the sour cherry and plum.    The sour cherry has tons of little cherries on it already.   It's a good thing I've been collecting recipes for different ways to use all the fruit we hope to begin harvesting over the next few years because you can only eat so much fresh fruit fast enough that it doesn't spoil.   And then it's time to start canning jams, jellies, compotes and fruit butters.   Yum, I can hardly wait!

All in all we have 20 trees in our newly established orchard.   Hopefully they will bear us fruit that will be the star of our meals for many years to come.  

The Tree Whisperer,
Debbie

Getting Greener all the Time

Where do I begin?    Since the crazy snow squall on April 15th the weather has improved dramatically.   It seems in no time flat we went from winter to summer.....and along with instant summer comes instant outside chores.   The list of "wouldn't it be nice if...." is ridiculously long and makes my head spin.   It's hard to know what to do first!   Especially since this is our first year on the farm and absolutely everything is new to us.

One of the items on Joel's to do list is to clean out some of the brush surrounding the huge bluff.   So why am I showing you a picture of the brush?   Because it has tons of wild blackberry bushes hiding in among the weeds and tall grasses.   And if the berries are good ones, we will want to preserve those bushes when the weed whacker is nosing it's way thru the brambles.

And now the bushes are starting to bloom white flowers.    I wonder if these will be good berries later this summer?  Or are they better left for the birds and deer to eat?    We'll soon find out, won't we?

The wife of the farmer that used to live here had perennial flowers planted in the bed along the back rocking chair porch and I've been curious about what type of flowers they are.   They started poking their heads out of the ground several weeks ago and it's been fun to watch them grow and to name the ones I'm familiar with.  I've figured out the day lillies and sedum.   There is also some kind of vine that just popped up all of a sudden.   It was growing so fast that I decided to put a trellis behind it and train it up so it won't get tangled in all the other plants down low.   Pretty soon it should bloom and then I'll have that one figured out, too.

One of the plants I've been anxious to buy and plant are peonies.   Lots and lots of peonies...in luscious colors of pink and white and crimson.   Well, lo and behold, there is a peony bush in the pic above!

Every morning for the last week as I take Molly out for her early walk I check the blooms to see what color this particular bush is going to be.....and it's driving me nuts that it's taking so long.   Hmmmm, what color do you think it is?   I wish it would just open up already.   Now that we have 2 rainy days, maybe when the sun comes out again Sunday it will open up for me.

Oh, my.   See what I mean?    I have boxes of plants that need to be put in the ground in the kitchen garden.    But first I want to mark out the different sections of the garden because a lot of these plants are perennials and will come back each year, so, I want to choose wisely where I place them now.   Things like the asparagus bed and strawberry bed will be permanent and I really want to make a good decision about their placement.   So many decisions..........my head is spinning.

Joel is always working on and thinking about infrastructure of the farm.    One of the tasks he is working out in his head is how to get water to the two gardens and later on, the pigs and chickens.   We already have several frost-proof faucets around the property, but watering the gardens still requires a couple hundred feet of hose.  I know!    I'm constantly dragging heavy hoses across vast areas of the property and it's getting to be a hassle.   Hopefully, we will be able to address this sooner rather than later......ummm, let's just say I'm hoping it gets addressed sooner since I'm the one doing all the watering.

Yup, this is the typical lineup of vehicles.  My car near the farmhouse door to drop off groceries, the Polaris near the house so I can jump in it and run around the property and Joel's truck ready to hook up a trailer and haul "stuff".  When Jeremy gets home he parks next to Joel.   We've got lots more space to park your car, too. 

Now if we only had a guest house,
Debbie

Busy, Busy, Busy

Where in the world do the days go?    Ever since the weather has warmed up a couple of weeks ago, I feel as though I have been tackling one project after another all day long.    One thing is for sure, there's no way I could ever say that I'm bored!  It feels really good to be working outside most of the day and to be able to work our land for the first time.

Let's see, what have I done since the last post?    Well, I did try to upload a video of Jeremy singing his karaoke song here on the blog, but it's too long and I keep hitting a glitch that won't allow me to post it here.   Darn!   We've also been busy planting......I planted 10 bareroot blueberry bushes and 6 thornless blackberry bushes on either side of the kitchen garden up near the house.  And the cabbages and broccoli we planted a few weeks ago are looking good.

Hmmm, I wonder how long the garden will continue to look so "orderly".  

I know it's hard to see, but I am so excited about the little green sprouts coming out of the ground in the pic above.    This is the first time I've tried planting potatoes and we have 2 rows of Kennebec and one row of Yukon Gold coming up already.   These little green shoots started life as a potato that was cut in pieces....each one with an "eye" or bud on it.   You just shove these pieces of potato into the ground a few inches deep and in a couple of weeks you have small potato plants coming up out of the ground.   How amazing is that?

Late last week I jumped in my car and ventured in a different direction from "town", which is north of our farm.  Instead, I drove south off the plateau and into a lush valley that rests between 2 plateaus where the Sequatchie River runs.   That's where I came across a family run nursery and wandered around their acreage and thru the packed grow houses where they had the prettiest hanging flower baskets.  

I couldn't resist them so I bought 5 and they are now hanging around the roof line of the pavilion.   It always amazes me how much flowers can enliven a space....indoors or out.  Well, that started a cascade of projects.    The flowers looked so good that I had Joel help me cart all the adirondack and wicker furniture out into the grass and I spent an afternoon pressure washing it all down.   The worst of the green pollen should have dropped out of the trees by now as they are all almost completely leafed out.   Hopefully I won't have to repeat the cleaning.  Then Joel found the blower in the barn and blew the debris off the pavilion while the furniture was drying in the grass.  Ok, the pavilion looks a bit better now.  

I know this pic is a bit dark.....I took it early in the morning and the shade of one of the huge oak trees was overshadowing the side of the porch.   These urns have been painted a few different colors over the years and now I painted them black....and planted them with flowers to coordinate with the hanging baskets of red, white and blue.   At least now the "entrance" to the back porch makes a bigger statement.

 I have been sitting at my computer all winter looking out the window at this little window on the side wall of the pavilion's kitchen.    The wall is one white, blank canvas in my mind's eye and the idea occurred to me one snowy day that a window box was just what this window needed.   Joel installed the window box I bought the other day and then I planted it with the same plants as the huge urns in the pic above.    But it still wasn't very pretty....

It's because of the faded out green plastic shutters.   Well I don't want to spend money buying all new shutters right now and I still have a lot of black paint in my can.   You can see where this is going, can't you?

Joel took down the shutters and I painted them and he reinstalled them a few hours later.   Wow!   What a difference!   And you can see how it makes Joel's shed match our existing buildings with black shutters on all the buildings.    Yes, I'll be painting a lot more shutters over the weeks to come, but I think the black will really "pop" against the white vinyl siding.   And a girl can only take so much of "farmer green".   You know, greens roofs, green shutters, green doors.   Yeah, I'm still working it out in my head how I can remove the glass fronted storm doors from the farmhouse and turn their factory finish from green to black.

Yesterday I tackled a mammoth job.  The rocking chair porch is the first place you step into as you enter the farmhouse and it had become a dumping ground for gardening tools, RoundUp spray, miscellaneous tools, etc.   And everything out there was covered in green pollen.  Yuk!   Definitely didn't make it pleasant to sit out there.   First I put away everything that didn't belong out there, then I moved all the furniture down to one end of the long, narrow porch and brought in the hose.   Yup!   I sprayed down the cobwebs hiding against the siding, sprayed the green pollen off the screens and pressure washed the solid floorboards.   And all the furniture got a thorough scrubbing.  Whew!    It turned out to be an all day project.

   Once everything was wiped down the fun part began.    How do you take a bunch of odds and ends pieces of furniture and mix it all up and make it look......well, you know.......cute?   The rocking chairs need to be up against the house so they don't get wet every time it rains, which only serves to make the porch look even longer and narrower.   I think I'll put some plants across from the chairs to end the "bowling alley" look.   For color inspiration, I'm using the painted watering can above to set the tone for the porch.     Some tealy blue, a limey green and red for the "pop".   Works for me!  I'll have to start sewing to finish up some cushions to bring the whole look together.

Yes, gasp, this is my treasured farm house table that used to be in my dining room!   I know!   But the waxed finish did just fine on the protected porch all winter so I guess this will be its new home.    There is just no where else to put it and I wasn't willing to part with it in Florida.   For now I have used 2 of the wicker chairs as end chairs since they are so big.   I am thinking about getting a church pew for the left hand side and some smaller mismatched chairs I can paint red for the other side.   Hmmmm, that should work.   It'll be nice to just walk out of the kitchen and sit down here to eat our meals this summer, protected from flies and pesky bugs.

At the far end (I told you this was a long narrow porch) I placed the lonely loveseat (I kept shuffling it around on the pavilion and never liked how it looked out there) and the black sofa table that never seems to fit anywhere else in the farm house.   At least the black table will tie in with the black shutters that I'll soon have painted.

 All this area needs is a bright red chair cushion and some more plants and I think we can call this corner of the porch "done".

Ummmm, yeah, this is the "rocking chair" side of the porch....complete with drop cloth where I'm still painting outside furniture.   Pretty soon all the pieces will be done.   And I still need to find a way to disguise the garbage can.....hmmmmmmm.  I"m still working on that.   Well, that pretty much brings you up to date with life here on the farm.    It's been a busy and rewarding time as we put our own personal stamp on the land and buildings we now call home.

There's more to come,
Debbie

And it all started in itty-bitty Crossville...

You're not going to believe what happened to Jeremy last night!    He has been going to a couple different karaoke bars one or two nights a week and getting up on stage to sing.    At first, Joel and I cracked up that our seemingly introverted, youngest child would have the courage to stand on a stage in front of a group of strangers and sing one song......but no!  He sings several!

Well, one of the establishments started a contest just after Jeremy arrived here this winter and he decided to enter it.    He did so well that he won that particular week and that put him in the running for a contest May 1st.    Last night.    And he won.   No kidding!   He got home last night long after Joel and I fell asleep and left for work just before we got up.   But when we did get up, this is what Joel found on the kitchen table.....

 No, not the flowers.....the trophy!

I'm not sure why it says vocalists......plural.    We'll get more info from him tonight after work.   I did get a quick call in to him just a few minutes ago and he was pretty excited.   He had thought that last night's contest was the finale.....and that the winner would take home $1000, but he was mistaken.   He DID win $200, though.  

And when he left the stage one of the judges was a woman who told him she wanted to get him on the hit tv show, The Voice.   I'm not kidding.   We were cracking up....he says she was really insistent.  And he won a few hours recording time at a studio.   Yes!   I know!   She(the judge) told Jeremy that when sound traveled over his vocal cords it was like "velvet".   He just giggled as he relayed all of this to me over the phone and said, "Whatever that means."

So that's how we started our Friday morning.   How about yours?
Debbie

Odds and Ends Post

 Here's my new toy.....a rototiller.   Who knew gardening tools could be so much fun?    Now I have to admit that Joel used this instead of me to break up the small garden some more to get it ready for planting.   And as soon as these tornadoes and thunderstorms pass I'll be out there planting my little heart out!

 Alrighty, now.   This is a doughnut.   A huge, plate-sized doughnut.   Let me explain.   As I've been driving thru town recently I noticed a banner next to the Shell gas station announcing "Mrs. Miller's doughnuts on Saturday".   Well, I just happened to be in town on Saturday and I pulled up to a small neatly painted, white, converted school bus.   And as I peeked inside the  back exit door I saw Mrs. Miller, an Amish woman, busily making more and more and more doughnuts.  And Mr. Miller was selling them as fast as she was making them!   No kidding!  There was a line of patrons in front of me.

When it was my turn to purchase, I realized that all the doughnuts were one size.....gi-normous!   They actually measured 6" across.   I had to buy some to show Joel and when I arrived home we had company visiting us.  Well, put on the coffee pot!   And we all enjoyed Mrs. Miller's doughnuts with our coffee.  Jeremy announced that we need to "get some of those" every Saturday and make it our family ritual.   Who can argue with that?  

 I had to take a pic of our new toys at work near the kitchen garden by the house.    I've sorta taken over the Polaris.....at least for now.   giggle.......Hey, the guys shouldn't have all the fun!

 Here is another bluebird protecting his nest.   Unfortunately, every time we go back to the main garden we have to pass the bird house where his new family resides and he flies out to distract us from the nest.  Don't worry, big guy.  We'll leave you and your family alone.

 The back of the Polaris has become the holding ground for some of the plants that will soon be put into the kitchen garden.   But I don't have a potting bench or  green house or any where else to put plants right now, so, this was as good a place as any for them to hang out until I get them planted.   There are strawberries and asparagus just waiting for some rich soil to hang out in!

 Ummmmm, I told you I sorta took over the Polaris.   And I travel with iced coffee in my favorite Tervis tumbler while I drive back and forth from the garden to the house.

Oh, my goodness!   One day I was painting the posts for the main grape arbor and 3 days later there were buds and leaves popping out all over the vines!

 I think they're really pretty.....don't you?

 As I was driving around the lower edge of the property by the deep woods I noticed this clump of pink blossoms.   I believe it's a native azalea.   And in my favorite color, too!   How fortunate for me!

 Our orchard, grape arbor and valley with Hinch Mountain in the background....with lovely clouds.   We love it here.......every day is so pretty, no matter what the weather holds for us.

 Remember the snowbush this winter with the snow layered on it's branches?   Well, it's blooming now and the blooms look like miniature versions of a hydrangea bush.

 And the birdhouse we put up several weeks back has new residents....a pair of tree swallows with beautiful blue-green heads and wing feathers, pure white breasts and some black on their wing tips.   They are very busy building a nest inside, preparing for a new family.

 My guys taking a much deserved break while shoveling the mushroom compost on the main garden.

 The main garden.....we're making progress.....so far we've planted lots of cool weather veggies like 3 different kinds of cabbage, 2 different kinds of broccoli, 2 whole rows of Kennebec potatoes and 1 row of Yukon Gold potatoes.    Lots more to come..........

 Things tend to get messy when we're working outside.....as evidenced by the front seat of the Polaris.   Hey, this is hard work!

Jeremy got a lesson on how to operate the Kubota from dad and was dying to give it a try.  Go for it, kid, mow away!

This picture of Joel and I is hideous, but Jeremy took it and thought it was hilarious, so, here it is.   He says it's his version of the famous painting, American Gothic.   It was 80 degrees at this point and we had been shoveling for hours and were about to fall over.....oh, well.   Anything to humor our youngest...giggle.....

Well, those are the odds and ends that sum up our daily life this past week.  One thing is for sure, we are never bored.  Now if this rain would just stop so I could get out there and do some more planting!

Dirt under my nails,
Debbie

New Workhorse

Ahhhh, yes.  Men and their toys.   Joel finally had his wish come true.....ever since we bought Whispering Oaks he has been dreaming, talking about, looking at and drooling over different sized tractors, mowers and combinations of the above.   Well, he picked out the one he really wanted and it got delivered a few days ago.   Here it is being delivered....

Yes, my husband hasn't stopped grinning from ear to ear for days now.

He can mow 60" wide with one swoop.  He can use the box dragger on the rear to level our gravel lane coming in to the farm.   He can move dirt, mulch, and whatever else he desires with the front end loader.   Oh, and horror of horrors.......it came with a huge book of accessories that you can buy to add on to the lovely orange machine.   

Here we go again with a guy explaining the thing-a-ma-jigs and whatcha-ma-call-its.   giggle......The mower drops down off the main machine for times when you just want to use the front end loader.   Joel could hardly wait for the delivery guy to leave so he could just get behind the controls and try it out for himself.

 And off he went down into the deep ravine in front of our bluffs.    That area really needed to be mowed as it hadn't been mowed since late last fall.  

And then he went back down the other side, over and over again until the low lying area under the bluffs was cut back down to size.

Now it was time to try the front end loader.   He used it to pick up the dirt that was humped up over the lawn around the smaller garden.   Yes, he got the hang of it right away.   Of course!    After all, he had driven much larger tractors around his parents camp on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.   And over much rougher terrain, too.    To him, this was a piece of cake.

I drove the Polaris over to the edge of the woods and caught up with him.   And this is how he greeted me.   Yup, he's one very happy guy.  As I drove off, I actually heard him whistling as he was mowing.   

What more is there to say, except....

The End
Debbie