Puddles!

Rain, beautiful rain. Or as Luke Bryan sings "Rain is a good thing". Well, we weren't singing this tune earlier this year when too much rain delayed planting by almost a month. But after at least two straight weeks of above average temps and no rain, today was a blessing. I almost forgot what a puddle in the driveway looked like. Of course the chickens were happy pecking around in the mud to find tasty worms and such. The best conversation of the day was over the cell phone between Mike and one of the boys that works for us. It went something like this. E. "We are picking blueberries and it's raining really hard." Mike "yes." E. "Do we still need to pick the blueberries?" Mike "yes, just like last year, you do have to pick in the rain. There is market tomorrow." These kids worked for us last summer too so it was sort of funny. They know that we all work outside rain or shine. Thunder and lightning is different, but rain just gets you wet.

So Fridays are market prep day as produce for the two largest markets of the week and about 1/3rd of the CSA's needs picked and packed for tomorrow. Our kitchen was filled with the likes of onions, blueberries, sprouts (broccoli, arugula, popcorn and radish this week) and a few radishes. Since we don' t spray radishes, we had to throw some out that were eaten by insects, but a few bunches will be going to market.

Tomorrow, Mike has an early and busy day at market and I have a late and busy day of fun. Works out good since I'll be around to do morning chores and Mike will be around for evening chores. I'll take my day off though since the last two weeks have contained lots of long hours at work for me. Zac Brown Band and Dave Matthews Band concert tomorrow for me. So excited!

Everything is slow motion

The heat in the eastern US continues and everything is slowing down. Mike even commented the other day that the beagles were wrestling with each other in slow motion. I don't think the barn or porch cats even move all day. The chickens just lie around in the shade and pant. Only the 13 year old crazy Brittany seems happy to run around the yard, dash into the creek to cool off and repeat all day long. The lack of rain is just starting to make itself known. I haven't mowed grass in over a week and a half and it doesn't really need it. Well except for all the plantain spikes all over the yard, but they don't really count.

The theme for the farm this week is tomatoes. 2500 or so tomato plants waiting to be staked and tied. I wandered out the barn two nights ago to see how the stack of tomato stakes was shrinking. This picture was taken when the boys had staked about 1/3 of the plants so quite a few more to go at the time the photo was taken. Tuesday it was so hot that Mike sent them all home at noon. Too hot to be working in the fields in the afternoon sun. Tonight Mike reported that the boys were almost done with the staking whatever "almost done" means. Staking is a hard, hot job, but we sure do appreciate the work the boys do for us.

Mike also took a load of tomatoes over to the Middlefield produce auction today. First trip of the year and he said there was not much produce there, but the buyers seemed to be there. Fingers crossed that means a good price for the 'maters. You just never know at an auction.

As for me, this is live music week. My friend Val and I took a road trip to Fort Wayne, IN yesterday to see the Zac Brown Band. If you have never seen them live, you really need to. I can't even begin to describe the amazing show these boys put on. It was hot hot hot in Indiana. I think around 95 degrees in the afternoon. The show was at a very nice venue for a concert: the Parkview Field which is a minor league baseball stadium. Great acoustics from where we were sitting. Boy did the boys (and gals) on stage look like they were melting. Joey and Rory were with Zac Brown Band along with Levi Lowrey, Sonia Leigh, and Nic Cowan. 3 1/2 hours of NONSTOP music. They had to be whooped by the heat but their enthusiasm on the stage never dwindled even at the very end. Next up is Dave Matthews Band this Saturday.

Finally flowers

Alright! It's July 5th and 2/3rd's of my annuals are planted in the flower bed! This is how the flower bed should look on June 5th, not July. These poor flowers have literally been sitting in their flats waiting to be planted for a month. Seems like every time I had time to plant it rained. Every time it was sunny I had to work. Or mow the yard. With about 4 hours of weekly mowing to do, the yard gets priority over the flower beds. Fingers crossed that a little Miracle Grow will help the poor flowers out. And in case you noticed, the bare spot in between the marigolds and the hostas is there for a purpose. That is the dog path. I learned many years ago to give up on planting flowers in that spot because the dog cuts the corner every day when it does foot patrol around the house. Sometimes its much easier to go with the flow rather than fighting the current.

Mike traveled to Marietta yesterday to pick up the last of the plants: late broccoli. So now we have flats sitting on the wagon. Again. Not so many as before though. He also brought home some goodies from his parents' farm for us to eat. Our first home grown cucumbers and sweet corn sitting in our refrigerator waiting to be eaten. Oh they look so good! Thanks Mike's Mom and Dad!

Tonight I took the dogs for a short walk to take a look-see at the garden and to see if any birds needed to be rescued from under the blueberry netting. The melons are looking great. The peppers look a tiny bit stressed from the transplanting followed by hot temperatures and no rain. The sweet corn looks fantabulous. In one week it has gone from knee high to mid-thigh high. Molly had a grand ol' time running back and forth between the rows in spite of how hot it was. The corn is tall enough that I can barely see the top of her head.

And in a rare moment of stillness, I captured this shot of her standing next to the outside row of corn. You can see her bottom half is all wet from one of her many trips into the creek to cool off.

The word for the rest of the week is going to be hot! Temps in the 90's all week. The boys better drink plenty of water while they are out working in the fields this week. I on the other hand have some very fun things planned for this week. More on that later.

Farm and Family

Can you tell it has been a crazy week? I really should post a little at least every other night because this farm is busy and now there is a lot of catching up on the week's activities.

Planting is finished! Whoo hoo! The boys finished up on Thursday July 1st. What a crazy planting season. Not the latest we have ever finished, but far from normal. Final count is over 400 flats of plants. Actually there is some late broccoli left to go in, but Mike has not even picked up those flats yet (that job is coming up tomorrow). If I get motivated tomorrow, I'll take a stroll back to the fields and see what is happening.

Friday's are ALWAYS crazy on the farm during market season. The boys picked blueberries and onions for the market. They also started driving tomato stakes. I'll try to get some pictures up in the next couple days.

Friday was crazy for me too. Of course I have my usual chores taking care of the poultry and working at the clinic, but then I had to come home and bake for my family reunion that was today. I went out to the blueberry bushes to pick some fresh blueberries. Then I made a blueberry cheesecake pie and hard boiled and peeled eggs for deviled eggs. Stupid me forgot to set some eggs aside a couple weeks ago so I had to use fresh (as in laid 2 days ago) eggs. If anyone has tried to boil and peel fresh eggs, then you know it can be a challenge. Seemed to take forever. By the time I got done with my stuff and Mike got done with his stuff, we both sat down to a dinner of grilled burgers and baked beans at 9:30pm. It felt SO good to sit down.

This morning was up early and get busy. Mike was up at 5am and gone by 6am to head to market. I got up a little after him to finish making the deviled eggs. Amazing what piping in the filling with a cake decorator and putting them on a decorative plate does to hide the crappy shell peeling job on 2 day old eggs. *grin*

Then outside to do poultry chores. What a joy it is to be outside on a beautiful summer morning and walk out to the "pasture" to feed the meat chickens. They are actually in our yard, but we have a BIG yard as in around 4 acres so they are not all that close to the house. Here's a view looking back at the house from where the meat chickens are out on the grass.

Then walking back to the house, here comes one of the laying hens walking up the sidewalk to the front door. They are so bad sometimes! Not that I mind though. I just don't think I ever thought when I was growing up that I would have chickens hanging around my front porch some day.

After chores it was off to the clinic to work until noon. I decided that the blueberry cheesecake pie needed a little something added for presentation so I ran to the store to get some raspberries. The raspberries and a little whipped cream gave a nice red, white and blue Fourth of July theme to the dessert. I didn't get to the family reunion until after most everyone had eaten. I swear I barely set the pie down and went to get my camera and pieces started disappearing.

Mike and I enjoyed our time over at my sister's house at the family reunion. Lots of good food and company as usual. It was nice to just sit back and relax. Perfect weather too. Hard to believe that I have not yet seen a fawn out and about on the farm, but sitting in the back yard in suburbia, we got to watch a pair of fawns on the sidewalk across the street from my sister's house.

Tomorrow, I swear I am going to spend a good chunk of the day doing nothing! I'll let you know how that goes.