Did We Really Get That Much Planted?

It was a nice, long weekend at the farm. It rained Friday night & early Saturday. We did a few minor things inside before heading out to do some tree maintenance. Last weekend we were going to put cardboard around the hazelnut & chestnut trees but we ran out of time. We did get it done on Saturday along with tree protectors. The hazelnuts are all leafed out and growing. The chestnuts are just starting to leaf out. We also seeded clover in the swales to keep the weeds under control.

Apple leaf with Asian Beetle

We started working in the garden after we finished up by the trees. I still can't believe how much we got done. Here is a list of what was planted Saturday and Sunday...

Rhubarb roots (3)

Tomatoes-Brandywine, Amish Paste, Wisconsin 55, Lg. Red Cherry, Cherry Roma and Beam's Yellow Pear

Sunflowers-Mongolian Giant, Manmouth & Titan

Popcorn-2" Strawberry, Baby Fingers & Smoke Signals

Carrots -Scarlett Nantes & Scarlett Keeper

Zucchini-Cozelle & Black Beauty

Cucumber -Bushy and can't remember other kind

Melon-Early Silverline

Cantaloupe-Healy's Pride & Pride of Wisconsin

Beans-Calypso, Charlevoix, Ireland Creek Annie, Henderson, Hidatsa Red, Lina Cisco's

Squash-Summer, Verte Et Blanc, Jaunet Et Blanc, Table Queen, Waltham Butternut, Potimarron, Amish Pie, Long Island Cheese, Sweet Potato

Gourds-Dipper, Bird's Nest, Chinese Miniature, Warted

Pumpkin-Small Sugar, Young's Beauty, Dickenson's

Potatoes-Rose Finn Fingerlings, Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn

Borage-for pollination

We also planted 10 tree seedlings from the Arbor Day Foundation. Not sure what kinds they are.

Even though it seems like we should be done...we have more to plant this coming weekend.

Peppers, leeks, parsley, basil, peas, pole beans, cabbage, brussels sprout, cauliflower & broccoli. Then we should be done!

So along with the greens we planted the week before, we should have plenty of food to eat, freeze, can & dry.

I also did another soil test & sent it today. I did one last fall too. I want to compare the pH levels on the tests and the first test didn't show the nitrogen level.

It has been raining the last couple days up there so things should be popping up by the time we get there.

This is our "Little House on the Prairie" view

West view of barn with solar hot water panels Sunday night we went over the the neighbors behind us for dinner. Fresh asparagus, potatoes, salad...yumm. Had a really great time. Mike is a chiropractor & runs a holistic healing center in town and his wife Brenda is a stay at home mom who is active in the community. There were two other couples there too. Both couples are farmers and small business people. One couple runs a CSA and an artisan bakery in town & the other is starting a fermented drinks business. Great conversation with like-minded people, beautiful sunset, who could ask for more! We have made so many new friends in Wisconsin and always look forward to the trip up.

Chives are blooming. This is what a battery looks like after it explodes. I hope you never have to see one. The golf cart quit working Monday so Steve was trying to fix it. It has a seat that flips up and the six batteries sit under it. He had just put the seat down, sat on it, turned the key and "bam!" it exploded. I was on the other side of the barn and it was like a gun shot. I ran to the barn to see what was wrong & he was standing looking at the batteries, shaking his head. He is okay, but had a headache for the rest of the day from the fumes. The battery acid leaked all over the garage floor so we put baking soda on it (luckily I had a big box of it) and neutralized it.

Enough excitement for the day. I went to visit Lizzie & the baby before we left for home. They are doing great. The baby has gained back her birth weight & Lizzie is in good spirits. She will be able to get around more in a couple weeks.

Traffic was heavy around Madison but wasn't as bad as we thought it would be on the drive home.

We will be leaving Friday again for the farm. Glad it is a short week :-)

Quick Post...Busy Day

Just a quick post tonight.
We got to the farm last night & went right up to see our Amish neighbors. They are doing great. Lizzie looks good & the baby is so cute! She has a touch of jaundice & is tiny (around 5 lbs.). Her name is Fanny. I held her for about a half an hour while she slept. Wrapped in blankets with a tiny white bonnet. Perfect. Their next youngest David was so cute with Fanny. He would touch her face and smile at Mom. We sat around and talked for a couple hours & headed home.
Today we visited with our other neighbor who is leaving for work for six months tomorrow. He is a retired Navy guy & supervises dives now. So we didn't get started doing anything until after noon. Mowing was the top priority today. It was too windy to plant any seeds in the garden & quite chilly. We took turns on the mower. Also, new stakes were put by some of the trees we recently planted and a huge pile of firewood was stacked. When we took a break for supper, Eli came over with some baskets that one of the "followers" of this blog ordered from them (I will be emailing you soon Joyce) and inside one of the baskets was a homemade rhubarb pie for us. Well, it's almost gone now :-). It was really good. After dinner we mowed a little more, put in a few more stakes, unloaded some drywall & plywood and now are having a beer. Ahhhh..... we can get a good nights sleep and get up early to start over again. It will be garden planting time....25 strawberry plants, 6 raspberry, 6 blackberry bushes, chard, kale, lettuces, spinach, radishes onion sets, beets, peas. Then when we finish that we'll start working on the hazelnut & chestnut trees. We cut up cardboard squares, put a hole in the middle with a slit going to it & will place them around each tree. That's 110 of them. We will also sow clover in the swales. Then if we have any strength left, we'll drive home.
So I'm thinking of going to bed now....