Day 8: Looking up

Looking up

What We Did Today

It's all fun and games when I can sit down at the computer, after a shower, with a cup of tea and tell about it.

We added more raised beds today.

It was an exhausting day, but in the, it-feels-good-to-move-around, instead of sit-in-the-chair-all-day and stare at the computer, way. It's that good old-fashioned tired. You know the kind.

I smiled at the radishes poking up. They are so quick to grow.

Getting back into the groove of farming, (growing our own food, in addition to growing for market) is not a gradual step. I've primarily been in an office, in meetings, and organizing events, workshops and such for the last  year.

After three (or 15) days of convincing Captain Strong Arms that my spinach would come up - it finally began to come up. Phew!

 It's the softness of winter that gets me. It'll be a good while before I build up the strength and endurance I had and it won't come easy. And then, it will be the heat of summer that gets me. Oh for the love of farming.

Back to the Farmers' Market in just 6 weeks and three days.

I am looking forward to getting back the the farmers market - there's a reward in that unique to anything else one will ever do. Tomorrow? Meeting in the morning, meeting in the afternoon and meeting in the evening. Farming will have to resume on Wednesday, for me, thank goodness Captain Strong Arms takes good care of the farm when I'm home and when I'm not home.

Where My Seedlings Get Their Start

There is always a sense of urgency during this time of year. I call it the "hurry up and wait" session. There is so much to be done in the garden area, and if you're anything like us, you've been inundated with the deluge of water from the clouds lately, making a lovely mud soup out of the area that needs to be tilled.

Looks like a bunch of junk, huh!?

No entry. Unless you want to lose your muck boots in the 12" deep mud. I survey the untouchable landscape with some anxiousness. I NEED to get in there and plant the cabbage, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower seedlings that are getting far too big for their infant carriers and either need to be transplanted or potted up.

Digging, welding, and more. Captain Strong Arms had his work cut out for him.

But I digress. I may be getting ahead of myself, because after all, this greenhouse has only been up since late fall of 2011. We came by the 1938 Lord & Burnham beauty just in time. She was going to be torn down. Can you imagine? In order for her to fit in the space which we needed her to reside, she had to be shortened a bit. This meant that the supporting beams and cross-braces had to endure some fabrication. I just make the sandwiches, folks, let that be clear. Captain Strong Arms is to blame for all the hard work here.

It looks like.......a ?

See that look? That means, "put the camera down and bring me a sandwich," to which I happily oblige. If it means I don't have to hammer here, "hold this" there, and stand with my arms over my head for what feels like hours, I'm all about the sandwich. 

Suddenly, there she is.

 I digress. Again. Hardening off will have to occur before transplanting, but potting up requires a step up container-size wise and more potting soil or soil-less mix. Then, they'll begin to need fertilizer as they won't be getting the nutrients they need to get to the next size.

What I'm trying to embrace, here, is that all good things come in due time. "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." Lau Tzu

I'm grateful that Captain Strong Arms has the vision, tenacity, and know-how when it comes to tearing down and re-building something like this. I've watched him time and again repair something, restore a part of the house, all with little investment (use what you've got mentality) and the results are always shining.

Thank you, dear husband, for working so hard around this small-timey farm, making our lives that wee-bit easier.

I'm really glad my seedlings have a nice place to wait.

So, this is where my seedlings get their start. And I am so grateful. Even if I have to wait for the rain to stop and the mud to dry up. All good things come to those who wait. I'm going to hurry up and wait. Meanwhile, I'll be starting more seeds.....and watching over the seedlings, assuring them of their future.

How are YOUR seedlings waiting?

What to do with your raised beds at the end of December

Of course it would be ideal to say that at the end of harvest, the raised beds were cleared and prepped for winter. Alas, if you're anything like me, they are not. So, what to do if you've procrastinated with the best of us?

First - dig in.

Clear all the debris you can see on top, removing spent plants and any leaves that might have blown in when fall came our way.

Now is a good time to get an assessment of your soil done, too.  Contact your local Cooperative Extension office for further instructions on how to get your soil tested for FREE.Ideally now is the time to do this, because when spring arrives, the offices will be very busy and your results will take longer to come back.Whether you intend to plant some early cool crops or wait to plant the main summer crops, the results of your soil test will determine what it may need if anything.

I was pleased to see this worm in the dirt!

The hardest part of this is cleaning up the piles of your labor. Currently mine are still where I left them. I had to come inside and devour a bowl of homemade version of pasta e fagioli soup leftover from yesterday.

And so dear fellow slackers, there you have it.

And, photo-bombed, bigtime, by Bob. Thanks, Bob.

And then, here came the dogs:

And this one, in particular, was very serious....

And another dog is not quite so serious....

Whatever lofty things you might accomplish today, you will do them only because you first ate something that grew out of dirt.
- Barbara Kingsolver

Thoughtful Thursday

While this winter has been mild, we've still had some cold spells and brisk winds to remind us that indeed, it is still winter-time.  As the pastures, fruit trees and vines lay somewhat "dormant" I can't help but think about all of the things in life that move in cycles, with busy times and times of rest, as well.

Sometimes, in the daily tasks we go about, whether we are farmers, teachers, bankers, servers or an employee in a manufacturing plant, it is important to just be.  This is what I have found the leafless trees, the naked vines and straw-colored grass to be doing.  They don't have to impress anyone.  They're not worried about missing the 20% off sale at the not-so-local department store.  They don't even worry about what they will wear tomorrow.  It's all planned out - in good time - they will be productive again.

While there are occasional fears as to the pre-Easter freeze we usually get in this area, I'm trying not to give in to the "what-if's" of life.  For usually where there is a deficit, another kind of abundance will be yielded.  This year, the addition of a greenhouse will be our season-extender, and I'm currently enjoying lovely green salads with kale, spinach, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce, Simpson lettuce, arugula.  Blessed, indeed.

While there isn't a particular point to this post (are there particular points to any of my posts?) I will leave you with some photos of pre-spring life in the greenhouse;