The trees are laden with fruit...too much fruit. This is the first year they are bearing fruit and we neglected to prune them this past winter. Nor did we exercise the recommended removal of fruits so that no two fruits were closer than 2 inches. Nor were we proactively diligent about treating the trees to ensure no pests would attack their leaves and fruit....and yet, despite all of this, we have plenty of fruit. Today I picked 36 peaches and 24 plums. There are MANY more yet to pick. Now, if the chickens will quit pecking at the fruit on the branches that are so heavily laden they are literally lying on the ground, I will be most appreciative! Oh, and the bloomin' Japanese beetles can take a hike too! Little worms? Well, I guess you can have your share, but leave plenty for me, please! Next winter we WILL prune on time, we WILL be more diligent with the protecting the trees from the pests...(well, I THINK we will anyway...)
Gathering first peaches of 2012
Early afternoon Japanese beetle capture
Chickens enjoy Japanese beetle snacks
The strawberries keep on giving. I have frozen plenty for the rest of the year, and I am now making 6-8 half pints of freezer jam a week with the fresh strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and cherries. This stuff tastes better than any I have ever consumed from the grocery store shelves! Of course, particularly with the blackberries and the cherries, I have to compete with the birds to get my share! As I am diligently performing my morning fruit picking, I hear the birds, impatiently awaiting my departure, so they can return to feast on my almost ripe crops. Yesterday we watched a cardinal slip through the 2X4 fencing to eat the cherries off the cherry bushes! So much for fencing the berry patch.
Bee pollinating strawberries
The grape vines are heavy with bunches of grapes. Of course, the good old Japanese beetles and the deer would very much like to eat the vines before the fruits ripen...and I have sneaking suspicion the birds are just biding their time before they move from the cherries to the grapes....
Grapes, grapes, grapes
Peaches, peaches, peaches
I was late getting my vegetables into their beds this year. Nevertheless, I did pick my first three (cherry) tomatoes today. I have several types of squash on the vines and the potatoes are flowering. The bell peppers are getting big and the melon vines are, well, running everywhere, determined to fill every open space... how about some melons, please? Patience, patience.... I planted sweet potatoes this year for the first time, and I honestly have no idea how/when to harvest...I'll need to do some reading on that... the vines are abundant and healthy, so, if nothing else, I will be able to console myself that I grow great sweet potato vines. I think the asparagus have about run their course for the season and I am letting them do their ferny thing. We sure enjoyed daily helpings of asparagus for the past couple of months.
Gardens
More gardens
Well, what about the old farmhouse? What's with that? Any progress, already? Actually, yes, we have made some progress. Almost all of the drywall has been hung and only the finishing touches are needed before we are able to prime the walls. The downstairs bathroom has been almost completely overhauled (after originally thinking it was the ONE room that could be left "un-rehabbed", in the end, we decided it needed an overhaul too.) The "service deck" is underway. Once the service deck is completed, a window from the master bedroom will be replaced with a door to access it. And yesterday we started hanging kitchen cabinets...yes, it really IS going to happen.. we WILL be in the house one day...hopefully, this year!
Service deck underway
Bathroom floor revamp
Bathroom drywall - first mudding
Judy helps hang cabinets
Carpenter? Ballerina?
Other than that....well, we've mowed the lawn about a bazillion times and the grass just keeps growing like there is no tomorrow. We've "bush-hogged" undergrowth of the woods (again -- that stuff seems DETERMINED to grow back!) and we've weeded a million feet of gardens...no, really, we HAVE weeded... no matter HOW it appears!
From the woods...undergrowth cleared for the moment
We had a visitor in the chicken coop a couple of times. The first time we spied him we let him go...the second time...well, Mr. BIG Black Snake....you've outworn your welcome! He was six feet long and he had a belly full of eggs when we terminated his reign. Love the black snakes, but don't want them eating the eggs!
Mr. BIG
Er...what WAS Mr. BIG
All in all, I guess it would be safe to say, we have been working hard, and being rewarded for our efforts. This place is really getting closer and closer to the way we dreamed it would be....little by little, but closer every day. Unfortunately, since the summer solstice has passed, we are losing minutes of valuable daylight every day now...never enough time to get everything done!
55 years ago, my mother became a mother for the first time. She and my father welcomed into this world my sister Jeanne, whom they called Jeannie, after the song, "I Dream of Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair." Jeannie was destined to enjoy her "only child" status for only fourteen months before I made my way into the family, but she will forever retain the distinction of being the FIRST. Happy Birthday, Jeannie.
The Fletcher Kids -1964 ..
As I was working in the gardens today, I was thinking about how my mother must have felt on that day. I remember how amazing it was when I became a mother -- how incredible it was to at last look upon the face of the child that had been growing inside me for all those months. I remember that crazy love that seemed to come from nowhere and bond mother to child forever. Five months ago I was fortunate enough to be able to witness my daughter becoming a mother for the first time and I discovered again that feeling of immediate love.
Jenn and Eloise came to visit us a week early for our "Mother's Day." It was a lovely day and we spent time walking the paths through the woods, eating lunch with church choir friends, and just hanging out.
My Sweet Daughter and Her Sweet Daughter
Last week I visited my daughter and son-in-law and of course, the beautiful Eloise. I was able to see Eloise practicing her "laugh" which I could evoke pretty easily with silly faces, and the occasional, "boo!" This was the first time I was able to see her enjoying her, "jumpy seat" as I call it. This thing is an interesting contraption that allows the child to "jump" when her feet push off the floor, and this action results in mechanical noises, short tunes, and spinning toys on the attached frame. Eloise got going so excitedly at one point that I believe she was overwhelmed. She wanted to stop and the more she wanted to stop, the more she jumped and the more the noisemakers went off! Gotta love those inventors of baby gadgets! I look forward to the next time I get to see my sweet granddaughter.
Cute Socks!
Hey! Let Me OFF This Crazy Ride!
Meanwhile, back on the farm, the inchworm continues toward its goal. Most of the drywall upstairs has been completed. The drywall in the kitchen had been hung. The floor in the kitchen should be buttoned up tomorrow...then it will be on to drywall in the living room. The progress seems to go so slowly, but the transformation is quite amazing.
Master Bedroom
Upstairs Hall
Kitchen
New Door and Fire Escape in Progress
The gardens are beginning to look like gardens. I am experimenting with four small raised bed gardens in addition to the regular gardens this year. We are not planting the huge variety we did last year, but are sticking to those vegetables that did well. Of course, this year I have an added challenge of trying to protect the freshly seeded/planted gardens from the free-ranging chickens, so we are fencing, fencing, fencing...which we, of course, alternate with our other regular choruses of trenching, trenching, trenching, and road building, road building, road building!
Fenced Raised Beds
Tiller
Tilling
Repairing Tiller
Building Roads
Compaction Soil
Crush-n-Run
Finished Road
Trenching
Considering Trench
For almost two weeks now.I have been picking enough strawberries each day to eat some fresh and freeze between two and three cups. We have been enjoying almost daily servings of asparagus, though they seem to be nearing the end of their production this year. I did not get enough to put up for the winter, but I'm pretty happy with this first year of eating from the twenty plants I put in the ground last year.
Strawberries
We are watching the peaches, grapes, plums, blackberries, cherries, raspberries and grapes as they grow. Hopefully, we will be able to enjoy some of the fruit, but we have stiff competition with the bugs, birds and squirrels.... we shall see who gets what!
Fencing
Transplanting Raspberries and Blackberries
Tomorrow we hope to get a few more plants in the ground, finish another of the trenches, finish the kitchen floor and start on the living room ceiling...and, if I am VERY lucky, I might get to visit with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, as they plan to come over to the farm, weather permitting. All in all, I'd have to say, life is good.
April has flown by. We spent the month inching ever closer to the completion of the rehab of the old farmhouse. We are in the phase of hanging drywall on the newly constructed walls -- upstairs. Downstairs is another story. We still have some electrical and plumbing to complete before we can start the drywall. But we ARE making headway.
We started the month insulating the new pump house in preparation for the plumber who would move all of the equipment from the old, cinder block pump house to the new one. What a difference the new pump house makes. Once the pump, water tank, water softener etc. were relocated, we were able to knock down the old pump house, preparing the back of the house for the eventual addition.
And we dug trenches.... yes, indeed. As if we hadn't dug sufficient trenches in the two years we have been trying to tame this land, we decided we wanted power run to some of the out buildings... so more trenches were in order. What's one more trench?
Or two? Another Irrigation trench, please, as long as we're at it!
Well, actually, there were MANY more trenches dug in April, but I think you get the picture. When in doubt, trench!
Now, of course, with the promise of "April Showers" which, in these parts, means....lots of water with no place to go, and since we'd enjoyed almost a month without a rain event, we decided we should take advantage of the pond being almost dry, and increase her diameter and depth.
And none too soon. Sure enough, we were blessed with rain...lots of it. The trees, flowers and plants all loved the rain after such a long dry spell, but we had our hands full (of shovels and rakes) helping direct the water to the newer, better pond. Our work paid off, and, with a few more tweaks, the whole thing should be working without our assistance during heavy rainfalls.
Meanwhile, all the dirt removed from the pond was used to build up the roads around the house and to the outbuildings.
While we were racing against Mother Nature to deal with water issues, our carpenter was busy working on the fire escape we are installing, and replacing the window with a door. The fire escape is not yet completed (railings needed), but it's coming along.
Of course, the juggling of the many different parts of this project can get a little overwhelming. Every day is an adventure, and we never quite know what progress will be made by day's end. There always is progress, but I for one, will be happy when the whole rehab is complete! At least we are nearing completion with the upstairs drywall.
Naturally, life isn't ALL about the rehab of the old farmhouse. I traveled to Maryland on Easter to share a meal with family, and we had a great time. There are definitely some excellent cooks in my family -- several generations worth! I was really, really full when I finally pushed myself away from the table.
I returned to Maryland this weekend to celebrate my mother's birthday with her. We did all kinds of exciting things...umm...we tried out her new washing machine for the first time, ordered a book online for her (one that she will be reading for her book club) and I called and set up appointments for her to meet with contractors to get bids on refinishing her floors! (Will the excitement never end?) Later, she and I met my sister for
dinner at a nearby restaurant. Mom turned 77 on Saturday and I think
she was thrilled when the waiters led the restaurant patrons in song
wishing her a Happy Birthday....
On a sad note, we lost
one of our goats to a copperhead bite. The only good thing about the
whole incident is that she went quickly. In less than two hours from
the time of the bite, she was gone. While I understand this is life on
the farm, in the woods, etc. it is always sad to lose an animal. Oddly,
Renee was always the "loud" goat. The other two were quiet in
comparison. Since her passing, the other two have become much more
vocal.
So life goes on and I (ALMOST) managed to get a post published in April....
And of course, the post would not be complete without a picture of Eloise. One of my nieces and my little brother's girlfriend conspired to snap a
delightfully silly photo of my sweet granddaughter....almost 4 months
old in this photo.
