Bok Choi, Baby!

We had baby bok choi stir-fry this week from our garden.  It was like heaven to eat fresh greens after a long winter of frozen stuff and grocery-store lettuce.  They were the perfect size and with very little bug damage.  Last year we had a problem with flea-beetles, and had to spray with insecticidal soap.  But this year we started out with them under the row-cover and, while there were a few holes here and there, they were basically untouched.  I also think they were fuller and healthier.  Hard to tell if that is because our soil is more built up than last year, because of the row cover, or because of the sulfur that we added.  Whatever it was, they are very tasty!  We feel like we have been chlorophyll deficient during the winter--though we did have plenty of frozen pesto and chard...there still is nothing like the first fresh greens out of the garden.  :)

Asparagus and Orchard

We planted asparagus this weekend (4/11/10).  It comes in "crowns" (a pile of crowns, shown left), which are a root mass with a little nub of new growth at the top.  They are a funny, rubbery texture, like a ball of fishing worms. 

Pat started preparing the bed last weekend by disking up a piece of ground and turning the soil over.  This weekend he loosened it up, dug a trench and turned in some compost and added some lime to make the soil more basic.  Then we laid out the crowns 18" apart in the trench.

Kinda reminds me of the machine monsters in the Matrix!  They needed a space where they can just grow and do their own thing for a couple of years, so we gave them a special bed separate from the rest of the garden.  We probably won't get any produce out of them for at least 2 or 3 years. 

We also worked on our orchard last weekend.  We added more cherries, peaches, pears, apples and grapes and a few canes of raspberries too.  These are some of the trees from last year--we only lost one pear during the winter and one got gnawed on by a vole but didn't die.  There were a bunch of soldier bugs on the trees, which we thought were a bad sign but they are actually beneficial.  After Pat planted the trees, he painted on a mixture of joint compound and ceiling paint to deter insects from crawling up the trunks.

Row covered cabbages

These are a couple of pictures of our garden from two weeks ago (4/3/10).  In the first picture we had just finished planting cabbages, kohlrabi and bak choi.  Then we placed hoops (made of bent electrical fencing wire) over top of the small plants to protect them from the row cover, which came next (last picture).  The row cover is held in place with some old rebar and bricks.  The row cover keeps out unwanted pests, protects from deer, and provides some protection and warmth to the plants.  Under the cover it was about 4 degrees warmer than outside of it.  The cover traps some moisture too, so the soil is moist and soft. 

Here is the same plot of napa cabbages, kohlrabi and bak choi from last weekend (4/10/10) with the row cover turned back.  You can see how nice and robust the plants are.  We barely had to do any weeding too.  In a couple of weeks the bak choi will be baby-size and ready to eat!

Our two dogs, Maggie (the little black one) and Duke (the bigger golden one) like playing in the pond at the farm.  Duke hasn't quite decided if he likes swimming yet, but Maggie loves to!  He had never gone swimming before and didn't know how to jump out in the water.  So he jumped off of the dock, got the stick and proceeded to try to climb back up the dock--didn't work very well, most likely traumatized him!  Duke mostly just wallows or sits in shallow water to cool off.

Some photos of our farm

Mom's chickens:  we now only have four.  We used to let them out and roam around but one got eaten by something (fox? coyote?) and so Mom & Dad made a chicken coop for them but a hawk got into the chicken coop and killed another one.  The chickens were flying at the hawk and pecking him!  They have had them almost a year now and they have been laying one egg per day.  Though now they are starting to slack off.  Maybe it is time for them to molt and stop laying.  We will be getting new poults in a month or so.

These next photos are of Pat using the flame weeder last weekend.  This week we came back to those same beds and tilled.  The soil there is the best-looking of any soil in the garden so far.  The flame weeder killed off the top growth while keeping the roots in the ground to decompose, so they are easy to work through and provide some organic matter.  The second photo here shows what the weeds look like after you pass over them with the flame.  We planted potatoes there this weekend (50' of French fingerlings and 150' of reds).

 

Yea! I have a follower!!

I have made it in the blogging world...I now have a follower! I tried to email my follower, but it required that I would have to sign in and follow my own blog. Till I figure out how to do it right, I will just leave it at "Thank you, Follower Sara!"

Cabin life

We have stayed in the cabin 2 nights now.  It isn't finished by far, but it is a secure shelter and the loft is furnished with a bed now.  We have cozy flannel sheets and 2 down comforters, along with a kerosene heater downstairs.  Pat stayed there the night before last and said it got too hot, then he turned off the heater and it got too cold.  But that was because he had given one of the comforters to Maggie (one of our dogs) downstairs!  No wonder he got cold!  So last night we had both comforters and the heater going, with appropriate beds for the pooches of old quilts and doggie pillows.  It was so nice and cozy, though we did have to open the window upstairs for some fresh air because it got a little warm.  Woke up in the morning to the sound of birds singing and the sight of mist in the trees.  Very nice.  The only drawback is right now, with out leaves on the trees, we can hear road noise.  I guess our escape from society didn't take us that far away.  But we'll take it.  :)

Pics will come soon too!