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Hi Everyone,
We made it through another week and while we melted in the heat—we didn’t disappear. As the week went by each day got hotter and hotter, but in the end we were blessed with rain and cooler temperatures.
Volunteer Monday’s
It seems that the last two Monday’s have filled one of my dreams—without us having to even ask. Two weeks ago the Crane Family asked to come over to spend the day helping us with many little and BIG projects—and we had a blast and a lot was accomplished. Last Monday we started prepping the garden for a farm tour that would take place Saturday during our “You CAN Farm in Florida” Seminar. The riding lawn mower is in the shop and the grass in the garden was starting to stand on its tip toes as it reached for the stars. Papa is not one to be found working in the garden very often—but last Monday he volunteered to push mow the entire garden so that Mom, Steve and I could focus on weeding. While we were all working in the garden we heard a lawn mower and Papa asked us, “Who’s here?” We told him “no one” it is just the neighbors mowing their lawn. Papa said that he saw a vehicle up at the house and when we looked toward the house my brother Charles started to come into view as he was poking along on a riding lawn mower. To our total surprise Charles started mowing our front yard and a little while later we looked up and saw my brother-in-law Gary mowing our back yard. Talk about a Volunteer Monday! If you are ever looking for some place to spend a Monday volunteering—we won’t turn you down.
While Papa mowed Steve weeded here and there, and he also raked and picked up all the grass that Papa mowed down. Mom and I got about 95% of the West Tunnel weeded and I harvested the Red Pontiac (Irish) Potatoes that I had planted back in February. When I planted them the potatoes had no eyes—they were quite blind and took too long to open their eyes so that they could see where they were going. They were growing up through 6 inches of dirt to the beautiful Florida Sunshine—but by the time they stretched their arms out from under their covers their bed was covered in weeds. I never did find the time to remove the extra covers from their beds—but they managed to grow none the less. As I said—their biggest trouble was that they took too long to sprout. Once I weeded all the weeds from the bed on Monday I actually got to see just how many potatoes had actually awakened from their sleep. To my dismay though, when I dug them up I didn’t even get as many potatoes as Mom and I had planted. We did manage to get a few meals worth though.
Just a Few More
When the milking was done Tuesday morning the plan was to head to the garden and weed—but somehow paperwork took precedence and we ended up staying inside until lunch. When lunch was done it was time for the weekly egg packaging party. It only takes a little over and hour to package the eggs and clean up and since I am on summer break from teaching piano lessons it meant that I still had time to work in the garden before Steve had to go home at 4:30. Mom wanted to work on the roof to her new garden arbor so at 3:30 Steve and I headed to the garden to see how many weeds we could pull in an hour. I was determined that every Spanish Needle plant in the raised bed gardens must be sentenced to exile before the garden tour. I did not want our guests coming out of the garden looking like porcupines—we have done that to friends before and they were not very happy with us. The week before we had already conquered a good portion of the pathways—but there was still much more to do. So Steve and I grabbed the wheelbarrow and headed down the first pathway that goes from the south side to the north side of the garden. We were like the Tasmanian devil pulling up everything in our path—and the weeds in the beds that bordered the path. There was Spanish Needle, Goldenrod, Dogfennel and blackberry vines—all unwanted, unwelcomed, uninvited guests to our garden. They were 100% invaders who stole valuable minerals, sunlight and elbow room from our precious wanted, welcomed, and invited garden occupants. We were almost done with the straight pathway when the clock was showing that it was almost 4:15—but I wasn’t ready to stop yet and thankfully Steve is willing to put up with my craziness. We finished the beds we were in and then we turned to the left for some hefty weeds and then we turned to the right and the weeds and spent wildflowers were thick there and we just kept pulling and then we turned to the left and called it quits just four feet down as we reached a jungle. It was enough—and the Gravely was heaped to the sky and it was after 4:30. Steve headed to the low spot on the farm where we throw all compostable material and I grabbed the clippers and the water can and headed for the flowers. I wanted a fresh bouquet of zinnias and celosia in the house and so I quickly clipped while Steve dumped the weeds. It was 5:00 by the time we headed for the house—but the garden sure did look a whole lot better.
Warning: HEAT Advisory
All week we dreaded the arrival of Thursday when the weather man was predicting an extreme heat wave. When we woke up Thursday I have to admit that I asked the Lord to please let it be breezy—of which 95% of the time it is here on the farm. Not only did the Lord send a nice breeze—but He also held off the humidity until about 3:00 that afternoon. The temp read 102, but the air was dry and it wasn’t that bad—which was good since we were weeding in the garden until 5:00 that evening. Come around 3:00 though you could tell that the humidity was high and the heat index read 112. Mom spent the whole time eradicating nutgrass from one of the rose beds. We don’t know what happened, but it came up like a carpet this year. Steve and I tackled more walkways and beds. Papa even came out to help us some for there were lots of piles of weeds that needed to be removed from the garden and transported to the compost area.
When we headed outside Friday morning we knew that it was going to be a HOT one. While Thursday was drier, Friday was so humid that you could “cut it with a knife” as they say. We were soaked with sweat just sitting in the milking parlor milking the cows. As soon as we were done milking we headed to the garden—and we were very thankful that we only had 30 ft. left to weed and hedge. The Rose Creek Abelia had not been trimmed back for over a year and they had taken over most of the walkway. Papa once again came out to help us—and his arrival timing was perfect since we had just reached a section of hefty weeds that were too big for Mom and me to pull up. One bed was covered with dogfennel and goldenrod and Papa was pulling them up when he came across a bird nest that had two different types of eggs in it. We think that they were Bluebird and House Wren eggs. We decided to leave the rest of the weeds in that bed so as not to disturb the nest any more than we already had. It was about 2:00 when we were finally finished weeding—and we were finished ourselves! It was extremely HOT and there would have been no way for us to have weeded until 5:00 that day. The temperature had only reached 100, but there was no breeze and the heat index was 118.
Planning and Presenting
When lunch was over on Friday—Mom and I stayed inside for the rest of the day. Papa came and went, but spent some time emptying the manure spreader on the pastures. I spent the rest of the day at the computer working on the power point presentation for the “You CAN Garden in Florida” Seminar. I had worked on it a few other times—but I wasn’t really getting anywhere. Friday morning I finally got inspiration and direction while I was putting together the milking equipment. I quickly scribbled down my outline and that made it much easier to make progress when I finally got to sit down at the computer. By 6:30 that night my brain was freezing—I could no longer think of the name of certain plants and it was time for a break and I needed to cook dinner. You never know how much knowledge is in your head until you start trying to organize it on paper. There is so much knowledge that goes into gardening and trying to figure out just what you want to share in a few hours isn’t easy. There is a reason why there are 1000’s of books on gardening—there is the soil, the methods, seed saving and finding, composting, planning, designing, planting, weeds, harvesting, storing, timing, etc. We decided that our main focus would be:
1. Designing a garden that is beautiful to look at and productive to eat from—Gardening is more than just growing food--it is creating a place that you enjoy being while growing your food.
We like a garden that feeds the soul and nourishes the body!
2. Knowing which season to plant your garden in—what grows in the fall, winter, spring and summer here in Florida (which is totally different from when gardens are planted up north).
3. Taking a tour through the garden and talking about our favorite tools.
I finished the power point by 8:30 Friday night and then I had a few handouts to print—and then I went to bed. Saturday morning dawned early as Papa headed outside early to set up the chairs in the poultry kitchen. The air-conditioner is a nice game changer for comfortability in the room. Just as we were heading out to milk the Post Office called and said that our chicks were in. So as soon as Mom was done milking she headed to town to pick up the chicks. It would be nice if you knew when the hottest weeks of the year would be back in January when you place your order for chicks—because 2/3 of the chicks did not make it in the heat. Some of our new laying hen chicks died also due to the heat Thursday and Friday. In the meantime, I started packing the orders for the Gainesville delivery and we got the last minute touches done for the seminar. Thankfully Mom and I did manage to get lunch before the seminar began at 1:00. We had 22 people signed up for the seminar and all 22 people showed up. Since there was a chance of rain we toured the garden first, and then we came into the “classroom” for the Power Point presentation. Everyone said that they really enjoyed it and learned a lot—and they are now asking for a canning class! The last people left at 6:30 and then Papa did the evening chores, Mom and I cleaned up and started dinner. It was a good day!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare