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Hi Everyone,
I have to admit that I had one thing on my mind all last week—get the garden ready for the vegetable and flower transplants and get them transplanted. So as soon as we were finished milking on Monday we headed to the garden. Papa had to head to Jacksonville to pick up some more milk jugs, but Mom, Steve and I spent our day in the garden. There were beds to weed and walkways to dig out so that they could be mulched. Mom and I spent all day weeding and Steve spent all day shoveling. I did take some time to trim the sweet potato vines back—a chore that had been neglected for a few weeks and before we totally lost control I figured that I had best get it tackled. When the day was over Mom and I had the treat of harvesting the first batch of green beans! There was not very many—but there was enough for two meals. We have green beans in the garden!
It took us a little longer to get to the garden on Tuesday because I did a search for split rails. Mom does not want to hang her grape vines on wire, nor does she want to use pressure treated wood. We tried large diameter bamboo—but it splits and has holes in the ends and the wasps find those areas to be great places to build “Wasp Hotels.” Mom has her heart set on old-fashioned split rails, but finding them isn’t easy. When I searched I found that spilt rail fencing is very popular in North Carolina—but we are in Florida. I also found them made out of locust trees—a tree that doesn’t rot and bugs do not like to eat. The perfect tree for farm projects! While most of them were in North Carolina, I did manage to find some in north Georgia—but the question is “How do we get them?” Milk cows do not give us the opportunity to go too far away from home. So we are trying to figure out the logistics of getting the spilt rails. If any of you know how to get 60 rails here on our farm from north Georgia let us know.
We did finally make it to the garden and Steve and I filled and dumped close to 100 five gallon buckets of mulch and chicken compost. Mom spent her day weeding the West Food Pyramid in “Martha’s Vineyard.” It is almost done and then we will be able to mark it off and get its beds prepped and walkways mulched in time to plant onions next month.
When Thursday rolled around it was time to start transplanting—but first each bed needed to be broadforked and tilthed. Mom had the wise idea of broadforking, tilthing and transplanting one bed at a time. Then are ten beds to transplant into, and she knew that it was impossible to accomplish all of them in a day—wise Mommy! The first bed was one of the rows in the Food Pyramid and after it was already we transplanted the bok choy to its new home. Then I did the biggest row in the Food Pyramid and we transplanted kale and more bok choy into it, and I planted a section of spinach seeds in there too. I then headed over to the East Tunnel and did two rows of collards and then it was after 4:00 when I had the last row for the day all broadforked and tilthed so that Mom and I could transplant some zinnias. We are not sure how the method of growing clusters of plants in the garden and then transplanting them out will work—because they are so close together that no dirt really goes with them (just bare roots) and they have grown so big in just a month from seed. They look pretty limp tonight and I guess if tomorrow they do not look like they will thrive we will just plant more seeds where the dying plants are. I am hoping that they survive and pull through—for I still have to transplant the broccoli, Swiss chard, lettuce and another batch of zinnias (cause I am dreaming of red and white zinnia bouquets for Christmas).
We did not get to go to the garden on Friday, but I did get to work in the greenhouse. I have no success so far with cabbage or celery—so I needed to plant more seeds in seed trays. Then I needed to start more lettuce and it is time to start Chamomile. I need to find my parsley seeds and my sage seeds for I need to start them too, along with mullein and plantain.
Since the cows have been grazing the pea fields they seem to sleep in piles of manure a little too often. Quite a few cows need a “cow” wash before we can milk them. Penelope is one of the cows who like to look like a pig—but Friday morning Penelope had an incident that took Mom over an hour to clean up. Penelope was in heat and the bull, Dijon, was trying to breed her on the concrete pad at the milking parlor. Penelope lost her balance and fell down in an area where a few cows had already used the bathroom. The area was slippery and poor Penelope struggled to get up. Once back up on her feet I could see that Mom was not going to enjoy milking her—for Penelope was covered in manure from her chin to her tail! She really would have benefited going to a drive through car wash and getting a good bath. As it was Mom had to use a rag and a water hose—and lots of time! Mom was so exhausted when she was done that all she wanted to do was go inside and relax, but we had a bred heifer to deliver to a new home. A family at our church has been waiting for a cow since last December. The first cow we picked out for them went loco when it was time to load her up and deliver her—so she was scratched. The next heifer was a lot calmer, but we had to wait for her to be old enough to breed. So Friday after lunch we loaded up Buttercup and delivered her an hour south to her new home. That farm has a YouTube channel and I am sure that her arrival just might show up on their YouTube channel soon at https://www.youtube.com/@MaynardFamilyHomestead .
Saturday was a day to juggle a very full “To Do List” with packing orders, washing kefir dishes and milking buckets, and taking care of new customers who are also homesteading. It is always a delight to get to meet new faces and swap stories. When I finally made it inside I made a batch of kombucha and then I made a pot of Elderberry Syrup—my go to for allergies. As soon as I got the syrup cooking I took some pie dough out of the fridge and then I got my ironing done. I was almost done with the ironing when the timer went off for the elderberry syrup and it was time to make a Galette—my new go to pie recipe. I had some pears and apples that needed to be used and an extra pie crust in the fridge so it was really easy to assemble. Once the galette was in the oven I ran to the garden to pick some green beans. To my dismay I had forgotten all about the green beans and some were way past picking. I only had time to pick enough for dinner—and that was accomplished before I got a quarter of the way down one row. Back inside I got the green beans cooking—I sautéed them in butter with garlic, salt, pepper and my dried lemon peel. I had turkey thighs and sweet potatoes cooking in the oven so dinner was really easy. After dinner I managed to have some time to practice my piano while I was waiting for a customer to arrive. As the day came to a close I was grateful for everything I was able to get accomplished. Mom spent her day mowing and Papa spent his afternoon making a farm delivery to Gainesville. It was a good week, and I am looking forward to getting more transplanted in the garden this week and getting those green beans harvested and canned.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare