Goodbyes

My parents were married for almost seventy years.

My mother died on the day after Thanksgiving, soon after I visited her.  She'd had Alzheimers for some time, and I felt like I'd already said goodbye.  I sang her a song my dad used to sing to her, but I don't think she heard it.   When my dad sang to her, she used to blush and smile.

I was on a train, on the way to visit my dad for Christmas, when I got an email saying my dad had experienced a significant stroke.   When I got there, he could barely speak.  I told my dad I loved him, and he said he loved me.  I kept saying it, and he kept saying it, as long as he could.   I told him we all loved him.

I sat with my dad for three days, and was with him when he died, a little after 7 pm, on the day after Christmas.

I miss my dad's voice, his sparkling eyes, and his hugs. 

Obituary

George's and my bright and brave foster daughters (ages 6 and 7) went home to their mom last week, after a year with us.   It is good that their family is back together again, but it is very quiet around here.  The girls went home with heads full of my mom's lullabies, and my dad's sea chanties and cowboy songs. 

Looking for dry ground

Haying

Due to the heavy clay soils here, we didn't hay in the first weather window in June.   The fields were not dry enough.   We had a short window a few days ago, with a bit of rain in the forecast in the middle, and used that to get in some mulch hay and tinker with the equipment.   It never did rain during that window.

After a couple of days of rains this week, we waited out yesterday's sunshine, because the fields were too wet to cut hay.   We cut some today but...fields were borderline.   We didn't get stuck, but were not thrilled with the ground conditions.   Will just have to wait and see how this batch goes.

Such is haying.

Garden

Conditions have been better in the vegetable gardens.   We got a new bed going in the old pasture, and have planted and mulched a lot of the existing beds.   Serious weed hoeing is now underway.   We are using more insect netting this year, and are still getting used to the extra steps involved in weeding.   The trade off that is we avoid running around putting wood stove soot on all the squash plants to discourage cucumber beetles.   Also, with the netting, we may avoid a problem with pests in the broccoli, which we had last year for the first time.

George built a new little raised bed in front of the house, and it is planted to lettuce mix, rainbow chard, and donkey spinach.   It is clean (no weeds), so will supply the kitchen nicely.

It is that time of summer before the weeds get ahead of me, and it is a race to see who wins!

Winter to spring

Raccoon at the suet feeder

Woodpeckers regularly visited the suet feeder, until the visitor at left cleaned us out while ignoring tremendous protests from a house cat at the nearest window.

New children came to stay with us.  This farm is fairly flat, but we now know there are ways to slide, if one has a saucer and is determined.

A new small raised bed is going in.  George's small garlic bed is doing well. Equipment maintenance and mowing have begun.

We always seem to start putting seedlings and seed in the big kitchen garden beds later than we should, but are usually lucky to get plenty of what we need in the end.

Squash seedlings

Snowy Day (Hooray!)

Blurry chickadee photo

We put out bird feeders (5 so far including the suet).   They came.

We were supposed to get 1 - 3 " last night, and more than a foot today.  The forecast has been downgraded to 8" - 1 ft today.   Sigh.   Oh well.  This is almost perfect "try out the snow blower" weather, once the wind slows down.

In the last two days we got groceries, gasoline (for the snow blower and for the generator, in case), and another bird seed bucket.   It is Sunday, and we don't have to go anywhere.   First serious snow falls don't get much better.

Sparrows showed up at the feeders for the first time today, in the storm.

Birds and cats

We are into that bleak, gray, damp, December period.   George always starts mentioning Miami fondly this time of year.  We decided to put out some bird feeders.

We put separate feeders out with mixed seed, black sunflower seed and niger seed (for the finches).  There is also some suet hanging under the porch roof.   We've seen the following types of birds eating this past week:  chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, tufted titmouse, goldfinch, hairy woodpecker, cardinal, bluejay, and morning dove.    We are going through seed much faster than I planned.

    Later edit:  12/5/13:  downy woodpecker.

It occurred to us, after the crowds started arriving, that none of our neighbors seem to have bird feeders out, and there is a lot of open acreage around us.  Maybe our neighbors know something we do not.

Our two older cats have been glued to the windows.  Even when Percy can't actually get a comfortable perch to see the feeders, he sits on the floor and watches the fly by action for hours.

We are keeping an eye out the window (and on tracks in the snow) for the neighbor's barn cats.   We may have to adjust the feeders if we see increased mortality nearby.

Our neighbor has good reason to need the barn cats, and outside cats wander.   When we had sheep, we appreciated the free mousing services the cats provided around the sheep barn. 

Wandering cats are extremely hard on bird populations.    But, I view wandering (and working) barn cats differently than wandering pet cats.

During the past week, with a dusting of snow, we are seeing lots of bird and squirrel tracks, but without a mix of cat tracks.   We'll keep watching.  I am the official worrier in the family, and gray Decembers are good practice time.

Bit chilly last night, and still November

 The lowest temperature recorded outside last night here was 8.9 degrees F.

It is nice having someone in the family who likes fiddling with electronic things.   Some time ago, George installed a couple of temperature sensors.  The data is recorded on Weather Direct, and  I can download it.   We move the sensors around to where they are needed most.   Earlier this year, one was in the greenhouse.

At the moment, one sensor is outside the house, and another is down in the root cellar.  

The single root cellar sensor has been showing a temperature ranging from around 39 to 41 degrees.  The cold-loving veggies are at floor level, and the ones that need a warmer temperature are on the higher shelves.   When the root cellar gets too chilly, I crack open the door that goes from the root cellar into the regular cellar.  

No more frequent trips to the root cellar to check the old thermometer inside, and no more wondering how cold the root cellar got last night!

Christmas cactus, summer results, and catching up

First blog in a long time.    I think there was a lot of

George's Christmas Cactus

"holding breath" this summer, and the blog got away from me.

With the rainy start to the season, we couldn't even get into the hay field until July.   We kept trying to get in more hay, and finally had to give up.

I thought for sure we would not make the minimum production (hay and vegetables) we needed to make this year.   One more wagon load of hay would have done it.

But, unexpectedly, the last few storage onions in October put us over the top.   Hooray!!  It was very close.

The picture is the christmas cactus in George's home office.   It seems to be all ready for Santa.

In what is becoming a "day before Thanksgiving" tradition, George and I took advantage of unusually warm weather (accompanied by a downpour, but one can't have everything) to put the snow blower attachment and chains on the lawn tractor, change oil, haul the snow tires out of storage, and bring in miscellaneous pieces of small equipment.   More oiling yet to come, another day.

We are fortunate this year to have the following from the gardens in the root cellar:   carrots, potatoes, beets, and horseradish.   Green beans and broccoli are in the big freezer.   In the main cellar are acorn squash, butternut squash, sugar pumpkin, and lots of sweet onions.

We are looking forward to visiting with old friends on Thanksgiving, and we miss family who are far away.   Hope everyone has a good and memorable day.

Seriously Fresh

It doesn't taste quite the same if it was picked yesterday. 

Most of our vegetables are right out of the garden, picked that day, often within an hour or so.     

Later in the fall, any pumpkins and winter squash will probably break that rule, but then they keep in the cellar well into the winter!


When the umbrella is "open", we are "open".    Cukes are in the cooler.

Why only a few cucumbers (or heads of broccoli, or whatever)?   Because we want the product to be very fresh.   We only put out a little product at a time, and replenish it directly from the garden.    We like to cook straight from the garden, and thought others might too.

If it doesn't sell promptly, it is eaten, donated or composted.  Nothing is wasted.   On occasion we put out day old or odd vegetables at a mark down or free.

Where is the garden?  Up the driveway.    Rock Island Farm (RIF) is a 60+ acre farm, but you can't see it from the road!   The number of vegetable beds is growing.

When are you open?   We're still figuring that out!    Look for the umbrella.   Oh, and please leave payment in the blue coffee can.

Little beds and larger beds

Small beds in front of the house

The idea of having some little vegetable beds in front of the house has gotten going.

George has been looking after the bed on the left in the picture.   The bushy-looking plant is horseraddish, which he planted.  In the fall, the horseraddish will be dug up, and garlic will be planted.

Today, George and I added a small raised bed (4 x 8).  George built the frame, mostly of cedar, and it is pretty.

I dug down inside the frame, and added some lime and rock phosphate.   George added all the vegetable peelings, egg shells, and coffee grounds that we've been saving the last three weeks.  Then, I put down a temporary weed barrier of hay sections.  We're going to use this little raised bed for the rest of the season as a compost pile, then see what we still need to add in late fall.   The goal is to have a little bed where we can grow some lettuce and spinach in the early spring, under a low tunnel, before it is possible to get into the larger in-ground beds to the side of the house.

Bed #1, looking toward other beds

I also started bed #5 today, which is one of a series to the side of the house.   In the picture above is part of bed #1.  Bed #2 can be seen beyond, and bed #3 runs along the fence at the back of the picture.    Beyond the fence, in an area of the pasture we've been mowing the last 5 years, are beds # 4 and #5.   New bed #5 is unusual in that it is only one width of the tiller wide:  6 feet by 61 feet.   Have a feeling that bed # 6 may be similar but over a bit.   I like grass paths.

What about weeds from hay mulch?

A lot of on-line gardening resources recommend using straw rather than hay for mulch in a garden because of potential weed problems.  I wanted to say a word about that.

Hay growing.  June, 2008

 "Straw" is what is left when the seed head is removed from grains.   So, there is oat straw, wheat straw, barley straw, etc.   Maine doesn't grow much grain, although some determined folks are trying to address that, which is good.   Maine does grow a lot of hay, and people have been using hay in their gardens here for a long time.

Straw may contain seeds from the grain crop or weeds, but there usually should not be much.

"Hay" may include very little seed or a lot, or something in between.   Hay can be made up of very few plant species or many, depending on the type of hay, how it was managed, the time of year it was cut, and the field or even the part of the field from which the hay came.

Hay is usually less expensive than straw in Maine, at least when bought from the farm.

If a good, very deep hay mulch is used in a garden, it will smother most weeds.   I used a deep hay mulch in a garden I kept years ago, because it reduced the amount of time I spent weeding.

Not all hay is the same in terms of seed load.   If you are looking ahead to the day you might remove the mulch and want to garden without it, or turn over the ground in a wide area, then it makes sense to pay attention to the seed load in the particular hay being purchased.

Hay cut very early in Maine, such as in May, will usually have relatively little seed.   The seed hasn't had the opportunity to mature yet.   All other things being equal, May hay is often also higher in protein and more expensive because of its value for feed.   But, it still may be less expensive than straw, and is likely to be locally grown.

The earlier a "first cut" (first cut of the year) occurs in a given year, the lower the seed load.   A good "second cut" from the fall will also likely be lower in seeds.   Less second cut is available than first cut, because some acreage is only hayed once a year.   Second cut hay tends to be more expensive than first cut unless it is being sold as mulch hay.

If you talk to the local person who actually grew the hay, then he or she can tell you approximately when the hay was cut.    If a lot of people in an area brought in first cut hay late in a given year, so you can't find earlier cut hay, it is likely because weather conditions did not allow an earlier cut that year.

Hay is a standard garden mulch in Maine, and it can work well.   Expect to pay a bit more attention to it than to very clean straw, but expect to buy local and pay less.     

In the garden, add more hay mulch to thin spots when you notice them, such as where a weed pokes through, and add a new thick layer of mulch in the spring.  

Note:  we sell hay, although mostly feed rather than mulch hay.   Some of the mulch hay is bought by folks with gardens.   Fun reading:  "Ruth Stout's System", Mother Earth News (2004).