make it happen!
Here’s a look at what my hands looked like after this evening’s post setting extravaganza:
We were able to complete one of the long sides of the fence. It took me 20 minutes to dig the first hole; I was unable to complete the second hole; however, Dwight came along and finished them. When I had a free moment, I quickly planted another four rows of Blue Lake bush beans. As usual, it was too dark to take a pic of the finished work.
Last night Dwight and I mowed and trimmed the property and then planted 160 onion bulbs (80 each of white and /red). Â We scattered straw and then covered with the row cover to keep the straw from blowing all over the place! When I stopped by this afternoon on my way home from school, there were two rabbits sitting in the beds. We are going to have to get the fence going. I say this every day, but now it’s been several weeks, and time is running out.
Mom’s best rhubarb pie–ever!
What is not to like about this bouquet of landscape timbers artfully arranged in a 100-gallon vase (pronounced vaaaaz, of course)? Thank you, Bill!
How many fence post digging companies do you know that use a grand piano lid stick to clean off the muck? Just what I thought: not very many. This stick is made of walnut. It’s very sturdy . . . and aesthetically pleasing, don’t you think?
Building fence is not for the faint of heart–and not especially easy–or fun–when it’s this muddy!
After watching a few YouTube videos, we decided this was the way we wanted to protect plants–year round. Dwight cut rebar in to 2′ lengths. The ground was sooo saturated with water, we didn’t even need a hammer. We left 6-8″ above the ground. The PVC sticks are 10′ long. I think they could be a little shorter. Anyway, during cold weather months we plan to put 3mil plastic on so that we can have greens for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners–and in between! Obviously, we need to either get a wider row cover or shorten the PVC sticks.
Dwight’s handiwork
The peppers appear to be quite content in my paper pots. Cabbage seedlings don’t seem to care for that environment so much. These pepper seedlings are about two weeks, I believe.
Donn, a colleague from work, gave me an incredible bunch of fresh asparagus. I oven-roasted it for the first meal, and then I made a pizza with the rest of it–added in some grilled chicken and Fontina and white cheddar cheese. Oh, I also simmered some tomato sauce on the stove for four hours. Plus, I used some of my Tartine Country White bread dough from the freezer. It was a wee bit too crusty for this particular app! Another memorable Sunday supper. (It was difficult to eat! Plus, we had to call up Dwight’s excavating skills in order to extricate the pizza from the pan!!!!)
It’s a beautiful, busy Saturday. So many options, so little time. This morning when I arrived at Piper, Dwight had six 5-gallon buckets of water waiting for me to use on my freshly planted broccoli and cabbage plants. Â So I watered them and spread some straw on the onions that are established. I also snipped off some of the onions I grew from seed. I read that in order to grow thicker stems/stalks, you can snip them, leaving three inches. Then the stalk will be grow out to pencil-thickness.
Then on to pick up Mom for a trip to a new nursery that has opened just south of Roseville, Sweet Briar. We found the visit very inspiring because the owner has such a positive attitude and seems undaunted by any circumstances. In addition to plants, she has 500 baby chicks (in addition to  probably 50 full-grown chickens of various breeds) and a 31-year-old horse.
Back to Macomb and to the Macomb Community Garden for a little wheelbarreling exercise. Then . . . time for lunch. I was just trying to remember what I did after lunch. Ah! How could I forget that Bill and I went over to Piper Stree and mowed and trimmed both properties!
Later in the day, Lisa and I planted the remaining broccoli/cabbage seedlings. Then we covered it with the rest of the row cover. Whew! When I arrived home, Bill said there was rain at the Mississippi River; I hope it is a gentle one!
Finished off the day with a repotting extravaganza. Repotted rosemary and the remaining cabbage/broccoli. Hopefully, Mom and Dad will have room for some of these!
another bed of broccoli and cabbage