A Tough Growing Season

Crops in crisis.  I’m at the end of the article.  Many of the farmers who were interviewed are fellow farmers’ market vendors or friends.  We’re struggling.  June was horrible and the first week of July isn’t going to be better.

I didn’t go to market this week but I will next.  I’ll have beets/greens from the high tunnel, lettuces, and probably broccoli, new potatoes and peas.

Rain

I’m not going to market tomorrow.  There’s enough ready to harvest for my local customers but not enough for market too.  I’m surprised at how well plants are growing.  The potatoes are beautiful and putting on blossoms, broccoli is heading up nicely, lettuces are doing well.  Unfortunately the pigweed and hairy galinsoga are growing faster.  When this weather breaks I’m going to hire a kid to help me get caught up on weeding.  When it rains tomorrow we’ll have had rain either 29 or 30 days in June.  I haven’t figured out how I’m going to pick peas in a week if the rain doesn’t stop.  According to the ten day forecast, it’s not going to stop.  Houses are washing off their foundations and roads are giving way because of the flooding.  Hay is starting to lay down in the fields because it’s too wet to cut.  I’m glad we’re not livestock farmers anymore.

Planting tomatillos in a greenhouse was a mistake.  Trying to tie them up was frustrating.  They’re coming out today.  If I grow them again they’ll be outside and left to sprawl.  I’ll replace the tomatillos with a heat tolerant lettuce, kale and endive after weeds are pulled, the soil is soaked (it’s dry in there because I stopped watering when I decided to kill the off the tomatillos) and amended.

Later today I’m going to work on my next newspaper column about food production myths.  I’ll make a loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread and a pesto bread to go with tonight’s supper of spaghetti.  I’ll pick a summer squash and pull an onion to sautee and add to the sauce.

A New Hoophouse!

I bought a 1600 sq ft hoophouse this afternoon.  When I called about it a few days ago I missed it by a couple of hours.  The seller kept my name and number just in case and fortunately for me, just in case happened.  It will be delivered in a few hours! This brings our covered space up to 2,800 sq ft (not counting the seedling house).  I think that might be enough.  I’ll spend part of next week planning what to plant, the layout and  crunching some numbers to see what I might be able to come up with for a true profit in the first year.  It will pay for itself easily. Here’s the ad:

Greenhouse is all disassembled at this time. Included in this package are the hoops, purlins, drive legs, Poly covering, poly pipe with watering drops, several wire top benches and an amount of concrete blocks for support of the benches.

With delivery included, $1,400.  I was expecting to pay $3,500 for 1,000 sq ft. As soon as the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are done I’ll pull the plants and we’ll start building.  It will go up as two houses rather than its original 88′ house.  I’ll fill the houses with cold weather greens for the winter and tomatoes and eggplant next summer.

We secured financing for a tractor right after it was sold yesterday.  It was sold pending financing.  Being able to say “I have cash” helped me get the hoophouse today.  I’m hoping the same sentence lands the tractor in a few days!

Honest Scrap

Thanks to CeeCee for giving me the Honest Scrap Award!  It’s a great day to stay out of the heat, humidity, black flies, mosquitoes, horse flies and moose flies, and do this instead.  I tag anyone who hasn’t done this yet and wants to do it now.

The Honest Scrap award only has a couple guidelines. 1.) you have to list 10 things about you that many people don’t know about, but are true. 2.) you have to tag 10 people with the award. 3.) you have to let the people you’ve given the award to, know that they’ve received this award from you. Lastly, make sure you link back to the person who awarded you.

hmmm…. 10 things many people don’t know about me.  I talk a lot so there’s little you don’t know.

1. I dislike summer.  Hot, humid, black flies, mosquitos, horse flies, moose flies, too much rain, not enough rain, weeds grow faster than everything else no matter what the weather might be.  I much prefer growing in “the off seasons” of spring, fall and winter.
2. I have a tattoo.  I’m sure you all know that already, right?
3. I don’t like dramatics and bickering that is hurtful and hateful and I cut people out of my life.  I’m harsh about such things especially when my children are being used as pawns.  Do that and POOF! You’re off my planet.
4. Snakes don’t scare me anymore.  I’m not picking them up like Dani does but I don’t scream and run.
5. Spiders don’t make me scream and run anymore.
6. I’m empty nesting right now and I think after three days of this so far, I might survive.
7. I knew about the first batch of baby ducks.  Tell Steve this and POOF! You’re off my planet.
8. I’m not a great friend for the most part because family gets 99.9% of my time, and I don’t feel badly about that.
9. I hate the telephone.  A lot of you knew that though.
10. I’d tell you the tenth thing but then I’d have to turn you into the village idiot and feed you to the FedEx contract driver.  (see below)

The FedEx contract driver the dogs hate so much delivered a package here this afternoon. He talks about ignorant things, he’s too forward, he’s too pushy and the dogs think they have a pretty good reason to eat him alive.  He’s not bright enough to know he shouldn’t reach down to pet a growling dog.  My dogs have growled about maybe three people in 10 years.  He’s one of them.  Anyway, he read the bumper sticker on the Blazer. “You are what you eat. Go Organic.” He said he liked the bumper sticker but it’s not true because if he was what he eats he’d be something else.

I get Brownie points for not saying…

“OMG! YOU ATE THE VILLAGE IDIOT???    SPIT HIM OUT RIGHT NOW!!!

Fresh From GH1

Broccoli.  The heads we picked this evening are 8″ across.  The broc and cucumbers shown here were grown in the unheated greenhouse.  They were planted in April.

Still a baby at 4″.

To Do

I’m back to being the sole farmer so I’m trying to get organized.  There are things I want this year – a packing shed, refrigeration, another unheated greenhouse.  If I stay organized and focused I’ll have them all by the end of the year.

Red has not yet been finished.

Water Greenhouses
Move stuff to seedling house for storage
Weed and finish planting gh2
build new compost pile

Inside

call Dick to till acre (called Charlie)
order seeds
order salad spinner

Weed
peas
beet greens
spinach
broc

Misc
mulch
stake 100+/-tomatoes
trellis peas
flame carrots
chic tea
fertilize onions
water peppers

Plant
corn
lettuces
zucchini
summer squash
pickling cucumber seeds
broc
cabbage
cauliflower
Jalepenos
bell peps
frying peps

The phone is ringing off the hook…

….with people asking, “Is it true?”

Yes, it’s true.  Domtar is reopening the Woodland mill on June 22.  Steve is going back to work tomorrow.  Some are already back.  He’s in the middle of a project at his interim job and doesn’t want to leave it unfinished.  Let the chaos begin – the man thrives on it.

We’ll have a tractor soon.  We’ll get a tiller and a bush hog.  I’ll be loading pumpkins into the bucket this fall.  Steve will it to pull logs he cut for firewood out of the woods. We’ll fill the bucket with split firewood to bring back to the house from the wood yard.  I’ve fought this for years but I’m finally ready.  I have enough work for it now and can afford a payment (did I mention Steve’s been called back to work?!!) on what I make on the farm, and Steve will do a little side work with it too.

It’s cold today, 52* and raining.  I built a small fire to take the damp chill out of the house.  I don’t ever remember needing heat on in the house in June.  Hello climate change.  Honestly, I’d rather it be damp and chilly than hotter than normal. I absolutely don’t like the heat.  July through September are supposed to be a little above average in temps.  I hope not, average is hot enough for me.  We have rain and drizzle the rest of the week, a five or six day stretch of sun and warmth and then rain again.  I’m grateful for the rain because I don’t have to use the well.

The cucumbers in the gh are 3″ long now, a good start to the 12-15″ they will be soon.  Tomatos are setting on nicely, beet greens are going gang busters, and there are some 4″ beets in the gh that need to be pulled.  Bush beans are 2-3″ tall, peas are blossoming and broccoli is starting to set on.  There are two heads that are 6″ across in the greenhouse today. I planted 65 extra pepper, 65 extra cabbage and 87 extra tomatoes plants this week. They were left over in the seedling house. Every day I declare, “Done, the seedling house is closed.”  Then someone shows up or calls.  Other than a 10′ row for mixed salad greens and three rows for the next planting of bush beans, this acre is planted.  As soon as we find someone with a tractor and plow large enough to break another acre I’ll plant pumpkins, winter squash, 10,000 more carrots (sounds like a lot but takes a small amount of space), the other half of the corn, and the rutabagas.  I had to buy a pumpkin variety that’s only 85 days to maturity because I wasn’t organized enough to get it done in a timely manner.

Farmers’ Market opens next week.  Jamie is working with me this summer and that makes me smile! I’m looking forward to market.

Wild strawberries are ripe.  We went to Moose Mountain last weekend (geocaching) and picked and ate them by the hands full.  They’re wonderful – small, sweet and juicy.  They aren’t in full swing here yet but it won’t be long.  Blueberries will follow in July, and raspberries and blackberries.  It’s time to empty the freezers, compost what I’m not keeping and start refilling them for winter.  I’m not going to put up much for vegetables again this year.

High Speed Posting

The first acre is almost planted, need to see Paul about the second.  HTH am I going to manage two acres, go to market, supply a sporting camp and a store and sleep?  Seedlings are almost sold out.  Whatever doesn’t sell this weekend is going in the ground or compost pile.  Did I say the ducklings went home? They did, except the two I kept.  Steve’s on a mission – trap the snapping turtle.  Now that he’s home to see her often she’s become real in his mind.  “She” because Taylor found where she’s been digging.  I haven’t been over to see if she’s laid eggs yet.  If she has, they’re going.  One snapper is too many.

The apple and cherry crops will be pathetic this year. One apple tree blossomed well, thankfully my favorite tree, but the rest were sparse or not at all.  The cherries are sparse.  I don’t know why.

My question on managing two acres this summer?  Steve starts an interim job as a forester for a logging company Monday.  It might become permanent, we’ll see what happens at Domtar.  I’m on my own this summer for the most part.

Seedling Sales

Seedlings have been moved to the Waite General Store to be sold.  Broccoli, cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes and peppers are ready to go into the soil.  $3.25 a six pack.

Summer Planting

Summer planting starts today.  This is where I start asking myself what I was thinking.  I’ve never had the greenhouse open for seedling sales and summer planting fall at the same time.  One ends when the weather warms up and the other begins.  The last of the late spring crops go in today. When that’s done the tomatoes and peppers start while the beans soak in water over night.  The 10 day forecast looks like we won’t have frosty mornings and we’re nine days away from the normal frost free date.

Nine ducklings and probably more to come.  A mallard is missing. We’ve fixed fencing and clipped wings. They’re determined.  If she’s not on a nest the bobcat that visited earlier in the week probably got her.  That low, guttural sound a bobcat makes sends shivers down my spine, literally.  They’re beautiful but I don’t like them after a run-in years ago.  I’d put the dogs in because the black flies were bothering them.  Since then I’ve taught the dogs to sit at my feet and let me cover their eyes while I spray bug spray on their heads and the insides of their ears.

A very large moose walked down the road, across the yard, over the driveway, through the backyard and through the garden the same night the bobcat strolled through.  He missed the peas and only damaged two onions.  That’s pretty good for an animal with such large feet.  IF we get a moose permit and IF we get our first pick of this area we’ll be inviting him back in the fall.

What’s Going On?

The new business cards should be in next week.

Here’s what’s going on – turkey hunting, seeding, growing, transplanting, sweating, swatting black flies, squishing grubs, grumbling about flea beetles and wondering where I put the spinosad.  We put in 2,500 onions, 500 leeks, carrots, radishes, potatoes cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce mix since I last wrote.  I love walking into a tunnel to see tomatoes and cucs growing up string.  We’ve done some work on the soil. Today’s planting will be outside, just in time for tomorrow’s showers to water everything in nicely. The soil is warming nicely but we still have frost concerns for two or three weeks.  After the frost threat ends the warm crops will go out.  It’s time to run twine for peas.  Beets and peas are growing well but the fava beans don’t seem to want to do anything.  The seeds are a year old but should still be mostly viable.  We have a few spears of asparagus up.  The rhubarb is doing nicely.  A couple of clumps need to be separated and replanted.  I made a strawberry rhubarb pie that was a huge hit even though it was too sweet.  One pie has 1.5 cups of sugar, way too much.  I’ll cut it back to a cup next time and maybe 3/4’s cup after that. Steve’s not complaining about the sweetness but none of us need that much sugar.

One side of the new tunnel has damage caused by Thursday’s wicked winds.  It rattled enough to loosen the screws that attach ribs to the baseboard.  That was bad enough but then the baseboards separated at the joint in the center.  Bales of spaghnum moss are bracing it for a while.  We’ll recover it this year.  Lathes will be replaced by wiggle wire.  Now that we know it’s strong enough to stand up to heavy snow loads we’ll use it for winter growing.

We’re going to take late afternoon off to visit friends Jamie and Ray in Eastport as they arrive for the summer. We’ll help them unpack and get the house open.   I’m making rolls and salad and Tammy is making American chop suey (goulash for the non Yankees).  We’ll visit long enough to relax and eat before leaving them to relax and sleep after their two day drive from West Virginia.  Jamie will be helping me at farmers market this summer.  I haven’t seen her since the end of last summer and I’m eager to see her today. And Ray too of course!

Free Range Onions

They didn’t really “range” any where but I’m going with the term anyway.  Late last summer I neglected to clean up onions that went to see in the cold house (high tunnel/unheated greenhouse/hoop house) and they started to grow last fall.  They were dormant for a while before starting up slow growth.  One plant started to send up a seed stalk yesterday so I pulled a couple of them today.  Wow! I’m impressed.  They aren’t huge but they look and smell great.  I think they would have been larger if I’d started watering sooner.  I will plant onions intentionally late this summer for a next May crop.  Having onions on opening day of farmers market in May of ‘10 will be something they’ve never seen before!

Early May

I feel like we’re a little bit ahead in spite of the long winter.  The peas are up.  I haven’t checked the rest of the seeds outdoor but will this morning.  It’s warm enough at night to not have heat on in the seedling house.  I’ve used a third of last year’s propane by waiting two extra weeks to put seedlings in the seedling house. The diningroom jungle is a mere memory now.  I can do it again next year.

Steve tilled in the spinach in the high tunnel yesterday.  We’ve had our fill, it was getting a little chewier than I like and was starting to bolt. It’s now a green manure crop. We don’t have beet greens yet but will in a cople of weeks. They didn’t get the attention they needed in January so they’re late this year.  Broccoli has been transplanted outside.  Onions and leeks are in progress. Two thousand onions sounded like a good idea when I ordered them.  Steve made raised beds for them by using the furrower on the tiller.  He added rock weed before making the beds.  They look good.

Seedlings have spilled out of the seedling house and into the small high tunnel. We didn’t build another seedling house. I’m not comfortable spending the money when Steve’s being layed off tomorrow.  I’m making do.  And while I’m on “making do,” rather than hire someone to till with a tractor, Steve’s doing it. I like this a lot better. He’s taking time to make beds and amend soil, things that wouldn’t be done if we had someone on a tractor.  Maybe someone on a tractor is our new ‘making do.’

I think the water is warming enough for the trout to start eating pellets.  Something made a bigger swirl two evenings ago than I’ve seen this year.  It was almost dark and I couldn’t see what it was.  Nothing yesterday orthis morning but after a sunny day, maybe tonight.

We’ll spend Steve’s first day “off” by turkey hunting in the morning.  We can each take one tom.  I’m not thrilled about going because it’s going to rain but it’s going to rain the rest of the week.  He’s attending a forestry workshop on Friday.  There isn’t as much freelance work available as he’d been told, we’ll see how that pans out.

Taylor will spend six weeks on a college campus this summer.  She leaves four days after turning 16. She’ll take math, science, English and French classes, attend a music festival, spend a day in Boston and possibly camp in Acadia and climb Mt. Katahdin.  She loves math and science and is eager to learn a little French.

It’s a lot of change in a short time.

87* and a Red Flag Warning

… Red Flag Warning In Effect Until 6 PM EDT This Afternoon…

The National Weather Service In Caribou Has Issued A Red Flag Warning… Which Is In Effect Until 6 PM EDT This Afternoon. The Fire Weather Watch Is No Longer In Effect.

Southwest Winds Will Increase To Sustained Speeds Of 10 To 20 Mph… With Gusts Of 25 To 30 Mph… This Afternoon. Afternoon Relative Humidities Will Fall To 30 To 35 Percent Across The Watch Area. These Factors… Along With Unseasonably Warm Temperatures… Will Combine For An Enhanced Fire Threat This Afternoon. A Cold Front Will Cross The Region Later This Afternoon And Evening With Showers And Possibly A Thunderstorm Along With Shifting Wind Directions.

A Red Flag Warning Means That Critical Fire Weather Conditions Are Either Occurring Now… Or Will Shortly. A Combination Of Strong Winds… Low Relative Humidity… And Warm Temperatures Will Create Explosive Fire Growth Potential.
It’s 87* so I quit working and came in out of the sun and wind.  I’ll plant the last of the peas when the temp drops. I’ll be glad to be back to normal cooler temps tomorrow.  It feels weird to stand outside when it’s 87* and there aren’t any leaves on the trees.  There aren’t even any wild flowers blooming yet.  I pulled the plastic off the hen house and sprayed Tom with water.  He was beat red and panting hard.  He usually doesn’t like to be sprayed so when he stood, spread his wings and let the water cool him I knew he was miserable.  The rest of the birds are fine.

I’ve planted peas, beets, spinach and fava beans outside. I stalled on the broccoli because of today’s weather. I didn’t really think it would get this hot but thought better safe than sorry.  I’m glad I waited.

A duck has made a nest on top of the pile of rock weed.  The weed is dry, rough and scratchy and the pile is in the open. I can’t imagine what she was thinking.  She’s not a first time, all of the ducks will be at least two this year.

88* now. Tonight’s low is 38*.  I hope we don’t have a lot of lightening in the storm the cold front will bring with it later.

What’s Growing in the High Tunnel

Winter Density

Lettuce

Bok Choi

Spinach

Endive

Moving Right Along

I’m being lazy today. I had errands to run earlier but I’ve been home an hour and a half and accomplished none of my physical work.  Emails have been answered, a little research done but not one seedling has been potted up.  Not one plant in a greenhouse watered, picked or one inch of ground weeded.  I watched the ducks swimming on the lawn thanks to 3″ of rain. That must count for something.

Have you ever been eager to read something then wished you hadn’t?  I decided to get caught up on Sharon’s blog. I haven’t read it since before I became so sick in December.  I poured a drink and read five entries.  And there it was – the thing that made me stick to the pit of my stomach.  Rufus, their working farmcollie, Maggie’s son, has died.  He was a special dog.  For some unknown reason Rufus was a giant.  He was twice the size of the other puppies in the litter and he didn’t look like any of them. There was an odd branch in the family tree.  The day he left to go home with Sharon and Eric he was in Sharon’s arms.  He had a small stuffed animal puppy he’d stolen many times from Taylor’s room in his mouth, was wagging his tail and was as happy as happy could be.  The vet thinks Rufus had an unknown heart defect, something not unusual for a dog his size.  I knew him only as a puppy, never an adult dog, but paid attention to his work. He was a good dog. He died two months ago but it feels like today.  I kick myself for getting behind in reading.  I’d have called with my condolensces if I’d known but won’t now because I don’t want to stir up sad feelings again.

Look up.  See us up there?  We’re still up in the air!  I have a sense of humor about it now. As I’ve said too many times in the too few times I’ve written recently, this pending unemployment has been hard. I’m a planner.  How the hell do I plan for something completely unknown?  There are things I’d like to tell you about but I don’t know who reads this so I can’t.  Some of the personal information I’d share is personal to others too and it’s not my place to spread their info.  Steve’s first day of being unemployed is two weeks from today.  He has a plan coming together but I can’t tell you about that here either.  I guess if anyone’s interested I can make a password protected entry and send the password to people I know here who ask for it.  That would work.

Lesson of the Day: Don’t put tomato plants in the ground in an unheated cool house (Eliot’s name for an unheated greenhouse, makes it easier to keep straight) before it stops dropping to 19* over night.  There wasn’t any such weather in the 10 day forecast.  The plants are dead.  They would have netted just over $5,000 because of having the corner on the early market and higher price. The carrots, beets, spinach, arugula and other greens are doing well.

On to happier things!  We’re returning to farmers market in Calais this summer.  Steve will go with me when possible and Jamie will be there to help me every week.  I’m looking forward to spending so much time with her.  We don’t know where Taylor’s going to be yet.  Melissa will go to Springfield with me one day a week.  I’m on the list for the new Farm to School directory.  We’ve been working with a group of people to form the Washington County Food Alliance over the last few months.  I’m attending a value added workshop next week. I taught a soap class last week. There’s a new slaughter house in the area and it’s going to be state or USDA inspected. I can raise meat rabbits, pay the butcher and sell them. I’m excited about this and will be talking with Ann about meat rabbits while she’s here Saturday.  Speaking of Ann, I have a wonderful new friend who makes the best goat cheese I’ve ever eaten.  She should have a business.  Money should fall from the sky so that she can have what she needs to get her dairy up and running at full production.  Her cheeses are THAT good.  Around all of that, the seedling house is full, the peas are planted, the rain will stop Thursday and we’ll be planting more peas, spinach, beets, turnip and such Saturday.  We’ve been busy.

Walter Jeffries and NAIS

Walter Jeffries spoke about NAIS this week. You can should read the transcript here.

Up in the Air

Life is so far up in the air and changing these days that I don’t write about current plans.  What I write today could change drastically by tomorrow.  Steve’s job is up in the air. We could sit around and wait for a call back but who wants to live on unemployment.  He might work as a consulting forester.  Maybe he’ll interview at another mill.  Or a private company or two. Working on the farm with me all summer is not going to work out.  There’s a reason I’m the farmer in the family and it made itself crystal clear a while ago.  If he takes another job he risks losing severance pay but that’s a gamble. He could wait it out for nine months to get a severance check worth less than six months of salary.  Pffffftttt   Life’s too short to sit around and wait for something to happen. He’ll make it happen instead.

It started snowing yesterday and didn’t stop until this morning.  The sun is starting to break through the clouds now.  Everything is white but it won’t last long.  By the end of the day it should be gone. I’m going to start the heater in the seedling house this morning to be sure it works and move seedlings out to make room for more.

Merry Christmas!  Oh wait…it only looks like December.

Late March

I know it snows in late March in Maine sometimes but that doesn’t make looking at it better.  Ugh. Enough already.  I do feel a little tropical this morning though. I’m writing to you from the tomato plant jungle.  Note to self: late January might be a little early to start seedlings. They resemble redwoods.  Some don’t fit under the grow lights anymore.  It’s still colder than I’m comfortable with in the gh’s at night so I’m shuffling plants around. They can go outside on 40* days as long as it’s not windy.  The eggplant are fantstic too.  The first batch of peppers are up.

The greenhouse has the “in-between” look.  It’s in between winter and spring crops.  I toasted some endive seedlings yesterday by not paying attention to the temperature. By the time I realized how warm it was outside it was too late inside.  Some of the leaves were crispy.  They hadn’t finished acclimating to the cold over night temps before I let the temp climb to 125*.  Dammit.  I don’t often believe in luck but in this case, I was lucky just a few plants were killed.  They’re still in the soil.  I can afford the time to see if anything grows from the center of the plants.  If not, let’s just call it a mini green manure crop.

We’re going to pick up rockweed tomorrow.  It’s a kind of seaweed.  It’s full of micro nutrients from the ocean. When the snow is gone I’ll spread it on a spot in the garden and let it sit.  When we’ve had four or five dry days in a row in April the weed will become dry and crunchy. It’s easy to rototill in then.  If it’s wet it gets tangled in the tines and results in language I shouldn’t repeat here. I’ll start a big batch of rockweed tea to use in the greenhouse and watering seedlings, mix some into a cold compost pile in the gh, give some to the chickens to scratch in and pile the rest.  When I mention picking up rockweed someone (same guy each time, I delete him without allowing the message through) gets upset and leaves me a nasty message about how picking up weed is illegal and I’m killing a valuable resource.  It’s not illegal to pick up the loose weed on the beach. We can’t gather live weed connected to rocks.  We pick up so little weed over the course of a year that it’s truly insignificant.  And to Martin, in case you’re still reading, don’t bother. You haven’t answered my question to your response last year.

I’m going to seed trays of broccoli and cabbage today. The soil block maker is here.  I’ll find some sand and try it out.  The pepper seedlings I mentioned earlier need to be potted up into six packs or maybe soil blocks. Steve’s going to a Northwoods Mafia meeting tonight.  It’s an informal group of men who work in Maine’s northwoods.  There are contractors, foresters, wood buyers, equipment operators, truck drivers – anyone you can think of involved in the logging industry.  They get together every two or three weeks to relax, have a few drinks and eat good food at someone’s camp. The location changes each time.  Tonight the host is making a New England boiled dinner.  Steve won’t be home til tomorrow morning so I can have a relaxed day of not watching the clock.  Taylor will make supper for us.  I can poke around doing as I please all day as long as I get everything done.  It’s a good thing.

Wonder what kind of hits the blog will get in the next few days.  I’ve talked about weed (those folks are going to be disappointed if they try smoking this weed) and the maffia.

More at Four Season Farm

More pics from Four Season (not seasons, that’s a horse farm) Farm. Right click for full-sized pics.

The new movable greenhouse system puts the ghs on tracks with wheels.  These are the same wheels used on the gates of chain link fencing.

A tool shed.

A heated bench for seed starting.