Let It Rain

It finally started raining yesterday and that's a blessing because we can use it! The past week has been a warm one but good growing weather ... the tomatoes, corn and squash are coming along ... all they needed was a little deep rain. We picked this beauty from our home garden and was it yummy! There are lots of flowers on the plants and small tomatoes. The local people are awaiting the arrival of fresh tomatoes for sure, but they'll have to be patient a little longer.

Last week we planted 4 grapes and are watching for them to take hold.

The varieties are:

*Seedless Concord

*Fontinac

*Edelweiss

*Valiant

The grapes are mostly the "table grape" variety and we should get a crop next season. The Valiant grape already has 5 grape clusters on it ... we'll be watching for those to ripen.

For now, there are other projects, but in the meantime ... Let It Rain!

Freebie Friday ... Hummingbird Saturday

Today (Saturday), while I was working at the farm, I saw this little dude again. He sure likes our sugar water.

Yesterday, seemed like Freebie Friday. I am thankful for the blessings. I was on the way to the farm when I stopped to get air for the truck tire (FREE). Then I stopped at the local store to see what they had left for annuals and WOW, they had a whole bunch for FREE! That was great. I brought some home and took the rest to the farm. My wife had mentioned that we should rake hay for the strawberries that morning and guess what, I also picked up some FREE hay. WOW! What a day. I got all the annuals planted and went back today (Saturday) to water and plant more flowers from our yard. We managed to get 3 rows of strawberries planted and some hay put down ... the rest will have to wait until next week.

Till then ... Make It A Great Day!

Geraniums by the Truckload!

On Thursday, we stopped by a local retail store and they were offering geraniums at an unbelievably low price. Thinking large scale, I couldn't resist so I bought all they had ... a full truckload ... 130 geraniums. Well, it has been rainy so Friday evening we got a break and planted all our little beauties ... yep, all 130. This will be a good week to get them well watered.

The geraniums were planted in several locations in blocks like in the picture above. Some were used by the ponds for borders. We checked them a couple days after planting and the geraniums are green and starting to put out flower buds so next week may bring some flowers. Buying flowers in large numbers is not a scary thing ...it's rather quite fun. The frustration can come if the weather doesn't cooperate but remember ... many hands make light work!

All the veggies are liking the rainy weather and showing real promise. We have had two ripe tomatoes so far this year and many peas ... can hardly wait for more goodies.

Till next week. Keep on growin'!

Strawberry Bed Cleanup

The grasses and weeds often grow faster than the berry plants themselves. With the threat of showers on the way, today was a great day to clean up the berry beds.

I used a weed wacker to cut the weeds and grasses close to the strawberry plants in our new bed containing 1000 plants. Once the weeds were down, I gave supplemental water to hold the plants over until the rains come. It doesn't usually rain that much at the farm and takes alot to get a deep watering job done so I water whenever I get the chance. So far this year, I have used fish emulsion on the plants once to give them a boost. I plan on making a second application to help the plants get big and bushy before the seasons end.

It was quite a surprise to see no berries on the plants this past week but, I am guessing that our Roosters enjoyed red berries more than bugs. My hope now is that we can keep all the critters out of our strawberry beds and enjoy the second crop. The few berries we did try were simply delicious and sweet.

Bees on the move again!

Today was bright and sunny in the high 70's ... a good day to check the bees. Still feeling that the bees could use more sun earlier in the day, Honey-pie moved the bees southward to a new location.

We were surprised that the bees had not done anything yet with the new super that was put there more than a month ago. We put a new super on anyway. When the honey flow starts, they will be workin overtime to store that golden honey.

It's been quite cool this Spring and everything is late in blossoming so, maybe the bees are behind as well.

Keep watching for updates on our buzzy bees!

A Ripe Tomato

At last we have another ripe tomato ... it may be small, but it was yummy. Our last ripe tomato was on Father's Day. It has been quite a long time to wait.

All the tomato plants are growing much better now. We have still had cooler temps than they would like, but come August we should be in good shape.

Yesterday, the girls bought some flowers and herbs so today, we worked on our gardens. We are just waiting for the steady good weather so everything can get to full bloom. Enjoy the sun!

YIkes!

It has been getting colder since yesterday and now the weather is predicting 38 degrees for tonight. YUK! Where we live it is usually a few degrees colder than the prediction ... so it could be possible for a FROST. We'll just think posititvely that the weather will stop dropping over the next few hours and then get warm again.

Bees and Blossoms

Wow, time sure zings along! We've been down at the farm working most every day but Sundays. The strawberries are growing and the flowers are doing well. Since our mowers are pitching fits, the field grass is very high. We are getting a lovely show of wildflowers throughout the field since I haven't been able to keep it cut. I always wanted a field of flowers and now I've got it! Those bees have been busy!

On Saturday, I was mowing with the push mower (while it was still cooperating) as the drive areas and paths needed attention severely. While I was mowing the bee yard, I accidentally bumped the pallet the beehive is on and got stung for the first time. Of course, I broke all the rules so it was my own fault. It was a cloudy, rainy day (sunny day, happy you, happy bees!). I had no protective gear on. I had a loud, noisy machine near the hive (calm, quiet movements near the bees). I had the wrong colors on (wear white, white, white!). And I should have stopped after bumping the pallet but I wanted to get ONE MORE strip done and that's when I got it! Listen to your instincts. Listen to that inner voice. God gave it for a reason!!

And then as I was trying to move away in a slow, calm manner (while trying to get the bee biting me off my eyebrow) I thought of that bee giving it's life for the safety of the whole hive. That reminded me of Jesus. Yep. Right there in the midst of the very mad bee stinging me. I had all these thoughts whizz through my brain. Thanks Jesus that you cared so much for us that you laid down your life. I know you rose again, too, and that's the difference between You and the bees. We know the outcome of Your Sacrifice and instead of death, it's eternal life!

Harvest is on the way!

OUR FIRST RIPE TOMATO

Picked fresh from the vine 6/23/09!

When you can taste the harvest, it is truely a great delicacy. This is our first ripe, red tomato from a seed we started back in Winter in our window boxes. This is absolutely the earliest tomato harvest we have ever had ... and was it ever delicious! At the farm, there are a couple more tomato plants with small tomatoes on them and some plants with flowers. With this high heat week, we should be eating more tomatoes real soon.

Even though today was a scorcher, I went to the farm alone, to plant the remaining plants that were in our greenhouse. Now, all the tomato plants are finally in the ground. I no longer worry about the ones that get leggy as I plant them in a furrow, leaving only about 5-6 inches of the top showing. This is a good trick as roots will grow all along the underground stem. No staking necessary!

The strawberries and corn have doubled in size over the past two days with the increased heat wave. Keeping things well watered can be a chore, but I am watering in the evening so the plants can have time to absorb the water before the baking sun comes up again. Sometimes, it feels like a desert there.

With all the primary seeds finally planted, we can tend to some other activities. It has been a tough, back breaking Spring, but I can say that the family all pitched in when needed and got it done. Many hands make light work, that's for sure.

I've ordered 150 Wopper strawberry plants to arrive after April 15th, 2010. When things are sold out early the year you want to plant them, it's never too early to get next year's order in.

We'll do our best to tend to the blessings we have for this year and wait on the LORD for a bountiful harvest.

Planting and Then Some

This image was taken by our 14-year-old daughter of a hummingbird that lives at our farm. There are now three of them.

Today Hubby and the older youngins headed out to the farm to do some more planting. It seems strange to be planting some of these things at such a date on the calendar, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. It's up to God now.

They planted:
* Early Yellow Summer Squash
* Zucchini
* Sugar Baby Watermelon
* Table Queen Squash
* Cantaloupe
* Butternut Squash
It has definitely changed over to summer here in the Upper Peninsula! We've now been in the high 70s to 80s for the past few days. When it's prudent, some of us stay home with the littles so they can stay healthy instead of baking in the field. When planting and such slows down, we have a few building projects to consider:
* Nicer entry gate to farm
* More secure/permanent entries to orchard/garden space
* Shade from the elements for littles, for resting and picnicking
* Log shed (either vertical or log-end)
* Permanent log greenhouse
I've heard it said that when you have your own place, the work never ends. Truer words...but it sure is worth it to see the family working in unity (mostly), being visually reminded on a regular basis that we are indeed dependent on God, seeing actual progress and God's Hand working on our behalf, watching things grow (including the children and adults) and seeing the former pasture/hayfield gradually being changed to a "farm" yielding abundant fruit for ourselves and others.

Things are A'Growing and I'm Not A'Mowin

What gorgeously beautiful days we've been experiencing! We seem to be close to that awaited "honey run" with our honey bees. I had to add a super to the hive this morning so now we're working on honey for the human family. That is to say, the bees are. Up to this time, they've been working in the main hive creating the bee family and storing up reserves. We have never had such flowers (daisies, buttercups and some sort of orange flower I need to look up) in the field and so many blossoms on our berries! Thanks God. And bees.

As far as the mowin. Well, that was a short shift today. The dear machine needs some work. It just wouldn't cooperate and stay running today. So, Mom moved on to other projects.The hay got raked some more instead and the tulip bed the deer munched (before we got the fence fixed) got half weeded. Our 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter diligently raked hay and then finished mulching the main strawberry bed. Yay! Such accomplishments!

The yellow, yellow-white and purply-brown irises are opened. There are more to come.

There were several trays of pepper and tomato plants languishing in the greenhouse, so after Hubby tilled up a bed around the onion mounds, I transplanted a whole bunch in there. Still more to go. One of the tomato plants left in the greenhouse has 2 tomatoes on it! I think it's a Beefsteak plant.

Hubby is awaiting tomorrow with bated breath as he just may get the first ripe tomato from here in the yard for Father's Day! That'd be a perfect gift!

A BANDIT On The Loose!

This 3 month old rooster we call "BANDIT" ... we didn't like his given name. He seems to be the leader in the group and sure wants to be out on the loose. He has become a better forager though since we have been walking him and his group (band of followers). He usually follows when we call, but will run after us when we get too far away. A quick shuffle of your feet will make the bugs jump so this guy can start 'groovin' on them. He even brings his band of followers under the fence and into the orchard because he wants us to be nearby.

The past two days have been spent weeding the new strawberry patch and laying down hay we raked from the fields. We work for several hours until it gets too blasting hot, then we come home for a few hours and head back out at night when it gets cooler. During the weeding session, I managed to water the gardens and put in some seeds and plants.

Two days ago, I transplanted some beautiful carnations from our flower bed at home. I put them along the walking stones for my pond. The slight shower we had helped a bit and they are coming along fine. I have iris, two types of carnations, viola, an aloe plant and seashells all around my pond. The plants in the pond are doing well also and I really like my striped rush and marsh marigold. I also put a few gambusia in the pond to see how they'll do ... looks like the weather is warm enough for them. Today, I planted varigated vinca seeds, portulaca seeds and cosmos seeds around the pond to fill in between the plants.

I tilled a new area for our watermelon, cantaloupe, squash and pumpkins this morning and we put some seeds in. It was quite buggy and they were biting hard due to the threat of a storm/rain so we ended our morning at the farm and went to Grandma's to build her arbor.

Bee's A'Buzzin, Strawberry Beds Mulchin

Yesterday, June 15th, we were able to get several more rows of strawberries weeded and mulched. I moved the buzzy honey bees to a new site within the bee yard where they will catch the morning sun much earlier to get them up and moving. I was talking to them and myself. Thank the Good Lord, I had the sense to walk over the path I had to take to move them several times to remove obstacles. Sure didn't want to trip carrying that heavy box! I was sad to see many bees confused for a while, but Hubby says that by 10pm they had found the new hive site. It will soon be time to add a super but not quite yet. I also sprinkled them with a cup of powdered sugar as a precaution against mites. I'm not in favor of disturbing the bees more than necessary to do all the inspections that some people and books favor. It interrupts their work flow. I'm also not in favor of antibiotics and chemicals, thus the choice we made.

There are now three hummingbirds at the farm feeder. They are sucking down sugar water like crazy. It is so nice to see them out there while we're working. They are getting used to we human critters being around.

Got some zucchini, butternut squash and summer squash planted. Seems crazy to be planting some things this late, but the season's been so cold.

Bug Busters in the Roost

The other day whilst I was mowing, I noticed a bazillion little bugs jumping around in the hay. Oh no! The grasshoppers are back! How shall we deal with all of them? Now that we have the sod, water, pollination and such going well, we surely don't want to get wiped out by those green hoppin' things.

I sighed to God and asked Him what can we do and I thought of chickens. Then the next few thoughts involved the purchasing, receiving, keeping warm and fed until they are big enough to be outside stages. Then a day or so later, I noticed an ad at YooperYardSale.net for someone giving away roosters! Wow. What an answer! These dudes are about 2 months old and already love eating bugs (they even ate them off our daughter's shoe!) and are trained to go "in" for the night. Thanks to a nice lady in Rock, we now have 14 roosters at the farm to eat the grasshoppers and other unwanted buggies! And since there are no "girls" around, they seem to get along just fine. Thanks God for answered prayers!

Hubby says that my question regarding our hummingbird buddy was answered yesterday. They saw he had a friend so maybe we'll have babies around soon!

Cleaning up the Beds

The strawberry beds, that is. The biggest bed is 32 rows wide. It takes approximately an hour per row to weed. Whew! Yesterday was a p-e-r-f-e-c-t day for weeding...overcast with sun peeks now and again and a slight breeze just enough to blow the biting critters away for the most part. There are now 13 rows totally weeded and 11 rows totally mulched. We have more rows to hoe, ey?

There is something to be said about those vertical strawberry poles...no weeding! However, it shall be interesting to see how we can overwinter them. Yes, I know. Winter. Have to constantly be thinking about that when you live in snow country. We do have an ideer or two for overwintering those poles. Time shall tell.

I didn't get any more of the baby lilac row weeded but I did get more mowing done.

This year is definitely slower than we've been experiencing in the past few years. Just heard that our friends (aren't most Yoopers friends?) down in Trenary expect their strawberries to be ready around July 4th.

Planting Ponds?!?

Yesterday was another cloudy, cool, rainy-type day around Snowflake Farms. Hubby and our 13-year old daughter placed our last two 90-gallon ponds from our home to their new spots at the farm. They dug out the new "planting spots," placed the prefab "ponds" in their new homes, leveled them, filled them with fresh water and placed a whole bunch of water plants in each. They also landscaped around each one. The hummingbird feeder was relocated by the middle pond...that little 'ole hummingbird didn't take long to find it, either!

They also planted broccoli at the edge of the northernmost strawberry bed and a gallon ice cream bucket-full of glads behind the middle pond.

While they were doing all this, I was out on the mower, dodging those ground rats (gophers?) and ticks. The middle section of the field is back to manageable height but really needs raking!

For the past many times I've been out to the farm I have been working on weeding at least a teensy bit. The long row of baby lilacs are about 1/2 weeded and the flower bed behind the middle pond is partially done (mostly due to hubby's rototilling to put in the glads.)

I also mowed raspberry lane and our ATV/access path around the field's perimeter. The raspberries are coming along fine for the most part. While mowing the area by the bee yard, I noticed that besides wild raspberry canes, we have a whole bunch of wild strawberries! The bees were not active in the cold and gloom of the day and I only saw a sentinel or two come out briefly. I was so chilled that I had both a sweater and a coat and eventually succombed and put gloves on!!

Sure would be handy to have a tractor on the farm, no matter the color (brand.) We've had lots of fun gaining experiences doing things the real old-fashioned way, though.

Planting In The Rain!

We took all of our pepper plants to the greenhouse today. It was cool outside only 46 degrees F. Since it was quite rainy, we spent our time in the Greenhouse starting new seeds in flats.
We planted:
*Grand Bell Peppers
*Sweet Banana Peppers
*Bush Beefstake Tomatoes
*Early Cabbage

We also planted the following flowers:
*Glorosia Daisy
*Petunias
*Geraniums
*Celosia
*English Lavender.

The 25 HOSTAS we planted on Saturday will be much appreciating today's wet weather. We divided all our Hostas and planted them in a shady spot. For quite some time, I have heard that Hosta can handle sun or shade. They have never gotten very big in the sun so we'll try the shade this time. Since the deer love Hosta,
we planted them, the HOSTA not the deer, in the orchard for safety.

Hostas, Water Plants, Berry Blossoms Galore

Hubby transplanted the hostas this afternoon. He also moved all the water plants down to the farm. I got a bit of mowing done but the mower was acting up. Both it and I do not like mowing that particular section of the field due to those "ground rats" slinking along in the hay. There are also a LOT of mounds they've piled up that make it a challenge to mow. Honestly, the area needs raking as it's so thick that it makes mowing difficult, especially with our last year's deal of a mower. (It's ok, dear mower, you are a good kid!)

I got several sections of the baby lilacs weeded and also a small portion of the glads weeded. Lilacs sure love the UP! I was enjoying looking at a lot of them in our travels today.

It was so lovely to see all the white blossoms on the strawberry plants, in our new beds, old beds and the poles! (I also have a porch planter here at the house with some showing up...didn't notice any in our bed behind the house yet. Oh yes, I noticed blossoms AND berries on the few plants left right behind the house while I was watering our little apple starts. (The photo is public domain...will try to get some of our own photos in the near future.)

Hubby decided to retry our strawberry poles again this year. We tried them before with little success. This year he changed the operation a bit and placed an actual section of drip water hose in the middle of the PVC pipe for easier access for watering. They have survived the many recent frosts and also have blossoms! Thanks God!

Corny Strawberries a'Hummin

Today, Hubby, aka MisterSnowflake, put a fresh battery on the electric fence for the bee yard. He also planted two more furrows of corn (Early Vee and Sweet). Our 14-year old weeded the old strawberry bed. The green beans and the peas that were planted last week are up. He deep-watered all the berries and the veggies with the hand-wand. The shallots are 4 inches high! And the onions are about 3 inches high.

While they were out there, they refilled the hummingbird feeder and the local hummingbird stopped by! They also hung out another bird feeder. The resident squirrel has figured out how to get to the one out by the orchard. We had fun watching it a few days ago as it hopped from branch to branch trying to figure it out.

We're happy and thankful for progress as we're slowly changing the microclimate out there!

What's in a Name?

We know how important names are...we've had plenty of practice. Naming our children, all their stuffed animals, our bunnies, our fish, etc. We came across this guy from our past and wondered what you think his name should be? He's sure ready for gardening and farming with all those tools! Can you see them all? He's carrying:

* A burlap bagged tree
* A bare-root tree
* Rake
* Shovel
* Sprayer
* Saw
* Loppers
* Shears
* Trowel
* Wheelbarrow

I wonder what he's gonna put in that wheelbarrow since he decided to carry the trees?!?