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Hi Everyone,
The days are getting longer and the nights are getting warmer—and the grass is growing faster and faster. Mama and Papa are spending lots of time on the mower now. Mama usually mows the lawn, the gardens, and behind the heifers as they move to fresh pastures. Papa mows the bigger fields behind the dairy cows. While growing grass means more mowing time—it also means happier cows and more milk, of which I do not believe anyone is complaining over. Usually mowing season means I lose my garden help—but not this summer. I am amazed at how much help Jesse has been to me in just the two weeks that he has worked for us. I have wanted to plant okra, cosmos, and sunflowers for months—but I had no place to plant them until I got a lot of weeding done, and I wasn’t getting that done very fast. After just two days of working in the garden with me, Jessie and I were not only able to get the beds weeded—but planted too. To my delight the seeds are not only planted—but have sprouted too. Last Monday we started weeding in “Martha’s Vineyard”. There was a huge section of weeds between the roselles and the pumpkins and I wanted it weeded before the pumpkins took over it—and before the weeds dwarfed the roselle plants. It was about a forty foot long by three foot wide section full of crabgrass, nutgrass, pigweed, and Spanish needle. I told Jessie to start on one end and I would start on the other and we would work toward the middle. Getting started was not too easy for the crabgrass was so thick. Crabgrass is easiest to weed when it first begins, or in the fall after it starts dying—but once it is established it is massive and holds on tight. Jessie was able to use the broadfork to dig up the Spanish needle and some of the crabgrass, and I was slowly working through the smaller crabgrasses with my weeding knife. Then I reached a section that my knife wouldn’t cut through. The center section must have been a good two feet wide—at least. Jessie and I teamed up and he used the broadfork while I did a little cutting with my knife and inch by inch we ripped that section of crabgrass out of the earth. Jessie then carried the giant plant to the backend of the Gravely. I told Jessie that I would never have been able to eradicate that clump of grass without him—and he told me that it was almost too heavy for him. I am sure the whole clump weighed at least 50 pounds.
Come Tuesday we headed back to “Martha’s Vineyard”. This time I weeded while he mowed the grassy pathways and some of the bigger weedy patches around the pumpkins. Come Thursday we finished up the mowing and weeding and began putting woodchips on the walkway between the roselle and the pumpkins. We didn’t get it perfect, but the sun was getting so hot that I decided it was time to go work in the shade of the Cottage Garden. The Lord sent some extra shade too—for some storm clouds blew in and the temperature dropped. We never did get any rain though. It has rained all around us for the last week—but not on us. We did manage to get some beds cleaned out and some walkways cleaned up though. My goal is to reclaim a good portion of the Cottage Gardens returning them to their glory—and with Jessie’s help it shouldn’t take long. Jessie enjoys the work and he likes taking mental pictures of what it looked like when we began, and how it changed after we worked on it. He says that working in the gardens gives him a feeling of ownership—of which I am glad, for when you “own” something you really care what it looks like. While working in the Cottage Garden, Jessie caught sight of two little critters. We saw two junior armadillos. They were so very cute! I was surprised at how much pink was on them. They were very busy looking for bugs in the overgrown walkways. Hopefully they will stay out of the flowers beds.
Our Barn Builders were finally able to return to our barn build on Thursday. They had to finish another barn before they could finish ours—and like all projects they kept running into technical problems which took longer than they anticipated. They spent Thursday putting insulation in the roof. Then on Friday they started framing. We can see doorways, and windows, and a porch roof now. Friday afternoon Papa picked up the shower for the bathroom—when we get interns (or overnight guests) they will need a place to shower! I spent hours on the computer and phone on Friday looking for a new freezer door. The door we have now into the walk-in cooler will not work for two reasons—the paint is constantly turning black and since we are turning the cooler into a freezer we need a door with a heat strip or it will freeze shut. To our dismay the only door I can find so far cost almost $4000. No one said anything was cheap anymore. It looks like we might have to sell a few heifers to pay for a door!
One of the nice things about being on top of the garden because of Jessie’s help is that I can feel at ease working in the house on Friday and Saturday afternoons. We had carrots and onions to dehydrate, potatoes to can, and zucchini to turn into pickle relish. Plus beds to wash, floors to vacuum, kombucha to make, bathrooms to clean and paperwork to do. I thought for sure that Mama and I would be able to get the majority of it done between Friday and Saturday—but reality is not what we think. I did make the kombucha and we did get the carrots peeled, sliced, and dehydrated. Some beds were washed and made—still one more to go. No vacuuming was done, and the potatoes and the zucchini are still waiting to be processed. I got the paperwork done, and Mama got some spice mixes refilled. She also got a little bit of weeding and mowing done. Saturday night Mama asked me if I had gotten everything done that I had wanted to get done, and I told her no—but that I had gotten done everything that I could have possibly gotten done. There was no more time or energy to have done anything else.
This morning Mama and I were talking about the length of the days—and we realized that we only have one more week of “the days getting longer”. Next Saturday is the first day of summer—the longest day of the year, and then the days start getting shorter. We are not ready! Thankfully though we still have months of warm weather—actually, we have many hot days ahead.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare