Some Spring Things

                                                                                                                                                                      The days are getting warmer, well some of them. We have had a fairly cool spring so far- we had frost this morning when I woke up. Progress is happening, and being made. Over the weekend, although I have a nasty spring cold, I did manage to pick and pull more rocks out of the garden, and Joe straightened the edge of the garden, which increased the size slightly ( enough for at least one extra row of beets!) I also picked up a load of cow manure from a relative down the road- some went on the garden, but a lot went back on the compost pile, as it had a lot of grass in it. When it's free you can't really complain though!

The ever expanding rock pile. I took a wheelbarrow full of smaller rocks and dumped them down back.

I also successfully made yogurt! Last weekend, I attempted to, but because of a few small errors on my part, it did not set at all. This time I was a little more attentive, and found a different method ( using a warm oven to incubate) and had success! It set up nice and thick and tastes great. What I would really like to do is find someone whom I could trade with- for raw milk- eggs? veggies? anything for about a half gallon a month- because jeeze, I don't see myself eating more than a half gallon of yogurt every month!

Flowers are coming up, the Daphne is pretty much in full bloom, and now the trillium ( Stinking Benjamin's) are opening up too. A few happen to be living, with my assistance in my front garden. They are Joe's favorite flower.

Lilies from my grandmother's garden

"The Shed Master" He is shedding so bad right now that this is his current nickname.

 

Buddha watching over my stinkin benjamin's

My few seedlings are doing fine- I don't have a proper set up to start much here. I'd love a greenhouse- maybe next year! This years plan for garden expansion includes two small beds near the big garden- one for strawberries and one for...whatever I want- I plan to try to put some low tunnels up over one of the beds and see how that works out. Anything to extend the growing season would be super!

Jalapenos- just over a month old

 

 

 

Scallions- in my MOOmilk planter!

Not the best photo in the world...but who cares, the bluebirds are here!

friendly flycatcher- every year since we have been here there has been a pair that nests somewhere near the house, and I love watching them snatch bugs out of my garden!

 

My Garden, Part Two: The Boulder

       Before you can grow anything in a garden, you have to do a lot of prep work. First you need the land, then you need to clear the land, and then you plant, right? Maybe for some people!  I picked the rockiest piece of ground in a 30 mile radius to grow my vegetables in. Small stones and pebbles are easy enough to deal with, along with the grapefruit and cantaloupe size rocks. I can even handle picking up the watermelon size pieces that seem be just under the surface about every 3rd step I take when walking though the garden. The trouble seems to start when I hit the extra large rocks, which are not rocks at all, I like to think of them as boulders.

I suppose I could plant around these behemoths, and I did for one year, but on the second year I decided at least one of them had to go. I started to dig around the monster that lay about a foot beneath the soil in bottom right side of my garden with a shovel. As I cleared more and more dirt from on top and around the thing, I switched tools. I stuck the pitchfork into the ground and tried to pry the rock up. It did not move. More digging with the shovel. The second time I tried prying with the pitchfork I knew that I was under it! It moved, just about one centimeter, but it did move! I continued to stick the pitchfork in and pry, and the rock continued to move, ever so slightly. I grabbed the shovel in my free hand and jammed it into the space between the rock and the earth as I made space with the pitchfork, and then pushed with all of my might. I could see that this was not going to get me anywhere. The hole was too deep for me to move the rock out. I stopped for a minute, and came up with a plan. I grabbed 2 two by fours.

It's out!!

While lifting with the shovel and pitchfork, I jammed one of the two by fours into the space that was made. I now had a lever! using the first two by four, I levered the rock up a few inches, and jammed the second two by four into the new space. I was then able to slowly inch the rock to the edge of it's hole. Now it was time to push...and pull. I pulled and pushed on this rock with all of my strength I had completely given up on moving it out of my garden at the time, I just wanted it out of the hole! After one last push ( which I thought could have caused my eyes to pop out of my head) it finally rolled free of the hole. What an accomplishment! The boulder most definitely weighed over 200 pounds. It still sits on the edge of the garden. I like to tell people that I dug it out of the ground all by myself.

"the boulder" remains at the edge of the garden.