Rookies

By the end of the day, we had one really flat tire and more than two tons of baled hay that is too wet.

The excitement of the hay baler working was too much!  Thanks to friend Tom (see him sitting on the wagon in picture #1) who came down to show Mike how to work the thing and help him through some of the troubles one might expect from a rather old piece of machinery.  Soon, Mike had me baling hay and he was merrily picking up the bales with the bale wagon, with me passing by in the field, spitting out bales one row after another.

And then, he had to move some bales and noticed they were heavy. 

And then, we realized we had many, many bales of too-wet hay.  Ugh.

This haying stuff ain't for the rookies!!  It will slowly mold, or worse yet, get hot and burn.  Yikes!!  Not sure what to do with this wet hay, but it is certainly a learning moment. 

We  hang our heads.

Here are some pictures of the bale wagon - a slick device that picks up a bale, moves it, stacks it, and fills up the wagon so one then can tip the whole thing up on end and have a nice 5-pile tall stack of hay.  Slick, indeed.  And now out of service with a flat tire.  Oh, also, it has a leaky hydraulic pump - a mere $1200 bill on that repair.  Farming ain't cheap either!!

I am working this July 4th and town is jam packed with people, cars, motorcycles, and bicycles.  Not sure what will be next or where it will be but hanging out in my office seems like a good choice!  For the weekend - more hay making!  Mike is cutting the last of the field and thankfully, this is a very good year for alfalfa - our error cuts into the profits, but there is still a bunch left in the field (thank goodness!).  It is a beautiful time in the area with all the hay coming down and rows forming. 

One of the best things about our piece of property is the irrigation ditch that runs through the land giving us water for irrigation.  With it, there are mosquitoes (when the wind finally quits blowing!), but that we can live with!  We were told these are some of the oldest water rights in the valley! Very nice, indeed!

I have a new feature in my garden at work (give me bare ground and I will plant you a garden - which is how this garden came to fruition years ago!).  This is a sink pedestal from our local ReStore.  It was sinkless and $20 and I knew exactly what I wanted it to be next!!  Found the lovely blue "gazing ball" for half off during a recent shopping spree.  It glows in the dark - how cool is that???  Although, I have not witness this yet!  This garden feature is so neat, it's just a matter of time before it gets moved, thinks me!

 I have some kind of fungi in my Hoback garden.  It's on the rhubarb leaves and has gotten into the broccoli, darn it!  Anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of the stuff??   

 My perennial flower garden on the east side of the greenhouse is so pretty in the morning!  Look at these colors! 

 This is an iris which was given to me as a gift, bulbs and root only.  I had no idea how lovely a flower it would give me year after year - thank you Marcia for this beauty!

Water Feature Joy

I bet this picture made you smile!

I smile every time I see it and hear the tinkeling water!  Not only a super-cool water feature powered by the sun - but a dog water dish too!!  I found the meditating frog on sale half price and had a vision!  Amazingly, I was able to drill holes - without causing harm -  to turn him into this really cool water feature. 

Hay is on the ground.  Mike is busy farming.  Hoping to get some of that now-certified hay baled up and stacked away quickly! 

Happy 4th of July!

Summer Time News

Ah, blue skies, drier and warmer weather.  We live in the mountains.  Low temperatures hover around 40 degrees.  Sunday woke up to low clouds, and cold, damp air.  By noon, the clouds blew off and the sky - oh so blue! - returned.  This summer is holding up to be a cool summer. 

Mike watches his crop of alfalfa from last year grow.  Purple blossoms are starting to appear on top of the lushly green plants.  A few leaves have yellowed with the three nights of below freezing temperatures, but overall, the plants look great.  With luck, the fields will be certified "weed free"; enhancing the price per bale for sales down the road. 

The pump has become an issue.  Once it is started, it is running for less than a couple of hours.  Mike's water moving system is brilliant and reflects some fire department apparatus operator training techniques.  In the end, the pump is kicking his butt.  Might be time for a farm expense.....

My garden is growing and quite simply - it is just lovely!  It is so awesome to see the plants grow - even the weeds; which are doing quite well too.  The cabbages - which have been through snow, hail, and rain measure about 4 feet in diameter.  Cauliflower plants are starting to head.  I'm on the second cut from the broccolini and the fourth picking of spinach.  The corn stands about 8 inches tall.  Okay, that's a far cry from "knee high by the fourth of July"

Here are some images to enjoy. 

Culverts cut to become containers for raspberries and haskap (a northern berry you can learn more about at Check out this new berry! ).

Big happy cabbages (surrounded by many weeds).

Corn growing as fast as it can.  Considering.

 All the rows of growth.  Leeks, onions, yellow beans, fava beans, kale, purple potatoes, sweet potatoes (a few left after the freeze!), peas, spinach, beets, swiss chard, red cabbage, green cabbage, broccolini, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, corn, and to finish the vast garden, a patch of sunflowers!!

 Hoback greenhouse.  There is not much left after the chislers get done!  They have wiped me out this year.  Fortunately, poppies are not on their menu. 

 Or sticky geraniums!

This salmon-colored poppy is one of my favorites!

Back in Freedom for an image of some very well pollinated poppies!!

Visitors Enjoy Jackson

Diana's sister, Stephanie, her girls and friends stopped by the fire house today!  How wonderful to be their fire house guide!  They have had beautiful weather to enjoy the sights in this amazing place!  Travel home safe, my friends!!

 

A Space for Tranquility

Rusty, our former Fire Marshal and Chief, and his wife, Suzi, designed this garden to be a refuge of tranquility.  Years of angst in the 911 world motivated them to have a place of quiet and peace.  To sit, listen to the birds (and they have a veritable aviary), and let the stress fall off their shoulders.  Their home and garden are both.  It is impossible to not relax while there and one is drawn to the outside space to feel its calming energy. 

This year, their garden was honored as one of five in the Whidbey Island Garden Tour.  With close to 800 tickets sold for the event, their garden got quite the visitation last Saturday!  And most people made just these comments - tranquil, peaceful, calming.  How wonderful to share one's work with others who "get it"! 

Some pictures from their garden.  A place of peace.

Now That Was A Vacation!

I left Thursday morning from Jackson.

By mid afternoon, I was in Seattle trying out my Uber app for my first Uber ride where I then loaded up on the ferry to Vashon Island.  Terry and Mary, long time good friends wined and dined me at their lovely place on the island.  What a beautiful garden to begin this adventure! 

Late last year, I got notice that my former Chief, Rusty Palmer, had been accepted into the 2018 Whidbey Island Garden Show!  About six years ago when he commented this was something he was really hoping for, I told him that should he get chosen, I would come for the tour - so I did!!

How nice to be able to make the trip bigger and find Mary and Terry home and with time they could give up to join me.  We had the best time!!  A trip to the interesting Fort Casey (see more at Click Here to see more of the Park ) provided neat lines and shadows for photo opportunities. 

Mary's garden whetted my appetite for the big Saturday tour.  She has been working on this garden for years and this year is enjoying new plants thanks to the deer-eradication fence.  I despise chislers.  She despises Bambi!  

The garden has something new to oooh and ahhhh over every step.  Go around twice to see something you never saw the first time!  Lovely colors and textures take the visual senses on a veritable ferris wheel of fun!  I cannot even imagine the amount of time, work, and money that goes into something like this!

Next blog will show you the images from the annual Widbey Island Garden Tour and Rusty's garden of Tranquility!  

The Wonder Around Us

It is true, I am easily wowed.  This post shares my recent "wows", the bees, the flowers.  Summer seems to be here although frost warnings for tomorrow night have all of us gardeners digging around for frost cloth and anything else we might find to save our beautiful plants.  Like this calla lily.  I could stand for hours just looking at the thing!  Mike is responsible to protect it tomorrow night.  It will need a heavy cloth and hopefully that won't crush it!  I am on duty here in Teton County, unable to attend the frost-cover event.

 

On Friday, when I had a few hours on the farm, I got into the bee hive.  These industrious little insects are beginning to feel like friends!  I'll never forget the sound of the buzzing hive when we first opened our new package of bees on Mother's Day.  The sound welled up ancestral feelings of getting the hell out of there!!  But we championed on and today, the expanding population is settled and calm.  Happy to be there, not concerned about we giant white creatures taking out their living walls and peering into their perfect octagonal nursery and storage units.  I am truly wowed.  The pollen fills spaces with yellows and greens, purples and ivory.  Larvae can be seen, glistening white, growing under the feet of worker bees.  And the Queen.  The glorious queen.  Without her presence, things don't go very well in a hive.  Finding her is the goal and this week, objective met.  Putting her back in the hive without squishing her is critical as well!  (yes, I could use a size smaller gloves)

 



Can you find the queen in this picture?  She is just to the left of center with the larger, longer abdomen.  Cool, huh?  Look below this frame to see the other in the hive.  We open the hive once a week and it has become something to really look forward to doing! 

The couple who owned the place before we got it last May - she too loved to garden.  Now the daffodils and tulips are but leaves turning brown.  The iris shot up their tightly-wound blossoms to open into delicate bearded orbs of color.  Jeanie did a nice job making a flower garden; appreciated so very much by this passionate gardener.  And most likely, the bees!

 

Dinner included fresh broccolini and spinach from the garden!  Neither will be phased much by a frost, thankfully!  Grow on, grow on! 

A Penchant for Frogs

I've always liked frogs.  And blue.

This door knocker (another thing which is useless, really, but oh so cool!) came from McKenzie Childs (see their lovely things at MacKenzie-Childs ) and if you have shopped there, you know I spent a hard earned dime or two on the thing!  Still, I could not resist - having a penchant for frogs!

The door needed painted and this seemed like a pond-colored blue (it actually is the exact color of the masking tape used to seal off the edges of the door and the white dog door).  When it came time to affix the door knocker to said door, more than one word of profanity was exuded from my handyman's mouth as he attempted to find a solution for the not-so-good hardware which arrived with Mr. Frog.  A trip to the hardware store and two more failed attempts finally led to a successfully mounted frog door knocker which will never get used - and if it does, no one will hear it!!  But, one does have the pleasure of looking out the kitchen window by the sink and see this lovely door.  That's what it's all about!! 

Farm updates include breaking into the bee hive once again this weekend to find Ms. Queen and her worker girls busy and building.  The bee thing has been fascinating and quite a surprise to see how docile and uncaring the bees seem to our presence.  Mike went gloveless this last go round.  At the rate they are building, however, do not get your hopes up for gifts of honey!  The cool, wet weather has not been inspiring, despite all the blooming flowers. 

The new alfalfa is up.  I've been afraid to go look at it since our 29 degree morning (lost my two zucchini plants - I should know better) and the absence of rain for over a week now. 

Three critters are working on the grass crop; Bishop, Dinah, and Mya.  Tune into the live cameras to see them hanging out by the hanger.

Looks like our renters are moving out come mid-August.  I am actively seeking the next, awesome renters! 

Weather is divine right now!!

Hand Therapy

Slowly progressing, my healing fingers are able to cook again.  As soon as permission was granted, I chopped up a new batch of Brite Lites - one of my favorite fermented vegetable combinations.  Coarsely chopped green cabbage, colorful sweet red, yellow, and orange peppers with some chives from the garden have fermented up into this bright-tasting delight!! 

Healthy hand therapy!

Live Cam

Tune in to see live animals eating!!  And a big storm brewing!!  I love our live cameras!! 

Phew!

Now that was a great weekend!

There were times of being too busy (overwhelmed, for example), times of work, times of play.  It was a good TIME!! 

Mike got his crop planted and the land got a nice rain tonight.  The culvert planters are his idea and I think Home & Gardening will be calling soon!!  Very nice! 

The bees are feasting on dandelions and crab apples.  Lots of pollen and nectar to gather right now.  The corn is up in the garden and just before tonight's rain storm, I got a nice big patch of sunflowers planted.

A visit from Dani (Evan's gal) and dinner and overnight with Todd & Janet. 

Back to work tomorrow.  Enjoy some scenes from the long and great weekend!

Beautiful Inside and Out!!

Here's what I was looking for!!  Happy Birthday Friend Diana!!

Happy Birthday Diana!

Today is Diana's birthday!  Have a great one, my dear friend!!

The bees have to be happy - this is how things look in Freedom today.  Turns out dandelions are a key early flower for bees to build up their stores after a long winter. 

Busy weekend - I'm on duty today, Mike is off to a service honoring one of our firefighters who died from cancer last year.  Branding tomorrow.  Freedom tomorrow night.  There are just not enough hours in a weekend!!