From the Farmer: Seeds!!!

The end of the renovation is near. The light at the end of the dusty, dirty, frustrating tunnel is growing. I can now turn my attention to what has brought us to this wonderful farm in the valley; growing things.

I have never considered myself obsessive or even particular. Then I started growing things. I have a fever and the only cure is more seeds. I have a spread sheet with everything that I have planted in the last 3 years and everything I want to plant this year and next year and rough seed counts.It has germination rates and times. Producing percentages and failures. It will spit out raw data a botanist would spend days looking at. It’s a sickness man, a sickness.

Some quick data for you. I have planted 31 different types of vegetables and fruits in the last 3 years (a couple are the same but different verities) with about a 70% germination rate. As of last night I have 46 different type of seeds right now (some from previous years) and I ordered 15 more. I harvest seeds, I save them and I buy seeds.  I have a seed count that exceeds 1100. I am not obsessed enough to count every seed.  I found seeds I forgot about in the freezer from 2013 and I am keeping them. Oi. I need help.

These are some of the seeds. The rest of them just came in the mail. 

I will try to grow anything (that is legal). I have people tell me “I have a brown thumb” or “I just don’t have the time.” I tell them, true some people can kill a cactus, looking at you Shannon, but it only takes 30 minutes on a Saturday and 2 minutes every day to start a small patio or window sill garden. You don’t need a 20 acre lot or even an outdoor space. 

Getting the kids involved.

Here is what you do: go to Lowes or Home Depot get a couple of 2 to 5 gallon pots, get enough top soil or potting mix to fill each 2/3s, and here is the most important get 2 or 3 of your favorite herbs. Not strawberries or some hybrid tomato that produces fruit the size of a dinner plate but herbs. Herbs are weeds. They grow like weeds. Most are perennials (you don’t have to plant them every year).  And DO NOT START FROM SEEDS, get the seedlings. It’s easy to kill seeds.

Plant your herbs in the pots and put them in a window sills or back porch and keep the soil damp. All you have to do is water them when you drink your Ovaltine in the morning. And you will have fresh herbs in about 3 or 4 weeks. Cut them and cook it. If you have too much hang them with dental floss to dry and you have herbs all year. 

I am always curious of what fresh produce people really like or what you want to try but do not know how to prepare. Let us know!

Comment on Facebook or below and I will give you some pointers or ideas

Mud on the tires

Brad Paisley’s song Mud on the Tires was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts in 2003, and it describes our weekend perfectly.

Written in the lyrics – and then with a little luck, we might just get stuck. Let’s get a little mud on the tires.

Ours wasn’t so much luck, but it made for an exciting 20 minutes!

Michael drove his truck through the front field to take some tools to the garden. He was ready to start tilling so in a few months we could start planting.

On the way out, the truck was stuck in mud. 

Stuck.

No one was around to help Michael except me.

Now, I am good at a lot of things, but I really hate driving. I told you before – driving the John Deere lawn mower was a little wild for me.

But we took the UTV and drove it in front of the truck. Michael tied some tow rope up between the two vehicles, and I took my place in the driver’s seat of the UTV.

Tying the tow rope

Michael yelled for me to go. I gunned it. Mud was flying everywhere. Engines were roaring.

Moral support from cousin Leslie.

Getting some mud all over the truck.

I was actually towing the truck out of the mud while my children looked on with wide eyes.

Instructions were given to stop, but when Michael tried to go again the truck wouldn’t budge. In the end, we used some hay, he gained traction and everything was great.

Hay saved the day.

I felt like a billy bad a though. I now felt confident in the driver’s seat.

But the best part was when the girls came over to me to talk about what they saw.

Madi said sweetly, “Usually you go really slowly when you’re driving us in the UTV, but that was cool. I guess you’re a pretty good driver.”

Big compliment coming from a six-year-old who has a big sense of adventure. 

Raking after mowing.

Look at our muscles.

First mow of the year.

Playing on the farm.

The girls built a bridge.

Looks like spring.

First time eating Pop Rocks.

She wasn't a fan at first.

Stopped by Tractor Supply and learned about baby ducks and chicks.