Whirlwind

Every time-related adage I can think of is absolutely true. Being the mother of young kids? Time goes by so fast. Getting older? Time goes by so fast. Farmer in the summer? Time goes by so fast....

And when they all it at once it is absolutely mind-boggingly exhausting. My favorite is when people are just getting to know me and asking questions to scratch the surface... "oh. You work full time? And you're building a house?".... "oh. And you have kids with all that? And animals?" The beginning of the conversation may have people politely wondering about everything and putting themselves in my shoes.... by the end they can't even fathom it anymore and start looking at me as if I MUST be an escaped mental patient, and surely nothing I am saying is true?

And yet here I am, once again, sitting staring down the downhill slope that is the rest of the summer. I'm not sure how we did it, but we're past the point of no return on this particular frantic season. It's time (or was time a bit ago) to get my fall and winter garden in, and I never really aught up to my summer one. It's time to get the house finished (so close!) and get ready for winter. It's time to resist the urge to hatch out more chickens, give up on breeding the rabbits, and stop putting cuttings and small plants in new pots. Thankfully, it is NOT time to stop canning, because I don't know that I could ever get my fill of that one.... and I don't feel like it's something I get to do a lot anyways....

But I don't have a choice. And while it seems that most of the people staring at me as if I'm batshit insane and from anther planet entirely from the one they pleasantly and sense-numbingly nhabit are terrified of that, I relish not having a choice. I would never ever get 1/2 of what I do done (and that's far from how much I'd like to get done) if I had a choice about it.  My kids, the house, the garden, the animals, if you bite it off, you have to chew.

So I dream of being able to blog as much as I'd like, and I dream of being able to do many romantic probably-pinterest-inspired things as I feed, schlepp, nurture things along.... and try not to plan too many more big bites for the next year.

The Acorn had a birthday!

LOVES Kombucha!

Babies!

Veggies!

BUMPER crop of marigolds

Fur harvest.

Gherkin, Oops.

Haven't barely harvested any this year... :(

Snarkles began his photography career

Mommy's trunk = best playhouse!

Spring!

So excited to see spring springing. I was talking to my dad on the phone the other day, and as I was gushing on and on about the first leaves popping out on the apple trees I bought and planted, he responded with a "what did you expect to happen?". So he's not the most outwardly sentimental of folks, but dammit if nature doesn't surprise the shit out of me every year when it does EXACTLY what it's supposed to. I don't feel like I emerge from single digit temps as enthusiastically as my plants do - I seem to have to spend some time licking my wounds and reminding myself that it's a whole 9 or 10 months until I have to go through that again. Our plants, with their lack of dwelling on the past, just burst forth and make the most of the turning tides of weather. Gosh darn it I gotta take a hint.

But I'm trying. I almost finished hemming in our meadow garden this year, although putting in 3 rows is more than enough (so says my back) for now. My trapezoidal gate is awaiting chicken wire and then it's done. The onion starts are ready to go in the ground, and I've got rabbit-poopy hay to go between the rows and mulch/fertilize. My starts up in flats are ready to be joined by more starts of the warm-weather variety. Holy hell it's gonna be a busy growing season!

Handsome dog amongst the flowers

Embarrassed to say I'm not sure what this sweet little white flower is. Damn you eastern flora!!

Three rows. 3!! About 10 more to go...

Not everyone has a trapezoidal garden gate. BOOM. Lucky girl, this one.

Red maple.

Bradford pear.

Vinca.

Daffodils + vinca = Spring!

Onions!!

Lift off!

We have lift off, folks. I was going to do it last weekend, but the damn snOMG 2105 screwed all that up. And I was freaking out because I didn't want to plant seed trays only to have them reach -3 Fahrenheit in an un-insulated shed, but I didn't want to keep the lights on 24/7 to keep the trays warm enough..... duh. Idiot. We're not living in it yet, but we (more or less) have a HEATED HOUSE. Idiot.

So this weekend.... I planted (what will be) our garden.

I feel so very (overly) organized this year. I used a planner and planned both the back garden with raised beds and the meadow garden with rows. I calculated the numbers of each plant that I want. I tried to put friends with each other and keep plant enemies separated. I incorporated pollinator and pest attracting flowers in the plans. I got soaker hoses for the blueberries (they have been in my car for a week now, and will continue to rattle around in there most likely until our first drought-like conditions, thankyouverymuch). I am prepared. I hope I don't fuck it up.

Planning his own garden. Or world domination. Or just destroying a new notebook we (thought we'd) hid

Supplies!

Almost...

Ta da!!!

Inching Closer

As I mentioned before, I have a great desire this year to produce something. Don't get me wrong, we're producing shit. Babies and houses and whatnot. But I have this grand desire to produce something smaller and more intimate.

I had a baby. Maybe 'intimate' is not the best choice of words. You mama's reading this know what I mean.

But having a baby, building a house, juggling a young family.... these are big big things. Big things that take up all your focus if not time and energy (and resources). And I feel like they're floating on an infrastructure that's quite shaky, frankly. If you could strip them away (which you can't, thankfully), there would be nothing left. And that's kind of starting to feel empty to me.

So it's time for me to come "out of the baby funk" (thanks for the perspective, mom!) and get to building that foundation. The house won't be under construction forever. The baby (OK, toddler) won't be a baby forever. The family won't be young forever...

So three things I'm looking to produce this year. Like I said before, if we pull ONE off, I'm a fucking winner.

#1 - THE GARDEN
We're bringing it back. Yes yes. It's time. I planned it (I used a planner! What!), I ordered half of the seeds, I found the seed starter light set up thingy I got from a generous soul, I bought seed starter trays, I bought seed starting mix, I am patiently awaiting time to start 'em (just around the corner). I got everything all figured out, and then in a casual sort of way the Redneck threw out that we should use the meadow instead of my raised beds... Time to re-plan! Which I did. Which of course just made the project bigger, because if I'm going to plant in the meadow, then OBVIOUSLY this opens the beds up to being herb beds.... snowballing already, this one. And I've barely even begun.

Thankfully the rainwater tanks are still in good condition and I was already planning on putting a soaker hose in the blueberries this year, just in case. The Rabbiteye blueberries have a tendency to ripen late and right when the rain stops, so hoping this way every single last berry gets a chance to ripen instead of shriveling up into nothingness....

#2 - BEES
Everybody I know personally has listened to me squee! every Tuesday night for the past two weeks (so twice...but it feels like there was a LOT of squeeing...). Dude. I'm in a beekeeping class. And effing LOVING it. (Because I was born an eighty-year old peasant woman) I am the one in the middle of the county extension auditorium surrounded by people in varying stages of boredom fucking wide eyed and so excited I'm about to pee. And then coming home and verbal vomit gushing/regurgitating it all back to the Redneck who very patiently pretends to listen to it all when he so just wants to get back to his video games now that the toddler has FINALLY gone to sleep.... and he threatened to stop letting me go if I thanked him for taking care of the kids every Tuesday night (on top of already having them every Monday night) just ONE MORE TIME.

I can't help it. I have been trying to take this class for the past 3 years. I finally just sent the check in and figured I'd figure out logistics later. And so I'm doing it. I have a 1-in-4 chance of getting a Farm Bureau sponsored pair of beehives and bee packages and I've got my fingers crossed I'll be a lucky recipient. Because there's a lot of equipment involved and that shit is pricey! And they give you bees, too. And one of the requirements of the cost share is that you agree to take a mentor. Ahem. GIVE ME A MENTOR, YO!

I'm really, really excited about this one.

...and #3 - BUNNIES

We need to supplement protein. Our chickens give us a lot of eggs, 'tis true. But we need to start supplementing meat. It's time. And chickens take forever and a day to get big enough to eat. IF they go broody and raise hatchlings. Because let's face it, with everything else going on, I'm not getting on the incubator bandwagon. That is too mush trouble. So with my far-fetched dream (it's good to have goals!) of a fiber farm in mind, I'm eying some Angoras. French Angoras, specifically. I'm hoping to be kicking myself that my table loom is at my mom's and wouldn't fit in the last car load out this time next year. Oooh - raised bed garden with herbs morphing into dye garden? Fuck yeah! I already ordered the indigo seeds. Not even kidding.

Maybe it's the company of some truly inspiring women recently and getting to spy into their farming endeavors (here and here - and one of the spouses is in my beekeeping class! Small world!), maybe I'm coming full circle, maybe I'm in fantasy land... but I am a strong believer in if you say it out loud, it's true. So I'm saying my shit out loud. I would love to make these three things a reality this year. I'm anxious as hell to get started.

Neglect

I had this whole blog post about how sometimes when you feel that you have neglected something it is actually perfectly capable of thriving and will surprise you by doing so. I had great analogies and whatnot lined up with pictures from my garden and all that good stuff and everything. And then I neglected to write it.

And it's not that any of this is no longer true. I neglected my garden last fall when I found out I was pregnant and just about lost my grip on sanity, and I neglected it this spring due to being morbidly rotund (read: VERY pregnant), and am continuing to neglect it now that the little guy has arrived and is taking up all of my time. Although how he manages to do so sompletely without doing much more than sleeping on his part is a minor mistery to me.

But while I hole up in my little coccoon of new mom-ness, the outside world continues to thrive and grow despite my neglecting it. My artichokes are back, my heirloom garlic I planted spring before last came up (it never did last year and I seriously thought the chickens had 'tilled' that bed too much for anything to still be alive in it), my horseradish is back (thanks Aunt Jennie!), volunteer lettuces are up (since I neglected to rip them out they went to seed....), volunteer mystery brassicas, carrots from the year before last that the chickens topped are producing green tops, parsley that died back is back, my herbs, grape, fig & blueberries are all here.... it's pretty damn cool.

Artichokes. Love that they're a perennial here

We haven't been neglecting the chickens. I just like to add a picture of them every now and then

Best example of neglect, ever. These were planted who knows when... when my now 60year old dad was a kid... they are all over the property and no one ever does anything to them.

Update in Pictures

Again - I apologize my dear friends and Lone Reader (hi mom!) for my absence. I seem to be apologizing for that particular thing a LOT these days, but life has picked up its already ridiculously fast pace, and I have no idea where the time is going. I feel perpetually behind on all things, but am hell bent on enjoying today with the kiddleywinks. Yes.

So without further ado, please admire my beauteous captions and pretend to be updated in no particular order (because the blog is not cooperating):

Re-post this may be, but happy to be seeing these guys in our garden. They keep nibbling critters away and if they're around, big copper colored ones are not.

The Lone Reader bought us these Vincas while she was visiting so I would have something pretty to look at amongst the bare dirt, chicken poop, and the flotsam and jetsam. They are thriving.

New 'pants chickens'! We got four Silkie chicks, 2 black and 2 buff. The boys call them 'pants chickens' for obvious reasons.

Cindy is molting. And she looks like a porcupine.

This guy was stunningly beautiful despite his only having 7 legs.

Some of the 'baby' chickens checking out the new Silkie arrivals.

Cotton flowering

When I ran out of gas mowing the meadow, the Redneck came to my rescue on (in?) his trusty Yota steed.

The Vincas are re-seeding themselves already

Silly Silkies - can you find all 4?

WTF North Carolina people. These didn't move the whole 10 minutes it took me to get this picture.

While the mass o' freaky caterpillars wasn't moving, I picked 3 gallons of these.

A couple of hours later they had changed color, grown spikes and gotten both more hairy and more scary.

Any Guesses?

OK. SO no one figured out what the last picture I posted was (I said I'd post more pics, but it honestly looks the same, just bigger. Answer at the bottom of the post), so I thought I'd try again. This one might be a tad easier. I hope I hope.

Any guesses?

UPDATE: So I've gotten quite a few emailed guesses - it seems that many people think this is a type of bean (which technically they are... but not the beans that you think). You guessed the 'ean' part - it is a peanut plant. Woot! Carolina black, to be specific. You know. Me and my heirlooms. It's not in prime position (as most of my garden this year...), but I have 3 of these guys and with the heat setting in, they are flowering.

Which leads me to my random trivia of the day - in Japan these varietals are call 'rakkasei'. Rakkasei basically means the same as the Latin name "Arachis hypogaea". "Rakkasei" literally translates to "fallen flower fruit (or plant)", and "hypogaea" means "under the earth". To sum up the coolness of the peanut plant, the flower blooms, gets pollinated, and then the stalk grows until the flower 'falls' to the ground where the ovary begins forming a fruit underground. So it is a legume, but you still get the fun treasure hunting quality of digging for them. Super cool, methinks.

In some places peanuts are also called monkey nuts. That just cracks me up.

A Bit of Space

It seems that I may have needed a wee bit of space. Everything in the past (almost entire!) month has been a bit much, and I could not keep blogging up on top of everything else. And while this week doesn't seem particularly better, it is time for me to get going again.

I must say that having my mother here with us has been amazing. She did the lion's share* of the work, and now my garden is weedwacked, cleared of almost all of the shrubbery I wanted to get gone, my two new beds are filled in (and deer netted!), necessities have been purchased, surfaces have been cleaned, new routines have been established regarding the Acorn** and his bedtime... all good things.

And my sister came to visit for the first time. I always loved showing people around when they came to visit us in Japan. I think it can be so cool to see your mundane existence through other's eyes as they see it for the first time... and Stoneyhaw is definitely different! She was only here for about 2 days, but we did manage to pack a bunch in there and I was very glad to see her before the insanity of her home ownership and impending induction into motherhood swept her away for a bit.

I also managed to get my garden in (mostly) and while the strides seem hobbled and not nearly as big as I would like them to be, we ARE making them.

Or at least that's what my mom told me!

My mom and sissypants.

It's important to partake in southern food immediately upon deplaning.

The Battalion eye their first greens suspiciously.

This Wyandotte has completely changed in the 2 weeks since I took this picture.

The Battalion has also learned how to roost.

Feeding was getting a wee bit frenzied at the end of their confinement there. Glad that's over!

They took to free ranging like champs and go back to the coop fairly late. For chickens. We have stopped feeding them all but a few handfuls of scratch grain here and kitchen scraps there. They keep their crops bulging all on their own. So proud!

They got a bit confused the first downpour they were in - and some took to huddling under a scrawny bush. Please note they were 20 ft from their coop, 15 from the Brigade's and about 10 from 2 barns and a camper - all with ample shelter... and under the big barn and the camper is where they hang out often, so not so foreign...

Some of them have taken to being toted on the Acorn's head

So. Many. Berries. Can't. Wait.

And I found some!

My dad's least favorite vegetable. Fortunately for me, I LOVE chard!

Mr. Toad.

Daylilies from my Godmother. Hi Roxanne!

Have you ever seen a potato flower?

I love them!

How about an onion flower?

Leftover metal panels from the construction of the Chicken Palace will be guiding my beans this year.

Baby beans!

Garden visitor. We like these guys.

*please note that at this time 'lion's share' translates as 'all'.


**aka 'the Spawn'. Trying to change what I call him. But he's still kind of 'The Spawn'-y to me.