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Recent Entries to this Blog
A new project
Posted: 23 Aug 2009 Posted: 18 Aug 2009 Posted: 10 Aug 2009 Posted: 25 Jul 2009 Posted: 08 Jul 2009 All Entries |
shannonrose's Blog
A day in the woods
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:10 am I decided that I needed a break from extreme physical work today. It was also a little cooler and some off and on rain. I am trying to restore a woodland area and also put down mulch paths to be able to wander through it. It once was a horse pasture that was allowed to grow on its own. My brother lives nearby and has many acres of unspoiled woods.I decided to get some plants from his woods. I usually practice not to disturb nature but, I felt it was okay in this case. I knew I would be careful not to disrupt the nature to much. I left with several buckets and shovels. The first plants I took where ferns. I later found several Jack in the Pulpit- my son's favorite. I also took some wild ginger and some small shrub starts. The find that I hope takes is called Skunk Cabbage. It looks similar to a hosta. All in all I enjoyed the peaceful serenity of his woods and hope my new additions soon add to my own woodland beauty. This blog entry has been viewed 209 times
Sore, arms, legs, and back but happy !!!!!!!
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:35 am I think in the last few days I have earned every doughnut I ate at Sunday fellowship hour. Our project is coming to an end and although, it was a tremendous amount of work we made it. My husband had the majority of the digging and dirty work. I was the one helping rake our dirt, move dirt, and move wheelbarrel loads of extra stone.We were very fortunate to have great weather to get us through our project of adding drainage tile and a waterline to our animals. I joked that we will probably have a drought now, after dealing with several huge rainfalls that left us heavily flooded. We are desperate for some fill dirt and hoping to get some free. We can get some small amounts but to get them is another day of back breaking work. I am hoping to pay attention to my veggie garden soon. I do have peas,onions, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, spinich and turnips coming up but, that's it. I have seed potatoes and some lettuce and carrots I'd like to get in the ground. As maddening as it all is I love it. I just wish I had more money and time to do it all the way I want to. This blog entry has been viewed 266 times
And the sun came out.........
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:09 am I was so happy to see our forecast of rain and clouds wasn't that bad. Our day dawned very sunny which was a welcome sight. My hubby was able to get a backhoe from his company to use for a few days. We normally wouldn't want to bring in a machine like this after so many days of rain, but we had no choice. We needed to remove a large layer of rock from our driveway and dig some trenches. My hubby felt that the height of the stone in our drive was to high and adding to our reoccurring water problem in our garage. I see now what he means. The garage was built in the 1970' and has settled lower then the driveway. We will use the stone elsewhere. Digging the final trenches to divert water was as expected a messy job. It could've been worse but I am sure we will have plenty to keep busy with as it dries out further. It will be a huge satifsfaction to have it all done and know that we will have hopefully solved a big problem. Next week we should find out. I worked on raking and grass seeding around my raspberry transplants. All in all I was very happy with all we got done. It looks like we will have very pleasant weather the next several days so we should get alot done. We are thankful that although, my hubby has been off work he is only temporarily off. This time off is giving him a good opportunity to get this large project out of the way. This blog entry has been viewed 190 times
The rains came
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:14 am We heard the first of the rain starting late last night. When we awoke we had even more rain coming down. The moment of truth had come for our newly installed drainage tile. It was rewarding to see it seems to be working. We even noticed our sump pump which has been cycling on more in the last few heavy rains didn't need to work as hard this time. We still are finishing up on an area near our garage but, we feel we are finally getting closer. I will be happy to not have trenches through the yard and unfinished landscape. I hope to be able to get grass seed down soon. It would've been great to get it down before the rain but, I am still happy with all we have gotten done. I took a look for signs that my peas are coming up and I didn't see them yet. I am sure by Weds. or Friday to see some action.I am hopefull by this weekend to see some signs of my newly planted turnips as well. I did purchase some brussel sprouts and cauliflower transplants to grow in my raised beds. I haven't ever grown cauliflower so it should be interesting. I did mangae to get quite a few brocolli starts up and growing from seed. It seeems the plants are doing very well. I also am glad that I was able to move several black raspberries into a row like system. I had let these do their own thing in a patch. They were wild and they produced well and tasted great. I was finding it hard to pick them and I needed more space in the area they were in. It wasn't the funnest job digging up and replanting these berries but, I managed. When we get drier weather I will rototill the area left. I am just going to grass it so I can mow on either side of these berries to keep them contained in a row format. This blog entry has been viewed 200 times
Happy Day
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 2:52 am We again had beautiful weather today. I was off work so I took full advantage of it. I decided to work on one of my flower beds surrounding our deck. I had made the mistake of putting a very invasive flower in the bed a year before. I think it's a buttercup variety. I let the beauty of it in bloom get the better of me. If I had known how aggressive it would be I would've never planted it. I set about removing it and I hope i have it all removed. I also had a perennial red hibiscus in the same bed. I decided to move it elsewhere and replace it with a rose called "Daybreaker". That then lead to dividing a few coral bells and potting the rest for a future plant sale. I had to pass a Lowes store later in the day and found my van miraculously pulling into the garden store. Of course I came home with a few plants. They had a great deal on some birch trees that I hope to plant tomorrow. I also am a sucker for Pansy's. My hubby spent his time off working on putting in drainage tile. This has been an ongoing project. We have had reoccurring problems with flooding through our yard. Some of it is due to the changes we have made to our landscape and adding some buildings. We also think that most of it is due to changes around were we live. There has been a rapid amount of home construction going on around us. Areas which were former fields and woods have become housing. WE will soon get to see if all his hard work will pay off. We have rain in our forecast next week. I'll be so happy if indeed it works. This blog entry has been viewed 194 times
A Sunny Day
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:50 am We finally had a really great sunny day. I was elated when I was able to get out of work. I probably won't like it when my paycheck comes, but today it all seemed worth it. I immediately got to work on things in the yard.I decided to plant out my turnips. This is the first time I will plant and try these. The seeds were pretty small and hard to work with. I hope for all the work I enjoy them. We also put our new little chicks and ducks out in a fenced in area. They loved it. The ducks had a shallow basin with water and they went swimming and splashing. They were very amusing to watch. This blog entry has been viewed 188 times
Slow Spring
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:05 am It seems just when I think that spring is finally here we back track into cold, damp weather. We have had several days of rain making it impossible to get much done in the gardens. I have managed to get my new fruit trees in the ground and a few onion sets too. I have also managed to transplant a few things around the yard. I am just bundling up more while I work. I am so determined to get outside. I am not a good one for being cooped up indoors. Our portable chicken/ turkey tractor finally has some occupants. We had two older turkeys we purchased in late winter that have feathered out enough to go in there. They love being able to peck at the grass and forage for food. They have a small shelter to get into during bad weather. They can be dumb birds at times. We have observed them sitting out in the rain. I had heard that they may do this at times. They are fun to watch though. Our newer turkeys and ducks are doing pretty well. The kids have taken to calling one of the ducks Aflack after the insurance co. This duck looks like that one in the comercial. Soon they will be able to go out into their pen and coop. We will proably let them free range but, definately after the loss of our two beloved black ducks these will be better watched at dark and placed into pens at night This blog entry has been viewed 205 times
Getting the gardens started and new chicks in the house
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:09 am I have finally been able to get some things done outside. Our weather has shown some improvement. My hubby and I set up our fencing we use for growing tomatos. We also set up fencing for our peas. I got two large rows of the sugar snap peas planted. I also received our order for some new fruit trees. I hope to get them in this weekend. On another note the chicks we ordered came in. Our children show them in our local summer fair. We have 6 turkeys ( Broad Breasted White) and 6 ducks( Blue Swedish Runners) plus some little black and white Seabrights. They are so cute. I hope to put some pics up soon. It is so nice to see spring finally trying to get here. This blog entry has been viewed 197 times
Disappointing weather
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:54 am We had such nice weather and I had been able to get so many things started. I had high hopes to get a few new things done outside. Our children just started their school spring break so nice weather was highly desired. This morning we awoke to snow falling and cold. What a way to start our spring break together. It looks like this dismal weather will be here another day. It is so hard to have patience when you are eager to get started. I have some indoor seed starting I guess I can work on. I am quickly running out of room for more plants on my front porch. This has proven to be an ideal location to get things started. This blog entry has been viewed 182 times
My First Spring Harvest
Category: My Mini Farm | Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:58 am I have a small cold frame that was donated to me to try for a season. My gardening friend had me plant some spinich last fall and some mache. I am so happy to say I enjoyed a salad today from both of these greens. We finally are getting some typical spring weather . I am hoping in the next two weeks to get my peas and other cold tolerant veggies planted. I have a raised bed full of broccoli and kohlrabi that I keep covered by a makeshift greenhouse of plastic. I think soon I should be able to keep it all uncovered. I am so eager to get planting the garden and enjoying the warmth of spring. This blog entry has been viewed 236 times
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