catching up

It seems like there is so much to talk about that hasn't made it to a blog post yet, so I am trying to catch up.

May 18 is our last frost date

The farm is in zone 4 and resources list May 18 (Today) as our last frost date.  There is actually a frost warning for tonight.  Our expected low for tonight is right around 32.  It has been too wet to plant so I don't have any tender vegetables in the garden yet so nothing to cover tonight.  A couple of area friends were tossing around that dreaded S-word--snow--I hope that they are kidding.  It is cloudy so I suppose that anything is possible.

weekend weather

On Saturday this past weekend our area had some tornadoes and thunderstorms go through and I feel very fortunate to have missed the worst of it.  There was lots of tornado activity in the afternoon and early evening.  I am hearing reports of as many as ten tornadoes touching down or spotted in all directions within 40 miles of the farm.  I am not hearing reports of damage so hopefully that was minimal.  We also had rain and thunderstorms, receiving a couple of inches at the farm but only a few miles away the story was significantly different.  About four miles to the west there is lots of standing water and I talked to a friend who is about that far west but farther north and they had five inches in their rain gauge.  There is water standing in the fields and the road ditches and dredge ditches are full in some areas.  I took a few pictures from my car as I drove into town.

garden tools and toys

Between Mother's day and my upcoming May birthday my kids have gifted me with some great garden stuff.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful kids.  Most of these are new this year but a couple are from previous years but they are some of my favorite tools so I included a picture.  I am excited to put them to use.  A garden cart from Nikole and Brad and assembled by Brad.  I have already used it to haul cement clocks down the driveway.  It says it will hold 900 pounds.  I had 240 pounds in it and was not able to pull it very well.  When I removed 80 pounds it pulled like a charm.  Thanks Nikole and Brad.

 Nathan and Michelle gave me a timer for my garden hoses.  I will be able to set it to automatically water my big garden.  It can run four hoses.  I am thinking that I can get by with three but we will see.  Since it has been raining and everything is still muddy this is not hooked up yet but it will be by the time things have dried out a bit.  Thanks Nathan and Michelle.

 From Caitlin and Robb I got two new hoses which were desperately needed and

 a new rake.  It has the most interesting features.  The handle is hollow making the rake very lightweight and there is tines on one side and these notches on the other.  I think the notches will be great for leveling and spreading.  Thanks Caitlin and Robb.

 These are two of my favorite tools.  The red is a stirrup hoe.  It cuts on both the push and the pull making fast work of weeding.  I got this from Nikole and Brad last year.  Now that Bobbie has a garden she got one this year from them and I am predicting that she will love it.

The second tool is a hori hori.  It is a garden knife that I got from Nathan and Michelle a couple of years ago.  It has a wood handle and a slightly cupped (convex?) (concave?) blade that is serrated on one edge and has measurements down the center of the blade.  I use it mostly for weeding.  It works great for taproot type plants but I think that it would also work great for planting or transplanting. You can plunge it into the dirt and pull it toward you slightly to make a hole for dropping a bulb or seedling into. 

The farmstand 

The farmstand made it to the end of the driveway and soon it will be ready for plant sales and then later vegetable sales.  I need to put the signs up yet but it is in place.  As windy as it  has been lately I am hoping it won't need much in the way of dusting.  Tomorrow I will spend a good part of the day in the greenhouse sorting and organizing the seedlings so that I can set aside those plants that will go into my garden and those that have been grown for the gardens of our family.  The surplus will be offered for sale on the farmstand.  I will use my new cart to haul the plants back and forth between the farmstand and the greenhouse.

the baby goats

Yesterday the goats had their last hay in the barn and today were turned into the pasture with the rest of the herd.  They stayed right near the gate at first, eating the very first grass they came across.  The fresh green stuff is so much more interesting than that old dry stuff.  They are doing well, sturdy little goats who are sticking pretty close to mom yet.  I need to get a new picture of the babies. 

blog changes

I have been working a bit on the blog, I added my list of 2015 farm goals to the right side bar and am going to try to keep a running total of how much produce is generated from our gardens and fruits.  I have always been amazed when gardeners talk about how many pounds (or tons) of food that they have harvested.  I am going to try to keep track.  I have my little cute scale which so far is keeping up although I only have asparagus so far.

I am also finally getting caught up on recipes for the Mother's day food on my other blogs.  Feel free to check them out.  Click on the list at the top of the right side bar.  I am going to be making some dandelion jelly and spicy pickled asparagus so those recipes should show up there soon as well.