More weather

 So my last post, the first in a really long time, was about weather and it seems that weather is still having a big impact.  My part of Minnesota is in a drought.  Last week there was an inch and three tenths of rain at the farm.  My sister 15 miles to the east had two and one-half inches and my mom, 15 miles to the west had an amazing four inches.  That rain was my only measurable rainfall this summer.  The field crops around the farm
are struggling.  I haven't seen anyone plowing them under but it is unknown yet if there will be much of a crop.  

My fruit trees were full of blossoms this spring but did not set fruit.  My grape vines are the exception.  They seem to be liking this heat.  The purple grapes are done.  I have been using a steam juicer to make grape juice.  Right now the juice is sitting in my freezer.  At some point I hope to make jelly or try to make wine from that juice.  The white grapes are a little later but seem close.  I ordered a refractometer which should arrive tomorrow.  Then I will have a more accurate measure of when the grapes are ready to be picked. 

My lawn is dormant so the time that I am not spending mowing I am spending watering.  We have had an unusually warm summer, second warmest on record for June.  Between the heat and the drought It is hard keeping plants from getting crispy.  Early this summer I purchased quite a few perennial and annual flowers which means even more watering.  

I have been having a pretty good summer.  I am not doing the farmers market this summer which is allowing me more time to do more things in my yard.  Some of my family was home in May for Mother's Day and we worked on rehabbing my neglected potager garden.  My big garden is idle this year.  I will be working on making it smaller, tarping it to kill the abundant weeds and fixing the deer fencing.  The snow has done a lot of damage to the end closest to the trees where the big drifts form.  I am planning to take down that end of the fencing and let the area return to grass.

I have been adding some round raised beds made from grain bin rings.  When done I will have seven of them.  So far I have four assembled and three are partially filled and growing stuff,  When the crops come out I will top them off, filling them to the top.  They are quite tall so they hold a lot of fill.  I have done some with a hugelkulture method putting branches and wood in the bottom then a wood chip layer and a layer of leaves.  The top layer is a mix of composted manure, peat moss and perlite.  I am doing some with a wire tube in the center and I am adding kitchen scraps to that for composting.  I am hoping it will be broken down by worms in the bed adding nutrition through their castings over the years.  The leaves and wood chips will break down over time so I expect a lot of settling.

 I will have to get some pictures and post them.  

 Lorri