I Am So Tired...

I am really so tired.
I have no business trying to blog at this moment
and I will probably come back tomorrow,
read it and find it to be gibberish.
It already took me several tries
to put the pictures on
and I was interrupted to go out
and bottle feed the goats, fluff their
bedding straw and do a few last
minute pick up stuffs
trying to beat the rain.
As it is, the pics are a jumbled mess
and do not tell a coherent story.
Oh well.


This awesome pic was supposed to
be at the bottom,
but we'll lead with it instead.
Can I get an 'awwwww. How cute."?
Ain't it just?
I love my boy.


I spent my day in the garden.
I laid in more beds and transplanted
some flowers from the old garden.
Here are the peppers and they are looking great.


The garden is coming along.
I am still waiting for the permanent
trellises to be built
for my tomatoes.
I had to put the tomatoes in though.
They really couldn't wait anymore.
This Year's Tomato List :
-Amana Orange - My favorite tomato!
-Paquebot Roma - my favorite roma
-Abe Lincoln - this is a first
-Stiletz - another first
-Cherokee Purple - not my favorite, but I had the seeds
-Green Zebra - not in the garden yet.
I have some wee seedlings that will go in as soon as they are big enough
I think that is all,
but I swear I am so tired I can't think.


And here is the garden itself
in all it's glory.
It really is looking much better.
I still have work to do,
but a lot of that cannot happen until the trellises are done.
But I am enjoying the weed-free nature
of this new space.
The last garden was in the lawn itself
and that was an uphill battle.
This I can take care of with the hoe.


And here you can see my flower ring
and my squash graves (in the foreground)
I have some spinach, 4 O'Clocks, zinnias, cosmos..etc
in the ring around the tree.
And I have a 'pond' to offer water
to my beneficial friends
like toads and wasps etc.
I have a bottle hanging that drips water
into the bowl as dripping water
attracts good critters to the water.
And I have a hunk of concrete in the
bowl for a landing perch for butterflies
and dragons to take a safe drink.
Beneficials are a great bonus to the garden.
All of the flowers that I plant are for them too.


And I found the perfect spot to keep my whet stone.
And why would I have a whet stone in the garden?
A sharp hoe is an efficient hoe.
It makes a huge difference to have a freshly sharpened hoe.
I have been using nothing but the hoe
on the whole garden. I sharpen it often.
And I make it sharp too. I give it a fine edge.
Weeds don't stand a chance and the soil
moves around like butter.

Edited to add...
Do you see the little red tripod stool?
I love that thing!
I got it at Dollar General for $5
and that may be the best $5 I ever spent.
It is the right height to sit on and pull honeysuckle.
I have patches that are large and thick.
I put the stool down and work until I can't reach anymore
and them I move on.
It is also perfect for contemplation and rest
in the garden. It may not look comfy, but it really is.
Beats the hell out of sitting on a 5 gallon bucket.



And I think the verdict is in...
PLUM TREE!!!
Because there is no fuzz and the little fruits are a dark red!
Yeah..Plums!!!
Best weed I ever found growing in a yard.
Okay.. that's not true, but I can't talk about the best ever.


Dianthus is blooming and the costmary looks
and smells wonderful.



The comfrey is looking huge.
After this bout of rainy, stormy
weather I will do my first harvest
of the year. It will probably all
go for garden supplementation
in the form of comfrey teas...


I am going to have so many strawberries!
I went looking and I cannot believe
how heavily loaded my little plants are!


The snowball bush is blooming.
It was the only thing on this farm
that bloomed when we bought it.
How can a farm be
a farm for over 80 years and have
NO FLOWERS!??
Seriously?
I am fixing that as quickly as I can.
And all of the weeds and vetches and clovers that we
let grow to monstrous heights each spring
is our way of feeding the soil.
It was obvious that every single leaf
and blade was cut to within
an inch of it's life the minute
it was tall enough to reach the
mower's blades.
That is not a good way to grow good healthy soil.
So, in the spring when the super nutritious things
grow, we let them.
We pull them to feed to the rabbits and chickens.
We let them go to seed and then we cut them.
As a result, each year we have more and more
good healthy weeds on our place.
Yeah! Weeds!!
(and that is my story as to why
you cannot walk through my yard
and I am sticking to it..
sounds really good, doesn't it?)