Neighbors

"Hello?"

"Hey Ken, it's Brian. We're up north and the person who was going to check the animals tonight can't do it now. Is there any chance you could run down? Everyone should be fine except the chickens might need more water."

"No problem, you got it."

"Thanks so much, we really appreciate it."

The above conversation is one that we had with our neighbor and good friend over the 4th of July weekend. I know we have great neighbors but I'm still amazed at how great. Ken and his family have been very supportive since we moved here. Brian helps him as much as possible during harvest and then Ken brings his equipment and harvests our fields. We would really struggle without his help.
When our barn was burning, he was one of the first people I called (after 911 of course). Looking back, it is kind of funny. Ken ran out of the restaurant where he was eating breakfast with his wife and his brother, leaving them there. He flew in to our driveway in record time. Later, his wife and I cried together, with her remembering the dreadful day when their own barn caught fire.

Speaking of the fire, there were many people who helped that day. I remember two complete strangers pulling in, with their families in the car, and running to hook up hay wagons so Brian could stay on the tractor. Even the first police officer who arrived, seeing the situation, allowed us to keep pulling things out as long as we didn't go under the burning roof. One good friend from our church slipped a fifty dollar bill in Brian's hand that day. My cousin, her husband, Ken,and his brother all stayed late that night helped us put up a big tarp to protect our hay. That's them in the above picture. You really do find out who your friends are at times like that.

We have another set of great neighbors right around the corner. They'll borrow something, we'll borrow something. He even picked up my peaches from the orchard for me since I couldn't get there during business hours. Plus, our horses just love all the treats that they get over the fence.

I can't forget the neighbors across the section who called yesterday to say that they had a big bucket of berries for me. They are soooo good too. We know those neighbors pretty well since Brian is over there at least once a week, visiting or exchanging tools (okay, I should say drinking a beer instead of visiting). We have 700 bales of hay stored in there barn, and they've been asking us to bring some sheep over to graze there pasture for about a year now.

The other neighbors are the ones who inspired this post. He pulled in our driveway this morning and announced that he has something I can pick if I'd like. I think he said some kind of onion, I couldn't hear for sure. Pick every other one, he said, there is about 200 there so help yourself. I have to confess, I was a bit taken aback by him and his wife last year. After hearing we had asparagus, they pulled in, dropped some frozen sausage in my lap, proclaimed that was "for the asparagus", and proceeded out to my garden with buckets and scissors. Not knowing what to do, I sat in the house and watched out the window as they took what they wanted.

Nowadays, I understand. That's just how things work between neighbors!! :)

Do you have a great neighbor or a story to share about one?

Growing Challenge Check-In: Planting

My garden isn't small but I didn't have any room to plant corn. Our neighbor Jeff was kind enough to come by with his tractor and rototiller and make the above long strip of garden for me. It is between the pasture fence and the road. We had to put the fence far off the road to make room for snow in the winter but can still use the space all summer.

I planted 5 different kinds of corn the first day. I still had some room so in went 2 packets of sunflowers, hopefully to use in granola bars this fall. Well, there was still a ton of room left so I just kept planting. All the peas and beans went in. Then watermelon, zucchini, and squash. There is still room so I added eggplant seeds and may stick in some eggplant seedlings to fill it up. I'm trying to plant less valuable crops there since I wouldn't put it past some idiot to drive through it or pick from it. The tomatoes and other crops will stay in the main garden. Plus, now there is room in the main garden for pumpkins!!

Here's the complete running list, new additions in bold, the rest are updated.

Seedlings still under light (they really need to get outside but the weather is poor):
Amish Paste Tomatoes
Green Zebra Tomatoes
Waltham 29 Broccoli
Ping Tung Eggplant
Long Purple Eggplant

In the main garden:
Red pioneer potatoes- 10# - growing well, need straw
Red onions - 8-10" tall
Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas (hybrid) - 1 20' row - 8" tall
Asparagus - mostly gone to seed, some still coming up
Black seeded simpson lettuce - 1 20' row - up
Black seeded simpson lettuce - 1 20' row planted 4/27 - up
Sugar Ann snap pea - 1 20' row planted 4/27 - 4" tall
Victoria Rhubarb - approx. 25 seeds planted 4/27 - didn't come up, disappeared!
Amish Paste Tomato seedlings - 10 planted out 5/25 - 2 died, others holding on

In the long garden:
Country Gentleman sweet corn - 1 packet - planted 5/25
Golden Bantam 8-Row sweet corn - 1 pkt. - planted 5/25
Carousel mini ornamental corn - 1 pkt. - planted 5/25
Strawberry popcorn - 1 pkt. - planted 5/25
Japanese White Hull-less popcorn - 1 pkt. - planted 5/25
Mammoth Grey sunflowers - 1 pkt. - planted 5/30
Buff Valentine (Contender) bush bean - 3 pkts. - planted 5/31
Sugar Ann snap peas - remainder of 1 pkt. - 5/31
Laxton's Progress 9 garden pea - 3 pkts. - 5/31
Tall Telephone garden pea - 1 pkt. - 5/31
Blacktail Mountain watermelon - 1 pkt. = 5 hills - 5/31
Butternut Roosa squash - partial pkt. = 2 hills - 5/31
Black Beauty zucchini - partial pkt. = 2 hills - 5/31
Ping Tung eggplant - partial pkt. = 2 hlls - 5/31

Around the farm:
Heritage Raspberry - 4 canes planted 4/26 - doing great
Strawberries - a few blossoms, only half dozen plants survived winter without mulch
Gooseberry and Currants - 2 of each - planted last year - huge w/ small berries forming!
2 Red Haven Peach trees - planted - all fruit trees are healthy and green
1 Harrow pear tree - planted last year - only tree with blossoms
1 Bartlett pear tree - planted
1 Montmorency Cherry tree - planted
1 Gala apple tree - planted
1 Golden Delicious apple tree - planted
4 blueberry bushes - planted last year - greening up
Mature apple trees - small apples forming!

Here's a pic I snapped from where I sat planting the endless patch.


Also, this is the broken hoe that I've repurposed to help me plant. It makes a great little tool to cut rows in the soil. Then I just drop the seeds in and pat over them with my hand.



I've enjoy reading many of your garden updates and how everyone's plant are flourishing. What's your favorite garden tool? How do you plant your seeds?

Sunday Stroll: Garden Update

I have been taking a stroll around my yard every morning and evening lately. There is a lot of activity to keep up with! All of these pictures are from the garden today. I thought I would combine the garden update and Sunday Stroll this week to keep things simple. Plus, I have a lot of other things to post about this coming week.

Potatoes are finally up! Yay!!

I have picked and picked, eaten and shared, and yet till - the asparagus is going to seed.

The first row of peas is really growing. The second row is up and about 1-2" tall.

My little bitty lettuce. This was one of the first things I planted. It is growing very slowly but I'm just glad it lived.

The onions have doing great all along.

The garlic is huge!

I saved the best for last. Check out the blossoms on our new pear tree! This is the one that I just planted a few weeks ago. The pear tree that I planted last year has a lot more leaves but no blossoms yet. I can see this little blossoming tree from my window.

See who else is strolling on Sunday over at Quiet Country House.

My "Fast Food" Dinner

Brian picked himself up some fast food for dinner. I was working late. When I talked to him he told me he already ate so maybe I should get myself something in town too. I drove that way home but nothing sounded good and I didn't stop anywhere.

I got home and tried to make some butter in the food processor with the raw milk. It didn't really work but I probably wasn't patient enough. The milk did get really foamy like when you start to whip real cream. I didn't want to pour it back in the jug so instead... I added one envelope of chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast to it. I had the stuff in the cupboard and have pretty much quit drinking it so this was a good way to use it up. Oh my goodness - it was great! Like a cross between a milkshake and chocolate mousse. I drank that and ate a half dozen raw pieces of asparagus that I picked on my nightly walk through the garden. Maybe someday I'll have fresh home grown berries to have with whipped milk.

Mine was maybe not the most complete meal, but I did get a lot of vitamins out of it. I'm pretty full now. This was all way better, and more satisfying, than any meal from McDonald's or Wendy's!

What's your favorite healthy, local snack? Any good substitutes for fast food?

Sunday Stroll... Sort of

I just really didn't feel like doing much today. Yesterday Brian cut up our old rabbit cage so I could have 2 pieces of plywood for our new farm sign. I painted them this morning. Then we went to breakfast with Brian's Grandpa. I'm pretty sure he turned 93 this year! After breakfast I put on a second coat of paint. We watched King Corn. I was really disappointed! I guess it might make a bigger impact on people who don't farm but it really didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I was hoping the film would help Brian to see why corn in everything is a bad thing, but it wasn't too convincing.

After the movie Brian worked out in the shop for awhile. It was pretty rainy and cold today so I didn't go out. I've been working on our website like crazy and it is almost done!! Get ready, I'm going to want everyone's opinions of it once it is done! :) Then I worked on tracing our logo on to the farm sign. I've got one piece almost done, then I can paint it. Anyway, since I'd really like to get back in to Sunday Strolls, I have some garden pictures to share from this week, plus one that shows where I've spent most of my day!

The garlic is getting so tall!


The onions are coming up!


I have been so tempted to snap off a piece of asparagus to taste...


The peas are coming up. I really thought they wouldn't make it since I planted them so early. I'm glad they did!


This is where the cat and I have been, and I think I'm heading back there...


Head over to Quiet Country House to see who else is strolling today.

Asparagus The Movie

This one really hits home for me and I hope you will feel the same. The movie focuses on the asparagus industry of Western Michigan and how it may be negatively affected by U.S. foreign policy. You can watch a trailer for it here and find out more about the movie here. The best part is that it supposed to be broadcast free on PBS on April 29th at 8 PM. I couldn't find that listing on tvguide.com or the movie's website but it was advertised in the latest Michigan Farm News so I'm hoping it is true.

Also check out The Beginning Farmer's latest post for a couple more good movie ideas. I'm really excited about the Food Inc. movie and it looks like it will be available through Netflix eventually.

Enjoy!