Vacation over. For now.

The new Grape arbors are done!

After milling enough of the 2x4's for the tops I leveled the upright posts an installed the 2x4's on them.  I used some truss plates that were leftover from the previous owner.  I had to go to Home Depot to get another 20 to finished the last row.  I think they look super!

There are a few that are out of line, but for the most part they are fairly straight and square.  Good enough for grape vines anyway!

Note that they are not level but slope own a bit in addition they are stepped down the slope of the hill.

The new grape vines took a little damage from falling 2x4's - but for the most part they are ok!  With regard to the leaf rust issue, I think that either the sulfur dusting worked or simply the weather is not favorable for the fungus to grow.

The concord grapes look the best of all.  This is there 2nd year

These are the Marquis grapes - they re-sprouted from the ground, they were hit so bad with that damn leaf rust!  I hope they survive the winter.  I will have to use lots of mulch to help them stave of the cold.

High tensile wire

Once the 2x4 tops were placed and secured I was then able to install the high tensile wire for the grapes to grow onto.  I didn't want to install that wire without having the tops installed because then tensioning the wire would have severely displaced the posts!  I had to bug more high-tensile wire at TSC.  It ran about $100 for 4000ft.  This was ok, but I only needed a bit less than 500ft, so I have a bit left over!  I made a wooden enclosure for the high tensile wire as I was afraid that it would spring out of hand and get tangled after I removed the holding clips.  The whole roll of wire and the oak wood enclosure is freaking heavy!  I put the roll on the back of the UTV and unwound it in place. The wire behaved well when handled this way.

 

I tied on some surveyors tape to make the high-tensile wire a bit more visible.  This should help me when mowing and maybe even chase away some deer.

Sweet potatoes are blooming!

Even though its super dry, the sweet potatoes in the big garden are blooming.  I got some pictures of this one bloom before it finished.  There were more but they dropped off before I got around to photos.  The sweet potatoes in the paw-paw patch are looking very lack-luster.  They are not thriving and I doubt I will get much (if anything) off of them.  Its too bad since the paw-paw patch ones are the ones I bought and for which I know the pedigree!

Brussel Sprouts are looking good!

If the weather doesn't do anything too weird we should get a decent brussel crop harvest!

I have several nice brussel sprout plants!  There are some red ones at the far left that you can't really see - I don't know if they will produce many this year.  I just want to try them - never had a red sprout before!

They were this size in like November last year!  These should get to a good size way before that!

Tomatoes looking rough - but still producing

The plants aren't monsters but they still are getting some tomatoes on.  I have been getting enough for about 10 pints (5 quarts) for the past several weekends now.

Oh, just a side note, since you see the potato row there all dug up:  I got enough potatoes to cover the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket!  I think will need to use all of the saveable potatoes as seed potatoes for next year.

Kale and peppers

I have been harvesting the Kale pretty regular now for the past several weekends.  I got enough to make a big stir fry (although really a bit tough for that) and some braised kale (see below) and I also gave quite a bit to a friend at work.  Looks like it will be producing for quite a while yet.  I have so much lft over in the freezer from last year I haven't been freezing any (freezer is full of elderberries!).

The bell peppers at the farm.  They are actually doing ok!  Picked a couple this weekend.  One was even red!

Castor Beans

 Most have blossoms and seed pods on now!  They are so pretty.  I think I have 3 or 4 different varieties here!  I will have to save some seed.  No ead moles that I have found, but I did find a dead rat right next to a castor bean plant!  So who knows, the beans might be doing their job!

Red-stem variety

Silverish stem variety

Green stem variety

Some kind of fungus on one crab apple tree

This white fungus like stuff is on one of my crab-apples trees.  It doesn't look good.  I am going to o some investigation to see if I can get rid of this!  The dormant oil treatment early in the year didn't seem to knock this out.

It's kind of feathery and dusty/  

Tomatoes processed

I didn't get a picture of the harvest but here are some pictures after processing this weekends harvest into more pasta sauce.  This is pure tomato this time, no apples or pears! LOL

Farm cooking- potatoes and braised kale for dinner

I sorted the potatoes that I dug at the farm and took the ones that weren't going to keep.  I boiled them for dinner.  The kale I brought back got braised with sweet italian sausage, our own onions and our own garlic (I also added about a cup of broccoli that I had harvested as well)!  I used purchased chicken stock for the braising liquid.  Was very good and was dinner for 2 nights.

Pears

I harvested all the pears I could find this weekend.  I had to, the birds had all but 2 of the remaining pears pecked to pieces!  I peeled some of the damaged ones that were salvageable and Katherine and I ate a bunch - they were so good!  I also made an asian pear slaw using some asian sesame bottled dressing.  The slaw wasn't so great.  It ha nice texture but the pear taste was overwhelmed by the dressing.

Pumpkins and spaghetti squash

I harvested some more pumpkins and spaghetti squash this weekend.   I really don't need either, but there it is.  I may try to make some pies or custard with some.  I certainly will take some to work to give away!  Maybe try a squash casserole like recipe?   

A few more Eggplants 

I picked 3 eggplant this weekend.  I picked them a bit small, since Katherine mentioned that the one variety needs to be picked small to keep from developing hard seeds.  There are more to come!

Oh, and Turkeys!

I almost forgot, I was doing my final property survey before packing to come home, an while driving around the big field, in the woods, I saw two turkeys - both female, hens, (I think), running quietly along trying not to be seen.  Its the first time I have seen turkeys here since the spring (I think).

Friday the 13th farm survey

I came up late Thursday so I could be here early Friday morning to be here for the tractor to be picked up (I called Hines in Everett to fix the radiator and maybe the backhoe!)  Well, I am here now around 10:30 am and no sign of them!  I called and they said sometime this afternoon!  ARGG.  With facing afternoon traffic out of DC and the rains (heavy rains and flash flooding in some areas along the way - Clear Spring MD looked like a hurricane moved through there!) it took me almost 4 hours to get here!

Anyway, I have been out and about to survey the farm.  The gardens look like the weeds are going to win :(  I can't get in to put down mulch!  The "paw paw" patch looks like some of the plants might survive.   Very poor showing on the carrots and beets though.  The kale looks a bit rough too - but I planted so much I might get some anyway.  I just cant bear to post picture of the patches yet.  I should, I know - maybe later.

Many of the elderberries that I planted last year are bloom!  I hope I get a nice crop this year.  I want some elderberry jelly!

Dead red-tailed hawk .  Weird.  I found one last year near a utility pole too.

Grape trellis top braces are on and lower wire in place.  I have been rushing to get this up.  I am now training some of the little grape vines to the lowest wire! 

Mulching, mulching, rain rain...

Sole purpose at this point is to mulch the gardens!  The weeds are coming up strong and fast and if I cant keep them under control I will be in big trouble!

Snake-a-geddon!

I worked on clearing out the red barn of the remaining hay and straw (and boards, and firewood).  Scarey work, since its snake season!  Here is a pic of one of the two big blacksnakes i encountered this weekend:

No poisonous snakes spotted this weekend! YAY!

Radiator Leaks

I did discover that the tractor radiator does in fact still leak.  The stick actually did puncture the coils. I am researching replacing it - early info hints at about $400-$500 for replacement cost, not counting labor.  I am looking to do it myself - I want to make sure I know how to do all of this stuff in case of unavailability of help!  I think I will keep the old radiator and try to patch it via weld... we shall see!

Mulching

Well, to continue with the mulching story.  I replaced the spindle that broke on the Husqvarna riding mower.  It went much smoother then I expected.  The air-impact wrench was very handy.  I am so glad I got that,  Having said that, it is very important to remember that there are situations where you MUST NOT use an impact wrench.  For instance, bolting the spindle to the mower deck - I was careful to set the impact wrench to its lowest setting and stop it when the bolt came close to tight.  I got the mower deck back on and then hooked up the cyclone rake to the mower.  

I took the mower-rake over to the red barn and ran it over some of the hay/straw I had taken out of the barn.  The mower/rake combo did as I hoped - it ground the straw up and in a sense "cleaned" it!  The dust and mold were thrown airborne and just the straw (cut up into more manageable pieces) was saved in the bag.  This stuff was perfect for putting on the garden.  I ran the mulch down to the garden and mulched a little around the front end of the garden.  Then I tried grinding up the straw that I had out in the weather next to the garden.  It was a bit damp, but using a fork to take it and spread it around on the ground before mowing over it made it workable.  I started mulching the beans and corn - focusing on the weedy area first.  I did manage to get the beans covered and part of a couple rows of the corn done before the rain started.  See the pictures below.

The Rain

OMG, the rain came down HARD and FAST.   A second storm came through a bit later and snuck up on me - so quiet and serene rainy day then BAMM!!!  Lightning strike that sounded like right on top of me!  Whew.  Here are some pics of the garden after the first wave of rain:

The two rows of beans are mulched, but the rain chased me out before I could get the corn done!  See the weedy section on the right about midway?

Water is standing there now - I hope that I can get in to mulch more next weekend.  The weeds don't stop growing when its wet!

I got a little mulch down in the front around a squash and some of the eggplants and tomatoes.  Lots to do yet!

The rain really came down later that day.  Here are some pics and videos:

This is the ditch I have been trying to dig to put the drainage tile in for the house.  Its been too wet to dig it out since last fall!  Well, there were some times that I could have been digging, but I was mowing or putting in the garden those times!

Here are some videos of the rain:

Grape Trellis Progress

Oh, I almost forgot!  I got the tops on the grape trellis and the lower high tensile wires on!  I still need to paint the whole thing with copper naphthlate paint and put up the rest of the wire, but I am safe for a while!  I tied a couple vines to train them to the wires.  I need to start paying more attention to the grapes - evidently you do have to trim them as they grow the first couple seasons.