damn the torpedo's

Full speed ahead

all 8 chickies lined up for photo op

    Trying to get ready for my open house on May 23 rd., 2015, starting at 10 and going to whenever. I managed to get the last water line fixed thanks to brother in law mike, and his new shovel. Damn near wore mine out on the last leak, and even this one had its moments. But where the last one was due to old age of pipes, this one was due to a cold winter as water was trapped in the line and froze at about the three foot depth.

     I finished backfilling the crater we had in front of the greenhouse almost 10 feet from last leak last year. This year I plan on blowing all the water out of the line when it starts freezing real hard. No more of this, I need to get smarter with these damn leaks as I get older. It definitely had an impact on my ability to grow things this season with not just one leak but two real bad leaks, and low water pressure in the greenhouse.

 anyone up for some dandelion wine. wouldn't have to go far to find some here

    It will be what it will be and I am trying to play catchup and plant more. I will be limited on a lot of things including tomatoes, green peppers, but I will have to see how things go over the next 2 weeks on other veggies. I will have hanging baskets, and some you can sit indoors, or on a patio. And I will have some demonstrations of how you can grow easier, and in less space.

    I have my straw bale garden planted with peas and green beans, and I also have a trellis already established. These I planted in a manner where they are overplanted and then will be thinned to avoid allowing weeds to grow. The beans and peas should vine on to the trellis and over the side of the bales, covering the whole area with vines and hopefully bean and pea pods. Unfortunately for most this would be a high cost initially as it requires 10 bales of straw at 5.00 / bale for 50 dollars , and about a half of a ton of good topsoil , plus the seed. Almost a hundred dollars and there is no idea how long the bales will last, or if this will be a cost yearly. The soil could easily be shoveled into the next straw bale garden for the next year, effectively stirring the soil for the next year. Still if straw needs to be bought yearly it is still an expensive amount of money on a per pound basis for something that really doesn’t cost that much at a farmers market. If you also compost, then the straw you have this year could be composted for next year, and this will also save some money and eventually will make good compost when broke down.

 greenhouse is coming along 

     Plastic twine may help your straw bales stay intact year after year, for how long I am not sure, but will let you know. I enjoyed planting the bale garden and it didn’t take long and just used my hands as the soil was loose. I expect it to sprout quickly as the soil is warm and you should be able to see the results by the time of the open house. I don’t think I have any pics but will surely take some tomorrow. Another feature to it is that you don’t have to bend over as far. Believe me that is almost worth it in that respect.

      My next project will be a potato tower where potatoes are planted in a slatted structure in layers that allow the greenery to cascade down the outside of the box like structure. In the fall when broke down the new potatoes will be in the center of the box. This is a little hard to explain but I will have pictures as I go along. The box will be made similar to what a log cabin would be made and the potatoes will be planted in the spaces between the boards.

    The other project that has caught my attention is where they plant tomatoes in a two cage system with one cage insider another and the inner cage has compost or some kind of organic matter and the outer cage being about 3 ft. around and has tomato plants planted around the outside of the inner screen . Watering is done by pouring water and saturating compost, and then flowing on to tomato plants at their base. This provides a means feeding the plants as well as watering them. And hopefully I can have all of these set up to where you can view the progress of them when you come visit my open house.

straw bale garden with peas and beans

      I was finally brave enough to get in the pool 2 times today. It wasn’t bad at all and relaxed me a lot. This is the best my back has felt in a while. The cool water not only allows buoyancy and seeks to ease the pain by decompressing the spine while also reducing the inflammation associated with the injury reducing the swelling. Any reduction of swelling will serve to reduce pain associated with a back injury. After my last back surgery I spent a lot of time going to Atwood Lake, and I attribute that to being a key part of my rehabilitation back then. Now I would just be satisfied with some pain relief during the day as that is my worse time, although lately I have been also having trouble sleeping at times.

 flowers looking to fill a hanging basket. 

      I have a membership at the YMCA but can hardly find the time and find it not worth the money to drive the 24 miles to swim; also it has to be on their schedule. This isn’t always an option for me, and I value my time, as well my money. So I have passed and have been waiting instead when I can swim here at the farm. It’s not nearly the size of the pool at the Y but still it serves the same purpose. The chemicals are not nearly what I would spend if I was driving to a YMCA to swim a couple of hours and driving home.

      So it is damn the torpedoes I am swimming full speed ahead, till I hit the rubber wall and stop cold.  Still give me a couple of noodles and I can kick back and hardly find a cuss word in my mind, not bad for an Ohioan.