Rocks. You didn’t really think I was going to say dreams, did you? We have rocks, so many rocks in our field. Saturday and Sunday morning the 3 of us headed out to THF to try and make a dent in our rots-a-rocks.
The first thing that needed to be done was to get a batch of logs into the water tanks for a 4 hour soak. That was our timing plan. When they were done, we would be done.
Once that was set, we got started. Bless his heart, Don called to say he would be coming out too on Saturday. One more set of hands to help. Thank goodness. Then it was just pick up the rock, dump it into the trailer, head across the stream and unload them into their designated spot. Over and over; load after load.

You cannot really see the true conditions we were dealing with. The field had been plowed up quite nicely but it was muddy and the resulting ruts were a nightmare to deal with. I had my pedometer in my pocket and it counting my steps quite easily, but it was not taking into the consideration my struggle to step over and into each rut while carrying a load of rocks and keeping my balance. Over entire day on Saturday it said I walked 14,237 steps which is 5.5 miles. And it says I worked off 402 calories. Yeah right. Somebody needs to come up with a pedometer that not only tracks your steps, but the effort you are making. Carrying rocks should make your steps count for something more.
So we worked and worked some more. Ron’s plan was to use the rocks to fill in the muddy spot where we fill the water tank.

You can tell by the ruts that this was something we needed to deal with. Every time we filled the water tank, the area got drenched. Holding onto a small fire hose is not easy.  Not that I plan to do that again anytime soon.
It was cloudy on Saturday which gave us a good break from the heat. And we had a pretty good breeze both days. That helped a lot.

But Don had it right. After 5 minutes of rock picking, it just wasn’t fun anymore. Just hard work and lots of it. But we were making a dent in the road building effort. Though you could not see any dent in the field of rocks.

If we concentrated on the bigger rocks, the trailer filled up pretty fast.  But we had a whole lot more of the smaller ones.  Collecting them took  much longer but they were the right size for Ron’s road.

This was the biggest rock we pulled out of the field. Could not have done it without the 4 wheeler. I wrapped it like a Christmas present and Ron pulled it out. No good for the road, so we stashed it along side the road by the field. Close to another pile of rocks that someone else dug up and left hidden in the bushes. We really have to find someone who wants to buy these rocks from us.

By Sunday afternoon we had something to be proud of. Here is hoping that it does the trick and makes the watering process just a bit easier. We need a good solid day of rain in order to have it settle in nicely. And a few dozen trips over it with the 4 wheeler.

Jo, Sunday morning, standing in a field of despair. So many rocks.

A lovely day here upstate NY. Started out quite cold; in the 30’s until well after 9 am. But the sun was shining and that makes most things much better. Our plan had been to get out to THF today and get a few small things done, but that was going to wait until the temperature went up. We finally headed out just after 1 pm. My goal was to tackle the pile of glass bottles left behind by the previous owner. Ron had told me that during the purchase process, they had discussed all sorts of things and even hit on the hippie movement of the 1960’s. “George” assured Ron had he had been a hippie and truly cared for the planet. Well, if you read my “Ginny, I’ve had a wild thought” post you will have seen just how much he did not care.

This pile of bottles and cans had been nagging at us since we started this adventure. The eyesore is just to our left when we are walking down the path to the creek. Even when the trees are full of leaves we can easily see this mess when we walk by. Thanks, “George” for leaving this behind. Already we had picked up enough of just the glass bottles to fill 3 of our tubs. All were taken to transfer station for dumping. Broken and full of mud and not suitable for recycling.

Ron stuck around long enough to take a few pictures of me working before he headed off to survey his holdings. Checking up on the mushrooms, trees and pussy willows. We had about 50 percent success rate on trees we planted and about 20 percent on the pussy willows. Ron is also becoming fascinated with the birds we have out here. His brother Don can ID many birds by their song and Ron wishes he could. I can see another class or two in his future. I just hope he doesn’t come home with one of those bird CDs that he listens to all the time. Even more, I am hoping that he doesn’t decide I need to learn all about the birds too. Oh, this guy of mine. He really cannot stay focused on just one thing. And he dearly loves to drag Jo and me along with him. He is all about the family time.
My project was simple enough. All the glass was going into the bins, and the metal cans into garbage bags. It would have added a huge complication to my day;  but it would have been interesting to have kept track of the number of things I picked up. Probably best that I didn’t, would have just depressed me. It was all broken bottles and rusty and disintegrated cans. I did find some Gillette razor blade dispensers and one can of FDS spray.  I had the right gloves for the job, rubber coated for extra protection, but really wished I had brought along one of our small stools to sit on.   It was harder work than it should have been.  Especially on the back.  Kneepads would have been helpful too.  Next time for sure.  And  maybe a couple of more people so the work goes that much faster.

Ron came wandering back and I decided that I was also done. Pulled the tubs and bags out of the thicket and stashed them by our Tiny House. We will haul them out when we have Jo along to help. Ended up with 3 tubs of glass and 4 bags of cans and other trash.

Looks pretty darn good, doesn’t it? Unfortunately we are not done with the trash pick up. Seems like everywhere we look there is more junk that was left behind. But it sure feels good to have some of it picked up. We are hoping for some visitors soon and want THF to looks it’s best. Mushroom drilling party happening soon. Details to follow.

I have long been an believer in the manta “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. I drive myself and others crazy because I simply cannot throw things out. Not if they are still usable and I can find someone to take them. Everyone I work with has been “gifted” at least one item over last 20 years. Have gotten pretty good at conning them into taking this or that off my hands. And I feel the tiniest bit lighter each time they do so.
At Tiny House Farm we have lots of extra things; trees, bushes, flowers, birds, dirt and rocks. So many rocks. Rots-a-rocks. I am pretty sure the only thing we have more of rocks is our weeds.
For days, we picked and raked and hauled buckets and buckets out of our planned garlic patch.

Most of our rocks are fist sized, or smaller but we did hit on quite a few of their big brothers. Getting the big boys out was a challenge but helped break up the monotony. Have to say it again, before Ron does – this is better than having a gym membership. Got a great workout and had something to show for it.  A pile of rocks.  And good family time.  FYI – Ron loves this trailer.  A great purchase that does just what we need it to and more.

Ron had decided to use our rocks to fill in part of the culvert. That way the 4 wheeler would have an easier time getting across to our mushrooms.   We lost track of the number of trips we made.  One after another with two big bins and three smaller buckets full of rocks.

This is what parts of our path tends looks like after the rain. This makes for a major struggle getting our loaded wagon from one part of the farm to another. So Ron decided to repurpose more of our rocks in an effort to make our lives just a bit easier.

Each additional load fills in a bit more and helps reduce the amount of mud formed after the rain.
Every trip that Ron makes over these rocks with his  4 wheeler helps settle them more firmly into the dirt.  The deer aren’t happy with this project though.  They much prefer the mud to walk in.

Ron’s first road. I am pretty sure that the Roman Empire started this way.

I have discovered one of the pitfall of blogging. Unless something has happened or you have gone somewhere or have a plan in the works, it is simply too easy to not post. Do have the small excuse of the holidays that kept me busy, but they have been over for well over a month now. It is time to get my nose back to the grindstone.

Spring is just a few short months away and there will be lots of projects and work, which will mean lots of blog postings. Until then, I shall regale you with behind the scenes info. As of December 2015 we not only have an actual address,

but are officially DBA as Tiny House Farm Augusta NY. Getting the paperwork signed was an adventure in itself. Jo and I had errands to run in Syracuse that day but we planned to get back to Oneida by 3 pm to meet Ron at the bank to have the papers notarized. Jo and I had a good time shopping and having lunch out, but I totally misjudged how long it was going to take us to get home. Then I listened to the GPS and took the road to the right. The one the school bus was also on and that blasted thing stopped at least 10 times, delaying us just a little bit longer each time. Such a relief when we finally pulled into the bank parking lot and met Ron. The notary process was easy enough. Handed over our driver’s licenses and signed our lives away. And Ron got to tell his story to another person. A few days later Ron took the paperwork down to the county office building to file it and we are official.
Turns out that was the only easy part of getting a small business started. According to all the websites I looked at, Ron was supposed to start this whole process by writing up a business plan. Well, he has never been one to stick to the rules; being a fan of winging it. Now we have to open a business account, get a tax ID, set up social media, and basically figure out how and to whom we are going sell our farm products. Of course we are still working on exactly what we are going to grow. Every day we have another thought about what more we can add to the list of things we should grow. I get nervous when I see Ron looking through another one of his catalogs. After gardening for well over 6 years, he is on just about every gardening and farming mailing list there is. And that does not include the numerous sites he has bookmarked and visits on a regular basis.

I have convinced Ron that we don’t need a full blown irrigation system this year.  Between the 3 of us we can get our newly planted pawpaw trees and elderberry bushes watered, bucket by bucket.  Ron hauling the water with the 4 wheeler and Jo and I manning the buckets should do the job.  Some serious work but with everything else we have to get this this spring, this project can wait.   We only have to baby the plants during the first year.  After that, we will just have to water when we don’t get enough rain.   Have I mentioned that is this is cheaper than a gym membership?

We had the stream water tested, something else that had to be done.  And thank goodness all is well.   That means his plans to use it for irrigation will work out after all.

Always a reminder that there are jerks out there.  Who thinks it is their right to toss garbage onto someone else’s property?   That little yellow square in background on the right?  That is our “posted” sign.  Guess this guy could not read.   Majorly annoyed about it  for a few days, planning to pulled them out and get them to the dump and then Ron’s good karma kicked in.  The county was working on the road and they stopped and picked up the tires for us.  Restored my faith in the world.

To having a real life business. Once again, Ron has been able to put his graphic arts degree from Cazenovia College and expertise to good use in creating our business card. He ordered one batch and was pleased with it, but typical for him, he has ready made a couple of changes. He never stops trying to find that one thing that he can tweak. Those little touches are what makes the difference. And makes it so his.

It is just over two weeks to the official start of winter and we are already planning for spring. That not only means getting all the equipment and tools off THF and stored, but making decisions about what comes next. Pawpaw trees and elderberry bushes are a given to be started in 2016. But it not as easy as just saying we want to grow them. We have to decide how many and what varieties. You have to have several different kinds growing together if you want to actually have fruit. In his search for pawpaws Ron discovered that Winston Salem NC had a festival this year. The things you can find on the internet. We missed it, but are already thinking we will get to the next one. Unfortunately there are no sources for pawpaws here in NY so Ron has reached out to a nursery in Missouri. He ended up calling the company to finalize the deal. He tends to do better that way. Besides he got to share the whole mushroom farm story with them. Something he loves to do. We have 38 pawpaw trees and 50 elderberry bushes on order. Now, do we plant this fall or next spring? Every person we talk to has a different opinion. We are thinking spring. That will give us more time to get the field ready. We still have lots and lots of rocks to dig up, dead trees to get cut down, and brush to clear and burn. Sadly there is still garbage about the place that needs to be picked up too.
So now we have to lay out the planting grid, dig up the rocks, till the ground, dig the holes and come up with a irrigation plan. Ron is trying to do this on the fly. Maybe I should be glad that he doesn’t know what he is doing. If he did, this might be even more complicated and costly. He likes to figure out how to get things done without relying too much on stock solutions. He loves his You Tube videos. On top of all this we still have to get the plans for our next installment of mushroom logs finalized. We are thinking 300 more come spring. This time we will have them delivered right out to THF and do the work out there. That will be much less messy. I am still sweeping up wood chips in the garage. Ron bought himself a Honda generator to run the grinder and heat the pot for the sealing wax. We have a large tent and a couple of pop up canopies. All we need now is a few more volunteers to come out and help and we will have the beginnings of a party. Maybe we will get the grill going, some tunes playing and warm beverages brewing. We are still waiting for chance to raffle off the first use of our official tiny house.

Winter is slowly creeping our way and you would think work would be winding down on THF. Not when Ron is in charge. He has all sorts of projects in mind and plans to pull Jo and me into them. We have continued to be surprised by the Shiitakes popping up.

While we have two small patches of “wild” ramps already going, Ron wants to grow lots more.

For those of you who don’t know what ramps are, they are wild leeks but look like scallions and are used like mild garlic. We picked some in the spring and tried making pesto out of them. It wasn’t bad but we obviously have some more experimenting to do. Once the buds turned to seed, Ron had me sew up some bags out of tulle so he could catch the seeds. I ran up a dozen or so and used embroidery thread as the string to tie them off. He was most pleased with them. Out to THF he went with them and slipped them over all the seed heads he could find. Several weeks later we checked on the bags and found that birds had apparently pulled all the strings out.

Guess they wanted to add some color to their nests.  The one in front on left is the only one with string still remaining.  Ron must have tied that one tighter.

He got his order of ramp seeds in and counted them out into groups of 100.  He fashioned his own little packets for them.  He is such a creative guy.  Though Jo has a totally different sets of words for him.

The three of us headed out the to Tiny House Farm to plant the seeds.  Easy enough task.  Just raked back the fallen leaves, scratched up the ground, scattered seeds and then covered them back up with the leaves.  The red flags are to help us find them next spring.  We hope.
The
While we have blue cohosh growing wild on the far end of our property, Ron decided that we should grow black cohosh too. His plan is to grow and hopefully sell forest products and herbs could be a big part of that.
He built 2 foot square boxes and bought top soil and compost so we could plant seeds and see what happens. With the change in weather;  bringing us lots of rain Ron was no longer able to drive his Transit onto THF. Could not risk getting stuck. I can just picture the tow truck driver’s face as he came to rescue us. Though that would make a great blog post. Now he had to walk in, get the wheeler and trailer and drive them up to the road so we could load everything up. Once again, I am so glad that he talked me into buying that 4 wheeler. (but don’t tell him I said that).
Luckily Jo had the day off so not only was she a huge help hauling things, but she took some pictures of me working on the Farm.    First we raked back the leaves and positioned the beds.  A mixture of soil and compost were put in each one and then we sprinkled one packet of seeds into each of  3 of the beds.  I patted them down into the soil.

Then we covered them up with leaves.  Now all we can do is wait for next spring to see how well they grow.  It will be several years before we have a viable crop.  With every new venture Ron keeps reminding me that we are on a 10 year plan.  It is a good thing I have lots of patience and love for my crazy guy.