Most dads spend Father’s Day with their kids having fun. Maybe fishing or golfing, taking a long drive, going to a ball game, having a cook out, or just relaxing at home. Not Jo’s Dad. His ideal Father’s Day started at 5 am when he woke me and Jo up. Giving us 30 minutes to have coffee or tea, splash water on our faces and collect whatever we needed for a few hours work on the farm. We needed to get out there while we could take advantage of the cool morning.
First up was watering the pawpaws and elderberries.

We haven’t have much rain this month, so we are watering every other day. Have it down to a pretty good system but it still takes time. Was not happy to see that some critter has been eating leaves off my elderberry plants. One of them is looking pretty sad right now. Nothing we can do about it. Personally I will be happy when our little babies have grown up and take care better care of themselves.  Maybe karate lessons? To chase away the deer.
Next fun event was rocking picking. Ron wanted us to walk down the field and yank out the rocks that were sitting on the surface. Sitting as in buried deep with just the tip showing.  Like icebergs. It took us at least 90 minutes to get the first trailer load.

Now we headed across the stream with the rocks. Ron’s plan is to use them to fill in and stabilize his route to and from the mushroom area. He goes down across the small stream and then up again. Every time he drives the 4 wheeler over there, it gets more muddy and the ruts get deeper. Luckily we have “rots of rocks” to use in filling it in.

First load done. Again we really could have used a budding shot putter. And better aim. Lost count of the number of rocks that refused to land on the spot I tossed them toward.
Water and rest break and then back to the field. Ron is waiting for Dick to find the time in his schedule to come out and run his tractor over the field. That will make our job so much easier. Until then, we will continue to plug along.

Second load done. Ron keeps insisting that the main goal of these rocks is to fill in ruts and make it safer for him. Am not buying it. We have at least 4 large piles of lovely rocks sitting on the farm. Ones that someone else sweated over getting out of the ground. Perfectly good rocks that would do the job and be a whole lot less work for us. But, no we cannot use those. They were left there by ancient residents and must remain where they are.

Third and last run, thank goodness. The sun is up higher now and we have lost our shaded work area. Ron gave Jo and me the green light to escape. Didn’t need to say that twice. Collected and put away all the tools and ran for the car.
Happy Father’s Day, Ron.

Such a lovely day today. Wonderful sunshine and a nice breeze. Ron’s mother, Anna May planned on attending the Rome NY annual Memorial Day Observance at Veteran’s Memorial Park. She goes every year without fail. Her grandson, Jesse stopped by to give her a ride but she had already headed out on foot. At age 95, the woman walks as much as she can. What Anna May didn’t know is that was another plan was in the works. Don and Jesse met up with her at the ceremony and insisted on giving her a ride home. By way of Tiny House Farm.
Ron had gone out there early this morning to get a few things done. I was at home getting our picnic food ready. We had planned to get out there together so we could water the trees again, but yesterday we had a torrential rain storm. Everything got a good soaking so we have the next couple of days off. By 10:30 I headed out with coolers packed with food and ice. Ron came with the 4 wheeler and trailer to collect me and we got started cooking the burgers. There was no firm time for Don, Anna May and Jesse to arrive, but lunch was set to be first up.
We talked and talked, with Anna May telling her favorite stories about her father deciding out of nowhere to buy a farm in Rome NY. He moved the whole clan, 9 kids in all, out of the city with no idea of how to actually be a farmer.

It was primarily a dairy farm with a garden for their own food. Nick kept his job at Spargo Wire, walking there every afternoon for his shift. It was not long before the boys were old enough to tell Dad that they were going to get jobs in the local factories. They wanted to have money of their own. Hard to have any fun without money, even back in the 1940’s. Without his sons to help with the work, Nick was not able to keep the farm going. He sold the farm and moved the family back into town.
Now we had to decide just how we were going to get Anna May across the stream so she could see the mushrooms. Even though I had a pair of boots for her to wear, no way were we going to try having her walk across. The creek bed is very rocky and would make for some seriously unsteady walking. Ron’s plan was to take the front rail off the trailer and have her sit there while he drove the 4 wheeler.

No hesitation at all, she got herself up on trailer and with faith in her boys, off they went.

I don’t know that she had ever seen mushrooms growing like this. Ron describes it as an explosion. He soaked the logs last week and then we covered them with the plastic sheet. Good thing too, as the rain yesterday would have pretty much ruined them.

Ron was so happy to have his mom out on the farm to show her what he is doing.   I don’t think she fully understands it all; this looks nothing like her father’s farm, but she thought it is a pretty place and really enjoyed the day.  Jesse tried hard, but she had no interest in spending the night though.  Too worried about bugs and possible snakes.  She’s no longer a “country girl”.

Today there were no major projects in the works. Ron wanted to use some of our abundant rocks to fill in the massively muddy ruts he had been dealing with while using the 4 wheeler to move our mushrooms bolts to their shady resting spot. Every time he drives up the bank the wheels dig in a bit deeper. He had been out there by himself last week and had gotten royally stuck in the mucky mud. He managed to get himself and the 4 wheeler free but came home covered in mud.
We were going to try and make it safer for us to move back and forth across our second creek bed. We would pick up any rocks we found on the surface in our 3 acre field. Not only would that fill in the ruts, but would get just a few more rocks out of our way when tree and bush planting started. Seeing as how our field is still chock full of rocks, it took no time at all for our wagon to be filled.

We had a great time tossing rocks into the mud and watching them sink. More than a few times we hit the water and got seriously splashed. We really could have used a budding shot putter who was anxious to practice his technique. Obviously it was going to take more a couple of loads.

Back to the field for more rocks. We really should have dug these rocks out before the rye grass got so high. It has shot up since last weekend along with the dandelions. Won’t complain though, the rye has really helped cut down on the rest of the weeds. I figure five, ten years from now and we will really have a handle on both the rocks and weeds.
Two loads of rocks and we are starting to see a difference. By this time it is after noon and getting cloudy. Made it cooler which actually made it an easier work day. Even better, the bugs have not yet made their full appearance.

After the third load, we decided this was enough for the day. A much needed break for quick lunch of hot dogs cooked on the grill. Then we took a run out to check on the red wine cap mushrooms and the rest of plants we had out on other end of THF. No mushrooms yet, and while a few tiny plants popping up, but we aren’t sure if they are from the seeds we plants or just weeds. Time will tell.
Then we moved the last of our plastic pallets across to the mushroom bolt area and set up one more frame to lay the bolts onto.
Done for the day and we headed home. When we got there, Ron decided he had just enough energy left to help me weed wack the winter rye growing in our raised beds. I planted it last fall in the hope that it would improve our soil and cut down on the weeds. Let it go just a bit too long though and it is now about 2 feet high. Then he decided to mow the lawn. Jo had done it just over a week ago but it was already looking shaggy with way too many dandelions. I took over from him and he got busy with the weed wacker to take care of the edges. It is such a good feeling to have things done. And best of all, since we got all this done today, Ron can’t pull his usual routine and get me involved in seriously hard yard work on Mother’s Day.

Happenings in your daily life take on new meaning when you are trying to get a business up and running.
When you place an online order in your normal life and you get an email saying the order is delayed, you might say a few choice words under your breath, but you patiently wait. Unless you waited until the last-minute for that needed gift,
But if you have ordered something that not only is for your business but, as in our case, needs to be planted, it creates a whole other stress level.
Wailing and gnashing of teeth becomes the norm. Veiled and not so veiled threats are hurled back at the unfeeling company who is taking food out of your babies’ mouths, screwing up your hard-fought for Zen, and generally ruining your life.
The mad scramble begins to find a company who can fill your order in the time frame you and Mother Nature have established. You thump through your stack of catalogs and search online for another company who sells the product you need. Of course it is not that easy as you are now dealing with a totally new kind of stress. You not only have to compare the product itself, but the package size, shipping costs and time, taxes, and the quality. It is never as simple as the final price. But you are close to desperate as Mother Nature waits for no back order, so you cross your fingers and hit the submit order button. A sigh of relief escapes you when the confirmation email is received back. One crisis averted.
I work for a large financial institution who has, as part of their code of conduct, a requirement that all employees notify the HR department if they get a second job, decide to run for office or own their own business. Now that we are official, it was time to fill out the forms. They gave me a good laugh. Asking me if my business would be publicly traded. Then they asked me what my responsibilities would be. I put down that I would be 1/3 of the manual labor and keeper of the books. I could have told them that I was the official worrier, harness-er of “wild ideas”, questioner of expenditures, squelch-er of one thing too much, reassure-er in chief, general support staff and non “girly girl”.
Or I could have attached a few pictures.

Ron owes my Mom and Dad. And my sisters, Mary and Patty. We were never afraid of the hard work or getting dirty.

I just need to have him to stop having a more ideas. Hair is already grey, don’t need to have it start falling out.

No photos for this post, but Jo really wishes she had been able to get her camera out to catch me on video. Ron, Jo and I went out to THF yesterday to pull the equipment out and get it into our shed for the winter. We put it off as long as we could for the day. Cold and windy Saturday is not Ron’s idea of a perfect working day. By 11 am he decided we just had to get it done. Our goal was to get the tiller and brush hog off the farm and into our shed. Ron got them started to burn off the gas and asked me to run the tiller up to the road so we could get it on the trailer. Ron put the thing in it’s fastest gear and handed it over to me. The tiller, being heavier and stronger than it looked, took off and did its best to leave me behind. Picture me running in heavy rubber boots trying desperately to hang on. Thank goodness it stopped when I let go of the clutch. Once we all stopped laughing, Ron got it started again, lowered the speed and I headed out again. We had already tossed 10 bags of top soil into the wagon and Ron took them across the creek with the 4 wheeler. Jo and I got the tiller up to the road and then walked back to meet up with him. He had remembered that we needed to cover the Red Wine Cap Mushrooms with more woodchips and sent Jo back to get a rake. I got my weight training in by dragging the bags to the beds, lifting them up and dumping them in. Had the wrong gloves on as the bags were wet and very slippery. I struggled to get and keep a solid grip on them.
We finished up and headed back, stopping to check on the Shiitakes. And we have more. Will pick them today so we can bring them in to friends on Monday. Got the machines loaded on to the trailer. A task in and of itself. Those things are heavy; strapped them down and drove home. Unloaded, Ron got them started up again and we went in to grab a quick lunch. Back to THF to pick up the 4 wheeler and chop down one brush. Ron has a long list of things that he needs or wants to get done before spring comes around again. Such a feeling of satisfaction to be able to cross a few of them off.

Ron is a strong believer in Karma. Not that he wanders through life as Mister Happy Go Lucky, Pie in the Sky kinda guy. He believes in the causality characteristic, which is that like deeds lead to like effects. So good karma produces good effect on the actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. In other words – you do good, you get good.
I told you the story of getting the straw bales so we could get our garlic planted. What I didn’t tell you is that Ron pulled his Troy-Bilt chipper/vac out of the garage to get it ready. He runs the straw through it before we use it to cover the garlic. And it wouldn’t start, wouldn’t even pull. So he loaded it up on the trailer and drove it over to his repair guy. We would just have to go with the straw as is and went on with our day.
Have I mentioned that Ron is an internet junkie? The man could spend all day reading and researching any subject under the sun. He stays signed into Facebook and checks in on numerous pages. Which lead to our latest good thing. On People and Places of Rome NY he spotted a post from a lady offering the same brand chipper to anyone who would come and get it. The thing ran but one of the blades was broken. He posted a note saying if it was still unclaimed, he would be more than happy to take it off their hands. Sheila replied with her phone number. He called and we headed out to Rome to pick it up. Ron was giddy. Not only did we have the trailer at the house with us, but it was still hooked up to the Transit. It was so meant to be.
A 25 minute drive and we pulled into their driveway. Handshakes all around and we headed to the backyard to see the machine. Turns out the owners no longer needed the machine as all the trees they used to have around the house had already come down. Now it was just taking up space in the garage. Which reminded me, just where are we going to store this thing?
As I loaded some of the smaller parts on the trailer I was surprised to see Ron’s cousin Chuck heading toward me. He lives across the street. A nice bonus to our day. We got the thing loaded onto the trailer and strapped down for a safe trip home. A few more minutes of conversation, a last thank you and we headed out. This was all on Sunday, Oct. 11.
The next day he took it over to his repair guy so see what could be done. Dave was shocked that Ron had gotten this for free. But he is used to my husband showing up with another “toy” that he got a “deal” on. Our chipper’s engine was shot so they decided they would get the new one up and running for us and keep the other for parts. Cuz Great, now we have to find a way to store both of them. Anybody want to come over and help us organize our garage?