Ron just cannot be trusted

Our 3 Acres

To place farm orders by himself.  Two weeks ago he ordered the landscape cloth we needed for our upcoming lavender planting and for next years juneberries.  The plan was to buy all we needed now.  We have to lay the cloth down this year to help kill the weeds.  Buying it all now made sense as we would save on the shipping and have it on site for when we actually needed it.   All very logical.

So he ordered it and soon it all arrived.  Four huge boxes and two massively large rolls.  That caught him by surprise as he was expecting only one.  So he checked order and discovered that he chosen the two roll pack.  Bit of a costly mistake.  But the upside is that we can actually use the stuff.  Just have to find a place it store it until then.

And then there was the lavender order.  He placed this in January to make sure we got what we needed.  He figured it all out and decided that 190 was the magic number.   This based on the width and length of the cloth and best spacing between plants.  Of course he had to order in blocks of 25 so we would end up with10 left over.  We would try to sell them at the CCE Herb & Flower Festival in June.  The goal was to sell our shiitakes, but  the lavender would make sure we fit with the herb part.   They were due to arrive the first week of May, giving us enough time to get organized for planting after May 15.

Then last Thursday we came home to a message on the machine.  Our order was to be shipping soon but would be cut by one third.  Needless to say, Ron did not take that well.  He had already planned to take the day off so he could get some work done on the Transit.   His phone got a serious workout.  When I got home from work he was talking with the president of the company.   The end result was that we would get the majority of the order from the company we placed the order with and the rest would come from a subcontractor in Rochester, NY.   We got a call from the owner, Jeff on Saturday to confirm delivery on Monday.

And when we got home from work on Monday, we had lavender.  One box in the garage and five trays from Jeff.  They smelled fabulous.  Grabbed a quick dinner and then Ron went out to open the box.  And got another, more unwelcome surprise.  We  had 125 bare root lavender plants. Not what he was expecting at all.  He thought we would be getting what he calls plugs.  A quick look at the company website confirmed they only offered bare root plants.  Am not sure what Ron was looking at.

We now had a big problem.  These things had to be planted right now, we could not wait until May 20.  The phone rang and it was Jeff calling from Rochester to make sure we were happy with the plants he delivered.  And he was a great help with advice on how we needed to handle the plants.  Ron was on the phone with him for about 30 minutes and ended the conversation with Jeff agreeing to look into getting the juneberries we need next year.

Now we had to run to the store for potting mix.  Thank goodness we had some large planters in the garage that we could use.   Six bags in the car’s trunk and we were back home trying to decide the best way to get this done.   The plan was to get 25 into each planters, we had gotten really good at using that number to keep track of things.

Ron split open the bags of dirt and dumped it into the planter.  First we tried using our dibble to make holes, but the roots were really too wide to fit in the holes we made.   So I just used my hands to scoop out dirt, shove the plant in and then cover it all up.   It longer than we thought it would, but we got them all planted.  We left them all in the garage for the night.

Wednesday morning we pulled all the planters out on the driveway to get the plants a good drink  of water and some sun.

They don’t look like much right now, but I have high hopes for the future.   The other plants we put in the small green house in backyard.

Before we left for work, we covered them with sheets.  It was only 34 degrees out at 6 am.  Do you see the two big rolls by our birch trees?  That is what we are going to use for our lavender.  I called Jo about 10 am to take the sheets off.  It does come in handy at times to have her working a later shift.

Just before I left work yestserday afternoon, I called Ron to check in.  He informed me that he was confused.  He came home to find 96 more lavender plants in 3 boxes on our front porch.  And he had a voice mail from Jeff explaining it.  In their efforts to cover their bases and make sure we got our full order, the original company contacted two different subcontractors.  And they did not get the second order cancelled in time.  So we now have lots of lavender.  And this last batch was at no charge.

We will now plant lavender at three different stages of growth.  It will be interesting to see how they do and which does the best.   Actually four stages.  I tried my hand a growing from seed and had some success.

Nine of the seeds I planted germinated.  I lost one but now have eight babies that are looking pretty good.  This project will give us the best time line for growing lavender.  I do believe I will try this again.   And Ron has already talked with Jeff about getting more lavender for next year.  But no bare roots.

This might have been a stressful situation, but once again Ron handled it.  And as a result we have bonus plants and have made a solid connection with a grower in our area.  One who just might be able to get the juneberry plants Ron wants.  Things just do have a way of working out when Ron is involved.  I do have to wonder.   We will be using that extra roll of landscape cloth this year for the extra lavender.   Did Ron have a nefarious plot in mind all along or was this just lucky happenstance?  Either way, this is how so many of his plans work out. Not exactly the way they started, but better for us in the long run.  The man does have a knack for coming up roses.  Am I the only one who finds people like that annoying?

But I am still going to check all of his orders before he hits the submit button.  I am the CFO of THF after all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it rains, it does pour

Mushrooms

 

That is not only the Morton salt motto, but the way our weekend went. Jo had the weekend off and we planned to get some work done on the farm. The last 25 mushroom logs need to be inoculated and it will be a relief to have them done.
Once again we stopped at The Corner Diner for breakfast. Then back to the house to load up and off we went. We didn’t have the Transit as it was still in the shop. Needing new tires, some brake work and something about the bearings. All of that was taking longer than expected.
As we arrived at THF, it was chilly and the wind was picking up. We opened up the tent and started to get ready for work. It is obvious that we have some tweaking do to with our set up. The tent is great, but the sliding door doesn’t work as well as we would like it to.  It tends to get in the way when it is bunched up on one side.

Our attempt at using the door to create additional work space clearly can use some improvement.  But in a pinch this set up worked well enough.  Ron got busy with the drilling, Jo handled the inoculation and I was again in charge of waxing.  The logs we were dealing with was soaking wet and the wax was not sticking as well and it was taking longer than usual to process each log.  Ron decided that we should stack them inside the tent.  That would give the log a chance to dry and hopefully, the wax a chance to set up.  Did I mention that it was now pouring rain?

We had about 6 logs done when Don called.  He wanted to know if we were out at the farm.  Ron told him that,  of course we were.    It was just a bit a rain we were dealing with.  Nothing that should interfere with the work that needed to be done.

Timing really is everything, isn’t it?  If this rain had been falling on April 15, it was have been very nasty.  No way we could have gotten the finished logs across the creek with our 4 wheeler.  And with all the people we had on site, it would have been very crowded in the tent and no one would have had much fun.   All of us would have stayed crammed in the tent, trying to keep dry.

Once again, I caught Ron supervising while Jo works.  Do you see how wet the log is?  Not to mention both Ron and Jo.   It rained and then stopped and rained again.  At times so hard that we could not hear ourselves talking over the noise of rain hitting our tent roof.  We kept one ear perked for thunder.  The first flash of lightening, and I was going to be out of there taking Jo with me.  Ron could finish on his own.

Don arrived, dressed for the weather and jumped right into the work flow.  With four of us working, we whipped right through the remaining 25 logs.  And what a relief it was to be working on the last one.  The rain had stopped so we cleaned up and then puttered around waiting for the generator to cool enough to put away.   We wandered around the place looking at the flooded areas, trying to figure out where all the water was coming from.  About an hour later we decided it was time to head home.   This was only one project that we needed to get done over the weekend.   I really hoped the weather would improve.  It is May and really should be a bit warmer.  Rain, wind and temps in the mid 30’s is not what we need.   Especially as we need to get more work done outside.

Ron has plans to get his ginseng re-potted and into the greenhouse.  I need to get some work done on our home garden.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention.  We have garlic growing in our backyard.  Not stuff that we planted either.  When we trimmed and cleaned the garlic last year, we tossed a bunch of the imperfect cloves into the yard behind the woodpile.  Guess they showed us as we will be eating them later this year.   And I have a few volunteer kale plants already doing well out back.

We got very little done.  It was so cold and wet that we didn’t feel inclined to do anything.  A few chores about the house and some paperwork sorting was all I had to show for the two days.  Ron didn’t make it back out to THF either.

 

Our 19 year old Misty cat.  She is a cranky old lady, but she does enjoy reading my blog.  As any cat lover will tell you, she really just likes the heat from the laptop.  But I like my version better.  Murphy has no interest in it.  Though she will keep me company when I am writing.

Ron just reminded me I forgot to tell you that I came home with a tick again.  Jo had just told me about the news stories she read about them being worse this year.  Once Ron removed it for me, Jo proceeded to come up with every tick related comment she could think of.  That I was ticked off was her favorite one.  I just love my girl.

 

 

 

Odds and ends at THF

Thoughts

Mostly odd lately.  We are still finishing up our shiitake logs and Ron has yet to decide if and what kind of other mushrooms he wants us to try growing.  Then we get to working on that project.

While he ponders, we are getting ready for our lavender planting.  Ron ordered just over 200 plugs in January for delivery this month.   No actually planting until after May 15, which is the average date of last possible frost in our area.  But we have a lot to do in order to be ready for it.  Twelve foot wide landscape cloth was ordered in one massive roll.   We have to cut it down into four 60 foot long lengths.  That will be great fun.  Have to pick a calm day and a nice big parking lot for that task.

And we have to mow down the winter wheat that has been growing great guns in our field.  We have been planting cover crops over the past few seasons in order to improve the quality of our soil.   So we now have to get our brush hog of out the storage unit and out to the farm.  Once the mowing is done we can lay down the cloth and wait until planting day.

It does look nice though, doesn’t it?  Seems a bit of a shame to cut it all down.  You can’t see them from this angle, but our pink pussy willows are finally showing signs of life.  Lot of green leaves on all of them.  We were getting a bit worried that they did not handle the transplanting well.  And our elderberries and pawpaws are doing nicely too.

Another bit of good news is that we finally have signs of life from our ginseng too.

We took the protective screens off and brushed away the leaves.  Less than two days later and the squirrels had already been digging in the boxes.  Ron was not pleased.  Anyone have a good recipe for squirrel stew?

We found a good deal on this small greenhouse a couple of years ago.  Set in up the our backyard and used it one year and then it sat in our garage for the next two.  Now Ron thinks he can use it out on THF.  The critters out there do seem to like what we are trying to grow.    As we are planning to try and sell some of these plants, it would be nice have them survive and get big enough to sell.  The zippered front is broken so we have to come up with a back up plan and we had to tape the whole thing together along the bottom.   It should provide some protection.

One ongoing project is collecting all the garbage the previous owner left behind.  We pulled at least 60 cement blocks out of the weeds.  Ron plans to use them to hold down the landscape cloth before, during and after our planting events.   On Wednesday we had an hour to space and decided to tackle the hill below our tiny house.  We pulled rusty cans and broken bottles out by the dozen.  There was an old rusted out TV, metal strapping, barbed wire, pipes, and a couple of large metal pieces that we could not identify.  The junk we constantly unearth is a gift that just keeps on giving.   One we could easily do without.   This project is just not a fun one.  Not like drilling holes in logs, picking rocks, hauling water, or planting stuff.  Am thinking not too many people would sign up for a trash picking party.  Not sure what we could offer as lunch in order to get folks to come out.  Hot dogs and burgers might not cut it.

But we are looking for volunteers to come help us plant our lavender.  We have hit a speed bump with the plan.  The company we ordered from months ago just informed us that they are downsizing our order.  By one third.  Needless to say, Ron is not pleased with them.  He is looking for to another source to make up the difference.  Whatever the result, we are expecting to get planting on May 20th.  Check out our FB page, Tiny House Farm Augusta NY for full details.

 

 

The first real signs of spring are here

Garlic

And we are happy out at Tiny House Farm.

Shoots of garlic popping their heads out of the straw mulch.  The wire was put down to hold the straw in places.  It does get windy out on THF, the flat field doesn’t offer any protection to our plants.  Things will be different once our elderberry bushes and pawpaw trees have some height.   We planted 3 types of garlic last fall, it will be interesting to see which variety grows the best.  Ron has already asked me about possible expansion this year.  How am I supposed to answer that question?  We don’t yet know just how much garlic we will have this year and what we will be able to do with it. This is the first year we are going to try selling it.  We had no trouble giving it away last year, but getting people to actually give us cash for it but be a totally different ballgame.

I have been reading about batch roasting peeled garlic cloves that you then freeze.  As we are growing hard neck garlic, it is not so easy to slice off the top of each head of garlic for roasting.  For the past few years, I have been roasted cloves that I peel.  That is a lot of work.  I have tried the two metal bowls trick which does work.  But it also tends to beat up the cloves.  Not sure yet if that will have an impact on my then roasted babies.

Another sign of spring is repairs about the place.

After using our air compressor to fill the tire a couple of times, it became clear that we really needed to replace it.  This was the same tire we dealt with last year.  The repair was just not holding any longer.  Getting the tire off was a job in and of itself.  No tire jack on THF.  Wonder if they have one for none vehicle use?  An invention?  Something to think about.

I carried the tire out to the Transit and Ron headed back the shop to get the fix.  A couple of days later and we got the tire back on and all was well again.  We cannot do much of anything without our wonderful wagon.

A week later and the growth difference is amazing.  It is such fun to watch what you have planted grow and change right in front of your eyes.  It is a special kind of magic, one that all fellow gardeners know and appreciate.  You plant a seed, make sure it gets water and sun and then wait to see what happens.  Don’t always get 100 percent germination, but that is just part of the experience.  And the agony for all those who accept this challenge.

Ron and I went out after work  on Tuesday, the 17th  to pull the wire screen off the garlic and give it a good dose of blood meal.  Simple, right?  Not so much.  We underestimated how many bags we would need.  I said we should head to the store for more now and get it done as the rain was coming.  Something that was essential in order to have the best results.  Also decided to stop at Lowe’s and see about replacement set screw for the adapters we use for drilling holes in the logs.  We expected to be there 15 minutes at the most.  45 minutes later two guys were still trying to help us find the right screw size.  Didn’t help that Ron didn’t have his glasses with him.  That made him pretty much blind as a bat and useless in our search for the right screw.   I kept trying to have him look at the screw hole so he could see what I saw.   There was a dark lining at the bottom of the hole that seemed to be causing the issue.  We finally gave up with Ron saying he would contact the company to get some replacements.

Back to the farm to finish up with the blood meal and some low dose organic fertilizer.  And then home getting there after 7 pm.  No such thing as a quick job for us.  Just about every task is more complicated and takes more time than expected.

Lovely pouring rain the next day, just what we needed to help the spring nutrients soak down into the ground.

On Wednesday we got the new adapters in.  Ron had gone with hardened steel this time hoping to get longer use out of them.  The order had been shipped from Field and Forest Products before he contacted them for help with the set screws.  Those they would stick in an envelope and send along.  Now we just needed to get the drill bit out of the old adapter to see if the new bit would fit.  I held the bit with a pair of pliers while Ron had the base in a vise grip.  Took a surprising amount of effort, but we got it out.  And discovered that the thing was torqued inside.  And I discovered why we were having such trouble finding a replacement set screw.  The one we thought was missing was actually there, deep inside.  It was that dark thing I thought was a liner.  Ron had assumed that the adapter that still had the set screw was the one Jesse had taken home with him to work on.

We do have such fun.  A very good thing we can laugh at ourselves.

Just look at what a good meal, soaking rain and a few days can do for your garlic.  I even saw new shoots coming up in previously empty spots.  Things are looking good for  2017.

 

 

THF version of Earth Day

Mushrooms

Jo has the weekend off,  we have more logs to drill and the weather is cooperating.  What more can we ask for?  Well, breakfast at our favorite diner of course.  Jo had no complaints being woken up at 6:30 am and headed out to The Corner Diner Too.  I still haven’t been there for lunch, but I again highly recommend the breakfast.  The owner, John can identify his regulars by the orders that come across his grill.

By 8:30 we were fully fueled up, loaded up and heading out to THF.  The plan was to get done what we could.  Two vehicles again so Jo and I could leave Ron behind once we were done.  We brought the left over hot dogs and the usual candies for Ron to snack on.  He does like his sweets when he is working.

This Saturday, our setup was so easy.  Open up the tent, pull the grinder table outside and get the generator going again.   Jesse arrived which was a delightful sight.  Ron told me that he mentioned this weekend to both Don and Jesse, but we are the only 3 who are quite so committed to this project.   Well actually, only Ron who is wholly committed to this project.  Jo and I are being dragged along willy-nilly.

It was chillier out at THF than we expected it to be.  I need to stash a couple of watch caps in our going out to farm bags.   It was warmer in tent which helped.  Jesse and Ron got started with the drilling, Jo likes doing the inoculation and I was wax girl today.  We found our rhythm quickly and the logs started stacking up outside.

This is what the newly drilled holes look like.

And these are the holes after they have been filled with mushroom spawn and covered with wax.   Lots and lots of holes.  In fact the only thing we have more of on the farm is our rocks.

Ron gave Don a call to see if he was going to come out.  Don thought Ron had only planned a puttering day, didn’t know we were actually going to be doing serious work.

A bit later he came walking down the path.  With his full winter jacket on.  He was ready for the cooler temps.  With Don’s added help with we busted through 68 logs in short order.  The boys decided to haul the logs across the stream and I got the hotdogs going on the grill.  By the time they were done, the dogs were ready and I discovered that I had forgotten the rolls.  I even walked back to car to see if I had left them there.  No luck.  So we ate them with our fingers, Don with a stick.  It was fun and brought back memories of our childhood.  When that was the norm.

Once we finished our lunch Jo and I were ready to head home.  Final clean up and we headed out.  Ron was very pleased with the amount of work we got done.   We surprise him all the time.  He, Jesse and Don stuck around for a couple of hours, talking over future plans.   Ron will run them by me someday and I will do my best to reign him in.  We have a great partnership that way.

Ron and I have been married for 30 years and even though we  both have been “nature people” neither one of us saw THF in our future.   While we are not totally “green” out there, after all we do need the generator and 4 wheeler to get the work done.  But we are growing with organic methods and the plants we are putting out there are native to our area, so Happy Earth Day Everyone.

 

It sure pays to have good friends.

Mushrooms

Who are willing to come out to THF and work hard for us.

Just too tired to think or type last night, even though I was home about 3:30 pm.   It had been a long day.  Thank goodness we had some left over burgers and hotdogs.  Already grilled too.  Made for an easy dinner once Ron finally got home about 6 pm.  He stayed out there talking with the boys.   He had headed out at THF before 7 am, getting the fire barrel started and finalizing our setup.  I had a couple of last minute things to get done or pick up so I got there about 8.  Jo followed with the coffee.   I had to send her frantic text to make last stop at home. I forgot to bring my homemade cookies.   Got to have my cookies.

John, Don and Jesse arrived next and the day got started.  My friend Josi was there next.  We were also expecting her daughter Sophi, but she was not feeling well.  This would be the first time Josi would have the chance the see the whole operation.  Her last two visits had been to deliver the logs with no time for exploring.  Big changes since she was there last.

Ron was expecting visitors from Oswego NY.  He had met Jerry and Mary  Ann Hartman at a shiitake workshop a few months ago.  They are thinking about doing their own logs and Ron talked them into coming to Augusta to get some hands on experience.  Two birds with one stone.  He gets to share his story and get some work out of his captive audience.

Jesse was already up and running with the drilling and was happy to show Mary  Ann and Jerry the routine.  We had to make some changes to the setup because Ron cut down his support tree.  It was in the way of our new tent.  Ron was keeping himself doing busy work, anything to keep him out of the real stuff.  Getting this or that, suggesting what someone else could be doing and just chatting.  You know, the kind of stuff a supervisor might do.

With the additional workstations Ron built, we now could have double the work going on.   Josi and Jo set to work with the inoculation and Don and I did the waxing.   Then the logs were loaded into the wagon to be hauled across the stream.  Big improvement over last year when we left all the logs stacked up and waiting until later when Ron, Jo and I did the moving.   The extra help we had this year made this step part of the process.  Huge relief.

 

Ron’s friend Shelly was back again this year.  She had been here last to help with the pawpaw and elderberry planting.  Doing the mushroom logs would be much easier work.  No digging in our rock filled dirt with this project.  Just a lot of bending and lifting.

My friend, Lynne was also back this year.  It is always a good thing to have experienced workers back on site.  She brought her sister, Lori Jo with her and they took over the waxing process.  We really have to come up with a better plan for having melted wax ready to go.  We used the double boiler again, but had to watch it carefully.  A couple of time we let all the water boil away and that caused a delay.  I stacked two of those foil baking pans together and put them onto the grill with wax chunks in it to melt. A good plan that worked well, until it was time to move the wax.   Then it was precarious.  Having heard the tales of the tripping hazards out of THF, you can picture me moving very slowly with my wobbly pan of hot wax.

We had two more newbies this year.  Another friend from work , Jessica and her daughter Zoey.    Once they escaped from Ron’s introductory talk, they jumped right into the work flow.  We had lost Jo by this time.  She had to head off to her “real job”, but the logs continued to move out of our tent and across the stream.

No one wanted to work the grill so Ron had to assume that job.  We all took a break for lunch and a good stretch.  Discovered that Miss Zoey does like her sweets. A girl after my own heart.  We have learned that as long as you provide lots of good food and some serious yummies, you can con almost anyone into working for you.  Good conversation and laughter, especially at Ron’s expense kept the day full of fun.

One disaster for the day.  Both of our grinders lost their set screws.  I borrowed a magnet first from Jerry and then from Jesse and somehow managed to find one buried in the wood chips and sawdust piled up on the workstation.   Decision was made to just keep going and see how it went.  Took awhile but the grinder that was still missing the set screw finally had it.  Jesse and Ron tried to get the sheared off drill bit out, but no luck.  The drilling went on with just the one.

By 2 pm we were just about done with the logs and could see the promised rain in the distance.  It was a great relief when the last log was drilled, inoculated, waxed and loaded into the wagon.  And just in time as the rain started to come down heavier.

The last thing we had to do with pack up the food to take home and store all the supplies in the tent.  One last laugh as Josi found the bottle of back and body pain pills I had on site.   Last goodbyes and everyone headed home.

With Jesse’s help I loaded all the food into my car and the Transit.  Then I went home.  There I put away the food and sat down on the couch.   I was still feeling the effects of my fall last week and my right shoulder was aching big time.  Blast Ron.  I couldn’t have my glass of wine until he was safely home.  I always have to be ready to zip back to THF and rescue him.  Sometimes he can be downright dangerous.