Tiny House Farm, along with the rest of the world, is still coming to terms with our new reality. Hardest part is, that none of us know what that reality will end up being. It is going to take a lot more time before things shake themselves out.

Nature being what it is, Ron started our normal shiitake process in June. Shifting around the logs and getting them soaking again. Some of our restaurant customers had reopened for either take out or outdoor dining only. This was fabulous news for all of us. Pandemic or no; folks still have to eat, and our Amish farming partner, Rudy had moved forward with planting all the specialty veggies. Ron had ordering bronze and Artesian mix tomatoes, and Blue Viking potatoes, along with Haricot Vert and dragon tongue beans. Chioggia and Avalanche beets and cowpeas were also grown.

On June 11 we had our first orders for shiitakes and Ron did his happy dance. Things were looking up and we started with our micro greens again. Dusted off the trays, soaked the growing pads, opened up the bags of seeds and got growing again. These were familiar things to us and life might be getting a bit back to normal.

We still had our regular life to deal with. I was working from home while Jo was still pulling her nightshift at Walmart. Turns out it was a very good thing that Ron retired last year. He is not a fan of working from home. Which some might find strange as he does a HUGE amount of farm work on his laptop at home. But all of us know, it is just not the same thing. What Ron is doing he considers fun not work.

I was able to use my creative side by sewing masks for all three of us. And this project was an adventure itself. I researched DIY masks for days online and made four different types before I settled on the one I thought best. The elastic was another issue. I had to use what I had in my stash first. And while it was elastic and did the job, I did not like it. It hurt my ears. The thinner stuff I was looking for was sold out everywhere. Once stores opened up again, Ron and I headed out to find material. I had used my fabric stash for our first masks. What a good and useful thing it can be, saving a bin (or two) of material for future use. You never know when it will come in handy.

I decided to jazz them up a bit with mushroom patches. And let me tell you, that was a pain. I ordered a couple and waited for them to come in. Of course Ron spotted my order and had to get in on the action. He ordered 5 different ones without thinking about their size in relationship to the actual mask. And getting them on, that was the worst part. Of course the “iron on” part did not work. So I tried a different iron on work around. Finally had to sew it. And that was not fun. But it does look great and Ron really likes it.

And then suddenly it was September and our Juneberry plants would soon be here. Last fall Ron laid our the landscape cloth in lovely neat rows. Now we just have to drill holes in the ground, 4 feet apart for each new plant. We have done this before; for our lavender, paw paws, elderberries and pussy willows. Ron has added a new twist. He could not bear the thought of seeing the remnants of orange marking paint on the black landscape cloth. So a template was needed. He bought himself a 12 foot board, which turned out to be not quite long enough for his plan to cut four holes in it, each 4 feet apart. There needed to be an actual hole so he could direct the flame through it and onto the cloth. /.So it was time for some brainstorming. And this is where I come in to play. I look at things in the most basic way; so what if we add a foot to beginning of board. These kind of ideas from me tend to make Ron freak out with their straight simplicity. Which can charge up his brain and make him see a workable solution. So he took another board and cut it in half and added to each end of the board. Only needed one trip to Lowes to get drywall screws and a hand held blow torch. He needed a more efficient way to keep the flamer thrower lit. Especially as it was a bit windy outside. We have a clicker for the flame thrower but it is not the easiest thing to use.

He did a better job than he planned on the template. In order to make sure the added pieces stayed attached he ended up making a trough that kept the flame off the landscape cloth. Because of this most of the holes were just the right size this time. The three of us made pretty quick work of it. Jo pulled the template down each row, while I manhandled the propane tank and Ron worked the flame thrower. All in all, it was one of the easiest projects we worked on. Building the template was the hardest part and Ron did most of that.

We just needed to drill the holes in the rocks, I mean ground and wait for the plants to come in. Ron ordered them from a company in Alberta Canada. It was just too expensive to get them from a US supplier. We did take a major hit with the shipping. I nearly choked when I saw the charges for that. But the cost for 240 plants, even with the shipping was less than half of what we would have paid at a more local nursery. On Sept 16, our plants were delivered. Unfortunately, things did not go well. I heard the familiar beeping of a UPS truck and alerted Ron to keep an eye on them. I am so thankful that he was home for this.

Yeah. First off the plants had just been put into the bottom of a large box and then sealed. Without any filler material to keep them stable safe. And even though FRAGILE and THIS END UP was all over the boxes, you can see just how carefully they had been handled.

Ron simply refused the delivery. Then he sent an email to his friend in Alberta with photos, telling him this was unacceptable. Long and short of it, a second batch of plants would be sent but this time on a pallet, and Ron would pick them up in Syracuse.

So there was another week to wait which gave us time to get the needed holes drilled. Ron handled this himself and I don’t have any photos of that. Jo and I were busy working on one of my projects and there will be more about that later. Any way, if you want to see how much fun it is to drill holes at Tiny House Farm, you can take a look at my previous posts about planting the lavender.

The new ones look much nicer, don’t they? We loaded them up in the wagon along with a few bags of dirt and headed out to get these suckers planted. You know what? It turns out that taking things in stages really is the best way. Got the landscape cloth laid out last year so it killed off what was growing underneath it, then the holes burned into cloth and finally the holes drilled. Even the actual planting was easier. The three of us have a lot of practice at this, so we whipped right through it.

So here we are. 240 juneberry plants in the ground. The varieties Ron chose are Smoky, Honeywood and Thiessen. Next shipment with be another variety. And now that we have planted these berries, we will have to take serious steps to protect them from the birds. Lots of netting I am thinking.

Boy, Ron does really need to get the brush hog out, doesn’t he? How does he expect the juneberries to thrive when the weeds are taller and will be trash talking all time?