Wet, exhausted, dirty. And hungry. And it turns out, bug bit. But more about that later. That is how I ended my Mother’s Day 2018. Ron had big plans this year and the festivities started on Thursday May 10th when Jo, Ron and I headed out to THF after work. Now that winter had finally released its grip on Upstate NY it was time to start our lavender planting process. Last year we laid out two extra panels of the landscape cloth. This in prep for our 2018 planting. First step was melting holes in the landscape cloth. As it was just the three of us, Ron had to come with up a plan for us to use the blow torch. When we did this last year, we were six people strong. Luckily, he is very good at finagling things.
He used his favorite thing; bungie cords to attach a propane tank to the log hauling rack we bought a few years ago. Then he hooked up the blow torch and strapped that down. It was amazing how well this part of the project went. Six rows with 19 holes each and we were done in just under two hours.
Friday we headed back out again after work to drill the holes we needed. Why are we drilling the holes, you ask? Because we have lots of rocks on THF. Check out the picture I posted on our Instragram page.
Jo really loves digging out rocks. She is just like her Uncle John, simply does not want to leave rocks were they are. And this is where the bruising came in. The drill we were using had a 3 inch auger attached and it was a beast to work with. As I was not at all familiar with how strong the thing was; my knees, shins and wrists got a beating. And we also had to deal with the auger deciding not to stay locked in. After it fell out for about the 10th time, we took it as a sign and packed it in for the night.
That turned out to be a mistake. Saturday was a rainy, chilly day. We never did make it out to THF. I made soap in the morning, re-potted 80 of our lavender starts and got a few of the normal life things done while we waited and hoped for better weather. Just after noon, Ron decided that he was calling it. This day was a bust. And then it dawned on me – the next day was Mother’s Day and he was going to do it to me again. The tradition of hard, outside work on the day I should be pampered by him and Jo was once again going to happen. He gets me every year.
Ron and I headed out Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day and we hoped to get everything done in quick order. While we were able to get the lavender planted easily in the newly drilled holes, things got harder once they were done. We now had to re-drill the holes from last year. Now we really wished that that we stuck it out longer on Friday night. The day started to really drag. It was hotter and buggier that I liked. We slogged on determined to get it done. We were working on the last row when, thank goodness Jo arrived just after 2 pm to help out.
Now we had to water the blasted plants. That involved the 4 wheeler, water tank and wagon. Jo and Ron got that set up and filled while I finished planting the last few lavender. It was a nice surprise that I had guessed just right with the number needed.
The watering process was, shall we say interesting. There was no way to regulate the strength of the water flow. It was full blast or nothing. Am not sure our new plants enjoyed getting their first drink of water this way. It was such a relief when we were finally done. Now we just had to put everything away and head home.
It doesn’t look like much right now, but in a month or so we will have a lot more green and lots of blossoms. Ron is looking forward to the invasion of the bumblebees too. They really love the lavender.
I did not forget that I promised some info about my getting bug bit. Turns out I am suddenly allergic to black fly bites. They nailed me at least 3 times even though I had sprayed with bug spray. They got me on each cheek and the neck. Monday morning I woke up to my right ear being red, itchy and swollen. By Tuesday I was so done with the burning itch that I headed to urgent care for help. I am better now, but will take more serious precautions when working on Our 3 Acres. Ron has even ordered us a couple of fishing hats. Again I will be styling while on THF. I cannot wait.
On a sad note, our farmer friend, Dick Crane has died. Ron and he always had a great time talking together and he was fascinated by THF. Every wild thought or idea Ron had, Dick was on board with. He knew everyone in the area so Ron would reach out to him and ask if he knew a guy who could do this or that. Dick was such a great help to us with his big machines, especially when we had to set up our outhouse. He would stop by the farm anytime he had a spare moment just to see what was new. We will really miss him.