A Beginning of a New Season

In light of last season's struggles we are optimistically cautious about this season. Steve was away fro most of our growing and harvesting season. I made an executive decision to do the best I could with the time I had. We had a fairly decent drop despite the weather and time constraints. The ability to to transfer that harvest into selling was what we had to sacrifice. I did a lot of canning and even sold a few bottles. In the end I was happy with what we accomplished, but this year we hope to go further.
We have started to expand into our back field and our ground cherry production should be in full swing. They have becoming more popular. My ground cherry jam has received some rave reviews and I hope to sell more than a couple of bottles this year.
Please keep posted for what I am planting and how things are progressing. With the addition of our road side stand this year we hope to see everyone this summer.

Strawberries, Raccoon and Scarecrows

We were hoping to have enough strawberries this year to sell, but even though we had a very good crop, the bed wasn't big enough and the raccoon that seemed to think we were his personal takeout service dashed those dreams. We did manage a couple of good feeds and they were sooooo good.

We have harvested some peas and herbs. Enough to make an amazing tabbouleh salad. We used garlic, mint and parsley from the garden. We are also drying Chamomile, lavender, oregano, lemon balm and catnip. All can be used for teas, but after smelling the cat nip I think I will save that for the cats. So in the next month we hope to be selling teas, tomatoes, herbs, salsa, stewed tomatoes and jams. I will keep you updated.

Fisher Spider

This little Lady is living in our shed. We thought she was a boy, but we saw her carrying an egg sac. She may be the biggest spider I have seen around here.

Perennials Galore

We were so lucky that the previous owners loved flowers. In the city I had a small flower garden, but this plethora of flora is insane. I have been neglecting them, because of the vegetable garden, but I think the next time I have a few hours free to myself I will work with some flowers. It may take me into the winter but I vow to get it done this year.

Strawberry Patch Etc

My strawberry patch is doing amazing. We won't have enough to sell this year, but I can't wait to eat them. The strawberries have been one of the easiest and most prolific things we have planted so far. Speaking of prolific, our rhubarb patch seems to be on steroids this year. We picked the patch about a week ago and it is huge again. If everything grew like rhubarb we wouldn't have a food crisis. The other two pictures are my chives and oregano. They along with the rhubarb were a nice surprise last year when they came up in the garden. The previous owner had not mentioned them, but we were very pleased they had planted them. It brings a smile to my face just to see the first signs of an impending harvest. 

A String of Sun..... I hope

We have experienced a string of rain as everyone knows. This has made only the slugs happy. Now I am hoping we are going to have a string of sun and warm weather. I am headed out to plant some more green peppers, ground cherries and green beans. The rain we have had has washed my green bean seeds out of the ground and they are growing all over the place. If it does get sunny I will take out my camera as I haven't put up any pictures lately.
Heres to the sun. Come for a visit, stay for a coffee, I have missed you.

Rain GRRRRRR!

The rain is getting to everyone. Last year we were late planting because we had to literally start from scratch, but this year it has been hard to find more than one day in a row to get planting. The good news is I have been able to gradually build up my leg and arm muscles so I can still walk and feed myself at the end of the day. When you garden for 8 hours muscles you didn't even know were there will hurt.
My husband comes home this weekend and I am so excited to get some help.
Even with the rain and pain and no ball and chain I have planted quite a few rows and have had things come up and if they don't float away then it should be a bountiful harvest.
We have planted so far    spinach (sprouting)
                                       arugula  (sprouted)
                                       beets
                                       carrots
                                       beans (yellow and green)
                                       anise
                                       chamomile
                                       parsley
                                       roma tomatoes (started inside)
                                       ground cherries (started inside)
                                       peas ( about 2 inches up so far)

Sounds like a lot but there isn't even a dent in what needs to be done. If  the sun ever comes out I will take a picture of my progress.