Fun Work Day

     I must admit that every day we are out at The Farm is fun. The "work" is something we love. One of the best perks is hanging out with family and sometimes good friends who also like this type of  "work".  Dad would have loved to sit with us, he would have been grinning a lot.

     This blog is about a friends and family work day and the great food that Anna and Lisa are coming up with as they try out possible recipes for our CSA harvest box flyers. Each week Lisa comes up with a flyer for the box with recipes and suggested uses for what is in the box that week. We usually are the chefs' guinea pigs (lucky us, my sister and niece can COOK).

My niece Angie shows off her own measuring tape! My sister Lisa, in blue, and a dear friend, Jane in white, transplant petunias into 4 inch pots.

Jane digs in. And yes, she wore white to work in.

Showing off AGAIN! Yes, we use power tools, too. Notice my husband's chop saw in the background. 

So proud of that measuring tape!  Didn't I say we have fun? :)

Another friend, Laurie, who used to teach American Sign Language at Sprague with me, uses her very own nail gun to help build peony cages. The peony blossoms get heavy with rain and end up on the ground and in the dirt. This way, they will stay clean for the weekly bouquets. We hope.

Yes, that's her power tool for the day! She is a wood worker and has a plethora of power tools. We thought it was neat that the little kiddos saw all of us working with power tools and building things. And of course it was fun. They spent much of their time on the swing set right behind Laurie under Mom's curly willow tree.

Lisa and Anna's creation. Oh, my, gosh. So delicious. Asparagus, bacon, onion, garlic, cheese, eggs, Lisa's "from scratch" crust, which is always very tender and delicate.  YUM.

The second quiche was made with Swiss Cheese and asparagus. so delicate and very flavorful. You could roll it around in your mouth and savor it forever. And a fresh fruit salad, too. Over to the far right, homemade sandwich cookies. Lemonade to quench your thirst.

Lunch is served. Hats for almost everyone. Sunscreen on the table. Such a wonderful time to chat and tell stories. And of course sample all the wonderful food. Large sun hat wearer is "Other Mary" sitting next to the visor lady, my mother-in-law Mary, or Grams. I am sitting behind Grams with my new purple sun hat. 

Anna, my niece is to the right sitting at the child picnic table. She lives here at The Farm with her husband and their three little ones. The blue roofed building in the background is where our Mom potted up plants and hung her flowers to dry. Therefore, Lisa and I call it the Potting Shed. 

After our wonderful lunch break, Laurie built the peony cage in the top left. Lisa had requested another cage for the now short Baby's Breath. So Laurie is finishing this one up. In years past, these short plants have grown so large they have covered both of the walkways. Hopefully this new cage will help them stay up and clean and allow us to use the walkways.

The last nail for the day. A job well done!

The following are a few photos of the spring flowering plants at The Farm. By the time most people come out to pick up their harvest boxes many of these will be bloomed out. Just a glimpse of the springtime beauty Mom and Dad left behind for us to enjoy.

Mom always said "put white in your garden and it will make your other colors pop".  I think she may have been on to something.

Ferns to the right add texture.

Perennial yellow alyssum adds to the blues and whites and greens.

 Mom liked the movement the ornamental grasses added to the garden. Rhododendrons by the chimney. These raised beds were for the herb nursery she had along with scented geraniums and fuchsias. Her nursery was named "Sweetbriar".

Pink Columbine in the foreground alongside the tall green Lovage that looks like overgrown celery (they are in the same family). Variegated irises are near the peonies with their new cage. 

April In the Garden

Our first time growing celery here at The Farm. So far so good.

Kohlrabi starts, purple on the left, green on the right.

Greenhouse cucumbers blooming prolifically. 

Lisa transplanting tomatoes into their own 4 inch pots. They will be living in an unheated greenhouse as they add to their sturdiness and not their height.

Mexico Midget is one of the 31 varieties of tomato plants we are growing this year. This is one of 7 cherry tomato types we have. I love that they have such a great root system.

Other tomatoes to be transplanted into 4 inch pots. They are in an unheated greenhouse so they don't grow too fast. Their roots will continue to grow and they will get stocky. 

My nephew, Andrew, has plowed and disced this additional piece of land on the west side of the row of tea plants. Scott, another nephew had cleared all the old, left behind equipment that had been parked in the berry vines for the past few decades. We will have more space for planting this year. I am getting ready to rototill. Thanks to both Andrew and Scott!

This plot of land had been the location for dump trucks of compost and other storage. It hadn't been planted for years. We decided we needed more space for our onion patch. So here they are! Florencio shoveled this soil into raised beds. The onions are happy to be out of the greenhouses which have been getting pretty hot for them with just average sunshine.

Florencio moved the ages old 3, yes, just 3 raspberry plants from this long row and planted in the strawberries from their crowded raised bed area. These will have plenty of water and if (when) the birds are trying to snack on them netting can be draped over the lower wire to protect them.

Waldo berries are budding. 

Don't you love it when little sweethearts get to pick out their gardening attire for the day? So cute!

Sylvanberries are in just about in full flower. The little green center of the flower is one indication that the flower is healthy. If we were to have a hard frost, the center may turn black. Usually a sign that the flower will die and no berry will form.

Cauliflower that was started in the greenhouse a couple months ago. We are hoping to have these for the first harvest box.

Red kale and green kale.  All of these raised beds have drip irrigation in place.

Large rhubarb leaves. Peas climbing the trellis between the raised beds.

Continuous days of very cold weather took its toll on the artichoke beds. Only two of about twenty plants survived. This used to be full of healthy artichoke plants (they look like thistles). We started new ones from seed, but alas, these were very old and prolific. Probably 10-15 year old plants. Results? There won't be artichokes in the boxes this year.

Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower starts have been moved to the field. We are succession planting. We hope to have plenty of these this year. The first week of every month these have been started in the greenhouse. Beginning in February. These are the third interval of plants. 

Asparagus popping up. Drip irrigation in place. Once again, a very old asparagus bed that Dad put in many years ago.

The green bunching onions on the left are starting to flower and then will set seed pods. We may try an experiment with them. The purple violets down the row a bit started as one plant in the raised bed. Their seeds have spread and add to the garden. 

Flower pods look like hats! These empty beds will be filled shortly.

Red beets and then golden beets. Started from seed in the greenhouse in February. More plantings since. Again with the hopes of never running out of them.

Parsley is loving this weather.

Colorful Swiss Chard.

Spinach is spreading its leaves.

Cold frames are a stepping stone for plants going from the greenhouse to the field. These help protect the plants from the wind and also helps keep them a little warmer. These plants are working their way to the garden beds.

"Ohhhh looky, there is a green and black lady bug!" Actually it is a cucumber beetle on the Swiss Chard.

Greenhouse loving cucumbers on this end of the 2 rows and tomatoes on the other end. The bamboo stakes are attached to the structure of the greenhouse overhead. 

Tomatoes to the right, flowering petunias, just germinated morning glory seedlings that look like fireflies, and flats of peppers. They all love the heat of this greenhouse. Far left are more cucumbers climbing.

These golden leaved plants are Love Lies Bleeding. An amaranth that will grow about 4 feet tall and have dangling red strings of flowers.

Clumps of green tomatoes are flourishing in the greenhouse. 

This is a different variety of greenhouse tomato. They have more uniform clusters, like what you might find in the stores. These should taste waaaay better!

These are a field tomato that we are growing in the greenhouse. We did have early success with it last year and hope to this year. You may be able to see the little green tomatoes in the background. Without pollinators in the greenhouse (very few critters find their way in) tomatoes need to do their own "thing" to get the flower to set fruit. Sometimes we help out by flicking each flower so the pollen will spread.

Blueberries out in the field are forming little green berries after the white flower has fallen off. Good news!

Grapes are starting to leaf out.

These blueberry bushes have been around for a long time. 

Marionberries are a bit later. You may be able to spot the flowers forming among the leaves.

These grapes are probably dark purple in color. Pretty leaves. The light green leaves on the tree on the left are for the persimmon tree. Their fruit isn't ready until October. The gray, ghost like branches are the fig trees.

Baby figs, leaves start on the ends of the branches.

Apple blossoms.

Pear blossoms.

The tea hedgerow is starting to show its new growth.

Florencio does the orchard pruning during the dormant season. They look so organized!

Back to the greenhouse with the field tomatoes growing in the cooler greenhouse. Little tiny tomatoes. :)

Hopefully lots of flowers will result in lots of tomatoes. These won't be moved out to the field until the soil warms up.