Week 11 Produce and flowers galore

Our Tangerine Gem dahlia attracts many bees. I think they make a nice landing strip.

Asian pears. We have discovered the ones with "dimples" have a hard spot inside the dimple area. Research will occur this winter.

Our small Bartlett pears have produced a few pears this year.

Cafe au Lait dahlias are one of our favorites. 

The little white edges on this dahlia add brightness.

Bees are sure out this morning.

More bee activity on this bicolor dahlia.

This dahlia is a different variety. It has many more petals and seems to catch rainwater in its little cupped petals.

A delicately orange dahlia.

A very large Peace rose. It climbs as high up as the roof of the chicken house. It also has wicked thorns! Dad planted this one many years ago.

Another Cafe au Lait with a friend behind it.

A spiky white dahlia. These go well in many different types of bouquets. Mom always said, "plant white flowers in your garden".

Lisa setting up in the flower house. Some cut flowers last longer if their stems are in boiling water for a specific amount of time. When she started doing boiling water for this she used a 34 year old camp stove. She did find a single burner that would work more consistently for her. She is always researching cut flower ideas.

Lisa's college roommate, Pat, helps her pick on Monday evenings and sometimes Monday mornings. Thanks Pat!

She is a character! Hey Pat :)

Lisa sewed this flower seed packet garland and then dried the blue statice and made the beautiful wreath.

"Senorita" zinnias pair nicely with green Bells of Ireland.

A few of our different zinnias for Lisa's bouquets.

Pale yellow zinnias along with a sprinkling of "Peppermint" zinnias.

Red zinnias. It's tough to find a zinnia that is totally red. The underside of these petals are light colored.

The back of the family garage. The white portion of this wall used to have a lean to covered area for our little tractor to be parked out of the weather. Then it held firewood and then the lean to fell down. Hence the white wall. It was always inside a white room. We took the fallen parts away this spring on our family farm clean up day. Anna and Lisa brought in the rocks from other areas of the farm and then planted the flowers. The sign was from "back in the day" when we ran the fruit stand out on Portland Road. 

A late planting of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. There was just enough room to squeeze in one more row here. The pathway to the right is for the golf cart to help transport harvested crops. Such a big help.

Our second planting of zucchini and yellow crookneck summer squash. Just blooming so they will be ready in a couple weeks. Each line of drip irrigation can be turned off and on individually.

The kids knew right where this beautiful garden spider was living in the raspberries. They led me right to it!

The white zigzag is common for these spiders. A way for them to knit their webs together and make them stronger.

The acorn squash are turning darker green. They do have powdery mildew (the white splotches on the leaves) but they are mature enough they will survive.

Butternut squash hiding under their protective foliage.

A tall slender okra plant.

So many zinnias. They are so cheerful. I am partial to these colors.

The cantaloupe are being counted and sized for the boxes.

Levi, in the background, gets a kick out of this process. The apples help show the size of the cantaloupe. 

Our memo board today.

Today's list of goodies.

"Teddy Bear" sunflowers are short and typically some of the first sunflowers to bloom. The greenery in this bouquet is a tall lemon scented geranium called "Mabel Grey". This was one of Mom's favorite scented geraniums. Very lemony.

Pink zinnias await their selection for a bouquet.

There are also salmon colored zinnias on the left along with bright pink zinnias on the right.

Another beautiful bouquet.

The dark red leaves are from a coleus plant. This bouquet is so showy!

A tall gladiola goes along with the dahlias, zinnias and Mabel Grey scented geraniums in this bouquet.

A common problem.... which bouquet to take home?

And then there are more on the other table! So many choices...

And Lisa is still making more.

The flower house looks full of bouquets. It must be almost 4:00 pm and ready for pick up.

So many little things to put in a separate flat is necessary. A small box of raspberries, one of sour Mexican Gherkins, one of multicolored cherry tomatoes and then lemon cucumbers along with apples. And the big regular boxes are full, too.

Different kinds of pears on the "extra" table.

A few honeydew melons and watermelons waiting to go home with someone.

A few individual cantaloupe and a few large cantaloupe, too.

Brightly colored radishes await bundling.

Alex uses twist ties to put these together.

Such pretty colors. 

Post card worthy photo?

Today's contents. So many delicious and pretty things!

This dahlia has an apt name: Bedhead.

Lemon Gem marigolds, traditional nasturtiums, and a very tall volunteer sunflower adorn this raised bed near our family's old farm house.

Mom loved garden art.

See you next time on the blog.

Lorrie

Week 10 "Drona" at work on the farm

I was fortunate to be gifted a drone by my husband this past Christmas. What a surprise! This week's blog has a few photos that involved Drona's help.

Above the raised beds at the farm.

Looking down the zinnia rows. Anna is picking the zucchinis on the left.

Drona flew out to where Anna was picking. She is quite the little flying machine. Thanks Anna for smiling at her!

Down the zinnia rows and closer to the sunflower planting.

At the north end of the rows looking south.

Sunflowers facing the sun. Many different colors of "yellow" in our sunflowers this year.

Looking down on the purple cauliflower and a row of potatoes near the sunflowers.

Tall and short sunflowers. Some have dark centers, some have pale centers.

Our western most field. From right to left: corn, beans, Sweet Annie, carrots, purple cabbage, hot and mild peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, tomatillos, more cabbage. Chris is out picking beans.

Drona sneaking up on Chris. Anna has come out to start picking peppers.

From above the orchard looking east.

We plant our tomatoes through red plastic to enhance production. They are watered from below with drip irrigation. There are peppers planted through olive colored plastic next to the tomatoes. The tall yellow and orange marigolds denote a change in variety of peppers and summer squash.

I'm trying to fly Drona straight down our golf cart path. Our helpers are hoping I can drive straight and know how to stop! I am at the far end by the right car looking down at Drona's controls.

Our dahlia garden. We have them in large, black plastic pots to help them warm up sooner and produce sooner. They overwinter in a greenhouse so they don't freeze and die.

Another overhead of what we refer to as the "OSU Quad" flower beds.

This machine in the near bed, was used for many years. Lisa, Angie and I have memories of planting strawberries while riding behind while a tractor pulled it down the rows. Hours and hours and thousands and thousands of strawberries. For a few years we had upwards of 22 acres of strawberries growing here on Shady Maple Farm. And we planted, hoed and either picked or supervised the picking of them all. Whew!

From a higher vantage point.

A different angle.

Back to earth with my regular camera. The Black Eyed Susans are beautiful.

Crocosmia nearly glow as they open from the tips downward.

Light pink morning glories open each morning and then close late in the day.

Here are some dark purple ones with stripes.

The purple cauliflower is so tender.

These tend to make large heads.

This one has a hint of purple down inside.

A few apples for the boxes today.

And what is he up to while sitting among the plants in flats???

Hmmmm, he's looking suspicious.

He was pulling these tall, spindly marigolds out of their flat. One by one... He thought he was pretty clever. And then he had to put them back!

Sorting radishes by color and bundling.

Swiss chard is also sorted by color.

I am always intrigued by the vibrant colors of fruits and vegetables.

Slender green beans. These need to be bagged before they are put in the boxes.

A few varieties of kale.

Some of today's beautiful bouquets.

Chris has come in from picking beans to helping build bouquets with Lisa.

Lisa selecting what beauty goes into her next creation.

Bryan is bagging beans.

Levi sitting on the log stool with his back drop of pretty flowers.

He spotted the camera so now he is being shy. :)

He's getting used to the idea of the camera.

And now he almost went over backwards!

He recovered nicely. What a cutie!

The contents of today's box. 

Apparently the golf cart needs to be washed today.

Hope to see you next time on the blog.