Mothers Day Gift

My Mothers day gift from my sweet daughter, Lauren. A metal sign for the farm. Hung in front of the barn.

Simple sweet!

Blessing the Bugs Even in Death

We made a decision to immediately kill the "bad bugs" this year in our garden. We waited till it was too late last season. It was more of a live and let live attitude. However, witnessing whole families of squash bugs take over our pumpkins, squash, zucchini and cucumbers was a sight to behold. Pillbugs or as I have fondly called them in the past, roly-polys, were a huge issue too. Pap and I went round and round passionately debating, discussing the karma entailed in the killings.

What I mean by it was too late is that by the time it became apparent that we were the losers, and would have no more pumpkins or zucchinis, the squash bugs had moved into the garden in overwhelmingly huge numbers! I had seen the eggs last year and seen the bugs, but for the most part ignored them. I suppose I was hoping the lady bugs and praying mantis's would take care of them for me! So being pro-active this year I say Bless you as I send the little fellas into their next life. I am also inspecting the underside of the leaves on all my veggies that are susceptible for their eggs. The squash bugs lay the eggs in a wonderfully uniform pattern most of the time on the underside hidden from view. To remove these I tear off just the part of the leaf they are on. The squash bugs are hand picked off and thrown in a jar of soapy water. So long! Farewell!

Rocks from Field

The top part of our field sits atop a large conglomerate of big rocks. Last year we did the no-till method of gardening and put mounds of soil on top of grass to plant our vegetables. We did have lots of success, and harvested pumpkins, corn, squash, beans in this same area where Pap has tilled and is now digging up large rocks. Wanting to go bigger in our efforts of farming we made the decision to till this year. As you can see in the pictures, Pap is building rock altars and I must say I love them!

We have many seedlings that are sprouting up in the greenhouse and inside our kitchen windows. They are patiently waiting until the soil warms up to be planted. In the meantime we are preparing the beds, the field and the tilled rows, and uncovering many beautiful rocks. Some of the soil amendments we are using are lava sand, cotton bur compost along with our own homemade compost, horse manure and corn meal. We are also purchasing beneficial nematodes this year with hopes it will control some of the insect problem we had last year. These are beneficial microbes in the soil that help control grub worms, larvae, fleas and other un-beneficial insects. I am sure our dogs will love being less flea bit this year too!