Geode Hunting

 

          A couple weeks ago Aunt Mary came for a visit.  We took the kids geode hunting so Jenny could start her rock collection like the lady they deliver eggs to. 

    Jenny and Kade loved exploring the creek, splashing in the water, and hunting for the perfect rock.

     Jenny in true country kid form refused to keep her shoes on. Those are some tough feet.

      Evan and Miss Katie loved splashing in the creek.

     Until....Mom, I got seaweed on my finger!!! Help the world is ending!!!!     

      Liam on the other hand was overdue for a nap and spent most of the time on Dad's lap.

Celebrating Freddie and Peggy

      

In the beginning of June we were able to celebrate Derick's parents anniversary with a BBQ at our house.  It was a great afternoon and a blessing his uncle and two cousins along with their families were able to attend.  The last time they were all together was our wedding four years ago.   

 

     

  

I'm 2

     Our handsome young man had a wonderful second birthday! 

     For his second birthday I decided to make a piggy cake.   Pigs are one of Evan's favorite animals, but if you listen to him say piggy, it sounds like "babies."

        Learning from last year's lesson I waited until the day of to make the cake in hopes the humidity wouldn't strike.

    Still by evening when everyone came, the humidity struck....making it look melted.  :(

      The day was extra special with a surprise visit from Evan's great-grandma who has been feeling under the weather for months now.   We are grateful you were able to make the long journey down for a visit.

       Evan had many helpers when it came time for presents.

    All the cousins enjoyed playing together all evening.

       Since we celebrated Evan's birthday early one cousin is missing.  Next year Evan will be sharing his day with little Miss Dayona who was born on Evan's birthday. 

       One of my favorites from the day.  Evan and Grandpa having a chat at the picnic table. 

      Whenever we go to Grandpa and Grandma's house Evan loves to ride their pedal tractor.  He was so excited to get his own pedal tractor to ride around and be just like Dad. 











        One problem, though, Evan's legs are too short to reach the pedals.  He would get so mad he couldn't pedal it even after we move the seat forward.  In return Dad found a pipe we could hook into the hitch to push him around with. 

     Now Dad or more often Mom have the problem.  Evan loves to steer in circles or heads to the garden where the tilled dirt makes it really hard to push him. 



Moving Hay

       Over the weekend my husband was able to get a start on the first cutting of hay or should I say grass.  With last year being a wet spring and summer, it was challenging to get a good stand of alfalfa started.  Instead we ended up with a good stand of various grasses. 

        Monday he moved the hay home, which was very exciting for our son.   He marched himself right out to watch.  First Dad put on the hay spear attachment on the front of the tractor.  

      The hay spear allows the tractor to spear the bale and pick it up so you can easily move it from place to place without losing any. 

        From this angle you can see how the bale is formed in the baler. As hay is fed into it, belts help wind it around the center until the bale is at the correct size.  Then with the push of a button net-wrap surrounds the bale holding it tightly together. 

        Net wrap allows you to move it several times without hay falling out.  We are storing ours next to the barn for our loyal customers, since we don't currently have any cattle.

       A bale trailer makes moving hay from the field to the farm a lot easier. Instead of moving them one by one, you can move six home at a time.   

     After Dad moves the last bale off, Evan goes to investigate the trailer thinking it is a jungle gym.  I remember using ours growing up as a balance beam.  Evan's a little small to try that, though.

      Then Dad backs up to the trailer to hook it up before getting another load.  Of course Evan is right there to help. 

       By lunch time the field is cleared and we have two nice rows of hay. 

        Crop check:  The soybeans are coming along, but with lots of weeds out there.  Normally after planting we will spray the field to control the weeds before the beans have a chance to sprout.  Then once the beans are large and about to canopy over the ground, we spray a second time to kill any remaining weeds. 
         This year it rained before we got them sprayed the first time.  Once they sprouted you run the risk of breaking their necks with a tractor tire at a fragile stage in development.  It looks like they will just get sprayed once this year.   Now we are waiting until the beans are larger.  Then the bean plant is big enough to canopy over a larger square footage of the dirt.  At that point less sunlight makes it harder for new weeds to grow.  The down side is the weeds are larger too and harder to kill. 

       The corn is growing and about a foot tall.  The rows look nice and clear of any weeds.  Weeds are harmful to crops because the crops spend more time competing for crucial sunlight and moisture.  Also, if your field is filled with weeds when you harvest, the grain is filled with weed seed.

        Normally corn only gets sprayed once.  Like beans we try to spray them before the seed has a chance to sprout.   Since corn grows so much quicker and canopies over so much more quickly, once is usually enough.

       Blue skies and a green landscape nothing beats the beauty of God's creation.

Fruits of our Labor

       A month later and the strawberries are beginning to ripen.  Today I picked the first two quarts with many more to come in the weeks ahead.  

       The peaches have grown too.  Now they are the size of a half dollar. 

       One new addition, though, is a bird's nest.  At one point our nest had three blue eggs with black speckles.  Today it seems there is only one left.  We haven't seen the mother bird in a few days.  The others must have hatched and left the nest.

        Our apples have grown from blossoms and changed into mini apples.   The bees did a wonderful job because our little trees are loaded with growing apples.

     The black raspberries are growing nicely.  At first I didn't think we were going to have enough to harvest for a pie, but now it looks like there should be plenty for pies and jellies this winter. 

      My helper today was busy filling his dump truck with grass clippings and transporting them to his sandbox. 

      In addition to the orchard, our garden is making remarkable progress.  Full of peas, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, onions, and sweet corn.  We planted some more vegetables, but the seed was too old to sprout.  With new seed in the ground, we are watching every day to see if our beets, cucumbers, watermelon, carrots and zucchini sprout. 

       Our garden supplied us with some fresh produce this morning.  Just a little cleaning, de-stemming,  and chopping to size before we can enjoy lettuce salads, fresh strawberries to eat, and rhubarb to cook with.  

        Strawberry-rhubarb crisp fresh out of the oven and ready for snack after nap time.



       Update:  It was a hit.  Especially considering Evan is a very neat eater.

Buzz....A Busy Bee

       Did you know all of those beautiful blossoms you see in early spring will turn into delicious fruit later on?  I guess we all learned this at some point during our education, but maybe never really thought about it since.

        All the blossoms that seem to popping up everywhere this time of year are just simply a blossom unless a bee comes along to pollinate the flower and turn it into something extraordinary.

       This morning these tiny little bees where busy turning tiny little white flowers into juicy delicious strawberries to be enjoyed in a little over a month. 



      You can see a bloom in waiting right next to a flower that is spent and beginning its transformation into a strawberry.  Funny how it already starts resembling a strawberry.  The center light green area will keep growing and changing until a red strawberry appears.  

    Next let's take a look at a peach blossom.  A few short weeks ago my two young peach trees were covered in pink blossoms.  You can see the faded blooms in the picture above.  Thankfully the cold snap we had back then didn't stop the bees from doing their job.

        The late frost did cause some of them to drop off, but that is ok.  Last year we had to pick some of the undeveloped peaches off.  As they were growing it put too much stress on the tree.  The leaves were turning yellow and beginning to drop.  All of the tree's nutrients were going to the fruit instead nurturing the tree itself.    I imagine we will have to do some selective plucking again this year. 





       The young peach will continue to grow out from the center of the blossom until the dried brown blossom falls off revealing the smallest peach.  Peaches will continue to grow and grow until they ripen in August.  

      Side note: Peach blossoms only develop on new growth.  So if you prune a tree too heavily in the spring you might not get any blossoms.  Often times peach trees are pruned in the fall to prevent this.

       Then there is the apple tree.  This is the first year we have had blossoms on our two young trees.  We can't wait to taste their delicious fruit in September.    
        Side note: Apple blossoms only appear on old wood, which is why it took the apple tree one more year than the peach tree to have fruit.  These  branches are two years old.  Also this means your blossoms will be concentrated in the center of a young tree. 

        Raspberries are a little different than fruit trees.  This cluster you see is all new growth this year.  The new growth will spend all year growing and not produce any berries. 

        This stem on the other hand grew last year.  Therefore it's stem looks more wood like instead of soft and green.  It will produce berries this year.

       If you look closely at it you can see the berries already beginning to develop in the center.  Raspberry bushes don't blossom in the spring.  The seed clusters appear as the leaves unfold.  Then sadly next year this shoot will be dead. 
       To keep the raspberry bed from getting too full of briars I trimmed out all the dead stocks yesterday with a good pair of leather gloves. 

       After three short years our orchard is coming along nicely.   With continued care they will produce abundant fruit in the years to come.  
       Along the way we did learn a few things.  Our orchard is in a slight low spot, which means we have to find a new place to grow a cherry tree.  They don't like wet feet.   The only reason it lived the first year was because we were in the middle of a drought.