Pictures and Things

Naomi and I just got back from a walk along the river to get more fiddleheads, and came back with a basketful. We picked some more daffodils for my mom, along with a branch with apple blossoms on it, and some unfurled ferns for a bouquet for her.

Down the river a ways, we found a seemingly endless stand of ostrich ferns in their prime. We picked until we didn't want to pick anymore, without even making a dent. I made a comment about it looking like Jurassic Park.



Sometime in the late summer or fall, I don't remember which, I had been exploring along the river, and I had seen what seemed like endless ramp seed stalks sticking out of the ground on the river bank, and I've wanted to go back out and see if they were growing. Sure enough, we encountered RAMP LAND- where ramps are king! I'm getting really impatient waiting for the bulbs to swell.


Below are some pictures of the garden, including the rows of onions, the garlic doing its thing, a pea shoot amongst the weeds, the open hoophouse (that's 100 degrees inside), Naomi with the basket of goodies, and the calf.

Spring is Delicious

It's been a busy few days here. I was off from work on Thursday and Friday, so my brother and I finished spreading the manure and tilled it in. I'm working toward not tilling anymore, but I need to add a lot of amendments and rid myself of more mugwort, but it's coming.

Back in the last week of December, I started 15 packages of onion and leek seeds. They've been growing in flat trays under lights in my living room since then. We've got 2 of the trays planted, but have a lot more to go, and I've already exhausted the space I allocated for onions and then some. It's one of my goals to grow onions this year, since I've never had any success with them. That's why I went overboard with them. My other major garden goal this year is to grow spinach, which I've never even gotten to germinate. I've learned that it needs to be pretty cold, all things considered, and I was always trying to germinate it too warm. We're fixing that right now.

The hoophouses I built have been great. Yesterday when the air temp was a little under 60 degrees, it was 110 inside one of them. A few mornings ago, I went to check the temp inside, and there was frost on my car windows. It was 50 degrees inside the hoophouse. I'm going to start some tomato seeds, and put them in there to see if they can make it. That would be great!

Since you can't work all the time, my brother and I went across the river yesterday mid-morning to shoot a few rounds, and while we were out there, I wandered off a bit and picked some fiddleheads, which are perfect right now! The ramps are still a few weeks out I think, but they're coming along. I also walked up on a hen turkey and froze and watched her until she flew off. As I meandered deeper into the swampy area by the river bend, I found a stand of daffodils blooming in the swamp. Naturally, I picked one stalk from each clump, and brought them back for Naomi. She was thrilled!

With two weeks to go before our wedding, I've still got a LOT of work to get done in the garden. We saw the woodchuck for the first time on Friday, so they're going to be coming to munch. That's high on the list of priorities to get done. I'll probably want to plant the wheat and corn, as well as greens. The latter I might hold off on just so they don't get cleared out by that woodchuck until that problem is taken care of. I'll probably end up putting most stuff in later than I want to, just on account of the wedding so I can keep an eye on it better.

Now's a great time to go outside and walk around. Buds are popping out everywhere, things are greening up, and there's lots of wild plants to be munched! We're planning to go for a little walk this morning and look for more fiddleheads! Hopefully, I'll get a glimpse of some of those monstrous toms with the 10" beards out across the river.