Show And Tell Time

Please allow me to bore you with some photos of a few new things around here!  A while back, if you recall, I showed you my new "lawn mowing hat" and I had a request to show a photo of me wearing it on my new mower.  So here it is:

My lovely new lawn mowing hat - very elegant, eh?

Then, check this out:  My welder husband took some old metal and a couple antique hay rake wheels  and made this great "Ferris Wheel" for plants!   It actually turns, too!  Bear in mind, I DO have to paint it with some rustoleum paint and then a coat of outdoor white enamel paint to make this look real cute.  But I just wanted to show you how it looks anyway.   I just planted the petunias in those planters that I started from seed, so they need a chance to grow.   I planted a cascading type petunia called "double ruffle" (deep maroon color) and some called "morning glory red" along with some plain pink ones.  Once they get to growing this will be really pretty, I think!   I guess I can't complain now about hubby's scrap iron pile  - especially when he makes pretty things for me out of it!  This planter is about 5 feet tall and about 3 feet wide and weighs about 300 lbs.  I am going to eventually put some crushed rocks underneath so weeds won't grow.   The hummingbirds will love this flower ferris wheel.

The turn-able flower Ferris Wheel my husband made.

Another view.  I will eventually move it a little bit to the right after I paint it.

Another close-up.

Then, finally, check out this great new wing backed chair I bought for $12 on a northern Minnesota online auction site.  (do-Bid).   This chair is practically new and larger than the photo shows.  I will put it in the living room since I now have more room in there, since we gave up our TV .  We discovered we can watch everything we like to watch on the internet, live, so why pay for TV?   We are not movie watchers and we don't care for most of the shows on now.   I will get more use out of a reading chair in the living room by the window than a TV set.   I love colorful furniture and blue is a hard color to find these days.  It seems that every furniture store only carries earth tones of brown, black and beige.   Those colors seem so dull to me!  Give me color any day!  And I have always loved wing chairs.

Think I got a good deal for $12?

OK - I think I've bored you all enough!  We have had so much rain that the gardens are in terrible need of weeding - but - more rain is predicted!  Uff da........

This And That

We have had nothing but rain lately - way too much rain!  We are getting a little reprieve from the soaking today, but the weathermen say that tonight will be more rain.   My gardens are already swamps.  It will be a long while before I can get into them to do weeding.  Hopefully the newly planted seeds of lettuce and spinach and herbs have not been washed away.   We also got a little hail the other night.  But fortunately I only lost a few tomatoes and cabbages.  It could have been much worse!  The garden on the sloped part of the yard isn't as bad as the one on the flat part of the yard, but it is still swampy.

This is the swampy garden needing much weeding.  Lost a few green beans; potatoes are growing in the back of the garden.

The sloped garden is faring much better.  Everything sure is green!

We have lost our apple trees, I think.  Our Honeycrisp apple tree is only twigs this year with a few sparse leaves.   I think it was a victim of winter sunscald, and spring root rot from all the rains.   The other tree which gave us great Prairie Spy apples last year has some kind of disease.   The blossoms never made it, the leaves are soft and rotting, and the ends of the branches are easily broken.  Any apple experts out there who can tell me what is wrong?   We will give the good tree another year, but I fear it is gone.   There are no apples growing on it this year.

As you can see, the Honeycrisp tree never made it. 

The branches are nearly bare with just a few small leaves. 

Even our good tree has soft leaves, no fruit and easily breakable ends on the branches.

The bees are doing well, though!  We had to feed them a lot of sugar syrup during the week of rains, but today they are out getting what they can.  We are starting with 10 hives this year.  

If you look closely, you can see 3 or 4 bees coming into the hive.  (Click on photo to see larger view)

Birdsfoot Trefoil, one of the bees' favorite flowers!

I had a long conversation the other day with a fellow from the power company.  He was contracted to spray under the power lines for the electric company, and we had asked the county to call us before they do any spraying because we are beekeepers.   The county contracted a fellow to spray for "noxious weeds" and he was letting us know.  I told him we didn't want any sprays!!  Those "noxious weeds" are wildflowers and bee food!  We talked at length about the problem of bees dying in this country (colony collapse disorder), and to his credit, he was a little savvy and sympathetic on that subject.  He said the power company was really more concerned about small trees being allowed to grow under power lines and that was the reason for the spraying.  In the end, we agreed that instead of spraying he would come out and use a cutter in the fall to cut the vegetation.    I guess many farms that are certified organic, and beekeepers, too, do NOT want spraying done.  So we get to keep our bee food, and in late Sep or early Oct, they will come out and cut things under the lines.  At least that way, the wildflowers will be allowed to put on seeds, which will fall to the ground and come up again in the spring.  Noxious weeds indeed!!!!   Those flowers are food for the bees!!!  I can see their point in not wanting young trees to grow under the lines, but wildflowers will never grow that tall.  I told the guy, why don't they just cut instead of spray anyway?  Do we really need all those chemicals on our land? I think I will have to write my state congress people about this spraying thing.....

So Much Work, So Little Time

It's been a while since I wrote anything on here, but I haven't quit blogging - I've just been so busy!  After our long winter, the weather finally straightened up and so we have been very busy getting the yard and garden ready for summer.   In between rains, we tilled and planted and weeded and mowed and trimmed, etc.   But the gardens are finally planted up!  The ticks have been bad, though.  Every time I come inside and check for ticks, I usually find some.  Ick.
     The 2014 Farmer's Market begins this Thursday.   So every Thursday from this week until early October, we will be tied up with market activities.   This week I won't have any garden produce, but we will have honey, chokecherry syrup and my 7 grain bread to sell.   Soon, I'll have herbs and lettuces to add, too.
     It seems the grass grows at a record pace in the early spring!   I end up having to mow grass about every 3 days.  But that is no problem with my new riding mower!  It's a joy to use.
     Harold has been busy minnow harvesting and running the bait to the shop.  So far so good, but that will probably end soon as the summer gets hotter.  In addition to being busy with homesteading stuff, we've been busy going to doctor's appointments for both of us.  (annual physical exams for me and tests for Harold).  All is well. 
     Soon I hope to have some new photos to share, but I just wanted everyone to know I haven't forgotten this blog!  There just aren't enough hours in the day to do all that we need to do.  Good thing we have daylight hours until almost 9:30 p.m. now in Minnesota, and sunrise at 5 a.m.   We need that long growing time AND the extra hours to work in!