June – Uh-oh, What Have We Done?

June 25, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Canning and Freezing, Chester County, Garden, Homestead, Tomatoes, Uncategorized

The gardens are overflowing, and it’s not even the end of June yet! Already I’m up to my elbows in canning and freezing. When the plants were so tiny, it seemed like a good idea to plant a lot of them. There was so much space between them in the garden that I couldn’t imagine them filling it in. Even Chris commented that I hadn’t over-planted this year and there was actually space to walk between the rows. I was proud of myself for my restraint, but with two gardens to fill, I didn’t feel the need to shoe-horn stuff in like I’ve done in the past. This year would be different. A spacious garden, everything in it’s place, perfectly placed rows — I could picture it in my mind.

Then came lots of rain and hot sunny days, and the garden took on a life of its own. I think I must have bought my bean seeds from Jack, and the cucumbers too. The vines are reaching for the sky. I keep piling them onto up-side down tomato cages to give them something to climb on and still they grow. I’m thinking in investing in a bunch of extension ladders to line the garden rows so everything can just keep growing and growing and growing.

I thought a variety of squash would be fun this year — butternut, acorn, spaghetti, etc. Again I exercised such restraint. I only planted about four plants of each. They were barely a few leaves tall, with lots of space between each plant. Now, the garden is so overgrown with vines that it will take a machete to fight my way through to harvest them. What was I thinking?

Already there are cherry tomatoes, peas, beans, beets, zucchini, cucumbers, broccolini, scallions and spinach. Even if we were vegetarians, we wouldn’t be able to keep us with what is coming in — and so every other night or so, you’ll find me in the kitchen freezing and canning… canning and freezing. There’s nothing better than seeing the freezer fill up, or hearing the mason jar lids ping when they seal. And maybe this winter I’ll be glad I apparently over-planted the garden, but for right now… I’m not so sure.

DSCN7922 — The tomatoes are outgrowing their cages.

DSCN7923 — Even the tomatoes are ripening already.

DSCN7919 — How am I even going to get into this squash patch to pick my squash?

DSCN7924 — Almost enough cucs to make pickles already.

June – Looking Old

June 14, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Uncategorized, Wood Shed

Not me! The farm! Well, probably me too… but it’s more fun making the farm look old. A while back we added a wood shed to the farm. It was new construction; stained wood with a weather vane on top. But over the course of the last winter, it settled a bit into the ground. Chris decided to use his farm jack to hoist it up and level it. And it looked great, but then… we decided it would look even better if it looked like it had always been there — with a stone foundation. Since there is no lack of stones around here, and since I’m the self-proclaimed stone mason of No Rhyme or Reason Farm (given all the stone walls I’ve built since we moved here) — I figured this would be no big deal.

Apparently I was wrong. A few hours later we finally finished wedging the last rock in to place. Piling rocks up to make a rock wall is one thing — fitting them precisely into the space under a wood shed was another! I think I’ll just stick to my free-form rock walls from now on. I’m eyeing the hillside at the back of the house. I think it needs a rock wall along the ridge line. I bet that won’t take as long as this did.

dscn7492 — It’s level — but it looks like it just got delivered and plopped here off the back of a trailer.

DSCN7898 — An amazing “old” stone foundation — now it looks like it’s always been here.

June – Using the trailer

June 6, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Farm, Farm Truck, Trailer, Uncategorized, Wood Shed

Remember that new toy/tool — the trailer? I wasn’t sure why we needed it — but as it turns out — it’s VERY useful!

“How?” you ask.

It’s useful for bringing home more toys/tools! Why didn’t I see that coming?

“What new tool?” you ask.

A wood splitter, of course. Every farm needs one. We did go through a lot of fire wood last winter; and we do have an inexhaustible supply of dead trees around the property. Chris already has a chain saw, so the wood splitter was inevitable, I suppose. And then he got to use the trailer too! It’s a great day on the farm!

log splitter on trailer — Loaded and ready for the trip home.

DSCN7873 — It was still on the trailer when it got to our driveway.

May – A (S)well Memorial Day

May 29, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Farm, Homestead, Well

There is a big round pipe from the well that sticks up about a foot high in the middle of our front yard. You’d think there would have been a less conspicuous spot to drill a well on our five acres — but I guess the well-drilling company’s prevailing wisdom said they would find water in the front yard — and they did, 400 feet down. The well-pipe is an eye-sore and I’ve been wanting to find a way to camouflage it for some time now.

On Friday I made my weekly run to the my local Amish market. I try my hardest to stay out of the adjoining garden center — because there is always an impulse buy, and heaven-knows, I don’t need any more garden plants right now. But right there, right in front of the garden center was a well cover. Not only a well cover — but one exactly like I’ve been invisioning — with an actual well pump on top of it. I wedged my groceries into the front seat of the car, flipped down the back seat and opened the back hatch. There was only ONE there and I wasn’t going to risk coming back on Saturday with Chris and the pick-up truck. I wanted it now.

So now I have a swell well cover — and a new flag, just in time for Memorial Day!

DSCN7864 — The perfect well cover for a farm!

DSCN7867 — No more eyesore and a new flag! Happy Memorial Day.

May – Tomato, Tomahto

May 18, 2017May 27, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Garden, Tomatoes, Uncategorized

No matter how you say it, we’re going to have a lot of them this summer — I hope. It started with an impulse buy at Home Depot. I can’t help myself. It was back in mid-March when it was cold and snowy — and they had tomatoes! I only bought two Beefsteak Tomatoes and two Husky Cherry Tomatoes and nurtured them in the greenhouse, up-potting them numerous times as they out-grew their pots. And then I started seeds — San Marzano tomatoes, tiny yellow pear tomatoes (Arianna’s favorite) and some green/purple striped tomatoes (another impulse buy when I was at the Philadelphia Farm and Food Festival). And then there was the trip to my Amish food market, which unfortunately is positioned right next to an Amish garden center — and they had 4-packs of Amish paste tomatoes for only $1.29! Another impulse buy — that got up-potted and grew like crazy over the last two months. My greenhouse was over-run with tomatoes.

Sunday was Mother’s Day — that magical day of the year when you can finally plant tomatoes in southeastern Pennsylvania. And… the forecast is for continued warm weather for the foreseeable future. So I planted. There are two huge Beefsteaks, two almost huge Husky cherry tomatoes, two really big Amish paste tomatoes, two yellow pear tomatoes, four nice-sized San Marzano tomatoes — and four purple/green tomato plants that are kind of wimpy because they got a late start. That’s sixteen tomato plants! I have more in the greenhouse — but no room in the garden. I’ll just have to be content with 16 tomato plants.

The internet says a single tomato plant can produce 20 to 30 pounds of tomatoes. Let’s just average that at 25 pounds per plant by 16 plants. I’ve never been good at math — but I think that’s a BIG number. Come mid-summer when I’m up to my elbows in dripping tomatoes and hot jars for canning all of these tomatoes — remind me I may want to check my math next year.

DSCN7846 — It started with the tomato plants I bought and nurtured in the greenhouse.

DSCN7847 — And then the seeds I started.

DSCN7849 — The green/purple zebra tomatoes have a ways to go.

DSCN7850 — But I can almost taste these tomatoes.

May — Even MORE Garden Space

May 10, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Farm, Garden, Renovations, Uncategorized

With the addition of the greenhouse and all the plants I could start from seed, suddenly the 20′ x 32′ garden surrounded by a six foot high fence just wasn’t big enough. There are plants that take up more than their fair share of the garden; things like pumpkins, potatoes, gourds, cucumbers and a variety of squash. They don’t stay in neat little rows like peas, carrots and beans — they sprawl and climb and have a tendency to take over. So…it only took a little bit of pleading for another garden before Chris was on board with getting out one of those power garden tools and tilling me a 20′ x 20′ space. This one is only surrounded by chicken wire that we trenched into the ground to keep hungry bunnies from sneaking under the fence, and surrounded by some webbing sprayed with deer repellent to keep the deer from jumping over the fence. So far — its working.

My potatoes are coming up, the gourds, pumpkins and some of the squash have been transplanted into the new garden, and I even planted some corn! We’ll see how that works out this year. I have a bit of space left — but it’s not quite time to transplant a few of my other plants. I’ll stick to that rule of waiting until after Mother’s Day — and besides, it’s chilly this week.

DSCN7676 — The tiller is getting a workout.

DSCN7823 — Putting up the chicken wire was a bit of a project.

DSCN7825 — We trenched it into the ground so nothing can sneak underneath.

DSCN7832 — And added webbing around the top, scented with deer repellent — so far — it’s working!

May — How many things can live on one porch?

May 2, 2017May 2, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Farm, Homestead, Uncategorized, Wildlife

Our porch is a popular spot. We love sitting out there in the evenings after a hard day of work in the garden and watching the birds, the deer, and occasionally a skunk wander through the yard. But things are getting a little too up close and personal.

The bats have returned. I begged and pleaded to have Chris squirt some Great Stuff, or stuff some chicken wire up into the crack between the house and the porch roof when the bats had gone to their winter home. I even offered to buy them a bat condominium and hang it some where NOT near the front porch. But Chris seems to like his pet bats — right where they are — hanging somewhere above my head, and leaving bat dropping near the front door.

They have been joined by some wasps who have decided to attach their home to the ceiling of the porch, a few spiders weaving their webs — and a very determined Robin. This Robin started with a few sprigs of loose straw between each and every eave all the way down the length of the porch. Apparently Chris doesn’t like Robins as much as he likes bats, so he took the blower to the porch and in a poof — blew the starts of the nests away. The next morning, the straw was back. He blew it away. The next morning the straw was back again, mixed with wet mud to glue the start of these nests to the rafters. He blew it away again — though a bit messier as the mud splattered onto the porch. And so it went for several days until Chris gave up — on one nest. They appear to have reached a compromise. The Robin has consolidated her efforts to that one nest — and Chris told her she can stay.

A squirt of wasp spray got rid of the wasps, a broom took care of the spider webs, the Robins have one nest — all I have to deal with now are the bats. Great.

DSCN7819 — Looks like a good place for a nest.

DSCN7815 — The Robin won — Chris let this nest stay.

April – A Little Color on the Farm

April 24, 2017April 2, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Farm, Garden, Homestead, Uncategorized

We aren’t into having a lot of flower gardens or landscaping that needs to be tended. We’re too busy with the vegetable garden, the fruit trees, the chickens and the bees. But we did need something to hide an unsightly hillside just off the back patio, and a little perky color in the springtime would be a nice sight to banish the cold and snow.

We recycled some old railroad ties that we found in the lower pasture and cobbled together a bit of a retaining wall (let’s just hope it continues to “retain”), filled it in with some bags of soil and planted four Forsythia bushes. My Dad hated Forsythia bushes, not that he hated spring flowers, but he hated the way the bushes spread every year. I think it will be good that they spread, in fact, a hedge of these bushes would be great!

DSCN7665 — Spaced behind our retaining wall to hide the hillside.

DSCN7664 — Filled in with some top soil.

DSCN7666 — I hope it spreads out to hide that hillside.

DSCN7625 — It looks nice from the patio.

April – A New Toy/Tool

April 17, 2017April 2, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Farm, Farm Truck, Homestead, Trailer, Uncategorized

I didn’t think we needed a pick-up truck, but I will confess, it has come in handy a couple of times. It’s great to throw things in the truck bed and off we go — bags of dirt, Forsythia bushes, even shelving for my greenhouse. But I really DON’T think we need a trailer too. I mean, isn’t that what the bed of the pick-up truck is for?

But I got out-voted, and now we have the cutest little trailer. I think it might be good for hauling a goat — but I think Chris envisions using it to take in his John Deere tractor in for service — if it ever needs servicing. Of course, they can come pick up your John Deere tractor for servicing — if it ever needs servicing, and you don’t have to have a trailer — but — just in case, now we have one.

DSCN7608 — A cute little trailer — not too big, not too small — just right.

DSCN7609 — With a gate on the back so “some day” we can drive the tractor up into the trailer, just in case it needs servicing.

DSCN7610 — Good thing we have this pick-up truck with a hitch on the back.

DSCN7612 — No room in the garage for the trailer.

April – The Greenhouse!

April 10, 2017April 2, 2017 Jeanne at No Rhyme or Reason Farm After, Before, Chester County, Farm, Greenhouse, Homestead, Uncategorized

It’s here! And it’s adorable! And it’s full of K-cups. Yes, those little plastic cups for making coffee. I’ve been saving them for months, emptying the grounds into my compost pile and saving the little cups that already have a little puncture hole in the bottom for drainage — to plant my seeds. My greenhouse shelves are lined with K-cups of dirt. I’ve planted San Marzano tomatoes, Yellow pear-shaped cherry tomatoes, watermelon, pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, cucumbers and a bunch of other stuff — probably more stuff than my garden can hold. But, I had K-cups that I had to fill, and seeds I had to use up.

The Greenhouse has a little bottom shelf that’s just the right size for Arianna to start her seeds too. Usually she plants jelly beans. She’s had good success with that. They grow into lollipops overnight! Nothing like starting a love of gardening at an early age. Maybe she’ll start planting vegetable seeds soon.