Homestead

There is a theory about strawberry plants that if you don’t let them bear fruit the first year, they will put down better roots, become better established plants and produce better/larger fruit the following year. I get the principal of it, but pinching off blossoms and berries in the first year is hard to do. It’s like sacrificing the first born, hoping the 2^nd born will be better for it. I’m a first born, so I’ll leave it at that…

I lopped off those blossoms and berries and got zero yield this year. No strawberries for jam or to freeze for my morning yogurt or to go with my evening ice cream? Clearly unacceptable! So we went to Highland Orchards (again) and picked twelve pounds of berries that are so sweet they taste like cotton candy.

Trimmed, washed and frozen on cookie sheets – I dumped them into Ziploc bags and now – thank goodness I can have fruit with my ice cream at night (so I can at least pretend that it’s healthy!).

And I’ll wait until next year to see if the 2^nd born turns out better for sacrificing the first year’s growth. The jury is still out on that.

DSCN6768 — The strawberry plants have grown since I planted them.

DSCN6739 — It’s such a shame to pinch these off, hoping for a better crop next year.

DSCN6728 — Our pick-your-own haul of 8 quarts

DSCN6730 — Highland Orchards has reusable pick-your-own buckets, so we’ll go back with these when it’s blueberry season.

DSCN6733 — Frozen and ready to stick in the freezer.

DSCN6738 — The strawberry tops, ready to give the “girls.” Our hens love kitchen scraps.

Last summer when we were in the midst of construction, we didn’t see rabbits very often on the farm. Maybe the construction scared them off or we disrupted their nest areas or something. There was one rabbit that we saw frequently that seemed to have a goiter on his neck; I haven’t seen him around this year.

This year we seem to be overrun with rabbits. They’re cute but they’re everywhere. I don’t mind that they are everywhere, until they are in my garden.

You would think it would be impossible that they are in my garden. My garden fence is built like Fort Knox. It’s six feet tall with an extra bib of fencing at the bottom that is imbedded in the dirt to keep out the likes of ground hogs or anything else that might want to burrow in. My garden is locked down tight, secure and impenetrable.

But then my Swiss Chard went missing – the whole row – gone. And then all the bottom leaves on my Brussel Sprouts vanished. Followed by the disappearing act of two rows of Beets that came up one day and were gone the next. I was accusing the birds, or bugs or a rare fungus or mold issue that must be attacking my plants in my impenetrable garden.

Until I saw a baby bunny hop right through the 2” x 3” square of the fence. Yep, hopped right in and headed for the spinach. I headed in after it and shooed it out the other side of the garden – right through the fence on the other side of the garden.

The next day Chris wrapped the entire garden in sturdy bird netting. Now it is impenetrable.

I replanted the beets, gave up on the Swiss Chard and I’m waiting to see if the Brussel Sprouts recover.

Pesky rabbits.