June 1st 2006
The grass is beginning to grow in the 3 acre field. The field is looking brown with a smattering of green if you look carefully! Since we have had the last week of rain I have only had to irrigate yesterday and today. Unfortunately the pipes leaked in one place yesterday and made a hole about a foot deep where the soil got washed out. I hope the seed around it is ok still!
June 9th 2006
We were given 16 tomato plants which we planted in the veggie patch.
June 11th 2006
The 3 acre field is looking green now with a smattering of brown. We are continuing to irrigate it but we are having more rain than last year which means we don't have to irrigate as often!
June 16th 2006
In the veggie patch: We have some little green tomatoes on one of the first set of three we put in. The other tomato plants seem to be doing ok. The corn is looking good and the beans are growing slowly. The pea plants are growing as are the cabbage plants. I see no sign of the onions.
June 18th 2006
I leave the farm and the two cats in the capable hands of our tennant and go down to the apartment in Vancouver with my husband. We are hoping that the veggie patch and the back newly grassed three acres survive without watering!!
June 26th 2006
The veggie plot has survived without watering but only just! The corn has done well as has the cabbage plants. The tomatoes have a few fruits on them and the newly planted tomatoes have grown in size. However the peppers and the blueberry bushes have suffered. There are dead leaves on the blueberry bushes and the pepper plants are about the same size as when I left! They are desperate for water as are the melon plants. I am not sure if they will give any fruit this year. I watered the garden well so we will have to see if they revive!
The cherries are almost ripe!!!
June 27th and 28th.
On both days I mowed the new grass on the big three acre field at the back of the farm. really I mowed the weeds which had grown in places to over two feet in height! I have mowed the whole field now, taking it a bit at a time and at most working for an hour at a time. It looks better. In places we have some grass growing too!!!!
June 30th 2006
I decide to pick the cherries that are almost ripe. I get a large bowl and fill it up just by standing and pickign from the lower branches. They taste good but my husband says they are too tart for him and says I picked them too early! We will pick the rest in a few days when they have ripened more!
July 3rd 2006
The cherries on the tree have been enjoyed by the birds! Not one is left!!! The same thing happened last year! I was right to pick them just before they are ripe or the birds woudl have had the lot!!
July 10th 2006
The zucchini are growing nicely. We have had several feeds off the radishes. They are hot but delicious.
We have bought a small water cannon on wheels and 100 feet of hosepipe to attach to it. Also we now have the irrigation pipe in place that has a tap on it (mended by Paul so it now works successfully) which means that the new water cannon is connected to it as well as a length of hose for the veggie patch. It can now be watered whenever it needs since it is off the irrigation water rather than the household water which had watering restrictions.
July 11 2006
I have mowed some of the three acre field with thee sit on mower. I spent one hour in the morning and one in the evening. Another session like this and it should be done again! It seems it needs mowing about every two weeks.
July 20 2006
I have had several feeds of zucchini. They are delicious!
July 21 2006
I had my first pea pod off our pea plants today!!! Mmmmmmm delicious! I love to eat peas out of the pod.. they are much nicer than cooked!
Aug 5 2006
The zucchini have produced lots already, including one that I missed that grew to marrow proportions of over a foot long!
We have had many pea pods that we have eaten as they are straight from the pod with help from Bosun our puppy who has decided he likes peas as much as we do!
We have had about half a dozen ripe tomatoes from our plants and they are really tasty!
I had to do a big weeding session in the veggie patch as I didn't do any weeding for two weeks since I got my frozen shoulder. I needed to take things easy with what I did with my arm. Now my arm is back to more or less normal I am doing more with it again!
Aug 12 2006
We have done more weeding in the veggie patch plus we have started a compost heap. Poles have been dug into the ground and a fence put in to separate the two sections. It is inside the veggie patch so that the deer and other animals cannot get in to eat the food that gets put into it!
The peas have all been picked and the old pea plants have been pulled out now.
This time last year I had picked lots of plums from the tree at the front of the house. I had bottled a lot plus I had made jam by this time last year. This year however we have eaten two plums only off the tree. They are not ripe yet.
Aug 24 2006
The plums on the front tree are ready and we have been picking them for a few days now.
The apple tree that produced only a few apples last year is laden and are ready to be picked. We thought at first that most would have worms in or be wasp eaten but we seem to have a lot of perfect apples.
We had our first feast of corn the other day. Delicious!
Aug 25 2006
I picked the red kidney beans. The pods had dried on the plants and were picked and the dried red kidney beans stored in a big mason jar.
Aug 28 2006
I had missed a row of the dried kidney beans so picked them today and pulled out and discarded the old plants.
The tomatoes are ripening nicely on the plants and in a day or two there will be a load to pick!