peeking over the fence...

just to say howdy! lol!

The kids and I have been keeping busy these days, but things are slowing some now. The kids are all doing well, with the baby growing like a weed...lol!

Tripled the size of our garden this year, we did. Got two main garden plots, one with 30 rows stretched out lengthwise across 4 acres, and one smaller one about 1/2 a acre. Got things planted and most are starting to come up well.

The sweet corn has already grown to average about 2ft high. Cuke plants, yellow & green squash, and butter beans are a popping up left and right, all doing well, promising to produce even more than last year. Various types of peas are showing, but only about 3-4inches high right now. Tomatoes & peppers, both hot & sweet, are all getting along fine. Went all out with the tomatoes this year, planting more than ever. Hope to have lots to put up this summer/fall. Watermelons are a showing as well. Don't usually have much luck with them here, so keep ya fingers crossed for me there...lol! Over wintered the collard plants, all have turned to male plants now, and have brought the most beautiful butterflies out for a visit.

Rose bushes are full of blooms, as are the hydrangea, some of the lilies and glads. Weirdest thing happened earlier this year...had a crocus pop up just outside the flower bed! Always wanted some crocus, but never planted any, so don't have a clue where it came from, but thankful for it nonetheless!

Enough of my rambling I guess, the baby's waking up... So, how's everyone else's gardens a doing?

~Rae

Reply to
rachael simpson
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Nice. 4 1/2 acres of garden is more of a farm... you must have helpers, and what do you do with so much crop, do you operate a roadside stand and/or do you sell to local markets. How about some pictures.

Reply to
brooklyn1

Hi Rae Good to hear everything is well with you. Sounds like you are managing to keep busy! I have been busy trying to get my garden ready for a garden tour on Saturday. It's sure a good way to get things accomplished that I sometimes put off.

The veg garden is small, just for 2 people. I am not into that "putting stuff up" business.......If I could do it in December, maybe. LOL

Nice to hear from you, keep in touch.

Emilie NorCal busi

Reply to
mleblanca
*snipped*

well, most that know me, know we farm...lol! the only helpers are family and we share our garden crop with friends and family, after I'm done with putting up what we need for the winter.

Reply to
rachael simpson

Hey Emilie!

Glad to see an old friend answer...lol! You know, some days, I don't believe "busy" would be the word for it, lol! I love canning veggies, making pickles, etc...that's actually fun for me. And it's something I can incorporate the oldest two in by giving them small tasks to help them learn this way of life and it's values. It also keeps them busy and out of too much mischief while I work! lol!

A garden tour, eh? Good for you! I really know what you mean about putting stuff off...lol!

Thanks for speaking and glad to know you seem to be doing well also, I've noticed that you have kinda become a lurker like me...lol!

~Rae

Reply to
rachael simpson

That's still a huge amount of veggies, you must have like fifty families of relatives and friends. I have only a 50' X 50' garden plot and there's no way I can use all that grows, can barely give away all the extras, and I don't make any attempt to grow a lot per sq foot, in fact the past three years I donated about 1/3 of my garden to blueberry bushes and still as each veggie comes in it's a bonanza. My friend down the road has a 2 acre garden and he is able to supply all the small grocery/convenience stores, B & Bs, restaurants, etc. around here. I sure would like to see pictures of your operation, for a home garden 4 1/2 acres must be really something to see... please?

And I know very well what 4 1/2 acres is, my back yard is 5 acres of lawn, takes a good part of two days to mow, I'd hate to think how much work it would be to tend to it in crops, would take like six families of illegals. Yesterday for the first time this season it dried out enough that I was able to mow my 4 acre back field for the first time, used to be a hay field and it was already in seed, that takes a full day's labor every week just to mow and keep the forest from growing back.

Gotta start somewhere:

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going:
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planned to start string trimming today but it looks like rain... I sure hope not as I plan to till my veggie garden this weekend and I need it to dry out.

Reply to
brooklyn1

We mow 6 acres every week and it has 31 hollies, and 42 trees to mow around and we mow it using 2 mowers in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. We both use zero turn radius 5 ft mowers. We used to use a tractor with a mower behind and it took a lot longer.

Reply to
Sheila

You have a very nice view off your back deck and no weeds.

Reply to
Sheila

Actually it's all weeds, much is mixed hay but it's green and at a distance it looks like well manicured lawn grass.

Reply to
brooklyn1

Well, two mowers going at the same time are going to be twice as fast as one tractor. I have a seven foot rear finishing mower on my larger tractor and a five foot belly mower on my smaller tractor. I mow a little more than ten acres... I never timed myself as I mow in sections and how long it takes depends a lot on the weather, wet ground takes longer as I need to go slower and when it rains often the grass keeps growing but I can't mow, and tall grass takes a lot longer to mow, often I need to mow the same section twice at different heights... once the hot dry summer weather arrives I find it much easier to keep up, but spring is always a guessing game. Oh, post pictures.

Reply to
brooklyn1

This has photos plus some misc.

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Reply to
Sheila

Your property looks well cared for, lovely trees. Where is your vegetable garden?

Reply to
brooklyn1

I thought it was a rather large garden myself, until I went back and noticed the word =93kids=94.

Worse then locus for a gardener.

I step on locus, but the kids got me to put out 3 extra rows.

;-)

Reply to
CanopyCo

Thanks you, All I have are tomatoes and they are in with the Nellies.

Reply to
Sheila

lol, yeah, kids can be good for that! last year though, the cows got out over night and destroyed a good half of our garden, right about harvest time for the corn...prepared for that this year though...that happens this time, we just might have a freezer full of beef...lol! ~Rae

Reply to
rachael simpson

Why do you keep such a large area in grass and not allow trees to grow back? A forest will support a lot more life than grass.

Reply to
Hedda Lettis

"Hedda Lettis" wrote:

Nothing is further from the truth. Forests alone don't support much life, many critters can make homes and find protection in forests but they'd starve to death. Most life lives on the edges of forests, of which my property contains many miles... I maintain many paths, trails, and hedgerows. Grazing critters (deer/geese, etc.) need the grasses to feed... even the raptors need large expanses of open space to feed, as do the land preditors, as do water fowl who can't land or become airborne in a forest nor would they find food on a forest floor.. there really isn't much food at all on the forest floor, perhaps a rain forest floor but not here... most food in any forest is in the canopy, requiring specialized animals which can take advantage; woodpeckers and squirrels but deer can't climb trees, there isn't much light on a forst floor so nothing much edible grows. Many song birds feed on insects as they swoop in immense flocks close to the ground, without vast open space they'd starve or move on... perhaps you've never greeted spring while watching 10,000 robins on the march hunting worms. Without large open spaces there'd be very few pollenators, life on land would cease to exist, not just as we know it, life on land would just cease. Ultimately there needs to be a balance of various biomes; forest, meadow, pasture, and wetlands... I maintain exactly that balance as perfectly as I can, which is why there are so many critters of all types that make their home here. People who make there home in a small cleared space in a forest because they're too lazy to mow see very few critters. Methinks you need to educate yourself on how life forms exist... you've probably believed all those Disney movies featuring animals living deep in the darkest forests that can talk.

Reply to
brooklyn1

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