A Busy Morning on the Farm

Well, I have gone almost a month without posting.....shame on me.

It is spring in the Ozarks, still not past a danger of frost but settling in much warmer.  We are dry but are hopeful heavy rains will visit us next  week.

I haven't mowed yet and grass in the yard and field is coming along very slowly.  I hope heavy rains will correct that.

I have been busy trying to get ready for gardening season.  I sorted my seeds according to what needs planting under lights now and next month.  I checked and have enough potting soil to fill all containers.  I might actually get that done this weekend.

I have re-tilled  my tiny little garden plot that I now  call the cat's favorite playground and litter box. They  run and bounce on the soft soil and roll around in it.  They are fun to watch.  I may not find that so amusing when I plant seeds.........may have to use temporary covers of some sort.

Next job was getting my dedicated rose bed started.  I have almost sworn off roses because of Japanese Beetles and RRD (rose-rosette disease) but they are so irresistible that when Lowe's had a rack of them out front I couldn't resist!  They know how to market them!  I bought 6, let's see if I can remember them:  Olympiad, Medallion,  Mr. Lincoln, Tropicana, Queen  Elizabeth,  and  Love.  (I actually did it).  I have copper markers by each one knowing that in a week or so I won't remember.

I will to under plant the roses with some perennials. The plan(hope) is having them in one location will make me take better care of them.  I will also have to walk past them going to the garden almost daily which will be a good thing.  Most are chosen for fragrance.

I have lots of daffodils in bloom,

 This was before I pruned the rose, Aloha and below is after:

I pruned most of the clematis the two needing it the most are the Type 3 that should be cut  down to 18inches or so each season.

I have two type 3 planted on the right side of the panels. they were hanging over the chicken yard fence to the right of the barrel.  

The prunings

 

Just two or three more to do and they are Type 2 which don't require much at all. 

I am done for the day!

Rain!

We finally got it; rain at last. Last count was l.25 inches of the precious liquid.  More is due this afternoon.  It came down slow and steady so I hope it didn't wash away the lettuce seed.

I am happy to report that I  did get started  with the chainsaw pruning.  Bless garden carts!  I  loaded mine with the drop cord, the chainsaw and various other hand tools.  DH was  with me  to pull the rose bush away as I cut it,  It was an Alba rose and very thorny. 

There is also a young peach tree in this bed and the row of dried perilla plants that need to be pruned and removed.

This was my stopping point.  Rains were coming  so we drove the cart into the old chicken house/aka mower shed and came in.

It did take a few pictures of the daffodils before starting  my work.

From Blog March 2016

this is what I was happy to see.  I am the only person I know who has never had luck with forsythia!  After cutting these to the ground twice now, I finally have blooms!

A Beautiful Sunday Morning in the Ozarks

 


I could see the pink through the kitchen curtains and tried to capture it.  It is times like these I wish our power lines were all underground.

Yesterday was another perfect day and I managed to work outside over two hours.  I planted three different kinds of lettuce and trimmed 6 or 7 clematis and the Annabelle hydrangea.  Now I need to pick up all that debris.

Max just came in and told me it is getting windy so I may not do much outside today.  The wind is supposed to be bringing heavy rains, fingers are crossed.

My little garden plum tree is loaded with buds and I am afraid it is going to get caught by a hard freeze again.



There are just some things we cannot control.......

I have some chain -saw pruning to do.  I will use the smaller electric saw.  Maybe I can get Max to follow along and pick up the litter using the mower and the garden cart.

I definitely need to start some egg plant seeds today.  I wasn't going to do any this year but have seen some interesting recipes for eggplant.......I now have three different varieties to try.  These will go under the lights on the back porch, but first will  sit on top of the lights for bottom warmth.

One of the Korean boxwood's near the back porch (aka the patio area) are just beginning to bud and I can smell them!  If Seedscatterer hadn't mentioned her boxwoods with scent  I would never have tried to chase down that fragrance!  Thank you Jean.

OK, now for the fun stuff.  I am loving  the Cuisinart ice cream maker and have to fight myself not to use it too often.  Then I tell myself it is a good way to use extra milk, cream and eggs........

This is the machine.  The only negative is storage....of course it went on the shelving unit along with a gazillion other things.

This is stage one, foamy ( I think this is foamier because I went heavy on the cream rather than the Milnot which I will not do again for caloric reasons and that is what we are used to).

and the finished product:  from start to finish just around 30 minutes,



I use a recipe that my Sis has worked on but I modify it by using Milnot in place of the cream element (except for yesterday.  the cream certainly did not hurt the flavor).  Her recipe overfills my unit so I have to cut back the amounts a little.  I need to work that out to an exact thing and then write it down for posterity.

Happy Sunday!