Hi All,
The first Happy Note of the New Year! The Holidays were so enjoyable! Tod and I got to see all our daughters in one place! It was so wonderful watching them break off to talk with one another, makes my heart warm. We also got to go with Ariel (my eldest) and Ian (her hubby) on a Rail Explorer adventure! On the way out we stayed dry but when we all turned around to head back we got drenched…it was so fun!!! This past weekend was back to normal. Tod got to go birding on Saturday with his buddy Rene and yesterday my bestie and a few of our friends got together for our first “knitting circle”!!! I have been wanting to learn how to knit and one of our friends is an avid knitter so she is teaching us all. The best part is some of us know enough to help one another out! I needed all the help I could get yesterday with the Purl stitch…grrr, it was just so not natural as the Knit stitch was. At the end of our session I thought I had it and then realized that I created another whole stitch…breath, and put it down for now.
Our first week back in the garden was a busy one. Oh, but before I get in to that, over the Holidays Kelly and one of our Board members, Dick, fixed the flooring in the garden Office! It was beat up from years of wear as well as rain getting in from the outside. They came out and patch the hole both inside and outside the doorway! We are oh so appreciative that they did that for the garden! Thanks Guys!
Kaleidoscope was out and helped us to get the Big Hoop House ready for its new plastic cover! Tod came out to help Kelly and I so we all took part of the crew and got to work. Kelly worked with some of the guys on getting the wiggle wire out of the sides of the House and piled it up inside the Big Hoop House to use later. Tod and I worked with the other part of the crew to fold up the old plastic that we could use for other projects later on. Tod took his crew out to the garbage bins to get rid of any plastic that was not viable. My crew helped me to find a spot to store the leftover plastic. Another part of the crew chose to work on cleaning labels for all the new seedlings we need to plant up for the Plant Sale and the Garden!
Speaking of planting, last week PB found all the seeds we needed to get started and then the next 2 shifts got 1,641 seeds started! Brenda and I over the Holidays ordered a bunch more seeds and they are slowly starting to come in. We will be continuing to start seeds as we receive them. After this note I will be inventorying another order of seeds that came in from Seed Savers. I am sure there will be more waiting for me today when I go in for the Transition Class this morning.
The Orchard was getting a lot of attention this week. The week started off with just getting out there to weed it out and then the first crew found these beautiful Thistle plants (yes, I LOVE Thistle plants-ask Tod about my Thistle love). Brenda was hoping they would be a deterrent against the Ground Squirrels but to no avail, they had to be pulled. Let’s put it this way, Lance pulled out 15 Thistle plants on Wednesday and that was already the second shift to be working on that! Friday and Saturday also worked on weeding out the Orchard so hopefully the Thistles are gone! Saturday Crew also fixed the South West corner of the Orchard with chickenwire.
The Orchard was not the only spot getting weeded. GL & KB were out by M14/M15 beds weeding the grasses that were growing up between them! ML, AP, EL & SM were out by the Tomato Cage Area weeding out the path leading over to the Big Hoop House…lots of mallow over there! JP helped to mow the grass down in that area to make it a little easier to get the mallow out. The Native Bed, N14/15, got some weeding done as well as the Milkweed Wheelbarrow out front and the roses were pruned by CL & Brenda. The N bed area also got some weeding done before everyone shifted gears and headed out to the Orchard!
The Greenhouse and Little Hoop House have both been getting some attention since we use the Greenhouse to start the seeds and the Little Hoop House is the second home once they start growing. Brenda and TL got in the Greenhouse to be sure all the electric was in order to make sure the heat mats would be working to keep the seedlings warm. It was also weeded out with cardboard and wood chip being laid down to keep it clear. Oh, and ant traps were laid out…little stinkers! The Little Hoop House got cleared out of any empty pots that could get stored in the Potting Shed. There are still quite a few more brassicas in the Little Hoop House so in your travels of the garden if you are finding empty spots please do let me know and we can get them filled up with what is leftover in the Little Hoop House!
We also harvested 239# of produce to send in to the pantries! Over 100# on Tuesday & Wednesday!
Thank you all for coming to the garden and helping us out!!!
Take care
Lori