July Garden

Sugar snap peas!

Cherokee Trail of Tears heirloom beans

Romanesco Broccoli & Kale (a little bug bitten)

I can't keep up with the raspberries!

Some of my flowers on the way! Front to back, sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, rudbeckia, and celosia. I got such a late start as we didn't put the seeds or seedlings in until mid-June but I'm hopeful that we'll just have a late crop of bouquets.

Tomatoes, basil, cukes, eggplant, pumpkin, and watermelon are all taking off as well. However, I'm not sure we're going to see many of the leeks or celery survive the trip from D.C.

The weed war is exhausting and I'm losing miserably. I'm lucky to keep the rows clear but the aisles and all the reserved garden space is over-run. Even the plot of buckwheat I planted as a green mulch next to the strawberries has fallen to the enemy. I have all kinds of choice words for the weeds when I slam the stirrup hoe into the quack grass or slice the ground-cover with the colinear hoe. It sounds like a bar-room fight in my garden.

Farm & Family Visits

We had a few wonderful visits last week. While Alex and Erin took Naish to Pleasant Lake in New London, I zipped down to Boston to visit with newest niece, Lila, and nephew, Reed (who was sleeping during the photo shoot). Also, big sister Ivy shown here discussing cookies with her aunt. Beautiful babies! Congratulations Christine, David, Wendy, Jeff, and Ivy!

Our friend Sisi came for a farm tour and dinner last Friday on route to picking up her daughter at camp in Maine. Arthur had bush-hogged a path down to the river and, despite some nasty deerfly infestations, we were able to hike much of the perimeter of the farm except for "Beaver Armagedon," which is inaccessible at this point. Clearly that's the barn and hay wagon in the pics. Also the wood-splitter that's powered by the tractor. Art split about a cord of wood by the end of the weekend. Adam joined us too and we had so much fun and lots of laughs. We hope Sisi will bring the whole family next time and soon!

Alex visits from L.A.!

Alex arrived from Long Beach, California for a last-minute long holiday weekend visit. He helped bush-hog the back field we have tentatively named "not-festival field" (thanks Adam!), picked blueberries, went river-bridge-jumping with Naish, sunbathed on the North Atlantic coast (brrr!), caught a leech in beautiful Lake Monomoy, and visited with his wonderful girlfriend, Erin, who happens to live in New London, NH, about an hour and half from here. Check out the farm boots and the cell phone. We love you Alex and wish you all the best in your adventures in Hollee-wood! Come back home soon!

Stone Turtle Shines arrives at Flying Cloud

We delivered Jack to Flying Cloud, his Farm & Wilderness camp in Plymouth, Vermont. Here's a pic in front of his tipi "Rising Sun" with Naish, my father, and his counselor, Rafe. The camp's philosophy is strongly influenced by Native American and Quaker values and ritual. Jack will spend much of the summer sleeping in the tipi, living, working, and playing on the Vermont mountainside.

Jack registered for school before he left. He will be in the advanced math class and has elected to study Latin and band for which he will play the string bass - the only string instrument in the school's band.

My father and stepmother were here for the week and helped with everything including picking berries all of which have ripened at once. We are flush with strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries and are just trying to keep up with the picking, eating, and freezing. Arthur is still haying and has moved on to the back fields. We are having a stretch of beautiful sunny and temperate weather that is ideal for cutting and drying the hay. Plus, the nights are cool and we can snuggle under covers after a long day at work.

Next post: ALEX VISITS FROM L.A.!

A Mohawk for You, Mom

Haying and Blueberries

Art mowed, raked, and baled the front field. His first go at haying and it went very well, despite glitches with the tedder and pins and twine on the baler. Sunday afternoon was overcast and muggy and we were watching the skies all day. Art was out fiddling with the baler and I thought he was just preparing for monday baling so I started prepping for dinner. Then I notice he's out there with 3 rows of hay bales and he's going along at a good clip.

Jesus! I thought, he's going for it. I ran out to the truck to go pick up the bales and cover them before the rain and here comes our wonderful neighbor Steve on his tractor and we both set off following the baler and loading. Then Andrew and Donna show up and the kids and its a hay wagon ride and a race against the rain. We had great fun and were so moved by the generosity of our neighbors.

On Saturday our New England crew came out to help and to celebrate our arrival. So much got done including strawberry picking and freezing, weeding, garden irrigation, and the blueberry netting! (That's the locust pole structure in the pic above). A big thank you to Bob, Nan, Beth, Don, Lisa, Guy, Adam, Jeff, Wendy, Misa, Larry, Ivy, and little Reed.

Our blueberries are just about ready as are the raspberries. AND I'm still trying to catch up with the strawberries! This place is just incredible.

It's been a momentous week. Naish graduated from Concord Hill! AND we finally arrived on the farm with A LOT of strawberries ready to pick, eat, freeze, and weed. Naish and I arrived 5 days before Art and Jack. MUCHAS GRACIAS to my mom for driving the cats, weeding, unpacking, and generally putting up with the hub-bub. All the seedlings are in! But more on their progress soon.