I try to work in the garden for about 20 minutes every morning before anyone else is up. About 20 minutes a day is enough to stay ahead of the weeds and keep an eye on everything. It’s also a great spot to watch the sun come up.

The Morning View From The Garden

In case you’re wondering, that’s one of the corner post assemblies for the fence I’m installing in the photo – more on that later.

Potato Boy earned his name, for those of you that don’t know, for his love of everything potato – mashed, baked, hash browns, french fries, chips, fried, boiled. The only exception is potato salad, which I have to agree, can be hit or miss. There’s really only one other food that will match the wide-eyed grin he gets at the phrase “mashed potatoes for supper” and that’s Zucchini Muffins.

The Muffins Barely Have Time To Cool

Potato Boy was 5 or 6 the first time I brought home an over grown zucchini. He already had a liking for blueberry muffins – minus the blueberries – so he was naturally curious when I told him I was planning on making the large green squash into muffins. When he asked “what is that again?” with a cautious look as he watched me grate the zucchini I guessed he would never touch a muffin again. Was I wrong. It didn’t take long for Potato Boy’s appreciation for the muffins to catch on with the other kiddos. Even LuLu will swipe a cooling muffin from the table.

Just A Few Common Ingredients

Making the muffins in our house is now a three part process: mixing, baking, and hiding. In order to assure the kiddos don’t polish off an entire batch in a single day, a number of muffins are hidden away to be used as after school snacks during the week. If you’re curious, the recipe is below. We’ll grate the zucchini while it’s in season and freeze two cups in a bag so it’s ready to thaw and use anytime.

Zucchini Muffins
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 eggs (room temp)
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups grated zucchini
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Sift all dry ingredients – set aside. Combine sugar and egg. Beat for 2 minutes. Add oil slowly while beating for 2 to 3 additional minutes. Add zucchini and vanilla. Blend well. Stir in nuts and raisins. Fold in dry ingredients. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes in a lined muffin pan.

With all the help I had planting potatoes this spring, I’d lost track of what ended up where. Now that the potatoes are in bloom, that little issue has been resolved.

The Pinkish Bloom Of The Reds

The Bright White Blooms Of The Russets

Everything else in the garden has taken off the last couple weeks. The bell peppers have grown to the point that they don’t need their protective cover and are starting to bloom. There’s already spinach in the freezer. A couple of the tomatoes have blooms. And the broccoli is some of the best I’ve ever raised… ok, so that’s a pretty low standard since this is the first year we’ve had room for broccoli.

Broccoli

The Iowa Simmental Association hosted its annual Junior Field Day over the weekend. (For those of you not current on your breeds of beef, here’s the wiki link.) With a few other conflicts already on the calendar, we were on the fence about going this year. Turns out it wasn’t an issue as Sissy couldn’t participate while on crutches.

The Field Day is a chance for youth to compete in various educational competitions (sales talks, quiz bowls, etc) and exhibit cattle they’re raising in a relaxed family atmosphere.

My family raises purebred Simmental breeding stock and promote the cattle by exhibiting them at local and state shows. Sissy couldn’t wait to be old enough to take part. Until a couple of years ago I was on the board of directors for the association and helped with the Field Day, so I knew this would be a good place for her to get her feet wet. Sissy was 10 years old at the time and about 70 pounds soaking wet, the heifer was just over 1300 pounds. She was one determined little girl.

In the months leading up to the show Sissy worked with the heifer 3 or 4 times a week. Not for the sake of training the heifer – she had been shown a few months earlier, so she already knew her way around the block – but for Sissy’s sake. When you’re out weighed by 18 to 1, you need to know how to handle yourself as well as the heifer on the end of the rope. I can’t lie and say things went perfectly – there were some tears of frustration and stepped on toes along the way. Sissy hadn’t grown up around cattle and she wasn’t completely comfortable on her own with the heifer.

LuLu Watching Sissy Show (Last Year)

By the time show day rolled around, there were more than a few butterflies. The staging area leading to the show ring is often a great spot to see the manifestation of these butterflies as the cattle don’t want to stand still and the kids get quiet at the sight of the crowd. That’s the situation Sissy and I found ourselves in that day. I was holding the lead to the heifer while Sissy was quietly fidgeting with her hair. When the time came, she gathered herself, took the heifer, and entered the show ring. During her five minutes in the ring you could see Sissy slowly gain confidence. All of the things that where making her nervous were fading away… the crowd, the judge, and the other cattle. She was focusing on exhibiting the heifer – and actually enjoying it. So much so, that when she led the heifer out of the ring – her first question was “when can we do it again?”

Sissy Showing A Heifer (Last Year)

She wants to do it again?! Check back soon and I’ll show you her ‘project’ for this year.

Apparently, somebody told Pip of the expectation that she’d guard the kiddos pumpkin patch from the rabbits – and anything else with taste buds.

A couple nights ago, I glanced out the kitchen window to see Pip crouched down low, like a cat. I followed her line of sight and saw old mother rabbit standing high on her back legs in plan view.

Pip vs Rabbit

The stand off lasted long enough that Pip went from crouching to laying on the grass. In the end, Pip won the battle, but the war is far from over. Pip 1, Mother Rabbit 0. I’m afraid Mother Rabbit will be back with a vengeance.

When I wrote the last update on the kiddos’ pumpkin patch, I left out a detail that seemed unimportant at the time. While carrying a full watering can, Sissy tripped in a hole and did a 9 (out of 10) face plant in the yard. Now Sissy is a decent athlete and dancer, but grace isn’t always her strong suit… especially with the random holes found in our yard (apparently Pip thinks there’s a bounty for each mole she brings to the front door). She could put weight on it and there wasn’t any immediate swelling, so we iced it and she was moving on it pretty good the next morning. Fast forward to the following afternoon and Sissy missed a step and (again) a 9 (out of 10) face plant. This time she was completely off the ankle and ended up sitting in a waiting room for a couple hours waiting for a doctor to decide if the fine line on the x-ray was a fracture or not.

Not The Original Summer Vacation Plan

In the end, it doesn’t matter. Sissy is on crutches for the next week and can slowly work on putting weight back on the ankle over the next two weeks. It will sideline her from her summer plans for a bit, but not as bad as a cast and a broken ankle. And as any good business lady would do with a lesson learned the hard way, she made a change:

No More Watering Can

A huge selling point for my wife when we were looking at the house was the covered porch. The wooden swing is a great spot to sit in the shade to read a book or watch the sun set through the timber to the west. The kiddos love to sit and wait for company or the school bus.

The Covered Porch

One draw back of the porch was the worn blue outdoor carpeting. It was full of dust and things had a way of clinging to it. We’d tried cleaning it in the past, but never had much luck.

The Carpeting Before Removal

I got a wild hair one night, grabbed the corner of the carpet and gave it a tug. To my surprise, the glue gave up easily and the carpet rolled back to show the original porch boards. The floor boards where in much better shape than I had expected.

Porch Boards After Removing Carpet

With a little sanding and some paint, I think it will clean up nicely. Now just to decide on a color….

The pumpkin patch is officially started. The kids are finished with school for the year so last night was a great time to forget about homework and get their hands a little dirty.

Planting Seeds

We had a lot of ground to cover and Sissy and Potato Boy figured out a routine quickly. With a stick in hand they each went down one side of the compost row and put a small hole every 12-18 inches. I’d hand them a seed, they’d drop it in the hole, and cover it up with a tap. On to the next hole. Even LuLu got it, though were she was planting the seeds was a little random.

Stick... Seed... Cover... Repeat

I’ve had some bad luck with getting pumpkin seed to sprout in the past, so I thought I’d get some of the seeds started before the kids planted them this year and had good luck. If you haven’t tried this, it’s pretty simple. About 3 – 5 days before you want to plant, soak the seeds for about 3 hours in warm water. Then, take a few sheets of paper towel and wet them with warm water. Wring out any excess. Fold the towels in halves or quarters and place them in a Ziploc style baggie. Place the seeds between the layers of wet paper towels and set them some place warm, but don’t seal the bag closed – we used a south facing window sill. Make sure the paper towels stay damp and in a few days you should see some action.

A Sprouted Pumpkin Seed

Of course the kiddos weren’t finished after planting. They needed to water everything. At one time this would have been a simple process with a long enough garden hose. Problem is I haven’t replaced the long hose that Pip shredded one day last fall. (That was when her teething habit was just starting and we were silly enough to leave stuff like garden hoses where she could get them.) So, the kiddos put in a little extra sweat equity and carried water.

Sissy With The Watering Can

Potato Boy With His Bucket

LuLu Pitched In With Her Watering Can

Now to sit back and watch them grow… at least for me. Sissy and Potato Boy have some weeds to pull. I wonder if the rabbits were watching?

It was a great three day weekend. Here’s a couple of snapshots…

The View From The Pasture

Red Wave Petunias

A View Of The Road

Wild Flowers

Let's Go On An Adventure!

It’s been a few weeks since we seeded the corn field with a pasture mix of grasses. Things had dried up fairly well by Monday, so LuLu and I decided to check on how things were growing – of course Pip came along (until she got distracted by a whiff of something and took off for the timber).

Out To Check On The New Grass

The mix contains a variety of grasses, including blue grass and timothy, as well as some red clover and alfalfa. It will take a few more weeks before it really starts to look like something and a couple years for it to completely fill in.

Getting Green

The goal for this year is to give it a good start and keep the weeds out.