The good news: after a few warm and windy weeks, we finally got some rain on Friday night. The lawn, garden, and the pasture really needed it. The bad: the wind, thunder, and rain came in the middle of the night and made sleeping a little rough on some. I think Pip summed up the feeling around here on Saturday.

Pip Sleeping In After A Rough Night

It was almost 10 a.m. before Pip moved… about 5 hours later than a typical morning.

The Pumpkin Patch is pretty much all set for the kids to plant the seeds they’ve collected. The weeds are cleared, compost added, and the rabbits have moved in.

Did The Kids Bring One Along?

There’s a nest somewhere in the undergrowth at the bottom of the patch near the waterway occupied by a mother and 3 or 4 young rabbits. I’ve been expecting them to show up. We had 4 or 5 resident rabbits at our old house (plus all the squirrels) and had started joking that we moved to the country to get away from the wildlife.

The kiddos may have a bit of a challenge protecting the young seedlings. Maybe Pip can help when she’s not busy attacking flowers.

I was up early this morning to water a few spots in the garden that were sucked dry by the wind and heat yesterday. This has become a bit of a routine the last couple weeks with the lack of rain. While I slipped on my shoes, I noticed Pip was patiently sitting at the door waiting for me to come out. She really is starting to mature, or so I thought…

Pip

Where’s all the dirt from? Funny. I asked the same question.

What's Left Of The Petunias

This makes two attacks on flowers by Pip this week and her second attack on this group of Petunias since they were planted a few weeks ago. I’m guessing my better half had an interesting conversation with Pip already today.

Has Sissy sold you a pumpkin yet? She can make a pitch with the best of them. At last count she’s sold pumpkins to two teachers, five friends, and two sets of grandparents. The problem? The pumpkins she’s selling are still little seeds sitting on a shelf in the closet.

It all started last summer when Sissy and Potato Boy visited their grandparents for a week. Somewhere along the way they got the notion of setting up a lemonade stand.

The Initial Sibling Partnership

They set up shop during one or two of the warm afternoons. Sissy immediately took to the sales side of things. Though I fear Potato Boy drank most of the profits, they both were extremely proud of the bag of change they brought home.

Potato Boy Drinking The Profits While Sissy Works Sales

Fast forward a few months to October when our two entrepreneurs saw a rural road-side pumpkin stand when we were driving to visit family one weekend. They instantly had images of “Sissy and Potato Boy’s Grand Pumpkin Mart” and asked if they could sell pumpkins next year like they did with the lemonade. My response: “sure, but you need to grow all of the pumpkins yourself.” That didn’t deter them.

So, last night I cleared a small section near the grass waterway that runs through our property and prepared it for pumpkin seeds by adding three short rows of compost. I’ll help clear a few more weeds, but after that it’s all theirs. Next week Sissy and Potato Boy will plant the seeds they’ve managed to acquire from the pumpkins, gourdes, and winter squash used for decorations last Halloween and Thanksgiving by us and some of their grandparents. From there, the agreement is that as long as they maintain the patch they get to sell what it produces.

Feel free to place your order with Sissy… I just wouldn’t make a down payment just yet. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on how it goes!

Have you heard the wives’ tale about planting potatoes on Good Friday? With the remarkable warm spring we had this year, it actually made sense. These guys were actually planted the day before Good Friday. You’ll have to excuse the row/seed spacing. This was the first thing planted this year and Potato Boy and LuLu were eager to help. Given the size of a seed potato I figured it was a great time for them pitch in.

The Potato Patch

There’s somewhere around 125 hills of potatoes in the garden this year in seven rows. There’s a row of Russet, two rows of Red Pontiac, two rows of Norland, and two rows of Kennebec. There might be a few hills of Yukon Gold in there as well… as I mentioned earlier, the potatoes were the first thing planted this year and Potato Boy and LuLu were eager to help. I have a rough idea of what ended up where and once they start to bloom it should clear up the confusion. If not, we’ll find out with the shovel this fall.

All-Blue Potato

Maybe next year we’ll try some All-Blue instead of the traditional Russet. I bet they’d make an interesting potato salad. I wonder what Potato Boy would think of them?

Looking for more information on how to grow potatoes? ISU Extension has some helpful info.

Potato Boy and I woke up early over the weekend to run a couple errands. We were just about home and had turned on to our road when I noticed all of the wild flowers along the road. Potato Boy instantly had a great idea. We parked the car at home and walked back up the road a quarter mile gathering some flowers and grass along the way. It didn’t take long and he had a handful of flowers to surprise his mom with. I’d say it didn’t turn out too bad…

Our Collection Of Wildflowers

I’ve referenced our dog on a few occasions, so I guess I’m overdue on the formal introduction.

Pip

We adopted Pip from a local shelter when she was just three months old. We were told she was half Lab – half German Shepherd, though we’re not totally convinced on the German Shepherd part.

Pip @ 4 months

Given her size, energy and ability to shed massive amounts of hair, Pip isn’t a house dog. Though, don’t feel bad for her. Potato Boy and I built her a dog house. After last winter, I’m convinced her dog house has move insulation than any of the rooms upstairs.

An In-Process Inspection Of The Dog House

It’s been great watching her grow up with the kids and how she treats each one differently. She’s already protective of Lulu and extremely tolerant when Lulu wants to ride her like a horse – it’s all business. She’ll play for a while with Sissy, but Pip’s interest fades pretty fast. Now, her relationship with Potato Boy is totally different. She can’t get enough of him.

Pip and Potato Boy Playing

All in all, after 10 months with the family I think she’s going to settle in just fine.

Pip Watching The Road From The Porch

I was standing in the garden early this morning pretty pleased with how well the tomatoes are doing with their lack of protection early on – they were only covered for a few hours before the dog – Pip – decided the covers were awesome chew toys and they had to tough it without covers from then on. Briefly, the thought of having 16 thriving tomato plants evoked the same “what am I going to do with all of this” feeling that a zucchini plant is famous for. But it was fleeting… these are tomatoes and between fresh and frozen there will be no problem with finding a home for all of them. Plus, they’re not here yet.

It did make me think of a bigger question though – what happens to all of the tomato plants that are sold on just about every corner during the late spring? At last count, I saw plants for sale at drug stores, grocery stores, the large chain stores, the local farm store, hardware/lumber stores, weekend flower fundraisers, the farmers market, and Craigslist – and that’s not accounting for the seed catalogs and heirloom varieties started and maintained personally by gardeners. Care to fathom a guess how many tomato plants are sold each year? I have no clue, but it’s got to be a lot. Where do they go? Yeah, a few of them will be killed off but there aren’t that many black thumbs out there, are there? The state of Iowa should be swimming in tomatoes come September each year. Any ideas?

Swimming In Tomatoes?

 *Photo Credit

One of the disappointments of moving in the middle of summer last year was that it was too late for us to start our garden. My family always had a large garden as I was growing up and I was excited to share those experiences – digging potatoes, freezing sweet corn, and sneaking a snack from the raspberry patch – with the kids. Plus, there really is nothing better than a home grown tomato. We kept a small garden (8 x 12) when we lived in town – enough for a couple tomato and pepper plants, a row each of spinach, beans, and carrots, and maybe a dozen hills of potatoes if everything was squeezed in just right. I still believe we lost a quarter of our harvest to the squirrels, a quarter to the rabbits, and a quarter to a sneaky neighbor. (City squirrels are just crazy enough to be scary.)

The garden early this spring - while still a corn field.

Needless to say we were anxious to get started this spring. In an effort to kill two birds with one stone we decided to put the garden in part of the corn field we plan on seeding. It’s a spot we plan on pasturing some day, but that’s a few years off. The stalks make great organic matter when tilled in, so a couple passes with the tiller and we were ready to get started.

As of today, the potatoes, spinach, carrots, green peppers, lettuce, peas, beans, broccoli, onions, garlic, summer squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, ornamental corn, strawberries, and red raspberries are all planted. Check back as I’ll be providing updates as things get growing.