It Only Hurts When I Move

   

      We could not have asked for a more perfect day...The weather was unseasonably crisp. Signs were in the breasts, which is the most nurturing planting sign of all.  These are things I now live by. If Miss Duff and Mr. Thurman are planting, rest assured I'll be out in my own...and we were...from sun up till sun down.
    This year marks my fourth go round at gardening. Having wound up in the ER for the past 3 Augusts (about the time I stress out for not being able to pick it all or freeze it quick enough or or block a few days to can it) I'm going with a different model this year...
     Instead of planting my entire 1-acre plot (yes, I know I could've started with something smaller, but the planting and tilling parts I love...It's the "watching it rot on the vine" that wigs me out), I decided this year to break my garden into 4 segments. Several benefits to this one...For one, I get to divide things up...
     --Give watermelon a garden of their own since they vine all over everything...
     --Give corn its own space right where the dogs can keep watch at night and bark at deer who come our way
     --Plant in cycles so it's not all coming in at once. (This one's worth the price of the ticket alone~ What a concept!)
     The good news is, the seeds are planted, the lavender tilled, the garden is laid out and ready to go...
     The bad news is, I could barely move by the time I settled in for the night, and am walking kinda funny today. I texted my right hand man, Pat this morning to see if he was ready to quit only to have him call me a rookie and tell me he thought yesterday was a blast~
     I do have to say, I've been blessed with some great careers in my life, but none is more rewarding than farming.

To Bee or Not To Bee . . .

   

    (What is the question?)
     I laugh to think that when I began this little
farm journey, what I pictured was nothing to compare with the reality I live today.
    Going back to my very first blog of a year and a half ago, I spoke of Waldon and quoted Thoreau. "Holing up" was key to the equation. My journals, were to be but keepsakes of lessons learned with a few experiential notes to grace the liner pages of my next cookbook.
     In my mental "Farmville" mornings were to be spent writing, with grazing goats and waggy-tailed dogs for backdrop. The air would be fresh. The crops would make great photo ops for the cookbooks that are my livelihood. Otherwise, solitude and silence reigned supreme. (OK, so 4 out of 5 ain't bad.)
     Now that I'm living it, my biggest misconceptions were these:
    1) I had no idea one could fall in love with a way of life, the way most people look for it in a lover.
    2) The work is never done, but there's something very spiritual about the process...(I will go as far to say there is GOD in the process.) It is hard work, but it is joyful work, and fulfilling work.
    3) Don't EVEN think you can do this alone. (#3 being the biggest misconception I've had to overcome.)
     As I enter my 4th season, I feel just as much (if not more) the novice, though the experiences grown richer, and the lessons come faster. Though I've completed the Master Gardener's course, I am not, nor do I ever feel I will be a master gardener. I am, however a master student, and shall be until the day I die.
     Today's experiences reiterate that notion, as does everyday lived here on the farm.

    Two wonderful things happened today--both involving women I admire greatly.

    1) I started this year's garden (today's planting sign was in the breasts, which is nurturing for both above and below ground plants).
    2) The pups, the cat, the kids and I welcomed the newest addition to our family: namely, bees! (And what a welcoming it was!)

    Starting with the former, may I just say here, neighbors don't get any better than Miss Duff! As her precious name suggests, Miss Duff is as country as the lane we live on and has been pretty much gardening all her life. It warms my heart to hear stories of when my uncle last lived here, knowing his penchant for running a place known for country cooking was enhanced by his regular meals shared around Miss Duff's kitchen table.

    First call of the morning was to Miss Duff, asking if she'd come walk me through the potato planting process one more time. While a little late in the season (like last year, we didn't have a spring), I had 5 lbs of Kennybacs in need of cutting "just so" and while I've done this ritual before, I always like going over the steps with someone who can do this in her sleep...Quick as a flash (as the insurance ad states)  Miss Duff was there.
     For the record, you need a couple of good eyes and a quadrant of the tater to put in the soil. Because they are below ground crops, you aren't going to know if you did it right until it's too late and given I had done it incorrectly before, I wanted one last lesson before pulling the dirt back over things.  (Last year was too late to get potatoes in, and the year before they didn't grow properly; Thurman says it's because I planted on the wrong sign.)
     Never one to pass up an opportunity to ask a question, I ran another 100 past her about other crops as well, including, but not limited to: okra, peas, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, strawberries and a litany of others (many new to me this season).
     With several rows underway, I next get the call I've been waiting for~ My bee authority Miss Margaret was on her way, toting 4 crates of bees (at roughly 10,000 per crate). Kind of her to bring me a bonnet, and for safety's sake I did go for long sleeves which I tucked in gloves, but honestly, the bees (disoriented though they were) seemed delighted in their girly painted hives :) (Didn't know it at the time, but there are thousands of girls to about a dozen "drones" (i.e. male bees), so the feminine energy around the place was palpable, despite the fact that we had several guys here helping hoist, haul and host.  Having walked the land previously, staking out the best possible path so my new family members can pollinate both flowers and food ...we welcomed the girls to their new homes.
 

 For the next few hours,  I watched in awe as this amazing woman transferred one screen after another, after another, carefully, placing them within their new homes. My questions were endless...Her answers, pure wisdom. In short, the live cycle of bees and how they make honey is  as fascinating a proposition as it gets...Suffice it to say I'll be writing on this much more in the days to come.
     All in all, a good and productive day ...the kind of day that has you plopping head to pillow and leaving it there until the sun wakes you up.
    Little did I know when I started out that Green Acres really IS the place to be...And farm living, the life for me.
     To the ladies who made this day buzz with life, my heartfelt thanks...And to you guys here helping, never forget, you're outnumbered.  :)


   


   

It's a Sign!

   

     The story of how I came to gardening is as real as rain and as precious a story as I could ever craft, and yet it has the additional virtue of being true. I recall it vividly each year as I bring out my trusty hoe (named Ida) and my little green wagon, as it's forever etched fondly in both heart and mind.
     With two cookbooks under my belt, I had decided it was time to take it back a notch and learn what to do with fresh veggies coming straight from the garden. Here in the country it is not uncommon to come home to a watermelon or a bushel of beans left on your front porch from kind farm neighbors. It was one such event that prompted me to ask, "What happens when it doesn't come measured and pre-cooked in a can first?" (as the preponderance of my original recipes called for).
     No sooner had I told a neighbor friend "This year I'd like to try gardening" did I come home a day later to find an acre of my front lot "turned" (first stage of ground prep when your starting from scratch, as I was about to learn from my soon to be mentor and best bud, Thurman).
     Not only would Thurman teach me the difference between turning and tilling it, he would go on to teach me the difference in hoeing and sowing, ridges and rows and a myriad of other helpful tips that, quite honestly, I wouldn't have even known how to google. But the most important thing Thurman taught (and is still teaching me) is how to read an almanac, and more importantly a planting calendar.
     Now the interesting thing about planting calendars is, depending on where you get yours, they can vary about a day or two on either side. (Note: Here in Lebanon, you can get your calendar from the Co-op, Edwards Feed Supply or Ligon & Bobo Funeral Home. I think the Farm Bureau has a version as well, but don't hold me to that.) I had to laugh the other night when I called to cross check a sign for planting "below ground" crops, when Miss Duff's calendar called for one day and Thurman's the following and my farm hand yet another entirely different, so we took an average, and counted backwards from the full moon.
     Bottom line, I find that following the pattern of the moon DOES make a difference (as most every serious old time farmer I've ever spoken to will attest). I'm guessing that industrial farmers (those who supply grocers and food chains) can't sit around and wait for a sign to be just right, but here on the bend, we do, and not only for planting and harvesting, but some are even known to schedule their doctor's appointments and surgeries. And for sure you plan things like banding or (heaven help) slaughtering for meat by the signs.
     That said, it was with great anticipation that I finally began the first round of lavender rows (second rounds to be completed today and tomorrow as signs are in the feet, which is good, as transplanting and roots are a feet-sign proposition). Anything to assist the growing process (planting guides, moon signs, goat poop) you name it, I'm for it...after all, farming is about as serious and honorable profession as I've ever run across and if someone's been doing it this way for generations, I'd be wise to listen and take notes, which I am...which is soon to become my third cookbook...(Little sneak preview there!)