I worked at it until the sun was going down, and the bugs gave in to even eating me. Combinations of plant resin and dirt has given me a delightful patina to my hands which I discovered does not wash off. <grin> I might not have a working body yet, but I do have working hands. I still depend on Patti to drive me anywhere more than a few miles from the house too. But I am getting better. Each day, I can do a bit more.
Two hours into finding the popcorn plants I asked Patti to take a few photos to show how it was going.
The plants are a bit anemic and even though I mudded them in well as I finished each row, I am going to have to go back with liquid fish or some other nitrogen fertilizer to give them a kick. Lance came out and explained that he thought he had fixed the implement for working between the rows, but when he tried it out on the Iroquois White Flour corn, it pretty much destroyed it, so he didn’t want to do the same to the popcorn. It is not a total loss (though I only glanced at it and didn’t take photos) but I am less concerned in a general way about that corn than I am the popcorn which is the variety a friend was developing, and gave me to finish shortly before he died. I have more of the Iroquois White Flour corn seed, and I will do an intense hand planting of it next year if I really don’t get enough for seed from the patch this year.
Patti and I got out to the garden shortly after noon, and it was just the two of us for about 3 hours because her parents had come to sit with the kids so we could work uninterrupted. Then Patti made the drive home, got Claire off to a sleepover, grabbed some picnic food (chips, an all natural fermented dandelion/burdock/ginger soda, hard salami, mustard and buns) and brought the remaining kids back to the Ness farm for eats and a bit more work.
Nell and Phoebe kept baby Violet out of trouble while Patti and I worked more. Patti was weeding out the squash hills which will mostly have to be replanted. Heidi Ness had the same issue with her squashes. All I can think is that they rotted out due to all the rain. Oh well. Will replant them and still should be enough time before fall frosts with the short season squashes.
By the time the sun was going down and the insects had decided that even I tasted good enough to eat (which doesn’t happen often) I had nearly completed 4 of 8 rows of the popcorn. Hopefully, tomorrow, we are back out there and get through the rest of it.
When we got home Phoebe had to demonstrate for the camera that she can finally ride her bicycle without training wheels which we are all very proud of. It is a rite of passage for kids, and this one she can check off as having passed. My beautiful girls keep growing like the weeds I keep pulling. <smile>
