And a deep sigh at that.
I am tired, sore, sunburned, and still pretty dirty.
I am supposed to be down in Red Wing (or at least on my way)
I was supposed to finish planting the potatoes at the Minnetonka and Ness Farm gardens today.
Life doesn’t always work out like you plan.
So I was up early this morning. Really early. Buddha and Tarter Cat got in a fight this morning. At 345 am. Under our bed. That got me up. Shortly after that raccoons were fighting (4 am) in the yard behind ours which had most of the dogs in the neighborhood barking (including mine) which was followed by more issues with our cats. My wife blissfully slept through it all, thanks to a few glasses of Baily’s Irish Cream before bed and a late movie we watched together. Nell got up then, and that was it. I made a pot of coffee and the day started.
I worked in the yard here. 7 Terhune tomatoes, 5 Black Trifelle, 4 Nyagous, and 2 Cherokee Purple went into the ground. Then I heard my cell phone ringing inside. It was Roger. He would be here in an hour with two hives of bees. Ok. I had not cleared the area for the extra hive, plus I wanted to get concord grapes planted behind where the hives were going to be, and it is better to plant before you have 70,000 bees reorienting themselves than after. I got the area cleared, bricks set for the hives to sit on, and the grapes planted before Roger got here. Nice, calm hives. We placed them without even putting on bee gear. That was good, because my bee gear is in the same place my rain gear is, and not accessible right now. Roger had more hives to take out to the Hamms Estate and wanted help with that, so I went and helped him place a couple hundred thousand more bees. Each hive has about 50 pounds of honey in it, 35,ooo bees, and maybe 20 pounds of wood. My back was not thrilled with me. 
I was supposed to be at the Minnetonka gardens (my internal schedule to get shit done) by 10 am. Didn’t happen. I was moving bees at that time. When I got back home I took some anti-inflamatories and laid down for an hour. After an hour it was 2 pm and I headed over to the Minnetonka Garden. I finished planting the potatoes out there. Not having the corn there means I have 3x the potatoes I did last year there. Raccoons are not into eating potatoes (yet) plus I also did 30 feet of long-season storage beets there and 4 hills of a bushing crookneck butternut squash I am developing as well. When I got into the car, it was 520 pm and all that is left to plant there is 7 beds of peppers and tomatoes.
I drove home, made dinner for everyone, and then it was 630. I putzed around in the garden, planted some perpetual spinach (a kind of chard) and fertilized the garlic and onions I have planted here. Then Claire, Pheobe and I just sat on the ground in front of the hives and watched them fly past us.
When we were done with the novelty of that, we dug up the ground there looking for worms, filling a bowl with them to feed to the chicks. Amazing how fast they are growing. Too small to go over to David’s yet (thank God, we have not built the coop there yet) but big enough that they are outgrowing the space we have them in, and cannot tell hens from cocks yet. They are the size of grown quail now. Tempted to see what they taste like, but don’t want to eat a hen by accident.
Patti had a graphics job she needed to finish before we left for Red Wing, and I had not done the Ness Farm due to the Bees cutting into my day. I have a spot of time coming this week on Wednesday because the kids have “field day” for school, so I will be home after watching/supervising that about 3 hours earlier than I usually am, so I can get out there to finish the last planting of potatoes out there. Maybe even the corn I want to plant there. We will see.
So while Patti was finishing the job up I got the kids all bathed, hair washed, in pajamas, car packed and we were ready to go. I figured the kids would sleep in the car and was getting them calmed down. There was a nice moonrise tonight and it was hard to keep the kids out of the street. I told them they could not leave our yard. Just before 9 pm Patti emailed the last of the files and we could go. We would be to Red Wing by 1030 pm. Not bad. I would be in the garden there by 6 am.
Not to be. Nell saw Milo, which is a cat that lives down the street and unbeknownst to us, went down to pet him. Milo is, well, a cat, and particular in his ways. He likes attention and petting, but he did what he does. Nell came running into the house, holding her wrist and her arm was covered in blood. When Milo had enough attention he had told her by scratching her, and one of his claws had hooked into her wrist. That it had caught had caused a tear, which meant a good amount of blood due to where he had hooked her, and she was screaming and upset. At 930 she was still screaming so I called my parents up, told them we would not be down in Red Wing until tomorrow morning, and I got the kids into bed. Of course for a time I had three crying kids because they were not going to Grandma and Grampa’s until tomorrow but it is just what it is. No way after today I was going to even attempt to deal with a crying kid for a 95 mile drive at night, while being tired, sunburned and dirty.
Instead, I am blogging now what I thought I would combine with whatever I get done with tomorrow. Maybe it is better this way. Maybe this saves me from some horrible injury that would have happened if I had been in the gardens down there at 6 am. What I know is that I will likely not be in the gardens there until some time after 10 am, and the sudden spring we are having has me a couple weeks behind in the work I feel I need to get done. The seeds are all packed for tomorrow. I guess what I manage to get done, is what I manage to get done.
If you’re looking for a flovar sensation that is more tantalizing than the ordinary baklava, here is a recipe to the rescue! Already a hit here on the Great Plains, you may find yourself making this for many festive occasions!Beekman 1802 BaklavaIngredientsSyrup:•1 jar Beekman 1802 Rosemary Creamed Honey•1 cup sugar•3/4 cup water•bc tsp. ground cinnamon•1/8 tsp. ground allspice•2 whole cloves•Peel from half of one lemon, zest onlyFilling:•10 oz. walnuts, roasted or unroasted•8 oz. pistachios, roasted or unroasted•1/3 cup granulated sugar•1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon•1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted pistachios)Dough:•2 sticks unsalted butter•1 pound phyllo sheets, thawed according to package instructions Method:Prepare the syrup by combining the honey, sugar, water, lemon zest, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the syrup is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. It’s important to scrape the sides of the saucepan to keep ground spices incorporated with the syrup. Remove the cloves and lemon zest and set aside to cool.For the filling, add nuts to a food processor fitted with a knife blade. Pulse until nuts are very finely chopped. Add the remaining filling ingredients to the processor and combine with short, quick pulses. Be careful not to over-process or you will end up with nut butter! Melt the butter over low heat in a microwave-proof container or small saucepan.Using a pastry brush, lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch, or similar sized baking dish, with some of the melted butter. Your baking dish should be just slightly smaller than the phyllo sheets.Open the package of phyllo and lay the thin sheets on a clean work surface next to your baking dish. Cover the sheets with a piece of plastic wrap and then a lightly damp kitchen towel. Keep phyllo covered at all times when not retrieving a sheet as phyllo dries out very quickly if left uncovered.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.Place one sheet of phyllo in the bottom of the buttered baking dish and lightly brush with some of the melted butter. Repeat this procedure with 6 more sheets of phyllo, for a total of 7 layers. With a sharp paring knife, carefully trim that part of the phyllo that is on the sides of your baking dish, creating a flat surface. Spread be to 1 cup of the nut mixture evenly over the buttered phyllo sheets. Repeat again with 7 more sheets of phyllo, buttering each layer as before, trim, and top these sheets with another be to 1 cup of the nut mixture. Continue this layering process, buttering 7 sheets of phyllo, trimming, and topping each 7 sheets with be to 1 cup of the nuts, until you end up with a 5th layer of phyllo sheets. Refrigerate baklava for 30 minutes. Remove baklava from refrigerator. Use a sharp knife to make four lengthwise cuts through the baklava. You should have 5 lengthwise strips. Then cut diagonally at 1 1/2-inch increments to form diamond shapes. Bake the baklava until golden brown, about 40 minutes.Remove from the oven, set aside on a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Reheat syrup if it is too cool to ladle easily. Use a ladle, spoon, or small measuring cup to drizzle the cooled syrup over the warm baklava. Allow to stand several hours, or covered overnight with foil, before serving.Enjoy!