That picture is from the end of the say on Saturday. Patti and Jerid watching half of the various detritus Jerid needs to get rid of. Biggest bonfire I have seen in a long time.
That was not how the weekend started. And the weekend is not finished, but it does seem that most of the weekend is going to involve rain which means that now I am officially behind in where I want to be with planting.
Friday evening we put in a few hours at the Ness farm, mostly just weeding, though I did get in 18 hills of Baby Vi squashes. I went back early the next morning, and put in two 30 foot rows of bushing beans. One new one I got from Glenn Drowns which is an old commercial variety (no longer in commercial cultivation) called Minnesota Cranberry, and the other one I put in is Red Valentine. Then I got rained off of the garden and went home.
The rain continued, though not real heavy, until about 3 pm. Then I packed up the whole family and we went out to the Adickes farm. Patti and I let the kids play, while Patti weeded and cultivated in the cabbages, I hilled the 3 Sisters Planting of corn, put in squash hills between every hill of corn, and started planting popcorn.
That is the popcorn. Same popcorn project I have been working on for years. This is the biggest planting I have done of it yet.
Cats enjoyed our presence.
I realized that the cats, as affectionate as they are, are using us as a lookout post as well. While I was working in the garden, the one you see above made a flying leap off of me (and yeah, I was hit a bit with the claws) to land on a mouse I had not noticed a good 10 feet away. It was quickly dispatched, eaten, and then the cat was back up on my shoulders.
Patti wanted me to post the differences in how much we each got done respectively last night. That is the 45 hills of corn, 32 hills of squash, and 5 rows of the popcorn.
Patti did not get through quite as much. Ordinarily I would not point something like this out, but Patti insisted. She also had to take care of Claire’s bloody nose when she caught a knee while jumping on the trampoline, and find, several times, Vi’s boots when it would be discovered she was no longer wearing them.
We quit working when the loss of light was making it difficult to discern seeds from soil, and my body was giving out. The soil here is rich, but heavy, and the rains did not make it easier to work. I retired to their porch with a glass of Crown Royal, while, until the heat drove them away, most everyone else hung out by a rock closer to the aforementioned bonfire.
This morning I awoke early again, and drove out to the Adickes again, before anyone else in my family was awake. I did not get a ton of work done, and no where near what I hoped to have done by now, but I did get in another 3 rows of popcorn, making it 8 rows in excess of 75 feet, and a single row of a bushing lima I am giving a try. Then the drizzle what was falling on me opened up into a soaking rain. I called home, and had Patti look up the weather radar. I was about to be hit by a thunderstorm, so packed it up and came home. We will be back at it as soon as we can, but still a lot to do.
