Strawberry Fountains Forever

Yesterday was planting day. Our shipment of fruit plants arrived on Thursday and we had to get them in the ground as soon as possible. I ordered 75 strawberry plants to begin my strawberry fountain, which I hadn't yet constructed. I planned to build it from 2" x 12" non-treated boards that were 12' long. With the outer box measuring 6' and the inner box measuring 3', there would be no waste. The idea behind the fountain is that you can better reach the berries to pick them, raise them up so they have warmer soil temperatures and separate them from other crops so you can give them nutrients separately.

Building it was a cinch and all of my corners squared up perfectly except for one where the wood was warped into a minor "C" shape. Kevin purchased a new Makita drill and driver for me and I love it! Not having to change out the drill bit and driver all the time made the job go really quickly. We decided to fill the bottom half of each level with 6" of composted wood chips and chicken manure. The compost was filled with worms and would be a nice layer of nutrients for the greedy strawberry plants when their roots grew through the topsoil. They should also help to hold some moisture in and break up the clay soil for better drainage. If we have another frost, I can sprinkle a blanket of straw on them for the night. Once the plants are larger, I will keep the straw bed on permanently to reduce weed growth and let the decomposing hay add nutrients to the soil.

The three types of strawberries we are growing are early glow, sparkle, and sure crop. Fortunately, while we wait for these to grow and blossom and produce their first crop (most likely next summer), we can still pick strawberries at our local apple orchard to make strawberry jam for the year.

Preparing the raised beds were a family affair! Savannah got her shovel and bucket to play in the soil and William fancied himself a backhoe, digging and pushing soil around. Perhaps he'll own his own landscaping company one day since he adores mulch, soil, and sand. Of course, now the hard part is going to be keeping him out of the strawberry fountain now that all 75 plants have been rooted there. I must begin building the kids' playset and sandbox so they have a safe place to play but I haven't even purchased lumber for it yet!

Poor Kevin, his job was to plant the new raspberry canes, of which I believed I had ordered 4. Turns out, I ordered 3 each of 4 types, 12 total! He had been working hard to prepare a small row for them by hand, which is very hard work considering how thick our rocky clay soil is and he nearly passed out when I told him about the mix up. Fortunately, his dad has lent us his tiller this year which is so heavy duty it does a decent job on our soil.

All in all a good day on the farm - 75 strawberry plants in, 12 raspberry canes in, 4 blackberry canes in and 1 additional blueberry bush. I also planted two peony clusters from my neighbor who thinned her beds and am really looking forward their lovely blossoms.

Big Kids Picnic Table in Cilantro

Here's what I've been working on and the reason why I needed to finish that pair of sawhorses. Starting on Thursday, I began cutting wood to build this:

On Sunday I finished all the construction and sanding and filling the screw holes with wood putty during one of William's naps. This picnic bench is solid in case you were wondering and the only part I needed my husband's help with was moving it from the garage to the lawn for painting. Even he was impressed with my construction job, which says a lot. He's already wondering when I might build the adult version to replace the picnic bench that came with our house but is rotten. (He even said if I keep up the construction learning, I might be able to build our next house.)

I sanded it very carefully with the orbital sander because I wanted to be sure no one gets a splinter on my account. Savannah helped me pick out the paint color, a high quality exterior paint in cilantro by Valspar that should make this picnic bench last a long time. She helped me paint the first coat after trying it out for size. It should easily fit four of her friends.

I painted two coats of the exterior paint, which has primer in it, then used two coats of a clear shiny topcoat for exterior use so it would be easier to clean and wipe down and have a better feel.

The biggest compliment of all is that as soon as all of this painting business was dry, my daughter couldn't wait to start her tea party in front of the forsythia bushes. She looks so cute in her spring dress!

The plans for this picnic table are available for free from Ana at Knock Off Wood. Ana is my new favorite person. One week ago, I would have purchased this picnic table, but this week, thanks to Ana's great plans and inspiration, I built it myself and it cost me only $15 in lumber, $4 in outdoor screws and $30 in paint and I still have 3/4 of a can of paint leftover that I plan to use on my potting bench, so $27 total. And to my great surprise, it stands solid and stable, perfectly level and square. Yay, Ana and yay me! Also thanks to Ana I now have a long list of other creations waiting for me to build them including outdoor benches, indoor tables, daybeds with trundle, and bookshelves. The possibilities seem endless!

Sawhorses

Remember that gift I asked for, my circular saw? I said my first project would be to make a pair of sawhorses and thanks to Ana at Knock Off Wood, I did it! Ana posted instructions for how to build a sawhorse table. I didn't want the table, I wanted the sawhorses so I can use my saw for another project. For just over $10 in lumber and $3 in wood screws, I built my first pair of sawhorses all by myself while William napped. I had to spread the construction out over two naps.

I almost gave in to the urge to paint them a bright flamingo pink, but alas, I am a practical girl at heart and these sawhorses are meant to see a lot of sawing action. One tip, build them backwards from Ana's plans. I built one sawhorse following her plans in order and the second starting with the leg cross supports, then adding the legs and ending with the top, and it was much easier, faster, and more stable to work on. I didn't need clamps or a helper or feel like I needed a third arm building them backwards.

Can I just say that I'm so impressed that they stand up strong and level! I finished them on Thursday and have already completed my first project with them, but I'm not yet ready to reveal it since it's drying under a coat of paint.

Some rest

Spring is a busy, busy time on any farm or homestead. Once that snow melts away, all you can see are projects that need your attention. Last year I thought one thing that was missing from our outdoor space was a hammock so I set out to make sure we didn't go one more year without one. For $99, I chose the polyester hammock from LL Bean because polyester endures weather better than cotton. The polyester is so unbelievably soft!

The package arrived on a Monday and during a William naptime, Savannah helped me put it up on Wednesday between two trees with a 13ft stretch. I wish I could say it was hard work and it took us a long time, but it only took us a few minutes... Nevertheless, we spent the rest of the day in the hammock, feeling that we deserved it.

I'm so glad we have it but I can see this seriously impacting the rest of the work we need to do around here.

Girl's best friend

There was a time where I might have asked for a shopping trip as a gift or a pearl necklace or a massage. Now, of course, it's a different story. Now I ask for a circular saw (a Milwaukee 6394-21 15 Amp 7-1/4-Inch Circular Saw, to be specific). Already it's a toy the whole family adores.

Are boys just born knowing how electric tools work?

And I haven't even had a chance to rip wood yet...just wait until they see what I can do with it. I'll have to start with building a pair of saw horses.

T-r-o-u-b-l-e

See that capital "T" in trouble? William's name around here has become William Trouble Bacon. Here's why:

 You read the manual, while I take it for a test drive...

 Mom, quick, I think something's burning in the kitchen!

Works every time, Flu$h! Flu$h! Flu$h!

Everyone else has electronic toys, why can't I? And the mohawk? I just wake up like this!

Yesterday Savannah was asked to put her chocolates in her Easter basket so William couldn't get to them. She moved the box but had to go back to search for one "missing" chocolate. I'm already half way to yelling at her for "losing" a chocolate when their stains are next to impossible to remove from carpeting and clothing so I help her in her hunt only to find little brother's palms and cheeks smeared with chocolaty goo. The baby scored his first chocolate. Savannah burst into tears and after cleaning off her brother, who was then on high speed Trouble mode, I asked her why she was crying. Fortunately, she said it was because she knew she was in trouble, and not because her little brother ate one of her chocolates. Good answer rascal.

Gardening with chickens

The view from my kitchen window is of a terraced rock wall partially shaded by pines and with a crab apple tree and forsythia at one end and the chicken coop on the other. Sounds lovely, right? Except that time has taken its toll on the wall so that little of it appears beneath the piles of pine needles. I vowed to reclaim the space this spring after who knows how many years of neglect.

Savannah is my little helper. I suppose William is too since I garden with him in the backpack and he has to cooperate so I can work. The chickens also help! They are eternally curious about the goings on of their human family so whenever we garden outside, they keep us company. As I rake away the pine needles, Scarlet and Penny stayed within a few steps of the rake so they could eat up any tasty morsels uncovered by the rake. Savannah feeds then grubs whenever one is unearthed. As the girls eat grubs now, it means fewer insect problems in the coming months.

I had to pry out of the earth many of the large stones that had toppled over years ago and find a new spot for them along the wall. Each time I lifted another stone Scarlet would run over and eat up any worms, ants, pill bugs, etc that she spotted. The chickens till the soil with their feet. They have powerful legs and claws and scratch the earth much better than I could aerate it with a garden fork or cultivator. Our soil is a very thick clay so I really appreciate the help!

As we work the soil and the girls eat their fill of all natural protein, the boys keep guard. Coburn keeps guard on top of the rock wall while Lucky keeps an eye out from below.

We love our girls (even if two of them turned out to be boys). Three days into my terraced wall project, I've restacked two levels of the wall and removed nine wheelbarrows of pine needles for composting elsewhere. Some of the bulbs I planted area already much happier and the crocuses have pushed through.

Garden planning

Just as the trees store their resources for the winter and enter their quiet dream state, so the gardener spends the winter dreaming. There may be white snow outside, but the gardener sees the loamy black devil's food cake baking away in the compost heap, preparing to nourish another year's worth of crops. I turned the compost pile yesterday and more than a dozen worms wriggled out of my first pitchfork full.

This year we are expanding our blackberry and raspberry patches and adding one more blueberry bush. We plan to add a strawberry fountain, which I am most looking forward to, even if the plants don't bear fruit until next year. Strawberries are somewhat finicky and can be nutrient hogs. By building them into a raised bed shaped like a fountain, they can receive the best soil, more sunlight and warmth and it's easier to pick them. I'm not yet sure if mine will be square or round, but I'm looking forward to building it and planting the 50 strawberry plants that will arrive sometime this spring. I often order my fruits from the local nursery, Miller Nurseries. I like ordering from a local company that grows and rates all of their plants for my area. It can be cold in NY state and I appreciate that they've already done the testing for me. They send out the plants you order right after your area's last freeze date, so they always arrive right on time, even if that's a different week or month each year.

I plan to test out the three sisters planting method that so many native peoples have used. The three sisters are corn, squash and beans. The idea is that the beans use the fast growing corn stalks as support and scaffolding to climb, while the squash quickly fills in the shaded underside, preventing many weeds from growing up. All three seeds are sown directly into the soil.

One of my favorite places to order seeds from is the Seed Savers Exchange. This organization saves and shares heirloom seeds, meaning these seeds will grow into plants that bear seeds so you can forever propagate your crops by saving the seeds they yield. This makes the gardener part of a long legacy as well as independent. Plus, it's exciting to plant seeds for crops you could never find in a grocery store. Last year we had heirloom organic black beauty zucchini, early fortune cucumbers and beautifully striped Amish melons with pale flesh. This year we are planting many new heirloom varieties. I'm especially looking forward to the yellow tomatoes that look like lightbulbs and the white and purple and white striped eggplants.

Eventually, we plan to grow some of the feed for our chickens. As was recently pointed out to us, even if you have chickens or other livestock, you're not a step closer to sustainability if you're not growing your own feed. I'm not sure how this fact escaped us before but now we can plan a feed garden for 2011.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this week:

"You will never plough a field if you only turn it over in your mind."
- Irish Proverb

Monster or witch repellent

It seems every kid goes through a stage where suddenly their imagination turns to the dark side and in addition to imagining Santa and Easter bunnies, tooth fairies and pirate adventures, witches and other unsavory characters start creeping into their dreams. Sometimes it is not enough to simply tell your child that there's no such thing as monsters. It helps, but they're still skeptical of us grownups who make them eat green things. So it helps to have some magic in your bag of tricks.

Here is a special product that I had to "custom order" for my daughter. She's not afraid of monsters (thank you Monsters, Inc!) and is not afraid of ghosts or vampires but ever since her Girl Scout troop sang carols in an old folks home, she has had reoccurring nightmares about a witch in a wheelchair. I told her that I knew of someone who made a special potion that you spray around your bedroom at night to repel witches. She asked if it worked. I told her it was 100% guaranteed to work or we'd get our money back and that it was just like a bug repellent but made just for witches, who have special big noses. Then I got to work fulfilling the order.

Materials:

• spray bottle
• labels you can custom print on
• water
• few drops of essential oil such as lavender (optional)

I chose to fill the spray bottle with filtered water and a few drops of lavender essential oil. The lavender gives just enough scent to make it smell authentic without ruining rugs or furniture. Lavender is valued in aromatherapy as a relaxant even for children, so it's suitable for bedtime, but any herbal, floral or fruity scent that you can stand could work.

I packaged it and "mailed" it to my daughter because she likes the idea of special ordering it and it appears more authentic to her. Another option is to present this to your child as a printed recipe or potion and ask your child to help you make it in the kitchen. The instructions for use are printed on the back (mine say to spray once in the doorway and once near the bed) and the bottle sprays a very fine mist so we're not soaking the floors, rugs or bedding. So far, we have one happy little girl who fully believes in the power of her "Witch B-Gone" and sleeps much easier now at night, which means I can sleep easier at night, ahh!

Moms and dads, please feel free to copy this or make up your own version if your child has a monster under her bed or a witch in his wardrobe. I hope it leads to more sweet dreams in your household as well!

Ten and counting

William is 10 months old already and one thing we've learned about him is that everyday he loves to laugh and make others laugh too. He has three games that he plays with us everyday, one of them is peek-a-boo or hide and seek. If we don't initiate it, he will! He crawls over to the drapes and wraps himself up in them. Then he'll wait there patiently until someone catches on.

Hmm, wonder who could be hiding behind the curtain???

 

Peek-a-boo! It was William. This makes him roar with laughter, which makes everyone else laugh.

 

Here he is at dinner stuffing his cherub cheeks with as much orange as will fit in there. He won't eat anything pureed, including yogurt, but adores lumpy cottage cheese, bananas, and whole beans.This funny little guy will also eat Japanese salad dressing with garlic and ginger like there's no tomorrow and gnaw on my spicy Indian chicken with curry and garam masala but try to give him apple sauce, or any other standard baby food, and he's totally disgusted. 

His new thing is clapping, which he can do to tempo if the song has strong percussion. He figured this out during Ravel's Bolero, which he appears to adore. Perhaps big sister's music class is rubbing off on him?

Look who's 10 months old!