Garden Progress

This spring has definately been cold and wet! We have had to get the garden work done between rain storms and puddles. This is the garden in May, we always plant the tomatoes and all of our vine crops in black weed barrier, it keeps their roots nice and toasty and keeps the weeds down for us. This year we are adding the peppers and herbs to this list.

These are my guys working so very hard weeding on Fathers Day. We had to get the bulk of our work done, this was one of our rare nice days! Alyssa and I got the rest of the garden planted while they weeded, that was huge. It is amazing how well the weeds grow in this weather.

This is our hilltop view of the farmhouse and our garden. This year we have 21 rows, they are 4' by 50'. Since it has been so cold we covered our warm weather crops with row cover.

The tall greens in the front of the picture is our garlic, it should be ready to harvest the end of July/beg. of August. The four mulched rows are our potatoes.

Hope you enjoyed the garden tour, more pictures as the garden grows...

Time does fly!!

Where has the last 4 months gone since I last posted?? Perhaps to all the snow and rain we were having, oh wait, it is still raining at least half the week.

Perhaps the time went to the sports the kids were doing or the spring cleaning I thought I would have time to do.

No, I think it went to everyday life, that somehow just gets a moving and doesn't stop, with family, friends and a farm, things just keep moving.

We have been working pretty hard this spring, getting pigs & steers, delivering goat kids, trying to get the garden in between rain showers, of course we also had my honey's work schedule, school, soccer, wedding planning and now the farmers market!

Some days I just wish time would creep instead of fly...

Daddy's Birthday

Today was my "Idaho" dads 76th. birthday, we had a party at our house with all the family.
Even though they aren't my real parents, Chuck and Arlene have been in my life for the past 20 years. Mommy and Daddy have been such a constant in my life, I am definately the person that I am today because of their love and support. I am so glad I adopted them so many years ago!

We enjoyed a great dinner of lasagna, salad and garlic bread. We have the best parties when our family gets together, my sister, husband, son & new baby boy, my oldest daughter and her fiance, and my #2 daughter came up from where she lives an hour away.

Alyssa lighting the candles and we are all singing Happy Birthday...

Mommy and Daddy have been married 50+ years, the are an inspiration to us all.

Daddy after blowing out the candles and the smoke clearing, enjoyed cake and ice cream.

We definately are party central at our house and I am the party queen. I love every minute

of our family time, in such a busy world, a party is a great place to be.

Spring Seeding

Spring seeding has begun on Four Seasons Farm. I try to start the peppers and tomatoes during the middle of February. We need that much time to have them the size to sell for our first Farmers Market, the first Saturday of May.
This is my seeding table, with my seeds organized and my planting chart.I usually try to have 3-4 varieties of one vegetable in each tray.

These are the flats when they are seeded and setting on the heat mat, there is enough room for 4 trays. I started 9 varieties of tomatoes, 4 varieties of peppers and basil.

As you can see our garden area is almost completely free of snow, we just have a bit to melt, by this weekend, it should be all gone, not to say we won't get more, but at this time of the year, it won't be here for very long.
I am hoping to plant the cold frames with spinach on the 1st. of March, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Early spring is definately here on the farm, I am hoping this weekend or next to clean the goat barn, we have babies coming...

Every fall I am so happy for the break, to just hang out at home and work on my house projects and to visit with friends. I love the winter months because the kids play basketball, which is uninterrupted from farm projects. But then, the snow starts melting, the goats are getting rounder, I see green sprouts in the pastures and I just get so excited for a new year of farming.
Every year is a do-over, to correct your mistakes from last year, to add a bit more to this year.

I never thought I would love what I do so much, definately wasn't what I thought my life would be, but now, wouldn't change it for the world!