Frozen

 I found this little one frozen solid on top of one of our bigger mud puddles around the farm.  The puddle is probably 5' x 7' and 3-4" deep.  I have no idea how it managed to get there, smack in the middle, on top of the ice with its head or tail slightly arched as if wanting to feel the soft moonlight a touch more intimately before passing.  It's attempt at self-preservation took a slightly wrong turn somewhere.
It has been extremely cold for us and for our flowers with lots of nights in the teens, snow ice and rain.  So much rain.  And don't forget the winds!  Just plain ol' messy.  Not the best weather to hit the ground running with a big year before us.  But slowly, ever so slowly, we are making our way to the greenhouse to start seed and trying get a grip on what the hell we are doing.  What the hell are we doing?  A valid question I ask myself more than I should!

We're trying our hand at just a few sweet peas this year.  I am excited about that.  Before I got into farming they were one of my favorite flowers, but after failing tremendously my first couple attempts, they got the snub.  But maybe I'm a better grower now.  My winter flowers aren't making me feel that way, but it's got to be the truth otherwise once again I must ask myself, what the hell am I doing?

Under Attack!!!!

Just when I think everything is safe and sound and coming up roses!  We are under attack and the culprit is the devastating winter grain mite.  What?  What did I just say?  Winter grain mite????  Who even knew this creature existed?  Not I.  A tiny mm large olive colored bug with red/orange legs (what makes it so recognizable) is wreaking havoc on our ranunculus and anemones.  I am once again floored at the challenges of growing flowers. Sometimes its a walk in the park, sometimes it takes so much.  Probably doesn't help that Stuart, Ruth and I all came down with a wicked nasty flu bug and I'm coughing up my lungs as I try to control this pest.  So my plan is to spray Bullseye on them, a spinosad type OMRI approved spray, alternately with some kelp and nutritionally packed foliar sprays in the hopes that I can bring them back to healthy living.  Back to that nice healthy green.  Maybe that is why I succumbed to the flu; being so in tune with my favorite ladies I couldn't stand to feel healthy while they were being eaten alive.  No?  Too much of a stretch?  Perhaps.  Regardless, it hasn't been the best way to bring in the new year.  Let's hope I didn't wait too long on my death bed before getting out there to spray these suckers.  

Today

Practicing pea shoots in the greenhouse.  Seems like a worthwhile venture.  We want to give them to our CSA, but growing anything properly takes some trial and error.  So we are having to eat loads of them while we get it right.  Ruth isn't too crazy about them, even when we try to mix them with applesauce.  Mixed with egg is a winner. 

We just finished planting our fourth round of tulips.  1400 of them this go round.  Please get big and strong.  Please get big and strong.  If you don't, I may have to give up this mad and expensive and neurotic tulip growing habit I've developed.  

First anemones of the season.  Red is the color of love, heat, fire, passion, blood.  I used to love to wear red and feel the color on me and in me.  Is that strange?  I guess I'm getting older now cause it has lost some of its power for me.  Maybe that is how flower lovers mature.  By experiencing color phases.  

This is a picture of Ruth from a year ago and one from today.  My sweet best friend.  

Root Strong

Ah the wonders of late fall.  It has been so warm here we are having poppies bud up and dutch iris already break ground.  Yikes!!!  We have taken a nice rest and break from market that has had both its wonders and its difficulties.  We've gotten in some great family time and two day weekends are such a novelty for us we're just finally getting used to them.  I move like a turtle in the winter and wonder how I ever have the speed in the spring and summer to get it all done.  

Our winter flowers are looking really really amazing.  So far so good.  I felt like we struggled with them a little last year so this year I am overcompensating.  I am trying to do a little more advertising for the Winter Flower CSA.  It's such a great gift and deal; I hope it catches on so I can keep growing these beauties in abundance.  

Ruth is talking.  Lots of new words each day. So we have had to ban cursing.  'Momma' has not been such an awesome introduction as it is used mostly when she is in her bed crying for me to come get her when she doesn't want to go to sleep.  "Momma Momma Momma Momma" sobbing and wailing over and over again.  It's like someone is roughly twisting all of my nerve endings together when it happens. It's a good thing those kisses she has started giving us are so sweet!  

Still here!

Needed a little color pick me up this morning.  Trying to go over colors and flowers for next season.  So many choices.  I know I've been out of the loop here for a while but being camera-less means blogging is less exciting.  We hope to remedy this soon!  We cleared out a section of trees around our house and it looks SO much better.  No more claustrophobic mess of scrubby good for nothing trees.  Now it feels expansive, spacious, and beautiful and gives us some room to landscape.  I went into farming with such naivete about landscaping.  Farmers don't have landscaped houses cause it takes so much freakin' time!  But we will be one of the exceptions.  At some point in time.  We are in the process of planting all of our neglected landscape plants now.....lots of hydrangea (snowflake, snowqueen, alice and a couple limelight--more of those to be planted in the spring for cuts!), a few Japanese snowbells, a couple Stewartia something or other trees, a fringe tree, a kousa dogwood, a few serviceberry trees, some redbuds, five fig trees and three asian persimmons, a mulberry (excellent selection for purple birdshit everywhere!), and several others I can't remember.  Stuart and I have a lot of shoveling to do as it's too wet to get the tractor into the section that just got cleared, so no auger for us.  Let's hope they all live!!!  

So it goes. And goes and goes.

The good: 

-it is fall. officially.  that means frost is soon.  hallelujah. 

-we have sown a very important, big cover crop for overwintering in the new field.  it looks awesome.    

-we did a wedding this past weekend for some good friends, a fella I've known since 6th grade.  celebrating love is so important.  and meaningful.  

-i'm trying some exciting new things in the greenhouse this winter.  I'm prepared to fail, but that tends to be necessary sometimes in order to figure out what the hell i'm doing.  

-we have had a successful season this year, even with having a baby.  wow.

 the bad:

-the weeds got a little out of hand this season and I'm afraid we're going to have to pay for it in seasons to come.

-this is always the hardest time of year for me.  i withdraw, get down and out and question way too many things.  something to work on.

-we lost our camera.  we went to a river house for a few days of vacation and I misplaced it.  It had some special pictures on it I hadn't uploaded yet.  Kinda feels like I lost a friend.  

-our fall garden is not so great.  failure on the brassicas and beets.  

Ruth meets the ocean

Our little one turned 1 on Friday.  Say WHAT???!!!!  We were able to get away for a very very quick trip to the beach, an amazing beach that  was like a time warp, a trip to beach fantasia where the lighting was always at its best, very few people (cause really, who likes people), perfect water temps, a tidal pool for Ruth to play in, and of course the ever present meditative pulse of the ocean, the sound dreams are made of.  Ruth just couldn't believe this new world.  I must say her meeting the ocean and sand has been one of the highlights of parenting.