Lars: "I Got Promoted"

After helping Tina empty wagon load after wagon load of mulch with a pitchfork, Lars finally got "promoted" - and a happier and prouder kid cannot be imagined.  Jeff allowed Lars to not only drive the tractor, but use it to scoop up mulch and carefully dump it onto the wagon.  Everyone watched his first attempt - which did not quite result in a full scoop.  Jens, who was working with the sheeting of the barn, spray painted "3.5" in huge letters on a full sheet of plywood and held it up high, Olympic style.  But Lars did a great job and by nightfall had a system down:

Transplanted all Seedlings - Finally!

The process of transplanting seedlings from flats (I just sowed them in little rows), into individual pots has taken well over a week.  For "pots" we use either the 9 oz or 18 oz plastic drinking cups - after we make a hole in the bottom of each cups. Holes are made by holding a long nail in a pair of vice grips over a small torch, to heat the nail, and then punching it through about a dozen cups at a time.
Here is what we transplanted:

• 46 "Oxheart" tomatoes
• 24 green peppers "Big Dipper"
• 20 red sweet peppers "Sweet Ruby Hybrid"
• 65 basil plants
• 45 "Roma" tomatoes
• 36 "Black Plum" tomatoes
• 32 "Brandywine" tomatoes
• 36  "Amish Paste" tomatoes
• 101  Leeks

Drywall in the Barn

We finished pressure washing the rest of the barn ceiling early Saturday and  also worked on the wiring some more.   While the walls were drying off, we worked on the back fence row, cutting down low hanging tree branches and weed whipping.  Also mowed around both ponds, between the grape vines and the blackberry rows and drug load of brush to the burning pile behind the garden.

The rain started late Saturday afternoon, and we worked in the barn after that.  Jeff continued pointing the rocks on the back wall.  Jens, Tina and Lars worked on insulating between the studs, and then cutting and hanging drywall.  There were a lot of "tricky" pieces to cut, but Jens did a great job working around old crooked barn beams.  By Sunday afternoon, the drywall was up!

More Garden Planted - Right Before the Rain!

Luckily we got the following seeds planted before the rainy weekend:

• Detroit Dark Red - red beets
• Bloomsdale - spinach
• Green Ice - lettuce
• Danvers 126 - carrots
• Hollow Crown - parsnips
• Basic "onion sets" (around 250 bulbs)

Each row in our garden is approximately 150 feet (about 45 m) long, the above seeds covered two rows, with the onion sets and carrots covering the most, then red beets and parsnips.  We planted only 1/4 row of lettuce and spinach.

Brassicas, Potatoes and Onions

Our garden as of this evening:

• 48 broccoli plants - Emerald Jewel
• 48 cabbage plants - Hercules, OS Cross  (matures in 82 days, avg, 10 lbs)
• 300 Candy onion plants
• ~ 40 lbs of red potatoes - Pontiac
• ~ 40 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes

All the plants are in the plastic covered beds, 3 rows of potatoes are in traditional rows, that were hilled up, one row of potatoes was planted in plastic - just to see how it would work.

Wiring the Barn

Jens, Jeff, Lars and Jens's friend Kevin worked on wiring the barn this weekend.  We bought wire that already had the flexible aluminum conduit around it and so far they used up about 375 feet of it.   All the ceiling fixtures are up (twelve of them), and outlets are installed on the wooden walls.  They ran additional wires for outlets on the wooden support beams, but those still need so be wired to the actual outlets.  Light switches are already installed and a complete new fuse box was set up and connected as well.

Jens connecting main line to barn

Jeff wiring light fixture



Future Christmas Trees?

We picked up 20 Frazer fir tree seedlings at the Cumberland County Conservation District annual tree sale and ended up planting them in a somewhat random pattern on the steep slope by the small pond.  They are still rather small and we put a lot of mulch around them so that we can "find" them and not accidentally mow them off.

Also cleaned up the elderberry patch and took out about 20 new shoots for transplanting.  These were planted around the perimeter of the small pond - where the wetlands start the and the ground is just a bit soggy.