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Saturday, April 25, 2015

Raspberries Day 1

Scenes from Day 1 of Week 1

Raspberry plant #1 of 500 goes in on 4.25.15 and thus the delicious journey begins again.
Starting the day by helping a little guy out.
 Husband in all his silliness unpacking the first berries.


 Getting the berry bath water ready to soak them before planting.



 Here we go!






 Looks like this one started growing while waiting on us to plant. Oops.


 House #1. Anne on the left, and Polana on the right.
House #2. Polka on the left, Autumn Britten in the row on the right.
 House #3. Jaclyn on the left.
 Some people look like their pets, I guess I look like my plants.
 Awww. After almost 22 years together, we're still having fun.


And as the rain came down on us at the end of the day, we had a successful (and hopefully fruitful) Day 1 of whatever this journey turns out to be.

Click here: The Unexpected Farm Girl - The Prequel for photos & amusing stories from the 2008 - 2011 part of The Unexpected Farm Girl's journey. 

Smiles!

The Unexpected Farm Girl (Erika)

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Oh, The Drama of It All

Quick flashback....

Got wind? We did. Plastic tried to run away, and it made for quite the Valentine's Day weekend.



A day in the life....

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Baby Berries & Mis-Stakes

I have 495 raspberry plants in my kitchen. Let me back up and say that we definitively answered the question on whether or not we would be 100% ready for the arrival of the berries. Um, not at all exactly. They're here! A day early. And now, since we're not at all quite ready to plant them, I am bundled up in my house, FREEZING, with the air conditioning cranked up so the baby berries don't get too warm and start to grow while sitting in boxes, waiting patiently....in my kitchen.


The Mis-Stakes 

Green House Vendor to Husband: Don't you want any stakes to go with your ground cover order?

Husband: No, thanks.

Husband to Me: They asked me if I wanted any stakes and I said no. I'll go to Home Depot and get some.

Me to Husband: Do you even know if they will have enough, let alone the right kind?

....and cut to the part in the scene where the big box store stakes were too weak, Mother Nature kicks in a storm, blah blah blah, rips the black ground cover up and twists it up yards away.

Husband to Me: Yeah, call the green house vendor and order 5 boxes of stakes. Or should we get a full 1,000?

Me: Yes, dear.



 Baby Berries....

 ....stacked up in my kitchen, trying to stay chilly enough before they get their roots comfortably situated.

Click here: The Unexpected Farm Girl - The Prequel for photos & amusing stories from the 2008 - 2011 part of The Unexpected Farm Girl's journey. 

Smiles!

The Unexpected Farm Girl (Erika)

Saturday, April 18, 2015

The Sunshine Has Arrived

This. THIS is the sunshine I could see back in January when I closed my eyes and looked out over the farm in it's neglected state. We've come a long way, by working together. And now that the raised beds are covered, we have to get our irrigation set up quick fast and in a hurry to accomodate the berries that are 1. ON THE WAY and 2. Will be very thirsty, very soon. 











Plenty of sunshine ready to greet the berries scheduled to be delivered any day now!

Click here: The Unexpected Farm Girl - The Prequel for photos & amusing stories from the 2008 - 2011 part of The Unexpected Farm Girl's journey. 

Smiles!

The Unexpected Farm Girl (Erika)

Monday, April 13, 2015

Nature Will Find A Way

4 years. The last time we cared for our farm on a regular basis was 4 years ago. Yet as we vigorously prepare for our new plants, allowing us a fresh start, I found this raspberry plant peeking through as if to say Hello....we still like it here, and we're ready....





Click here: The Unexpected Farm Girl - The Prequel for photos & amusing stories from the 2008 - 2011 part of The Unexpected Farm Girl's journey. 

Smiles!

The Unexpected Farm Girl (Erika)

Mound Makin' Weekend

Raspberries don't like to have "wet feet." So the strategy is to make mounds, thereby creating an elevation through which water can drain away from the tender raspberry roots. Takes muscle, but looks so nice and neat, and in THEORY is not something we will have to do every year.

Friday




Quick break to capture the moment before the thunderstorm we hear closes in on our work for the day.

Saturday

3 hoop houses down, 3 to go.


Sunday


House #2
Whew. Done. And we even started in on getting the plastic laid down in house #1 to help keep down the weeds.


1 week count down to berry arrival!

Click here: The Unexpected Farm Girl - The Prequel for photos & amusing stories from the 2008 - 2011 part of The Unexpected Farm Girl's journey. 

Smiles!

The Unexpected Farm Girl (Erika)

Saturday, April 11, 2015

The Deer Party

A quick break to admire the prints from the deer who obviously had a good time at the farm after we left on Friday....




My son (Thing 2) made this one, because he said, why were their foot prints such that it looks like they were staggering around all over the place?


Click here: The Unexpected Farm Girl - The Prequel for photos & amusing stories from the 2008 - 2011 part of The Unexpected Farm Girl's journey. 

Smiles!

The Unexpected Farm Girl (Erika)