living in the woods and making stuff

Things are looking a little beaten up in the garden. It has been hot hot hot. And no rain for over a month…

We (my mom) pulled a tomato horn worm off of a pepper plant. It worked its way around the first plant and was just setting in on the second when we spotted it…

There has been an infestation of little yellow beetles, that love to eat the heck out of pumpkin and eggplant leaves.

And some lovely cabbage worms have been keeping me busy. I look for fresh droppings, and usually find a cabbage green worm that needs to be plucked off and disposed of…

My mom and I picked a crop of lima beans. They are quite a bit of work to pick and shell, but it is pleasant work, sitting in the garden in the morning with a breeze.

The okra are looking good, creating a little tunnel for the tasty morsels to grow up in. I planted a burgundy variety and they are quite beautiful and tender. I haven’t gotten past eating them raw so far, but hopefully will get around to pickling some at some point..

The marigold fence along the north border of the garden seems to be doing well. I haven’t had too much trouble with larger scale vermin, and am hoping that the marigolds are helping with this. Also, I just love how they look and smell.

The pumpkin patch got in super late. We had so much rain that I wasn’t able to get anything in for about a month! By the time everything was ready it was mid July. But I stuck some pumpkin, corn and bean seeds in some hills of soil and horse manure and covered them with straw. Hopefully they will produce by the first frost. At least they were planted too late for the vine boarers to attack!

Beans are in a holding pattern. When it got too hot, they stopped producing, and I am hoping that they will start again as the temperature cools off (relatively speaking).

The purple podded pole beans are a lovely tangle of purple foliage, beans, stems and blossoms!

The sunflowers are doing their duty, greeting the sun every morning, and following it across the sky. I love to see how their heads have moved throughout the day!

Last but not least is my compost pile. The soil out here isn’t the greatest, and so it is really important to add organic material. I started this compost pile a few weeks ago, layering straw, fresh hay, weeds, garden clippings, leaves, and kitchen scraps. I also add a bit of soil here and there. The pile is on top of a bed of branches to allow for adequate drainage, and I have been watering it as I do the garden, to keep it moist and happy. It is situated under an oak tree, as directed by Jon Jeavons. I am guessing that the microbial live present in the roots helps with the composting process. I like to think of it as a moist compost layer cake with straw frosting…tasty!

Here is a bit of bolting lettuce. I keep it because it looks so pretty!

My dad and I have a tractor. Her name is Louise and she is yellow. These are the important things.

Louise is a 36 hp Ford 2110 (similar to a Ford 3000, but with shorter front tire spindles) produced in the early/mid eighties (’83-’86). My dad and I found her in Oskaloosa, where she dutifully spent her life wearing turf tires and pulling a mower for the local golf course. (This is also why she is the industrial yellow instead of the classic Ford blue.) When we found her, Louise had been sitting on the lot for about 2 years, and her tires had been changed to ag tires. She didn’t have any implements, and needed a little bit of tuning up.

Our friend Mike came along with us to meet Louise. Mike can listen to a tractor hum and know if it is a good one. He approved of Louise just about right away, and took her for a little spin around the lot. Mike knows just about everything about tractors. No Joke.

After we purchased Louse, Mike tied her up onto the back of a trailer pulled by Tonka Truck (his large rig), and took her home to Fairfield. Mike did a bit of work on Louise. He patched her rear left tire rim, which was a bit rusted through, and fixed the starter, which wasn’t working properly, and replaced the tachometer. Louise had about 7500 tractor hours when we purchased her, but she was in good shape. Working at the golf course has its benefits.

Louise runs on gasoline, and has a newly fixed up motor. She has power steering, and a pto, and a class one three point hitch that we can attach a mower, plow and disc to.

When we got Louise home, the implement hunt started. I have gotten really good about asking everyone I know if they know of anyone that might know of anyone that might know something about a disc…or plow…or mower…or front end loader…or snow plow…and on and on.

Tractors are handy, but without implements they just look pretty and are fun to drive.

We set out to find a disc and plow first. To get the field ready to plant pumpkins, squash, corn and beans. Mike had a friend who found a rusty old plow at an auction, and he picked that up for us.

My dad found a beautiful red disc, and took Louise to pick it up.

Louse, the plow, and the disc made it out to the farm, piece by piece.

Currently, Louise has plowed the pumpkin patch. We are waiting for the soil to dry to disc it up. It is awfully wet, and Louise doesn’t do so well with muddy soil.

Louise spends most of her time in the garage with Big Red.

Her skin is sensitive, and she has to stay away from all those UV rays.

Sometimes she takes a drive down the lane. Just for fun.

Louise has 8 speeds, and reverse. She can turn on an individually braked tire.

No such thing as a three point turn for Louise!