Lost another sweet one

Just found out that one of our truly great customers, the delightful Florence Hopper has passed away. That's a downer.

Sudden spring deep freeze!

Dammit, Al Gore! where's my global warming? Froze so hard last night we lost 6 trays of plants even inside the greenhouse. Probably also will be no early summer cherries now. That's just shy of 450 plants.

Fortunately I put the tomatoes in the heated chamber just around dark or we would have lost them too. Keeping my fingers crossed for the rhubarb plants. The pepper plants and all the rest of the tomatoes were still in the basement sprout room.

Got the big greenhouse up yesterday afternoon, thank goodness we didn't move any plants out there already.

Hope the day brings us all better turns of events, lovely vistas and smooth sailing.

Sprouts and errands

Had a good day today mostly. Dad transplanted a bunch of sprouts. I filled trays and then ran some errands in Rogue River. Got some books at the library. It was nice this morning so we got some walks in & I moved some plants down to the greenhouse before the rains set in. Hope it clears out soon enough that our cherry blossoms set.

Y'all have a great day or night.

bad news on Easter

Just found out that we lost aunt Edna today. Bummer. She once went for a long walk in the woods with me near our home when I was 8. I still can clearly picture this hesitant Mennonite lady having to jump over streams and brooks to follow my winding trail amidst tree, flower and moss. It was just about this time of year. About 10 years ago she sent me a book of sermonettes and I always meant to write her to say thanks but one thing lead to another and I never did.

Happy Easter

Bring on the candy!

Just kidding, hope your all able to spend this day with friends and/or family and that all your reflections are peacefully, easy and kind.

Spring procrastinations

Been slacking off a lot because of the storms blowing through. Wanted to have the big greenhouse inflated by now but fear of the big winds and snow held us back. No snow but the wind has been pretty fierce.

Dad's on another round of chemo so he's sleeping in his chair right now. I'm heading off shortly to water all the sprouts we've got in the plant room and maybe look into doing the last few steps to make the greenhouse ready. That way we just have to plug in the fan. Got a bunch of already seeded pony paks just waiting their turn in the sprout room.

It's really nice outside right at the moment, can definitely tell it's Easter weekend. I could almost smell the jelly beans when I took Sparky out for a walk.

Happiness to all.

Equinox

Happy first day of spring/fall (depending on your hemisphere)

Cooke's Frontier

My niece has started blogging! She's pretty good, funnier than me & getting better. Check it out

WimpyCare

Global wandering

Here's a great article by Michael Crichton about the science behind current climate change ideas.

good weather blues

Been so busy this week, this darn good weather is keeping me out in the orchard.

There's a lovely fog bank covering our whole farm right now.

Mom's birds are enjoying the bird feeder we got from Bill Imel (Robin's dad) yesterday. We were helping him, spraying his fruit trees and got a tour of his wonderful bird house & feeder shop. Now planning on stocking some of his great woodwork at our stand this summer.

We had blueberry pancakes & bacon for breakfast. So delightful.

Wishing you each and all a relaxing, rewarding Sunday.

sunny winter Sunday

being soooo lazy. Might go spray peach tree sometimes this afternoon.

showers moving in.

got a little more apple tree pruning done before the showers moved in.

Finally a little winter comes back

Been sunny and warm with night time freezing for about a week now, so we've been working like crazy.

Showers came in around noon, very fine mist at first but real rain now.

I got some more pruning done and dad did some tractor work before it actually turned into something you could feel.

Gotta go get some equipment from farm#2, be well!

Bright sunshiney winter day

Had a slow start to the day but once it warmed up we really got going good.

I pruned on the apples, sprayed copper on the peaches and cherries and burned some debris while dad pulled up drip tape. Our good friend Ed Gramc came over and pruned in the vineyard for a while too.

The sun was bright and warm with a light breeze to keep winter in mind.

Dad and I had plenty of appetite this evening I'll tell ya. Work makes food taste good!

Hope life is filling your day with vigor and joy.

A lovely winter day

Got some good sun out today. Managed to get a few chores done. Sprayed the peach trees for peach leaf curl. Placed 2 of the 3 big seed orders. Gotta finish & place the E&R order tomorrow.

Mom & dad went to town for dad's chemo drip. He's doing about as well as can be expected.

Gotta love these days getting longer.

China has a lot of money

Upon reading this article, I was taken back to my childhood when I would listen to Alan Stang. I can almost hear him saying something about China defeating America not through warfare but through financial means.

waiting for rain

Got our first 288 tray planted with lots of different greens/ cole crops.

Will be placing our winter seed order today too.

Big storm front headed our way out of mid-pacific should bring higher temps & lots of water to southern Oregon. If snow level doesn't raise too much should pack away some good water in the hills.

Hope your having fun.

morning delights

Coming home from breakfast with my good friend Del I saw the most beautiful hawk sitting on my neighbor's fence. It had red shoulders and head with black and white barred body and tail. I'm having a heck of a time identifying it. It was so majestic & bold, quite a thrill seeing him so close. Seems like I often have a special encounter after one of our breakfast outings, last time it was a white raven.

Update: found the variety. It is, simply enough, a red shouldered hawk. They're usually found closer to the coast. Here's a pic I borrowed:

Farming season 2010

Bought my first couple packs of seed yesterday. Sooo much hard work ahead. Got to repair the clutch on the brown truck, brakes and 3rd point pump on the Massey-Ferguson tractor. Put the ends on the sprouting greenhouse, pull tomato stakes and plastic mulch, repair fences and fertilize the winter onions. Oh the list goes on and on.

This week we'll start filling 288 trays with soil for the early greens, lettuce, cabbage, etc. sprouts which can start in the basement plant room.

Mom & dad are frying some hash for breakfast in the kitchen. Sounds like they're feeling ok this morning.

Hope your day is full of promise and answered hope.