It is so easy, when I am out in the garden, to want to fuss at my situation. The weeds in the corn (WHAT corn! I think it gave up...) are almost as tall as I, much of the fruit/perennial side is taken over by them as well (though in places I can find the flowers I planted, can still see the garlic and just got a first weeding done on the herb circle, so that they can see the sun again.) 

But I keep reminding myself (as I have to do) that the last time I tackled a garden this big it was an existing market garden that had been going for years and I did not have 3 "outside" jobs (and no, 5 kids do NOT count as the same thing!). And the time before that, when I did a "sod garden" it was not this bad of sod -- bunch grass not runner grass -- and again, I did not have work off the farm and had not even started writing as a side career on a regular basis at that time.

And I keep reminding myself that the healthy weeds are also an indication of healthy soil. If the garden didn't grow them, I'd be in a worse fix, as likely it wouldn't be growing food either. And growing food it is! The lettuces are great, spinach isn't bad (even where I didn't manure last fall) and the peas (which I filled two baskets with while I was contemplating these words this morning) are abundant as well. Beans have tons of blossoms, where I see them through the weeds and the broccoli and cauliflower are making heads, as are the cabbages. Brussels sprouts are thriving, there are carrots out there (in the weeds and in somewhat less weedy areas) and even the potatoes and the vine crops are still alive, despite having been found by bugs that target those crops. There are beets and chard (one beet seems to have wanted to bolt and it wasn't nearly beet size yet, but I'll add those few greens to some spinach in the freezer tomorrow) though the deer seem to have tasted the chard over night, and onions and leeks looking fantastic. Tomatoes and peppers are out there, too.. beginning to set fruit and making blossoms in hope of a summer season to their liking.

so despite my frustrations, the garden is giving me FOOD. And next year, and he year after that and after that it will only get better. I will find a tiller, figure out weed control and succession planting for here; I will learn to do the season extension stuff (on both ends) and get more fruit trees, bushes, and plants, more asparagus, enough posts to fence the garden and keep in ducks (when the plants are big enough) and keep out ducks (when the plants are babies) and slow down the deer, to give the peas something to climb on. Teaching the peas to turn a different color when they are ready to be picked would be great too, but I don't hold out much hope on that one!

I have to think back to this time, last year, as well... we were still in "the second most ghetto trailer park in Milo" searching madly for property (which was about to materialize but I didn't know that yet), I was still unemployed (which was about to change, but again I didn't know that yet) though that job only went through the fall and was shortly replaced by my current one and while we were enjoying exploring Maine, photographing flowers and searching for a home, it was not the best of times.

So I am thankful for home, for 4 acres on which to play (and be frustrated), for a job (which doesn't really pay enough $$ but doesn't require all my time either) and for my other careers (which add $$ and as importantly much satisfaction) and for the blessings of the abundance of the Earth, despite what I feel to be my poor stewardship of it. They know I am doing my best.

The weather is finally beginning to "get to" me. Funny, though, the Pacific NW weather never did...  But after one of the wettest Junes on record for Maine, we are off to a dripping wet start for July as well. I know, we also have to have August and Sept (September IS Summer, too... as Ogden Nash points out) but the cold and rain (I think it must be the combination) has definitely set my senses off a bit.

While we were in Bangor running errands yesterday I had a most unexpected urge to go to LL Beans outlet store. Now this is only surprising in that it occurred NOW (July) and it took me a few moments to realize why my "Gods, NO" reflex kicked in a second later.  You see, the urge was apparently triggered by what some part of my brain believed to be FALL weather and the reflexive response by the other part that realized it is, after all, really JULY. You see, we discovered last year that the prices -- which are often not that great in the first place ( though with luck and persistence, deals on stuff we need do show up often enough to make regular forays justifiable) -- go UP in the summer, apparently for the tourist season.. And therefore the occasional good deal disappears...

But it is NOT fall, though it is still or again raining. At some point today I must get into the garden to check the peas. They are coming on and will continue slowly despite the rain. I need to pull weeds in the cauli. and broc... they are making heads though how good they will be is yet to be determined.  I looked for an organic approved remedy for the potato bugs that are afflicting my crop (they went from a few busily mating to many, many tiny ones over night) but no one in town had the right stuff. "We were expecting it today..." yeah, right...

The vine crops languish, mostly. If I can get the chance I will give them a nutrient boost and pray.

Some of the head lettuces are rotting. I did discover some more seed, though, so I will add a planting soon. With this weather, maybe I can get away with a "summer crop" of lettuces. Some of the leaf lettuces are bolting, as are some of the succession planting of spinach. But there is still plenty to eat, some to sell if not enough to freeze. K doesn't like cooked greens anyway and there will be chard to freeze later, with luck, to satisfy my winter eating.

much of everything else is pretty much gone to weeds. There is no way I can totally keep up.. I hope to complete weeding the herbs and that some of the flowers (some ARE blooming!!) can hold their own and reseed next year.

Gotta get out to the garage and clean up the old corded electric mower and weed eater as I will put them out for sale. Ditto the spa tub from the trailer when we remove it later this season. Those proceeds, such as they may be, are earmarked for a tiller. Come hell or high water I'll have one next year. And with the flame weeder at the start of the season, we should be able to make more of a dent in the garden.

Now, to find $$ toi get the truck fixed enough to get inspected so I can haul manure...

There have been lots of thoughts -- centered around Independence Day, and independence in general as well as just general holiday thoughts -- floating around in my over worked and much addled brain of late.  Many thoughts and much to do and little time to write, so an attempt to catch up and capture a few of them is in order before I head off to the store to supply the local populace with beer, steak, Allens (coffee brandy, a Maine staple) and likely pizza and sandwiches as well, if the rain continues.

We did not make it to Market this week. A combination of events conspired, as they say... short hours at the store and an offer to pick up a shift on Thurs (market day), an assurance by my marketing partner that she could and would man the stand solo which was followed by circumstances conspiring against her to keep her out of state (still....); K offered but not knowing "the ropes" and not having the tent (it has been living with the partner; I have custody of the tables and other marketing essentials) and threats of thunderstorms... so we did not make it.

Independence/interdependence, cooperation, collaboration... what works and where the lines are drawn have been much on my mind.

And fueling more thoughts on the same values -- the weedy first year garden does its share as well. I have attacked with the flame weeder, pulled and carried out, pulled and dropped and most recently mowed between the vine crops and on the cross walkways (made wide for the garden cart) and fallow section, where I will hopefully find time to flame weed again.  a smaller tiller would be SO useful at this point but... it will have to be bought by money in hand and of that we have little. So for next year there is hope...

This is a case where we actually did consider going against our values (don't make enough to qualify for any sort of loan and my credit reports cannot be found) but despite my railing against the weeds I am glad we could not. As K says "when you do it your way, it can't be taken from you..."

Yeah, it likely looks to others like we bit off more than we can chew or don't know what we are doing or some such... but they are looking with late 20th or early 21st century eyes... As I said to a neighbor while we were kibitzing at the store recently, "I pretty much stand with one foot in the 18th or 19th century and one in the 22nd"...   and I know that pioneer managed to bring gardens around long before tillers were the norm and they didn't drag their team and plow into the kitchen garden mid-season either!  This is the first garden season, there is no reason to expect it to be -- or to look like -- something that has been established for years. It is producing... we have tons of lettuce, spinach, the peas are coming on and -- hidden in the weeds, beans and carrots and beets are growing, broccoli and cauliflower are putting on heads and the potatoes are trying their hardest to fight off the beetles...

So while many folks head out here or there to celebrate Independence Day, I feel more like I am living what our country used to be... when folks worked hard with what they had to make it through and make things better. 

I got a $3 shirt in town this week -- not that I needed another T, but working this weekend at the store it just seemed the thing to wear... It shows a rather weathered stylized map of the US colored like the flag and bears the words "Faded Glory." Now, that is the brand name -- and I don't necessarily sport brand names on my chest... but this read to me much more like a political statement, and one that I wanted to make.

So for our celebration we have had fireworks (last night's thunder storm and the previous night's fireflies) and attended a rodeo in our own back yard (at least it wasn't at midnight... neighbor horse got out and everyone turned out to herd it back home).

Yesterday felt very much like the holiday, though, to me... quiet and very alone. It seemed that everyone was off somewhere else doing something. The neighborhood was quiet (well, as wet as it is the usual sounds of kids playing and power equipment running has been seriously muted for some time) and even here on line there was little activity. I guess most folks WERE out getting ready to go, or going. My kids -- who can often be counted upon for a blog entry or Facebook post -- were off grid at a family reunion. Even K noticed it.... though he attributed it to lingering post-dream thoughts. 

And, as it was not yet the holiday, it set me off kilter a bit, as did the amazing lack of energy I felt most of the day. There were garden chores that could have been done, despite the dampness, hexen to paint (three orders in the queue at present!) and always housework. I finally managed to get started on the hex signs and picked up energy in the evening. That was not such a good thing, though, as it made sleep hard to find.

I was awake to enjoy the Thor's fireworks and the percussion section drumming on the metal vent in the bathroom, and to comfort the dog.

Read that as thoughts on a foggy morning, not as the pre-coffee misfiring brain neurons output...

The weather service has been reporting record wet and overcast and damp weather here in Maine and still it continues. Most folks gardens are suffering. Mine seems to be fine though of course the tomatoes, peppers and vine crops are not especially thriving. We bought a quart of strawberries yesterday from a roadside stand (our handful of plants are somewhere out there in the weeds, I am sure of it, but not enough to make a meal-sized "mess" of berries) and the seller reported that they are molding badly, making the picking hard. You can see it in the fruit too... just don't look terribly excited to be here, y'know?

The stop did yield a networking opportunity though... as many folks in Maine wear more than one hat, this berry seller is also a food writer for a local paper and has a cookbook at the presses and will be looking for business support -- web and such. Thankfully I have remembered to keep business cards in the car.

Rainy and damp days have played havoc with laundry, though I lucked out last week with a "drying day" as I donned my last clean undies. With the forecast today being for no rain, I began washing and hanging out last evening (they are now quite heavily fog-kissed but I have hope) and continue this morning.

Next job will be to cut a 4' hex blank for the next custom order. Being 3/4" plywood and the largest blank I have cut, it will be a challenge. Yesterday errands were prolonged as the saw at Lowes was out of commission, necessitating a trip back across town to Home Depot. I refuse to buy half-sheets of plywood and K refuses (quite rationally) to carry full ones on top of the Subaru. The 4x4 pieces are just a HAIR too big to fit inside... By the time we got home I was too beat to even think of woman-handling the wood and tools for this precision job. So that's at the top of the list today, along with sanding and priming the wood.

It can then attempt to dry while I work on the garden. The flame weeder is a big success but I am learning that earlier on in the year -- before I had a full two storey forest of weeds in the garden -- it would be easier. I am going to try mowing the cross paths and some of the area that was not planted, as well as between the widely-spaced vine crops and then hitting (in some cases again) with the torch.

With the fussing over the plywood, I totally forgot to get metal posts to begin making the monofilament deer "fence" that my friend Robin suggested. Thus far, they do not seem to have found the two new cherry trees or the garden (though in the former case, I think the lack of tall weeds giving them cover as they emerge from the forest helps and in the case of the garden, well my camaflague is working well! LOL) so perhaps that can wait a day or so.

Cross your fingers...

The first picking of early peas (top of this page) were delicious and I am sure there are more from this variety (Coral Shell) as well as the Petit Pois coming on.  The second planting of spinach will be ready for a light picking for market this week, but the Blushed Butter Oaks lettuces are bolting and will be ending soon. I didn't get a good second planting of them, unfortunately.  There is always next year...

Someday, maybe, I will learn to stop stressing about where the $$ is coming from... but then, as K pointed out, when you take things for granted they have a tendency to evaporate... so maybe not.

We got our schedules for next week at the store and I got a whopping 19 hours. Not sure what is up; I haven't been "talked to" about my work and veteran employees -- which I would hope I counted as by now... as I have moved up 6 spaces from the bottom of the list over the past few weeks -- are supposed to get priority for hours. If my marketing buddy can solo this coming week, I have been offered to take her Thursday shift and though I am not "supposed" to be available Thurs. I will do it if it won't stress A too much, but I won't know that for a bit as she is out of town this week.

But anyway, here I was stressing... and I got home and checked emails last night and there were two more orders for large exterior hexen... one paid and one custom that is waiting on a digital proof...

The one that is in the bank more than covers the "lost" hours.

Needless to say, many thanks were offered to the Powers That Be last eve at Hearthfire...

In the face of the recent weather -- which has folks wondering where Summer is -- I quote from my blog from this time (more or less) last year:

So where does this perception come that June is not a rainy month here in Maine, I wonder??

Looks like we are in an odd weather pattern for a few more days -- wind out of the NORTH!  strange... and clouds and showers and threats of showers. Most here are getting tired of it but I don't mind. Every day that I CAN get into the garden I have been able to -- pulling weeds in the planted rows, even if it has been too wet and/or windy for the flame weeder to work. Its time will come....

Despite the many rains (we were at 3.5 inches on the gauge during this rainy period when I last looked) it seems the garden is carrying on. I have seen many buds and blossoms on the pepper plants and ditto, plus small fruits, on the tomatoes. The early planting of peas have pods beginning to fill and the later plantings are beginning to blossom. I need to add side dressing of blood meal for some of the crops and will likely do that this afternoon, when we return from our wanderings.

I have a chance to show my hex signs and talk to a shop owner in Dover about possible design work, so I will do that this morning while K is at the counselor. Hopefully this will keep me from Bobs, where the wonderfully sinful malted milk balls call. They were out last week...

I have actually enjoyed the showery times in between the times I can get into the garden. They allow me a natural flow between outdoor work and indoor chores. I got the fridge cleaned yesterday and did some other minor chores, along with getting some paint put on hex blanks in the garage. I need to work on them a bit more today too... second and final coat on the front of the signs and then if they dry sufficiently, a coat on the backs so that they are ready to draw.  I am rather low in stock at present and need them for the Market.

Lettuces continue to thrive, though I have found what appears to be a quirk in the market here; folks seem to want to buy mixed lettuce leaves over whole heads. Strange... and more work but what the heck. we'll do it.

I had been invited and made a plan to join friends on their annual early morning hike into Baxter State Park here in Maine, to view and photograph the elusive and delightful moose in their morning adventures.  Now, anyone who knows me or has read my writings since my arrival in this great state, knows of my desire to see these great creatures, and my frustration at their apparent scarcity. I've been here over a year and have seen just one, loping along the Interstate in the evening gloom. Not even a chance at a photo op!

I was so frustrated by their failure to appear that, when I adopted a black fuzzy kitten from a friend last year, I named her Moose!  And yes, I sleep every night with a Moose curled up by my side, but it's not quite the same thing...

Anyways, as time for the annual hike and moose watch approached, I felt more and more conflicted over my commitment.  My body complained -- loudly and madly with pain and stiffness -- that I am not up to hiking. The garden filled with weeds that steadfastly refused to disappear. Work -- both at the corner store and under my several other hats -- proliferated. Each, by itself was not enough to stop me from going and collectively they were not -- in all honestly -- what was weighing on my mind saying "not this year."

But something WAS there... and as I tried to fathom why I felt I should stay at home... and as my friends who were going on the expedition tried with increasing vigor to persuade me ... nothing clicked as "yes, this is why."

Until just this morning.

Tomorrow, the day of the hike this year, is Summer Solstice. Litha for the Pagans, and thus "should be" a good day for being out and about. In fact, just thinking about going into the park brought back memories of a wonderful Solstice on Bear Island in NC a few years ago...

But I keep hearing that I need to be here, on "my" land... on the land I tend and care for, and then, today as I looked at the timing of sunrise on Weather Underground I noted that not only is tomorrow Solstice, but the following day is New Moon. 

A new season coming that close to a new moon means, to me, there is much stirring of the pot to be done, and as Volva of the Northlands, that means I need to be here, preparing and working and "doing what I do" as my kids would say.

Y'know, I find this part of my life very strange. Not, as one might expect, the part where I walk with one foot in 2009 and one foot in the mists of antiquity... not the part where I am supposed to share insights and wisdom from Gods and Goddesses that most think are at best myth and at worst... well we don't go there.  No the part that is strange is that for most of my life I have walked the path of solitude in comfort but not necessarily by choice; now I am surrounded by friends and must figure how to continue my solitary path without offense to those I am connected to and care about.

And so, as much as I want to see moose, to share this experience with my friends and will be sad not being there tomorrow, I know I am to be here, working the Magics necessary in this time and space, for the benefit of all.

We are within shouting distance of the Summer Solstice (12:45 AM EDT I believe) and once again I have noted an interesting phenomenon as I track the time of sunrise (via Weather Underground, scroll down the page about halfway for the Astronomy column). While the days will continue to get longer (by 4 seconds) the sunrise is shown as 1 minute earlier than yesterday.

For the past week, the sun has been rising at 4:48 and today it said 4:49.

This is because the orbit of the Earth is not a perfect circle and because the rotation axis of the Earth is not perpendicular to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. (reference)

And while I am thinking about it, the allegedly equal day and night of the equnoxes does not happen on the astronomical date either, on account of the refraction of light. Light travels through the near vacuum of space but when it hits the atmosphere it bends, much like it bends when going from the air through a glass of water. (reference)

On other notes, I have been most pleased with the other cycles I have been noting for the past little bit. The days of rain (much maligned by the TV weather folks) (note to TV producers: Tell your talking head to stop editorializing on the WEATHER!) have nicely alternated with days of sun. This cycle is not only good for the garden (at least mine seems to be doing fine) but for the workflow as well; during the dry days I have to be out in the gardens, weeding and picking and such, but during the wet weather, there is time for house work and painting and other indoor projects.  For me, this natural balance is a very good thing.

When I think about the garden and the elements, Fire -- beyond the rays of Ol' Brazen Face -- does not come immediately to attention.

Earth -- well that is obvious -- the lush, fertile Mama from whose breast springs forth a bounty is easy to picture.  And even the hardscrabble farm, rocky or full of parched clay, want to grow stuff. Heck even city sidewalks crack from the force of Mother Nature trying to reclaim the ground.

Air -- from the gentle breezes that kiss by sweaty neck as I weed to the blustery, rain-filled gusts that wave the trees... that is pretty easy to understand too. It is also the home of many wonderful creatures, flying in the invisible oceans and pollenating our food.

Water -- from the surface to the sky to the surface, a continuing cycle. Sometimes we help with hoses or magic, but it too is an obvious element in the garden cycle.

Today, though, I brought Fire most directly into our first year "sod" garden. Working the field with only hand tools, and with the abundant fertility and rain we have had, the weeds have gotten the upper hand and something of the "big guns" needed to be brought into play were we to have any chance of gaining balance.  Herbicide is out of the question -- besides being against principles, do you know how much the stuff COSTS now!  No wonder "organic" options are being considered on larger scales!

Tillers, too, at least here in Maine, go for a pretty penny, even well used. And the fact that the lawn machine died and HAD to be replaced (with 4 acre all together, none wooded, you don't just hire the neighbor kid!) totally ate the implement budget.  There is still a call out to the Universe for a tiller, to be used in conjunction with the tractor dude's efforts,  most likely... but even there I didn't think it the best option with all the spreading grasses. Those rhyzomes, given half a chance, will do their thing and the best option is to PULL as much as possible.  Which I will do... but meanwhile we need to keep everything down enough for the plants to thrive.

Along with this thinking, K has been being upset that he cannot do more in the garden. He cannot stand for long periods nor bend to pull weeds and his strength is such that pushing the high wheel cultivator a row or two maxes him out for the day. A day in the sun, applying hoe to earth (still not the best option for the grass!) would not be practical.

However he had been reading about flame weeding and decided that he could do the "flame broiled" weeding thing, and so bought a device yesterday. Today we hooked it up to a grill tank on our hand truck (dolley) and away I went... I wanted to start as I DO know the plants from the weeds and wanted to see how easy it was to control. I will know by tomorrow the results of my work today. I did notice as I worked that a pass with the torch dramatically turned the weeds a brighter shade of green. Working it more, they begin to wilt and dry out, but I am hoping that the flush of green stage will be sufficient heat to beat them back. IN the rows will still need hand weeding, of course... but many of the crops are planted far enough apart that a hoe can be used (not the potatoes, though... where I am currently working. I have accientally exposed several roots with the barest beginnings of a tuber on them, trying to hoe.)

I think it will be a good, short term, "get it down" option! My first partial tank of  gas is gone; my experimenting with "how much" heat was needed.... well I went overkill on the first bit. But tomorrow on the way to market I'll fill our two empty tanks and then Friday I will walk the garden with Kevin and show him some of the more obvious rows -- and the walkways -- where he can begin work.  

Photo of the "flame broiled" weeds will follow.

With today being an actual factual day off from the store -- and no rain in sight -- I decided this was going to be a full day in the garden. Well, minus the time to fill the clotheslines with laundry!  LOL  I still have more to do tomorrow, thanks to the kitties having emptied a linen closet shelf on the floor, and having changed the bed linens as well... but the bulk is done and will be brought in tomorrow as I am just too tired and stiff and sore at the moment.

K went out and ran the high wheel cultivator up and down  between several rows, but when I went out to complete hand-weeding the row that I had not finished on my last day out, I learned a bit more about my soil. 1.5 inches of rain within a couple of days and no wind following makes for soil that is too wet, early in the morning, for optimal weeding.  The day I weeded after the inch of rain was accompanied by sun and wind. We had neither today, but I completed the row anyway despite the soil not wanting to part company with the weed roots.

I did cabbage worm patrol and found that I had a bad tendency to get distracted and want to pull bind weed. I tried to pull what I found in the cabbage rows while looking for worms. Hope I didn't miss too many of either. The place I pulled bindweed earlier still seems to be pretty free of the stuff, so this is the way to go with this pest.

K and I had discussed, next time I didn't have to work and the cart was empty, hauling broken cement block from a pile in the back to use as a border for the herb garden so, after dumping my cart of weeds and offloading the bucket of rocks, that was next on the list. We used the tractor to pull the cart and made several trips with the only physical work being the loading and unloading of the blocks.

Then, while the cart was still empty, I decided to begin moving some of the "straw" from the back field that I had attempted to pile for compost last fall (and which almost immediately BLEW OVER in our over achieving winds) to where the compost pile will live, on the east side where I had been piling weeds and where the neighbor had brought a small cart load of horse manure. Discovered that I NEED the wooden pallets that friends have offered me. Making free form compost piles... well the don't quite pile right, but I alternated the dry weeds (wetting them down as I went -- I have proof positive how, and why, thatched roofs work! the bottom of the pile was bone dry!), pulled weeds with some soil on their roots and the manure.

While I working in this area, I noticed that the areas where K had cultivated were almost totally free of weeds! There are grass plants to pull, but most of the other weeds have been gathered at the end of the rows, so weeding these potato rows should go quickly when I next get to work.

After putting the border around the herb garden I decided the next job needed to be completing the weeding of the Sweet Anne and the basil, so that I could put into the earth seedlings I had been given.

I guess either the soil there is better drained, or by afternoon the moisture was being taken up by plants and the water table, as the weeding went well and the baby plants were quickly put into the soil. After seeing how effective K's cultivation had been,  and having hoe in hand, I decided to hoe some of the herb circle. Got it about 3/4 done before my muscles and stomach told me it was time to quit and consider supper.

Tomorrow is a town day, but I am hoping to make it a quick enough trip to get back into the garden again, after getting the laundry completed.

GRRR... I am gonna vent but I am also not gonna bite on this one again.

Co-worker L asked me on Sunday if I would work her 8 hr instead of my 5 hr shift today. I told her no. Then she asked me on Monday if I would work trade shifts on Tues, being totally clueless that I HAVE NEVER worked a Tues... and if she would look at the schedule she would see if never says "off" or "off-R" (for request)... but instead N/A on both Tu and Th for me, EVERY WEEK... so I explained to Her Clueless Majesty and then she calls me after we get back from K's extraction, Tues even and asks me for a trade today again "because there are things I have to do (italics mine) that I can't do any other time.

So me, I don't want to, but I am thinking Dr. appt or something (though she was not specific) and stupidly say yes.

So I am behind getting ready for market, and the garden always needs weeding (though that was not a good project for today, as it was very wet and cold) and housework needs doing, always... but I am a good person and help out a coworker.  Yeah, right...

I was partially motivated by her "fragile" and stressed demeanor for the past few days. She has said she has insomnia and hasn't been sleeping even as well as usual and quite frankly I have been expecting a meltdown. Apparently she had one yesterday -- before she called me according to the supervisor -- over something with another worker. Said supervisor speculated that she thought L might have been planning to look for another job. Not a bad idea, I thought when she said that... I know L has worked for our big boss before and left as well as having been fired both repeatedly...

But as work progressed today she let slip what it was that she "had to" do that couldn't be done at other times. She went GROCERY SHOPPING, went to the NURSERY and WORKED IN HER (hobby, flower) GARDEN!!!  Can  you tell I am livid?  How can anyone put a hobby before work enough to nag a coworker to switch shifts?

Well, as they say "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." and there ain't gonna be a twice.  From now on unless the supervisor or boss calls "I am scheduled at my other job." Because I am...

It has been a busy week. Very much so...

The garden has been demanding weeding, and more and more it is possible to do, as the most recent seeded plantings are beginning to show. AKKK!!!  Well, I must remember this is a first year garden, and it will do what it can. As much as I long for a tiller, I KNOW in my heart of hearts that, slow as the process is, the BEST way to deal with the massive "grass" problem is by loosening the soil and pulling the bastards. These are all runner grasses... crab grass and the like... and they are sending out rhizomes like mad. Every small piece not accounted for will become MORE, and tilling... well it would make many, many small pieces.

So ever.... so.... slowly.... row by row, it is getting done. My loose goal is "a row a day" and some days I make it and some days I don't even start (like today, town day). 

It is interesting to see the differences with the land, row by row as well... and when I am done, my hands will have been through every last inch of tilled land. The first few rows I weeded yielded a quarter of a cart of weeds (more or less) and about half a bucket of rocks for the driveway holes. This last row I got about the same for weeds but a full harvest of rocks.  LOL

On another note, though, this week begins MARKET!  I learned about the Artisans Market, Thursday evenings in downtown Bangor a while back, and on a whim, signed up for a table, specifying that I would be selling produce, herby-stuff and hex signs.  I signed up as Dutch Hex... but my friend Ann and I are working together to market our produce and have come up with the "Stone Soup" name for our collaborative venture, hence the "Stone Soup" on the sign...  Her farm is called Abundant Acres. If this works well (and she is lining up other marketing venues for just produce as well for this season, closer to her home turf, to which I will contribute) we would like to do more next year.  Next year, too, I already know that I need to plan for more staggered plantings, and starting some things, like early beet greens, under row covers.

But for now, it is crunch time!  I "lost" a day of weeding to making the stretched canvas sign (photo, above) and today I need to get our shelter and other odds and ends while in town on our town day.  And since I don't have a lot of hex signs in stock at present, I need to make a portfolio book as well, and figure out how to showcase the ones I do have. 

Better get cracking!!

ALL of the tomatoes and peppers now have their roots in the ground and have been counted, as well. I'll post the counts in a day or so.

I ended up with a bunch of extra tomato plants of undetermined variety, from my friend Robin. Seems that one of the packets of seed she ordered produced plants with two kinds of leaves. There are two BASIC leaf types in the tomato family, Regular & Potato Leaf but any given variety is only supposed to have one kind of leaf. She planted this packet and got both types of leaves... so the potato leaf variety she has been calling "mystery tomato" and handed a bunch off to Ann and me when we went up to claim the seedlings she had grown for me.

Yes, having greenhouses and professional experience shows, but there was not nearly as much difference between the seedlings I got from Robin, from my seeds, and the ones I grew here, which both pleases and surprises me. Hopefully there will be a greenhouse in the future someday, too...

Meanwhile the lawn continues to grow. Ann and her husband (a professional landscaper no less) are planning to come over later today and take a crack at taming it, as we were turned down for the mower loan, at least part on account of my slipping through the cracks. So be it... I get a strong message that this is as it should be and I will continue to walk this path.  Meanwhile, K has been scouring Uncle Henrys for likely prospects and has actually found a few that might be within reach and usable. Finding time to look at them (none are really LOCAL) may prove interesting as I work 5 days this week. But it will happen somehow, some time.

I find it very interesting to note that over the past few days, when it has been rainy and I could not get into the garden, I have once again begun hurting, my knees have bothered me at work and I have been unmotivated and blah and not even having the energy hardly to get into the garden once the weather was cooperative. Once I got going, though, things changed. I have always been connected to the earth, but this strong change amazes me.

So, back to the garden I go... there are some baby perennials and herbs from Robin yet to be planted before work.

Been working in the garden a lot, finally getting to where there was time from planting to start weeding, then cold snap and now rain is promised for a few days so I was working madly to get some succession plantings in and maybe the tomatoes and peppers...

But I had to come in on account of the damn loan officer at the CU kept calling and so I didn't get done, not even close, and it's time to eat and go to work and my mind is a mess of thoughts about gardens and making do and how they did it in the old day, the pioneers on virgin prarie sod, trying to eek out enough food for the family while fighting the tough grasses. And I am reminded of why I hate applying for loans, and why I resist many of the fine points (or should that be financial points) of business plans.  Stems from the 70s and my first venture at farming, when I was laughed out of the bank, several times...

mostly because I don't believe in putting myself in hock for big bucks and won't stop from doing (or starting) something just because I may not know everything about it and because I don't have all the "proper" equipment.

So here I am with an insanely grassy garden (mostly) that is getting weeded catch as catch can (beween all the other things demanding my attention) with a human powered high wheel cultivator, a hand cultivator and HANDS. And in the process the compost heap is growing with the pulled weeds and the driveway is getting filled with collected rocks

and the grass is growing higher and higher because the Credit Union can't find my credit reports and doesn't like disability and we don't make tons of $$ and so on, all the number-cruncher things that sooth the souls of accountants and loan officers, we are lacking in. (things like pictures of dead presidents, laying in a vault somehwere...)

And no, I will never have a "showplace" garden, but in a few years (tiller or not... ) it won't look like a neglected first year garden any more. And yes, the food WILL grow despite the weeds. Not as well as it would with no competition, of course, but we will eat and I am more than betting there will be stuff for market too.  And more of that each year, you betcha...

You see, what happens while you are waiting is life... so I am not sitting around waiting for it to be perfect, as it might be in my imagination. When you do that, that's all you will ever have, and I prefer a few home grown 'maters and beans fought from the weeds now than stuff from the store in my belly alone to augment the dreams in my head.

And somehow, it works.

I feel like I have turned some unseen corner in the last few days, and not in any way that I might have suspected even as much as 3 days ago.

On Tuesday, apparently, the warmth following the sudden overnight cold snap told the pine trees to WAKE UP and BLOOM!  No, we do not have drifts of chartreuse coating everything, and the allergy report does not even list pine as a major source of tree pollen... but my sinuses were telling a far different tale when I awakened Tuesday morning. The phrase "like a ton of bricks" comes to mind... and I was quite thankful that K was feeling up to driving a bit after we reached Bangor as the trip to D-F and then down to the city were trying to my poor body. I had been feeling the "normal" aches and pains of an old woman gardener for some time and then to have the pine allergies on top made for a miserable day.

Even the Dayquil that I took after our trip to Sams didn't help much (I should know better by now... buy Niquil for at night and let day take care of itself with hot compresses, steam and pain relievers. (Anyone want a large quantity of sealed Dayquil packets... cheap??) but the Niquil that night (two doses, properly timed by the instructions) put me out for a good nights rest -- and unfortunately a good bit of Wed. as well. I managed to rally by afternoon and got some planting and painting done but not as I had planned.

Wed. night I took a single Niquil and was able to attempt to function Thursday after a good nights rest as well. Thurdsay, however, was Hell Day in Maine (temps in the very high 80s to low 90s) though I did work in the garden most of the day and didn't even feel THAT hot. Amazing what a good stiff breeze -- and the knowledge that tonight will be cool and tomorrow the high will be more reasonable -- can do!  I am showing my time in the sun, though...

What surprised me was how I feel today, now.... after several days of pushing a high wheel cultivator, planting, bending, reaching, walking.. and 5 hours on my feet in the store with only a DayQuil in my system... I feel energized, free of pain (though I am a little stiff in a few places)  and if I do say so myself "the way I should feel." 

I accomplished a lot today... the last bit of planting until I put the maters and peppers in the ground, weeding (enough that it is beginning to show, though I am starting on the part of the garden that was NOT re-plowed this spring and therefore has the hardest soil) and cooking a roast and makind salad dressing for a noon dinner of pork roast, applesauce and salad. Oh, and I have two hex signs on order, so I have been applying paint to them every chance I get.

As much as I have hurt the last few weeks... months... I wish I knew what, why or how it is that I do not at present.

Early on in the season, K said that the garden would make things right (or something to that effect, I don't recall exactly, though I do remember wondering how -- through all the pain -- I would even do it. )

I hope he was right.  This feels wonderful!

After the cold snap of the other night (39 degrees on our recording therm.) the trees are blooming with a vengeance.  My spring allergies kicked in BIG TIME yesterday, which was thankfully enough a day in town so I could get OTC meds. I don't think dayquil is all that great, but the antihistamines knock me for a loop so they are reserved for blissful sleep at night.

I will likely be sweating with the earthworms today and tomorrow, as the temps are supposed to climb and I will be out putting in the summer crops -- first another planting of lettuce and spinach and then the beans, corn and vine crops. I have two days off and then two short days at the store and I am hoping to get all the planting done during this period so I can begin the Herculean task of WEEDING.

I started that a bit day before yesterday, extracting the early peas from the grass.  This being a first-year garden, the grass will be my nemesis for some time to come.

We also got our "peach" tree yesterday. No, peaches are not a common crop in Maine and this tree actually should produce Gala apples. We call it our "peach" tree as it was bought with a housewarming gift card give us by a Peachie friend (who, by the way, runs the Nook and Cranny Restaurant in Baileysville, ME with her hubby Steve). If you ever find yourself on Rte 9 (AKA Airline Rd) in the Calais area of Maine, keep an eye out for the little place and stop in. It can be easy to miss, but once you eat there you will find ways to keep coming back! Great food, wonderful atmosphere and the best hostess and chef around, bar none!

But back on topic... "Peachie" gave us this gift card for Home Depot when we moved into our new home last year and we decided to apply it to something that would keep on giving... an apple tree as the start of our home orchard. Now big boxes are not known for their variety of stock, so I was quite pleased to find something that was not a Delicious (red or yellow) as we are not fond of these apples.  Getting tree into earth will be the first job on my list today (me, mattock, shovel, time...) and then I will get into the planting of veggies, despite sniffling running nose and full head.

Tonight, friends in the Calais area are holding a potluck supper for other friends, just arrived for their summer in Maine and I am sad that I will not be there. However feeling as I am, I am not sure I would have been up to the drive anyway.. it will be hard enough to make it to the Business After Hours in Dover-Foxcroft that I had committed to prior to knowing this was the day for the Calais potluck.  I will go, though, wearing both Dutch Hex Sign and Vision IPD hats and do some serious "local" networking.

Then come home and collapse, most likely.  Wish me well!!

I finally got to spend much of a day in the yard and garden. Three loads of wash out and in again and one in early on from a late night hanging, just to get it going, and then I was off to the garden.

Soil temp yesterday afternoon was mid-60s so the earth is telling me it is time to plant EVERYTHING. I got out 250 feet of row of cauliflower and broccoli -- which got mixed up and were poorly labeled for starters, as I had run out of proper wood or plastic label sticks -- so they are just planted together and I will not worry this year about varieties (though I will try to second guess who is who and will direct seed the small remainder of the packets as an experiment, so may be better able to ID the seedlings as they grow.)

I planted the ones that had got some good growth on at 18" apart and the smaller ones half that, figuring that half may survive.

I had been skunked on getting bare root strawberries, but found several packages in plastic -- 10 plants for under $4 -- at Home Depot so bought 3 as a promise to the garden. Sigh...   I am not sure any will grow, I'll consider half a rousing success. The poor things were gathered up and roots wrapped about and bundled up with a rubber band, inside a plastic bag with some moss. The result is that getting crown UP and at ground level, roots DOWN etc was problematical -- and adding to the difficulty many had already started to grow in various directions, mostly sideways.  But they are out.

I was also able to "shoot" the north star, finally, last night, to set the directions for the herb wheel. I'll shoot some pics of this perhaps later, after I get some herbs planted... I plan to plant it as 12 sections, with the sections on the directional lines, not the paths.  Not yet sure who will go where, but I am sure I will be told when I get out to plant.   I am going to eventually recycle the pile of broken cement block as "rocks" to separate the sections and surround the garden. No, I don't lack for rocks, but this is a way to use up the waste pile from the back.

I was going to ask K to help by carrying a wagon load around with the little lawn tractor, but the thing appears to have died. It made a strange "pop" day before yesterday and K has not been able to find the problem. All the obvious things are working so he is suspecting a broken part internally -- something not worth fixing, even if it were found. But we will take it to the guy who works on them later, he says. Meanwhile I am glad I do not think of having "lawn"... as it is up to nearly 6" many places now.

We did get a battery weed whacker, so I will take it out to the front ditches today and whack a bit, making places at least to plant some of the rooting willows and such. Also on the list for today along with willows and herbs are the forsythia and perhaps other seeds -- we will see how long the first part takes.

I will be going to breakfast in a bit with friends -- or at least a friend -- to talk about several of our cooperative ventures.  I was accepted at the Bangor Outdoor Market. Apparently this market has a new location and a new manager ( from what I hear, politics is rampant in farmers and outdoor markets) this year, with many previous vendors not returning due to last year's bad location. Dutch Hex Sign will be there, vending my art as well as herbs and veggies, under the  label "Stone Soup".  I just was reminded of this market by a local blog site I read and found out that the market is open only on Thursday evenings, June and July, 5-8 pm. That day and those hours are perfect for my schedule, as well as the price fitting the budget.

Now to hope something grows!

Generally, I don't make a big deal of out holidays that are not earth or moon related. And Mothers day, while good in intent (mothers need to be recognized and honored but in my opinion, more than just one day a year!) often fails in execution.  I guess I got burnt out on sermons praising the impossibly perfect supermom, while giving us real, in the trenches, moms a good dose of downer.

So today is just another day in my world. A day off from the store which I appreciate. A day when hopefully I will meet friends at a garden center and maybe score some rhubarb and/or bare root strawberries. A day to hang out the wash in hopes that the 30% chance of rain will fall elsewhere, giving me a leg up on household chores so I can spend most of the 3 days off I get in a row this week in the yard and gardens.

For now I am a bit frustrated, as I want to make breakfast but K is fast asleep.. he didn't come to bed until Gods only know when, when I saw the light under the door and hollered. He got to hurting after taking his pills and did not follow me to bed, so his day is totally scewed and I am trying not to let it mess up mine. I'll likely make some eggs in a bit anyway, wash up the dishes and be ready to head to the nursery on time.

If it doesn't rain, I'll likely be in the yard today a well. I found the offset factor for the difference between magnetic and celestial north (it's been too cloudy for a long time for me to spot the North Star, and I want to mark and lay out the circular herb bed on a grid based on the directions) so when K finds his compass, we can do that part.

I still have more asparagus to plant and cole crops to set out and it is time to do another planting of spinach and flower seeds... I am thinking of pushing the season a bit as my "spidey sense" tells me there will not be any more freezes...

But all this takes time.