June 1st

This afternoon after lunch (fried chicken with mashed potatoes, cream gravy, broccoli, salad, and corn bread) I was able to take the BCS out to the field and turned over two sections. (It was a great way to work off lunch!) I'll let the grain grow on the rest of the sections, then I'll harvest the grain on one section and turn the growth under on the other. That should make the worms happy! I think I'll have enough room to plant everything else on the two sections I turned over today. If I can, tomorrow I'll take the hiller/furrower out to the field and till a bit deeper. Maybe I will have enough time to plant the potatoes and onions. We'll see.

A customer called this morning asking for rhubarb. I was delighted to tell her I would have some, but unfortunately, it's not beg enough yet. With the late onset of Spring and the cold weather, everything is growing very slowly. I happened to water the rhubarb yesterday and it does look very good. I threw some good compost around all of the plants so hopefully they should take off.

I am almost done moving the compost bin -- there is only one more section to take down.

Yesterday I did some work on the herb garden by the propane tank and added a healthy layer of good compost. Planted into the compost I added many more seeds of Honesty, Holy Basil, German Chamomile, more oregano, salad burnet, and sage, edible Chrysanthemum, more lemon balm, and statice. That little garden should look fantastic by the end of the summer.

I brought the black cohosh and goldenseal plants up from the basement and put them under the trees. There is no sign of the blood root though, but I think that is a very slow germinator.

My Willamette and Cascade hops are looking very nice. I really have to decide where I will put them. I am tempted to keep them by the house to act as a shade screen; I will be better able to water them there and I won't worry so much about thieves stealing them. On the other hand, it would be nice to take one of the field sections and turn it into a little hop yard. I'll think about it.

Boy, the bugs are bad! I am really chewed up, but I have to say that they really didn't drive me crazy. Maybe it was wearing that new field hat. Looks like the beaver came and got his wood -- those nice posts are chewed down to about 4' each and the skid trail down to the creek is well marked. Maybe he remembers how I took his post last year!

The gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and even the wild strawberries are looking great. Let's hope we get to pick some this year!