And the Green Grass Grows

Rainy Day 

all around, all around. And the green grass grows all around. I remember singing that song often in Girl Scouts as a child. While I have been focused on getting things done around here, that is precisely what the grass has been doing. When we are working on making forward progress mowing tends to fall off of the list of immediate to-do items because other things, like caring for the animals, can't be put aside. Well, I finally got the mowing done! It took a couple of days for me to mow the immediate yard area and then I bush hogged the back and south side sections of the property. I started on the front, but being the novice tractor driver than I am, I knocked the pin out of the bush hog attachment and had to park it long enough for Brad to fix it. Of course, even though he got to it immediately, it took just one enough for me to get distracted watering the garden. Brad is going to finish up the front and get in the more difficult areas soon. We are using the "Big Tractor" which has a bucket attachment on the front and I'm still a little scared to do more than the easy stuff with it. I love having a freshly mowed yard. It makes it so much easier for me to enjoy all of the hard work I put into this place. It is hard for me to focus on the beautiful things when everything looks scruffy.

Brad also fixed the driveway! Yay! We can finally drive up and down it without having to straddle the huge gully that the rain had washed in the middle of it. He tried to route the water to the ditch line. Hopefully the rain will do what it is supposed to and not wash the driveway right back out.

Three out of the 4 bean/squash arbors are put together and placed between beds in the small garden. Brad took over the job of assembling the arbors and putting the fencing on them for me. It has been slow going, but it is definitely worth the effort. It is looking great! I need to take pictures soon. Both types of beans and the butternut squash have been planted at the bases of all of the arbors. Of course, the birds (probably chickens but I can't rule the turkey hens out) proceeded to scratch the squash plants up and break the stems off of many of them. I replanted seeds last night in the bare spots, but fear it might be too late in the season for them to do well. I put a piece of wood down to try to block them from doing it again.

 I planted the watermelon seedlings in place of the cantaloupe, which never came up even after the second planting. That leaves nothing but a few fairytale pumpkins and some flowers growing in pots in the hoop coop tractor. I had to replant the cucumbers again. They started to come up but an armadillo has been doing damage to my big garden. It (they) have been digging cone shaped holes in random places. Some are harmless and others are directly in the middle of my garden beds. I'm trying to figure out what to do about that situation. While I was seed planting, I planted some sunflowers and jack-o-lantern pumpkins in the strawberry patch. I am hoping that they will do double duty and loosen the compacted soil while shading out some of the weeds that have been taking over. I didn't amend the soil or turn it over well so how well they come up will be a surprise.

I am in some serious need of mulch material! I have been mulching and filling the turkey coop run with leaves for bedding. It is that time of the year, though, that I am running out of leaves. I am going to have to see if I can get a large round bale of old hay soon. The weeds will take over the garden if I don't get more mulch down soon. I still have enough leaves to fill the turkey run one more time and I need to do it soon.

It is a rainy day today and the next few days are supposed to be much the same. We really needed it. I am looking forward to not having to water the gardens for a few days. It has been taking me over an hour every other day just to water them. And the plants are still tiny! Once they get bigger it will take considerably longer. I also still need to get the last of the corn and pumpkins planted. It makes me long for soaker hoses. It was obvious how dry it was when I was mowing. A cloud of dust enveloped me every time I slowed down. I had to keep moving to try to out run it. It was really surprising considering how lush and green the grass was. I was really grateful for ordering my new neti-pot when I was done! That thing is amazing. After mowing all day in the sun, taking a good long shower, and having the feeling of water still surging through my sinuses I felt like I had been at a pool all day and could have slept for a week.

Today was Keegan's last day of school. I felt bad for asking too much of him before he was done because he still had tests to take and symphonic tryouts to practice for. Now we can get some serious deep cleaning done in preparation for shampooing the carpets. May as well put these rainy days to good use!