In The Garden

In The Garden,

Yesterday morning I cut the broccoli in Harland's garden in the sprinkling rain.  I think he said there were 38 plants.  I had my wagon full to overflowing.  I wheeled it up to the basement door so I could get them into the pantry.  So I spent the remainder of the day soaking them in salt water, parboiling, cooling them down, drying and flash freezing the florets.  I don't like to leave a lot of stalk on the florets.  I think I had about 10 gallon bags to go in the freezer.  Then when we are ready to eat we just pull out the amount we need from the bag.

The flowers have just been beautiful here on the farm this spring.  When Charlotte was here she loved stopping to look at them and picking them as we went back and forth to the barn.  Since we had a mild winter it seems as though we have had a long spring.  Unlike the normal fast warm up we have had a good bit of cool weather and some gray days.  Looks like this morning will be like yesterday's cool, gray and wet with rain forecasted for later today.  Maybe I can get some of my potted flowers in the ground before it rains?  Also rains means no work on the brick laying for the porch!

Saturday Jill my little white silkie hen hatched 9 tiny little chicks. Eight of them were silkies and one was a barred rock cochen.  Three of the barred rock cochens did not hatch.  I wish Charlotte could have been here when they hatched.  She would have been so excited.  But she can see them this weekend when she comes with her mom, dad and Bella.  Three of Cooper's ladies have decided they need to sit on some eggs.  So once again our friend Gary has provided some of his Rhode Island Red and Black Copper Maran cross eggs.  I slipped them under the girls yesterday evening.  The girls were not happy to see me.  They let me know they did not appreciate I was disrupting their rest on the nest.  If everything goes well we should have around 21 chicks in 21 days.

Harland's red cow he calls Red Bird had a calf Sunday.  Harland said it was a bull calf but I haven't seen him yet.  I like to get out and see them within a couple of days.  You can usually creep up and pet them while they are on the ground.  I doubt Red Bird will let me do that with her baby.  She's always been skiddish and gets the wide eyed look on her face whenever you get close to her.  But I will try to get a picture of him when the weather clears up and I can get my camera outside.

Harland has an Amarylis flower planted in his garden along the driveway.  I never knew you could plant them outside and would have told him you can't.  I am glad I didn't know because it made it through the winter and it is blooming and just beautiful.  It was one of his mom's.   He has several of her flowers planted along the driveway.  Mums, daffodils and a piece of some kind of shrub, maybe some sort of holly.  Probably some more but I can't remember what is out there unless they are blooming.  He has a green thumb but doesn't want anyone to know that he likes flowers.  He thinks they will think he is a sissy.  But, I think a lot of guys like flowers.  There is just something fun about playing in the dirt!


We had a few bee swarms this spring.  I think three.  Melvin Kidd has a couple of hives here on the farm.  The  source of two of the swarms.  I caught a few pics of him as he was in a pickle trying to get one of the swarms out of our pear tree.

That's the first one that has gone that high here on the farm.  They usually pick the same peach tree right in front of the hives.  That's the tree in the bottom two pictures.

Audrey, Amber and JoCasta I forgot to tell you.  They tore down the motel next to the Yahtzman.  They are building a Mexican Restaurant. It will be nice to have a restaurant close by the condo!  Hope it's a good one!