Spring 2014

Oh where to begin... first of all "Heeeeeeey".... it has been a long while since a post has been posted. Last season seemed to get a bit overwhelming, and for that pictures were never finished being posted. taken.. YES posted.. NO :)  I think I may just do one entire blog with nothing but pictures of last garden.

Beginning fresh...

Let's start this seasons blog off right! When, spring finally arrives for us here in Grand Rapids, MN we help our wonderful neighbor with maple syrup. Syrup season for us starts of with drilling holes and taping trees! Our season changes for year to year based on the weather (of course!! Duh!). 2014's season started of Saturday 3/29/2014. Now I would like to PAUSE here for a moment and explain...

Why an explanation.. well, I am sure the majority of your reading this have heard of "cabin Fever".. it is where people get "stir crazy" or extremely depressed, emotional ect. after being cooped up for months due to cold weather and snow. I think my dear, adorable and cute, hubby was suffering from "spring fever" and he and his adorable brother had sooooooo much fun being out side in the awesome and amazing weather.. well tapping was slacked off on.. :) but they sure are cute!! Sunday 3/30/2014 more taps were put out in a somewhat better organized chaos! here are a few shots from that weekend:

Evelyn (SIL) taping, folks.. She is amazing!

Tap placed in the tree

Jeremy (my super husband) and Jake (BIL) drilling and taping

Jake (BIL) taping

I absolutely adore this man! <3

Mr. Wonderful, drilling

As soon as the hole was drilled, the sap was running

This past weekend, my honey and I only went out on Sunday. However, WOW... what a day!! 51 degrees and sap was running! I believe we estimated for the first collection, some the morning and some in the afternoon, total was around 100 gallons of sap! Here are some of the photos from Sunday's gathering:

Milk jugs collecting the sap.

This tree was running sap

Pouring the sap in to a bigger bucket

Collecting sap (BIL)

A view down the path to more jugs.

Bucket 'O Sap

Can wait to take more pictures and share them! Maybe this week we might get a pan boiling with all this nice weather we are suppose to have! Stay tuned....


<3 T

Week 6... She smiles for the camera

We had quite a bit of rain this week, well that and my big OPPS of the week... Well, I decided I wanted to can, freeze and make jam out of peaches... that and they were ripe :) SO, my wonderful husband and I went on our walk around the garden that morning and decided to water it some. I was to go out every 20 minutes and rotate the location of the sprinklers... Yeah the first 20 minutes was more like the first 8 hours! I know right?!?! Well, evidently I did something right.. hahahah!!

Let's see... also this week we had the 4th of July, which I worked (bummer). All of my wonderful kids decided to stay up and wait for me to get home at 11 pm, I know super late right.. that's whats I thought too.. but how can you say NO to 6 super sad kids with puppy dog eyes... ok my point too! Anywho, they had a great time! Then more rain... On to the rest of the story...

Yes, Fireworks.. however I think we spent too much on firework.. $100 plus too much.. this was all they did and made noise. Kids were bummed that they didn't do up into the sky, but enjoyed them none the less..

It almost looks like a pajama party!! :) Gage and Jeremy were down lighting up the back yard like day time!

*BONUS* Look for the pictures with the smiley face.. this is where I feel the garden is smiling...
Carrots:

:)
OK so I will give you the first one.. This smile is hard to see.. Upper left hand corner

Beets.. That's right some of them made it after being mutilated by a deer!

Radish.. well what very few have survived..






Onions:

:)
Yes.. an onion blossom/ flower.. The garden was definitely smiling here!

Very nice rows of onions!







Potatoes:
The small patch:

From left to right:
Yukon Gold
Fingerlings
Red Russet

From top to bottom:
Yukon Gold
Fingerlings
Red Russet






Big potato Patch:

All white potatoes here. Now both patch have been hilled once, the big patch half of the rows have been hilled twice.. whew that's a lot of work!

Chick Peas:

:)
Yes!! the chick peas are in blossom! I hope this is a good sign!!

Wow!! Look how big the over all plant of the chick peas has grown!






The lot of Beans:

From Left to Right:
White Beans
Red Kidney Beans
Tiger Eye Beans

:)
Tiger Eye Beans.. Blossoming!

From left to right:
Red Kidney Beans
White Beans
Chick Peas

Red Kidney Beans about to blossom!

Bush Beans.. Yes about 4 bush beans have survived the grassy jungle!

From left to right:
Tiger Eye Beans
Green Cabbage
Red Cabbage





Cabbage:

Red Cabbage

Green Cabbage

Bush Beans:

Amongst all these weeds maybe 4 bush beans survived!






Brussle Sprouts and Pole Beans:

The baby cabbages are still looking strong.. no signs yet of the baby heads forming.. The pole beans are growing super tall.. no flowering yet







Peas:

Now I do know their are 3 types of peas... I believe this one is the sugar snap peas...

I am not entirely sure which peas this is, but its smiling!

These peas the leaves seem to be lighter in color then the rest, should be interesting to see how they turn out :)





Borccoli:

Well, these wee little broccoli's are so cute!!









Kale:

Red Kale

Green Kale.. looking strong!









Sweet Potatoes:

YES! The sweet potatoes are coming back! Looks like we may have sweet potatoes after all!







The Greens:

Clockwise from the top left:
Radish
Winter Greens
Water Cress
Micro Greens
Fennel
Cress
Mustard Green

Fennel




The Herb Beds:

Clockwise from top left:
Nastirtium
Cilantro
Fennel (added this week)
Thyme
Oregano
Some flowers (add this week)
Parsley
Basil



Peppers:

Several rows of peppers.. they sure do clean up nicely!

Red bell peppers

Purple Ornamental peppers?!?!







Squash/ Pumpkins:

This may be a squash... regardless she is taking off, and blossoming like mad!

I just adore the fact this particular day the garden is breath taking! Squash blossom! :)

Squash/ Pumpkin. growing along the fence

Alright.. Squash of Zucchini?!?!

Well... it looks like a Zucchini with the color of a squash.. Hybrid?!?!

Acorn Squash

Yes we added a few more squash plants.. more Acorn?!?! Time will tell :)






Tomatoes:

Roma?!?

Opalka tomato

A bundle of tomatoes..

Smiling here

Yes... Mushrooms growing in the tomatoes! Love the horse s&!*...lol

Corn:

Corn and clover.. I know hard to see it all, but it is definitely getting bigger!




Hops:

Looking good.. I think they may have even grown some!

The borage isn't looking so healthy.. and the transplanted rhubarb.. well she is holding on.. fingers crossed they come back!











Grapes:

Awww.. they are adorable!

The Sunflower:

Well, That's what we have for the week... Hopefully there will be more to share next week, with maybe some things picked! Fingers crossed.. so far this has been an amazing journey!

<3 T