Smiling Sunflower Just in Time

With the cabin I've been renting in foreclosure the things I thought I could enjoy until the fall will be going on without me due to the move...kind of sad to think about!  This little sunflower opened up just in time for me to enjoy.

Harvesting Hopefulls

I have this confession to make...I've never bought any sort of produce at a farmers market.  Once I bought some bread, and I have sold meat rabbits, but that about wraps up my involvement.  I enjoy them, and have often gone to browse.  There just has always been enough growing, even in my suburban backyard in the desert, to make any sort of purchase unnecessary.  This year I'm finding myself in a situation where I will most likely be buying pumpkins, and maybe even other winter squash and probably tomatoes.  I'm very grateful for what is starting to get going here at the house, but also grateful for the small market in town that will ensure I don't have to do without all the good things I've gotten used to.

Here at the house I literally go out every single day and give the garden a pep talk, throw the hose into the patches of various plants for a good soaking, and scout out progress.  Kale is starting to become edible.  I forgot to plant it until later here at the house and have missed it.  I've gotten one zucchini so far, but there are plenty that will be ready in the next couple of days and huge flowers everywhere on the two plants I put in.  Yellow crookneck will be ready within the week as well.  Corn is surprising me by putting out ears and all of a sudden getting tall.  I'm so happy I went with the very early variety this time around and have hopes it will be edible by the end of the month.

Some things growing at the cabin...

Ferns...and Boston marrow squash.  The ferns come back quickly after I pull them, but I don't mind much--they are very pretty.  The ferns mean the soil is nutrient rich, but also on the acidic side.  I'm not too concerned about it.  Things are growing well and this will be the only season the garden is here.

Brandywine tomatoes...I never stake my heirlooms because they never get tall--this year after some wind storms blew these sideways I thought I should have.  Luckily they righted themselves again and are now setting blossoms.  I also have mortgage lifters, black krim, and a few other new varieties going which are a tad bit smaller than the brandywines that went in first.

Candy roaster squash looking marvelous.  I haven't grown these for a few years and am excited for them.

My corn that is a non-heirloom because an heirloom variety was not likely to have time to mature with me planting so late.  This corn is from the local greenhouse that had seeds from a Minnesota company.  I'm glad I put it in this year...yes, the ferns like to grow around the corn too.

Muncher cucumbers which look so much healthier here at the cabin garden than at the community garden.

Galeux d'eysines winter squash that I need to trellis.  I'm trying to trellis all of my winter squash and the pumpkins.

Mustard starting to flower.  My herbs are the best I've ever grown without doubt.  Cilantro, oregano, parsley, dill, and the mustard growing in the large garden like gangbusters.

Out front of the cabin I have one of my wooden planters full of a fresh round of Asian greens.  The bunching onions and another variety of bok choy is just starting to sprout.

The deck has a few lettuce planters I've been continuously cutting from since early June...my mesclun mix, rocky top blend, and early mizuna.

Sugar snap peas are starting to show up.  Jewel destroyed most of them, but a few plants are hanging on to whatever they can and I've been picking them as soon as they're ready and enjoying.

I won't even go into all the planters of flowers yet and there's a lot more going out in the garden I'll save for another day.  The chickens even have their own flower box made from my sister's homegrown beauties.  It's exciting to think of all the things that will be harvested in August and September and October.

This garden at the cabin has grown so effortlessly.  Letting things just grow, weeding here and there but not going crazy about it--honestly I like it a little bit scrappy like it's still half a part of the woods, starting to be able to harvest herbs and spinach and dreaming of the other things soon to come, spending most of the day outside--it is good for the soul.

Harvesting...It Begins!

I stopped at the community garden yesterday afternoon with intentions of doing a little weeding, but got wrapped up in harvesting wax beans instead.  They kind of snuck up in me this year, but it makes perfect since.  After all, they were planted the last week in May as opposed to the third week in June.  The top leaves of the plants are so large I could not see at first that underneath were plenty of ready to pick beans with more starting to come in...I'm glad I went to pull a weed and moved things around a bit.  This is a new French heirloom variety I'm eager to try.  They are planted pretty tight which my other variety could put up with, but this kind wove together making harvesting something like treading through a wax bean jungle--note to self, don't plant these so thick next year.

There were also four cucumbers hanging out on my plant I've been trying to get to look healthy, shell peas, and some zinnias which had opened up.

It was certainly a very exciting community garden stop!  Weeding has been rescheduled for today along with some green bean picking.

Back at the cabin I harvested all my spinach and a few bits of basil with more to come--I have my sights set on pesto by this weekend.

The bok choy was a sort of accident.  I had planted mammoth basil and Genovese in a row and started noticing some pretty large leaves where I planted the mammoth and assumed it was the basil.  When I tasted a leaf it didn't have much basil flavor and I made the commitment to not plant mammoth again.  Then one day I started noticing that those large leaves were getting white stalks.  Somehow I managed to plant bok choy along with mammoth which is growing underneath the bok choy and actually looks and tastes quite neat--I cannot remotely remember why I did this.  When I was putting in the garden I knew I was a bit scatter brained.  I accidentally tilled up my carrot patch and lost my pumpkin and parsnip seeds, but this certifies I was not quite with it to a degree.  At least I got some bok choy out of it all.  The other Chinese cabbage I planted is at least a month off, so this is appreciated.

My fridge is filling up with all sorts of good things.  Tomorrow most of the spinach and half of the wax beans will be put in the freezer.  This is the way I like to roll, home grown veggies with more to come all the rest of the summer, homemade hooch, the chickens are back to three a day.  Good stuff.

Project {Almost} Completed

Before my clearing efforts...

After clearing and tilling....

It seemed like an insurmountable project to complete on my own to clear the extra space at the cabin for a garden.  After I mentioned to some of you that I didn't think I was going to get the garden at the cabin going and got all sorts of protests in response, it made me start thinking about all the seeds waiting to be planted that I had been thinking about all winter plus the plants already started and ready to get in the ground.  I snapped out of it and stopped being a wuss.  Friday I went out with the hatchet from our camping gear thankful it has always been kept so sharp and charged into clearing the little birch and the brush that filled the area of the planned garden.  In the process I stirred up ants that were very upset about being disturbed and had wood ticks crawling all over and up my clothing, but avoided getting bit by either somehow.  Actually, it was quite satisfying to wield damage with that hatchet.  Charlie hung out with me and faithfully observed all of this destruction without even a raised eyebrow while Jewel took cover under the deck.

Dad {who is up here right now} let me use his truck to go pick up a rented tiller Saturday morning after I bribed him with the promise of plenty of his beloved collard greens.  The rain luckily took a break and within three hours the tiller and I had things looking nice--it was a very fulfilling workout.  Things went so smoothly that on a whim I extended the garden by 40 feet so that I could plant even more winter squash making this a 15' x 80' garden.

Tomorrow afternoon the rain is suppose to let up and I'll string the fence and start planting.  Thanks for the protesting and encouragement from those of you who insisted I get going with this.  Things are over a week late in completing, but finally almost done and it does feel nice to look out on the almost finished garden.

A Fox, The Dogs, Tramatized Cats, Tomato Seedlings, & Okra Schemes

In true Spring fashion the seedlings are being prepped and I'm setting up my new little plastic greenhouse on the deck this evening while all the windows in the cabin are open and Buddy Guy, banjos suites, Mumford and Sons, and Dawg's Breath are mixed in with so many birds singing and a red fox on the prowl.

Last year I saw a magnificent dark fox in the area several times; this evening a classically red one was on the main road by my mailbox when I got home from work.  It was after a mouse or something else small in the grass springing up and pouncing down, and then later confidently trotting through the horse pasture near the cabin, a certain thing of grace despite the fact it would eat my chickens without hesitations and not even say thank you.

It is so delicious to be outside and seeing such things.

The dogs cannot get enough of being outside as well.  Charlie never wants to come inside and I believe his barks are translated to something like, "Thank you for getting me out of the desert at last and back to heaven"...Jewel has found that digging holes in the moist, unfrozen ground is fun and eating grass interesting.  There are so many birds flying around that Jewel has forgotten she used to chase them out of our scrappy desert subdivision yard as intruders and Scout the cat is diving out the window and through the screen after them...really.

There are flowers showing up in the ground along the sidewalks in town and the greenhouses are putting out signs and brimming with eager customers.  I sometimes have to shake myself to believe I'm actually here in Minnesota in the springtime--something I've wished for and hoped for for many, many years.  I'm getting a plot for myself again at the community garden and my sister has gotten one too and said I can plant whatever I want in her's as long as I share just a little, especially the okra if it grows {and help her make baby food--an unexplored art I'm sure I can figure out}.

Most of this year's garden will be at the cabin where I'll most likely be tilling this weekend and strategizing to keep the deer out.  I have so many tomato seedlings growing that I could probably supply all of Bemidji with ketchup if I was so inclined.  All of the tomatoes I decide to plant will go in at the house and most of the winter squash too.  The community garden really isn't that big, but a perfect spot for putting in beans and okra and my fussy eggplant and a few other things.  Last year I didn't get to plant okra and so I'm eager to see how it does this summer here in zone 3b.  I'll be planting Louisiana 16" again.  I originally bought seeds for it just because Baker Creek said it was from Evangeline Parish and Evangeline Parish holds a special place in my memory--I was almost eaten by an alligator when I was six in Evangeline Parish {but cousin Beau saved me...another story some of you know} so I've kind of felt connected to that particular spot.  It turns out that this okra is what I deem to be perfect okra and probably the only kind I'll ever grow from now on.  If you remember, I raved about it back in 2012-3013.  I have so many seeds saved and waiting from said okra that I should have probably looked into selling some back to Baker Creek and can't wait to get them into the soil once again.  What will I do if okra doesn't grown in this area, I don't know.  Please pray it does grow, because if it doesn't I may have to move {again}...I suppose before that I could try to make okra into a house plant.

 It's been a long September through May getting used to a new job and probably taking on things I shouldn't have making much of the school year go by in a blur.  Things do look good ahead.  After two not so nice horse injuries I'm felling ready to move and shed some excess pounds I've acquired {more than I've ever acquired!}.  Gillian Welch is coming to Minnesota in July, Mike will be home this coming week on Tuesday, and I'm in Northern Minnesota when the lilacs will be blooming.  How close to heaven can one get really?

It's hard to believe planting time has finally come.  This weekend will be big.....  What are you guys doing in your gardens?!

Tame and Wild

the cabin in the woods a little tamer than when I found it

It has been a busy 30 days...this week I begin my 2nd month in the Northern Minnesota.  "Home" is still a work in progress, but it's starting to feel like home.  Taming a place that needed just a few rough edges smoothed out has been a good way to spend time...I couldn't imagine a better way to spend this summer.

rocket arugula, collards, corn dutch, and various lettuce blends thrown next to the ground cherries in front of the rabbit barn

Right now the cabin garden is pretty wild... here things are a mixture of dug up dirt with grass closely fringing and encroaching.  Unlike the community plot a few things are being nibbled on here and there.  Due to coming mid-June I didn't have time to tame much by tilling and fencing, but it fits and it will due for now in its semi-wild space.  I'm not sure how much I'll get from the squash planted here, but the lettuce is looking fine and the heirloom tomatoes I managed to put in are starting to set.

But there are things I'm so glad are wild as wild can be around here.  Wildflowers, wild berries, and wild birds are just the tip of the iceberg out here.  Graceful does with their fawns hanging out in the horse pasture, being serenaded by loons each evening, having my own two-toned fox patrolling for excess rabbits, almost being run over by a raccoon fleeing the premises on its nightly romp, and bright-bright stars at night that feel almost close enough to reach out and touch....  I believe it would be next to impossible for me to go back to city life after being reminded of the advantages of being removed from it.  And only two months ago I was surrounded by thousands of people with F-15's serenading me to sleep...I do believe I'll take the loons any day.

And the Minnesota Adventure Begins

before all the planting...our plots go down the whole side of the garden

What a week!  It started in Arizona with temperatures above 110* packing everything and everyone for the +1,800 mile journey across the middle of America.  Late Wednesday life in Northern Minnesota began--and being June, much of that has entailed gardening!

As of today the community garden plot(s) are planted.  My sister pointed out that we planted 1/3 of the garden space available at this particular community garden--we had intended on renting two 15' x 15' plots, but when two 12' x 15' plots became available as well....  That would be 810 square feet of community garden.  You can bet there will be a lot of posts on food preservation along with with all the ways we're using the produce to come fresh.  It's actually a relief to have the extra space.  Clearing at the cabin would have delayed planting quite a bit, so having a ready space for this year's garden has been a blessing.

This community garden is new this year and on the edge of town {therefore fortified to keep deer and other veggie loving wildlife out}.  It's also right down the road from my sister's home.

Some plants were purchased from various greenhouses around the area...several trays did not make the move.  But that's okay--I'm glad just to be gardening in zone 3 this season.  Stay tuned for a complete listing and diagram of the community garden.

four snow shovels left for me at the cabin...a sign of things to come!

Spring came late this year to this area of Minnesota {the lilacs are just fading here!}.  Gardens are still being put in, so I don't feel too worried about getting things finalized so late in June--it would have been hard to get things in earlier even if I had been able to get to zone 3 sooner...some years are just like this.  That mid-September frost date looms 91 days ahead though, so these little plants have a lot of fast growing to do in order to reach their full potential.

Then, I must mention the cabin.  It's location cannot be better deep in the forest down an old dirt road road with a lake at its end, another beyond awesome lake just to the North, a creek nearby, and a horse pasture carved out of the woods.  The birds are beyond belief during the day {I cannot wait to get some feeder shots}.  In the early morning and night there are loons.  There is also one particular bird that decides to sing quite raucously right at twilight.  I haven't been able to spot it in the trees as the light gets dim, but I'm determined to find out who it is {I spotted it and discovered it's a northern mockingbird, how cool}.

Of course I'm busy adding my touch.  The front of the house has been seeded with various sunflowers, Russell mix lupine, sensation cosmos, Dame's Rocket, red crest cosmos, giant cactus zinnias, and those pink senorita zinnias.  Charlie has been quite helpful with this...ahem.

There have been some moments to take a deep breath and enjoy as well.  One way to pause has been to breath in lilacs {they usually are not in bloom so late in June}.  This particular bundle is the most lovely shade and comes from an old bush down the road from the community garden.  Near the bush there are also irises growing wild...because this bush does not have anyone to appreciate it, I thought I would.

And I have to mention the rain.  Tonight the most wonderful thunderstorm has rolled in soaking all of those freshly planted things and keeping me inside except for the few moments I cannot resist stepping out to be splashed by those very cold droplets.  Yes, life in zone 3 is proving to be quite wonderful--I'm looking forward to being here for a long, long time to come and am continuously pinching myself to just make sure it's not all a dream.