Memorial day was the last post? Jeez.

Where did the month go….Planting, Bell Tower, re-planting, Family, Swim Team, and Farmer’s Markets.

Planting, re-planting, and planting again. We usually have a large garden patch at Two Barn Farm. We wanted to plant extra tomatoes this year, as our canned tomato shelf from the previous year has finally emptied out. However, nature has a different idea. While we grew tomato seedlings for weeks on end in the basement, then never lasted outside. You see, this year, we have gotten some wildlife at the farm. A whole pheasant family, a gorgeous red-headed woodpecker, and a rabbit have set up homes this last season. Yep, a rabbit. Peter Fricken Cottontail has moved in and ate 60 some odd tomato plants, and a dozen cabbages. I saw him too, several times in the shed during the winter and spring and didn’t think much of it. Now, what was a cute little bunny has grown into a fat pain in the rabbit.
Still, we have a good strawberry patch, lettuce, onions, potatoes, and a few peas. I just planted the squashes and pumpkins, and threw in a few cantaloupes and watermelons to see if they would grow.

Construction: what got done? There is a brick patio at the house, and the deck was finished up. That’s about it. We had installed an outside door on the greenhouse, but the glass seal was bad and instantly fogged up. I waited for the replacement glass to show up, but the installer shattered the replacement. Nice. Waiting for him to come out again. I did find a lot of single pane windows that were either from the house, the barn, or maybe the old farmhouse. I’ve cleaned these up and am devising a way to use these as a window-mosaic to glaze the greenhouse with, rather then getting the 6×12′ polycarbonate sheets I had originally plannned. I also found a matching pair of double hung windows at Habitat’s ReStore in Des Moines that will add venting to the greenhouse. Staircase, almost done.

What else kept us busy? Jefferson in June. Besides it being Swim-Team month, with 2 meets a week….OK, I’ll take a break from the professional sounding updates and brag about my kid. Dang, he is fast and the best butterfly swimming 10 year old there. There is one more meet tonight, then the conference finals. Who gets to go to finals should be announced after the meet tonight, but Mason has been winning Butterfly and has been the fly person in the fastest medley relay. I’m pretty sure he’ll be there.

June also brings us the start of the Farmer’s Markets, and the Bell Tower Festival. We have been having a great start at the Farmer’s Market with Greene Bean Coffee. Alexis is doing a great job running the market this year and we do not come home empty handed. We subscribed to Hooper’s Funny Farm CSA, and usually bring home some fresh bread from Aha Bakery! who is another local gem that is growing fast. Visit us Tuesday nights, and starting soon, Saturday mornings.
Bell Tower Festival….hmm. This year was a mixed bag. To paraphrase Lemony Snicket – It’s not mixing up shopping bags in a bowl with a spoon, but like going to a good movie and having a tub of gravel to eat – good and bad. It seemed like a good festival, but no one really went downtown. Sure, they went to the main stage to watch shows, but never circled the square. I think all the separate locations, wine tasting, beer garden, basketball at the park, volleyball up North, seemed to hollow out downtown. This, coupled with many local shops who rather close and not deal with the biggest crowd they have ever seen. It doesn’t draw people downtown as much. So unless, something different happens, I don’t see the benefit of having a booth next year.

What else – tractor repair. Just as I finished tilling and plowing out the spot for a patio, the tractor died. I thought it was out of gas, but it never restarted. It seemed that the coil decided to die at the very moment. A new one got it running long enough to run out of gas and clog up the carb a little. So, that is running well once again. However, the trail mower seems to be having the next major issue. The belt-engagement pulley seems to have broken off. We’ll have to see if this is fixable. Most of that linkage has been quite stuck into position this last year. The motor is in great shape, so we’ll see.

I have farm projects lined up one after the other. IF I get time, things should start happening there again.

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