July 16

This past week, we drove up to O'Hare Airport and picked up Josh, Rachelle and the girls.  The girls have grown so much!!

 

B is walking and talking and has her own opinions.

 

 

We went to the park and fed cucumber peelings and watermelon rinds to the animals.

K loves to sing and dance.

While Josh and Rachelle went to the doctor to get baby brother checked out, Bob and I had a picnic on the deck with the girls.

Then they played in the yard.

Then it was good to get back home.  We went down to the barn to get some stuff and when returning, I stopped on this hill to take a picture back up toward the house.  It shows the house with the green shop.  We are loving it here.

 

Bob is really enjoying his tractor and is using the loader for a whole lot of things.  We are beginning to set up in the shop so we went to the small barn to get the parts for the workbench we had in Wheaton.  He carried them in the loader.

We were really glad to get back home.  We can see the sky.

 

 

Another glorious sunset in the Bluegrass.

July 9

I mentioned the wedding that we hosted a week ago.  This is the whole field that we mowed.  They had a tent down by the creek, porta-potties down there and parking up at this end by the driveway.

 

 

J is fortunate to have an uncle who is a policeman in a nearby large city.  We were able to meet him while he was on duty and J was able to sit in the car and even turn the flashing lights on.

He put handcuffs on Charley.  It was an exciting time for us all.

We have had a lot of rain for a week.  It has finally moved on but we had a beautiful rainbow.  The major rainbow was complete!  I don't think I have ever seen that.  And there was a double on both ends.  Absolutely beautiful!

And then the sky was beautiful.

The kids had a friend move away who gave them a battery-operated 4-wheeler for J.  He was absolutely fearless.  I used the zoom for this shot.  This is close to a quarter mile from the house.  After he had gone a little farther on the lane, he got off on the grass and kept working his way down the hill.  Because everything is so wet, he kept backing up to try for better traction.  Pretty smart - huh?  But then he got to a point he couldn't get himself out, so he had to be towed by Grandpa with the mower and tractor.  Bob put the "motorcycle" on the mower and J on the tractor and brought him back up to the driveway.  He made it back to the house but had to get off and push a lot because of the steep hill and the wet gravel.  When he got back, he said his legs hurt.

 

 

What a wonderful week!  Another week in the Bluegrass.

Random Pictures

This is random pictures.

 

This is the goat shed Bob built.  It is two halves so Charley can move each side separately.

 

 

Some of the peppers have started to form.  I think these are Serrano which is a hot pepper.

 

We just can't keep ahead of the weeds.  This is a row of potatoes.  Mom tells the story that when I was a kid, I would take a book to the garden to read while I pulled weeds.  Well, now I've figured out how to pull weeds from a lawn chair. I can't kneel on the ground any more.

 

John and Heather Heska were married at our farm on Saturday.  We mowed a section of the pasture and they put up a tent.  It was a beautiful time.  Because the ring bearer's family was not able to come down from Michigan, out little J filled in as the ring bearer.  He was proud to be asked to be in Mr John's wedding.

 

Today after church, we went exploring.  There is a ferry over the Kentucky River that has been in operation for many years.  There was a sign though, announcing that it would no longer be operating on the weekends.  We will plan to go back on a weekday.

 

There is a barrier across the highway while it is closed.

 

On the columns that are the supports for the cables, there are measurements of flood heights.  The top one you see is from 1978.  Unbelievable.

 

There are some piers in the middle of the river - probably where there used to be a railroad bridge.  There are full-sized trees growing on the tops of those piers.

Well, like I say - random.  A week of mowing and heat and pulling weeds and heat and more mowing.  Oh - but to begin the week, Wilma took a vacation day and came and we spent several hours in the garden.  She is a tremendous help and such a hard worker.  We got tomatoes staked up and she picked green beans.  In the afternoon we went and got the van titled in Kentucky. 

This week for the CSA baskets they had peas, summer squash, eggplant and I don't remember what else.  They are very pleased.

Well - Another week in the Bluegrass.

June 23

It's been a very busy week.  Next Saturday, a family friend is getting married at the farm.  We are happy that John and Heather have chosen our little piece of heaven on earth to celebrate their marriage - but it has meant a lot of work.  I haven't taken many pictures but we have done a lot.

The garden is looking good and starting to produce.  It makes sense though, when the vegetables are growing strongly, so are the weeds.

 

Jackie is picking green beans.

J is practicing his Ninjago moves.

 

On Saturday, we were all there working so of course we all had to stop for a popsicle break.

 

We've been getting a small handful of berries every day.  Blueberries and red raspberries.  We have gotten 2 berries like this - the picture-perfect ones that fancy chefs use.  Hopefully we'll eventually have a whole patch producing like this.

 

Another very hot, very busy week in the Bluegrass.

VBS and First CSA basket

We had several things this week.  J attended VBS.  The church did a phenomenal job.  There was this signpost at the front entrance.  The foyer had been made into a small town with the General Store, Dirt Clod Chapel, Sheriff's Office, etc.  The program is tonight. 

 

We got the title changed on the truck this week and got our Kentucky driver's licenses.  Does that make us official Kentucky residents?

This is the church

 

C&J put out their first basket for their CSA customers.  Lettuce, snow peas, onions, summer squash, eggs, mint, and oregano.  It looked really beautiful.

 

And on Saturday, Jackie worked on the flower beds in front of the house.  It looks beautiful.

 

Well, that's another week in the Bluegrass.

Wow!!! It's been a whole week

It's been a whole week.  We've been so busy, I didn't even realize it.

John picked strawberries.  He got one really BIG one!  We had Belgian waffles for supper with strawberries and whipped cream.

 

We planted our next batch of cucumbers and some lettuce.  Then put mulch around it.  This really does a good job of keeping the weeds down.

The broccoli developed, and (probably) because of the heat went very quickly.  Charley & Jackie got it all picked and then replanted these rows.

We got weeds pulled around this batch of potatoes and onions and then hilled the potatoes and mulched around the onions.

The blueberries are turning blue.  And we got weeds around the bushes pulled and mulched.

 

 

I was going to do a complete blog on a day in the life of a farm-boy.  Earlier J had been digging in the dirt.  At one point this afternoon, J took the camera and started taking pictures.  I think he did an amazing job.

 

 

The first batch of onions is really pretty. (taken by J)

 

A part of trying to not use chemicals is picking bugs off the potatoes and drown them in a bucket of water.  Who but a 5 year-old would take a picture of dead bugs in a bucket of water.  (taken by J)

And Grandpa picking the bugs and drowning them.  (taken by J)

And what better activity could there be for a boy than playing in the water with a sailboat made from a board that he had used the electric drill to put a long screw for a mast.

 

And then the first raised bed is still growing.

 

We are looking forward to getting our raised beds #2 and #3 planted this week. 

Sunday, June 2

Wilma and I had a great visit with Mom and family in Iowa.  It surely would have been nice to have Mary there also.

 

 

Iowa was beautiful but they are having flooding issues and I don't know how a lot of the fields that aren't yet planted will be able to dry out in time to get planted this year.  We didn't see any home damage, but there is a lot of standing water in the fields and the rivers are very high.

 

Resting up today and doing miscellaneous to get ready for the next week of work on the farm.