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I spent a few hours in the upper vineyard this morning doing some much needed weeding around the base of the vines. I got through 6 of the 10 rows… oh, and that weeding was by HAND. I actually expected to  be at that job for about a week, but it went way faster than I thought. During my evening stroll with Pepper, I came back up to the vineyard to inspect the vines and discovered Lady Bugs! This is great. Lady Bugs are natural pest eaters and they are always welcome on our property. I have not seen a ton of them out in the wild, but after a brief inspection, I counted 7 tonight. Breed, Lady Bugs, breed!

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It’s another cold, rainy, depressing day here at the vineyard but I was happy to see the hoop house temp climb up to 70º, even though the outside temps didn’t leave the 50s and there was no sun whatsoever. I entered the hoop house this morning to uncover all the plants from their evening fabric layers and was shocked… Something ate my cucurbits! It was most likely a mouse, maybe several mice; I’m not sure… but well over half of the 375 potted cucurbits were dug into and the beautiful, plump, just-sprouting seeds were methodically pulled from their casings. I brought a few of the less damaged trays inside tonight just to be safe and I left a nice, big, electronic mouse zapper, loaded with dog food and peanut butter, right in the middle of the rest of the trays. Maybe I can rent a barn cat for a few weeks while the seeds all germinate.

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I spent the better part of the day potting up eggplants, peppers, marjoram, cilantro, lavender, and rosemary. I went through 9 bags of potting soil and used up every single spare 4″ pot I could find. Last year, when I bought the box of -405- 4″ pots, I figured I’d be set for life. Well, it looks like I could use another box. The hoop house is also starting to feel nice and full. We’re about 2 weeks away from the major outdoor planting rush, but a lot of the stuff I potted up today was a bit scrawny. I’m hoping a couple weeks in a hot hoop house will give it all a nice boost before going outside. Good news: the tomatoes in the trenches are looking lush and I can see the first flowers forming. I’m already pulling suckers off the stems!

Also, the tomato plants that I potted up a week and a half ago are finally taking off. I think I did some damage to the tomato roots when I was pulling them out of the trays and putting them in larger pots. For the past two years, I used soil blocks for tomatoes; and while the seeding process was messier and more time consuming, the potting up process was effortless. This year, I used Pro-Trays and the results were reversed. The seeding process was simple, fast and clean, but potting up was a huge pain because a lot of the plants stuck to the inside of the trays and a lot of roots were torn. I need find a solution for next year. There has to be a trick for removing plants from the pro trays. The other thing I noticed was that the plants seemed a bit healthier and sturdier with the soil blocks. I’m learning all this as I go. Luckily, a lot of veggies are pretty forgiving.

Hey, this evening we’re getting a much needed soaking rain!

Also, Happy Anniversary to us! May 18, 2007 is the day we closed on the house. So this marks the end of 3 years here. In some ways, it seems like a lot longer than 3 years (with the amount of work we’ve done.) But on the other hand, year one was really focused on moving and the wedding. So we’ve really only been planting and growing things for two years… which really feels strange. So much done, so much to do!

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This is what our raspberry “patch” has looked like for the past two years:

It’s pretty much a classic tangle of brambles, weeds and more weeds. The berries along the edges are easy to pick and taste fine, but well over 75% of what grows here is inaccessible by humans. So, I’ve been prepping a couple “rows” up by the vineyard to transplant some or all of these plants to a better home. Today was moving day. This is what the end of day one looks like:

This is about 90′ of a 100′ row. There is another 100′ row to the right that needs a bit more work, but it will eventually contain another row of raspberries. We planted these in a nice straight line and will allow them to sucker and spread to about 2-3′ wide. Everything else will get mowed down, in order to keep the row accessible for reaching in to pick. We may even set up a little trellis to give the canes some support. It feels great to have this project underway.

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I disced down the cover crop in the field today. I’ll need to go over it one more time before the soil will be ready for planting. Lauren and I also spread composted manure on about half the rows in the garden (the ones that needed it.) Then we prepped the first raspberry row… I’ve been subsoiling it and discing it for over a year now, but today we formed the bed and took out the rocks on the surface. Tomorrow, we start moving raspberries from their current location to their new, permanent home. Good day today.

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I started 375 (or so) pumpkin, melon, cucumber, squash, zucchini, and gourd plants in the hoop house today. Which means that there will be 375 things to plant outside in about 3 weeks. Time to prep the field.

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Today, I laid out 4 new rows up by the vineyard that will eventually be planted with Raspberries and Blueberries. I had one row mapped out from last summer, but I decided to add three news rows parallel to the first one. The area is not an exact square; it’s actually a big trapezoid. Also, there are some giant boulders/ledges in the way, so i was trying to make all the rows evenly spaced, while still taking the rocks into consideration. So, even though I tried to get away without it, I actually had to use MATH for the third time out here on the farm. (The Pythagorean theorem comes in handy laying out garden rows and hoop houses, too.) This marks the third time I’ve used the PT since about 1986… and all three times were in the past year.)

After laying out the rows and feeling satisfied with the spacing, I put the subsoiler on the tractor and plowed through the new rows. Then I started the discing process, which is definitely going to take some time since this pasture area is pretty thick with brushy roots and moss… and ironically, wild blueberries. At least I know the NEW blueberries will do just fine here.

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Today was a cold, rainy day and I didn’t feel like farming. After some indoor business I needed to take care of, I took Pepper for a stroll through the woods. I’ve been walking through the woods here for the past three years, but this is the first time I’ve come across a Lady’s Slipper… and these were in full bloom. I found about 20 of them spread across about an acre of sloping, rocky, west-facing woodland. It was a nice lift to an otherwise dreary day.

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