Grateful for the sunshine...

It was a warm 64* today! Such a lovely day to be out in the sunshine....


                                                          The snow is melting...






             The flowers are in bloom....




Shall we dare to hope that spring has sprung?




    
      





Hopeful, and grateful for the beautiful day,

Starting Seeds

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I would have more to say about the photo of the seedlings... so here we go.

Some vegetable plants do much better when they are started in pots and then transferred to the ground once they are more of an "established" plant, as opposed to a seed planted directly in the dirt. Starting seeds also aids in growing plants earlier in the season, especially when there is six inches of snow on the ground in late March! Among the seeds we have started are tomatoes and peppers, two veggies we will be growing in plenty this season. We are growing heirloom varieties, such as Cherokee Purple tomatoes and Marconi peppers (to name a couple) - yum! For more information on Heirloom and Heritage terminology, click on this link to read an informative article.

Starting seeds in pots requires time and patience, and a warm room! Bob transformed his "ex" office into a seed sprouting room, and he did an excellent job! We currently have more than 500 seedlings up... in round one of starting seeds (we will be planting three rounds/stages of seeds to space out our harvesting season. Lord willing, we may plant a fourth round, to prolong the season, if we are able to get a high tunnel up this year).

The 500+ seedlings include several varieties of Marigolds and Zinnias, which will be planted alongside our vegetables for pest control and good bug recruiting (once again, I'll write more on this in another post).

Our "high-tech" dirt thermometer was once used to test whether the chicken cooking on the BBQ was done...

 Bob also designed this "NASA-quality, solar concentrator" (very technical term), AKA, a piece of camping space-blanket wrapped around a chunk of cardboard. Works great for those seedlings ready to come out from under the lamps!

As you can see, we are not letting the snow hinder us too much. We are bound and determined to have a good time while we wait for spring to finally show up.

Until next time,

Buried!

It has officially been spring for four days, although, one wouldn't know it here in Missouri! We were buried in snow, again, beginning yesterday afternoon...

           Pretty good accumulation!





If it wasn't so pretty, I might be complaining a bit...

                                                                                I may not be complaining, but that is not to say we are not all longing for some warmth and sunshine around here. We are more than ready to have our hands in the dirt planting these little guys...

   ...More about them in another post...



For today, I am grateful for a warm home, a healthy family, and time to ponder these blessings and many others.


Warm and content,

Grape pruning...

Today we tackled an overgrown grape trellis - literally! This jumbled mess needed some serious pruning.

Bob was eager to get to work. He had already chainsawed one side of the trellis before I could get back with the camera.

A couple of weeks ago we spent the day at a UC Extension class learning how to prune various berry bushes and fruit trees. We learned a lot about grape vines, and are hoping the that the age-old wisdom that they are "hard to kill" runs true for us, as we were not very gentle with them; they were far too overgrown to be "pruned" with anything but the chainsaw.

  Once we unburied the trellis we could see what we had to work with. We think these vines are pretty old, over 30 years old, and maybe as old as 100 years... cool! We are not yet sure what the variety of grape is, possibly Concord.  We are eager to see what comes of them.







We enjoyed a productive day on the farm today, due in large part, to these three beautiful helpers :)
(The masks were from another project we were working on, they thought it was "cute" to keep them on - teenagers!).

Peace and blessings to you,

A new life for us!

Well, we did it - we bought a berry farm! Yesterday, escrow closed, making us official farmers - a dream come true. It still feels a little surreal, we have that "is this really happening" thing going on... But as it sinks in, we are making our plans and moving forward with them.

After much thought and prayer, this is what we named our new farm. This beautiful logo was designed by my talented hubby - thank you, Bob!


The plan for this blog is to share the daily happenings on the farm. We would like to share our story with you as well as keep our customers informed of what is being grown and how it's being grown. We hope you will check in often (feel free to become a follower). Stay tuned in because there will be LOTS to share with you in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead...





 I could not close this post without thanking God for the gift He has given us. He has once again shown Himself the best giver of gifts and my heart is overflowing with gratitude.

"Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives to him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor - this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart." Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.

Until next time,