With the long days of summer I find myself outside more and at the computer a lot less. That is the best I suppose, there are so many things that have to be done around here. The gardens are doing quite well it seems. After a few days of vacation away from the farm, the weeds were making a good showing. But with a few hours of care, the Gatherer has got the weeds taken care of for now. Now that the vegetables are catching all the sun, the weeds don't stand a chance from here on out. The peas are all gone by, for a couple of weeks now I guess. Its time to till them in and ready the patch for another crop.
Our June strawberries were a treat for the first time this year. Just enough here for cereal and eating fresh. With one early morning picking at a local strawberry farm, we have got enough for a few batches of jam. We're trying to add more fruits here on our little farm each year. Last year we added blackberries, a couple of apple trees and the strawberries.
We had some hard showers tonight and we got 1.5 inches of rain in about 4 hours. It was needed as the garden and lawns were looking dry. Mother Nature is really smiling on us here in Maine this summer, we've had some real nice weather. The corn is shooting up in all this heat, and the cucumbers are beginning to bear their fruit.
The potatoe bugs have found the new potatoe patch in "Ike's Field",at the old homestead, and so have the deer. I'll try the potatoes there again next year, and I'll fence them in if I have to. The old farm has a lot more potential for agriculture. There are about 5 acres of empty fields that need to be plowed and seeded. Dad has always kept them "bush hogged", but they should be growing a crop, something we can use.
"Back 20" at Juniper Hill Farm
I've started clearing about another acre of woods here at Juniper Hill to make more fields and maybe a real orchard. Oh how I would love to have a big farm with acres of fertile fields. But our twenty acres is home to us and our kids, so we'll improve our ground right here. My family has worked the old homestead since about 1820, we've always made do with what we had and worked hard to make it better. I'm real proud that our home and land are paid for, in full, and except for the yearly property taxes, its really a true blessing.
