Over The Fence Chat

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Okay ... as requested by some great folks, here's the first "installment" of the Over The Fence Chat. It's late and I'm so pooped I don't really know what to say, but I promised I would get this started, so I gotta say something :8)!

This has been a hectic week for us in some ways, and pretty laid back in others. With the pretty weather we've had, I've spent every free minute in the garden. Since the garden hadn't been worked for a couple years and not having been "properly" worked for much longer than that, I've got my work cut out. And the tilling is just the first step - setting up the square raised beds takes a lot of energy and time (both well spent, of course!) So needless to say, I've been busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest! But I'll always find time for you folks here and keep our website going to the best of my ability. There are some links and ads to get listed on teh website that I haven't done yet, among other things, but I promise I'll get to it! Thanks for all the encouragement I get here and for your patience!

I have a lot I'd like to visit with you all about, but at 11:59pm all my one active brain cell can think about right now is sleep! I hope you all have a good night's rest and wake up to a beautiful day tomorrow!

G'nite all!

-- Phil in KS (pemccoy@yahoo.com), March 16, 2002

Answers

Glad you got this started, Phil; it's always been one of my favorite threads on the various forums! Sharing the happenings in our lives seems to bring the forum members closer together, lets us share in the joys and sorrows and provides a darn good reference for those "When DID we plant the tomatoes last year?" questions that seem to pop up!! Hope you all join in and let us know what's been going on at your house this week!

This has been a topsy-turvy week out here at Clayhill Farm. I was supposed to be on vacation from work this week, but it didn't quite work out that way - I got talked in to going in for 28 hours of work; since my normal schedule is 36 hours/week, it didn't seem like much of a vacation to me!! I still managed to get a few of the things that I had planned done, however!

All of my tomatoes have been transplanted from the seedling trays to paper pots - I think some of them are going to need transplanted to even larger containers soon! I managed to get my four medium sized beds (27 sq ft each) filled back up to level with some composted manure before the rains set in; and I hope that the rain holds off for a bit this weekend so that I can get the larger beds done. With the amount of rain we've already gotten, the new part of the garden is a quagmire, so I think that I can forget about getting my new beds set anytime soon! I do plan to plant potatoes and peas this Sunday on St. Paddy's Day though, come heck or high water!

If the rains don't hold off, well, I've got plenty I need to do in the house anyway! Looks like Pop's family will be heading out here to the farm for Easter dinner as usual. Last year, with Easter being so late in the year, we had a cookout; this year, I've already bought a couple of hams when they were on sale, so I reckon we'll settle for that. Cousin Laurie Ann has already put in a request for Apple Crisp; and her Daddy, Roger, reminded me that I needed to make TWO chocolate pies this time, instead of one! Everyone will carry in food - I'm hoping that Aunt Velma brings her bread pudding, myself! Wonder what's with all this concentration on desserts!? Not sure how many will show up, last year it was near 40 folks - but we will have a good time no matter! We've only got a few little ones for the Easter Egg hunt, but the 4th generation should be starting to provide us with babies to cuddle soon, so we'll keep the tradition going with that in mind! We'll have to remember to put some eggs in Bun's hutch, and maybe in the nest boxes in the chicken house as well!

Well, I'm off to start in on the house cleaning - wish I could open the windows, but it's a bit chilly for that this morning since it got down to freezing again last night! You folks take care, and have a safe and productive week-end...

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), March 16, 2002.


Hello! I have been working in the orchard and cleaning up all the "trash" that seems to find it's way to the farm! The orchard looks so nice with the clover mowed and the peach & plums in full bloom. Dug up all my strawberry plants (78 in all) and will make a new bed for them. The bed, they were in, was filled with "crab grass" and I am tired of fighting it. I'm spraying 'Round-up" on it Monday or as soon as the rain is gone!

It was a beautiful day here today a high of 79* and windy. I planted 'Mexican Heather' near my bee hives. I went to Lowes and the plants had hundreds of bees on them SOOOO I couldn't go home with out it! :)

Thanks Phil, for starting this! I love hearing what other are doing in their little part of Heaven!

Think Spring!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), March 16, 2002.


Hi all, woke up this morning to a downpour. The rain was nice to listen to, but made it hard to get out of bed! I think I could have slept all morning. It cleared off about mid-morning, so I went out to check where I had planted a little grass seed the other day beside the drive. I hadn't put straw down yet, and it looks like I'll have grass at the bottom of the hill! Such is life. After fixing lunch, I went out to make up some new beds for the herbs I'm going to plant. These herbs better grow, with all this work I'm doing for them. We had a 6x6x10 piece of lumber and I (we) placed it at the bottom of a slope. I put some shorter lumber on the 2 sides. Then came the fun part. I dug the clay and rock from inside my new bed, cutting away part of the slope. Loaded it in a wheelbarrow, tipped over once, said a few choice words and kept on plugging away. Ran into a vein of rock that covers a third of the bed, but will just have to put shallow rooted plants there. The bed faces south, so it'll be a nice one for herbs. If rock and clay were as valuable as gold, I'd be a millionare! Started working on moving the asparagus bed, but figure it'll take me awhile to do. It's not as easy as moving furniture....:)

We're suppose to have rain off and on this week, but the temps are going to be pretty good. Hoping I can get more done in between the rain drops.

Phil, you're going to be so proud of those beds, come summer! (At least that's what I keep telling myself). :)

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 16, 2002.


Well, it wasn't raining here today, but it was pretty chilly. I didn't get anything done around here because mom and I went to an auction (one of our most favorite things to do - aside from fishing, of course!). Went there intending to bid on a produce scale - ended up with a bunch of other stuff, but no scale. We got some tools - a good hoe, rake, a meat saw, and a good shop hammer. I'm currently sitting in a really nice office chair (now the kitchen chair can go back in the kitchen) and my daughter has one for her computer desk. A couple of the better deals we made were for some large rolls of plastic bags that apples usually go in (this was an orchard going out of biz) that we'll use for our farmer's market stuff, and a BIG frost- free fridge. I didn't expect to get the fridge at all - it's in great shape - but the bidding stoped at $30 and it was mine! The bags were free! There was a radio controlled boat in the pile with the bags that a lady bought from us for the bid price of the whole lot - nice! We also got some more peat pots, planters and misc other stuff that I can't remember right now. We had fun, but I was ready to be back home after it was all over.

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be somewhat warmer here and then it's supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon. I hope to get some planting done in the raised beds I have finished before the downpour. At the very least I'm going to get a lot of the herb seeds planted in peat-pots, and just sort of take it easy. Catch the parade, relax and reflect on all the goodness I've been blessed with! I hope you all have a great St. Patty's day!

-- Phil in KS (pigfarmerphil@yahoo.com), March 16, 2002.


So, how'd you come out in that butt-kicking contest Phil?! Like Annie, my energy has been spent glaring out the window at the rain! Charlie - you just haul those kids right on up here to play in the rain; I've got a couple of dogs that get plumb silly and want to play when it rains - heck, I'll even throw in laundry service!! I'm sure I got a couple spare pair of barn boots around here somewhere - maybe even some in your size...

Are there more auction nuts here besides Phil and I? I do love a good auction - even if my only purchase is a hot dog and a soda from the lunch wagon! If I don't quit hauling home canning jars, Pop and Hubs are gonna skin me! They don't let Uncle Ivan and I go together - hard telling what we might come home with - whatever it is, there will be a truckload of it for sure!

Well, tomorrow is the first day of Spring - are you all planning to celebrate? I have to work tonight and Wednesday, so I'll spend it sleeping; but I do plan to go pick my one daffodil that's almost open and plop it in a jar on my bedside table - betcha I dream of kites and butterflies and morel mushrooms!!

I need to locate and haul some straw to make a cold frame, so I can get these tomatoes out of the house and get some other things going under the lights; but I don't want to do it bad enough to be out there wallowing around in the rain! I'll admit that I have been sneaking over to the tomato plants and rubbing their leaves and stems a bit, with my eyes closed, so that I can smell that tomato smell and pretend it's summertime!! Only problem is, now I want some watermelon to go with my tomatoes! Pop put his foot down and won't let me start those until April. :o(

I went to K-Mart the other day to pick up a new set of sheets - Martha's got her name on just about everything in that store!! My friend that was with me said that everything Martha is made to match, too. Being as I used to wish that they made Garanimals for adults, I appreciated that and went around matching my new sheets to everything in the store. (Didn't buy any of it - just matched it!) I went on out into the garden center and bought the bamboo bean poles that I had been lusting after on my last shopping trip - yeah, they were Martha too! Jan (friend) found a Martha trowel out there that she swore matched my sheets too, but since I have to paint my trowel handles bright pink so I can find them in the garden, I was able to pass on a green trowel with a wooden handle. You suppose that's her way to ensure repeat sales?! If I put that thing down for a minute, I'd never be able to see it again!

Is anyone here planning on going down (up?) to Missouri to the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Spring Planting Festival and Market Grower's Conference? It will be held at their farm near Mansfield, MO (S of Lebanon) on April 14th and 15th. It's FREE!! You can find info at www.rareseeds.com - check it out! Hubs and I will be heading down toward there on Saturday night, spend the night at a motel and then all day Sunday at the Festival, returning home Sunday night. There will be plants and seeds and books and all kinds of other stuff for sale. I need a bigger tote bag!! Or maybe a wheelbarrow....

And speaking of gardening...did anyone get a Burpee's catalog this year? I asked for one on their web site, but didn't get it. I need some Florida Speckled Pole Lima (or butter bean) seed, and I can't find it anywhere else. These are a tan bean with blue speckles that turns lavendar when cooked - looks neat!! And doesn't taste too darn bad either (hey - it's a lima bean; what do you expect?!) The stuff on Burpee's web site seems way higher priced than I remember the catalog stuff to be, so I was just wondering what they had the beans priced at in the catalog, if anyone would be willing to check it out for me.

I reckon that I'd better get off this computer and go get something useful done - you all have a good week!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), March 19, 2002.



Hi Everyone.

The winter has been very mild. We have not had a trace of snow on the ground for weeks and then yesterday it decideds to snow. We are suppose to get another two to four inches tomorrow. And to think I had planned on working in the yard this coming weekend.

I spent last weekend in Boston with a friend. We walked and walked and walked. I never knew Boston was so big. I am still sore from all the walking. I enjoyed the city but as I walked around found myself getting excited about coming back home.

There are times when I do get a little bored here on "Waltons Mountain" as I call it but all I have to do is be away from here for just a day or two before I start missing this place.

I have noticed some early blooming flowers are in bloom and the buds on the trees are getting bigger. We have had geese flying over by the hundreds and the ice is evn melting off the ponds and lakes.

When the ground was bare I walked around the property and looked at all the mess I have to clean up when the snow is gone for good. I ask myself every spring why I even bother cleaning up in the fall.

I have so many projects planned for this spring. I hope to make a much bigger vegetable garden and plants more fruit trees and berry bushes. Maybe make the goat pen much much bigger and get a few more hens. I am thinking about building a grape arbor, but I wonder why since I seem to not be able to grow even one grape vine.

I am also looking forward to warmer weather so I can get my fishing gear out and catch some trout. I spent almost everyday fishing last summer and hope to not fish so much this year.

I have a neighbor who would like to come look at the yard when the flowers are in bloom so she can get some ideas for her yard. I have offered to help her do design her pond area. I am looking forward to this since when I look out my bedroom window (which I do evryday) I will have a beatiful pond with flowers and benches all around it.

There are so many things I have planned I wish I didn't need to take time out to eat or sleep but oh well, that's the way the ball bounces.

take care

-- george nh (rcoopwalpole@aol.com), March 19, 2002.


Evenin, everyone. Well, the rain finally quit here and the sun was even out for the day! yeah. The temps were in the 70's, so I finally got my bod outside and got some work done. We're suppose to have more rain tonight and cooler temps coming in, so I tried to make the best of it today.

The carrots I planted outside still haven't sprouted, but the onions are doing good. I hope the carrots don't end up at the bottom of the hill like the grass seed has!

Polly, I'm sitting here drooling thinking of the plant festival you're going to. Oh, how I wish I was closer, sounds wonderful. University of Tenn has a plant sale in April at their Arboritum that I always try to go to, and I usually end up having to take the truck! They sell the most gorgeous native Azaleas. Polly, on those Burpee seeds, have you tried Wal-Mart? I was in there a month or so ago, and they had a big selection of Burpee seeds. Might be worth a try.

And George, you little stinker. I have always wanted to go to Boston. Must be the Irish Catholic in me. :) I'm always telling Dave that some day maybe I'll get to see the Northeast. If I do, I'll swing by NH for a cup of coffee. Deal? I have also killed my share of grape vines. I must be picking the wrong variety to grow. This year I'm seriously thinking about Muscadine. They're more adapted to this area, but if I can't grow them, I'm hanging in the towel. Of course, grapes has to be the ONE thing that Dave said he would like to have. :)

Well, I better get my dishes done before I stay in this chair too long and won't be able to get up. You all have a great week. Think Spring!!!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 19, 2002.


Hello everyone! First for a little business, then on to visiting. The Over The Fence Chat thread was started on the 16th (a Saturday)so I thought that'd be a good day to start the new thread of the week. How do you all feel about that? Let me know, or just take off with it - be fine with me :8)! So .....

How has your week been? Ours here has been busy but not too bad. The weather is pretty screwy is all - in the 60's yesterday and in the mid 20's this morning with a wind chill of 0-10* and wind howling like a madman! Went out to do chores and found stuff blown all over the place, a stack of windows blown over and busted, and just general mayhem. I am proud of the little greenhouse I built - holding up for now anyway. All this is supposed to be over tonight or tomorrow, and I'll be glad to see it go! I sure don't need to be trapped in the house by the weather when I have so much to do. I know Annie and some others can relate, huh? At least we aren't getting flooded here (knocking on wood)!

Well, I've been called to attend to some items on the "honey-do list," so I'll let you all go for now! Hope you have a productive day filled with good health, love and laughter!

See ya next time!

-- Phil in KS (pigfarmerphil@yahoo.com), March 21, 2002.


polly--try seed savers- at seed savers.org for your beans-hope this help ken

-- ken whitaker (kandswhitaker@carrinter.net), March 21, 2002.

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