Weekend at the Farm August 16 - 17, 2014

The Hyacinth Bean Vines I planted are just starting to bloom.  They are growing from seeds I harvested last year.
Arrived on Friday about 3:00.  Josh, Amy, and Blake came up on Saturday.  Josh and Amy spent the night.  Blake drove home after dinner.  Mr. H did not come because he went to visit his father.

• We made mead from some of the honey I collected in June.  Josh brought all the equipment.
• Swam for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon while waiting for the must to come to room temperature so we could add the yeast.  We are making a sweet, still rose mead - similar to a dessert wine.

Sunday:

•  I pulled up all the spent Verbena Bonariensis  and weeds in the side bed.  Covered all the disturbed earth with shredded leaf mulch which was important, because there were a lot of weeds in that bed that had gone completely to seed. That was the hardest thing I had planned for Sunday.  It was downhill-easy from there.
• Planted 3 Beef Master tomato plants in the Vegetable Garden.  Maybe I will get some fall tomatoes...  Never sure with all the hungry critters out here!
• Pulled lots of weed in the Vegetable Garden.  
• Loosened the soil in one of the beds in the Vegetable Garden and sowed some French Marigold seeds and  some Fiesta Blend Nasturtiums.  Marigolds deter nematodes and Nasturtiums are both pretty and edible.  
• Worked in the Orchard for quite a while.  I pulled weeds and cut back blackberry vines.  I loosened soil and sowed lots of sunflower seeds that I collected last year. I watered all my new fruit trees really well - the Mayhaw, the Crabapple, and the Mulberry.
• Watered some of my shrubs that were gasping.
• Spent some time training and pruning my Peggy Martin Rose.
• Sprayed herbicide in the back yard, the driveway, the Star Garden, the Orchard, and the Rose Garden.
• Installed new soaker hoses around the pool.
• Cleaned out three of the rain barrels and filled them with fresh water - they were pretty green.
• Weeded, weeded, weeded and hauled wheelbarrows of debris to the woods.
• The butterflies and hummingbirds are really active right now.  August is particularly great for butterfly-watching.
• Good weekend, love being with my kids.