Our Little Micro-Farm

EJ and I had a tremendous day together.

After waking up with a cups of coffee and the Internet, we decided to go out for breakfast. JJ didn’t go with us because his days and nights are all mixed up. He stays awake most of the night and sleeps most of the day. We drove to the city and ate at Denny’s. Whenever we go to Denny’s we always joke about the “Denny’s” scene from the movie, The Santa Clause. “I’m going to have chocolate milk,” one of us says, and the other replies, “They’re out.” Actually, the food was delicious.

On the way to Denny’s we came upon adult geese escorting their babies across a busy street. There were several adults and many babies–maybe 40 or 50 geese in all. I had my camera with me so I was able to take a video of them through our dirty windshield.

After we ate breakfast, we drove to a nearby store that is sort of like a farm market. They have a good selection of bird seeds so we bought a large bag of mixed seed, two bags of fruits and nuts, a box of twelve orange suets and a box of twelve peanut butter suets. Then we went to their plant nursery and bought two grape vines and another blueberry bushes. Afterwards we drove on to the grocery store to pick up a few groceries.

When we got home, I made some bread dough and got it raising (and then baking). I took Danny for his walk, and then EJ and I went outside to work in the garden. We planted the two dwarf cherry trees that we bought the other day. We now have a small orchard of six cherry trees. We planted the new blueberry bush near the other three, and we planted the two grape vines. Then EJ planted the rest of the veggie plants that he bought the other day.

We have a relatively small yard in a small village, but our yard is filled with all sorts of veggies, fruits, herbs, and flowers. We have sort of a micro-farm. We are growing:

Veggies: tomato, Bell and hot peppers, celery, cabbage, cucumber, butternut and acorn squash, and cantaloupe, leeks, parsnips, and others.

Fruit: Rhubarb, Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grape vines, cherry trees, and a couple Alberta peach trees.

Herbs: Sage, Oregano, Basil, Chives, Coriander, Winter Savory, Golden Marjoram, Lemon Thyme, Caraway, Lemon Grass, French Tarragon, Bay Leaves, Bronze Fennel, Borage, Rosemary, Pennyroyal, Peppermint, Spearmint, Chamomile, Sorrel, Lovage, Lemon Balm, Garlic, and maybe a few others that I am forgetting.

Flowers: We have Lilac, Peonies, Roses, Sunflowers, Morning Glories, Phlox, Lilies, Lilies of the Valley, Black-eyed Susans, Lavender, Hyssop, Lamb’s Ears, Iris, among others. We also have many shade plants such as Hostas and Ferns and Creeping Charlie. I also planted flower seeds to attract hummingbirds and butterflies this year. And, of course, we have tons of birds. And quite a few cats. And a dog.

In addition, we also have a lot of maple seedlings which I am trying to pull up. Yesterday I saw that millions more maple seeds were raining down from the trees. We also now have a blooming population of mosquitoes that attack me when I go outside. I could do without more maple seeds and mosquitoes.

EJ and I had a tremendous day together. Now we are tired, but it is a good tired.