the weekend

We were all busy bees this weekend. Despite a fairly vicious rhino bug (they all seem particularly vicious when a nursling is involved don't they?) we had a fairly good, productive, food growing kind of weekend.

My big boy and I planted Potato Beans. These seeds are HUGE! They were super fun for my boy to help plant in our black compost.
As for the tomato beds: I kept filling in with new home-grown seedlings, some much too young and their disappearance is making me feel greedy and humble as I start new seeds. Cyrus got all the drip irrigation hooked up for them so that is a boon! We're mixed on what we'll be using as supports: It will be an interesting mix (think diatribe at harvest) of things! We're really invested this year in not investing in the garden hardwares per se. We do have so many materials at our disposal thanks to the hubby's construction profession and because he hates to see good lumber and such go to waste. He's a GREEN BUILDER through and through and boy do we have the stockpiles in our skyline to show for it. .... And oh how we love to use those piles!

Here we have the mature cover crop on the left foreground, the growing chamomile for our year of tea on the right foreground and the tomato rows in the background.


I planted some new corn in our patch this weekend and moved the bird cover back to protect it. I also threw some new rice straw (which is super seedy and I'm not happy about it but I had to get it in so ... there we go for some new weedin' A TIP (which the hubby didn't listen to btw hence this seed infested stuff) be sure you are getting spring cuttings for straw and hay. Invest in them now if you think you will need them later because they will have WAY LESS seeds than the fall-cut stuff. I read this years ago and always find it to be true.

The corn seedlings are looking good! I hope the migratory birds leave them alone at this stage. They are a mere month old after all.

In the new area I planted Oaxacan Green Dent Corn from Seed Savers. The seeds were like gems, again. I think I may have a thing for corn seed.

Interplanted went some Papa De Rola Pole Beans. Again, BEAUTIFUL beans! I'm doing a green theme in that area this year: Green Amaranth, Green Envy Zinnias, and Green Centered Sunflowers. Ya Baby!
I have a few magical iris as well. One snapped off.. (oh the carefree nature of a 3 year old) so I had some time to play with it before it began gracing a container of water on the kitchen sink shelf.
And the rest of the weekend was spent like this: Admiring my family in the warm sun of a summer-type day. And I had to include this photo. Here I have some weekend harvests that have yet to be processed. So, tonight, as I type this post I have this ahead of me. They looked lovelier in the afternoon sun than they do on the dark of my deck I assure you. But the afternoon sun was precious and beautiful and simple and I'm so very glad I took it in.