Weekly Update: 6.14.25
Rain dripped softly on the tent fly, lulling me to sleep well past sun up several mornings this week. After so many frantic months, the pace these days feels decidedly slower. Honestly, the change left us feeling a bit lost as we reconfigured our priorities. We were as busy as always, but the absence of pressure from our dad's impending surgery lightened all of our mental loads. For his part, our dad is healing quickly. He even joined in on several light projects this week.
Last weekend was quiet -- something that is unusual for us. It was our brother Levi's birthday on Saturday, and we always try to rest on Sundays. I spent quite a bit of time advertising Jeremiah's and Bonnie-Jean's puppies. Our efforts in that regard are paying off. Two puppies went to their new homes on Saturday, and one on Wednesday. Another is being picked up later this afternoon.
We have just one more puppy who isn't spoken for -- Peep, who has us all wrapped around his not-so-little paw.
Early in the week, we enjoyed quite a bit of time in the garden. We had neglected it a bit last week, so there was a lot to do. The melons and cucumbers had to be tied to their respective trellises. The tomatoes needed additional tying to their stakes. We are still dealing with pests, so we treated everything with neem and peppermint oil. Near the end of the week, some powdery mildew started showing up, so we sprayed an organic fungicide yesterday evening. We harvested our first cucumber, and we are eagerly watching so much young fruit on the vine. Green tomatoes and little cucumbers cover their plants. There are several tiny zucchini, and one golf-ball sized watermelon. The okra and peppers are starting to blossom. Unfortunately, many of our plants, especially the melons and some zucchini, are persisting in dropping blossoms. We have been doing some research and trying to amend our soil in case that is the issue. We also continue breaking ground for corn and winter squash.
On Wednesday, our grapevines arrived. Last year, our brother Levi and his wife Erin gave our mom a gift card to Stark Bro's Nursery for her birthday. She finally got around to using it a couple weeks ago. She used her gift card toward 10 Concord grape plants, since they were on sale (it's a tad late to plant them). We decided to make a row of them on the western side of our garden space, which we haven't been using yet. I helped measure and plan where they were going to go. Levi, Bonnie-Jean, and Grace dug holes. The soil in that area of our garden has a bit more clay than we are used to seeing, so they brought top soil from other areas of our property to fill in the holes. They also worked in some coffee grounds and a little compost to add nutrients and lower the pH a bit. It was so exciting to see the grapes all planted and staked by Thursday evening.
Grace and I did some beekeeping. When we moved our swarms into their hives last week, we had to work a bit more quickly than was ideal. The bees were flying around stinging people even though it was dark outside, so we just put the frames into the hives and walked away. This week, Grace and I removed the frame feeders we had given them while they got established in their new location. It was perfect timing, as the bees in one hive had decided to build on the feeder. We replaced the feeders with empty frames, and we added a frame to the other side of the hive, taking the place of the divider boards we had decided not to use. Since our swarms were so large, using a divider board felt a bit silly. This time, the bees were very docile.
Later in the week, Grace and I hung up a swarm trap for our Langstroth hive. We built a new type of hanger using one-by-four scrap lumber, and so far, it's working great.
In the bunkhouse, we worked on small and tedious projects. Grace sanded and repainted the door for the room we sisters will share, as the paint had gotten damaged while it was being stored. She also sanded and stained some shelves for our bathroom vanities. I helped my dad build frames for our bathroom mirrors. That task should have been simple, but we ended up having issues with our angled edges and then our pocket holes. Then Grace and I had issues with the stain, which we had to sand off and reapply. Levi worked on cleaning out the rooms his family will use, as we have had tools stored in one of them. Our dad put up a little bit of trim as well.
June has brought increasingly warmer temps. We set up our two free-standing air conditioning units last week, and we've enjoyed them during the hottest parts of the afternoons. After two years without AC, having a place to cool off has been such a luxury.
It was really a good week, though I think we were all a bit worn out. Bonnie-Jean and I both dealt with a couple migraine days. No one has felt like their healthiest or perkiest selves. Still, it felt good getting so many projects under control. I spent some time organizing what we have left to do in the bunkhouse. We also did some research on various gardening issues. While I wish we had accomplished a bit more this week, I feel like we are set up to get a lot done in the coming months.
