Welcome to Owning Burton Farm, Covid 19 Edition. Just kidding. Despite the governor’s shelter-in-place orders for April, not much has really changed for us, and I’m extremely grateful to not know anyone personally at this time who has contracted the coronavirus. I’m very thankful for a steady job and a faithful paycheck. We’re still both working all week, staying home all weekend, and I’m still doing the bulk of the grocery shopping weekly. If we need anything else, Amazon can still get it to us in two days, thanks to…
Tag: Garden
Net Worth & Debt Update May 2018 – One Pump, Two Pumps
I’m here for an oil and air filter change, and could you check to see why the car’s overheating so fast? 24 hours later, we’re $1,031.30 poorer with a new water pump and timing belt. Maybe I’ll revisit those sinking funds to adjust what we’re putting into our Maintenance and Repairs budget. Ugh. It was only May 2!! Did we not just buy brand new tires two weeks ago?! No, Daddy, put the blue water back in it. ~ Augustus The pool has taken on an extra-bright green lagoon…
How to Manage the Overwhelm of the Glut: Tomatoes
How are your tomatoes growing? Are you just getting in the swing of the season? Catching your second wind? Winding down to the end? When I left for vacation a couple of weeks ago, all my tomatoes were still green. Even though we live in 7a, my plants didn’t get in the ground until after the first of June, so we’re just now coming into my tomato harvest. Clint’s garden has been bringing in some volunteer Roma tomatoes on the regular for the past month or so, but he still…
How to Manage the Overwhelm of the Glut: Zucchini
HOLY COW! Who planted all these zucchini plants? Why on EARTH would anyone put more than five seeds in a seed packet to sell you? Nobody needs this many zucchini!!! What am I supposed to do with all this? Lemme tell you what you’re going to do with all that zucchini: You’re going to EAT IT and you’re going to LOVE IT! Now, I know our tendency is to simply chop them up and saute ’em in a little olive oil, but here are some fantastically delicious ways to put…
2017 Mid-Year Check-In: Garden Progress
2017 Garden Updates: Getting Cranked Up! Ohhh boy! The volunteer plants are showing out in 2017! Clint’s volunteer Roma tomatoes and butternut squashes have graced a dinner or two. Did you see those brilliant blackberries ripening at the pond? My volunteer pumpkins have already turned that vibrant Halloween orange. Last year’s Moon ‘n’ Stars Watermelons will be ripe soon. I love how the melons and the leaves are dotted! We’ve already pulled off a couple of delicious cantaloupes that sprouted from the remains of some compost! You saw the cantaloupe plant earlier this…
How to Make Plant Labels for FREE (or Really Cheap)!
How to Label the Seeds You Plant for FREE (or Really Cheap)!! Have you ever looked around and couldn’t remember what you planted where? I have. Have you ever had to wait weeks to determine if those were pepper or tomato seedlings in that flat? Yeah, I’ve done that, too. I’ve also been standing in my garden, looking at a tiny plant, and wondering if it was something I planted or if it was just a weed. If I’d had all the plants labeled with any consistency, I’d have known…
Super Ambitious 2017 Goals and an Exciting Announcement
I’ve never been told I lacked ambition. I HAVE been told I’m just like my mother (hence the timing of this post). My list of goals for Burton Farm is long and ambitious. But you know what they say, wake up with determination, go to bed with satisfaction. In this post, I’ll tell you what we’ll be working on in 2017 on Burton Farm. I’m also going to spill an exciting secret I’ve been keeping for a little while! I’ll give you a hint, though: All the biggest music stars are doing…
Why Our 2016 Summer Garden Failed to be Spectacular
How’d your 2016 garden turn out? Mine produced a dismally small bounty that included about two dozen turnips, 23 green beans, 14 squash, zero cucumbers, zero zucchinis, and zero tomatoes. Fail. I mean, come on. Who can’t grow zucchini!? Ok, maybe I’m being too hard on myself. I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m a terrible gardener. But this has certainly been a disheartening season. I’m going to break it down in a list, as usual. Oh, I love to make lists! I’m bummed our garden didn’t turn out lush and green, but at least I’m…
Two Stinky Baby Pigs
Two baby piglets came home with my husband this weekend! They’re so stinking cute! (And I mean stinky!) Last week, Rocky came home with some new birds: five guinea chicks and a turkey chick! He put them under the heat lamp with the two surviving black copper maran chicks he picked up in April. And while I was there, I walked to the goat house to take a peek at the ducks. They’re getting so big, so fast! And they’re so black-and-white that they look like an old black…
Garden Update: Consider Yourself Planted (Mostly)!
So, early last month, we moved hundreds of seedlings outside to get some sun and then life happened and they all died, except for three tiny seedlings I managed to revive. It’s May 8 and all I wanted for Mother’s Day was to plant my garden. While the Ax Man napped, my husband, Rocky, and three year old son, Sting, got started in our ambitious 2600 square foot garden on Burton Farm. I forgot how much work it was to get a garden in the ground. Last year we were moving…