A long drive to and from Iowa over Christmas left us with plenty of time to reflect on the past year and we are so thankful for how great 2012 was for our family and our farm. I am so excited for the 2013 growing season and the new opportunities it brings. I need to […]
Category Archives: Rattle’s Garden
A few weeks ago I was cleaning out my itty bitty greenhouse which tends to become the catch-all junk room over the summer for everything that can’t seem to make it all the way from the field to the barn or the shed. I took a few pictures that day with the intention of writing […]
Finally. Just like last year, the bulk of our tulip bulbs were set to arrive the first week in December and just like last year it rained the day before they arrived. And every fourth or fifth day after that. I really wanted these bulbs in the ground much earlier than this but I definitely […]
Toward the middle of November we pulled the last green tomatoes off the last tomato plants left in the garden. These heirloom Cherokee purples are finally ripening up and taste surprisingly fantastic. With only a handful left, I’m sad to see them go. Next June seems forever away to wait for a fresh tomato. I […]
When we first built our place six years ago it was common to see coyotes around here. They used to love laying right behind my first chicken coop. Gradually though we took over more of our land and started cutting hay on our front pasture and turned the field west of our home into gardens. […]
And then the concrete truck arrived. It was time for the guys to get to work.
Last Wednesday evening Robert and Milan and I put the final loads of limestone screenings in the barn in preparation for concrete on Thursday morning. Bruce and his crew arrived early Thursday morning and finished the prep and then we all waited for the concrete truck. Bruce doesn’t sit and do nothing very well but he […]
Milan is into being independent right now yet still too small to do certain things independently (like open the gate to the chicken yard). He had adapted by getting himself a bucket of sunflower seeds and feeding his chickens through the fence. Or by making the chickens reach through the fence to get the seeds […]
I should have been posting about this project for the last few weeks because now I’m so far behind on it I feel a little overwhelmed by it. On a trip to Iowa a couple of months ago we decided to prioritize the farm needs for the next few years and the two projects at […]