They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
After the setback with the trestles for the new workbench, Seppi and Daddy figured out how to glue the split section back on, clamp it, and then reinforce it with decking screws. Of course then we had to re-trim the notches to compensate for the torque that split the piece off in the first place.… Continue reading New Workbench, Part 2
Save the Date!
Last Saturday was a 4H canning day. Kathleen is the canning instructor for one of the local 4H clubs, and one of our friends is the canning instructor for another local club. A few times a year they get together to do a multi-club canning day, teaching the kids how to can jams and jellies,… Continue reading Raspberries and Rhubarb and Canning, Oh My!
Which means we will be drowning in blackberries for the next month or so. The first pick is always the best quality. The thornless blackberries in the old orchard are quite large, especially compared to the himalayan blackberries that grow wild, though to my mind the flavor is not quite so fine and they definitely… Continue reading Blackberries are on
Now that the spring weeding is complete, we can finally get started with the summer weeding. I have switched out my workout schedule so I am only training Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Wednesdays and Fridays I am running wood chips or pulling weeds. This section along the fence between the garden and the… Continue reading More Weeding, More Garlic.
Seppi and Daddy bought a new workbench! Some assembly required. Before you can assemble, you must disassemble. Cutting the legs using a miter saw. It gives a nice straight cut, but is probably a little overkill for this. A faster, rougher saw would work well enough. Even for these mortices, Grandpa Carl's old rip saw… Continue reading New Workbench, part 1
Fair season is fast approaching, and the girls are working hard on finishing up their last projects for fair. Ellie-Belle is entering another quilt. After she finished tying it she decided she needed to embroider a heart into the attachment point of her quilt frame. On Thursday Daddy was at work, and Mommy banished Seppi… Continue reading Fair Projects
Coming back from Captain's Career Course was disheartening, because I had been absent from the garden for more than two weeks. I wasn't able to get immediately back to it either, because of work, and more National Guarding. However, in the last week, with help from the two older girls, we have been making some… Continue reading Weeding and Garlic Harvest
The rain has stopped for the summer. The pasture is not growing anymore. We have about another two weeks of rotation before they are off the pasture until the rains return, hopefully in September. This means we have to buy in hay. Last year we got about a hundred bales from Papa's field. This year… Continue reading Summer Drought and Truck Maintenance
This is a project I started 6 or 7 years ago, when we took down an old shed in the backyard at the house. I borrowed a thickness planer from a friend and planed a bunch of 2x4's and 2x6's, and glued them into rough pieces for a pair of work horses. These are like… Continue reading Work Horses
Little Farm in the Big City 