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.
Here in the good ol' Pacific Northwest, getting ready for winter is more about getting things ready for rain than it is prepping for snow or ice. This means cleaning out the gutters (before and after the leaves fall). We had gutter guards, but found that we grew too much moss under them and the… Continue reading Winter is Coming
The small man is ready for anything. He has brand new red clippers. The snowball bushes between the shop and the carport have grown a bit out of control in the last two years. More to the point, they are overgrown (and undergrown, and through grown) with Himalayan blackberry. Earlier, the kids cut a tunnel… Continue reading Cutting back the blackberries by the shop
With the last of the fine weather (by which I mean, brisk but clear and not raining) we finally tackled the blackberry patch. The kids really enjoy pruning, actually. There is something inherently fun about snipping branches off of living trees with pruners or loppers. It all started on Tuesday afternoon with Seppi and Daddy… Continue reading Blackberry Pruning
All the trees here are 2-3 year saplings, still building their basic structure. Pruning is important, but pretty straightforward. Oh, and taking out the wild cherry saplings. Those things are weeds. Too thick for Ellie Belle. She got about halfway through it but couldn't make it all the way through so Daddy had to finish… Continue reading Food hedge pruning
We finally got to the second major pruning task. It was on the list for Saturday, and then again Monday and Tuesday, but we just never got to it for one reason and another. By that I mean the kids. But here we are, pruning the mini-orchard at the house. These are trees and bushes… Continue reading More Pruning
With the weather turning cold for the next week or so, we are taking advantage of it to get our winter pruning done. We started with the orchard trees we planted in 2023. Last year we pruned them in February, But did not get around to summer pruning them, which, as it turned out, was… Continue reading Winter Pruning, day 1
We pruned our elderberries back to the stumps earlier this year, (along with the mature cherries, which, incidentally, produced a much better crop this year than they did last year). Look at that majestic shrub! And the two purple-leaf varieties are doing quite well too. What we have learned from this is that the Elderberry… Continue reading Younger Berries
It has been a long time since we have posted here. Daddy has been busy doing National Guard stuff (Boo!) and Mommy has been busy holding down the fort (Yay!). But we're back with a quick fire post to get us up to date. What is Winne so excited about? Moo's! Not just any moo's.… Continue reading Good to be back
Monday and Tuesday of this week we only got about an hour each day to do any farm work, between weather and school, inside chores and runny noses. We used that brief time to get caught up on some tasks that needed doing in the orchard. The orchard, by the way, is not a separate… Continue reading Orchard work
It is February, time to get the fruit trees pruned. This is a time consuming job every year, but it is also a fun job, once you get the hang of it (and when I say "get the hang of it" I mean, develop a hermeneutic of pruning that allows you to move through each… Continue reading Pruning time
Little Farm in the Big City 