Moving Right Along

Yesterday morning was devoted to re-potting and re-seeding plants in the greenhouse. Growing inventory for this plant sale is a always bit stressful. We’ve developed a reputation for having a good selection of healthy plants, and in terms of dollars, this is our biggest fundraiser of the year for the Homestead Foundation. I always breathe a huge sigh of relief when it’s over.

Some of the tomatoes were large enough to re-pot individually. I did that. Ironically, the peppers germinated ridiculously well and they weren’t even on a heat mat. Go figure. I potted those individually, too. Any pots that were still blank—no germination—were emptied and cleaned. I planted several new trays of tomatoes. We’ll see how fast they come up and grow. They still have time to get to a reasonable size before the plant sale, especially if the weather stays nice.

The rhubarb is up and looking good:

And I found a parsnip:

I planted parsnips once, about eight years ago. They still pop up here and there around the garden.

After lunch, I took down my “happy lights”—that’s what the husband calls the string of lights I put up around the porch in the fall—and replaced them with the wind chimes. I filled and put up the hummingbird feeders because people just to our south have reported that the hummers are back. And I cleaned out the porch fridge where we store eggs for sale over the summer.

Susan has grafted several new apple trees for me. We’ll add Wolf River, Spokane Beauty, American Summer Pearmain, Aunt Penelope Winslow, Spice Sweet, Canadian Strawberry, and Sweet Sixteen to the orchard. I am happy to be getting another Sweet Sixteen—the original one I bought from Costco succumbed the second year after we planted it.

The chicks are starting to feather out and spend their days tearing around the brooder box. Dave stands sentry out in the chicken yard, giving the side eye to the tom turkey. I have assured him that the turkey has enough hens of his own without going after Dave’s girls, but Dave is still suspicious. The bunny is almost completely brown again. I am pretty sure the pileated woodpeckers have a nest in one of the trees, and I hear the owl every so often when I walk out to the greenhouse.

It is a relief to have settled into the summer routine.

I even found an hour late yesterday afternoon to work on another muslin of my blouse pattern. I am aiming for perfection and I’m not quite there yet.

The machine tech from the quilt store is coming out tomorrow to service the Q20. I’ve had it for three years, so it is time. I love that he makes house calls, because getting that machine out of the table and to the store would be a major undertaking.