Category Archives: gardening

2023, gardening, home, Uncategorized, Weather, work

Surprise!

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Two fairly major surprises happened here this week. One involved tomatoes. The other involved wind.

Before the first killing frost a couple of weeks ago, Husband and I picked about 80 lbs of green tomatoes. I had little faith they would ripen given their immaturity, but they did, thankfully not all at once. I just piled them in laundry baskets and cardboard boxes and set them in a warm room all covered up. I haven’t had good luck in the past ripening green tomatoes. As of yesterday we had only about 10 lbs left. Most went to the Food Pantry. I canned another five quarts of sauce with some. The remainders will get taken to work.

The other surprise was less pleasant. On Tuesday I drove home from work at a little before 5:00. I drive west and then north to get home. I live about 2 miles from my work. It was sunny with a dark cloud bank on the western horizon. It got quickly and increasingly darker as I drove west, and when I was halfway home I saw a huge wall of dust barreling towards me from the west, obscuring everything behind it. It was the very edge of a fast moving cold front. As I turned north to get to my house the wind and dust hit the van. Leaves were flying off the trees and swirling madly in small funnels. Small branches and grit hit the side of the van, and then it started to rain. The wind was clocked at 70 mph. The temperature dropped by 15°. I have never seen a cold front move in that quickly, nor have I ever been at the utter forefront of one.

What surprising things happened to you this week? How do you ripen green tomatoes?

2023, animals, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, pets, Theatre, Uncategorized

Nice Things

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

We finally had a hard freeze, 27° at our house Tuesday night. It finally killed off that wild tomato plant that was taking over the driveway. There was still a ton of green tomatoes on there. That was some plant.

The soybeans had pretty much reached maturity; they had lost about 50% of their leaves, so there will at least be a crop there. They’re short and the beans will probably be small, but it won’t be a total loss. The people who do my harvesting said they’re just about done with their beans, which is pretty impressive. It’s just the way this year will be: lower yields mean the combine can drive faster in the fields, lower yields mean fewer truckloads, which means it doesn’t take as long. 

I’ve been delivering some straw lately for mulch, or some to put around trailer homes, or to cover their garlic. Even some for ‘pumpkin bowling’ at a church.

The 40th anniversary for the Repertory Theatre went real well. A lot of good compliments and it was fun to see some people from when the theater first started, including one gentleman that I didn’t think would even remember me just because I didn’t have much to do with him. But he had some pretty good stories and once again, you never know the impact of your actions. I didn’t know Jeff had moved into Dave‘s apartment because Dave had moved in with Skip. I didn’t realize Kim, who was filling a sabbatical at WSU, had brought in Kris and Jeff because they were students.  Dare I say a nice time was had by all. There was a champagne reception and showing my age again, some of the people didn’t know how to open a champagne bottle. I knew. I was in a cast one that won a cast party battle of drinking more champagne / person than any other cast. 2+ bottles / person one night. I haven’t liked champagne since. Ah, to be young.

I talked about naming calves after people at the theater. The header photo is Michael, Thom, and Kim in the theater office about 1985.

The puppy. I guess we have a new dog. She does need to pass a few tests yet, Humphrey hasn’t totally accepted her and she needs to not eat chickens.

But she and Humphrey are getting acquainted, and I think Humphrey has relaxed a little. He’ll stress out again if she comes in the house. He’s the biggest dog, and he’s also the most sensitive.

This puppy, which we think looks like a German Shorthair Pointer Pitbull mix, (sometimes called Pointerbulls), has a lot of attitude. She’s only half Humphrey’s weight and size, but the attitude coupled with her puppy eagerness will be a lot for Humphrey to put up with. The vet discovered she does actually have a chip, but they said it was not registered. Then they talked to a place in Oklahoma that tracked her to someone in Oklahoma. That woman gave the puppy to her cousin, who moved to Rochester, and into an apartment building where she couldn’t keep the dog, and that woman gave puppy to someone else. The veterinarian’s office gave us this man’s name and phone number, and when we called there, a woman answered the phone who knew nothing about a dog and no person of that name. The cruelty of people dumping animals is just abhorrent. This puppy is so smart! She’s potty trained, she’s very good on a leash, she knows basic commands, she loves to fetch, and does she have a lot of energy! We’re still looking for a suitable name.

We got a truckload of dirt / mulch on Wednesday afternoon and filled in a space Kelly has been working on all summer. Wanted to get that in place before it rained. Any fresh laid dirt we have to cover with plastic snow fence to keep the chickens from rooting it up, and even the dogs from digging.

Chickens.

And this is why we can’t have nice things…

DID YOU HAVE A NICKNAME GROWING UP?

(Of course, we want to know what it was!)

2023, animals, Automotive, Farming Update, gardening, Nature

The Path Less Traveled

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Going home the other day and I was thinking about the grassy strip down the middle of our driveway. I don’t remember that happening when I was a kid. And maybe it’s because back then several tractors had narrow front tires. Meaning the front wheels were right under the hood and ran down the middle of the road, so maybe that kept the grass down.

Dad bought a ‘wide’ front end for the 730 tractor at some point. It had to do with mowing hay and how you didn’t want to run over what you had just cut. It also gives the tractor more stability, but that wasn’t such a big deal back then. There were even some tractors that had single front tires. (Dad used to talk about getting new rear tires on the 630 tractor, then mowing in the calf pen where there is a pretty good hill and the tractor slid sideways down the hill because the lugs on the new tires were too straight.) After he arrived at the bottom, unscathed, after he got off and kissed the ground and thanked the Lord, he ordered different tires to be put on the tractor. Not that wide front tires would have helped that. All tractors have wide front ends now. And we have a grassy strip down the middle of the road.

Along the lines of ‘remember when’, I miss grocery stores loading your groceries. I know there are a few that will still. Was that a convenience or not? Seems like it would have been. The store employees wouldn’t have to go get carts and there wouldn’t be cart corrals taking up parking spaces. Let alone checking ourselves out in the store. Barlows, which was the ‘fancy’ grocery store when I was growing up, had an underground grocery delivery system. They had two lines of cars picking up groceries; the groceries were put in totes, which came up in an island between two lanes. Faster service, I guess. We never went there. It just sounds like a cool idea. Only once in my life do I remember going to a full-service gas station. It was prom night, and I was in a tux. I got full service that night. No inuendo intended.

I talked about all the acorns a couple weeks ago. Mixed in with the acorns is goose poop. Rochester is known for the Giant Canadian Goose. There are mixed opinions about those gooses. They used to be bragged about and families would travel from all over to see and feed the 5000+ geese at Silver Lake. The power plant discharged warm water into the lake, so it never froze over, which is why the geese liked it so well. As you can imagine, that is a lot of goose poop. I remember the city buying a ‘Mean Green Poop Machine’. The local Post Bulletin had a snipped about it.

“The Green Machine’s days were less bright. Ballyhooed on its arrival as the same equipment put to work around Buckingham Palace (a certain park department leader was heard to exclaim that if it was good enough for the queen of England, it was good enough for the city of Rochester), in the end all the machine delivered was a big, filthy smear to rival that of any political mudfight.”

The machine arrived in May of 1999. It sat in storage for a long time and was ultimately traded in on something else in roughly 2015. They tried hard to market them; there was goose poop art, and the goose is on the Rochester city flag.

There was talk of an updated city flag. I don’t know what became of that since the new design finalists in 2018.

Mother Clucker was down to 9 chicks last time we saw them. They’ve pretty much decided they don’t have to listen to Mom anymore and they spread out all over on their own. She seems to have abandoned them; or at least given up shepherding them. The last few days we just haven’t been down there or around enough to see them. Last night when they were all in the pen, I only found 5 MC Chicks. Four were on one side, one was all alone in mama’s old nesting spot, and all the spring chicks were jammed in behind the screen door. It’s possible there’s more chicks in there somewhere.

My soybeans have begun to turn yellow. You can see from the header photo, they’re not even Humphrey tall. Once they start turning yellow, within a few days the entire field will be yellow, then the leaves all off. Harvest could be a month out yet for me. Some guys will be going any day now.

Had my young friend Josh out last week to climb on the roof and do all those things I *shouldn’t* do anymore.

He made it look so easy! He made it look like I should be able to do that. And I’d climb to the top of the ladder…but that last step from ladder to roof, I just don’t feel comfortable, nor trust myself, doing it. And I didn’t. And he got it all taken care of. Over the new shop area, he replaced the old poly skylights with steel, and replaced a missing skylight down in the pole barn. I checked a couple more things off the list.

If you can’t beat them, join them. Discussion?

2023, education, Family, gardening, Kids, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized, Weather

Fall

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Yesterday was the first day of fall, and it was cool and cloudy, I noticed this week that the leaves were just starting to change color. The garden is finally slowing down. I am done canning tomatoes.

Fall has always been my favorite season. Not too hot, not too cold. (We won’t talk about the Ocober 5, 2005 snowstorm that shut the area down for three days and broke off hundreds of tree limbs.) I like the cooler nights.

Things at work always pick up in the fall, especially for those of us who work with children. Bad news at parent-teacher conferences means the phones start ringing at my agency from calls from frantic parents wanting help for their ornery children. Fall is a time of truth and reckoning for some of us.

What are your favorite things about fall? Any favorite fall songs or poems? Did your parents ever get bad news at parent-teacher conferences?

2023, animals, Business, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Seasons

There’s Always Hope?

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Maybe the crops won’t be as bad as I feared. I was looking at the soybeans this past week and there are a fair number of pods higher up the plant. The plants are about knee high, and it looks like the weather will hold for a few weeks yet. We’re at 2845 growing degree units. 368 above normal for Rochester. Mind you, I’m not saying great crops, but not as bad as I thought. Ha, probably just be good enough not to trigger a payment from crop insurance, which is based on 70% of expected (average) yields. I did get a $700 credit on the premium for hail damage. So, I only owe $600 rather than $1300. Which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp cornstalk.

I did plant some rye on Monday and more on Thursday evening. The rain predicted for Friday morning isn’t going to a mounted to much. We wait and see. I spotted a couple sandhill cranes while out planting on both days. They must like this field. It was interesting: On Monday I had gone around the field once, turned around at the end of the field and was coming back when I saw them in the middle of the field. Were they there on the first round? I was maybe 150’ from them and they didn’t pay me too much attention. But then as I came around the corner and got closer, they flew off. Sorry kids, you didn’t get much of a rest here. Thursday was the same thing; didn’t see them on the first pass and then there they were. I adjusted how I planted that field so they could hang out longer. When the time came and I had to go their way, they had flown off.

I was working at the college one day and I dropped a cable down a ventilation shaft. Course it wasn’t a plain old power cord, it was a special 4 pin data cable. I can see it down there and maybe with a long stick and a hook on the end, I’m thinking I can retrieve it. Stay tuned.

I’ve been scraping gravel from the machine shed approach.

Over the years I’ve added a lot of gravel to the road. Now with the cement pad being the same level as the shed interior, the driveway is 8” too high. I’ve mentioned before the water running in the shed door. So, I’ve been scraping. Man, it’s packed hard. Some rain would help that too. I’m not real good at being an excavator operator. And using the tractor loader isn’t ideal either, but it works. I can’t quite tell yet if there’s just dirt under there or still gravel. Dad must have had rock there when he built this shed in 1981. I may have to go an extra 4” deep and put gravel back on top. I’m using this rock to fill in some holes and the extra will go on the other end of the cement where it is more dirt.

Daughter likes to do her chores: whether it’s hauling out garbage, doing her laundry (I know, right??) collecting eggs, and last night she even threw out corn for the chickens and chicks. Mother-Clucker is down to 12, lost one. The kids are getting pretty independent, and mom is giving them their freedom too. It’s not unusual to see them running 20’ away from mom. They’re between robin and pigeon sized.

Ever had a cement pond at your house? How was that?

(Are you aware Irene Ryan ((Granny)) was a Tony nominated actress and has an acting scholarship in her name?)

2023, Family, Food, gardening, Mysteries, Nature

Overheard in the Raspberry Patch

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Man:  This is a good year – lots of good berries.
Woman:  That doesn’t mean we need more than usual.
Man.  I think it means exactly that!

Girl.  Yada, yada, yada, yada…..
Grandpa:  Just stop.
Girl.  Stop what?
Grandpa.  Talking.

Woman #1:  We ended up having to rent a u-haul to get everything to college.
Woman #2:  Makes you wish they would just go to college locally, doesn’t it?
Woman #1:  Absolutely not.  Two u-hauls would be OK with me!

Girl:  He’s throwing berries at me.
Boy:  I am not.
Girl:  Are too.
Boy:  Am not.
Field Worker:  Wouldn’t you rather just be eating them instead of throwing them?
Boy:  I’m only throwing the white ones.

And then awhile later…..

YA:  What are all those scratches on your arm?
Me:  From the raspberry brambles.
YA:  Why don’t you wear long sleeves when you pick?
Me:  Well, it’s hot and the scratches are kinda like badges of honor.
YA:  SIGH (and biggest eye roll this side of the Mississippi)

What shall we do with all the fresh raspberries this year?

2023, animals, Business, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Uncategorized, Weather

BLT – Bean, Layers, Tomato

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Where are we with Growing degree units you might well ask. We are about 450 growing degree units above normal here in Rochester. Extremely hot days don’t add as much as you might think because typically the plants shut down over 86 degrees and below 50 degrees. 

Too bad the weeds never stop growing. I mentioned once before, my soybean fields have really filled in and from the road, although short, they look pretty good. Except for all the weeds. I’m really discouraged about all the weeds. If this was a normal year, I probably would’ve had a second application of herbicide applied. But this year, I can’t justify the cost. 

You can see from the photo, because the plant is so short, there’s not a lot of pods in the first place, and those pods that are in the bottom 3 inches are difficult to get in the combine because it doesn’t typically cut that close to the ground. I have talked before about guys rolling their fields after planting to help level them and to press rocks and such down into the soil. This is exactly why; to get as close to the ground as possible but still, it’s hard to get that low. 

And the beans that are there, are not very big. There just hasn’t been the moisture to develop and fill a bean.

The corn looks kind of rough from the hail as the leaves are shredded up, the ears are OK, except again, small, and not filled to the tip because of drought stress, and I expect the kernels will be small because again, not enough moisture to fill the kernel.

Notice the kernels on this ear and how the tip didn’t fill. Drought stress and the plant pulled resources from them to save the other kernels.

This ear is 13 rows around and 43 kernels long. Everybody remember our math from last year? 13×43 equals 559 kernels on this plant. 80,000 kernels per bushel (bushel meaning 56 pounds), means I need 143 ears to create a bushel, but if the kernels are small and light, it will take more than 80,000 to be a bushel. Be sure to subtract deer, raccoon, and turkey damage. This year will be what it is.

I made a little more progress on the shop. I have some of the two by fours installed on the walls that the interior steel siding will be fastened to. And electricians came back and installed the breaker box and some outlets. The other end isn’t hooked up at the pole yet, but he’s hoping to get that on Tuesday. 

Momma and the chicks are doing well. Kelly calls her ‘Mother Clucker’. How many chicks can you find in this photo? (She’s still got all 13) And the 4 young guineas are hanging out with the older guineas. And we like this batch of ‘mixed breed’ chicks from this spring. They have pretty plumage.

Kelly has one tomato plant, growing wild, and doing better than her plants in a pot.

Daughter waters the plants. She enjoys having chores. And it’s fun to watch her do it. She turns on hose, puts it in plant, thinks for a few seconds, counts “1,2,3…4,5……..6, 7…. 8…. 9,10” thinks for a second, takes hose out. Good thing the pots have drain holes in the bottom.

Last week I mentioned the lack of women behind the parts counters. I feel like I should clarify: There are a lot of women in agriculture. I just don’t often see them behind the counter. There are women who are large animal veterinarians. There are several women agronomist’s I work with and the lady who runs the Crop Insurance agency. There are a few women who are solo farmers and there are several on YouTube I follow. There are many out there working with their families and contributing as much as the men. I am in no way disparaging them. Being a farm wife is a huge task.

We used to have one woman farmer in our neighborhood. Rita. Hair all done up and nails painted and she ran the farm while her husband worked in town.

Kelly and I try to spend a few minutes in the evening sitting on our veranda without a roof watching the world go round.

Do you drink the recommended 15 cups of water in a day? Who do you know in non-traditional roles?

2023, Family, gardening, Uncategorized

The Wild Garden

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The other day we got a call on our landline from a neighbor on the next block letting us know that the Postie delivered our Bismarck Tribune to her house instead of our house. We walked down to get the paper, and realized that neither of us remembered exactly what house the neighbor lived in. Husband asked someone in the yard next to the place we thought was the correct house if that was where she lived. The person indicated it was and then said “Oh, you are the people with the wild garden”.

I suppose our garden does look pretty wild in comparison with the tame and typical lawns and flower beds in the rest of the neighborhood. It looks particularly wild these days now that the butternut squash and cantaloupes are running amok. The butternuts are taking over the flower bed on the north side of the driveway.

If you look closely toward the back of the last photo, you can see cantaloupe vines growing up the red rose close to the house

This is the view from the street looking south and west.

The pole beans look sort of wild, I think.

My last name, Boomgaarden, conjures up visions of exploding vegetables and flowers, although the name is just the Dutch word for apple orchard. I suppose there are worse things to be know for than having a wild garden.

What are you known for in your neighborhood? How has your mail delivery been lately? Any garden updates?

2023, animals, Automotive, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Seasons

Summer “Farming”

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Thankfully theaters are equipped with AC these days.  This week was all about theater.  

I was at the Rochester Repertory Theater Monday and Tuesday evenings finishing lighting and dress rehearsals for ‘I and You’ by Lauren Gunderson. That opened on Thursday with a preview audience on Wednesday so that Wednesday night I was headed to the town of Chatfield, 20 miles South of Rochester to begin lighting ‘Hello Dolly’. I drove down on Monday with my friend Paul to scope out the place since I didn’t work there last summer, and the building had a lot of renovations done. Potter Auditorium, built in 1936, is attached to an elementary school built in 1916. 

The theater was renovated in 2016. The renovation done to the school revealed the original skylights and main beams in a ‘great room’. It removed a lot of steps and ramps and various levels and added more bathrooms and elevators. It’s pretty nice.

I started working in Potter Auditorium in 1986, building the set for ‘Annie’ for $500. My dad and brother helped me carry 40 sheets of 4×8 particle board up from the basement to cover the gym floor (because of course it was a ‘gymnatorium’) and we couldn’t mess up the basketball floor.  

The next year I built the set for ‘Barnum’, and the next year, some kind of original talent show.  

Working in Chatfield always feels like going home. Lots of good memories there. There wasn’t AC until the 2016 renovation. Back in the 80’s, hornets would come in and buzz around on their backs on the floor. I’d walk over and step on them. Good times.  

I recently heard someone mention how, when they were a young kid, their dad talked about hunting and outdoor sports so that’s why they hunt now. And I thought, I got mail order books, and Disney records of Musicals. Mary Poppins, Robin Hood, Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Hmmm.    

I mentioned we had hail last Saturday. I notified crop insurance, and they assigned an adjuster. Haven’t met with him yet.

It knocked some oats out and beat up the corn and soybeans a bit. Left some marks on our cars too.  

The ceiling insulation for the shop was blown in on Wednesday. The ball is back in my court to start working again.  

I started cutting oats on Tuesday. It was so hot the swather wouldn’t run right and it left me walking home twice. And then we got an inch of rain Tuesday night. Because of course now it would rain.

Also Tuesday the electrician buried the new electric line to the shop. He cut the phone line, which I didn’t need to the shop anymore. He also found the phone line from 1968 when we lived in the machine shed while the house was being built.  

And then he found the current electric line to the old shop. The one my dad buried in the 1950’s and the one being replaced. It was 30 feet from where I thought it was. So, he changed course. Oops; found it again. Thinking back; there was a ravine and a tree there, so I guess Dad had to go around the tree. Maybe that’s why it was way over where it shouldn’t have been.  

But this guy is an electrician, and he was able to fix it; no harm, no foul.

Here is Kelly posing with her new Gator.

We like it better than the old one already.  

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIE OR SONG?   PLEASE RESPOND BY SINGING IT.  

2023, gardening, home, Uncategorized, Weather

Good Pea Weather

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It is often a real crap shoot if we will get a good crop of peas in our garden. Peas and spinach are hard to grow out here because the ground isn’t ready for planting until late May or early June, and then it gets too hot and dry by the end of June for good growth, This year has been really different, as June and July have been cool and wet. Our peas are flourishing. It is weird for things to work out like this for us.

We planted six trenches of peas, one on either side of three pea fences we constructed a couple of years ago with the help of the neighbor children. We water with soaker hoses to reduce powdery mildew. This last week, every time I look at the peas it seems that new pods have grown overnight.

We are grateful that things seem to have worked out just right for a good pea harvest. Once the peas are done we will pull them up and plant spinach. I hope the stars align for a cool and long fall for a banner spinach harvest.

When have things unexpectedly worked out just right for you? What has this summer’s weather been like for you and your garden and yard?