Category Archives: gardening

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?

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

On and On It Goes

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

It rained again a bit. We got another 0.44 Wednesday morning; a nice gentle rain pretty much all morning. Is it too little too late? We wait and see.

The soybeans that didn’t germinate back in May are coming in and we are just starting to see the rows. Man, they’re gonna have to hustle to amount to anything by fall. 

The corn looks terrible; it’s just all over the place for height. I’ve seen some barely as tall as me just beginning to tassel.

And some is only knee high… I don’t know… it will be what it will be. It’s interesting on the edge of a field, the trees use so much moisture, the plants are only a couple feet tall in a patch matching the canopy of the tree. There is something called ‘Field

Edge Effect’ meaning the field edge suffers from winds or herbicides from neighboring fields. Must be nice to have huge fields with no trees around the edges.

The agronomists are saying we should still think about applying fungicide to the corn because it will actually help prevent senescence (and cannibalism) even if it stays dry. Too much science behind it to get into it, but it’s always interesting what is happening in the corn plant to create an ear!  

The oats are turning color. I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen with the oats and it’s stressing me out. I don’t expect it will have a good enough test weight to meet the requirements for human food grade, and we won’t know until we start harvest. I don’t know if ‘those guys’ are going to combine it all anyway, or if they’ll start, find out it’s crap, and bail, meaning I’ll have to get my other guy to combine. And who’s hauling it anyway? I’m working on answers to all these questions, just haven’t gotten them yet. 

We had a family reunion / potluck last Saturday. Twenty-six people attended. It was a far cry from the 50 that were there in 2007, and sad how many people we’ve lost since then. And it’s hard to get the next generation interested. I better stop before I sound like an old fart. 

I’ve had the 20′ scissor lift rented this week, so it’s all been about the shed. Added the 2×4 ceiling joists under the roof trusses, the ceiling steel will be attached to the 2×4’s. 

That went quick; however, the rental lift is being temperamental and only works when it wants too. Course it worked when the repair guy was there. 

My brother has helped, my friend Paul has helped, our son came done one day and helped and of course Kelly is always helping one way or another; moral support, ideas, helping move things, and even driving the lift.

And the teenage helper from last summer, young padawan, has come back, bringing a friend with him. Two teenage boys…I tried not to roll my eyes too hard. But they did good. When we took a break, padawan took this year’s new kid around the farm in the gator. 

They’ve all been good help. We got the last big window in, and some of the ceiling steel installed. And my brother and son were impressed with the cool tools I have; like the metal shears that attach to a cordless drill. I didn’t know it was anything fancy. 

Course I also poked myself in the thumb, twice, using a dental pick like thing while working on something. Not cool.

Black raspberries are out, and right by the shed, so they’ve been a nice snack for us.

The lift was supposed to go back Friday,but I paid an extra day to keep it over the weekend. The ceiling steel goes fast once we get going. And I need to finish sealing off the one truss to keep the birds out. Half done with that.

Once all that is done, it’s up to the contractors to do the wall insulation. I called them the other day to let them know I’m ready and to get on the schedule. I have an ‘attic access’ panel, but I wasn’t sure how much they need to get around up there. Turns out they need more than I had, so I used some old 20′ sections of pipe to make walkways in the rafters so they can get to all the corners. Use what you have available. Dad would be pleased. 

Funny story about the lift. It doesn’t take much for the battery to get weak and it won’t go up. It tries, it goes up about 6″, then stalls. Oh, it whines and makes noises, but it doesn’t go ‘up’. So, the boys would jump in the air, thereby fooling the lift about how much weight it’s lifting, and it would raise another 6″. They’d jump again, it would gain another 6″, and then it would lift the rest of the way. So stupid it was funny and it made us laugh. 

The boys also cleaned out an area next to the shed where we’ve been dumping stuff for years. They dug out some old wire, cement blocks, even bricks! No idea where the bricks came from. I need to smooth it out a bit, and it will be nice to mow in there eventually. 

I’m hoping next week to start mowing weeds. And oats will be ready soon. And I’ve got a show to light in Rochester opening 7/25 and another to light in Chatfield opening 8/4. And then I’m back at ‘work’ work 8/10. 

But let’s not get ahead of myself. 

HOW MANY CANNIBAL JOKES DO YOU KNOW? DO YOU GET RIGHT UP OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING?

2023, Fantasy, Food, gardening, Nature

Watermelon Gone Wild?

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I knew when I planted two little watermelon seedlings in one bale that I was probably making a mistake.  While I’ve never grown watermelon before, I’ve certainly heard that it likes to spread out.  And spread out it has – it has completely overtaken the bale, spilling out over three of the four sides (I’ve been pushing it away on the 4th side where the cherry tomato plant is trying to hold it’s own).

You know me, had to google “watermelons gone wild” to see what funny stuff was out in cyberspace.  The first thing I discovered is that the comedian Gallagher, who was famous for smashing watermelon, passed away last year. I remember thinking he was hysterical back in his heyday.   Here is a clip with more smashing and less talking:

I also googled watermelon books.  There are a lot of kids’ watermelon books; none of them seemed all that exciting to me.  I did find Moons of Jupiter by Alice Munro with big watermelon slices on the cover.  Can’t find anything online that explains this so I requested the book from the library.  We’ll have to see.

But the biggest watermelon issue for me is the logistics.  If we get even a lukewarm harvest, what the heck are we going to do with all this watermelon? There are just two of us and I expect we’ll also be busy eating tomatoes at the same time. 

Any good watermelon books?  How about recipe for using up watermelon?

2023, animals, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Weather

Cooler Weather

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The weekend farm report comes to us from Ben.

The header photo are some of the wildflowers on the CRP ground. It’s looking good. 

I’m really liking this week of cooler weather. Especially as I plan to spend the next week installing a ceiling in the shop and working 15 feet in the air of a tin building.

We’re at 1375 growing degree units, about 265 GDU above normal. On Monday night, July 3, we got 3/4 of an inch of rain. It was a nice gentle rain. It soaked in fast and Tuesday afternoon, when Kelly and I took our gator date drive around the fields, the surface was already dry. It hasn’t really improved anything yet; grass is still pretty brown, the corn is uneven, (although the leaves have opened up, simply because it’s not so hot), but the beans haven’t filled in yet nor grown much. And we’re gonna need more rain than that to keep it going. But it sure was helpful and by Friday there was some more seeds almost sprouting.

The dang deer eating what is there doesn’t help . 

Cutting some grass Wednesday night, it sure did stir up a lot of dust.

Work on the machine shed continues. Every week another trip to Menards where I save big money while spending more. More screws, caulk, foam sealant, metal cutting blades, more screws, on and on it goes.  I rented a 20-foot scissor lift and picked that up on Friday. I’ve got it until next Friday. I’ve got two of the three windows installed.

 I’ve begun removing some of the old Electrical stuff. Keeping a few outlets but taking down a lot of them and will be replacing a lot of lights.

An order of lumber and pole barn steel was delivered, steel for the ceiling, but not the walls yet, and some steel to close off one of the rafters to keep the birds out of the newly remodeled shop end. The lumber is to frame the ceiling and line the walls after insulation. 

I moved our five guineas to a bigger pen. One of them is certainly going to be a troublemaker. At least once a day, if not twice a day, he flies up over their 5-foot fence. They’re a month old, I didn’t expect them to be flying quite so well, yet. The other day he went over two 5-foot fences and was perched on top of a 7-foot screen door on the baby chicken side. If he decides to hop down and venture out into the real world, I can’t protect him anymore. He’s only pigeon sized. Not big enough to defend himself yet. 

I finally took down the 5’ fence. Four of the five guineas were on the other side anyway. You may as well take the whole side, why don’t you. Pretty soon I may as well let the little chickens and little guineas run together. 

I spent a few hours on Monday hiding in the AC of the tractor and using the grapple to pick up the tree trimmings and some other stuff. It was pretty fun.

My tractor snack lately has been life savers. Individually wrapped, so at least they don’t all melt and stick together in one big glob.

WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES? WHO DO YOU KNOW WITH ‘BEDROOM EYES’?