Farm Happinings

garden, Reflections, Sunflowers, The Farm,

Just a quick post with some of the photos I have taken at the farm in the past week.

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This year we planted patches of sunflowers in various areas around the farm. Some of the patches were garden plots that we would not be using this year, others were spots that we normally mow but decided to let them grow up in sunflowers this year. We bought oil sunflower seed that is normally sold as bird seed and hand sowed them. While we don’t intend to harvest the sunflowers they will serve several purposes: they are available for bees and other pollinators to collect pollen and nectar, the birds will feed on the seeds, and they are simply beautiful to look at. I am not sure it is possible to look at a field of sunflowers and not smile. 🙂

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We have also planted many areas with buckwheat. We use buckwheat as a cover crop to suppress weed growth and condition the soil. It is also a favorite food of honey bees. Since buckwheat is a fast growing crop we have stagger planted it so that when some of it is done blossoming some is just beginning to blossom.

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This is a photo of our main garden area. To the left beyond the sunflowers are two rows of strawberries that were planted this spring. There is another patch of sunflowers beyond that. The row of trees in the grassy strip are apple trees. The next area, to the right, is where we have our vegetable garden with tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beets, Swiss chard, lettuce, green beans, cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, egg plant, peppers, cabbage, parsley, basil, and dill. Beyond that is the blueberry patch. The white patch to the far right is blossoming buckwheat. This large (main garden) area is completely fenced to keep deer out.

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Some of the apple trees are loaded with apples this year. The branches are so heavy that my husband made support posts to prop up the branches. We expect to have a nice apple harvest this year as long as we can keep the crows away.

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Even though we have had some periods of rain the US drought monitor map reports that our area is abnormally dry. We really don’t need that map to know that as our gardens tell us all we need to know.  Last night while my husband and I were sitting on the beach and feeding the fish an unexpected rain shower popped up. Since we were sitting under a beach umbrella we continued to sit on the beach and offered prayers of thanks for the rain. As the rain grew harder we retreated to the porch of the barn to stay dry as the glorious rain watered the earth. This shower didn’t bring anywhere near the amount of rain we really need but we are thankful for every drop that fell.

Thanks for visiting the farm today. Until next time be well my friends. 🙂

 

36 thoughts on “Farm Happinings”

  4. We have a beautiful “volunteer ” sunflower growing from dropped bird seed. It does make me smile when I look out the kitchen window and see it growing there

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    1. I am glad you enjoy my blog. Do you do any gardening? You don’t have to live on a farm to grow some of your own foods. Some can even be grown in pots indoors if you don’t have outdoor space.

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  6. Pingback: *Press it* Farm Happinings #44 | Its good to be crazy Sometimes

      1. Hope it works out for you Ruth – today they said everyone was going to get some rain. We had several bouts of rain – one of them torrential rain.

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      3. That’s good Ruth. We had some torrential rain last night and I went to bed around 11:15 or so, and woke this morning to see a lot of emergency alert e-mails in my e-mail … apparently Lincoln Park was in the line of a tornado briefly for around 1:15 a.m. I sure would not have gone to bed with a clear mind had I know that!

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      7. Yes, and my friend Ann Marie just e-mailed me. She is in Southgate and their sirens went off and her phone sent an emergency message as well. I had one of those emergency radios, but it never worked properly. I could not pull in any stations, even after it was charged and I had cranked it. I know Click on Detroit meteorologists go to different Meijer stores and if you buy the radio, they will set it for you – I don’t have a smartphone so that might be a good idea for me. We had our share of rain – we are good for awhile now.

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      9. That’s a good idea – I will do that today because I think the Click on Detroit meteorologists are done with their “tour” for this year since severe weather season is over the end of August. You enjoy your day as well Ruth.

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  11. Beautiful pictures of your farm 😊 and that is a fantastic idea about the sunflowers! I may try that along the fence row next year. And yes! the rain is glorious. We’ve gotten a little more over the last week too.

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    1. With gas prices being so high we decided the less mowing the better. The sunflower seed/ bird seed was quite reasonably priced and had a good germination rate. We did seed heavily because birds (including our chickens) were eating a lot of the seed. LOL!

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  12. Those sunflowers 😍 all of it really! Glad to hear you got some rain. I love the smell of rain in summer. I miss that about home. Your farm looks amazing. Would love to see photos of the strawberries 😊

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    1. Thank you. The strawberries are not really making berries right now. They are putting out runners and my husband is cutting the runners and transplanting as we are expanding our strawberry fields. As he gets further along I will probably do a post and include pics. 🙂

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  13. Your farm looks absolutely beautiful! I don’t know if you remember, but I told you a while ago that I got metallic pinwheels and rubber snakes for my strawberry patch and they are working like a dream! I haven’t lost even one berry. 🙂

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