June 14-20, 2020

Weather | 6/14, 57°, 79° | 6/15, 58°, 80° | 6/16, 56°, 79° | 6/17, 59°, 83° | 6/18, 58°, 85° | 6/19, 0.54" rain, 64°, 83° | 6/20, 0.55" rain, 64°, 84° |

• Sunday, 6/14: Mary processed the snow peas, freezing 5 bags. Together they weighed 12 ounces. She planted Tom Fox pumpkin seeds in the far garden and put tomato cages covered with chicken wire over the planted hills to keep rabbits out until I get the electric fence up and running. She also anchored a strawberry runner into a Styrofoam cup full of potting soil. Mary pulled 2 more types of garlic from the far garden. They were Georgian Crystal and Siberian. So far, all of the garlic is coming out of the ground in really good shape, with several large bulbs, unlike last year, when they were small. Before sunset, we hung these garlic in the machine shed rafters. I ran a tank of gas through the grass trimmer to clean out more grass along the far garden fence...I just have 2 more sections of fence to finish the job. I picked, pitted and froze 3 and 3/4 quarts of pie cherries. We now have 22 quarts in the freezer. In the past, we've only seen a maximum of 9 quarts, so this year is producing a bumper crop of cherries. There are still more cherries, but soon I'll have to quit to get other chores done. It's just so hard not to leave those red beauties hanging in the trees. My wife is beating me with a rolled up newspaper (not really), because she wants the garden fence done. Mary mowed the final part of the lawn that still held knee-high white clover. While mowing, she spotted some ripe black raspberries, so when she was done, we went around to our known raspberry spots. Most were not ripe, yet, but Mary picked a few. We laughed when we saw her 7 pitiful raspberries in a freezer bag (see below), and she said, "This is my bag of hope." Hopefully, we'll get more to fill the bag. We had strawberries I bought a few days back that needed using up, so I made waffles for supper...strawberries on waffles with honey...what decadence!

Mary's "Bag of Hope," or 7 black raspberries.

• Monday, 6/15: Mom sent me a text. She started back working at the Circle (MT) Senior Center on Thursday after being furloughed with pay for 3 months, due to the coronavirus. Mary made flour tortillas. She watered garden plants, picked snow peas and more raspberries. She also pulled the last 2 varieties of garlic, which were Samarkand and Shvelisi, the 2 tastiest of all the garlic we grow. They were growing in heavy clay soil, so it took Mary longer to pull them. All of our garlic is now drying in the machine shed (see photo below). There was not a single bad garlic bulb this year, probably due to a healthy amount of moisture in the spring and not too much rain prior to harvest. I finished weed whacking all of the tall grass under the electric wire in the far garden. I also finished picking pie cherries, gaining enough for a quart and a third, giving us a grand total of 24 quarts in the freezer, which will make a dozen cherry pies (YUM!). Birds decimated the cherry crop out of the upper fourth of the tree. It's OK. We got enough and the birds were well fed, too.

Our 2020 garlic crop drying in the machine shed.

• Tuesday, 6/16: I took it a little easier today. Mary mowed the far garden, putting mulch in the NE row in that garden. I racked the dandelion wine for the third time. The yeast residue was thick on the bottom of the old gallon jug, but when I pulled wine out to test its specific gravity, it was quite clear (see photo below). It had a yeasty alcoholic taste, but was very smooth. I think with aging, it will be good tasting. We had a weenie roast in celebration of finishing garlic harvest. It was a perfect night...clear, windless, and temps in the 60s. We saw several large bats flying around after sunset. We noticed several satellites flying by and we saw 2 meteorites. Coyotes started howling at one point to the south and east, when a lone coyote howled nearby. It was probably on our lane between the house and Bluegill Pond. By the time I threw 4 buckets of water on the fire, walked the dogs, and went inside, it was 11:30 pm. Fireflies lit up all of the trees, from top to bottom, making the night seem magical. There were thousands of them. You haven't seen anything until you've seen a 100-foot tall oak tree lit up naturally, like a Christmas tree. It was a very nice evening.

Dandelion wine in cylinder and gallon jug.

• Wednesday, 6/17: Mary washed dog bed blankets and towels. She watered garden plants and finished mowing inside and outside the electric fence of the far garden. She also mowed the east front yard. She said she has 1 more wheelbarrow load of mulch to finish mulching the NE row in the far garden. I drove the tractor and wagon to the gravel pile below the Swim Pond dam and got a couple partial buckets of gravel. Partridge peas and Deptford Pink flowers are blooming on the trails that are getting overgrown. After getting gravel, I drove the tractor on the entire north trail. Then I used a spud bar to pound gravel alongside the corner posts in the near garden, in an attempt to solidify them into a permanent upright position. Sagging electric fence wires are allowing rabbits to jump through the fence, into the garden, and munch on plants. The snow peas are decimated by bunnies. The SE corner post had a cutoff, rotten wooden post inside of it, making it impossible to punch gravel into the ground, so I used the spud bar to pry out about 2' of the rotten post, then removed all the plastic doughnuts holding wires on the steel corner post and pounded it into a newer location, then placed the 2 corner bracing posts, and attached the twisted cross wire bracing. Next, I installed the 13 existing wires to the post. With each wire, I'd start at one end of the fence, run the entire distance, tightening as I walked, then secure each wire at the other end of the fence. Bottom wires require me to be bent over while walking around the entire fence. I got sore after several wires. It got dark before I could finish. On the last wire, I discovered I wired the doughnuts in the wrong order on the SE corner post, making 2 wires cross one another. I went inside. It was 9:30 pm. We ate, then I went back out, fixed my mistake and finished the fence in a blizzard of tiny gnats that buzzed into all ears, up my nose, and into my mouth. I was sure glad to finish that job. Except, I'm not done. I still need to add more wires to keep older rabbits from jumping through the higher wires of the fence. They're leaping 2.5 feet off the ground. Mary texted with Bill. His strawberry wine is progressing nicely (see photo below). Mary invited him to visit during July 4th weekend. He's interested. Katie sent a photo of her associate's degree from Community College of the Air Force.

Bill's strawberry wine.

• Thursday, 6/18: Mary washed and dried clothes. She also mowed and poured mulch into the far garden rows. She picked a handful of raspberries. Birds are nailing them. I inventoried electric fence parts and what I need for adding electric wires to both gardens. Then, I added T-post and rod insulators to all of the posts around the near garden in order to add 3 new electric wires around that garden. 


• Friday, 6/19: It was a very sticky and hot day. We were tired, so we stayed inside most of the day. Mary and I watered garden plants, and then waited for a storm to develop, which it did in mid- to late-afternoon. The wind blew extremely hard, knocking down some small branches and lodged a lot of tall grass. A nice robin nest was on the ground near the weeping willow tree.


• Saturday, 6/20: It rained in the early morning hours. When we walk the dogs the last several days, we take along a shovel and bust off sprouting shoots from chicory plants in our lane. It means we have our eyes to the ground. This morning, Mary looked up about a third of the way down the lane and said, "Look at that." There stood a big bunch of pink, wild roses to the east of our lane. They've probably been there for days, but us hounds with our noses to the ground never noticed them. Mary cleaned the house today. I measured garden fence distances to determine electric fence wire to buy. Then, I drove to Quincy, IL, to pick up a Sam's Club package of dry milk that we recently ordered, pet food, and electric fence parts. I'd say an eighth of everyone was wearing a mask...that with virus infection numbers increasing in that county. I swear, people are nuts! Picked up food items at Aldi, even though several customers in there moved at glacial speeds. One woman in her 30s took 5 minutes inspecting every melon before I could get to the fruit section. I got home, stepped out to peace and quiet, and thanked the forces that be that we live where we do, away from people and traffic.