Down on the Farm – Volume 1, Issue 6

Well folks…it was Jeremy’s last week of vacation this past week and it ended yesterday. As I write this, he is already out there on the road, earning the money we need to get ourselves into a more sustainable, secure and self-reliant way of life…this simple life.

I have to keep repeating that to myself. I’m resisting the urge to call him and beg him to give up this job that has been taking him away from me every week for too many years to count. Just one more year though. Then, he’s going to quit and get a local job. I wish that year was already up. Just one. more. year.

The good news is that we got a lot done while he was home. He finished all of the projects he needed to finish: Herb Deck, additional garden boxes built and filled, chicken coop built, and garden gate beds and arches built and filled. He also fixed the upstairs bathroom sink, set up the irrigation system for the big garden, and helped me finish my Spring cleaning!

These are just small reasons why Jeremy Lowe is my hero.

It was a busy week. On Monday, Jeremy had to go back to the dentist again. I think he will have one more appointment in a couple weeks. When he got home from Tyler, he had to call in to see if he had to report for Jury Duty on Tuesday.

Now, we don’t mind doing our civic duty. But we sure were happy when he learned that the jury selection had been cancelled! We still had so much to do, and we were running out of vacation days fast. As soon as he got home, he started back to painting all those railing parts.

While he was at the Dentist, I had some time with my sister on FaceTime. We are used to talking everyday, but during husbands vacations and days off, we don’t want to take time away from our guys…and with the vacation projects going on around here, there wasn’t really time to talk to anyone other than Jeremy and my Daddy.

I enjoyed getting to catch up a little with my sister, but when Jeremy got home, I went outside to help him paint. I could feel time ticking away!

On Tuesday, the Herb Deck dream finally started coming to life! We were able to put together one section, and get it up. It was so exciting I almost peed my pants! I immediately wanted to introduce my plants to their new home…but I kept my cool.

While we were putting that one section together, and then again when we were putting it up on the deck, we came up with a couple of systems to make the work go faster. We made a template for where the spindles would be screwed in…no more time wasted on measuring those spaces!

Then, using small thin pieces of wood, we made two “props.” This allowed us to lay the railing down, set the spindle on our props and screw the spindles in nice, centered and straight. These two systems worked together nicely!

We proved that they worked on Wednesday, when we finished building every section of railing for the deck. We did not get them put up, but we knew we would on Thursday.

So, since I had some writing to get done, Jeremy went down and worked on the irrigation system for the garden. He still has some lines to add for the new beds, but he did get water over and across the potato grow bags. From there, he will split off over to the new beds.

Next year, we will be building identical new beds for the garden, which will be placed just two and a half feet from our current new beds, and follow the same path. The current new beds use the fence for trellising…the imaginary new beds will have a trellis on the edge of each bed, on the right side of the bed. Each bed is only 1 foot wide.

In case you are wondering why I’m being so “OCD” about the placement of those beds and trellises, it is because we are basically turning our garden beds into fences the deer won’t jump. Those beds are going to go all the way around the inner edges of the garden.

As long as I don’t plant beans or peas on the outside beds (the ones against the fence), my crops will be somewhat safe. To do the entire garden, all the way around will probably take a few years…money always matters. But once it is done, the deer will have to go find someone else’s peas to supplement them.

Thursday was really exciting for me! All the rails were put in place, and the Herb Deck is all done…except for a few minor touches…I have to finish painting what didn’t get painted. I have a bistro table and chairs coming that will need putting together, and I really want an indoor/outdoor carpet up there. I’m also building small tables/stands for my plants to sit on, just so everything isn’t sitting on the floor.

Friday, I built 2 “mini” pergolas. These will have shade cloth over them and my most delicate herbs will live under them. The Herb Deck faces West, and gets every bit of that harsh Texas sun starting about 3pm. So, they need protection.

Before I set to work on the mini pergolas, Jeremy and I got the garden arches done! That was another project that I feel like I waited forever for. But Friday morning, he built the last two beds. Then he trimmed down all the grass along the fence on both sides, and set the beds. This is where I got to help…

We had a 16 foot cattle panel, which was 5 feet wide. I wanted the trellis on both sides of the gate, which is why there are four beds…two on the outside, two on the inside. My idea was to simply cut the cattle panel in half. But Jeremy came up with a better idea. He said “What if we just cut it enough to split the fence. It will look better.”

So, that is exactly what we did. First, we set my end, then he walked his end up. He held the whole thing while I marked how high up we needed to go and how far over on each side. Then, we laid it down and he started cutting. The real (only) problem came in when we tried to life it up to put one lower half of each end of the cattle panel over the fence.

In case you don’t know…Jeremy is 6 feet tall. I am 4’11” on good days when my back doesn’t hurt. He is really, really strong. I’m really, really…short…and not at all strong. So, he told me to put my end down and just keep the bottom from sliding out…then the big strong (handsome) man lifted his end up over the fence and rushed over to grab my end before I lost it…cause I was losing control of it. He set my half over the fence too…like it was nothing.

He got the four T-posts pounded into the ground like it was child’s play, then got it all wired up so everything would stay put…and then, without stopping for a break…he filled all four of those beds while I went to go play with the mini pergola idea…and to order Coral Honeysuckle plants. Don’t be looking at me sideways! I want my arches to be pretty THIS year!

Have I mentioned that Jeremy Lowe is my Hero??

Saturday morning, we mucked the place out again. Got things dusted and put back where they go and got laundry done and what not. Then, we went up to the new Herb Deck and got our new fruit trees (sticks) planted. It was so rewarding to be out on the deck, hands in the soft soil, and the sun….nowhere to be seen! It was cloudy and windy! But it felt GOOD.

We planted 3 Meyer Lemons, 1 Sweet Juicy Cherry, 3 Peach, 1 Gala Apple, and 1 Granny Smith Apple tree. Right now, they look like sticks. Sticks sticking up out of the dirt. Anyway, since it was cloudy, I went ahead and moved all my Herb babies outside to their new home.

And before I knew it, Sunday had arrived. The end of vacation. The day Jeremy would be going back out on the road…at 6pm. We got the guest bedroom finished, and to me, the rest of the day was a blur. Jeremy gave my Daddy’s face a good shave, and it seemed throughout the day, he was gathering his things up, putting them back in his big truck. And too soon….6pm arrived, and back out on the road he went.

Vacation is over.

What’s coming up this week? My sister will arrive today for a week long visit. I will be in the kitchen making egg salad, tea jars, and our famous BBQ sauce, as well as some tinctures and salves. I’ve got orange peels drying in the dehydrator that will need to be powdered.

I’ve got the Herb Deck to water, the big garden to water, and the roses to water…everyday. I’ve also got my Daddy, six dogs, three cats and a sister to feed this week, a freezer to organize, and icebox to clean out and a kitchen floor to mop.

THEN, I’ve got some building to do for my herbs, furniture putting together to do as well, not to mention painting. I’ve got a hobby room/plant nursery/barn to organize, seedling and plant messes to clean up. After that, I’ve got nesting boxes and to build, and roosts to cut, pictures to hang, flowers to plant, tomatoes and basil to transplant, and a BOM to put together for the month of March…which somehow becomes APRIL day after tomorrow!

But I don’t complain…

Until Next Week,