Exhausted

Well, I've been more tired, anyway, but I'm pretty damn tired. 'Tis the season.

We planted leeks today, and prepared more planting beds. Which involved a lot of hand-tilling of very heavy soil. It wasn't hard at all, but it was early - 6 a.m. - but at least it wasn't raining. On the other hand, the black flies are pretty bad - no wonder they call them "Mayflies." I got the crap scared out of me by hoeing up a chicken wing - feathers still attached - apparently I jumped quite a bit. Not exactly what I thought I might find in the planting bed. Rocks, yes. Dismembered chicken parts, not so much.

After several hours of cleaning the house, I moved several hundred pounds of rock (a freebie rock pile is always good). Not exactly sure what I'll use the rock for, but it wont go to waste. It was free - what can I say? I have about 2 more days of rock- moving to do. I have one load still in the truck because I didn't have the time or energy to unload it. Maybe I'll build an herb pyramid. More likely, the rock will sit in a giant pile there for a few years and then I'll decide to do something with it.

The apple and cherry trees are blooming. The apple trees seem to really like the pruning they got last winter. I really need to learn how to do that the right way - although at this point my hack job seems to be helping. The compost application to the roots probably didn't hurt. I took some blossom photos with the large format yesterday - maybe tomorrow I'll use the digital. They really are beautiful.

This afternoon I went to a neat farm visit at a nearby farm about cover crops - *J* introduced me to CRAFT, which stands for "Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training." Of course, it was somewhat of an awkward social event (as all social events are), but it was also full of good information. My theory on cutting down the winter rye & leaving it in between the rows has been completely validated, which makes me happy - it's just about too late to do anything else with it anyway. Interestingly, mowing the winter rye is a good move - it stimulates root growth (which, once stated, made me think: "Duh", but hadn't previously occurred to me). Then you can plow it under - or not, apparently.