A/C Love and Snake Hate Crimes

It's still crazy hot outside which is why I about fainted when the contractors told me the A/C was on upstairs. Granted, we aren't living upstairs yet, but we're still grateful! All the house work was supposed to have been completed by last week but there have been little things here and there that have delayed the process. I'm hoping the Money Pit mantra of "two weeks" will actually apply here!

The big step in the last few days was the kitchen faucet going in and the master shower door and mirror getting installed. We chose the higher end option for the faucet and the shower door and it really has made a difference. I just like staring at the kitchen faucet. It's so pretty and since we're always covered in dirt and sweaty these days it takes me to a place in my mind where everything is nicer and cleaner!

We've been told we can use the master shower if we want but things are still in disarray in there, dust all over, hammers and caulking guns laying around so I'll wait. It wouldn't do the shower justice!

The mirror-

They're coming back to replace that outlet cover with a mirrored one, the sconces will all be installed next week and I'm going to frame the mirror myself with trim from HD.

Louis bought a table saw and we're going to make the screen door I found fit into the porch opening by shaving it down an inch. Hopefully we don't screw it up too bad!

We met with a landscaper about what we can do to make the property look better and quickly realized how expensive landscapers are. SO- I bought some half priced hydrangeas and did a little landscaping job of my own with free mulch from the local dump. I'm just going to work my way around the house planting whatever I can this year and hopefully get a jump on it next spring. 

You know those people who make you look at tons of pictures of their newborn babies? So annoying right? Well I'm getting like that with my baby watermelons so enjoy the newest pics!

See the tiny green watermelon directly below my shoe? There are tons all over the field now! I decided to start watering them every night instead of every other night since it's so dry and now they're going crazy. 

The blooms and baby watermelons they leave behind just keep coming! At least someone is enjoying the heat wave. 

Things are going well in the garden save for two plants. Eggplant and Artichoke. Those are my two unruly goth teens who skulk about all day and refuse to tell me what's wrong. 

Eggplant-

 

Eggplant is a handful. It says it likes full sun but looks miserable and refuses to bloom. 

Artichoke-

The picture says it all. Pathetic. Again, it says it likes full sun but won't grow and mopes around. I have two so I may dig one up and try growing it in a container on the porch where everything is thriving. 

I spend most of my garden time with the goal of keeping things alive and yet the day that I go out to run errands and leave Louis and Farmer John unattended is the day I return to hear a horrible story....

Here's the thing- since moving to the farm I've tried to let things live that in the city I wouldn't have. Spiders live because they eat the flies, weird bugs live because they feed the frogs and while I expect to run across a snake any day I would just turn and walk away because snakes are very useful on a farm or anywhere really. Snakes eat mice and rats and unlike some of our neighbors, we haven't seen any mice or rats around or in the house. Sure, I'd kill a poisonous snake like a copperhead but not a garter or black snake. Those are worth gold out here! 

So back to the story- I walk in from my errand and Louis chirps. "Me and Farmer John killed a huuuge black snake in the barn! We shot it!" 

Me: Why did you kill it? 

Louis: I dunno, it scared us. 

Me: *eyeroll* and *sigh* 

Poor snake. Louis promised not to kill anymore and hopefully we won't see any mice now that the big snake that was probably dining on them all is gone. 

I've seen a ton of deer recently, in the picture below you can barely make them out but two deer are in the field behind the house. We let the grass grow because Farmer John is supposed to put some horses back there any day now. Until then, it's a deer playground. 

Summer Solstice Sans A/C

Today was the longest day of the year and damn was it hot. Turns out, this June has been the hottest on record in this area. It also happens to be the June that we're spending without air conditioning in a basement on a farm, nice. We do have a little portable unit that we stand in front of and aim directly at us while we sleep.

We wouldn't have survived the almost 100 degree weather and extreme humidity of this week without it. I would have cracked and been at a hotel in town. There's drywall next to the air conditioner because the contractors had to cut open the ceiling in our little room to fix a problem. Louis was taking a nap and woke up with a yell when he saw our three main contractors standing next to the bed staring at the ceiling. They didn't even notice he was there when they walked in so they yelled when he yelled. Wish I had it on tape! 

Today was a big day because the countertops arrived! Two Chinese brothers do the delivery and installation for the company we're working with. They both wore back braces which made it seem like they were going to jump on each others shoulders and do a Circ du Soleil routine at any minute. Here they are carrying it in-

Here's a picture of Jeff (our main contractor) at the island-

I'm LOVING the granite. It brings in all the whites, creams and browns in the kitchen. It's like the rug from the Big Lebowski, it just pulls the room together. And now, let's take a minute and enjoy a few gratuitous White Spring granite pics-

OooOooOOoo!

Aaaahhhhh!

Yeah!

When they were going to set the counters they noticed that the cabinets weren't level at the ends near the double oven and the fridge. FYI- there were lots of quirky issues during cabinet install because neither the ceilings or floors in the house are level, they wave all over the place. SO- the cabinet guy has to come back out....no kitchen for us just yet. BUT countertops are half the battle!

On a positive note, almost all of the plumbing is done! CQ has been working away to install all the toilets, sinks and the tub faucet that I am in love with. If anyone needs me, you can find me sitting in the tub, likely fully clothed. I just like it there! The tub faucet is so pretty-

The telephone sprayer is awesome!

The half bath is ready to go now which means my search for wallpaper is game ON. Only problem is, I have no idea where to shop for wallpaper. Online forums can't be trusted. I need to see samples. 

I'm really happy with the way that floor came out and I'm glad I went with a new pedestal sink from HD instead of trying to refinish an old one. That might have taken forever. 

Lots of wallpaper area in there, as you can see, so I need to pick something good. My battle is to find something classic, farm-y, garden, bird or floral but not girlie. 

The full shared bath is also ready to go now which means I'm on the hunt for a shower curtain and rod. Sounds like a nice excuse to go outlet mall shopping during the hottest part of the day tomorrow, yay!

CQ also installed the master bath pump-style faucets and I'm super excited to use them! 

The mirror is getting installed tomorrow as well as the lighting fixtures. Speaking of lighting fixtures, here's the kitchen chandelier with bulbs we finally remembered to buy-

I'm still tinkering around with my jar lights for the pantry and I'm getting close! I'm really enjoying making my own lighting fixture. 

I got the rest of the supplies I needed today and then had to decide between the big jar or the small ones. I ended up choosing the small ones because they look cuter in a cluster of three and they are jars given to me by my mom last summer when she canned beets. See mom? Your legendary beets will live on! 

The little light bulbs I got are the perfect size. Here's a sneak peek of two jars whose wires I have yet to wrap. 

The terra cotta pots in the picture are my porch herb garden. They love it out there and are all thriving. I think it's the compost-tea I've been drizzling over everything. The ONE thing giving me crap is an eggplant...plant that I...planted last week. It's listless and sad no matter what I do. Too much sun? Too much water? Who knows. 

The squash, watermelon, corn, beans, brussel sprouts, dahlias and tomatoes are doing great. Here are a few garden pics, my shoe is for scale!

Watermelon-

 

Squash-

Brussel Sprouts-

Corn- 

(that will DEFINITELY be knee high by the 4th of July! It was touch and go but they're almost knee high right now!)

Cow Peas planted last week-

Soybeans planted on the same day last week-

Radishes planted last week-

My circle design in the middle of the garden is still just dirt. Only those little radishes have sprouted, everything else has a two week germination period. I'm waiting patiently for two patches of sunflowers I planted to sprout as well. I'm really looking forward to using them for cut flowers and snacking on sunflower seeds!

There are two apple and one pear tree in the front yard. I'd thought they were all apple but I got a closer look when I was on the tractor. I knew it wasn't apples when I got close but then I debated between fig or pear and after some research I realized it's pear! I love pears despite my jokes that they're not worth buying unless you can carry them around 24/7 since they're ripe for a whole minute before going bad!

Pear tree pic-

It's no wonder the deer love our property. It'll be interesting to see if a bunch come around when the apples and pears ripen. I saw a pack of deer running in a field next to the garden yesterday. I'm sure I can rig something to scare them off, cans tied to strings maybe. A baby fawn ran up to us the other day and when we moved it turned and raced away. No mother in sight and you'd better believe that within the 30 seconds it got close to us I envisioned raising it myself like the Yearling except it can have all the apples it wants and stay forever! Oh well.  

Tractor Whisperer

I wonder how many other people drove a tractor while listening to Lady Gaga today...I'm betting more than you'd think. That's right, today was "learn to drive the tractor day" and it rocked. 

After weeks of yard work and garden maintenance with Louis driving the tractor in the background, I decided enough was enough and the roles were switching. Oh, the clutch is tricky? It's loud huh? Hard to learn is it? Sounds like a job someone is trying to keep for themselves! Man was I right, tractor "work" is a LOT more fun and much easier than digging, hoeing and planting! 

Our tractor is old and therefore fearful of sudden movements and change but once I got the hang of it I had a fantastic time cutting the grass in neat rows! 

The bad thing about the tractor is how slow it is- a speed walker with a limp would have lapped me. There is a higher gear but according to Louis it's similar to lightspeed on the Millennium Falcon. That means I'll have to try it when he's not around. Which reminds me- why don't they make those "I've fallen and I can't get up" necklaces for farmers? I need to look into it. 

When I was done with the yard I watered the garden with our newly attached hose to the well on the property. No more paying for garden water! 

The squash blossoms are still blossoming away and the watermelon vines look like they're trying to take over the world. I'll take a picture of the bean seedlings tomorrow, they're growing like weeds. I see lots of beans in our future. 

 Squash blossoms!

The contractors are allllmost done with the house. Sometimes I forget anything exists besides the one room we live in on the lower level!  

The showers, sinks and toilets are all functional now. Here's the master shower in all its glory!

 I love that shower. I saw it on an HGTV remodel show and found a similar one at a plumbing outlet online. Like I said, the house the internet built! Here's a wider angle pic-

Technically we could use that shower but without the shower door it'd be a mess. It's getting installed tomorrow so we can wait! 

Speaking of being inspired by shows- I am HOOKED on and IN LOVE with a new Planet Green show called, "The Fabulous Beekman Boys".

Much thanks to my mom for telling me to watch it! It's about two Manhattanites who buy a farm in upstate NY despite not knowing anything about farming. They too have a "Farmer John" who they rely on for advice and know-how and anything else they wonder about gets googled. 

It's a great show because as wonderfully entertaining as they are, the message is about eating locally and knowing where your food comes from. They're trying to make a living off their farm in a very similar way to what Louis and I have talked about- goats! 

www.beekman1802.com is their website where they blog and sell soaps and cheese both made of goats' milk. It's convincing me to buy goats because apparently goats like hugs and that sounds awesome. 

2 Redbull = 12 hours of gardening

Time has flown by over the last few months so it's hard for me to remember that when the sky looks like this, it's 8:30 not 6:30. Today was an absolutely perfect weather day so I ended up spending 12 hours in the garden, fueled by my love of sunshine and a cool breeze...and Redbull. I don't drink coffee so when I need to get something done I've been known to toss a few back!

Thanks to Redbull I finally finished planting, weeding and edging my circle creation in the center of the garden.

Four dahlia bushes are sprouting in the middle and the sections around them are different types of carrots, beets and radish. Now that I know the Purslane is an edible friend and not a foe, I'm letting it grow wild. I'll hack off any that encroaches on my vegetable patches and we'll eat it but otherwise it can continue to flourish away! 

Here's a pic of one Purslane patch that's going crazy-

On top of weeding, planting and edging the big circle I also seeded some Okra (I'd run through traffic for fried okra) and a bunch of sunflower rows. I've been reading up on "companion planting" which just means planting things together that help each other grow. I kept reading that Okra is great with tomatoes so I lined the tomato bed with a border of it. 

Here are a few gratuitous tomato pics.

Early Girl

Cherry Tomato

I forget what these are but they were 1/2 price because they weren't doing so well.

None of the tomato plants are looking chipper since I transplanted them...I can't figure it out. They have plenty of water, I tilled the soil with "Bumpercrop" before planting and they're getting a full day of sun. 

Those tomato plants are all adopted by the way - none of my seedlings survived. The wound is still fresh so we'll leave it at that. I had to make a quick trip to the nursery to get a few orphans. On the bright side I'll have 20+ packs of various heirloom seeds for when society collapses and we have to live off the land. I feel better already. 

In my search for beet seeds this week I discovered that Martha Stewart has a line of seeds at HD! Crazy. She can sell anything. I say that because I bought hers, they were organic and had nice packaging- sold. 

Crap, I forgot to get golden beets. Gotta get on that! Also, everyone is getting canned beets for Christmas! YAY! 

Here's a bit more garden action. Everything you're about to see WAS started from seed by me. Not that I love them any more than my tomato plants!

Those elephant ear sized leaves above are my brussel sprouts and they are seriously enormous. Even that gimpy one in the back row is a monster now. Sadly, I have no idea what I did right. 

If the kitchen was done, I'd be cooking stuffed squash blossoms. There are a ton- 

The garden is on a slight hill so in defense of me leaving the grass around I'll say that it's actually very important because the grass roots are keeping my soil from blowing away in the wind or running away in the rain.  

I have a bunch of watermelons and it's crazy how some are shooting out of the gate and others are lagging behind. Here's one that's vining out more and more everyday-

My corn is kicking ass and taking names. I don't want to jinx it but it very well may be "knee high by the 4th of July"! 

I have a lot more to do tomorrow but I'll close by saying that the Purslane is delicious and I'm now eating it straight from the garden like a rabbit. Don't knock it til' you try it!