A cool, dry Spring gave way to a hot, dry summer. Our new garden suffered but blueberries (transplanted from last year’s bare root plants) blushed purple and last year’s bee balm exploded in brilliant red and purple. We’ll take success where it comes and measure failures by lessons learned!
June Projects included:
| 800 lb of lime applied to garden (rate of 5 tons/acre) | 6/16/2021 |
| 100# German millet drilled | 6/17/2021 |
| 200# lime applied variously to yard | 6/16/2021 |
| 2 additional bee hives on loan from P. Jones | 6/18/2021 |
| Hop poles erected | 6/20/2021 |
| Repaired trench left from running water to tobaco barn | 6/20/2021 |
| Hop dirt bed (5 tractor buckets of loamy sand from the creek) | 6/21/2021 |
| German millet broadcast seeded/Sudan grass on piles | 6/20/2021 |
| Hop bines planted | 6/25/2021 |
| 5 acres treated with 1.5 tons lime/acre (8.3 tons) | 6/28/2021 |
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June 1, 2021 -
June 30, 2021
Brendan spread 1,000 lbs of lime across the garden and Southern States delivered and spread another 8.3 tons across the newly cleared pasture (approximately 5 acres). This year bulk lime is $55/ton (delivered and spread), an increase of 10% from last year, but still a lot less than buying it by the 40 lb bag.
The ‘giant’ pumpkin has gotten off to a slow start, our bell peppers have literally melted into the ground, and the garden squash have been attacked by vine borers. On the bright side, our spindly corn refuses to give up, our zinnias are blooming brightly, we have a fresh supply of sumpter cucumbers for our salads, and our onions are perfectly sized for cocktails!
We added three Wyandott pullets to our coop at the beginning of the month to replace three White Leghorns that Emily Jane adopted in Florida. It took about two weeks of pecking and squawking but the ladies are finally figuring it out and are getting along.
I’ve decided to make the old greenhouse a bit of a project this year. In the past, it has served magnificently and variously to start daffodils grown by Brendan’s dad. It even has an old (and inefficient) propane heater. We’re now using it to start seeds and plants for setting out. My plans include setting up an automatic timer, fan, and mister. For now it’s a bit of a hot mess!
Outside of garden projects, we celebrated as members of the family announced their move back home to Virginia. How wonderful is is to reclaim the precious process of gathering!
In other events, Brendan and I hosted the Maritime Heritage Chapter (MHC) of the Archaeological Society of Virginia (ASV) for a Shipwreck Tagging Workshop. Started in Florida by the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN), the program works with the public to tag shipwreck timbers and create a record of each artifact that can be used for future research. Each tag contains a unique ID that is part of a large and growing database. For the workshop, we cut, sanded, and glued more than 80 tags, which are now ready to deploy!
