Update from around the farm and other projects, Part 1

 This is our back garden, we've planted it this season with onions( white), mini pumpkins, Indian corn and cabbage.  The corn came up spotty so we replanted the places that needed replanting and pray they come up quickly.

 These are the raspberries, transplanted last Spring, when we thinned out the main patch. So far so god they all look healthy and even are blooming and have small berries on the canes, YEAH!!!!

 These are the strawberries we transplanted and filled in with new bare root plants last summer, praying for a bountiful crop, they are just beginning to bloom and all are everbearing :o)

 Left side of the main garden, you can see our red onions, Walla, Walla onions, lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, radicchio and farther out are the pole beans, cukes, cantaloupe, bush beans tomatoes( wall of water around them) and finally broccoli. Everything is slow coming but now that we've warmed up it's growing much better, PTL!!!!

 Okay no looking at all the weeds, I could just say it's portulaca and we eat it, and it is but we don't eat it, it just needs to be hoed out. Seems Cortney and I get a few rows looking good and it rains, just enough to get the bindweed to growing. If anyone has experience with this gardeners nightmare you can sympathise. It's truly a never ending battle and by the time we start canning and preserving  it pretty well takes over the garden*sigh*   We had a bountiful crop of asparagus this spring, we ate it 4-6 times and I shared it with my brother and neighbors. Plus included a bag in our 3rd week basket for our CSA customers, they were all thrilled!

 Not many flowers yet, and I'm ashamed to admit my flower beds are a mess and most likely get reworked for a Fall planting in hopes of beautiful flowers next year*sigh*  There just isn't enough hours in the day, nor enough of Cortney and I to go around, LOL!!!!

 This is right at the end of our driveway and it's absolutely beautiful this summer!!!  The taller plant in the far background has beautiful yellow flowers that are about to open as well.

 Phlox in a mess of a weed bed( can no longer call it a flowerbed the bindweed and other weeds have absolutely taken over, I shamefully admit this *sigh*

 My pink tea roses are just beginning to bloom, as are the purple bells, usually they are almost done by the end of June.

 Another weed bed, I'm going to dig out the perennials and then weedwhack the rest, till and keep it till until Fall, then seed for a Spring crop for 2012, or so is the plan*wink*

 Montana has been facing some fierce storms, thankfully these all seem to follow down the Pryor Mountains , skipping by us. This is truly a blessing as many of these  storms have had hail as large as baseballs and winds into the 85mph range.

 Here is a close up, it's building and as your can see is FULL of moisture, scary!!!

 Here is what we saw and took comfort in God's promise, we've certainly had our share of rain, the month of May we had a total of over 9" above our normal yearly rainfall totals. What worries me is that we won't get anymore and we certainly don't want hail!!!!  We've also been under two tornado watches, with 5 tornadoes( EF-0's) touching down in and around our areas( within 40-75 miles of our farm.  The river is VERY high and the snow pack in the mountains is STILL at 90% of normal and with our temps rising into the high 80's and 90's F it's melting off to quick. There is worry of flooding but we pray daily it won't affect us. 

 In other news, this is a project my Dh has been working on at his outside the farm job. The owner contracted them to build this small cabin to be hoisted via a crane onto his above ground foundation.  As luck would have it, it was a beautiful day with no wind. The crane operator's skills were amazing!

 The cabin was placed in one fell swoop, so to speak*wink*

 It only needed to be adjusted on one corner and just 1/2", which Mike and his crew did with the use of our old Farmall M tractor.

That's my Dh( Mike) on the tractor, it all went so well, they all were amazed and very happy to have it up and in place. Now the rest of the job can be completed. It will have a covered front porch area and the insulators and sheet rock contractors are due in later this week. The owner is very happy with the work being done. I'll get more pictures as they progress. BTW, this is just up the road from our farm, so it's nice to have Mike working so close, he can come home for lunch and is home by 5:30 pm :o)

I'll get more photos of our animals, hay crop and Cortney's surprise and post it maybe by the end of the week, keep checking back. :o)