Busy

There's so more succinct way to describe our life right now. Running the farm with a 3 year old and 2 month old (and no daycare anymore) is just a recipe for running in too many directions at once. Overall, it's going as well as (or better than) I expected. Life has been helped immensely by improvement in the weather. It still rains frequently, but not with the extremes of June and early July. I believe we ended up with 14.4 inches of rain in just over 6 weeks. Over the last few weeks we've had a window of better weather that has let us be in the garden more. Some areas we just tilled under and started over. Those that we didn't, we're trying to catch up on weeding. The garden is looking surprisingly good, especially if you don't know that a large area that was supposed to be our corn patch looks like lawn since we mowed down the weeds!

Samuel is growing exponentially, it seems, and is 2 months old tomorrow. He has recently started sleeping through the night. He had been on a 11-1-3-5am wake-up routine which got tiresome quickly. So we decided that Ben would take Samuel down to my aunt and uncle's house, which was conveniently vacant during their vacation. We'd feed him at his first wake-up, and then let him get himself through the rest. We expected major crying with this plan, but he must have known the jig was up, and he started sleeping from 6:30pm to about 5am. Hurray!

Abrahm continues his fascination with all things mechanical. Recently he told me, while pointing to various parts of the engine of a scale-model tractor, that "there are connections between gas tank and the throttle, and between the gas tank and the engine." How does he put this stuff together? He spends hours each day playing with his fleet of machinery (one set for inside, another for outside). Those machines that he doesn't actually have, he imagines. So you might hear him narrating a building project with references to his Hitachi excavator, Caterpillar dozer, Komatsu excavator, Yanmar excavator, and Caterpillar excavator. Though he might have bought or sold more by now.

I'll let the photos say the rest. One of these days I need to do a photo retrospective too, to capture the months that elapsed when we fell off the blog wagon.

Leslie

Will the rain stop?

We're now up to 11.6 inches of rain in 18 days. There's no way to capture in photos the extent of sogginess in the garden (or anywhere else, for that matter). The crops that were well established by the time the rain started seem to be okay, but all the later plantings are gone. We're not quite sure how we'll fill our CSA members' weekly shares.

We've invested in a tiller, with the assumption that at some point (maybe next year) it will be dry enough to actually get it in the field. The photo comparison shows our BCS tiller next to a fairly standard-sized tiller that we had borrowed before we found the BCS. Despite its size, it's very maneuverable, and it can take other attachments.

Abrahm has been perusing heavy machinery brochures, perhaps in hopes of finding us something with which to establish better drainage in the garden. (See photo...)

The boys are both sleeping, and I probably should too.

Toad Drowner

I must give credit to Ivan Doig for that description of a rainy spell, but it was too perfect to pass up as the summary of our last few weeks. I think we've topped 6 inches of rain in the last 2 weeks. We're getting a bit water-weary, and each time it starts to rain again, Abrahm asks, "Why is it raining again?....Eventually, it will stop raining!" And we think, again and again, "I don't know why it's still raining, and I'm glad you continue to be optimistic that it will stop." Perhaps our next building project should be an ark, rather than garden shed, pig house, greenhouse, or any of the other of the current short-list of projects we're contemplating.

Vegetable shares have been beautiful and bountiful, despite the rain. All the leafy greens are enjoying this cool wet weather, and we have collard greens big enough to use as umbrellas. If only there were a way to weed without actually having to set foot in the garden. We're hoping that it dries soon enough that the roots and fruits aren't stunted or rotted.

In non-vegetable news, Samuel weighed in at 11lb, 9 oz today, and has gained more than 1 lb/week these last few weeks. He's quickly losing the brand-new newborn look. Abrahm continues to thrive as big brother. He is starting to take on the big-brother-as-entertainer role. He helps with harvest days, albeit with decidedly Abrahm-devised methods (eg harvesting the radishes with his backhoe). He went strawberry picking with Grandma and Paka today, and managed to get at least a few berries into the boxes instead of his belly.

That's it for now, as I should go take a walk (or mudslide) through the garden to see how things are faring.

Leslie

Back home

Back from where, you might be asking? The hospital, again. One week after we came home after Samuel's birth, I ended up back in the hospital for three days with a nasty bout of mastitis. Once again, we were thankful that Arlene willingly and capably held home and farm together in our absence. We are happy to be home together again. I am slowly regaining my strength, and trying to find ways to be useful without exerting myself too much.

This week is our first week of vegetable shares for our CSA shareholders. Ben, Arlene, and Abrahm harvested and packed shares this morning despite more than 2.5 inches of rain in the last couple days. We're ready for some warm dry weather. It doesn't seem quite right to be using the woodstove in mid-June!

brothers

Hello,

We started this post a few days back, and the photos disappeared. Somehow between Samuel feedings, a planting marathon in the garden, and a somewhat needier big brother, we've not gotten back to it until now. The photo of Abrahm on the loader is documentation of the very real need for special time dedicated to big brother. Ben had a skid steer part to pick up at the dealer, and he and Abrahm checked out (and climbed on) every piece of equipment possible!

The summary of life right now, as quoted to me by my Aunt Tini: "The days are long and the years are short." I might amend that to include, "the nights are even longer", as Samuel sleeps better during the day than at night. Nonetheless, we're doing okay, and are continually thankful for Ben's mom being here for help with children, cooking, and garden. Thank you Arlene!

That's it for now...
Leslie

A new addition to Counterpoint Farm

We welcome the newest addition to Counterpoint Farm:
Samuel David Bardo Geissinger
born May 28, weighing 8lb 13oz, 21.5"

Workin' away

Well lots has happened since the last post. We're making progress on the shed which now has power and the shop has walls with insulation. Having never run power underground or installed a service panel before made the last while quite interesting and a bit stressful at times, that part is behind me and now I just have a few outlets to install and I'll be done with the wiring for now.
It's been busy around here as usual trying to get the shed done enough to leave for Minnesota. Which is only about a week away now! Hooray!! We are all ready have a vacation. Abrahm is looking forward to meeting his new cousin, as are we, and Leslie and I are looking forward to some down time. We'll be driving out this time in hopes of saving money as well as avoiding air travel around the holidays. We'll be gone for about 3 weeks and look forward to seeing many friends and family there again.
I don't have any photos of the shed progress at this point so I'll keep it short and try to get some more here in the next few days.