I actually followed through and snapped a bunch of photos around the farm:
The farm store is the gray building there in the middle. Took this photo back a bit from the steep hill-edge so the perspective is a bit bizarre. I'm standing by a row of gooseberries in the fore-ground center-- you can see the end of a raspberry row off on the right. The far edge of the barn's second story is there on the right. The white blob-mound to the left are a couple palates worth of fertilizer we had delivered yesterday afternoon. The hill top behind the store is where the peach orchard is located.
Here's the view from directly behind the farm store. In the summer we roll up a bunch of wagons to the concrete pavilion and load them up with produce for CSA members. There's the main greenhouse and the old tractor on the left. Behind the greenhouse is a sharp dip in the hill leading to a horse field and the big pond. Maybe you can make it out through the fuzzy, but the dirt road on the right leads through the trees up to the orchard and hilltop fields.
Here's the view from the greenhouse door. You can see the irrigation pipes and folded covers back against the wall we use for frost protection. Far left row are the cherry and plum tomatoes; next row to its right are the peppers (all varieties); then come the bok choi, cauliflower, broccoli and swiss chard in the next row; rows to the right side are a hodge podge of trial tomato varieties, tons of eggplant varieties and a horde of basil plants. In the foreground on the right is the stupid miracle grow attachment I watered the lawn with yesterday in the pouring rain.
Here's another angle on the farm store's rear and the main greenhouse. The bare dirt is made up into a big garden each year so folks walking around have something to look at. Last year we planted a bunch of super sized pumpkins, for the kids.
Standing in the same place as the last photo, just turn right and here's the pond! Through the fuzz you can see the water pump and irrigation pipes-- and my 40ft pipe half sunk into the water (the keg is sorta bobbing along out in the pond middle). The hutch on the other shore is for the horses- we'll get to them, but first:
My beloved pipe. You can see the pump up on the blocks, just like I said. The tractor backs right up against it and spins her into life. There's the keg afloat- clear as day. Of course. Only the fully painted end of the pipe is out of the water- it figures. All the same, what a gorgeous pipe.
Ran up the road to the hill top, here's a shot of what you see. There's the store and greenhouse, to their right are still unplanted fields, but across the street we have fields with stuff happening- get to that later. Through the trees on the left you can kinda see the barn. This is right at the edge of the orchard, where we planted the 40 new trees earlier this year.
Row of 5 year old Peach trees, look at all those buds! As you might guess these guys have not been picked over yet. The orchard is at a hard slope to photograph fully/ still pretty young, so it's not very impressive.
This is a peach tree, not even a year old-- almost just a stick in the ground. Two rows of these guys go across the hill. The plants are just starting to root in and get comfortable.
This is one of the 5 year trees I plucked, now its next to naked. How embarrassing.
Just a few steps down the hill I found the horses grazing in this side paddock. These are the two tannish long haired mares. You can see the barn and greenhouse there through the trees.
Abutting the orchard is this field of raspberries. Bah and I finished weeding these the other day. I miss-spoke in an earlier post-- you don't cut down raspberries every year but ever other, 2nd year growth produces the berries. So these fellows will have to wait until next season. If you look hard you can see more unplanted fields behind the trees there in the back.
Panorama time(left) , these are the hill top fields. When my buddy came up to work a week back in early spring we spent some quality time lighting fires in the pouring rain around here.
Panorama time (center), these are 5 rows of the strawberries we planted last fall. Bah did a good job adjusting the hay. They're getting pretty bulky with all this sun/rain. Unconnected irrigation pipe is just lying in the sun-- the foreman and I connected it all later after I took the picture. (Angry clouds coming in from the west)
Panorama time (right), there are the strawberries again for reference. Last year the fields in the other hill top photos were planted with fall tomatoes, potatoes and tons of sweet and grain corns. The fields in this picture had more corn, eggplants galore, some winter squash and pumpkins. Far, far down there is a dip to the hill-- along the tree line though are more berry fields.
Walking to that far, far side down the dip-- turned to the right here is the raspberry field I weeded the other day.
Follow the raspberry row and you're back toward the start. Here's a good shot of the main farmhouse where the Boss's brother lives and the barn. If you have hawk eyes (or zoom in) you can see the two white mares against the stone wall to the left. Years ago the town chopped the farm in half, building that main road down the middle. On the left side of the road are the cow pastures, forest, more berry fields and the beehives -- sorry, no pictures of all that today.
Up close and personal with a row of blackberry bushes.
Across from the farm store are... more fields! (another road sort of double cuts the farm again)
Here on the left in the last picture are the 3000 plastic wrapped day neutral strawberries we planted a few weeks ago. You can see the irrigation line coming off the artery leading to the drip lines. Bah and I laid out a more serious line of water guns that cover the whole area later today. Up on the slight hill are row upon row of blueberry bushes, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, herbs (sage and thyme) and what used to be garlic rows.
Next to the strawberries you can see the 12 rows of snap peas, faba beans, spinach and kale coming out in tidy green rows.
These are the 5 double rows of strawberries in the lower fields-- right next to the spinach and kale rows. This was the scene of many tense afternoons between the boss and foreman. (Kudos again to Bah's excellent hay placement)
All the way down the field, we have another couple rows of raspberries in full production growth. The tall-high-school-guy and I pruned back these rows (with some serious time from Bah too). On the left are empty rows-- we planted cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower there last year. but if you turn around...
It's the boss's house. When he built the house it was one of the first modern residential green-underground houses in the country. Behind the tree, if you look close, is the secondary greenhouse-- where all the big tomatoes are getting ready for the field under the boss's close watch. Again, if you look close, underneath the house's top four windows is a little white structure. That's the boss's house-attached-greenhouse where we started the tomatoes germinating in March. It's perfect for winter growing as the southern dip of the sun sends light right through and into the building-- cutting down on heating costs and kicking off plant growth.
So that's the farm! Now
A brief history of today (very brief):
Finished plucking blossoms in the orchard. Connected up the hill top irrigation. Laid down new irrigation in lower fields with Bah (then connected in with the foreman). Weeded raspberry rows on other side of blueberry bushes with Bah-- Bah found a snake and let it go free. He found it again and bashed its head in with a hoe. Wind picked up in great gusts, almost knocking us over-- it started to hail. Is there a snake god?
And that's all for today folks.
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