Somewhere, There Are Berries

Sometime in September 2012, I pulled my back out. I won't go into detail here, but just know that that injury was the final straw in deciding that row crops (growing vegetables in a row, you know - 'farm-style') was something I could no longer do. It's been a long adjustment in my brain to finally be comfortable with that statement.

From September 2012 until just recently, I did not go into the field or our orchard. There are other things we did and continue to do - chickens, eggs, re-defining and planning our next farming phase, but row crops? No more. I did do a tad of tree pruning in February, but that was about it. And even though we have had very little rain here over that time, we have had enough for the weeds and grasses to grow.

So now, I SLOWLY begin the arduous task of separating weeds from berry bushes and getting these poor things back to being loved and not neglected. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Hope

Yes, we've had very little rain.

Almonds

 And rain at all the wrong times.

Apricots

 I was concerned that we would have no fruit in the orchard as the rains always came when the trees were in bloom.

Quince Blossom

But just look! Awesome. 

Little Fuzzy Baby Quince

I think you have to have eternal hope to be a farmer. Hope and a ton of hard work.

The Orchard

This year I decided to take advantage of the extra space in the orchard. The trees are still small (but oh SO much bigger than last year!) so they don't cause too much shade. It's fenced, so that makes it deer proof. NOT gopher proof, but that's a different story. I had The Lovey till down the center of the orchard. We won't be able farm this for too much longer, maybe one more season. The trees are young, so this did not affect the tree roots.

Then I planted winter squash and pumpkins down the center of the patch. To give you perspective, the center patch is 165 feet long. To the north of the mounds, I planted a line of shelling beans. All different varieties of shelling beans.

Mounds for winter squash and pumpkins amended with compost

The squash last year took over the field, so I thought they needed a place of their own. I won't need to get to the beans until harvest time - when the plants are brown and crunchy. So, I've made my own pumpkin patch. I'm not sure how well it will work, but I've got to give it a try, right?

And - here is a little peek into what's growing on our little 2 year old trees.

NectaPlum!

My very dark red apple

Quince. Look at this fuzzy little fruit to accompany the fuzzy leaves!

New Cameras

Peaches

The Lovey and I, we celebrate everything. A trip to the grocery store is a grocery-store-date. Taking the dogs to the beach is a beach-date. Watching a movie at home, a movie-date. You get the idea... we try to celebrate everything. It makes me grateful every day instead of waiting for the 'biggies' like Thanksgiving or a birthday to remember or show others that we love them.

We also celebrate every day that is noteworthy. The day we first met, the day we moved to Seven Cats Farm, our wedding anniversaries. Yes, that's right. TWO wedding dates. One is our Justice of the Peace (JoP) wedding, the other is the day we celebrated with our friends. I think both of us think of our July wedding as the 'real one' although the State of California would tell you that May 1st is the official one.

Boysenberry blossom

We celebrated our fifth JoP anniversary with a photo date. We went to the orchard (shoulder-high in weeds, I am sorry to say) with new cameras to take pictures and try these babies out. David got a newly refurbed Fuji and I got a Mirco Four-Thirds camera.

Quince, with it's fuzzy leaves

The result? I like David's camera better, so the Micro 4/3's is going back. It took good photos, but I feel like a fish out of water using it. I'd rather not think about taking photos so much and just take them. I like simple, not sophisticated. This is probably the opposite of what most people want. Oh well.

Me, the theif

As for David, I'm stealing his camera. He's getting another one. Ha!

Apple blossoms