Retirement helps a lot

 

A lovely shipment of bareroot persimmons, two goumis, and two aronias from Hidden Springs Nursery, Cookeville, TN. These people are highly recommended. Risa was, briefly, a member of their extended family and farm, when it was in Georgia, some thirty-five years ago, so she should know. They have done a lot for edible landscapes and native species. As they did not have the kiwis we were looking for, we agreed they could surprise us and now we expect to learn all about goumis and aronias. 

Hopes for 2010 at Stony Run 

Currently we have in flats in the house: Amish paste tomatoes, diamond eggplants, Aunt Ruby Green tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, celery, California Wonder bell peppers, Stupice tomatoes, Rutgers tomatoes, Pingtung Long eggplants, Bulgarian Carrot peppers, Beefsteak tomatoes. In flats in the potting shed: red cabbage, white cabbage, collards, cauliflower, spinach, Red Russian kale, 2 kinds of lettuce, chard, beets, Joi Choi bok choi, parsnips and leeks. 

In grow tunnel: onions, walking onions, dandelion, yellow peas, elephant garlic, favas. Oh, and kale. Always some kale around here. The herb beds are pretty quiet right now ... some rosemary, chives, lavendar and mint mostly. 

In garden: favas coming up; as usual there's lots of rhubarb, elephant garlic, garlic, walking onions, Jerusalem artichoke. 8 new blueberries, 2 early and 2 late, and three kinds of grapes. Corn, beans, basil, tomatillos, pumpkins, squash, peas and the like are waiting in their packets, and sprouty potatoes in their sacks. 

In orchard/poultry zone: one pie cherry, one van cherry, 2 bing cherries, 2 Black Tartarian cherries. Apples: one each Gravenstein, Granny Smith, Cortland, Honeycrisp, Egremont Russet. Pears: 2 Bosc, 2 Anjou, 3 Bartlett. Plums: 1 Santa Rosa, 1 damson, 1 Satsuma, 1 Superior, 2 prunes. 4 nectarines of 2 kinds and 2 Elberta peaches. 4 pineapple quince. 2 figs (which may have died this winter). 1 filbert. 

Came in the mail today: 2 persimmons, two Goumis and an Aronia. Still on order: 6 Cascadian hop vines. Looking for three hardy kiwis. 

Under the trees, on grass: 7 Rhode Island Red hens with rooster, 8 Americauna chicks, 5 Ancona ducks, 6 Khaki Campbells, and a pair of White China geese. Current project, rehabbing the "barley field" across the creek. Can't grow anything there right now as it is a highway for deer... 

Be it noted we are not regarded by any jurisdiction as a farm.

Don't go thinking Risa does nothing but work all day; she has chronic lumbar disc trouble from her forestry days and also faces occasional bouts of debilitating depression, both of which make a day in a bathrobe an attractive proposition! Especially with chocolate. 

Fortunately she's learned to go back to bed and read, knowing she'll be up for a project around ten a.m. or so if she allows herself the downtime first. You can get a lot done even if you are a lazy or timid person or deal with some disabilities (or all three as in the present instance), simply by finding out what your rhythms are and adjusting to them -- not so much an option for the eight-to-five set. This was a problem for Risa for many years, but retirement helps a lot!
 

One of the most fundamental facts of country life is that one is always learning. -- Sherry Thomas and Jeanne Tetrealt, Country Women: A Handbook for the New Farmer