"Help me, I'm stuck in the mud"

That was what Sam was hollaring on Friday when she spent the day with Nana.  It was a balmy 80 degrees in the greenhouse so I decided we could get started on the cleaning.  Sam was good for about 10 minutes.  (For those who know her, that was pretty good, huh)  then decided outside was the best place to be.  Did I mention she was wearing her Dora sparkley shoes.  Mom should know better than to send her to the farm with girly stuff on.  She took off for the swing set to slide and got stuck in the mud.  Who knew that mud was better than a playpen for corraling kids.  Just kidding, I got her unstuck and back in the greenhouse for 10 more minutes of cleaning and then to the house before I shot her.  She good as long as she is watching Dora, Wow, wow, woobsy, or Ruby and Max.  Mud or TV, take your pick as babysitter.

Got most of the greenhouse cleaned out today.  Plan to wash the windows and bleach everything this week.  Hope to get the heat regulated and plants into it by next Monday.  I am so ready for the farmers markets to begin. 
See ya on the farm
Charlotte

ARE THERE SICK DAYS ON THE FARM?

I think the ghost of the funeral home got me.  Just teasing but I did catch the flu in a bad way.  Probably won't be eating McDonald's anytime soon.  I"ll get the pictures posted as soon as I get to Walmart to get them on a disk.  My camera and computer are not compatible.  Who knows to check those things before you buy. 

Today is my Mom's 70 something birthday.  I know how old she is but I want to live a little longer so if you want to know you'll have to ask her yourself.  But guess what...she has the flu too.  We haven't seen each other in over a week so who knows where we got it.  Anyway,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANNY DEE

WE ALL LOVE YA

See ya on the farm

Charlotte

FUNERAL HOME? WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH A FARM

Yep

You heard me right.  We are looking at the old funeral home in Hymera today.

I'm a little nervous (frightened) to look through this building today.  The only other times I have been in it have been when I have gone to funerals of family and friends.  Now, I will see that stuff that have always been hidden.  I wonder how many ghosts are there?

This isn't just about satisfying a curiosity.  We are looking to see if the building is salvageable to make into a business.  Have you seen the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast?  Not quite that morbid, I hope.  But who knows?

I'll take pictures and try to post so you all can take a tour. 

There is a couple of other buildings there that have possibilities.  Let your mind run wild and see what we can come up with.

FARM UPDATES:

2nd transplating for sweet basil, italian basil and celebrity tomatoes.  1st transplant for cilantro, leeks and chives. All this happened yesterday. 

See ya on the farm

Charlotte

LEARN FROM THE MASTERS

Today I made a delivery run to Nesbitt Orchard in Vincennes, IN.  They started carrying PourAPie a couple of months ago and just through word of mouth, it has caught on in a big way.  Thanks Steve and Linda.

While I was there, I cornered poor Steve, a longtime fruit grower.  I think he is the 3rd generation at the orchard but I'm not positive.  I thought what better way to learn what I needed to know than from someone who has done this his whole life.  He was very gracious and slowly walked me through the entire process for peaches and apples.  You could tell his passion lies with peaches.  Knox County has sandy soil so the best peaches and watermelons are grown there.  Ever had a peach right off the tree or a melon warm from the field?  You can't beat the taste!

I learned things that I had only marginal knowledge about.  For instance:  did you know that peaches have to be thinned from the tree.  I knew you had to thin them if you wanted a strong tree and big, sweet peaches.  I did not know to the extent you had to thin.  One way Steve suggested was to take a toilet brush (new of course) and run it over the limbs while the tree is in bloom.  My first reaction was heart break.  Is there nothing more breath taking than peach blooms in the spring?  But I had to remind myself that I am in this for business and food, so I will toilet brush my peach trees 2 times each this spring.  If I shed a tear while doing it, only the bees and I will know.

But for now, weather permitting, I will be out trimming trees A LOT.  Apparently gentle hands with tree trimming is not what is needed.  I will hatchet these trees and see if I can get a crop this year or next. 

Moral to this story:::  Don't be afraid to ask for help.  People are more than willing to share their knowledge.  I think Steve enjoyed having an apprentice this afternoon. At least that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

See ya on the farm
Charlotte

TREASURE TOWNS

I saw this phrase recently in a magazine.  Don't you love it?  It was in an article about groups of people revitalizing their hometowns.  Trying to make the place they grew up in somewhere to be proud.  Wouldn't you love to be able to yell from the rooftops

I grew up in......(fill in the blank)

Take a stroll down Main Street in your hometown.  For most of us it is a little disappointing.  Old buildings we remember have been torn done or should be because of safety issues.  Destruction, mayhem and foolishness.  Where are we?  In the projects?  (No disrespect intended)  

I gre up in

HYMERA, INDIANA

This is a town like most small towns.  When I was a kid, there was a Old Soldiers Reunion in May (?).  A carnival would come to town and be put up in the grove behind the school building. ( This school building was supposed to have a ballroom in it on the 3rd floor that was off limits because the floor was falling in.  I was always too scared to sneak up there to see it, I sure wish I had.  It is gone now and a new school building is in its place. )  I can still see the bingo tent with the corn pieces for covering your numbers.  Kids weren't allowed to play because the prizes were just that.  A huge prize table sat in the middle of the tent and the winner chose from there.  I can still smell the fish from the fireman's tent that my Uncle Harry used to cook at each year.  My Grandma Carpenter would always wait for that fish sandwich.  And wait you did, there was always a long line to get your fish.

But the best part of all, the PARADE.  It seemed to last for hours and people threw lots of candy!!! 

The firetrucks, police trucks were so loud.  There were so many floats that it was hard to pick your favorite.  Kids decorated up their bikes and rode the route. Do kids even ride bikes anymore?  

Now it's your turn, tell me where your from and why it is a TREASURE TOWN

See ya on the farm

Charlotte 

PIE for your sweetie

Why think of chocolate and cake when it comes to Valentines Day?

THINK PIE

as in

POURAPIE

Check out our website at

http://www.appleseedfarm.com/

and suprise your sweetie

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

See ya on the farm

Charlotte

Just some fun

YOU KNOW YOUR A FARMGIRL WHEN...

Your water troughs are cleaner than your bathtub.

You get fencing and gates for Valentines Day

You get a chicken coop for a Christmas present and you love it

Your choice of transportation is the Farm Truck


Does any of this sound familiar?  I was thinking of something to post and this popped into my head.  All of it true.  My life - gotta love it.

We are in for a little more snow, so I thought I'd try and show a picture of last years greenhouse in mid April.  Keep dreaming of that warm weather.

Crowded but cool

See ya on the farm,

Charlotte

WINTER DAY ON THE FARM??

When the weather is cold and blustery, our water is out again, and something is invading the chicken coop; having its way with the chickens  (not in a good way),  living on the farm is still the best place to be in the whole world!

In the midst of the freezing, snowy weather yesterday, I was transplanting basil.  The seedling room smelled like the farmers market.  It was fabulous.  I  was in my T-shirt, singing to myself and in transplanting heaven.  What could be better?  Oh yeah, I could hear the drill and saw noise coming from the barn.  My Farm Man was building nesting boxes for my chickens.  That was pretty cool.  We are getting about 2 dozen eggs a day.  I have to meet up with my sister and give her about 20 dozen!!  Her kids love eggs and without a farmers market going right now, we surely have a surplus.

I am on the look out for a old farm sink.  One basin, high back, large area for draining.  Must be old but usable.  Let me know if you have one.

See ya on the farm
Charlotte

Super Bowl Frenzy

GO COLTS

Of course I am for the Colts.  I am from Indiana, afterall.

SEEDLING UPDATES

After having some trouble getting used to the new seedling room.  Heat adjustments and such, I am having much better luck with the seedlings.  I cooked the early tomato seedlings, so I am reseeding today for another round.  I have also lost about half of the basil.  Starting more of that today too.   Celebrity tomatoes, lavender eggplants, cilatro and 2nd round basil are looking good.  Also leeks, and daisys.  Today, I seeded basil, tomatoes, more cilantro, flat leaf parsley,black beauty eggplants, dill and hollyhocks.  The 2nd basil should be ready for transplanting on Tuesday.

We have more snow coming in tomorrow night.  I do love snow but it is getting a little old.  Doesn't make it easy to get all the barn chores done. I also have to get to the greenhouse.  It is still loaded down with stuff from last year.  We just sorta threw everything in there when we were done last year

I am itchin to get to plantin.  I have a copy of "The Victory Garden"  It is a great how to book and what to do each month.  I have great plans for extending the seasons this year.  That is goal number 1.  To up production in order to have enough to supply demand and put up for our winter use. 

We seem to be having our share of weird animal stories this winter.  Today, I went into the bathroom and found my cat nose to nose with a snake.  YES, A SNAKE.  It was a little one; about 7 inches long but it was a snake none the less, in the house.  My big brave man hit it with a shoe and flushed it.  Ticked the cat off.  I have no idea how that thing got into the house.  It is the second one this winter.  not good.

Back to the super bowl.  Also not looking good for the Colts.  Gotta go root them on.

See ya on the farm

Charlotte

Alert: Weather moving in

Bad weather moving in tonight. Rain, freezing rain, tons of snow. Winter is one of my favorite times of the year. Beautiful

Things are gearing up for the market season here. I have transplanted seedlings into the cell trays. Yesterday was 100 0r so Genovesie Basil; while today I did Jet Star tomatoes, leeks, and sweet basil. That should be it for a few days when more seedlings have developed their first set of true leaves. So for now, it is back to starting seeds and putting them in the seedling room to germinate. I'm thinkin' more tomatoes, classic eggplants, more herbs. Basically whatever strikes my fancy.

I finally got around to testing the blackberry rolls. I love, love, love the sweet bread that I use. It is easy to make and raises beautifully. I decided to try PourAPie (like you would use the cinnamon sugar for cinnamon rolls). This first try was not a home run but...with a little tweaking, I think we might have a new offering this summer at the farmers markets we go to. Farm fellar loved it but he is pretty easy to please. If it is homemade, he's happy!

Haven't heard from the economic guy since I sent the last e-mail. I have thought of a few more things that our farm business could use: a packing area for cleaning, sorting and packaging of the fresh picked produce and a walk in cooler/freezer. That would make life so much easier.

Met Sam, Jennifer and my Mom (Dee) at McDonalds today for a quick lunch. If you ever want to see a cranky princess, it was definitely Sam in her party dress. She was baaaad.

Gonna go watch Survivor preview. I'm so lame.
See ya on the farm
Charlotte

I'm not listening to that darned groundhog!!!

That darned groundhog saw his shadow today. I really like winter but am ready to gear up for the new market gardening season. I have been reading the Four Season book by Eliot Coleman and have been so inspired. My husband built a seedling room for me in the barn. It used to be the horse barn but we finally got rid of all those wonderful gentle giants and have the chickens housed in there now. Anyway, I have basil, tomatoes, tarragon, chives, leeks, and daisy up and doing well. In fact the tomatoes and the basil will receive their first transplantings today since they have their first set of true leaves. I bought a bender for bending electrical tubing to make small hoop houses and hope to get some of these plants out in the garden (I have some raised beds) by the middle of March. This will be an experiment. Keep you updated.

Our next show is coming up in March and we want to be able to offer some plants for sale there. So I really have to get busy planting and nurturing these little babies along. This show is the Master Gardeners in Terre Haute, IN. It is March 13.

I went out to feed the chicks yesterday. Nothing unusual. They were sqwaking worse than normal but I was a little later than ususal. I started pouring the feed into the trough and saw somthing white with a long tail in the coop. NO, it was not a skunk. (Thank God) A possum had burrowed under the door and was in the coop. Of course, we had no eggs left in the coop but all chickens were acounted for. My farm guy kindly disposed of the possum for me and life got back to normal. You know your a farmgirl when all you do is just close the door and go get a shovel to hit it with. No screaming involved this time.

I got a response from the economic development center man last week. He requested that I set goals and priorities for Appleseed Farm. That was hard for me. Our big goal most of the time is increased revenue in order to stay in business. But I needed to set goals as to how to accomplish that. If you have never done that in your life, it is time to start. I responded with a marketing plan and implementation. Then work on increasing production. Let's see where this goes.

The shop is about 50% back to normal after it was crashed into. The kid got into trouble with the lawman. But I have forgiven if not forgotten. It is hard to forget whenever I see that shop back in drywall and a mess. We are unable to work there now and have to rent a place until it is totally repaired. The poor kid has to do most of the repair work himself (His dad is showing him how) and pay for the repairs, rent of the temp site and the heating bill out of his savings. I feel a little bad for him but lessons must be learned.

I have to get back to the taxes. I am almost done and will have them to the tax preparer today or tomorrow. Glad to get that off my back. One of my new goals is to do this monthly and not have to spend hours going over it in Jan and Feb.

Now tell me what you are up too. It is cold so I want to hear all about you hibernation projects.
See ya on the farm
Charlotte