Garden Variety, Take Two

 
As you may remember, last year, I entered into a joint venture with my sister and my friend Mary to grow vegetables in a large plot at Sarah's vineyard, Black Ankle.  (Mary has since started a website, The Abundant Backyard, about her adventures in her yard -- please check it out!)  Honestly, Mary and Sarah did most of the work, and somehow I got fresh vegetables delivered to my door on a regular basis.  Not a bad deal at all. 

I wasn't sure whether anyone would be game to do it again this year.  But, Monica, another high-powered friend, got the ball rolling and, we are at it again.  Monica, Sarah, and Mary have done a lot of work getting the plot ready and doing some initial planting.  I finally went up this past weekend to help out, too. 

We prepared another couple of rows by digging out weeds and adding compost.  The cows were initially quite proprietary about sharing the compost which, after all, they helped create.  But eventually they scattered and we helped ourselves.

 
We planted tomatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, but sadly, it seems like the cold this week killed off the tomatoes.  We now have asparagus, strawberries, lettuces, spinach, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, squash, carrots, corn, herbs, and more planted (what did I forget?).  Mary harvested some asparagus and cooked it up for us to have for lunch.  There really is something to eating such fresh produce.  Even the littlest farm hand agreed.
 

 
I have a few San Marzano tomato plants that we decided not to plant because they were too small yet.  These are my favorite sauce tomatoes and I ordered them online (from Sweet Corn Organic Nursery and Local Harvest) so I am glad that they were spared.  Now I just have to keep them alive inside until the danger of frost has passed and they are hearty enough to take the hot sun up there.  Monica ordered potatoes and they will go in this week or next.

 
This year we are trying to control the weeds a bit by lining the rows with burlap.  We have both black plastic burlap sheeting and conventional burlap, and we will see whether either of them helps.  I hope that I am able to find the time to get up there and work more often this year.  It was hard to imagine that I could have any other pressing concerns when I was standing in that garden seeing all of those sprouts pushing through, signs of so much potential.

I brought Buddy with me and he had a fantastic time running all over the place.  He ran into the cow pasture until they chased him off of their turf. Not before he rolled in a good bit of cow manure, though.  Then he ran through the vegetable garden until he charged over a tomato plant and we chased him off of our turf.  

Just when he seemed to have settled down, the real excitement began.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him take off like a shot behind the barn.  He soon returned and I was horrified to see that he was clutching one of Ed and Sarah's chickens in his mouth.  The chicken was floppy in his jaws and I was sure that he had killed her.  Sarah and I started screaming, and Sarah somehow got Buddy to drop the chicken, although I'm not sure how.  It's all a blur. 

Eventually, dog and chicken were separated and the chicken toddled off. He chased her one more time, we screamed again, and he dropped her again.  Somehow she survived.  She lost a lot of feathers, but within minutes smaller birds were swooping down to collect those feathers for their nests.

The jury is still out as to whether Buddy gets to go back to Black Ankle.  And whether I will get any eggs this year.

 

Comments

[eva]

I'm sorry, but I think it was funny 8-) Buddy is such a baby!....And you have to remember...that's his nature, but it seems he might just wanted to played since no harm was done to the chicken!!!

[Andrea]

Maybe you'll get the pre-scrambled eggs....

[Margy]

Eva, Yes, it was funny, but I was horrified that he might harm Sarah's chicken!

Andrea, maybe we can market the pre-scrambled egg as a convenience item.