Blueberries for The Farmer

Do you remember the book Blueberries for Sal? It's one of the classics, and as a librarian's daughter it was a must-read in my family. While set in Maine, the book reminds me of the Pacific Northwest in the summer...also known as berry season. I don't think I truly realized how much berries were a PNW "thing" until I moved out of the area.

But while berries are a mainstay around here, most people rely on the farmers to grow them. Sans blackberries - which are wild - I suspect more buy their berries at the local grocery store or roadside stand. Growing up we had times with strawberries and raspberries in our front yard, but most of the time fresh berries meant pulling over to the side of the road and buying a cute little basket of juicy deliciousness.

When we bought the Jungle House we knew we had some fruit trees and grape vines in the yard.

March 2012

We had no clue what fruit the trees would bear or even if they were viable. After being uninhabited for close to two years, and being a rental for three years before then we knew a bit of TLC was in order.

Of course, part of the definition of "TLC" was completely ripping out the grape vines last spring.

April 2012

They took over part of the front lawn and lined the driveway. We weren't exactly sure if the driveway fence was holding up the vines, or vice versa.

In either case, they had to go...

But did you notice those bushes at the end of the driveway fence?

Yeah, we missed them at first too.

April 2013

But when you took away the fence they made their presence known. One of our neighbors, a Master Gardener, told us they were blueberries and gave us some fertilizer to hopefully revitalize them.

Honestly, we had little hope for their survival, let alone fruit-bearing. 

But guess what we have lining our driveway this year?

An abundance of berries!

They obviously are still quite green but a few have started to turn shades of purple. The Farmer is dreaming of blueberry pancakes.

Unfortunately not all the bushes made it...

But one bush out of a dozen ain't bad odds!

Now if we can just keep the birds out of them we'll invite you over for blueberry pancakes.

Bear Sightings

The news affiliates have been reporting bear sightings in and around the city during the past few weeks. While disturbing, I didn't worry much; we don't have many bears on the island. The bears would have to cross the river, so the chances of them making it all the way to the Farm undetected is slim.

I spoke too soon.

A few days ago I discovered a bear of our own on my very own back porch.

Do you see it?

 It must have escaped during our White Dress Party (part 2).

Yeah, I wouldn't have wanted to be eaten either.

Tarping Silage (or What All Those Tires are Used For in Barnyards)

Silage season at The Farm is (almost) over!

The grass is in from the fields.
The machinery is being washed as I type.
The silo is partially tarped.



It's a good day around here. The Farmer even got to come in for lunch. Yes, he sat at the table and everything. And as a bonus...he got to take a nap. Naps are critical when you wake up at 3:30am EVERY DAY and during the three weeks of silage they go by the wayside. Needless to say, I have a comatose Farmer most every evening.

And in case you were worried, don't fret about our picnic lunches...they will resume once haying season begins.

In about a week.
(It never ends around here.)

In that week, though, we are going on a road trip! Woo hoo! More on that later...



On Wednesday The Farmer and SV, our neighbor-turned-frequent-farm-help, tarped the back (or is it the front?) of the silo. Besides being asked to "help" this year (more on that below) I hadn't really seen the silo being tarped, so the afternoon was fascinating to watch. Usually I just think of silage tarping day as "stinky day" because, yes, it stinks.


This is the silo. It is about three-quarters full.

The point of a silo is to compress all the grass to create "sauerkraut for cows".

They love sauerkraut.

So the sides are slanted, the grass is packed in tight, and there is a tarp that is hung on the back wall and comes over the top to seal in the silage so it can ferment. Fermenting = stinky.

To give some perspective on how big this silo is, check us out:

That's me, The Farmer, and SV. And the tractors.

Before we got started The Farmer had to unload the latest load from the field.

I'm sure he is annoyed all all the photo-taking at this point.

Or at least all the photo-taking of him.

But he's kinda cute. I like taking photos of him.

At the ready are the two trusty tractors which will compact the silage into the silo.

After the load is emptied, the wagon looks kinda cool on the inside.

The ladder-looking mechanism in the bottom of the wagon runs on a belt which pushes the silage out the back.

After the load is deposited at the silo it gets pushed and compacted up into the silo.

This tractor is the better "pusher"; the other one is the better "compactor". Hence, we have two. (The pusher tractor is actually rented from a neighbor.)

While the pushing/compacting is taking place the Farmer changes into rain gear. 

He's gonna get wet.

And stinky.

Now for those tires...

Ever wonder why farms have stacks of them lying around?

They get stacked in the silo over the silage to hold things in place and get that fermentation process started. (Aren't you glad that mystery is solved?)

The Farmer and SV begin stacking the tires onto the pallet.

And my job?

I'm driving the SkidSteer!

But really my job is to not drop SV.

See that door up at the top of the silo? Yeah...we have to get the tires up there.

Don't worry...I am not taking these photos.

It is not safe to operate the SkidSteer and take photos.

Besides, the photos are not that interesting. 

The view "up" at SV unloading.

The view straight ahead while the boom is hoisted in the air.

Oh. Whoops. I guess I'm taking photos while operating the SkidSteer.

After SV was safely on the ground (He actually hoisted himself up into the silo through the door, because, well, wouldn't you want to do that?) I went up into the silo to help take more photos. 

The view from inside is kinda cool!

And look! The tires!

I threatened to take a video at this point because The Farmer and SV were doing a dance of sorts. The compacting-down-the-silage-with-your-feet dance.

They make a cute dance couple.

After showing off their dance moves they pulled the tarp down over the next section of silage.

They then had to dig out the edges of the silo to tuck the tarp down the side. 

Read...stinky part of the job. 

The tarp has to be tight to get those fermenting juices flowing.

They then rolled the tarp back up - about half-way to the tires - and completed the tarping of the back (or front?) of the silo. 

The front (or is it back?) of the silo will get tarped tomorrow and with that...

SILAGE. SEASON. IS. DONE.

Let the celebration begin!

I'm gonna make The Farmer take a long shower first.