If nothing else lately, Nature continues to smack down our Hubris......no not a kind of plant, silly....Hubris by definition in Greek Tragedy is  excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.  In our case thinking we can beat the odds with Mother Nature, or even more so continuing our plan to get these seeded annuals in the ground.

The new perennials and woodies are in....yahooo!

 Now we have flats of annuals ready to go....or so we thought. Most days sticking to the grand plan works, sort of, until we have to shift course because of the weather. Luckily we didn't get these babies in the ground before that last frost, and we aren't quite so sure there isn't another frost around the corner. It's happened before with this type of cycle, but hopefully we are wrong. So it's up to us to make it happen, get those tender little starts in, tuck them in mulch and cover them for protection against this now windy onslaught and hope Mother nature doesn't smack us upside the head.

Kay so.......we:

Planted 150 more Dahlia tubers, 500 more Gladiolas (1500 to go!), cut back the rest of the Hydrangeas, tested the wet fields for planting annuals, put out slug bait (fierce slug population this year), and managed to attend to other household items. It may not seem like much (and at times it doesn't to us either), however when you have 2 acres of flowers to grow every little victory helps.

The good news is there appears to be a reduction in the cut worm numbers this year. Digging the holes for tubers and corms, we found maybe two grubs.......hmmmmm. Lots of small grey/black spiders everywhere and tons of beautiful snakes. It's early, but it makes me think the predators might be up in numbers this year from the high cycle of pests last year and our careful use of natural pesticides. Hopefully once our internet is fully functioning I can start to post pics of bugs.

So....notice a little lag in blogging did ya?  Yes, there was some procrastination on my part, HOWEVER I truely cannot be held responsible for the entire black hole. One would think in this quickly moving technological society that everyone should be able to connect to the great streaming magic bandwidth in the sky.....apparently not. Actually, right now I am attempting to type as fast as I can before this window of internet connectivity disappears into the ether.

 My attempt at blogging in November/December failed because our internet provider was having tower "issues". Dialup was not an option because we have no landline. This problem has been an ongoing issue, as connection is sporadic at best. We have to be patient and hope this will be worked out soon....as our provider has promised. There are no other options for other providers where we are located.

On top of this our laptop blew a Motherboard in February....it is still not fixed. Our new laptop is functioning beautifully but, yes, now we have connection problems. So I will be diligent in getting some postings online, when I can get online. I may have to go to the library, if this sillyness continues.....but with the price of gas escalating it will be when I HAVE to drive somewhere.

Enough about that irritating rendition of a sob story eh?  The weather has taken a turn for Spring, and we are transfering plants to the greenhouse this week! More seeds are starting and our tulips are pushing their rosy leaves through the soil. The Sandhill Cranes are back and today, Saturday, Geese flew over the fields. Every year I am always amazed how life tranforms virtually over night and I can't wait to get my hands into the soil and feel the pulse of the earth.

Right now I am going to finish cleaning up the greenhouse for the new kids and cross my fingers that while I was posting my connection didn't dissolve......technology is great, but Nature never loses it's connection, or it's ability to complete timeless cycles. Here's hoping.......

Gadzooks!  What the heck happened? It is now two days to November and the short term fact is December is biting on our heels. Attempting to write about the nuances of farm life so far is going to be the biggest challenge. Just when I believe I have a moment to write or journal, some other factor interrups the thought process and well......there it is. A huge gaping hole of nothing on the website.

We have made progress here. New beds made for the coming year, success in planting bulbs for the spring.  Photos taken and not posted. Some acomplishments are still in progress....first hard frost so we can lift the dahlia tubers, digging gladiola corms, not to mention cleaning beds of spent foliage.

Many folks say...Oh now you must be slowing down...on the contrary....evergreens must be cut to make wreaths, swags & arches. Perennials put to bed, annuals pulled. The best result of this whole new experience this year is the process of learning, period. And we Thank our loyal customers for being there for us.

Once you stop it’s difficult to start up again. So here we are trying to get back on track.

It hasn’t been for lack of thinking about what to write, it’s been an interesting summer. It is more the lack of time, energy & all those little fires that need to be put out....now. If you grow or raise anything on a larger scale with only two people you will know exactly what I mean. However, the lack of blogging leaves a large gap of history & memories about the adventure of starting this enterprise; the heat, the weeds, hosting a very special guest from Japan, the rain, and oh yes, did I mention the heat & the weeds? 

Heat, rain & weeds aside, we were very fortunate to host a sister city delegate from Higashiomi Japan for ten days. Lucky for us he had previously spent time in New Zealand and had very good command of the English language. Meeting other host families/delegates and being a part of the larger picture of International Friendship was a very enlightening & enriching experience for us. Our delegate grows strawberries in high tunnels in Japan, so Dan made sure he had a great agricultural experience traveling to many farms in the area and taking advantage of the Marquette Food Co-op’s Farm Tour. The Marquette Sister City Delegation also sponsered a Farm Day and took all the delegates from Japan on a series of farm tours in the area. It was with much surprise and humility that when the delegates were getting ready to leave, the Delegation Leader in his goodbye speech emphasized that they were most impressed by the farms in the area. He said “ A community is sustainable only if the community's farms are sustainable”.  Enough said :-).

Even though the Marquette Market,(silly isn't it?), has been open since May 22nd, the big kick off starts this weekend June 26th at the Commons area in Marquette. There will be plenty to see, do, and purchase! The Market has grown considerably this year with many new additions, so if you haven't been down to the Commons yet on Market Day stop by this Saturday to experience the local color & entertainment that will be provided by various groups.

 The Smiling Dog will be participating in The Marquette Food CO-OP's  farm tour this year, Sunday July 11th 2010 from 1-5pm. Be sure to visit the CO-OP website www.marquettefood.coop to find out more information about all of their upcoming events as well as the listing of all the farms and tour dates. We are looking forward to being on the tour and hope to see you there!

This is who I first saw this morning walking to the mailbox. I could see her from the driveway she was shinning so pale and bright. My first thought was the colour reminded me of a dull summer moon right before a night rain. Flower Spider, Misumena vatia, beautiful and shy.

This little guy, a jumping spider in the Salticidae Family,was chillin on the Tree Peonies. You gotta love the good guys.

The last couple of smokin hot days here, with several more days to follow, reminded me of Noel Cowards song:

   Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
The Japanese don't care to, the Chinese wouldn't dare to,
Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one,
But Englishmen detest a siesta,
In the Philippines there are lovely screens,
     to protect you from the glare,
In the Malay states there are hats like plates,
     which the Britishers won't wear,
At twelve noon the natives swoon, and
     no further work is done -
But Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

We started picking rocks early in the morning to clean up one of the fields for tilling, (the rocks procreate over winter under the snow along with the weeds), and by 10:30AM the sweat was really pouring down our backs. No rain for weeks, hot dusty soil, totally way too hot for humans to be out. The lack of rain and the early heat is not helping anyone or anything. This is the frustrating part of farming. No matter how much you try to prepare for the unexpected, you never really know what Mother Nature is going to hand you. Like the recent bloom of aphids....or the attack on my sunflower seedlings in the greenhouse by an unscrupulous ravenous chipmunk.

This is a photo taken of one of my favorite hostas the other morning with a Geometrid Moth resting on one of the unfurled leaves......with any luck it wasn't laying eggs.  The bug population has exploded expodentially with the heat and very early spring/summer. It is going to be a challenging year, luckily we are not faint of heart. So like Mad Dogs and Englishmen we go out in the midday sun.

 Corny, yes, and you will find we have a repertory of corny, word twisting sayings and we use them unabashedly.  Now that’s out of the way, lets move on to what is growing on around here.

The temps had been on the warmish side for the month of April with dips down into the 20’s (F) overnight.  Our new crops of perennials for cuts in the greenhouse are doing nicely. The seedlings of zinnias, snaps, and others are about ready to be moved up to larger pots. All of the perennials planted last year are doing beautifully, up much earlier than anticipated due to the El Nino effects this spring. The warm spring has tempted people to plant their annuals outside early; we however are waiting until after the last full moon of May which is on the 27^th.  New transplants do not fare well in hard frosts, let alone some of the harsh winds that occur here in Marquette County during our spring thaw. Our plans for installing a large high tunnel next year with double poly will help us bring some varieties to Market earlier and help protect other crops from winds.  Spring can be a number of things here, however the one constant is it is always unstable.

On the infrastructure front, the smaller greenhouse has been re-skinned, and this time we incorporated roll up sides (wooo hooo!) and also installed a small wood stove for those frosty nights and days that occasionally still receive blowing snow & very cold temps (double wooo hooo!).  For example: May 8^th had 18mph winds with snow. The temperature the morning was around 32F, but that’s because of cloud cover. The next night was clear and the thermometer read 23 in the morning, along with a half of an inch of ice in Hank and Daisy’s outside water bowl.  The larger greenhouse will be going up soon to accommodate our vegetable garden and other seedlings. We are quickly running out of room!

Two new fields have been plowed and disked, with compost added waiting to be planted with new perennials. The beds and fields have been cleaned and weed patrol is underway. Our largest field which will hold our annuals is now planted with a cover crop of rye. The first succession of bulbs have also been tucked in their corner of the world that is designated to them this year.. We are now starting our next wave of annual seeds as well.  It’s been a good busy start, but just the tip of the iceberg. More beds, more planting to follow. As our plants start blooming and crop becomes available we will enter them in the product graph and begin building our varieties page. Each availability date will be different every year, our seasons have great fluctuations.