In which I take some "mental health days" and tank up on Vitamin D

I surprised myself a couple weeks ago by realizing that I haven't taken any days off from work without "cause" since I started the new job in 2022.  When I said something about that to my boss, she immediately dialed up her computer and said, "well, let's fix that!" 

And we did.

The Best Garden Halper

Turns out that mental health days are important even in a really delightful job.  And for the first time this season, we got actual warm sunshine.  It was kind of miraculous.

On Friday I planted stuff, starting in the berry garden.

Strawberries!

Last year the strawberry fruits and plants got mowed down by slugs and snails.  We've never had such an extreme year for slugs, and nothing was stopping them.  A few plants survived, but I decided it was time to throw a few new obstacles into the berry garden.

In addition to lifting the strawberry plants up into galvanized planters,
I mulched everything with sequoia branches.  That should slow them down!

Next up:  brassicas.  I started cauliflower, two types of broccoli, and a bunch of other veggie seeds indoors in February.  In the Classic Garden, I built a bed for broccoli and another for cauliflower, using onions and marigolds in both spots as companion plants to dissuade pests.  

Broccoli with companionable marigold and onion.  I hope they like their new space!

Then I tried something new:  I put up the hoop trellis over the new plants.  My theory is that when the climbing plants (squashes, in this case) cover the trellis, they will shield the brassicas from the hottest part of the day, which should prolong the harvest. 

My final planting for the day was a small patch in Haenaheim, which will mostly have corn in it this year, except for a few small root vegetable beds.  It's too early for corn, but not too early for carrots!

Purple Dragon Carrots, with companionable marigold

My big gardening challenge this year will be Monica's garden.  She moved to Missouri mid-summer last year, so she planted her usual stuff in her usual ways last spring, and then...I kind of ignored it for the rest of the year.  

Monica's garden, 2023

  I did water it, and I did harvest a LOT of calendula seed...

Literally, I harvested a couple of gallons of calendula seed

...but I didn't really plant much or think much about it in 2023.  

This year, I will be planting my own favorite crops in that space.

The soil in this space hasn't been amended with manure as much as my other gardens,
so this year it will host a lot of legumes to build the soil.

Monica also improvised a lot of planting structures in ways that don't work for me, so I'm spending time now removing things that I don't want, including a chicken run and some trellising.

I've been piling up things I don't want, and spent the day getting rid of them

A lot of the chicken wire was full of tangled grass and roots, so I used the 
weed burner to remove that and clean out the wire

Burn baby burn!

I also burnt all the accumulated weeds around the edges of the garden, bordering the pasture. 

More fire!

Slugs and snails like to hang out in the pasture and then saunter through the fence to snack on vegetables there, but this year they will encounter a thick path of hogsfuel to prickle their feet and make them think twice.

My goal for today:  clear out the space I've designated for potatoes.

5 different varieties of potatoes this year, including a local: "Makah Ozette", which
was cultivated by the Makah tribe out on the peninsula. 

This is not a potato

Elsewhere on the farm, Jim has been busy with projects of his own.  He's taken on tree care this year, and has a new little tree-pet of his own:

This is Camellia sinensis, the plant that makes tea!

The tea bush is planted in an old wheelbarrow, because we aren't sure yet what part of the yard it will like best.  Our plan is to roll it around to various parts of the property until we find the perfect spot.

Jim and the dogs have also been working on a retaining wall below the house.  

laying bricks, with halpers

When the bricks are all in place, we will bring in gravel.  So much gravel.

Of course, no mental health vacation would be complete without time in the saddle.  

Bumblebees overhead, swamp tulips ahead, and Dragon between me and the ground

Fiddle spent nearly 4 weeks barefoot.  In that time her heels expanded nearly half-an-inch, which is good.  However, Mel said that when she showed up to put shoes on, Fee did not run and hide...rather she performed a 5* spicy dragon haka before allowing herself to be haltered. 

Then, after the first shoe was put on, she gave a huge sigh and started licking and chewing.  Clearly, her communications were finally understood:  she doesn't want to be barefoot.

Okay, that's a thing we know now.  

And on the trail yesterday: 

My mental health is much better now.  And that is a very good thing!