We took our time moving. We needed it. Loaded up the 24′ Budget rental truck on Friday and made it out here before the sun went down. Saturday morning we unloaded and vowed to not move again without either hiring movers or abandoning all our worldly possessions. Sunday was a day of rest… at least it started that way.

While we were unloading, one of our neighbors stopped by. Todd’s grandfather once lived in this house. Todd sold it off to the previous owners some nine years ago. We had seen his son mowing the fields around us for hay and waved. He waved back — it’s that kind of country. Todd filled us in on much of the visible area land ownership; told us Yellow, the dog that visits sometimes, might have actually been the former owners; later, he gave us the go ahead to burn the trash pile; and he offered to help us battle the thistles.

This invasive noxious weed has infested part of our property and is a big pest for farmers. The thorny plant is a biennial which guarantees it will be back yet again this year. And while we really like the flower, many counties in Iowa fine property owners who do not deal with these plants. There are of course recommended treatments for an infestation. First is to keep them from flowering and producing more seed. Todd helped a bunch with this one by mowing a large amount of them down with a field cutter. I took a spade to the rest along the fence. When they grow back, it’s a good time to spray. Of course we know nothing about chemical sprays, and we don’t much like them, but the alternative is to keep mowing and chopping them down, ad infinitum. There is also some kind of insect that we could introduce that weakens the thistle, but messing around with mother nature is a crazy business.

Todd also clear cut another of our fields and we agreed he could have all the hay for his help with our thistle problem. The baler is an awesome machine — hope to get a picture of that sometime, or even a video!

This weekend the weather was interesting. While it was frustrating to start and stop outdoor projects as the rain moved through time and again, it was also really cool to watch the clouds. (The neighbors fields in the distance)

With the sky above, I was able to plant many seeds and sets. Anne also planted many more flowers and plugs. I specifically planted more potatoes, onions, multi-colored carrots, kholrabi, brocolli raeb, purple bush beans, pole beans, more decorative sweet peas, and a couple of cabages.

With the sky in this photo, Anne and I continued painting indoors. It was a back-and-forth weekend. Nice skies though.

The kitchen floor is about half removed. It’s slow going at times. Many nails. I took the circular saw to it in a grid cut pattern. The saw had little difficulty with the nails, sparks flew, it was exciting. With any luck, it will be completely out next weekend. Then comes the refinishing or painting or covering. So far the floor is in decent shape. It’s a little soft in spots, but good for it’s age — if it is as old as I think it is.

The weekend was for planting. We planted 13 fruit trees, mostly bare root trees, and 35 rasberries. Each whole was dug, soil was amended only on those wholes that seemed to need it most (a few had extra amounts of clay), mulch was collected from the recent mowing, every tree was well watered, and then I trimmed them down to two or three branches. This one needed no trimming. We still need to stake them and protect them from critters. And the rasberries need more mulching and cardboard (see flickr photo at right). Now we wait a couple years for the fruit to grow.

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We drove by the farm today and I snapped some quick images. Crudely pasted them together here in a panoramic display. Click on the image to see it closer up.

I love crocuses! Finally had some success this year – last year none bloomed. There is tons of crocus foliage on our lot (planted before we arrived) and no blooms last year or this. Would like to know why.

The pepper and eggplant seeds have begun to sprout. Exciting times ahead.