Planting Season

It happens once a year for an extended period of time. 

Planting season. 

Corn, soybeans, sweet corn, strawberry plants, tomatoes, beans...the list can go on. It is a very important time of year when some of the most important work is done. We wait all winter and then this spring was cold and wintery so we waited even longer for the fields to be dry enough to plant and once the time came Ian became very busy. Gone. Out. Noncommittal. Preoccupied. It is 11:02pm and he isn't home yet. 

I wish planting season could be just a little more relaxed. He goes hard and doesn't want to stop except to sleep. Nights are short and the days are long. Strawberry season is right around the corner which is the next busy time when he works nonstop every day. 

This is the farming life. I am proud to be married to a farmer. This is the life I wanted but that doesn't mean there are not difficult days. I have so much to be thankful for such as great kids, a husband that would do anything to provide for his family and a home sweet home. We have our good health and each other. I am looking forward to some family time together soon. 

As for planting season, I am wishing for a nice, long rain so Ian can have a break (and me to). 

A Tribute to My Grandma Rimmelzwaan

I find myself thinking about my grandma a lot these days.  She was an avid gardener.  Her farm home and the home my grandparents built when they retired from farming were always surrounded by beautiful flower gardens.  When I was a child, she would take me to greenhouses shopping for flowers to plant and then other times when I visited, we would just go for a drive, find a garden centre and just wander around.  Every single time I visited her home she would want to take me on a tour of her gardens and talk about new and old plants, names of them and when they would be at their best.  She worked hard to maintain her gardens and my grandfather would help her when they grew older.  In the last few years of her life the gardens were much smaller but no doubt there were still flowers to look at and enjoy.

Once I had a home of my own, she would give me shrubs and flowers for my own gardens.  I have a beautiful garden rock with "Welcome" painted on it near my front door which was a gift from her.  My love of plants comes from many influences in my life but the influence of my grandma has been strong.  I will forever have those memories in my heart and it makes me happy... and sad at the same time.  I wish she could come for a visit and I could take her on a tour of our farm and then maybe she could give me advice on what I could do with my own gardens.  She knew so much about what different plants needed to grow to their potential and she wouldn't hesitate (in her younger years) to just get down on her knees and get rid of a few weeds.

I have a vivid memory of her long row of peonies along their farm's front lawn.  My brother and sister and I played a lot in that front yard... it has beautiful, tall trees and a lush lawn... perfect for running and playing.  When her peonies were in blossom, it was a beautiful sight; something I will remember forever.

My grandma passed away last August (2013).  As a tribute to her, I am planting a row of peonies on my own front lawn.  I planted one peony plant a few years ago and it is strong and tall but I have added a few more and hope that someday it will be a tall, beautiful row of peonies and I will tell my children and grandchildren about why I planted them and tell them about my own grandma.  She was very special to me and I hope that I can pass on at least some of her wisdom to my own children and grandchildren.

It is just a start but I planted 5 plants along this side of this building.

Our May 2-4 Weekend

Spring is a very busy time of year for us. I think it is actually the busiest time of year because so much has to get done in a short period of time; planting, taking straw off the berry plants, staffing, planning for our sales outlets, picking asparagus and then we start selling at our farmers markets. Our lists are long but our energy is high. We do not take time off unless it is raining or too wet in the fields to do anything useful. 

This is the first May 2-4 weekend we have had "off" in a very long time. Back in university Ian and I would go camping with friends and spend time relaxing. Not anymore. 

We have had an abundance of rain in recent weeks so this weekend Ian did not spend time in the fields. This has been a challenging spring due to the late start to the growing season so actually having time off this weekend is bittersweet... I have faith things will turn out just fine but Ian is a wee bit anxious. That being said, we all worked yesterday by starting our farmers market season and I just learned this afternoon that Ian is going to try working in the fields tomorrow but overall, we had the weekend off.  It is all perception, right?

Tonight we are hosting a small dinner party with other farmer friends. It may never happen again that we can celebrate May 2-4 weekend!  Cheers to a beautiful summer and a plentiful harvest!

Following Yesterday's Blogpost

This is a follow-up post to the one I wrote yesterday. 

My First 10K Race

I am a little behind recording some events in our life.  Spring has sprung and I am entrenched with my usual workload at this time of year... housework, yard work, business work and running around to all my kid's events.  I love it all and feel so lucky to have these opportunities to do so much but as a result, my blog gets put on the back-burner.  If it doesn't make it on the to-do list, it doesn't get done so I put it on today.  I spent much of today at Grace's cross country meet.  It is a beautiful day for running and I am so proud of her running again on the cross-country team.

But...

This blog post is not about my kids; it is about ME!

I have spent the past few months training to complete a 10K roadrace and I actually did it!

On Saturday May 3, 2014, I drove Ian's old truck down the road to Carp and met up with friends to run my first 10K race.  Four days previous, I had run my first distance of 10K and felt a huge amount of joy but then I noticed a very large and bruised up blister on my right foot and limped for a couple days after.  I spent more money on bandaids, socks and cream than I had ever in my life but it was all worth it because by Saturday I was ready to go and felt great.

I am 36 years old.  I spent most of my childhood being nervous about competing in sports.  I have very athletic siblings and my parents supported us in all of our sporting endeavors but I always felt that I wasn't very good so why bother.  I played sports for fun in university and as an adult I have done various fitness activities but this past year I found myself committing to something I never would have thought I could commit to.  I have spent a few years starting and stopping running activities but last summer I truly committed and at the end of October, I completed my first 5K.  Around Christmas time I decided that I could and should try to run a further distance.  I began training (in small amounts) throughout winter but we don't own a treadmill so I had to run outside.  This winter was a cold and long season but I persevered and bought a few items to help me through, such as a balaclava, warm running pants and covers for my running shoes to help keep me going on ice.  I made myself a goal to run a certain route while on vacation in Florida so that kept me going before we left and once we returned, I just continued.  The May 3 Diefenbunker Run came up very quickly but I gave myself no choice but to be ready.

There are so many people out there (many ladies I talk to) that don't think they could run.  Running 10K would be impossible.  I am proof that it is possible.  Starting small and just keep working at it.  I will never forget when I ran for 8 minutes straight.  I started to cry.  Now I can run over an hour straight, without stopping!  It is all "baby-steps" and pushing yourself to do something out of your comfort zone.  I do not consider myself athletic but I am truly active, healthy and happy.  I can run with my kids!   I can show them that anything is possible if you just try hard and don't give up.

I had no idea at the time, but I came in second from last in this 10K race.  I have my sights set on doing another and my competitiveness drives me to run it even faster.  It doesn't matter what place I came in (even though it smarts a bit) but that I did it... I DID IT!  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I could but I can.

An Easy and Fun Garden Project

We have a HUGE garden. It spans our whole farm. Therefore over the years our "house garden" has become smaller and smaller while eventually becoming nothing but a small patch of asparagus. We are so busy during the spring and summer months that the smaller garden we planted, with various vegetables that are not grown on a larger scale on our farm, would get ignored. Weeds would grow so high and vegetable wouldn't be harvested. When you look out the kitchen window now, there is nothing but a patch of struggling grass. 

There is a sense of accomplishment when you can plant seeds and continue to watch them grow and even though the kids spend some time in our fields, this is just another way to teach them about growing good food and beautiful plants. 

I came across this garden project a few weeks ago from Pinterest. We saved three orange juice cartons, bought some seeds (which I later remembered I could have taken from the huge collection in our barn) and dug up some nice fertile soil. 

It is fairly simple...

Jean put the soil into her own container. 

Planting the seeds is the best part.  Having wooden sticks for marking is key if you want to remember what was planted and where!

She is almost done. It only took a few minutes. 

She is a proud little gardener. We organized all the supplies for her brother and sister to be able to do the same thing when they got home. 

Our kitchen window is a very good spot to have the planters. The warmth from the sun and warm water allowed the seeds to germinate quickly. We saw sprouts within three days. 

Hopefully we can transplant the seedlings outdoors at the end of May.