Nectarines

September 3, 2011

Our nectarines not only taste good, but look good this year, too!  We take in between 5 and 7 boxes of these beauties to the Farmers Market every week.  

No Trespassing!

August 30, 2011

Mean Sign!  But it does protect us from any would-be pond divers that don't have permission.  If anyone drowns, it's not on us!

Filling the Pond

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

This is our first day at filling the pond.  Thanks to the cold and wet Spring, we were able to delay watering for three weeks!  

turning in the water                                                         filling the pond

Steak and Eggs

Monday, May 30, 2011


Steve invited me over for a steak and eggs breakfast.  Steve grilled us rib eye steak.  Yummm!!!  This is Dave's kind of breakfast.  Too bad he wasn't here to enjoy it.  After breakfast, Hailie and I enjoyed doing summer homework together.  And.....

then we went out to the pig pen to see the new wiener pigs.  Steve is raising me a pig.  I named her Sue.  Steve's family pig's name is Pork Chop.  Fitting for a pig!  I can't wait to have some good home-grown pork in my freezer.  

Steve's Farm

Saturday, May 28, 2011

I have to make my rounds when I go to Price.  Today, I visited Steve.  I got a tour of the garden and new baby animals.... three colts (one born today), goslings, and a few bison.  And then there is Joe.  He's happy!  I enjoyed the outside air on the farm and new baby animals.  

only tracks remain

Can you guess what the tracks are from?


deer


buried phone cable

There have been a lot of deer tracks in the orchard lately. They must be very quiet and only come out when it's dark because I haven't seen any yet. The phone cable (all 750 feet of it), from Hwy 89 to our house, finally got buried. Qwest said it would fix the annoying buzz sound in my phone once the cable was buried. It didn't!

I looked out the window....

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

and what did I see? POPCORN POPPING on the APRICOT TREE! Spring has brought me such a nice surprise. Blossoms popping right before my eyes! Alia got her first lesson on tree popcorn. And it was a surprise! Alia was so excited and thought she was going out to the orchard to get some popcorn off the tree to eat.



Mike and Audrey came up last night to say their last goodbye's to Dave and help with some work. Neither Audrey nor I could see out of our eyes.... I'm still seeing blurry, and it gets worse as the day wears on. And Audrey just finished her eye doctor appointment before coming and her eyes were dialated. So Mike and Dave moved the wood from the "shoehorse" drive in front of the rock wall at the back of the barn, with the tractor, and stacked it nice and neat on the lower patio, while the rest of us relaxed inside the house. We ordered pizza and visited.

Austin Lund (our tractor man) and his wife Karen stopped by for a visit. We took them on a tour of the house, and Alia led the way. It was so stinkin' cute and funny! She totally came out of her shell last night. She entertained us all night long. She's even warmed up to Dave and calls him grandpa.

preparing the orchard

Dave gathered the last of the branches out of the orchard this morning. The trees, blackberries, and grapes have now all been pruned and the trees have been fertilized. It's looking good. We should start to get blossoms on the trees in another few weeks.

Day 7: Eye Surgery

I've been resting my eye while Dave has been busy pruning cherry trees, blackberries, and grapes. He has also gathered up the tree branches, with trusty Old Blue, into a large pile. Later on in the week we will have a huge bon fire!

Melchor and Elda

Melchor and Elda work on our farm every year. They are pruning the plum trees today. I love these sweet people. They are genuine and hard working. Melchor always tells me "thank-you for the job, Carol." I consider them dear friends.

Jubilee

Steve came and got the Ford Jubilee tractor I bought from dad. It was a bittersweet day. I wanted it for myself because it was dad's. I have painted it, fixed it, drove it some, and stored it! And now it's time to let go and allow the tractor to do the job it was always meant to do. I feel reassured in knowing that it's still in the family and I can visit it anytime I want to.

Beautiful Winter Morning!

I woke up when it started to get light outside, as usual. It snowed last night and I got up to the most beautiful sight ever! The frost was still on the trees. I wanted to capture the awe and spectacularness of it all, so I got my camera out and snapped pictures at different times of the morning. I love how our orchard is still in the shadows while our neighbor's is in full sun (9:08 a.m.)

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful!

First of the Month - Sunset on Willard Bay

On Kelley's blog there is an invitation to participate in First of the Month. The object is to take a picture of the same scene, at the First of the Month, for an entire year. I'm not sure how to participate having a private blog, so I will just place it in my Photo Journal and enjoy it myself!

It was 5:30 p.m., and I took my camera out to my favorite spot in the orchard. It's here that I can capture the entire feel of the orchard, grapevines, life on the farm, and the peaceful setting of the sun on Willard Bay. It always takes my breath away. I can't believe I live in such a beautiful place! I am so excited to shoot this same scene eleven more times throughout the year! (Note: The sun was just setting when I went out to take this picture. By the time I got to my "shooting spot", the sun had dissapeared behind a cloud, making the picture a little dark. Hopefully, I will get a better shot next month.)

Day 168 - back in the trench

June 17

It's back in the trench for Dave. Fixing pipes for the irrigation system seem to be the norm this year. Thank goodness he was back to see it through. But it's a dirty trick.... he's not getting much relax time in before he goes again.

Day 167 - thinning pears

June 16

It's back to work... thinning pears. I leave only one pear on each cluster so all the energy will go to the one. It will be big when it matures.

Day 165 - Sand in the pond

June 14

Dave is home for a few days. The first thing he checked... the irrigation system. Still problems. The medium used in the filter of the pump went through the filter and backwashed into the pond. So we spent the first day shoveling and sweeping out the sand.

Day 162 - Grapes

June 11

All those little circles are cluster of grapes!

Day 158 - Chicken Run

June 7

Run, chicken, run! Kelsey's chickens enjoy their freedom!

Day 155 - at the end of the day

June 4

The pond has run its course. The fruit trees, berry bushes, and grapes drank up the water in a few short days. I took these pictures at the end of the day. The trees have a bright green vivid look to them. That means they are happy and healthy. The grapes are shooting up new vines and there are grapes the size of a baby pea just forming on them. It won't be long until the orchard is bustling with fruit to harvest. I love this time of year. It is hard work. It is tedious work. It is long work. But the rewards are so worth it!

Day 153 - weeding

June 2

Weeding the blackberries isn't so much a chore when you do it early in the morning during a light rain storm. It was refreshing to feel the rain spray on my face.

The blackberries are just beginning to burst! I love the polen on the flowers. There will be lots of bees out later this afternoon.

The 4-wheeler is a girl's best friend.... at least this one's! My work goes a lot faster when I can buzz around on this machine.