This is one of our horses, Centenarrio. See his foot in the bucket? He is such a good boy, he’ll stay like that for at least 45 minutes. He ate hay that was too rich and now has founder laminitis, a sort of horsey gout. Big bummer! Soaking his foot in cold water should help. Plus, he has to stay locked up in his stall, which he is not fond of, especially since his brother, Don Franco, gets to roam free.
We bought new hay this week and never thought it would bother him, since we have purchased hay from this grower in the past. But due to the weather, this batch of hay was pulled from the field a little sooner than normal, due to rain, so it didn’t have all the time it needed to dry. We feel awful. Poor guy! 
Note: His patchy coat is because he is shedding right now.
Update: Today, Friday, he stayed in the bucket for over an hour!
Tuesday Update: He is much better and now enjoying the pasture, and…we had to purchase new hay.
I was invited to a potluck on Monday and hadn’t made it to the store. I had surveyed the garden and thought I probably had enough to make a salad. Gathering the makings was going to take a while, since everything is still small. I needed to thin out the carrots and beets anyway, so I thought, “Why not make a salad.” Note: I don’t usually thin the veggies, I sort of let the strongest survive, but I really planted the carrots too close this time around and they need to be thinned.
Aren’t the colors of the garden pretty?
Salad consists of all baby veggies: carrots, beets and lettuce.
This is the newest and first bed, planting the Square Foot Gardening way. I think the hardest part to building this bed, was getting it level. Eric had to dig out lots of rock in one corner (upper left), and even then, he put some of our compost on the bottom to level it. (That was after this pic was taken.) Next, fill it with Mel’s Mix and plant carrots and beets.
Sadie’s supervising.
On April 14th, 2005, our friend Randy, named our tractor. His story goes like this:
I had a thought today on the way to work. This name works on several levels.
Doug
His formal name would be Oliver Wendal Douglas, the star of the TV show Green Acres. I sing that theme song often while I’m on my tractor and I bet you will too. But what does a tractor to? It digs…and after it’s done you could say it has Dug…or “Doug”. Can ya dig it? Ha! Ok so it’s an awful pun…but you love goofy puns don’t you?
I want to thank Randy again for searching this out for me. He had to dig out his old laptop, find the email from 2005, retype it and send it to me. Thanks Ran!! You’re a pal!
Last week it was 100 degrees and now it’s raining! Don’t get me wrong, we need the rain and I’m glad for it, but I wish the weather would make up it’s mind. I hope the plants will be OK. They were really liking the heat and growing well. Generally, we don’t like it to rain on the tomatoes, but that is usually when they are loaded with fruit. The plants have a way to go, but we do have or did have, flowers. We even have our first teeny, tiny green grape tomatoe on the bush. Ahhh, Mother Nature. Can’t control her, just have to learn to go with the flow.
This was our first harvest. Picked on May 19. We had to see what the potatoes were doing.
I had written in the Zoey Farms weekly email newsletter, that I’m a computerholic. I’m doing better at limiting my time, but it’s soooo challenging. I love the internet; I can find out almost anything there and I love to keep in touch with people, so it’s difficult sometimes to pull myself away.
This is where I do most of my Zoey Farms work, and surfing. It sits on my countertop in the kitchen. I think one reason I am on the computer so much is that it beckons me as it sits openly in my space. I plan to make room for it somewhere else, so it’s sort of out of sight. This might help my obsessive need to be attached to the monster. 
Sidenote: See Zoey’s picture on the desktop? She is with me always.
These are the asparagus beds. We just finished putting compost on the beds. Then we brought in some chipped up pine bark from some pine trees we had cut down a few years ago. It looks nicer now and will keep the weeds down. The dog is Sadie, a 13 year old dalmation mix, who loves to eat asparagus, especially when the stalks have been cut and have dried up to a nice crispness. Weird-o dog. But we love her just the same.
This is a potatoe flower. We also have pretty purple-blue ones. I don’t know which particular potatoe this is, since Eric planted them, but he thinks it’s a Yukon Gold. I guess we’ll see when we dig them up.
We’ve been told by our subscribers that our potatoes taste creamy and sweet. We enjoy them roasted on the BBQ. After a long day in the gardens, I don’t want to cook, so we BBQ. Typically we drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper and wrap in aluminum foil. (I know, I know, I’ve got to get away from the foil, but haven’t researched that yet. Any suggestions?) We do the same with beets, carrots, onions and garlic. This is usually our first meal from the first harvest. This is when we appreciate all the work we’ve done. Yummmmm!!!
Potatoe Facts
From FoodReference.com
- Marie Antoinette wife of Louis XV was known to wear potato blossoms as a hair decoration.
- The ‘Idaho’ potato or ‘Russet Burbank’ potato was developed by Luther Burbank (1849-1926) in 1871.
- It is most likely that all of Europe’s potato crop in the 1800s originated from only 2 plants brought back to Europe by the Spaniards. This lack of genetic diversity is one of the probable causes of the devastating potato blight of the late 19th century.
- In 1952, Mr. Potato Head was born, and was also the first toy to be advertised on television.
- U.S. potato production in 1998 was 47.5 billion pounds
This pic was taken last year in the Rain Forest Garden, right about the middle of our season. It gives you a good idea of what we have to offer our subscribers. As you can see, we set up “Farmers Market Style” and our subscribers pick their veggies according to the share size they have purchased.
As you can see, we love tomatoes…hope you do too! The long green and red beans in the front are Asparagus Beans or Yardlong Beans. They are sweet and tender and I hope we get more this year. Last year the earwigs nibbled them up and we planted them three times. This year looks to be better.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait!
This is one of our horses, Centenarrio. See his foot in the bucket? He is such a good boy, he’ll stay like that for at least 45 minutes. He ate hay that was too rich and now has founder laminitis, a sort of horsey gout. Big bummer! Soaking his foot in cold water should help. Plus, he has to stay locked up in his stall, which he is not fond of, especially since his brother, Don Franco, gets to roam free.
