11 Mile Bike Ride, Weed Eating, Reseeding, Garden, Creek

Another packed day. Started out with a bike ride to Bear Lake and back in an effort to beat the heat which we weren't able to beat. It had gotten pretty warm already and with us not getting started until 10:00 am, by the time we got home it was hot.

Much of our rides take place on the paved roads around us and we have a variety of places to cross the highway.

The ride to the lake is about 4.5 miles one way and once to the picnic hut the boys ate before playing on the playground for a little while.

It was 11:00 am and the lakeside was filling in with people pretty quickly. On a 90F+ day it didn't surprise me that they were staking their spots.

J was not feeling the best but kept up well. He has been a bit under the weather but he still had wanted to go for the ride. Once we left the lake we took a bit of a longer route home which takes us down Chattaroy hill and right to home. It was a little over 6 miles home but just shy of 11 total.

After resting for a bit and cooling down I donned the weed eating gear and set about trying to finish the weed eating. First spot I hit was the trail to the tunnel. The weed eater works great for trimming the bushes back as well as the weeds.

Then I hit the sides of our road and around our dead end. We are technically county maintained road to our driveway but that is just the road, I still cut back the sides to clean it up and help prevent fires if someone dumps stuff.

I then stepped over the wire railing and started to work down the hill into the clearing towards the creek, but I ran out of string so I called it good for the day with weed eating. When I got to the house the thermometer said it was 93F...

A little later I drove back up to the squash garden and finished reseeding the rest of the rows. Damn it was hot walking around on the black plastic in the 93F+ temps.

I ended up having to plant Reno Acorn in a few rows that did nothing, I put Hunter butternut in the butternut rows, and the Minnesota midget melon where the Bozeman watermelon didn't sprout. Luckily there is still enough time to get production from the plants before fall.

After getting back to the farm I was in the main garden checking how many volunteer tomatoes I have when I remembered that I have the elastic ball ties in a tub in the tool shed, I just re found them a few days ago. I have to put extender pipes on the tomato fencing for when I need to add more fence. Before I have used wire, rope, twist ties, and plastic tie tape. None of them are that great.

I love that they fit perfectly with a double wrap and hold the pipe nice and tight to the t-post.

2 ties per and the pipes are solidly held in place.

I checked on our apple tree above the garden after its killer bloom this year. It is LOADED with little apples and they are all down low which makes harvesting them this year FAR easier.

The chokecherries are setting really nicely. Most every chokecherry on the farm is loaded with setting berries. I hope we have a super harvest this year.

The hawthorne are blowing up and are covered in green haws. Looks like we will have a solid harvest of them in the next couple of months.

I found the leaks in the irrigation line on the strawberries and fixed them and tested the zone again to make sure.

Once Hive account@stryeyz got home from work we went down to the tunnel to soak in the water for a bit. It felt really nice to be in the cold water after the day I had. The mosquitoes finally chased us out, along with the hunger pains that started to hit.

After dinner I got the truck and trailer hooked up and the barrels strapped down for this morning.

I've already been to town to drop empty barrels at one brewery and pickup my first batch of grain from the other brewery. I figured out the easiest path to hit both in one trip and if I go first thing in the morning I don't have to deal with much traffic. It is a bit weird driving to downtown Spokane to pick up the grain since I have tended to avoid the area like the plague.

Today I will finish weed eating on the other side of the creek and then around the foundation of the house while it is still cool. I will also be transplanting the volunteer tomatoes in the cool so they don't desiccate in the hot afternoon sun. The sheep need their waters drained and refilled. This evening is the co-op delivery around 5pm that I need to go get.