Trees, Garden, Water, & Chicks

It's been a busy weekend at the Wolfe house!

Before we even moved into our new home, we placed an order for 13 fruit trees, 2 kiwi's, 10 blueberries, 6 blackberries, 25 strawberries, and 1 raspberry.  They arrived this past weekend and are firmly set inside their metal cages safe from Bambi!

Even Paul's blankie helped with the tree planting!

Varieties: 

Apples: Honeycrisp, McIntosh

Pear: Bartlett, Pineapple Pear, Raja Asian

Cherry: Black Tartarian, Rainier

Peach: Charlotte, Q 1-8, Saturn

Fig: Vern's Brown Turkey, Red

Kiwi: Anna Hardy, Male Hardy

Plum: Plumcot

Our friendly neighbor came by and rotor-tilled the garden.  The soil is now aerated and ready for planting!  Paul enjoyed the tractor ride!

Jon decided to tackle some vine maple and was surprised at how difficult it can be to remove.  Some vines (like the one in the above picture) are so tightly wound around the tree that it's nearly impossible to remove so it just hangs off the tree with it's lifeline cut off at the base.  

After an afternoon of vine maple removal, Jon had itches all over his body, particularly on his forearms, face, neck, and ears.  Even as a child, Jon would get rashes when playing in wood piles and in the woods.  He can't figure out what he's allergic to.  He woke up this morning with one eye almost swollen shut.  What is even more depressing is that Jon had a reaction to poison oak last week.  Paul and I are untouched with no itches so it must be an allergy for Jon.

The garden soil has virtually no organic matter in it; it's mainly just clay.  To help beef up the garden, I decided to trek up the mountain and bring down some leaves.  Today I only hauled 6 loads, but throughout the week I will get more...the potatoes will thank me!

At the barn we have a well pump and Jon finally got it working with some help from our neighbor.  The holding tank loses pressure really fast so we have to figure out how to keep it going.  It would be great to water the garden and feed animals with the water.  We do feel more secure knowing we have our own water supply.

And to complete the Easter weekend, we purchased 3 balls of fluff...Golden Comets!