New do

During this social isolation, many of us need a haircut, and Sam is no exception. A couple days ago, he came up with a remedy.

Strangely enough, the mohawk suits him! There are several reasons behind it. Number one, he likes change. And he saw a great new video on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/4nWcxgxCVG0

There's a shorter version on FoxNews.com, if you want to search for it.

After cutting his hair, Sam chose the Scaled Quail as his "spirit animal."

See the resemblance?! Photos of quail here:

https://images.app.goo.gl/n1nCHousfuKB9X7a8

We hear their calls and see them daily on Pumpkin Patch Ranch.

We want to show you the progress on our garden, but first a short road trip today.

A few weeks ago Sam was using his binoculars and saw an amazing sight. Wind turbines are barely visible over the hills northeast of the PPR.

https://www.tep.com/red-horse-wind/

These things are 450 feet tall and 27 miles away, though our round trip drive was about 100 miles. At night they blink red lights (to warn airplanes flying over), and we can see those, too. Sam found it on Google maps and today we went adventuring.

You can see why they built them here--strong winds are common in this valley. It was a beautiful drive by back roads and we thoroughly enjoyed the break.

So back to our garden. We have all these plant starts that have been growing from seed in the greenhouse and more recently in the patio area. Some are 4 or 5 inches tall and really need to be planted.

We've been cleaning out the water pipes and buckets and digging up yucca and weeds from our new raised bed area. Those are tubes of old roots next to Sam.

Mom Virginia was inspired to groom the yard a little.

But unfortunately, her energy doesn't last long. We're in a heat wave, high temperatures of 91 to 94 degrees Fahrenheit, so we don't work long in the afternoons.

Finally, it was time to start filling the buckets. In case you're interested, I'll go through it step by step. We begin by mixing dirt in the wheelbarrow.

We have 4 different piles of soil: kitchen compost, purchased compost, soil from last year's buckets, and native soil from up the hill. I take varying amounts of each.

Then I toss in supplements like worm castings, blood meal, bat guano and potting soil and mix everything together in the wheelbarrow. (Yes, most of the amendments are made from dung or fecal matter of various animals; it grows great plants!) As I've said before, Sam does the research and testing on what to use.

I bring over an empty bucket. Then I grab a little plastic basket and wrap it in a piece of weed cloth. We're using the fabric from last year; it's a bit ragged and stained, but will work fine.

The basket goes in the bucket . . .

And sticks out the hole in the bottom.

Next I pack some really wet soil into the little basket. This will help the water wick up into the bucket.

A longer piece of weed cloth lines the inside, held in place by a few clothespins.

Weed cloth is necessary to keep the soil in the bucket while still allowing it to "breathe" through the holes.

Lastly, I fill the bucket with the amended soil, wetting it down between every shovelful.

And Sam sets it into place with the basket dipping into the water in the pipe. Then I start all over again.

Finally, the transplanting begins!

It took a couple of days (partially because of the unseasonable heat), but by evening yesterday, we have 19 buckets planted with tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, sweet purple peppers, okra, and green beans. 

And 2 potato plants, a purple and a kennewick. I guess we like purple! Thirteen buckets to go, plus a lot of work to build 3 raised beds and fill them with soil. And I haven't even mentioned the trellises for the plants to grow on!

I'll leave you tonight with a promise to post more spring flowers, soon.

And a beautiful sunrise from the other day. I hope your days also hold much joy!