Busy Friday - October 25, 2019 @goldenoakfarm

With the advent of these frosty cold mornings, push had come to shove. I HAD to repair my beloved battered coveralls. Well over a decade of early spring and late fall garden work had blown out the knees, including the insulation. I’d looked at new coveralls, but the prices are huge! So repair I must.

So I went down to the “rag bag” and found a pair of jeans with good lower legs and a pair of sweat pants with good legs.

I cut the entire lower leg of the sweat pants off. It would give 2 thicknesses and provide 2 uncut side seams that wouldn’t need turning. And it covered all the missing insulation! The fewer thicknesses I had to force a needle through the better!

I collect old carpet and button thread at tag sales and for this job, I double threaded so there were 4 threads in each stitch. The side seams were a doubled running stitch as they don’t get much abuse. The top and bottom seams were an overhand stitch to hold the edge tight against feet being pushed or pulled in and out.

I cut the back of the lower leg from the jeans as that’s the least worn place on pants. These patches were put on with the overhand stitch all the way around. It was hard to pull the needle through for each stitch and it took me the best part of 3 hours to finish this job.

But these patches should hold up for another 10 years, and maybe by then I won’t need them any more….

Lily and Dennis the Girl wishing they had their hay box….

After lunch I got out there and started planting garlic. I’d been debating making a 5th row when the light bulb went on….I’d forgotten I had to plant the shallots!

So there was definitely going to be a 5th row. I finished and mulched the 4th row and went to get the shallots out of the fridge. I was dismayed to see a bit of mold on the roots, something that hadn’t happened before. But the cloves looked fine, so I planted them anyways, 16½’ of row.

I’d just finished when my helper for the day showed up. I set her to peeling more cloves while I planted the last 30 cloves of garlic. These will give me some to sell.

As she cleaned up my mess, I put down the mulch hay. I had 1 bale left when I finished. I still have to mulch around each bulb and I needed loose hay for that. So my husband went to get another load and unloaded it. My helper friend should be well again by next Tuesday, and if it isn’t raining, we will finish the mulching in the Small garden around the garlic.

On one of his trips back into the farm, my husband saw 2 cock ringneck pheasants in the front pasture.

A long busy day, but several needed jobs are finished, or nearly so.

Saturday we got to the storage unit and try to organize it better as I need to move stuff out of the living room. We have to move a bedroom into the living room because the windows in the bedroom need to come out.

One of the awning windows is ready to go in their place, but the other was the small broken one we returned. It has not been repaired or replaced yet. Once it gets here I have to stain it and it needs to air and dry for a while after. So it won’t be going in any time soon.

Frost on the Window

I am hoping to go to an art show for Robert Strong Woodward on Sunday. He painted back in the 40’s and 50’s up at the farm where we pick blueberries each year. I love his still lifes.

Sunday it is to rain all day, so besides the art show, we will be working on the bedroom move. Monday he hopes to take out the windows and get it closed up before more rain comes.

Source: http://www.robertstrongwoodward.com/Gallery/FrostOnTheWindow1200.html