Purgatory Ranch Update

As you may or may not know, we own 40 acres two miles from our house.  Since we don't live on Purgatory Ranch, we tend to not visit when there are no immediate tasks to attend to there.

 It is one of our many dreams to live here someday, but for now, on this spur of the moment trip, I observe that we have our work cut out for us.  There needs to me some mowing and then some tilling.

 Even through the weeds, some tree onions, missed at last year's harvest, are resolutely poking through.

 Work... lots of work...

And maybe we should trim on the driveway.  Another day.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

War on Weeds

Oh, that I could find more early morning hours, after dawn but before the heat causes me to wilt, as I have so much weeding to do!  I spend one day at Secondhand Ranch and on at Purgatory, but I can't spare more from YJ Acres.  I'm perpetually behind, and the heat is making me more behind.

We've begun a slow thinning-harvest of the onions.  I have some that are already baseball sized or larger.  The onions look beautiful and make the car smell fantastic (maybe not after an hour or two in the heat.  Then the smell becomes a bit of an overpowering stench).

In more peculiar news, many of the potatoes in the north bed have set fruit.  Why this year did so many set fruit?  Past years, I've had a plant or two, but I'd feel it safe to claim at least 50 plants have set fruit!  I may save the fruits for the seed and trial-plant a few next year.  It may be foolish and a waste of precious time, but I'm intrigued by the possibilities.  Yes, I may be obsessed.

To add the the peculiarity of my recent trip to Purgatory Ranch, chew on this bit of fat: where plants never grew from my seed potatoes, I have begun to uncover small potatoes growing directly on the seed potato!  There are no discernible roots, although I could have missed them, but I have found handfuls of small potatoes.  I'd love to know how a potato can reproduce without an above-ground foliage.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Fencing, Weeding, and Purgatory

After weeks, even months, of intermittent work, the fence encompassing the front 20 acres of Purgatory Ranch is complete, gates and all.  The barbed wire on the easy end will remind me of the location of the  dreaded poison ivy.  (Speaking of which, how have I stumbled into it three times this summer with tiny patches?  No major outbreaks, but itchy nonetheless!)

 Weeding this year is a battle.  JoJo is a most delightful baby, much more cooperative than Jimmy ever was at this age, but I still can't seem to get ahead of the weeds.  James set out to help me today... But before that story, bask in the sight of my not-quite-so-empty north potato bed.  At one point, I thought I had lost 95% of this bed.  Now I'd estimate my losses at 40%, which is much more reasonable and will undoubtedly yield more potatoes than we can possibly consume.  I enjoy extras when it comes to food.

(The exuberance of tree onions always fascinates me.)

And the purgatory of the title can be summed up as... A once-friendly neighbor may have irreparably damaged our friendship by calling James some terrible names and attempting to bully James to solve his own problems.  Thus, James spend 6 hours burning brush piles.  I even have sunburned forearms to prove my participation in the excitement.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Purgatory Ranch, End of May

Tree onions are setting bulblets in a wild frenzy of growth.

I haven't hacked out too many onions in my weeding, and neither downpour nor animals have consumed entire rows.

The north bed looks to be a 60% loss.  What there is, is so choked by weeds that I am freeing row by row.  It will take time.

 The south bed is looking wonderful.  After this picture, I managed to hill up and weed four rows of potatoes.  Growth is amazing!

Much to my surprise (not, I think, to James), our pond holds water for the first time in almost three years.  Clearing out the cedars and junk helped!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Purgatory Ranch Clean-Up

Despite my disappointment in the fertility of my potato bits, the time has come to weed.  I've been waiting for the ground to dry out or more potatoes to sprout, but with rain forecasted the rest of the week and weeds growing apace, it was now or never.

After all, if I'm going to plant, it's my job to weed too.

Please excuse the sideways pictures.  I'm snagging non-fussy-baby time, and it is precious and limited!  I forgot to rotate before uploading.

 The tree onions are amazing!

I discovered a bunch of onions thrown on the ground.  Did we drop them in our planting frenzy?  Did the kids take them, get bored, and abandon them?  Either way, I planted them today to see if the last remaining stems of green mean life remains.

 The entire stretch of onions, running west in this picture, are now nicely weeded.  Perfect?  No, but I'd say at least 80-90%.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Growth

The tree onions are growing larger than in past years.  I see a bit of spotting, frost damage from the multiple recent cold snaps.

I am grateful for the rain, even if it is slowing down planting.

The onions are looking good, even if I do spy a few stray potatoes popping up between rows. 

The potatoes in the south patch are orderly and up.

The same cannot be said for the north bed, which is more weed than potato.  I'm concerned that a fair number of those potatoes may have rotted away.  Ugh.  Maybe they are just slower sprouting. 

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Grateful for the Rain

I am always nervous until the first potato sprouts appear.  What if I killed the potatoes?  What if I didn't plant them right?  (As if there was a way to plant a potato wrong... Okay, there is, but really?)

So I have anxiously examining the potato patch for sprouts.  Thursday, finally, in the mud, I found some!  There are plenty more still to sprout, and the grass is kicking tail, but I don't weed until enough sprouts are up that I know I won't hack any.

Tree Onions

Potato

Tree clearing progress

Weather

No potatoes... plenty of snow!

Snow, very wet snow!

End of the Potato Harvest and Weedmageddon

First, Weedmageddon...

I should have taken a before picture, but it was a race against time to dig the potatoes before the heat caught us. We started at seven a.m., and I pulled the last taters around nine.  Whew!

Weeds were chest high and more.  James and the weed whacker went to work!

We have some interesting volunteers growing in our mulch pile.  They look like unripe cherry tomatoes, but the leaves are something else.  There are also a few plants that look like tomatillos or... something.  Any guesses or suggestions?  (No, we didn't taste any.)

Onions in the basket on the right, garlic, remaining all blue potatoes, and tree onions in the basket on the right.  Three overflowing boxes of potatoes that will be weighed later today.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Potato Update

Grasshoppers are devouring potato foliage.  Plants nearest the edges of the beds are leafless, and we'll probably harvest them next week before we lose sight of where the denuded plants are.

The All-Blues look fabulous, strong, and tall.  We're actually hilling potatoes this summer, and I'm hopeful that should increase our yields, barring destruction by the grasshoppers and emerging potato beetles.

Beautiful purple flowers and stems on our All-Blues.

Looking good!

Garlic, already browning, and tree onions

The south bed

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

March Activity

We have had days and inches of rain recently (praise God!), but as our neighbor Uncle Bruce commented, he doesn't know why those weathermen keep saying we need it.  We have mud and puddles a-plenty!

Today was not, perhaps, the best chosen day for planting, but working around a teacher's Monday-Friday schedule and another erratic schedule, today was it for planting.  Our shoes, tools, and gloves were 5 pounds heavier at the end of the morning with the heavy mud.  At least we weren't tilling or plowing in this muck... the tractor might still be sitting.

And our day in pictures...

More onions (3 rows of Walla Walla to the east of the others)

No potatoes growing above ground yet!

Garlic and tree onions, growing well.

Tree onions springing back after the tilling.

Children's garden

Plenty of potatoes here already!

All-Blue, 12 hours after cutting.

They look very purple rather than blue, but either way, great color!

Auction.

James purchased a 400-gallon fuel tank and stand for $40.

Well done, James!

No, no tractor came home with us from the auction, although it was a close call!

(Remember the bucking tractor of the last major auction?)

While James was bidding like a mad-man, Bear Cub Q played in a mud puddle created by a gaggle of girls.  By the time James and Dan brought back the tank, I had no choice but to hose down Bear Cub Q outside, as he was mud from head to toe.

We also helped paint the chicken coop at Second Hand Ranch.

James and I have two matching sunburns, the quite horrible ones that will blister for me but never for him.  The kids have a touch on their necks, but James and I have thoroughly burned faces and arms.  When will I learn to avoid the first sunburn of the year? Sunscreen needs to come out before it's hot!

It was a good day.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Onion Planting

This year, many onions are planted in the original potato patch in order to prevent the growth of disease specific to potatoes.

Red Candy Apple, 4 rows

Vidalia, 8 rows

Red Creole, 2 rows

Last fall's planting of garlic and tree onions is thriving.

First potato sprouts!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.
katie z.