It never fails, springtime is busy and this year has been busier than ever. For many full-time farmers, this time of the year is a bit easier for them than those who work full-time off the farm and work the farm business as a second job. Well, the latter is my husband and I. We both have full-time jobs that take much of our time and in addition, we are both still quite active in our military Reserve careers, which only adds to the challenges when faced with the multitude of projects that need to get done this time of year.

• Make a detailed list
• Discuss all projects
• Place in numeric order with highest priority on top
• Determine what can be done personally, reflecting time, capability, and available resources
• Pull out what can be done personally and start another list keeping the same numeric ordering
• Determine what can be hired out, or convince friends for help if available
• Start projects with highest priority first. Many can be done simultaneously.

My first accomplishment… finished my LAST required class for my Masters Degree! I have my capstone to do still, and will most likely do that this fall when the produce season is over.

The first project on the books this spring was the hay fields. John and I have some great debates sometimes. For the last year or so I have been talking about starting a ‘pick-your-own’ strawberry patch in the ‘front 5’ acres (we have names for each field that we both understand). He was so against it. Mainly because of our time restraints, but also to cut the huge cost of our yearly hay bill. I knew we had to do something to cut the cost, but my heart was set on strawberries! So last year we purchased some hay equipment to prepare for this year. John convinced me to give up my berry patch and plant a hay field there to lower the costs of our yearly hay bill. After much consideration, John won. More on that later. We missed the planting time last fall, so a friend of ours came over with his equipment and seeded in the front acreage and re-seeded some of our existing pastures. So thankful for wonderful neighbors, and the first major project is done! My answer to multi-tasking is to hire out what you cannot do yourselves. Consider all of the possibilities but place your priorities up front. This was a MUST for us and we were not able to do this ourselves.

You are probably wondering how John “sort of” won the battle. Well, he might have gotten his hay field but I am still getting to plant my strawberries. We decided to plant ever-bearing strawberries in our main field and move most of the peppers into another field. While this will not be a pick-your-own patch, it will give us berries to sell all summer. If this works and doesn’t stress us too much we will add to this by preparing another field and planting more this fall for a bumper spring crop. The berries will be planted on black mulch like all of the other vegetables and irrigated with drip tape.

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The next major project was preparing some of the fields for early crops such as onions and strawberries. I had prepped some of the fields while John was off in Germany on military duty and started planting. I have no idea what got into me when I ordered them other than seeing the more you buy the cheaper the bunches were. So funny! I’m nearly at the end of one of our larger rows… 550+ feet, and I still have some left over. Goodness. If I figured right, at a 4″ spacing in a double row… it is roughly 3000 plants. I have the most awesome planting tool too! I might even patent this one. LOL… We do not have any commercial high-tech planting machine for these so I opted for the old stick method and my hand. Yes, that is nearly 3000 onions planted by hand. Goodness, what was I thinking? I found it quite relaxing, however, and the next major project done. Again, priorities are a must. Sure other things need to be done too, but these were more important. I always make lists. Once I see what needs to be done, then I prioritize. It helps in determining what is more important or what is on a time constraint.

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The next major project we had a partial role in. There was a large tree beside our back door that needed to come down. Not only was it half rotted and had the potential of falling we had decided to build a garage right there. Too close for comfort we hired an expert to cut it down. We cut the log into roughly 10-foot pieces to haul to the sawmill to be cut for barn siding. Then we rented an excavator and I dug the stump out and the footer for the garage. We had Davenport Excavating and Trucking come and level the site for us. Tracy’s crew was outstanding and really had the work completed in a very short time so I had them do some other small jobs that have been on our list for a while… like cleaning out the barn. We do not have this type of equipment to do so. Then hired a contractor to lay block, pour concrete and put up the main structure. Still under construction, but another project I can consider nearly done. Again here, priorities and know what you can and cannot do.

Fence time. Most of our property has the Kentucky 4 Board fence installed. It has been around for quite a few years and is severely deteriorating and the horses have broken through in several areas, including breaking the fence posts right off at the ground. While we had started installing split rail in another field last year, we did not get a chance to finish it. So, while we are busy planting berries and getting ready for the bees this weekend, we had someone come out and fix some of the boards. Yes, we are quite capable of fixing fence ourselves, and have done quite a bit of it, but right now we have other projects that absolutely need our personal attention. About half of the perimeter fencing is now fixed. Yes, had to hire out, but necessary in order for us to work on other projects.

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On to the bees. Our honey bees will arrive this Saturday and we are not quite ready. I cleared an area in our orchard yesterday and laid down weed barrier fabric. We will place some stone in there to keep the area weed free. Today, John and I installed a boarder of treated landscaping timbers around the outside to keep the stone in place and make the area easier to mow. Another project done! We will now work on the frames that go inside of the hives this week and get them out there ready to go. Yes, I’d say we are a bit behind the eight ball here, but it will be done by Friday.

Time to enjoy nature. Spring flowers are popping up all over. I had planted several down by the new fence last fall (photo at top of page). I am so happy they have bloomed. The goal is to line the entire fence-line with flowers so we have fresh flowers all year. This is still a work in progress… you can see the string line still on the fence, and the tiller in the background. LOL… It also helps the bees too. Oh dear, our bees are coming next week too! We have to get busy. We haven’t even assembled the frames for them. At least I know what we will be doing this weekend during the rain. Stay tuned for more updates on planting, bees, and projects.