Plugging Along

So, I promised a blog on plugging strawberries. I thought it deserved its own little post, since it is a bit of a process, and no one has thirty minutes to sit there and read a blog (okay so I promise it won't take that long, but when you combined it with everything else I was talking about last post it was a little lengthy).  I did a video blog about this, but I have to learn to hold the microphone on my camera a little further away because you can hear me breathing.  It's really bad. 



We got back from the mountains Tuesday night and first thing Wednesday we had the help here ready to plug. We got 20,000 tips from Darnell Farms in three varieties. You know when you're out there picking strawberries and it's been real hot, and the plants have started running? Well that's what a tip is, those runners that have been cut off the plant. Thursday we got 29,000 tips from Fresh Pik and they come from Nova Scotia. So we had 49,000 tips to plug asap.

First things first though, we had to get the trays ready. This is an extremely dirty process (not to mention the trays are a thin plastic so it's really easy to cut your hands like a paper cut, then they get filled with dirt, it's not pretty). Last year The Husband, Luke N (I say that since I have 2 Lukes now), my father-in-law and I filled all the trays with dirt on what felt like the hottest day of the year. This time since we were in so much hurry we had part of the help filling them. Basically it's the easiest thing in the world to do. We get these trays that put 50 plants in them and fill them with the equivalent of potting soil. The problem is that you can't pack them too tightly or you won't be able to stick the tips in them.

Getting an early start

After you have trays, it's time to stick the tips, or plug them.  The tips are usually shaped like a hook and you just put them in the dirt end of the hook in first.  Once you get the hang of it, and get in a groove you can plug a tray in no time.

Tips looking for a home

Then we put them in the ark beside our house.  We mist them with water every minute and a half for 12 seconds all day long.  It will take them a little over three weeks to be ready to plant, and over that time we slowly back off on the water a little.  Ours have been stuck three weeks now and they are looking good, growing new leaves and roots and some are even running just a little.  Next week they'll be ready to set out and provide me with another blog topic.  It's great how that works out sometimes :)  

(Almost) Finished product

Catching Up

I have tried to write this blog about five times. I just cannot get my thoughts organized.

Now that that is off my chest, maybe I can get it written. Whew, it has been a crazy couple weeks here on the farm. Between Irene and strawberries and the corn maze (opening in 1 1/2 weeks OMG!!!) it has been one thing after another. So, I wanted to sit down and kinda fill you in on the happenings around here, hopefully it won't be too long of a post :)

Irene. Well, being the weather nerd I am I was tracking this one like a duck on a junebug. I figured it was just our luck, we have a promising maze that The Husband and his trusty assistant cousin Alvin (I'm not sure who was the trusty assistant, but I am really glad Alvin was there to stop The Husband from overcomplicating the process, which is he is absolutely certain to do. Thanks Alvin!) and here comes a storm to just flatten the whole thing. Of course in the grand scheme of things that is a bit of a trivial concern when there are people without homes and who lost every bit of tobacco they had and all, but still, it's our livelihood. All in all we got out really lucky so maybe our lucks improving. We had limbs down in the yard, only lost power for about five hours (we didn't have cable all day and The Husband has no concept of entertaining himself, so those five hours where we couldn't watch a movie just about drove me over the edge), and the corn wasn't completely flattened. It was blown down quite a bit, but we're slackers and didn't plant it until July (and let me tell you, I have been agonizing over it getting tall enough for two months) so it's still very green and has no ears. I know this sounds ridiculous to those who haven't seen it, but when the sun came back out it kind of 'pulled' the corn back up, so it is standing relatively straight now, just a little bend at the bottom.

Could have been a lot worse

Strawberries. So, it's time to plug our strawberry plants for next spring. the day after Irene, we left to go to the mountains and get half of our strawberry tips. It was a really nice trip. We hadn't been to the mountains in about 4 years so it was time. It was also The Boy's first time so that was exciting (he looks at them and says, wow mama, those are really big hills!) The weather was absolutely gorgeous, it made me wish for fall that much harder. We got to see some family and friends and have a mini-holiday. Then we went to Bryson City to Darnell Farms to get the tips. The farm is beautiful. If I had to work there i would never get anything done. You cross a bridge across one of those pretty rivers with the boulders in it and you are there. The river runs along the whole edge of the farm and there are mountains anywhere from 4,000-6,000 feet high on either side and 60 acres of strawberries down in this little valley. Amazing. If you have the opportunity to be up that way stop in, they sell vegetables and have a corn maze and Jeff, the owner, is a real character. He is so funny and even though I'd only met him a couple times we were welcomed in like family. (Stay tuned for a post about plugging these tips.  It's definitely worth it's own post.)

I think I'd just stare at this all day

Corn Maze. This past weekend we had a work day on the farm (okay, The Husband had a work day on the farm, Berry Girl had to clean her house since she'd running around like a banshee for the past week and a half and hadn't had time). We decided to change the flow a little, try and make it clearer where we want people to go, safer for kids, easier for us, etc. He put up a fence (or at least the posts) and constructed the two swing sets we bought for the kids to play on. He planted grass so hopefully it won't look like a moonscape. We're having another big work day this weekend this time assisted by Red Robin and our new hayride operator Luke. He doesn't have a handle yet. I'm sure by the end of the weekend we'll have a good one for him.

So, mark your calendars and get out your walking shoes. We're opening NEXT SATURDAY! Please come out and see what we've done. It's a bigger better maze than last year, with 10 acres of slightly bent corn for you to wander around in, punkin' chunkin' (my pet project), and other activities for the family to do. Sick of sitting around looking at one another? Had too much family togetherness due to the hurricane and the rain? Come run it off on my farm!