Better late than never!

Today was spud plantin' day.

Usually we have our potatoes in a lot earlier than this, but, well, we just didn't get them in until today. This year, Dad and Mom decided to plant lots of potatoes, onions and carrots (vegetables that store well) to sell to Mom's clients or our neighbors or whomever. Dad consequently left some room in the field North of our farm to plant these veggies.

Here we have the potatoes loaded and ready to haul out to the field. Mom looks quite excited!
Andrew: "Hmmmm. Is this going to work?"

Dad, checking to see where to start, not wanting to dig out any corn plants!

At the start of a row, some of us would cut a couple bowls full of potatoes so as to have a head-start in that department. Mom and Jacob were our main tater cutters. :)

Andrew was our driver. The first row, Mom and I planted while Jacob cut the potatoes... We're sitting on a "Rock Boat", a heavy metal sled that worked just great for reaching off the side of and sticking the potatoes in the side of the furrow that the plow made! We planted them about a foot and a half apart.

Next row....

For the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rows, Dad and I were the planters and Mom and Jacob cut the potatoes in halves or fourths (depending on the size of the spud) and also kept our piles replenished so we could easily reach them as we went along.

At the end of the row, Andrew turned the pickup around and headed back to the other end of the field. Here Jacob and I are enjoying the dusty ride on our Summer sled. It was a gorgeous day of about 80 degrees, not too windy and not too still.

Once the row was planted, Dad would drive along side with the plow and cover the potatoes with dirt and, in the process would dig the next furrow for us to plant into. Meanwhile, we'd be cutting more potatoes for the next round. We planted 3 different kinds of potatoes this year, 2 red varieties (one early type and one later) and Yukon Golds.

Once we were nearly out of potatoes, we planted a long row of onions until we ran out of them, then we finished that row with the potatoes we had leftover.

Then, Andrew hooked onto our garden row planter with his 4-wheeler and pulled Dad down the field, while Dad steered the planter and added more carrot seeds when needed. They planted several rows of carrots, so we should, Lord willing, have great abundance of soup making material by the end of the harvest!!!

Once all that was finished, there was still room in the field that Dad had left open for the "Field Garden". Andrew went out and worked that area up and Dad planted the rest of his lentil seed there. He hopes to get enough lentils to plant a much larger field next year.

Meanwhile, back at the farmyard, there were other projects being worked on. Mother worked in the house, while the boys helped me outside. Actually, before Dad went out to the field, he pulled out the nearly dead apple tree that was between our house and our garden area. He discovered a colony of ants living inside the tree and we're wondering now if they had anything to do with the tree dying, or did they move in after the tree rotted away? Hmmm...

In place of the tree, the boys helped me set this up: :)

After putting together the tin pieces that came in the kit that I'd purchased early this Spring, the boys and I piled a bunch of dirt (which Jacob got from the field before Dad planted the lentils!) inside the pyramid, on top of some plastic that I laid down to keep the grass down. Then I went and dug out the strawberries from the greenhouse and planted them in their new home! :) The kit came with a little sprinkler system, so Jacob hooked that up for me and we watered them good. I hope they do well!

Somewhere in there, I went across the road with the rider mower and mowed off the weeds in one of the small gardens over there. Andrew later came over with the tiller and worked it up. Mom suggested that I plant my GIANT pumpkins over there, so they can creep and crawl as much as they want. I have the pumpkins growing in the greenhouse currently and it's HIGH time to get them out, as they are maturing very quickly.

We received 2 important phone calls today. The first was with bad news, that being that my Delzer grandpa had a stroke today and we learned later that he is in the ICU in Aberdeen currently. He's pretty weak and can't talk very well. Please join us in praying for him to accept the Lord into his heart before it is too late!

The second phone call was a happy one, it being from the S. family (who visited just a few weeks ago), saying that they also have decided to come to Prairie Days this year! Please also join us in praying for lovely weather for this great event! The Lord has blessed the Dagleys year after year with gorgeous weather, sometimes there being threats of showers, but never anything that lasted for very long.

This evening, after supper and chores were done, Mother soaked in the tub while the rest of us enjoyed the absolutely perfect weather outside. Andrew quickly mowed down a patch of grass in the shape of a large rectangle and dug out the Bocce balls. We played 2 very fun games of Bocce, something we hadn't played in quite some time and, consequently, none of us were very good at it! If you've never heard of Bocce before and would like to know what it is, visit THIS SITE to see a video and to read some rules. We play it a bit differently than they do on the movie (if one of team A's balls is closer to the Pollino ball, then team B has to throw a ball and another and another.... until they get closer or until they're out of balls. We also have "Out of bounds" rules and a center line that you have to get the Pollino over when you throw it, or else the other team gets to throw.) It's really quite a fun game that anyone can play!

And that, my dear friends, was our busy day. It is such a good feeling to truly have the fields all seeded now!

Next project on the agenda: PLANT THE GARDEN!