Adventure # 443 - Spring Planting Continues

The rain finally stopped and the sun shone a little bit yesterday. We had enough of a break in the weather to get our hands dirt, our shovels out, and our knee pads on to work in the garden and flower beds.

Sophie helped me do some of the weeding and watered after I planted. Emma helped Papa put in some topsoil and compost in the garden boxes and hoe the clumps out - in a pink tutu nonetheless.

Phillip worked on the berry patch today and planted three more apple trees yesterday. Just a few more days until we can plant the rest of the regular crops.

And we have compost to use on the big plots. A year + worth of saving our food scraps has proven to be very worth it! :)

Adventure #2620 - Spring Planting

Per the "rules" in March the weather is unpredictable. Hot, cold, hard frost, springlike, hot, cold....When we would think there would be a break in the weather to get the plots tilled it would end up being too cold or rainy.

Last weekend the weather finally broke. It was a beautiful weekend, clear skies, and in the low 70's. Phillip was so excited to be outside and getting the plots ready! For me the most exciting part...was learning how to drive the tractor! Our neighbor lets us borrow this tractor each year. It makes the work so much easier and quicker so we can get to what really matters - planting and growing! I guess I'm a real farm woman now.

Then that beautiful weather disappeared and left us with a week of rain. It has been a soggy and muddy week and we are expecting more rain today and tomorrow.

We plant by the signs and according to the Farmer's Almanac. They are predicting good planting today and tomorrow (April 18-19) but we need to be cautious of the rain. We may not get a good planting day in until the end of the month or the first of May.

Several folks have asked what we are planting. This year we hope to be able to sell at our local Farmer's Market. On the docket is:

• Corn (feed and sweet)
• Green beans (blue lake and greasy)
• Okra
• Onions
• Carrots
• Radish
• Cucumber
• Garlic
• Spinach
• Collard Greens
• Kale
• Swiss Chard
• Lettuce (multiple varieties)
• Peppers (sweet and hot)
• Tomatoes
• Chicory
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Sage (over wintered and reproducing!)
• Thyme (over wintered and reproducing!)
• Chives
• Parsley
• Lavender
• Watermelon
• Strawberry
• Sunflowers

We definitely have our work cut out for us! But we enjoy being outside and the satisfaction of eating what you grow is second to none!

Boy oh Boy! Adventure # 4

Of course as soon as we announced we were having a baby boy the next logical question is...What are you going to name him?

This is both the easiest and most difficult question.

We've actually had a boy's name picked out since even before Sophie was a glimmer in our eye. I'm sure I even have the piece of paper we wrote down all possible name choices.

Our son will be called John Abert. (A-B-E-R-T). No L. Not aLbert. Abert.

John E. Bishop 1919 - 1991

John Edward Bishop is Phillip's grandfather's name on his mom's side. He was very close to his grandparents and if you have ever met Phillip or sat in one of his classes you know he references his granddad as if you had met the man 100 times.

(Thank goodness Phillip read this and added in the historical details...I would have botched the following for sure.)

John James Abert 1788 - 1863
(We have this original portrait
hanging on our wall.)

Abert goes back to Colonel Jean James Abert, the French aristocrat in charge of the Comte de Rochambeau's topographical, or map-making, operations.  The Comte led the French forces that, aided by Washington's army, defeated the British at Yorktown.  His son, Colonel John James Abert (A Colonel in the American Army) was Phillip's five-greats grandfather. A male in Phillip's family has carried the Abert every generation since. The later Abert was also a mapmaker, founding the Army Topographical Corps and surveying the Oregon cession.  The Abert's Squirrel, FYI, is also named for the second Colonel Abert. The last generation to have the name was Sophia Bache Abert, Phillip's three-greats grandmother, after whom Sophia is named. As an aside, you can link Phillip's family history back to Ben Franklin via Sophia Bache Abert. See page 4 of the above linked document.

The tricky part comes to the second middle name. Yes, second middle name. There are many family names we really like and so the curse of our children is that they all have two middle names. This way we could incorporate the names we really like without having 19 kids.

Namps and I (2/25/1922 - 9/28/2004)

My maternal grandfather, Namps, as we affectionately called him, was Robert Cann Kelly. (If anybody can, Robert Cann!) I would like to use Cann as the middle name because of it's originality. Phillip would like to use Kelly because you traditionally use a grandfather's last name. A wild and crazy idea would be to use both giving us "John Abert Cann Kelly Brown" but that's just a lot to fill out on any sort of paperwork!