A productive day, all before noon.

Jeremy and I made it out first thing this morning to the very opening of this week's Saturday farmer's market in Ann Arbor. It has grown exponentially in the past two years and now you can find everything local from veggies, fruits, dairy, lmeats, leather, grains, flours, eggs, plants, chocolate, coffee... Even locally grownand pickled kimchi and Egyptian pickled turnips! It was a great experience. I picked up blueberries, chocolate icecream and an amazing local yogurt with a great culture from Thomas Organic Creamery, pickled turnips, and an angel food cake from Grandma's Kitchen.
The angel food cake and the icecream we later took to lunch with my mom for a surprise dessert in the park. They were delicious!






After the market I spent the morning hours tilling planting and fencing a strawberry bed. I had tried to put strawberries under my raspberry plants but they ended up expensive fodder for the local rabbit population. Bummer. These are fenced though. Fragaria ananassa "sparkle" I think. I put a couple of wild strawberry plants at the bottom of the patch too (Fragaria virginiana).






I have cardboard down to help smother the grass between raspberry rows, but I really haven't seen a huge problem with the grass growing up around the raspberries. It's not "pretty" but it shades the new growth and as I pull it out bit by bit by the time I get it all the plants will be established.






Did I mention I got a new pair of overalls? They're "Rosies" brand and not only do they fit perfectly; they zip off into shorts, have a zipper pocket AND have built in knee pads for gardening!
They're the best. I highly recommend them.






My final snapshot comes from my late afternoon perch on my bed. It's too hot to move and living in a stone house only keeps you so cold without an airconditioner. This is hot. Hot and humid. Ah well. Such is Michigan!

... Ugh. Judging from the squeaks I'm hearing in the distance I have to go brave the heat now. The drakes are chasing the duckling again. Nothing like tough love on the farm! Ducks should have to take parenting classes. This is ridiculous. Lesson one: don't pick up your offspring by the head...