The Planting Push

The days are getting longer, both in terms of daylight and work. Here at Muddy Pumpkin Farms, we're busy getting the last seeds and transplants in the ground. Besides planting, the last few weeks have found us pondering how the Missouri River can be flooding while the farm is so dry that we're worried about our plants making it. I guess you could call such a situation ironic, and we're hoping our drip tape irrigation can avert the tragic, but it's been touch-and-go at times: far less rain than we need and a mix of hotter and cooler days with a whole lot of wind. Even the storms that have come through have been more wind than rain.

In this post, I'll try to compress everything into "a day in the life at the farm." We don't really do all these things in one day, but it'll be a little photo essay of sorts.

It's a beautiful morning, and as the sun rises over a misty valley, we remind ourselves how lucky we are to spend time here at Muddy Pumpkin Farms.

The spiders made webs in the garlic overnight...

and the dew melts off the broccoli.

Brett, Wyatt, and Elizabeth join the rest of the family on the farm, excited to work on a variety of projects and help with planting.

The morning's projects include bed preparation and planting.We brought loads of compost down to the farm, and spread it on the beds. Matt fills the compost spreader with the forklift.

Then we lay mulch for weed suppression and drip tape for irrigation on the beds. Hal drives the John Deere, laying mulch.

After cutting some holes in the mulch, we plant seeds or transplant starts. LeAnn plants around the drip tube.

And the result is a morning's foggy vista.

We take a break in the afternoon to go for a hike or paddle on the White River bottoms and enjoy the sights like these beaver chewed trees.

After the hike in the bottoms, Travis sticks around to help with putting up our high tunnel hoophouse.

The high tunnel takes some effort, but thanks to Matt and Hal, we get it standing and structurally sound.

We get a nice view of the rising river from the forklift while we're putting up the hoophouse.

We fit in a trip to the Chamberlain Farmers Market with our salad mixes and hanging pots.

We find a little time to play with the new kittens (this one is named Burt after Burt Reynolds because of his mustache).

And we watch the sunset on another beautiful day at the farm, ready to sleep soundly and begin again.