Good evening...from the farm.
We had the Jeep towed to the shop today. They're working on replacing the starter and welding the door. Hope they can get it done for us tomorrow. We haven't been to town since Thursday. At least it's so warm that we haven't needed the kerosene.
Putting up the rain gauge was the first little step in my projects. I am going to be doing a number of things. I am working on some selection criteria for a location in Montrose where we will plan and construct a rain garden. At my farm, I will eventually put in rain gardens, but I am going to start with rain water collection basics. I need to install a length of rain gutter along the road side of the red barn. I plan to obtain a rain barrel that will be fed off of the barn roof, and which will be used to water the raised flower beds that I just finished constructing. Since these beds won't be rain gardens, I can pretty much plant whatever I want. I expect to pick up a tray of perennials when the Flower Tents re-open for Mother's Day and Memorial Day. When we took home a bunch of plants at the end of last season, I fell in love with bee balm, Jacob's ladder, lupines, and a few others that I did not even know existed. It'll be fun to see what I can find to plant.
I've contacted the Penn State Master Gardeners coordinator, and sent him a copy of the grant narrative. I am hoping his group can come up with a list of flowers and shrubs that will do well in this area when planted in a rain garden. There's lots of lists on line, but since I am not a very experienced gardener, I don't know what will work, and what is available in this area.
We have also contacted the coordinator for the Montrose Farmer's Market. We plan to do a table for our farm, as well as a table for our rain garden out reach program. I'm picturing it as a sort of glorified science project.
Last but not least, I will be writing a blog documenting the various efforts at rain water conservation in Montrose. We've been working on a name, slogans, domain name, and general contents.
And of course, we are expecting kids momentarily.
Should be an interesting spring.
Later.
