Controlled Chaos.....Or Is It Just Chaos?

Things are just crazy here at the garden. There was so much to do when I got home that I pretty much just threw my stuff in the house and headed directly outdoors.

As you can see, I'm not exaggerating. There was two weeks of mail to deal with.

And there was a flurry of making jam and labeling jars for the Farmer's Market, so the kitchen was a mess too.

There seemed to have been an explosion in the garden while I was gone... look how tall the potatoes got!

Here's some potatoes planted in an old wheelbarrow...

Fennel!

Peas in the Pea Tunnel!

Carrots bursting out from under their cover!

And Garlic Scapes galore!

I'm blessed with work.

Hello, Kitty!

Thank You Mr. Adams

It's not everyday that someone has their dream come true....I feel really lucky that mine did.
And it would have never happened if it wasn't for Mr. Adams.

He spent many hours on the computer helping me find, "Just the right truck," he helped me with the financing, and he was my chief mechanic...

.....and tire-changer.

He did the lion's share of the driving.....

And ALL of the navigating.....and he picked a fine route! The smart phone came in really handy for that.

Although the truck has the original intact dash, the gauges and speedometer don't work....

So Mr. Adams found an app for his phone that has a speedometer, altimeter, and odometer on it. That thing was a lifesaver!!

We logged a total of 3858 miles, and we averaged 17.7 mpg.

 Mr. Adams welded on a passenger mirror bracket, ordered a heating/defrosting unit for us to install, and is going to help me get the truck undercoated.

So it's a shame that he couldn't be here in Sitka today when the barge arrived with the truck....

He had to go back to work a couple of days ago.

Hey, somebody has to keep this operation running!

So today I wrangled my good friend Carolyn into driving me out to the yard (which is on the other side of town) to pick it up. First we stopped at the barge line office to pick up the key.

"Ship in a can," means that I wanted the truck shipped in one of the containers, not strapped on top of the containers like this.....

photo courtesy of the world wide web

On the way out to the yard we had to make a stop to made a produce delivery....

Another good friend of mine, Renee Pierce, sells organic produce shares here in town. The produce is from farms in the lower 48, and she coordinates the weekly deliveries for about 100 Sitkans. Renee is kind enough to peddle some of my vegetables when I have extra.

After the radish delivery we headed out to the yard.....and there it was.....safe and sound.

I made a quick inspection to make sure no damages had occurred during shipping.

And yes, that is dirt on my knees.

Carolyn followed me as I slowly drove the heavily loaded truck toward home.

And as we drove toward our house it started to rain.

Welcome home little truck. I hope we make many happy deliveries together.

Thanks Carolyn, for helping me unload the truck and for cooking me dinner.

And thank you , thank you, thank you, Mr. Adams!

The Last Day

On July 16th we headed home. But before we left Albany we bagged up 2 bales of straw and threw them in back, and made one very important stop.....at Coastal Farm Supply where my brother, Brian works. We had to load up on duck food!

Don't judge me.  Duck food and straw are really expensive in Alaska. You have no idea.
(And yes, we looked like hicks.)

As we headed North to Seattle we took the Interstate.

It was by far the worst driving experience of the whole trip. As I mentioned before, we stayed on state highways for almost the entire trip....and for good reason.  The Interstate was hot, it was loud, it was fast, and the trucks were ridiculous!!!! I had been a little worried about wrecking the truck before we could get it home....and on that last leg of the journey I was downright paranoid.

 In Seattle we made our final stop at Washington Chain Supply to pick up some new anchor cable.

It was almost the straw that broke the camel's back!

Then we carefully drove the truck to Alaska Marine Barge Line, left it there to be shipped to Alaska, took a cab to SEA-TAC airport, and flew home.

Thumbs up for a successful, AWESOME, unforgettable trip.

I can't wait for the truck to get to Sitka!!

Day 13

On day 13 we headed North to my home town, Albany, Oregon....and farm country.

We knew we could only be there for one day, so we tried to see everybody and do everything all at once  There were people to see, places to go, and things to do!!

I visited with my family on the front porch of my parent's house....

And I got to see all of my greats...

While Mr. Adams drove the combine for my Dad, harvesting Fescue grass seed.

My Dad also has an extraordinarily beautiful stand of Wheat this year...

Isn't that gorgeous?

And then I took some of the greats down to my Brother, Brian and Sister-in-law, Kelley's house to see all of the free range chickens.....

The Greats love the chickens...

Look at Christian! His head is buried in the feed bag!

I was giving Kelley a hard time about how many chickens they have....I told her that she was going to have baby chicks all over the place soon. And then I came home,,, and found out that I have 3 ducks sitting on eggs in my weedy/brushy patches.... I guess that "She who laughs last, laughs best." I shouldn't have teased her!

Dad took Mr. Adams and I across the highway to the fruit and vegetable farm to pick up some Strawberries....

There's only enough room for 2 people in the cab of the truck, so Mr. Adams rode in the back.

Yummy!

Look at that.....my first Produce payload!!

It was a busy, wonderful day!