Practically Pioneers...

Richard's garden is coming along quite nicely. He has worked so hard to get the garden in. With all the rain we had during the first three weeks of June (We didn't see the sun for three weeks) it took multiple weeks to finally get the garden in and get the wildlife and bugs off our plants. Richard worked tirelessly to build a fence that will keep the deer, rabbits and other critters out. In the process we were caught under a number of drenching rain clouds that decided to dump all the rain they had on us a few nights in a row. But alas, everything seems to be growing (I had to plant to peas twice to get them to grow though). It's going to be a late crop , but at least there's going to be a crop, and a good one at that.



On days it doesn't rain Richard drives the jeep up to the garden and waters it using water he puts in our cooler. So far, between mother nature and his trips in the jeep our plants are growing.

The Gardner

Richard has become quite the gardener. Thanks to our nice builder he has a large plot of land to work with for a garden this year. Best of all, Richard can use as much of the land as he wants.

Last year Richard planted tomatoes, peas, lettuce, and onions in our flower beds. By the time fall rolled around and he could harvest his vegetables two of our tomato plants were so large that we couldn't walk down our steps or see the holly bush that was planted in the middle of them. Apparently the experience was so traumatic for the bush that it hasn't decided whether it is going to live or die. Right now the bush has a few green leaves on it, but at the moment it looks quite pathetic. Anyway, I have never seen tomato plants grow so big. We had hundreds of tomatoes last year. This year Richard has decided to plant 10 tomato plants. If any one of the plants turns out like they did last year then we are going to be feeding all of Bellefonte. It is fun to see Richard excited about his new favorite hobby. With all of the produce that comes from our garden Richard plans to do some canning--I guess that means I am going to learn how to can fruit/vegetables too--and give away the produce from our garden to EVERYONE he knows in Pennsylvania. Thus far we have planted between 80-90 onions, some lettuce, carrots, peas, cabbage, broccoli, and ONE tomato plant. Our only fear is that the critters will eat our garden. After clearing the land and just prior to putting in our furrows, we found some deer tracks through the garden. You never know when the critters will show up in this neck of the woods.