Farm Happenings

Good News!!

2011-10-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

And some not so good,

Got the property tax bills in the mail, yuck. I have a big dislike of that pile of envelopes in the mail every year. Plus we got one more which I wasn't expecting. The school evidently did not do their paperwork to keep tax exempt status for the school property so I got the bill. I was begining to stress about it (it's not a small bill) and trying to tell myself all morning to let it go. Easier said than done. But I finally decided to listen and give it up to God aand guess what? By the end of the day I had a call from the school saying they were working with the county on getting it taken care of. Thank You!!!

On the good side, we found out that there is a chance C's team may make it to playoffs this season. I was very surprised. They have to win this Saturday's game against Milwaukie. I looked them up and they are 0-7. C also happened to see it and said sweet we'll beat them. OH NO!! :(
We needed to have a talk about not getting over confident and cocky because they have lost all season. I told hm it would make their day if they could keep us from the playoffs. Do you ever get the feeling that what yo said went in one ear and out the other? I sure did. Hopefully Coach will give them an earful at practice tomorrow.

Looks like we'll have a freeze tonight. About time, we've had some frost but not a good freeze. That should sweeten up the kiwis. I got enough picked to make a batch of Jam. It sure was good, been hearing the toaster going off all evening as the kids are digging into it. Speaking of freeze I need go sync the thermometer so I can find out how cold it gets. And it is bedtime. So I'll be taking at ya all later.

Finally Friday!!

2011-09-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

What to do today, I actually really need to get a field sprayed for weeds before the rain starts. We thought it was going to be raining by tonight but it looks as if it has been pushed back. I need to take advantage of it. Also need to get some tomatoes picked at least the ones that are close to being ripe. I hope that will help the others ripen up and I really should do some more shearing. A little bit everyday and I will eventually get done.

This afternoon will be filled up with football and errands. Have to run farm donations down to town for the volunteer fire fighters and to the FFA for their dinner and auctions coming up. Going to throw in a donation for the CSA and hope that might help drum up a little bit of business or at least some interest for next year. Then it is practice and the homecoming game. # has to go to do a presentation during halftime for the youth football program. Then its home, bed, get up and get ready for a game in Estacada. After the whooping they got last week I hope they will pick it up and kick some butt tomorrow. They can do it, they just have to get it together. I'd like to see # get some good sacks.

Oh one last thing, I've seen where people don't put the names of their kids on here and I think that is a good idea. So I give them all sumbols. I'll leave it up to you to figure out who is who. Or you can just ask me.

The first family post

2011-09-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hey,

So this will be a quick post, it is getting late and the bed is begining to call. I don't want to miss that since the last few nights I have found myself laying awake around midnight wishing I could go to sleep then waking up at 5:30 to the alarm wishing I could go back to sleep. :(

Was a rainy fall feeling day today. Did a quick browse out to the garden. Everyting has stopped, no slowing down or gradual die down of growth, it is done. I was hoing to get a couple more weeks of cucumbers and summer squash before it all ended. Time to get the hoops and cloth back over the things I want to ripen. I did finally get enough tomatoes to can 2 canners for us. The CSA people have all their canning veggies so the rest belongs to me. I would really like to hit my 100qt goal this year. We're 14 closer to that woo hoo!...? Spent several hours shearing Christmas trees, but weenied out when the blisters started to form on my fingers. Tomorrow its tape and hopefully batting gloves (if I can find them) to make it less painful. That is if my arm will work, it is pretty tired tonight. Finished up today at football practice with C. They had a bad game on Saturday, the boys weren't "feeling it" and played badly, more like the 3/4th team instead of the varsity players. They spent some quality time pushing the coaches son around on the sled. Hopefully the will "feel it" this Saturday when we play Estacada.

A Change of Plans

2011-09-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

I have obviously been doing badly at keeping up with this blog as a farm blog. I have been using a blog on wordpress for farm stuff and think I will continue to do so. So my intention at this time is to turn this blog over to a family blog to help me keep family members who I should be calling more in the loop of waht is happening around this zoo we call home.

That being said, if you were following this blog (or what little I have wrote) for farm stuff please check us out at snowlinetreefarm.wordpress.com or look us up on facebook"snowline tree farm" those two places will have the most up to date info on what is happening farm wise for us.

Thanks
Denise

Long Time, No Write,

2011-03-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

I have not updated this for quite some time. For quite awhile I had a hard time even accessing this account. Too many passwords for my brain to remember.

We are waiting for winter to get over with. Even as I write this I look outside and see snow falling out the window and the piles of it left over from the last snowfall earlier this week. Does not feel like March.

Well it is time to get going, I hear horses starting to tell me it is food time and the ducks will soon be chiming in. This must mean I have had enough coffee and it is time to work. I think today is a good day to do some greenhouse work.

2010-07-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

SummerYule is just around the corner

For everyone who wonders just what do tree farmers do when it is not harvest time we have the opportunity for you to find out. The farm will be open weekends for SummerYule.

This is a program designed along the lines of the Fruit Loop (like the one in Hood River) where you can visit several farms and see the day to day operations. Only with us you're checking out Christmas Trees, not fruit trees.

We will have a hay ride and give you a tour of the farm, including parts you don't see during Christmas season. We'll show you what we do to the trees to shape them and explain a bit more about our work here. If you would like you can pick out your Christmas tree we'll tag it and save it for you (a deposit is required to hold a tree). You can even trim your tree so it looks the way you want it to. This is your chance to get one of the first picks of the entire farm.

Fresh produce, flowers, and eggs (depending on how well the girls are laying) is available for purchase. We hope to have some local crafts in the next couple weeks. If weekends don't work for you, call or email and we can schedule a time for you to visit during the week.

Bring a picnic lunch and come enjoy the farm in a whole new season!

May Showers.....of Snow

2010-05-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

Today is not a typical May morning,

The birds are singing, I hear the humming birds at the feeder and I even hear frogs croaking. But I see snow! Not a lot, but enough that the ground is getting a skiff of white on it. This is one of the few shots I got before the batteries died in the camera. Would'nt you know it, couldn't find anymore. They were probably eaten by the battery monster called Wii. It's a chilly 33 this morning, so I should go crank up some heat in the greenhouse to keep everything in there happy.

The greenhouse is full of starts of every variety just waiting for a bit more warmth so they can get hardened off and put in the ground. Evidently that is not supposed to happen yet. The forecasters are saying not much longer for this.

I hope they're right.

What a day!

2010-03-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

Woke up to a couple of inches of fresh snow this morning (the picture is from last night just before dark). This is a good reminder that it is too early to plant vegetable outside yet; no matter how nice it has been in the past few weeks.

BUT....it is time to plant Christmas trees so I went to Weyerhauser to pickup seedlings and managed to lock my keys in the pickup when I stopped to get some milk. Several hours later and several dollars shorter I arrived home to snow still on the ground, think planting Christmas trees needs to wait until drier weather. For now it's back to the greenhouse; lettuce, broccoli, kale and spinach are coming up along with something else I forgot to mark, but it is too little to tell what it is. Sometime in April we shold have a small spring basket for the CSA subscribers.

There are still 2 more spots open for CSA if you are considering signing up. Contact me for more information on prices and what is included in the CSA subscriptions.

We got our first batch of babies for the spring. 5 Cochin chickens. Turkeys come in a couple of weeks and then hopefully a few ducks if I can find them. All the peeping is cute, but not in the middle of the night when you're trying to sleep.

Spring is Here

2010-02-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Went outside last night and could here frogs in the horse pond. Have been hearing an occasional croak, but this was a full chorus. The daffodils are also in bloom, so we have one more snow (it always snows on the daffodils) and then that will be it. Spring is coming much ealier than normal. The daffs don't normally bloom till later in March.

But this means garden season is almost here. Just finished planting early lettuce, spinach and a couple other cold crops in the greenhouse. Today we're working on finishing up building raised beds in the garden. I will take their temperature in a couple of days and maybe get some early peas in.

That makes this a good time to remind anyone who was interested in a CSA with us that there are 3 spots left for this year. I'll explain more about the CSA in a later blog. Or, you can check out that page on the website ( www.snowlinetreefarm.com ).

I smell banana bread, time to check the oven.

Snowing

2009-12-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

Good Afternoon,

A few people had called asking if we would be open today, so I thought I should post a weather update.

Our snow showed up several hours earlier than what the forcast said. Everything is white, very pretty and wintery. The temperature is currently 33 so it is chilly, be sure to bundle up and we'll throw a couple extra blankets out for the hay ride and to warm up with by the fire.

Road is still in good shape, just wet. I expect we'll hear the snowplow come up the road in a few more hours.

The pictues I posted with this are ones I just took a couple minutes ago. Not enough snow yet for sledding or snowballs, but maybe in an hour or so we'll have enough to play in.

No More Ice!!

2009-12-19T08:48:00.000-08:00

No ice this weekend. Just drizzle.

Everything is wet, but the roads are good. It is not even very chilly this morning. The weather says it will stay fairly warm today, but unfortunately it will be wet for the majority of the day.

Dress for rain, we'll have the coffee on and a fire going.......

Frosty Morning

2009-12-13T08:50:00.001-08:00

It is a chilly 28 up here on the hill this morning. My weather reporter from Molalla said it was 31 in town. The crew isn't up here yet (I let them sleep in late) for a road report, but I am assuming that there are icy spots on the road this morning. In a couple of hours I expect it to be pretty nice up here. Brisk, but nice.

I see blue sky in the west and almost over the house so it should be warming up enough to melt the roads soon. Watch out for the corners and the shaded spots. Especially about a 1/2 mile past the fire station (going past the run down yellow house) and just past the log house. The dip and corners by Hardy road also stay a bit icy longer because of the shade.

Other than that it looks to be a beautiful day. It will be a bit muddy because of all the rain we had yesterday so boots would be a good idea, we'll have a hose out if you need to wash off boots before you go.

Hope to see you later on today.

No Ice Here

2009-12-12T07:47:00.000-08:00

Goodmorning,

It's a chilly, drizzly, 37 degrees out this morning. The report from my crew coming up the hill said the road is wet but there is no ice on the way up the hill from Molalla.

I will update this as I hear from neighbors and friends during the day if the conditions change.

So for now, rain gear wouldn't be a bad idea and dress warm it is chilly, but at least not freezing cold like it has been lately.

Have a great Day
Hope to See You

Changes...

2009-12-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

Some things never change?? The weather sure isn't changing, yet. Bundle up if you plan on comming up for a tree.

It is still the same, cold, 12 this morning which is an improvement over the 9 we had yesterday. Sounds like this weekend could get a bit snowy. We will update this daily when we have snow or even more as conditions change. Check back if you plan on coming up to get a tree this weekend.

Have a good day, stay warm.

We've gone beyond chilly

2009-12-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

Good Morning,

Today is cold. 14 a few minutes ago. The forcast high for here is 25 today and 24 for tomorrow.

If you want to brave the weather, we'll come out and help you get your tree, roads should be good as everything is dry with all the wind we have been having. We threw a bunch of blankets on the hay ride to put over you and it helps a little bit. But warm layers and a good hat are definitely the dress code for the day.

One thing we can't do right now is bale your tree. When the trees get this cold the needles will shatter when the tree goes through the baler. We hope the temperature moderates enough by Wednesday to be able to bale again.

The sale sections of trees are clearing out fast. Most of the nobles are gone and we only have one tall doug left. The rest of the trees in the sale sections are grands. If you're looking for one of those, we got some good deals for you.

Have a good day, stay warm.

Chilly ...... and Windy

2009-12-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

It's slightly warmer today. But does it matter if it is 24 or 28? I don't think so when the wind is blowing. And today it is.

It's another beautiful day, sunshine wise. Every so often clouds come over and a flake or two of snow falls down. But it is cold. Tme for a fire and a cup of cocoa or coffee before you go on your hay ride to the fields.

There is not near the frost today so the roads should be pretty good, only the corners where it is shaded may have some leftover ice on them. But be sure to bundle up, the wind is blowing today and that makes the 28 seem more like 8. Again, a blanket to take out on the ride might not be such a bad idea, especially for the kids.

The one good thing we can say about all this cold???? The mud is frozen.

Have a great day.
We hope to see you soon

Chilly, Chilly Chilly

2009-12-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

And that's about all we can say about that.

24 degrees out this morning. But the trees have a coat of white from frost and with the sun comming up over the hills it makes for a pretty picture. In fact I should go take one and post it later.

We'll kick up the fire a notch today and keep the cocoa and coffee hot to help ward off the chill. One good thing today...we do not have fog. It's beautiful blue sky above us. After the sun comes up it should be a bit warmer, if you are standing in the sunshine.

If you are coming up today be careful on the road, especially the corners, they tend to stay a bit on the slick side for the majority of the day. Dress warm and I might even suggest a blanket to bring on the hay ride to bundle up in. We do have some blankets we leave on the ride but they are covered with hay pretty quick.

Hope to see you this weekend,

A jChilly Day

2009-12-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

It's a beautiful sunny day today, but it is cold.......29 the last time I looked.

The trees are covered with a heavy frost and will probably be pretty wet for the next few hours. If you are comming up, be careful on the corners on your way up the hill, especially the ones in the shade. They can stay slick for a good portion of the day in this type weather.

We are open every day during the week, and we have all the activities that we do on weekends. It's just a lot quieter up here during the week.
Have a Great Day

Weather Today

2009-11-28T06:28:00.000-08:00

It's dark outside!!
We can't tell much of what the weather is doing Except that it is cold. My thermometer currently says it is 36 degrees.
It doesn't look like it will get real warm today, only in the mid 40's. But it looks to be dry for the majority of the day, maybe some sprinkles in the late afternoon.

A great day to come up and get your tree.

Don't forget that you have to drive all the way up to Maple Grove School when you are coming to visit us. Our driveway runs along the chain link fence of the school grounds.

Hope to see you soon.
Have a great day.

It's Time!

2009-11-27T05:50:00.000-08:00

Today is the day, we're really open for you u-cuts. And the weather is......well not great right now.

A bit chilly and raining right now, but it is early and if the weatherman is correct this should end by later this morning. Let's hope he is right. It doesn't look like the temperature is going to go up much today. It's 38 out right now and the forecasted high for us today is 41. It has been raining all weekend, so be sure to wear shoes that can get muddy, there is plenty of it right now.

If you got a flocked tree from us last year or are thinking about one this year, we have improved our flocking booth. We can get a medium flocked tree dry in about an hour. That's long enough for you to get warm by the fire and enjoy a cup of coffee.

We hope to see you up here, if not this weekend then in the next couple of weekends.

Thanks for Checking with us.

2009-10-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!

I have the new website up and running. Lots of time trying to figure it out and after waiting on the phone for 45 minutes it took the guy about 2 minutes to get me up and running. I have no doubt he was probably shaking his head at my "internet skill" Now the big question is can I update it in another week or so? I hope so.

It is finally feeling like fall. Been raining hard and it's cool (temp wise), in fact this morning with the hard showers the rain was turning a bit "chunky". This will give the trees a good drink and the cold will help set the needles so the tree can last longer in a house.

Check out the new website and let me know what you think.

2009-09-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

We finally have some rain!! Bummer for everyone who is out camping this weekend.
What a great thing to get everything watered and not have to do it.
Fall is fast approaching and there is lots of work to do on the trees and in other places to get ready for harvest. We hope to have a better year this year. As long as the wether holds it should be better seeing how we lost the last two weeks of the season.

Well it is off to get ready for a family BBQ tonight.

Hot Summer Days

2009-07-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's way too hot out there. These are the days we are in the field at daybreak, take the afternoon off and then go back out in the evening.
The trees have been growing like crazy, but willnow slow down since the summer heat is here. This time of year we are busy with trimming and taking care of any aphid outbreaks that might show up. As soon as the tops harden up a bit more it will be time to tie up any top that is not standing straight. This tends to be a long process, mostly because we have to drag the big orchard ladder through the fields.
It's also time to begin thinking about harvest coming in a few more months, mostly looking at numbers and what field I think I can clear out for a new rotation. We should have 2 or 3 sections of trees that we will offer at a discounted price so we can empty the field and start over. Check out the website for more info on that.

The thermometer says it is a cool 80 degrees outside, so it is time for the evening work session.

Still Snowing

2009-04-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

It's a snowy wet day so I figured today would be a good day to begin this blog thing. Hopefully this will be the last of the snow.......after it finishes tonight and tomorrow. The weather is calling for it. It has to snow on the daffodils before it is done for the spring. We've got that.

There is tons of work to get done. I still have a few sections of nobles to get trimmed and I have yet to make it down to the bottom field of grands to check their tops. I also seem to find more things to fix every time I walk through a section. As soon as it dries up I will go through every section ....... on the tractor...........and then I'll find lots to do but you can't do it while your going by.

The weather is supposed to be great this weekend 70's in the valley, that means 60's up here...and I will be in McMinnville at an OHSET meet. Should be working and I'll be watching horses run fast (in 15 second sprints). Oh well it's the last meet and it is fun to watch.

Ooops, I see a break in the sky and the sun is comming out. Think I will go take advantage of it.