May 1, 2025
Happy May Day!
On Sunday (April 27), Bruce and I went for a motorcycle ride in the morning. My physical therapist wanted me to take a short ride and report back to him on how I was feeling when I rode. In paying attention, I could feel where the pain started and moved at a low level. Since it was a short ride, the pain didn’t have a chance to increase.
After we got back, we decided to try out the burn barrel on top of an old stump. Bruce enjoyed getting the fire started. We burned up a lot of cardboard boxes and old dead blackberry canes.
While Bruce was busy feeding the fire, I took some pictures of the driveway circle.
Nox shows up in the background of many of these pictures.
We watched the fire until it was burned out.
I was walking around the backyard and noticed the white Irises have a purple tinge to the bud and at the base where the sails and falls meet.
I heard this woodpecker on our power pole.
I picked two strawberries. They weren’t as sweet as I had hoped. They were bland and watery. I am going to let the next strawberries stay on the plants a bit longer.
The komatsuna and mizuna are recovering from being harvested.
In the afternoon, I made a large cylinder out of chicken wire to plant potatoes in. This potato tower is wide enough not to tip over. I mixed up more soil for the potato tower.
I mix the dirt (1 part of each of these vermiculite, composted cow manure, Bama dirt pro mix and coconut core) with the shovel in the half barrels. To make mixing easier, I put all the ingredients into one barrel. I mix as much as I can in that barrel, then I shovel the dirt into the second barrel mixing it up more. What I really need is a cement mixer or something similar. (Work smarter not harder!)
I choose vermiculite instead of perlite since vermiculite holds water. In the heat, I want the plants to have as much water as they need, with less watering from me.
Bruce cut down the remains of the shattered tree.
It was hollow inside. It made a loud thump as it hit the ground.
I went back and planted one layer of potatoes in my new potato bin. I added leaves over the layer of dirt so I would have a head start on the next layer of my potato tower.
We had the two strawberries as dessert after dinner.
We relaxed on the front porch, watching the sunset.
Blackberry Homestead 
That tree looks just like me – empty inside! 😂
Are those white strawberries? They are a really good size. Will you put the others in yogurt or on ice cream?🍨
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They are white strawberries. We ate them not quite ripe. I had one today that was way more pink and it was very tasty.
We aren’t going to get a lot of berries the first year, so we’ll just eat them.
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How do you know when a white strawberry is ripe?
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It turns a lovely shade of pink and pulls off easily. White alpine strawberries turn a faint shade of yellow and are easy to pull off.
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Another busy day of work for sure! Interesting about the hollow tree.
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We were very surprised! Bruce even joked that a baby black bear could hide in the hollow tree.
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