Spring 2019 Currant Comparisons

This Spring has been constant change in the weather.

West Allis and Wausaukee Currant Gardens comparisons. 

   

The photo below is April 15 in West Allis.  

These two photos were taken April 25 of the Pink Champagne bush.  Leaves were opening and blossoms were starting to attract pollinators.  Nice.

Here we go. April 28.  Easter morning.  Pink Champagne under snow, in full bloom. 

May 19, 2019: 

There are berries forming beneath the spent blossoms on the West Allis currant bushes.  It may just be a good production year.

June 29, 2019:

This morning I took a few photos of the pink champaigne and red lake currant patches.  There has been a lot or rain this summer along with the unfortunate incident of the TruGreen tech spot treating my yard for broad leaf weeds instead of the neighbor's yard.  

I put a cheap plastic tarp over the the pink champaigne bush because the robins were camping out on the power line above.  The tarp is tied onto the porch railing and a couple of empty 5 gallon buckets.  It will catch in the wind, billow and make the noise plastic makes.  The robins do not seem to like that.

There is that fungus that the red bushes get in wet years.  The leaves will fall off in August, but next spring all will be back to normal.

Do you see the tons of berries???? My children suggested the market tent be put up to cover the plans while I pick this week.  Brilliant children.

The berries are on track to go to market in a week.  

July 1, 2019:

Red Lake, 5 days from picking for the farmer's market.  None too soon.  Lots of moisture.  Lots of overnight rain.  How pretty.

There is a fungus causing the leaf drop because of the rainy year.  It will not affect the current or future crops.

July 2, 2019:

Grandchildren knowing where their food comes from.

 Now on to the Wausaukee garden 

 May 11 - 14:
While Phil planted black raspberry canes from the West Allis yard, I re-tagged the currant bushes for variety.

Keeping the 12 + varieties of currants in order has become a challenge.  Tags made from strips cut from yogurt containers and marked with a sharpie faded and disintegrated in a year.  Next I stamped canning jar lids.  Those are rusting and the tie wraps used to attach are disintegrating..  Sean of Edible Acres cuts up old soda cans and writes on them with a dried up ball point pen over card board.  This embosses the thin aluminum and does not rust. I used nylon cord to attach to the plants.

After the loss of the entire Wausaukee currant crop last year Phil and I have been intentional about how to keep the woodland plants happy.

Soil tests were taken and the results are a little low in nitrogen.  All else is fine.

We have decided to focus on the moisture in this sand pit the berries are planted in.  Last Summer we top dressed with wood chips and very old cow manure..  The plan is to continue top dressing with wood chips as handsome distance runner works his way through the Aspen cutting and underbrush of the groves on this property.

The other thing neglected last year was keeping an eye on the weather.  I now check the weather report for this house daily.  If need be a trip will be made to water from the well until the berries are picked.  Here I am discussing berries when last weekend the leaves were just breaking through.

May 25, 2019.  Can you believe it???  Bushes in blossom setting berries.  We stayed until May 28 and the all day soaking of Memorial day.  Hurray, hurray!!! 

See the leaves?  See the green of the field?  See the berries beneath the blossoms just starting to set?  So much better than 2018 berry drop.  

This time last year all the berries were gone from the bushes.  Much better this year.  

This is the currant patch showing the large and small bushes along with the attempt at permaculture pathways to provide beneficial insects with a home.

June 26, 2019:
This is not the way I thought the season would go back in May.  No photos were taken this last trip north.  There is a mystery to be solved.  On 89 currant bushes there might be a total of 4 quarts of berries.  Half black currants.  No pink currants.  Look at the blossoms on the bush taken a month ago.  The blossoms should have produced a quart just from that photo.  

It is not the soil.
It is not the moisture.
Could it be some insect?  I am considering Fullers rose beetle / rose chafer.  Not sure what the bug is.  This dirt colored bug covered the plants last summer.  They are back on the bushes this last trip.  I thumped them off when I saw them.  Could they be depositing next year's eggs into the swell on the stem that will become next season's stringers?  Could the life cycle of this bug be the cause of the fruit drop?

When we put the bird netting over the bushes the week before father's day I was surprised by berries dropping when brushed.  NEVER, EVER saw that before. They were not dried up or discolored.  Were the tiny juvenile bugs eating at the connection of the berry to the stem, and later the stem?  

I need to find an expert.  But it seems I am quickly becoming the expert.  

June 30, 2019:
The photo above is from 2018, but shows what a rose chafer looks like in the currant patch.  Could this beetle be the cause of fruit drop??  

Since posting yesterday I've tripped over a YouTube channel by Stefan Sobkowiak.  He has developed a trio permaculture system.  It is worth trying in the orchard.  Nitrogen fixing.  Apple.  Pear or Plum.  Repeat.  The shrub story is rhubarb, Black currants, Red currants, Gooseberry.  

His premise is to grow a variety of food plants vertically, with the goal of abundance through diversity.

I've got the plants already.  Just not near each other.  Maybe planting the hardwood root cuttings under the orchard trees.  maybe splitting the rhubarb plants.  Maybe putting a shovel of the overgrown perennial garden from West Allis under each tree.  Then standing back to watch what takes.

Phil has been promoting putting some trees in the middle of the fenced in currant patch.  Is he two steps ahead of me?  I hope not, because he is binge-ing on shark fishing now.

Path to the Wood Chipper

Larry ordered a wood chipper.  It was the one he was looking at since the aspens were cut down last fall.  When the mail order company put it on sale he ordered it.  Happy Birthday, Mother's day, Father's day, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year 2019!!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Phil took down the overgrown honeysuckle hedge in West Allis.  That will produce a nice thick hedge in 19 months when we sell the West Allis house and practice material for the new chipper.  The photo is both husband and son testing the limitations of the tool.  This April 17 test drive provided chips for the West Allis garden.

The chipper had to be drop shipped to a truck depot.  Depots do not want your stuff clogging their docks.  There was a finite amount of time to pick up the new tool.  

The trailer was snowed in, in the Wausaukee garage for the winter.  The snow blower was in the West Allis garage.  Just the right size to fit on the trailer.  Too big for the SUV. 

My tough distance runner hand shoveled the snow on March 17, 2019 to bring the trailer back.  I want to say the snow had too much freeze thaw in it's history to move it with the snow scoop.  The tool used was a shovel.  I am going to guess and say it is the plastic one in the Wausaukee garage that now has a horizontal crack in it was his tool of choice.

Yes the distance is about 2 city blocks long.

  

March 30, 2019.  My first trip back to Wausaukee since I dropped off the SMILE milk cans in January. There is still snow on the ground in Wausaukee, but the driveway was clear enough for my car.

How to get fuel up the icy driveway

We are setting up a retirement home in the back woods of Wisconsin.  There is baseboard heating, a propane furnace and an insert in the fireplace that will heat the house.

My handsome distance runner checked the fuel tank on the other side of the house the first weekend of February.  He determined more was needed and I contacted Hot Flame for a delivery.  

In the next two weeks of freeze - thaw - snow- wind - drifting and deep freeze the truck was not able to drive up the steep driveway because it was too icy.  They called me on a Thursday explaining why my fuel tank could go dry, causing all kinds of other problems.  

The original plan was to have a girl friend's weekend away from everything.  Instead...

A few phone calls on Thursday, and the situation was understood.  

1- Marinette County has a free-to-all sand pile that was gone.  There was a need beyond anticipated (because of the thaw, freeze, snow) for the sand and it had been used up.  More was anticipated the following week.

2- Once the sand was available, Bob would re-plow the driveway to remove the drifts and spread sand.  I'll repeat, the sand was to be delivered in 5 - 7 days... if they could get through the next snow storm.

3- Then his wife (Phyllis) would call the fuel company to let them know the driveway was passable and they could make the delivery.

4- Ever hopeful the girls weekend was not shot, I called my cousin Barb.  She lives in the next town to the north.  I asked her if it was possible to get my car safely up and down the driveway.  

What happened was.

1- Barb called her friend Phyllis to check out what could be done.

2- Bob went to the county yard to scrape the last grains of sand available and plowed the driveway, leaving the sand behind.

3- Phyllis called Hot Flame.

4- Barb called me to let me know the driveway was plowed and sanded.

5- I called Hot Flame and was told the delivery was to be added to the list.

6- It must have been a short list, or the dispatcher is another friend of my cousin Barb.  The truck got up the driveway and the delivery person dragged the hose to the tank on the other side of the ranch style house.  (The path had drifted over to a point of 2 foot deep since handsome distance runner shoveled it on February 3.)  Fuel was delivered.  The tank did not go dry.  All is right with our world.  And the villagers rejoiced!!  This is because a whole list of remarkable people went the extra mile.

Handsome distance runner decided to investigate the house and would make the 3 hour drive after work on Friday.  The photos below are how he found the property.  How he left it was with the path to the fuel tank re-shoveled, and both the garage and house roofs shoveled.  Yes, that is a 5 foot snow bank between the driveway and the garage.

Think this through...soon to retire man, alone, up on a roof with a shovel in a situation that could have him sliding off and landing in a drift with no one around to see or know until the thaw in April.  Of course, that excited him even more.  

 Photo of house from the garage below:

 Photo of driveway from the road below:

In our conversations since, he has expressed a desire to have a Komodo (?) to remove snow when we both retire.

The End.

How I made a floor cloth

June 2, 2018: I love the look of the hickory hardwood floor but, it will need some protection in the high traffic areas.  The most high traffic area of the house is the dining room looking out the patio doors at the live entertainment provided by the local wild life.  To provide that protection I decided on a painted canvas floor cloth.

I purchased the canvas from Wholesale Arts and Frames 6839 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood, CA 91602   818 255-1400.  info@wholesaleartsframes.com   It is a presized cotton canvas normally used for stage screens.  I needed the 96" width to cover the space needed to protect the floor from scraping chairs.  Sail canvas only came 60" wide.  There was 6 yards on the roll in the photograph.  It looks like I may have an opportunity to do more than one floor cloth.  I will let you know latter if there will be one floor cloth for each season.

The width and length of the floor cloth was eyeballed and the roll was used as a straight edge to pencil mark the cut. 

8" was marked from the selvage edge and cut off.

 All the online instructions said to turn over the edge one time and top stitch.  This was not fun because the prefinish and weight of the canvas made it stiff.  The pressure foot was not able to keep the fabric under control.  I had to ssssllloooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwllllllyyyyyyyyy sew, supporting the fabric to keep it from sliding out from under the pressure foot.

Two coats of the base paint left over from the walls of the dining room were applied to the canvas.  I used package tape to attach a 2" paint brush to a broom stick.  It was braced by two wooded spoons from my kitchen.  Low tech is a good thing. A cheap plastic paint cloth kept the canvas from picking up dirt from the concrete patio. The mint green is leftover paint from the walls of the dining room and kitchen.  There were a couple hours of drying time between coats.

After the canvas was dry I loosely rolled the canvas, covering the beginning edge of the roll with the plastic to make sure the paint would not end up sticking to itself.  I brought the loose roll into the house anticipating overnight rain.

June 4, 2018: The plan is to put an 8" border around the floor cloth of currants on stems with leaves.  The border was described on the canvas in pencil.  It will be covered later with a 3/4" wide lattice.  For the background of the border I rag painted golden rod over the green to soften the background.  It was a windy day so heavy books were used to hold down the canvas while it dried.

I left the canvas outdoors until it was dry to the touch.  Then I moved it indoors to continue drying flat, undisturbed because we were returning to the other house and did not need to use the floor space.  Now I have to check the basement of the other house for leftover paint from other projects to use to paint the currants and leaves.

You may be wondering why the canvas is being painted outside on the patio instead of in the basement or garage.  There are actually four reasons.  1- the basement does not have the wonderful ventilation of the outdoors.  2- The patio door is a lot easier to navigate than the 12 steps with two sharp turns into the basement. 3- The garage is almost a football field away from the house, down a gravel and sand drive way.  Transporting the canvas un-damaged that distance would be tricky.  4 - There are all kinds of woodland creatures that like to visit the garage.  This last week is was a skink.  (not a skunk, although there are some around)  Mice, chipmunks, snakes and insects I do not recognize all like to visit the garage.  I don't want to chance one of them chewing or what ever on my floor cloth causing damage.

June 16, 2018: Last week I stayed in SE Wisconsin while my husband and son did projects on the retirement house.  Almost 2 weeks of drying time.

The small table was moved out of the way and the telescoping dinner table was pulled out and covered with new plastic tarp for the next steps of this project. All 7 leaves were needed.

I have a collection of photos taken of the currants from blossom to berry from past years.  They were printed up and spread on the floor cloth for reference.

The paint is artist's acrylic in tubes, purchased for the project.  I did check in the basement for paints from other projects and decided not to go that direction.  There were too many bases in enamel and oil.  Many were dried out.  

4 colors were used: White, red, brown and green.  The brushes came in a pack with chisel point and fine points. 

The lack of friction of the plastic tarp and the weight of the canvas required weights be used to keep the painting in place.  Note the hammer and bread board.  Polystyrene compartmentalized trays left over from some event years ago were used as my pallet.  An empty spice jar was used to hold water.

The lines of the border were painted using a blending of the brown and green.   The lines are not precise.  I've never been accused of coloring between the lines. 

The small paper plates were used for templates to outline the shape of the leaves in pencil on the canvas before I began painting.  There were two sizes of templates used.

June 17, 2018:  Color... The leaves were filled in color by color.  There were 3 rounds of the border, starting with the brown.  

June 18, 2018:  Here is the 3rd round of leaves with stems added.

 A few rustic bush branches were added in brown and white.  This pulled the floating leaves together.  Painting the berries began using a darkened red to define the strands, followed by the pure red of the berries.

There is no reason to stay within the lines of the border with the leaves and berries.  

 And... the green stems were added to the strands.

June 19, 2018:  This is the canvas drying after the 3rd layer of water based polyurethane. (1 quart)   This time I found a roller, cover and extension stick in the basement.  

It was brought into the house once dry to the touch to set completely while we packed up and came back to SE Wisconsin.  On Friday it will be put in place under the table and chairs, ready for the first spill to be wiped up.

Note the difference between the canvas in detail and in it's entirety?  I am an impressionist at heart with a love of the work that catches the feel of the subject.

2018 Gift Blankets

This is another year of celebrations. 

One tech school graduate who is now an official flight instructor.   This is a combination of deconstructed pre-used sweats and salvaging the letters to spell out the school name.  The back is lined in large pieces of red, black and white fleece.  The edges are finished with red, black and white left over sweat shirt fabric.  (This was a bad idea because it was too thick to make a respectable mitered corner.)

One high school graduate with a full scholarship to the crimson tide.  Blue taffeta back with red and white fleece front quill-o.  It folds into a easily transportable pillow using the pocket on the bottom of the blanket.  The 'Lucy' is added by trimming around a free needle cursive embroidery.

One new life expected in July.  The pre-print was too small on it's own, but popped when a 4" border was added along with super wide yellow rick rack trim.  The blanket was free needle machine quilted around the designs onto a green mini gingham back.  I love the wonky offset of the print.