Spring Cleaning at the Ranch

These last few seasons of living full time up at the ranch have taught me that when I have overwhelm during summer, sometimes I just have to step back from a field or area and literally "let it go" repeating the farmer's/gardener's mantra of "next year I'll...."  

Last spring, while the snow was still deeply covering the ground, I decided to add annual cut flowers to our fields of perennial lavender.  I quickly discovered two things:  Every chore on the ranch is important; and we cannot be gone for any length of time during the summer without preparation.  We were gone in early June when the heat finally kicked in and I never caught up with weeding again for the rest of the summer. 

Now we are not talking pulling your garden variety of dandelions or grass out of flower beds here.  This is about wild sunflowers, mullein and various varieties of invasive thistle that will reach heights of 6 feet by the end of summer!  Or the creepy, crawly kind that develop killer spikes as it matures. 

Ideally, you do not want these plants to produce and let loose the tens of thousands of seeds that each plant are capable of.  In a perfect world, you want to keep your fields free from weeds throughout the growing season.  I also discovered quickly last year that it is much easier to weed said fields when it is not in the 70's, 80's or 90's with the sun beating down on you!  However, having said that, I just had to stop fixating on them and wait until I had more time and energy to deal with them.  

Well, here we are. The calendar says it is time to get the fields ready for this year's crop of new flowers and I am determined that we are going to have those weed free, beautiful fields of sunflowers, lavender and other annual flowers this summer!  

Time to begin farm gym training...wish me luck! 

Lesha