Half Full / Half Empty

What do you see when you look at a list of your accomplishments for a period of time?
a) a bunch of things you did that you feel pretty good about
b) a bunch of things you still need to do and you regret not getting them done too
c) a bunch of things that are "done enough" so you can continue with other tasks
d) all of the above

Well, if you run a diversified small farm such as ours, I will make a wager that your answer is going to be d) every time.

New Perennial Fruit/Veggie Area
When Valhalla (our new high tunnel) went up last year, we made sure to leave some space between it and the bush line to its North.  The main issue we were trying to avoid was the possibility of drifts accumulating and pressing on the North wall of the building.  We managed to handle that - but we were left with this odd sized area and we trying to figure out the best things we could do with it.

We got most of the rhubarb transplanted!

Our intended solution was to expand our asparagus bed in that area and add some rhubarb and grapes to our production.  Of course, we intended to 'get right to it' last year.  But, when push came to shove, it just didn't hit the top of the priority list.  This year, we spent time working to discourage the Canadian Thistle in that area.  Then, we actually managed to hill out two areas and transplant our year-old rhubarb starts, using some of our nice compost to encourage them to do well.

Now, as long as we only look at the South bed, we're good.  But, sadly, the North bed is still awaiting it's asparagus and grapes.  Alas!

Valhalla at Work
The new high tunnel did reasonably well for us this season.  We are still fighting some soil compaction issues that were a result of the build last year, but we figure that will work out over time.

Do I see lima beans?!?

Lima beans have long been one of Rob's favorite veggies that he gets only rarely.  So, we thought we'd do a trial of some limas in the high tunnel.  After all, they like warmer seasons and they need a bit more time than many crops.  The results were positive from our perspective.  But, they are not likely going to be expanded to production levels that will allow us to have limas for our CSA or for sale.  The returns just don't seem to be that great.  But, it sure was nice to have some fresh limas this Fall!

Taking a Moment to Appreciate Fall Color
I even managed to enforce a ten minute break when the sun was showing off the Fall colors in the tree lines to our North and East.  I'll take that as an accomplishment as well.  Of course, I wish I could have done this more often over the past year, but I'll admit that I did this enough so that I could continue to do what I needed to do!