Tater Time and Other Garden Updates

One thing I really enjoy about planting a garden each year is the opportunity to experiment a little with new crops or new varieties of crops. I do still find myself planting some of the old standbys that my grandfathers grew, but I also enjoy the chance to try new things. This year, one of my experiments was growing potatoes in our garden. I remember my grandfather growing potatoes when I was young, but we had never tried them ourselves. Since I had never grown potatoes before, I decided to experiment with a few different varieties to see which ones yielded best and also which ones (if any) we preferred over the others when it came to taste.

Planting Potatoes - March 2013

I knew from my years working at the local hardware store that most people in our area planted Kennebec potatoes, so I decided to do a full row of those. I also planted a half row of Yukon Gold and half a row of Red Pontiac potatoes to add some variety. Having never grown any potatoes before, I was a little anxious to see the results. We planted our potatoes back in mid March, and yesterday was the big day when we would finally dig the vines up and see the results.

Kennebec Potatoes

The first row we dug were the Kennebec potatoes. I was fairly impressed with both the size and yield that we got from our vines. There were several that were big enough to make some nice sized baking potatoes, and lots of smaller ones that will be good for mashed potatoes or other uses. Overall I'd say that the row yielded between 40 and 50 pounds of potatoes from 5 pounds of seed potatoes.

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Next up were the Yukon Gold potatoes. I didn't expect to get as many of these or the Red Pontiacs as we did of the Kennebec because I only planted roughly 2 1/2 pounds of seed potatoes of each of these varieties. I was pleased with the size of the Yukon Golds, but each vine only seemed to have a few potatoes on it. This could have been due to any number of factors, but overall this year the Yukon Golds were my lowest yielding potatoes. I was pleased with the size of the potatoes I did get, so this was a case of quality over quantity.

Red Pontiac Potatoes

The last of the potatoes to be dug were the Red Pontiacs. Right away I was impressed by both the size and the number of potatoes that were on each vine. I had read that this variety of potatoes does well in heavier soil, and even though we have added compost to our garden to help loosen the red clay it still makes things a little less than ideal for potato growing. Overall, I would say that the Red Pontiacs were the highest yielding of the three varieties that we planted. We got almost as many potatoes from a half row of these as we did a whole row of the Kennebecs. These potatoes also seemed to be larger on average than the other two. Overall, my wife and I were pleased with the results of our first potato crop, and we're already making plans to grow potatoes again next spring.

Total Harvest L-R Kennebec, Red Pontiac, Yukon Gold

Once all the potatoes had been dug, I tilled up the area of the garden that they occupied this morning and planted some Beauregard sweet potato slips in their place. I had tried sweet potatoes last year, but I think a combination of late planting and a little bit of neglect on my part with keeping weeds out led to us only getting  a few very small potatoes off the vines. This year I'm going to try to do a better job keeping up with them, and hopefully between that and an earlier planting we will see some better results. 

Sweet Potatoes

Potatoes aren't the only thing coming out of the garden lately. I harvested our onion crop on Tuesday, and as in the previous couple of years, the Georgia sweet onions that we plant did well. This year I did have several onions bolt and flower, something that hasn't happened to me before. I don't know if the warm then cold then warm weather we had earlier this spring was the culprit, or if it was all the rain, or if it just was something that was bound to happen. Either way, we were happy to get some fresh onions.

A few of our onions

The rest of the garden is coming along, and it shouldn't be too much longer before some of our other crops start coming in. I picked the first yellow squash of the year this morning, and also saw some nice sized green tomatoes on the vines. There were also a few small peppers on the pepper plants, and the cucumbers and cantaloupe vines were blooming. The corn is about chest high, and the watermelon vines are starting to run. It is an exciting time of year to be gardener!

Green Better Boy Tomatoes

Crookneck Squash

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

Fishing and Hiking a New (Old) Spot

This past weekend I decided at the spur of the moment to stop by a state park in the next county over and do a little looking around. When I was young, my dad and I would often go here and fish in the lake, or sometimes hike some of the various trails. It had been 20 years or so since I had last been here, and I'm not really sure why it has taken me so long to return to a place this close to home.

On Saturday, my wife and I stopped by the park on our way home to see how much things had changed since I was last there. One thing I noticed right away was the new looking visitor center, which we entered to look at the exhibits. This area is fairly unique in that it is what the park called a low mountain Piedmont ecosystem. There's not any trout in the park, it's a little too low in elevation and the streams are too warm, but I was surprised to find out that rhododendron does grow on the north facing area of the mountain. Another interesting fact I discovered at the visitor center was that the area served as an artillery practice range during World War I, and the mountain was the backstop for the range.

After learning a little more about the local ecosystem and history of the area, we decided to go for a walk around the trail that surrounds the nine acre lake in the park. I was surprised to find that there were only a few people out fishing on a nice Saturday afternoon. After speaking to a few of the fishermen, I found out that there were some decent sized bass in the lake, as well as bream. This was about what I remembered from my childhood fishing trips, and I did notice several bass in the shallows hanging around fallen trees and other structure.

The Lake

As we walked the trail around the lake, we got a chance to observe some signs of the local wildlife. The shallows were alive with small fish, and frogs were calling all around the lake. We saw a flock of geese from a distance, and my wife saw a black rat snake disappearing into the bushes. She was not as excited about this as I was, however. One new thing that I noticed at the park that I didn't remember from years ago was the signs of beaver activity around the lake. We didn't get to see any beavers, but there were several trees around the lake that had been felled recently by beavers. They are becoming more common in our area, especially in the last several years.

Beaver felled tree

After hiking the lake, and seeing fish, I decided it might be time to give the lake another try. I was surprised to find how clear the lake appeared, especially with all the rain we have had lately. On Sunday after church, my brother-in-law and I decided that with all the trout and smallmouth streams running too high to fish due to all the recent rain, we would give the state park a try and see if we could find some success. About the time that we arrived and headed to the lake, it started raining. We were there and it wasn't storming, so we decided to stick it out an hour or two and see if we could catch a few. To our surprise, there were a lot more people fishing in the rain than the day before when I had hiked around the lake. I didn't see any bass Sunday, but did manage a few small bream on an in line spinner. 

Bream in the rain

Even though the bass didn't make an appearance, it was fun to go back and explore an area that I remembered from childhood. I don't think I'm ready to give up on this lake after only one attempt, and that in less than ideal conditions, but I definitely want to come back and do some more hiking and exploring. The scenery and wildlife at the park are fairly unique, and I will be back soon. Maybe this time I will even be able to stay dry!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

The Spring in Pictures

Once again, my good intentions have run afoul of reality. Last time I posted, I mentioned that I intended to pick up the pace a little bit on this blog and try to do better than one post a month. Unfortunately, it hasn't exactly worked out that way. This spring has been a very busy time, and there are a bunch of blog posts that I meant to write, but somehow they never got done. Rather than write up a bunch of separate blog posts about things that have already happened, I figured that since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'd let the pictures from this spring do most of the talking for me. School is out for students on Monday, and for us teachers on Wednesday this coming week, so hopefully the fishing and blogging will both increase, but this time I've learned my lesson. I'm not making any promises. 

Anyway, on to the pictures! I've tried to put these in chronological order, more or less.

Rainbow Trout Triple Threat

I've done a little bit of fly tying off and on, but it seems to really have slacked off with the start of warm weather. I'm a little afraid that I'm going to be tying a half dozen here and a half dozen there before fishing trips this summer just to keep up with what I need.

The Front Yard Oak Tree

Early this spring, we had to have the big water oak in our front yard cut down. It had been lightning struck not long after we moved in to the house, and it made it another year or two but was starting to die and large limbs were falling out. I hated to cut this big tree, because my grandparents planted it around sixty years ago when they built our house. I hated to see it go, but at least the wood will help warm the house this coming winter.

Opening Day Tom

One of the blog posts that I fully intended to write that never got completed was about opening day of turkey season. I was lucky enough to harvest a nice tom around 2:00pm on opening day, and it was one of the more exciting hunts I've ever had for turkeys. 

Trent's Turkey

My hunting partner (and brother-in-law) Trent also had success on opening day, harvesting a nice tom late that afternoon.

The garden not long after planting

In between the craziness that is turkey season around our house, we managed to get our garden planted. This year we're trying potatoes for the first time, and it shouldn't be long before its time to dig them and see how we did. We also planted corn, squash, zucchini, sweet onions, cabbage, jalapenos, cayenne pepper, bell pepper, banana pepper, cauliflower, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumber, watermelon, and the sweet potatoes will be planted as soon as the ground dries out enough to plow one more time.

Trina with a bream

My wife Trina has gone fishing with me a few times so far this spring, and I'm ashamed to say tends to out fish me most of the time.

Monster Bream

Lots of rain and lack of time have conspired to keep me off of the trout and smallmouth streams these last few months, and what fishing I've done has mainly been at a small pond that is tough to fly fish because of it's size and location in the middle of the woods. I'm not going to complain about the rain, but it does seem like the rivers have been blown out any time I get a chance to go here lately. I'm itching to break out the long rod and chase some trout, and I'm hoping to make that happen one day soon. In the meantime, I'll take my fishing wherever and however I can.

Backyard Visitor

This deer has been an infrequent visitor to our backyard for the last three years. It's always amazing to see her, and it never ceases to amaze me what can be seen just outside our windows.

Dragonfly

This dragonfly thought my wife's fishing rod would make a good spot to rest on a warm afternoon at the pond.

The Garden

This is a more recent picture of the garden, and hopefully shows some progress. I can almost taste those fresh tomato sandwiches and fried squash! It won't be too much longer now!

Blueberries

And one last picture from our little backyard orchard. I would've liked to post a picture of our cherry tree hanging full of ripe cherries, but unfortunately the birds beat me to them this year. The apples, pears, and peaches are all coming along, and the new blueberry bushes I set out earlier this spring are putting on some new growth.

All things considered, its been a busy but rewarding spring around here so far. I've missed writing on the blog, and hopefully there will be some interesting things to blog about in the near future. I feel fortunate to be able to do all of these things, and I still find it amazing that other people occasionally stop by here to read my ramblings. If I can stay off the river and out of the garden long enough to sit in front of the computer, there should be some new blog posts up soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

Out West

I was just looking at the blog, and realized that it has been a little over a month since I last posted on here. I knew it had been a while, but I didn't think it had been that long. I also know that I haven't been online as much lately commenting on other blogs, which I still love to read. I'll try to do better, hopefully with summer coming I can spend a little more time reading and writing. There's plenty to blog about here lately, from spring turkey hunting to the garden, and hopefully there will be time for some smallmouth and trout fishing soon. I've got several posts planned, so hopefully this place won't feel so neglected. I'll also try to keep the spam comments cleaned up around here, it had gotten pretty ridiculous while I was away. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this story about a fishing trip from several years back. As always, thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings. 
- Joseph

I started this blog with the intentions of rambling about North Carolina outdoor experiences, and this is still the main focus but I decided to write about ramblings a little further west in this post. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Jackson, Wyoming and see Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The aunt and uncle of one of my friends spend their summer in Jackson, WY volunteering at the Yellowstone Visitors Center, and they invited us to come spend some time with them fishing and exploring Yellowstone park. Of course, I couldn't make a trip like this without taking my fly rod along and fishing some of the famous water that I had heard so much about. I had just recently starting fly fishing at the time, so I threw the old familiar spinning rod in too as a backup. However, I only used the spinning rod once, and wound up fly fishing almost the entire trip. I think this experience helped solidify my interest in fly fishing, although I still have and occasionally use the very spinning rod that accompanied me on this trip.

Growing up in NC and having never traveled to the Rocky Mountains, I had no idea just how impressive they would be. My first look at the Tetons came when we landed at the Jackson Hole airport. I had no idea that mountains could be that high! This was when I began to realize that I was in a very different landscape than I was used to.

Fishing the Green River

My first experience fishing in Wyoming was at the Green River near Pinedale. This was a completely new experience to me, fishing a large river in the middle of a prairie setting. Where were the rhododendron and hemlocks that always seemed to catch my fly? I didn't catch any of the huge trout that my friend's uncle, who we were staying with, had sent pictures of before our trip. However, I did manage my very first trout outside of NC, a small brown that took a Royal Wulff. I remember that trout well, because it was my first western trout and I had actually tied the fly I caught it on. At that time, I had just began tying my own flies and I was worried that my flies wouldn't be good enough to catch fish, especially out west.

First Wyoming trout

This trout, and a few others, helped build my confidence that maybe I could catch a few trout on this trip. I also had the experience of catching a whitefish, something that I had never seen before. After fishing the Green, we headed back to the camper to plan our trip into Yellowstone Park in a few days. In the meantime, we decided to try fishing the Snake River below Jackson Lake dam to see if we could catch our first Snake River fine spotted cutthroat trout.

Snake River

The Snake River was the next place I fished in Wyoming, and I will never forget the experience. As we were fishing, I witnessed a bald eagle fighting with an osprey over a very nice trout. That aerial battle distracted me from the fishing for several minutes, with the end result being the trout was dropped in the water and both birds went fishless. This alone would have made the day for me, but there were trout rising and I had to figure out how to catch one! Catching a cutthroat was one of my main fishing goals on this trip, because I knew it was possibly (hopefully not) a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Finally, I had some success fishing with an elk hair caddis. I missed a nice trout, and then a few casts later I had my very first cutthroat! It wasn't very big, but it was a Snake River cutthroat trout, and that made it a trophy worth remembering.

Snake River Cutthroat Trout

After the Snake, it was on to Yellowstone! As much as I love fishing, I only fished about half of the days we spent in the park. The scenery was just too much to miss. Elk, buffalo, and deer were everywhere, and we even got the opportunity to see wolves from a distance one evening in the Lamar valley. We saw all the major sights while we were there - Old Faithful, the Old Faithful Inn, Mammoth Hot Springs, the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake, and more mud pots, fumaroles, hot springs, and geysers than I can recall the names of.  I have tons of pictures of the park, but since this blog is focused on hunting and fishing, I will spare you most of the pictures of geysers, waterfalls, canyons, and critters. However, I can't help but include a few before I talk about fishing in the park.

We have arrived!

Local Traffic

Upper Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

Old Faithful 

When we explored the area around Yellowstone Lake, one interesting feature I saw was what is known as the Fishing Cone. There are geothermal features all over Yellowstone, and this one was basically a hot spring inside a cone in the edge of the lake. According to the information sign, in the old days fishermen would cook the trout they caught in the lake by simply dropping them into the boiling water in the spring! Of course this has not been allowed for many years, and I'm pretty sure that all cutthroat trout are catch-and-release only in the park now, but it could be an interesting solution to the lake trout problem in Yellowstone Lake!  

The Fishing Cone - Yellowstone Lake

After sightseeing around the park, we decided to do some fishing. I don't know about now but at the time a 3 day Yellowstone Park fishing license was $15, which seemed like a bargain compared to most out of state licenses! We started off fishing the Madison River inside the park, but were skunked. I saw fish, and I saw some very nice ones, but I couldn't figure out what they wanted to eat that day. After giving the Madison a try, we moved on to Soda Butte Creek to try for some Yellowstone cutthroat trout. This was a little more like what I was used to, a small stream with eager trout. 

First Yellowstone Cutthroat

We were able to catch several cutthroats in Soda Butte, and they reminded me of the wild trout in our mountains. They didn't seem too selective about fly pattern, but they were cautious and spooked if you got too close or made a sloppy presentation. I was thrilled to be there, catching a new species (and subspecies) of trout, and in Yellowstone! In fact, I was so focused on the fishing then that I didn't notice I had company until my friend's uncle showed me this picture that he made while I was fishing.

I'm ashamed to admit I didn't see this deer

I'm just glad that it was a deer and not a grizzly! This trip was one of the highlights of my fishing career, and I tell my wife often (probably more often than she wants to hear) that we need to take a trip back out west so she can see the incredible sights (and I can fish!). I have no plans to ever move away from North Carolina, but I do think that anyone who has not been to Yellowstone or the Rocky Mountain west owes it to themselves to see it at least once in their life. If you are like me, once will not be enough!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

Farm Pond Fun

Farm ponds are where I first learned to fish, before I knew anything about fly fishing or trout, and I still enjoy getting to fish places like this. They are small enough that I feel like I can learn a few of their secrets, but big enough that I can't ever get too confident. I've had some wonderful days on ponds, and then I've had other days when it seemed like there were no fish anywhere. It seems like more and more I'm drawn to moving water, whether its a trout stream or a smallmouth river, but I've never lost my love of farm ponds.

After trout fishing last Tuesday, I decided to change things up on Wednesday after I got an invitation to do some fishing at a farm pond with a friend of mine. It seems like I'm fly fishing for everything more and more these days, from trout to smallmouth, but on this trip I went back to my roots and grabbed the ultralight spinning rod. We were both fishing for whatever wanted to bite, with the hope of catching some crappie along the way.

Largemouth Bass

We took my friend's john boat and a couple of paddles and made our way back to the pond. I started off fishing a small inline spinner, but with the cool weather the fish didn't seem aggressive enough to be interested. Knowing that there were some nice crappie in the pond, I switched to a 1/16th oz jig with a curly tail grub in the hopes of getting a few crappie to bite. It turned out that this was the lure the fish wanted, and we both fished these the rest of the day. I'm no expert, and don't claim to be, but it seemed like the largemouth bass in the pond were possibly in a prespawn pattern. The bass were schooled up, and several that we caught had the look of carrying eggs. I was surprised at how many bass we caught on these small jigs, since in the past I've caught an occasional bass on these lures but the majority of the fish have been crappie and bluegill. Whatever the reason, the bass in this particular pond seemed to really like them!

Bluegill

We fished our way around the pond, alternating between paddling and casting. We did finally find what we were looking for, which were some of the nice crappie that we knew lived here. They seemed to be schooling around brush and trees along the edge of the pond, possibly also getting ready to spawn. Between the two of us, we caught several nice crappie, a bunch of bass, and some nice bluegill. It was one of those days that I dream about as a fisherman, where everything just seemed to fall into place. We were both talking as we fished about how days like this were few and far between, and the best thing to do was just enjoy the moment.

Crappie

It was a nice change of pace from trout fishing, and to be honest I had forgotten just how much fun a bass on ultralight tackle could be. We didn't catch any huge fish, although I did have one break my line that felt bigger than any others that I caught. It's always the same story though, the ones that get away are always bigger than the ones that get caught. It was a great day to be on the water, and I'm looking forward to doing some more pond fishing soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

Spring Break Trout Fishing

The school that I teach at has been off this week for our Easter/spring break, and I decided Tuesday to take advantage of the time off and pretty weather to catch up on some trout fishing. With my time being somewhat limited, I decided that a trip to South Mountains State Park would be my best option for some trout fishing close to home. I've been hoping to make it a little further west into the mountains to fish some of my favorite wild trout streams, but with some good Delayed Harvest trout fishing only 25 minutes from home, South Mountains is often where I find myself when I have a couple hours to grab a fly rod and get away. There are wild trout here also, but unfortunately I didn't have the time to commit to hiking to the areas they live. 

Getting Close

Another reason I think that I fish here so often is that this state park was my classroom when I was first learning to trout fish. The main stream of the Jacob Fork and one of it's tributaries are where I first figured out how to read water, wade, and occasionally catch a trout. It was definitely a time of trial and error, with a lot of error, lost flies, and skinned knees and shins from taking falls. It's also where I learned to appreciate felt soles on wading boots as opposed to the old tennis shoes I started out wearing. 

Jacob Fork

The day started out cool, but by the middle of the day the sun was out and the weather was comfortable. It won't be long before I will be leaving the waders at home and enjoying the cool water as summer's heat gets closer. I was surprised at the number of people that were here on a Tuesday, but then I figured that a lot of people were out of school and possibly had time off from work for Easter. There were also a lot of fishermen, but luckily I have fished here long enough to know of a few out of the way spots where I can usually have some water to myself without crowding other fishermen. I started out the day fishing nymphs, and found the trout seemed to be stacked up in pools together, as opposed to spread out like I'm used to on this stream. Several pools that have been productive in the past seemed to be empty this time, and other pools might hold a dozen fish. I started out the day with a nice rainbow trout that wanted to put on a show, jumping two or three times and making a few good runs before I brought him to the net. 

The Jumper

I worked this pool for a while, taking several brook trout and another small rainbow before I decided to head upstream in search of new fish and new water. I'm not sure if this is the case, but it seems like the majority of the spring stockings this year have been brook trout. They made up most of the fish that I caught and saw on my last few trips. After catching several trout on nymphs, and seeing a few mayflies in the air, I decided it was time to switch up and try to catch my first trout of the year on dry flies. 

Jacob Fork Brook Trout

I fished my way upstream using a Rio Grande Trude, an attractor dry fly pattern that I've had luck with over the years. I tend to believe that for the freestone creeks here in NC that I fish, presentation trumps pattern most of the time. We have lots of different insects, but not the heavy hatches that can cause fish to be selective. I have a hand full of similar attractor dry fly patterns that I carry and fish pretty much from spring to fall, with the exception being rivers like the Davidson that do see heavy insect hatches and lots of fishing pressure. I was excited to see that the fish were willing to rise for a dry fly, and I managed several more brook trout as I worked my way upstream. I also had a nice surprise in the form of a small brown trout that had the look of a wild fish. I'm assuming it came down from further upstream where there are some wild browns, and I'm basing my guess that it was a wild fish on it's size, color, and the fact that it had intact fins as opposed to the ragged pectoral fins I was seeing on most of the hatchery fish I caught. Either way, it was nice to catch a brown trout, and as a bonus catching it allowed me the rare opportunity to catch all three species of trout that inhabit the stream. 

Brown on a Rio Grande

After fishing a while, I decided to get out of the stream and go for a short hike along the trail that paralleled the river. It was a nice change of pace to just go for a walk and look at the stream from a different perspective. I was also happy to see that there were lots of small hemlocks growing beside the trail, because I've been seeing signs of the hemlock woolly adelgid in the park for the last several years. I'm hoping the hemlocks can survive this invasive species, both to provide shade for the trout streams, and also because they are an important part of the mountain ecosystem. 

River Trail

It was a nice day to get out and enjoy nature, and the trout were an added bonus. The hike and the fishing made for a great day outdoors, and I'm looking forward to going back soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph

Signs of Spring

While I truly enjoy blogging, I must admit that I've had a hard time lately keeping up with my own goals for updating this blog more than once or twice a month. To make things even harder, with Daylight Savings Time in full swing and the onset of warmer weather, it's been hard for me to find the time to sit at the computer and write about all the outdoor activities that I have been involved in. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm complaining, that's not my intention at all. With that said, I'll try to do a little better at keeping things current on here.

Rainbow on a Triple Threat

There are several things to me that herald the arrival of spring around my area of North Carolina. One of the first signs that spring is closing in is the end of the small game seasons, and the stocking of the Delayed Harvest trout waters in our state. I try (although it doesn't always work out) to trout fish year round, and my preference is for wild trout when I have the time to get to the places where they live, but with a Delayed Harvest stream in a state park only 25 minutes up the road, this time of year I tend to take advantage of the opportunities that I have close to home.

Trent's Brook Trout

  After rabbit season closed, and we had some warm days, I began to really get the urge to go check on the Jacob's Fork, and hopefully catch a few trout in the process. I will admit that I figured my odds were improved by the recent stocking a few days before, so I headed up to South Mountain the first Saturday of this month to give the fly rod a workout and scratch my fishing itch. The fish didn't seem quite willing to hit a dry fly yet, but my brother-in-law Trent and I did manage several fish on streamers and nymphs.

Delayed Harvest Brook Trout

It seemed to me that the NC Wildlife Resources Commission had stocked larger trout than usual, and we saw several large fish in the pools as we worked our way upstream. I had success fishing black/gold/tan triple threat streamers and a hare's ear bird's nest nymph, with about half of the fish coming on each. This trip was just the first of hopefully many to come as the trout fishing will only get better for the next month or two. Hopefully a trip to a wild trout stream will be in the cards before long.

Planting Potatoes

After I got my trout fishing fix, it was time to try to get this year's garden started. I had planned to try a few new early crops in the garden this year, along with the usual onions, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and leaf lettuce that I normally plant in early spring. This year I decided to add potatoes and English peas to the early crops. I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to get the garden plowed in time, because we've seemed to have an unusually wet late winter this year. Either that, or it's been dry long enough that this winter seemed wetter than usual. As a gardener, I would never complain about rain, but I will admit I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to plow until May! Finally we had several dry days in a row and I was able to get the garden tilled and planted.

I always get excited when it's time to plant the garden, and my wife was overheard making the comment to the owner of our local hardware store that I always get a little bit ambitious when it came time to plan out our garden. I guess I'm guilty as charged on that one, because I'm always thinking of new vegetables to try or new things to do with our garden. I really think that it must be something that gets in your blood, and I'm sure my grandfathers' are partially to thank for my love of gardening.

Speaking of being ambitious, my uncle gave me some blueberry seedlings that were left after he finished pruning and thinning his bushes, so I added 9 more plants to my blueberry bed that already had six bushes. As I was out checking on the new plantings the other day, I noticed our peach trees were starting to bloom and the apple and cherry trees were budding.

Peach Blossoms

I'm a little nervous that last night's below freezing temperatures may have harmed the peach blooms, but for the time being all I can do is wait and hope that there will be peaches to pick this summer. The muscadine vines have been pruned, and I think our little orchard is in the best shape it can be at this point. Now it's just going to take patience and a little help from Mother Nature.

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. The garden is started, the fish are biting, and the turkeys have been strutting and gobbling as their mating season approaches. It's a busy time for me, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Joseph