Have you ever been surprised by a discovery on a new job site? We were tilling a section in the front of the property where my ancestors started homesteading in 1861. Over the years, buildings were torn down, the second farmhouse was destroyed by fire, the majestic barns were stripped and burned as they were too old to repair. The footprints of most of the structures have been lost with time. We were preparing a section of land to receive over 600 spring blooming flower bulbs to take to Farmers’ Markets when the tiller struck something. It was a very large flat stone, the kind that they used to place at the doorway of a barn or shed. What building had been there? I called our family historian, Nancy, and asked her to check with her mother, Clara the last remaining aunt who had lived at this property before we purchased it. She told us of an old barn that had held the tractors and my Aunt Loretta’s car before it was blown over in a storm and the boys tore it down. Now all that is left is this stone. I love old barns so this is sad to me but progress to many others.
With a good tool we picked up from Buchheit, the boys tried to get the stone removed but it would not budge. We wanted to get the borrowed tractor back as soon as possible so we gave up and left the stone lay.
We spent the afternoon planting the 600 bulbs. David had tilled up the section, we had removed any clumps of grass that remained and he had carefully scraped the topsoil off the section to be planted to just the right depth. Standard practice with bulbs is to plant them twice the depth of their height so if the bulb is 2 inches tall, you plant it 6 inches deep. I decided to inter-mix the tulips in with the daffodils (as moles do not eat the daffodils since they are a member of the onion family) in the hopes that they will not find the tender tulips that they see as candy. I laced the ground with bone and blood meal and a liberal sprinkling of hot red pepper as well.
My good friends made what could have been an afternoon of drudgery into a joyful time of fellowship as we teased each other about who could plant the quickest. Each bulb had to be planted by hand to make sure it had good contact with the soil with the pointed end up.
We left the middle of the section devoid of bulbs so that I could start planting other flowers to cut and sell in spring. I could have planted another 200 to 300 hundred bulbs in the area tilled but ran out of funds for bulbs this year. I am keeping accurate records to see if I make a profit at the markets. I know I will have a great time meeting and talking to folks there.
When we were finally done planting to my satisfaction, David came back with the tractor and pushed the dirt back over the bulbs with the front loader. I hate to think about how long it would have taken me to hand dig the trenches for all those bulbs!
Buchheit had a great quality bulb in sufficient bulk to make my massive cutting garden a reality. I am so grateful for good friends who aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty on a cold day in late fall. I will keep you abreast of what happens as winter draws to an end and I wait in eager anticipation of the first signs of life this spring. Be blessed which means in Hebrew be happy! Sincerely Anne May
