Old Age and Health Issues

I read a post today from an aquaintance that she and her husband would like to give up the farm due to "old age and health issues."  Unfortunately, I think she is younger than I am!

My DH had a hip replacement last Tuesday.  The weather in our area has been snowstorm after snowstorm after snowstorm.  We have been waiting on spring to come.  Finally, on Saturday, the snow ceased and the temperatures soared up to the mid-60's.   He was riding down our dirt road on the tractor, with a walker up behind the seat in case he had to walk home.  I could say something here about being irrepressable, but I will refrain.  After his joyride on the tractor, he insisted that I rototill our garden, so that I could plant the onion sets/plants that had arrived in the mail two days prior. 

I think he has cabin fever from being confined in the hospital. 

He needed to move a car out of the way in the garage in order to get the rototiller out.  He started walking out to the garage with his walker.  Having two replaced hips myself, I knew that he was overdoing it already, just to walk through the uneven ground to the garage.  I knew I could not dissuade him, so I got the other set of car keys and walked quickly to the car to take it out.  After I got the car out of the garage, he started the rototiller (I have a hard time pulling the starting cord.)  I walked it over to the garden.  Luckily the ground was smooth in the section I rotated into onion plants this year, having been tomatoes under a weed barrier last year, and the tilling was smooth as I walked through the garden.  We have a Troy Built "Pony" model tiller, and when I bought it, the seller demonstrated walking alongside it and holding it with one hand.  I was able to do this in the garden plot.  The problem was, that when I reached the border, the tines found the sod of the lawn, and the tiller lurched out of my control, before I released the controls.

After he watched me running twice through the garden, he said "Get out of the way!" and grabbed the tiller controls.  I knew this would be too much for his healing hip joint.  I started screaming at him "NO! NO! NO! and turned the control to "Stop", but he immediately turned it back to run.

He took a turn through the garden up and back.  Then he stopped the tiller.  I knew this was going to be a problem.  It is the eternal battle of the sexes, brawn versus wisdom.  Wisdom won out, or maybe it was pain.  He ended up staying in the chair on Sunday with ice pack on his hip.  The tiller is still in the yard, since I can't start it to move it.

My own knees were swollen on Sunday. I have already had two hip replacements, and I am pending knee replacements, they are bone-on-bone.   I did not feel like planting onion sets on Sunday. But today, I took a couple of arthritis-strength Tylenol, and some Alleve, and I braved the elements to actually plant the onions. 

I used a long twine attached to a staple to mark my row.  The first row, I tried to get on my knees to plant, but it proved to be too much.  I stretched out prone on the ground, and used my fingers to create planting holes for the onion sets.  I scooted along with my leg, as if I were swimming along the lawn.   It took a long time, and it was uncomfortable.  I decided to try a different method for the second row.  I set the twine marker over about 8 inches, then used a hoe and a rake to create a furrow.  I set the plants about three inches apart in the furrow. I used a lot of my yoga poses to bend over and set the plants in the furrow.  After I completed the setting, I used the hoe and a rake to firm the soil around the plants.

This was fairly successful, less painful and took less time than scooting along the ground.  I repeated for the third row, just as it started to rain. 

Hopefully some of them will survive.

St. Patrick's Day 2018

Today is the traditional day to plant peas and potatoes in my part of the world, if it is warm enough. Here is the view from my window - there is still snow on the ground.  Although it is sunny today, the ground is still frozen, so I will wait a little longer.   The last frost date here is the end of May, counting backwards 6-8 weeks for starting seeds indoors, would be the first two weeks of April.  Early season crops like radish and lettuce might also be planted earlier.  I am getting anxious!  Haven't ordered any seeds yet, I guess that is the next step.

Invasive Species Awareness Week

This is Invasive Species Awareness Week - and I have noticed the garlic mustard in my flowerbeds, drawing in the warm spring sunshine and building up sugar in its roots.  Time to get these plants is now, while they are small.  Don't wait for them to build up root systems and potentially spawn off new plants! 

The good folks at Ohio State University Extension service have created a number of Buckeye Yard and Garden Line bulletins about invasive weeds.  Here is a link to one on bittersweet, which many people like for interior decorating.