Almost Two More Gardens - August 26, 2026 @goldenoakfarm
Published on HivePostify by @goldenoakfarm · Fri Aug 28 2026
East Shed garden all cleaned out
On Wednesday morning I was up around 6AM and worked on getting my post up. I wasn’t moving too fast and wasn’t even close to ready when my general helper got up at 7AM. I finished the post while she headed out to clean out the East Shed garden.
I had to make the kefir cheese before I went out. Once that was done I finally got ready and headed out. The first job was to bring the compost up to the house. I had brought the truck up the night before when we put mulch in the barn.
Photos by my general helper
She loaded up our instruments of destruction and totes and we headed to the barn. There was about ½ of the pile left. We pulled all the weeds and grass roots out and loaded our totes.
Back at the house they covered about ¾ of the South Herb garden. We headed back up and got the remainder of the pile raked up. There was enough to finish the South Herb garden and 1 tote went into the center of the New South garden.
She went back to finish the East Shed garden and I got organized to start the horrible West Shed garden. The invasive weed that is now in most gardens had really taken over since I thought I had cleaned it out in early April. It hadn’t been touched since.
Cleaned out April 5, 2026
The invasive weed has deep taproots but they aren’t sturdy and usually break when you try to pull them out.
I started on the right side and was trying to dig them out. But I was too tired after doing the compost, so I resorted to just clearing off the mess on top so I could see to dig.
My general helper had finished the East Shed garden and she came and got started on the left side.
Because I was so late getting outside, the sun had come up and the humidity skyrocketed. I couldn’t breathe well, so once I’d done the cursory clean off I stopped, got my photos and notes and went inside.
She cleaned some of the weeds out of the back of the garden while I got a shower. She got everything put away and got a shower and headed back to Boston.
I was really wiped out and tried to nap but mostly just read and dozed for 1½ hours.
I am currently re-reading the Little House books. I’m enjoying them for several reasons. First, I like how well she describes how things were done back then. Second, they are for children and have large print (I am now old, you know…). And third, I like the drawings in them. (Still a child at heart, I guess…)
It was to be another cool night, but only down to 60F, so I got the house open and was in bed around 8PM. But I couldn’t get to sleep until after 9:30PM.
On Thursday my #2 intern would be here at 8AM, and I hoped to be out finishing the digging in that awful West Shed garden by 6:30AM or when it was light enough. I had to finish making the kefir cheese before I went out.
My #4 helper was coming at 1:30PM and I hoped to get enough cukes to make the last batch of bread & butter pickles.
So another long busy day…
Tags: #hivegarden#homestead#summer#life#compost#gardens#weeds#books