The rain of the past few days has completely given way to gorgeous sunshine today, and warm but pleasant temps. Dave had today off work, got to enjoy most of the day on the farm, and managed a trip to the Marlette Stockyards this morning. The stockyard is open on Mondays only, and we're always at work, so getting to visit is a rare treat. He came home with four Purple Cherokee Tomatoe plants that he planted tonight! We're pretty excited about them - we couldn't find any at the local nursery, so figured better luck next year.

I was lazy for a bit after getting home from work tonight, but the farm got the better of me, and I went out and pulled a few weeds from the veggie garden -- which, knock on wood, haven't been bad at all yet this year, as we've got a much better handle on the prep and maintenance work so far this year. It helps, too, that this is now the third year of planting the garden here, after breaking new ground in 2010, which meant plowing, then tilling, and tilling, and pulling, and sweating, and pulling, and tilling.... our way through LOTS of what my Mom always called "quack grass", which is basically the most stubborn, prolific grass you've ever met. In it's third year of being worked, though, the garden is giving us a break so far this year.

After tending to the garden a bit, I took another break (it IS a Manic Monday, after all) and took a walk around with the camera to see if any more of the seeds we planted Memorial Day had sprouted yet - and was rewarded with the first tiny peeks of corn, and a few more sunflowers poking up through the earth. There are also some baby kohlrabis, from the second sowing of those Dave put in.

Feeling like I hadn't really accomplished much of anything, I decided to run the rototiller through the new herb garden I'm putting in on the west side of the yard. It still looked pretty good from the initial ground breaking, but a few little weeds were trying to take hold. Now that it's had it's second good tilling, I think tomorrow it will be time to rake it even, plant the few herb transplants we got at the nursery, and the seeds we had ordered from Baker Creek when we ordered the veggie seeds. Hoping tomorrow to also FINALLY get the nasturtium and cosmos seeds in the planters (aka old milk cans and whiskey barrels).

Pictured: A few shots of the sun-dappled fun around the farm tonight.