Plant Exchange Selections

Things have been a little busy with the end of the school year and Spring finally arriving since our annual plant exchange and my aunt from Texas gently reminded me that I had not posted pictures from the exchange.  So here is the plant exchange and what the boys and I picked out.  I wanted to let you see the tables before the swapping began.  If you have not read about our annual area plant exchange, check out the post on how it works here.

This year the tree and shrub selections were pretty limited.

The bulbs were small in number this year, too.  Last year it would have taken 5 tables for the iris alone!

The herbs were popular, but be careful with them as most are incredibly invasive!

A few house plants made their way to the exchange as well as some water grass for a water garden.  Yes, my boys brought home that lovely banana tree.  They were so proud of themselves!  It just cost me a new pot and a bag of potting soil on the way home.  LOL

Even though we tell everyone not to buy things to swap, we always have someone who does, but that was OK because my boys were thrilled with the selections from this table.

The ground covers and sedums had a really great selection this year.  Sedums are a favorite of mine because I can forget to water them and they don't die immediately.  :)

We had a wide variety of sun loving plants this year.

You can't see all the shade loving plants, but there really was a great selection!

Vickie always has a beautiful table set up.  It think she and I made less than half of the refreshments.  Others were brought by those that didn't want to come empty handed and didn't have plants to exchange.  We let them take plants home in exchange for some yummy treats.

The tables were totally cleaned off at the end.  Every plant found a happy new home.

The boys took a truck load of plants, which you can see here.  Here is what I ended up with to bring home with us:

Boltonia

Obedient Plant

Helebore, shade loving

Ground cover sedum, sun

Mystery plant, even the lady that brought it didn't know what it was.

Coreopsis, sun It is already blooming as I finish this post.

Money plant.  I remember my grandmother having a money plant when I was a kid and I loved it.

Pink Hyacinth

The boys thought they needed water grass, but the water garden did not get built...yet.

I loved my grandmother's hollyhocks as a kid.  She had a huge patch and I would use them as my secret fort.

Pampas grass, sun

Another sun loving ground cover sedum

Multiplier onions  The bulbs break apart much like a garlic clove.  You can pick them as green onions or pick them and dry them for your onion seed next year.

Mint, my boys love mint, but it can be incredibly invasive.

Iris Cristata

Dragon's blood sedum  Vickie took us on a tour of her gardens after the exchange.  I was lucky to talk her out of a start of this sedum (I love it!).  She also delivered a few asters and candy tuft to my front a gate a couple of weeks after the swap.

Most of the plants are doing really well, since it has been raining for the last month.  The boys help me water them when they need it and get excited when they start to bloom. 

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Plant Swap Goodies

Today is the annual plant exchange that I co-host with my good friend Vickie.  If you missed the details of how the exchange works, check out this post.  I thought you might like to see what my little man and I dug up this morning to take to the exchange.  Notice the great care that we took to pot the plants...not.  I am taking extras for a couple of friends that wanted to come, but don't have anything to trade.  We have a deal that they will help with refreshments, if I bring plants to cover for them.  This works great because, I have been busy with the boys and haven't had a lot of free time to spend in the kitchen.

The Truck is all loaded.

Ajuga is a great shade ground cover.

Apple Mint is great for someplace that nothing else will grow and will hold soil.  Very invasive!!!

A very old bulb species.  The flower was much prettier before my faithful assistant got it muddy.

Live Forever is a bushy sedum that takes very little care.

Lilly of the Valley works great in the shade and in the right conditions will spread out.

I wish the Grape Hyacinth were still blooming.  My kids love this little ground cover like bulb.

Garlic I got from a plant exchange a few years ago.  Invasive and spreads well.

Orange bearded iris my aunt gave me a few years back.

Surprise Lilly bulbs from my husband's grandmother's yard.

Variegated Solomon's Seal that Vickie gave me several years ago.  Grows great in shade and spreads easily.

Vilolets

Vinca Minor can be invasive

Variegated Vinca Major can be very invasive.

My mother in law brought hers over, so I could take them for her

Wild daisies that grow well in the area.

Sedum ground cover.

I will try to take pictures of what I bring home, but don't expect me to remember the names of everything.  :)

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Swapping Plants

Spring is right around the corner...right?!  We had a few crocus and daffodils blooming before our last round of winter weather and made me itching to get in the flower beds.  The dogs and kids kind of wrecked them all last summer.

Another local farm mom and I have been co-hosting a plant exchange for the at least the last 10 years.  Since I am so cheap, I love this.  I have an entire flower bed that I have spent less than $30 to fill because I have been given so many plants in these exchanges over the years.

Co-Hosting

Co-hosting with Vickie seems to work great for us.  She is close to the same age as my parents and has lots of friends with wonderful established flowerbeds that are ready to be thinned and cleaned out.  I have younger friends that are just starting to garden and will literally take almost anything to plant in their flowerbeds.

We both have hosted at our homes which makes it nice that your lawn doesn't have to look perfect every year.  (Mine never does, Vickie's always looks magnificent.)

We usually have the gathering outside unless it is raining.  We have moved it into the barns a couple of time (a definite perk of being a farm wife.)

Bring...

Everyone is told to bring 3-5 starts of plants from their yard.  We suggest throwing them in shoe boxes, butter tubs, solo cups...anything that will keep the roots from drying out during the party.

We are serious about not potting plants.  Vickie usually has tubs FULL of plant starts in water and guests can take a couple and put them in a plastic grocery bag until they get home to plant.  Mine are stuffed into anything I can find including tin cans.  We try to have it early enough in the afternoon that guests can go home and plant.  Here is what we took to exchange in 2013.

The boys always pitch in afterwards to help me get things planted and watered.

We try to have a few tables, but the bulbs always seem to take over half the yard.  My mom always brings 6-8 colors of iris in big buckets...enough that everyone can have some.

Trees and shrubs have been popular recently even this one...

A Nut Tree!!  LOL  I love my friends with a sense of humor and sarcasm.

Pictures are always good or at least a book to show what the blooms will look like.

Set Up

I try to have signs like a garden store, so guests know where the plants will grow best.  We focus on perennial plants, but often we have friends that have started some annuals or vegetables from seed that want to exchange and/or share the bounty of their green thumb.

• Sun
• Shade
• Ground Cover
• Bulbs
• Trees/Shrubs
• Herbs
• Vegetables
• Annuals

 I always try to have extra bags, labels, pots, plastic cups, boxes, pens, labels, markers, etc to help the guests out when the exchange starts.

The Swap

We have been blessed with a very giving group.  Most bring way more than their required 3-5 plants.  We like to give everyone at least 30 minutes to get their plants in the correct place, to ask each other questions about their contributions, and of course have some refreshments before we start the exchange.   I control the swapping by letting everyone take one and making sure everyone has their first pick before they take another.  When we get to the 5th or 6th selection it becomes a very controlled take anything you would like (please don't leave them behind...I will get tires before I get them all planted!!)

There is always a huge selection left when everyone leaves that I take to my friends that are heartbroken they have to miss the exchange.  The leftovers may not be what they would pick, but they always seem excited to have something new for their garden for free.  (Free always makes me happy  :D)

I think over the last 10 years there are only 3 plants that I purchased in this entire bed!  I moved all of these last year and they looked great until the dogs found the fresh soil.  Dog digging prevention is first on my list of gardening this year.

We usually wait until the end of April or the first of May to hold the swap, so there is plenty of time for you to plan your own (especially if you are once again covered up with snow like we are)!  I will try to remember to take pictures of this years swap and share them with you later.

-A  Kansas Farm Mom

What A Kansas Farm Mom Does when She Isn't Farming

I was recently asked to do a post on what farmers do when they aren’t farming.  Well, I couldn’t answer that in just one post it was going to take at least two.  Since I am a farm wife, what I do on the farm when we aren’t "farming" is different than what my husband, The Farmer, is doing when we aren't "farming." 

First post, the Farm Wife:

Clean House-After long hours in the field, alongside my husband and with 2 boys living in the house, my house can look like a tornado ran through it.  Most of the time it is just dishes, laundry and sorting through a mountain of mail.  Which brings us to the next item…


Pay Bills and update the accounting software. I have found if I keep up on things all year it makes the tax season much less painful.

Volunteer for community activities

• I am co-chairman for the PTO Book Fair.  We have a great time raising funds to buy new books for the libraries at our school.

• I serve on the Imagination Library Board of Directors locally.  This is a great program for pre-school kids.  Check out the link and consider starting a fundraising drive in your area.  

• My fellow farm wives joined me last week in a fundraiser for our hospital foundation where we answered questions about ag.

 

I cook often when I am not in the field.  As you can tell on my recipe page, I love to have food in the freezer that is ready to be thawed out and eaten.  When I get home at 9 pm, the last thing I want to do is cook a meal.  At least if I have things in the freezer, even The Farmer can warm up supper for the boys if he beats me home.

Youth Program Leaders-  I am by no means an expert in Geology, but due to my son’s interest in rocks and fossils I am the county leader for Geology.  I have learned right alongside my son, but to the kids in our county I am a “Rock Star.”

Yard Maintenance-  I am always ashamed at how my yard, flower beds, and gardens look especially after wheat harvest.  I know several farm wives that have gorgeous flower beds that are maintained a little bit every day in between running for their husbands-maybe when I don’t have kids to keep me busy.  I know I will miss these days and my yard can look lovely when the boys are too busy for me.

The flower bed the boys and I planted this spring with plants I have found over the years at plant exchanges.

Youth Education-  I love to go to the school and talk about farming and ranching.  The kids love to see the a baby calf that is only a few hours old.  I just love to do the Kindergarten Farm Day.

Projects with the kids-  My boys are in 4-H, so we always have something going on: trying a new recipe, identifying fossils, preparing a new speech for competition, the list could go on and on.

It took me quite a while to come up with this list.  I never really thought about what I do when I am not farming. It is a fabulous life and I wouldn’t change one thing about it and I feel blessed to raise my kids with me at my job as A Kansas Farm Mom.

My youngest trying to avoid a nap by playing on his DS in the combine.

Have a great week everyone!  -A Kansas Farm Mom