It's hard to keep these blogs going ... amazing that we have not given you an update since December, but here it is.
Winter is always harder on the farm because of the freezing ... so the hose does not work and we have to bucket water into the barn for Daisy, Della and the goats (Heidi, Muffin and Chloe). It's not but a few feet of course but it's still cold. The ice has to be cracked out of the water trough and the water buckets. Plus it gets slippery walking to the barn some mornings as it has iced over or there is a heavy frost.
But then it is spring and the gardens have to be prepped. This year we are resurrecting the lower garden from the clutches of the Johnson grass (we hope). This meant tilling it four times, raking out the grass and weeds, and building the raised beds. Susan and I worked very hard on this through last week and i even took a week off from my Alcatel-Lucent job to help get it done. It was literally a pain in the back ... but it looks great right now. Susan has planted 4 rows of corn and butter beans intermixed. There are 18 rows altogether (I think). We were surprised to find the asparagus from two years ago had survived the weed infestation of last year and we had several nice meals of fresh asparagus. we also had a hill of garlic survive from 2 years ago and we will harvest that in later June. The rest of the lower garden, as we call it, will be planted in corn and butter beans and a variety of other things that Susan has bought seeds for. We also rebuilt the drip hose system so that the watering can be done easily in the hotter weather. The challenge is to keep the Johnson grass pulled up. We will use the barn hay left by the goats to mulch the footpaths between the rows. The soil is great in this bottom land and we expect great things out of our work.
The upper garden, or kitchen garden, required composted horse manure to be added to the beds to continue enriching the soil. Susan bought a truck load and had it dumped right outside the garden so it was easy to move it into the garden via wheelbarrow ... but it took a lot of trips! but it's done. This garden has tomatoes of a diversity of types, onions, spinach, bell peppers, hot peppers, peas, Swiss chard, lettuce (3 kinds), carrots, basil, and some cucumbers. Lots more to go as this will be our main eating garden. Susan has pruned the tomato plant suckers, rooted them, and has an entire bed of new plants made from these suckers. It's amazing to watch this process. Needless to say this garden is already a winner. we are eating Swiss chard, lettuce, and basil. Lots of tomatoes are formed so not long before we eat them as well. By the way, we use wire cages made from cattle fence and then tie the plants on the long stakes used to secure and stabilize the cages. Susan is an expert at knowing how to do these things and i just help and watch!
The third garden is the herb garden in front of the guest house. It is in great shape with a variety of raised bed sizes and shapes with walkways between the beds. The beds are planted with a large variety of herbs, some new and some that wintered over. It's very tasty to have fresh herbs that you can use and eat within minutes of them being cut.
The chickens continue to be an interesting story. I think we told you that we hatched 3 chickens last year and two of them were roosters (yuk). Well, we finally had to get rid of the two extra roosters. They were constantly fighting with each other and with their Daddy (Earl) and it had gotten pretty bloody a few times. So I used our fish net to catch the two roosters (Earl Jr and Goldilocks), loaded them into the dog crate in the back of the truck, and took them to Peter Efland at Efland Milling. He said he would give them away. I'll find out their disposition next week when i go pick up the dog crate. It was awful watching them fight so i can understand why cock-fighting is illegal. Also 3 roosters and 6 hens made it really difficult for the poor hens. They were constantly being jumped by one or more of the roosters. the hens took to roosting on top of the chicken coop to escape the roosters. Things are very quiet now in the chicken yard and we continue to get 4-6 eggs daily from the six hens.
Daisy, who is the goat guard dog, got her summer haircut last week (a lion cut). She looks much smaller but is still big! and seems to have more energy without all of her thick winter dog hair.
We still enjoy the birds. A pair of pileated woodpeckers have taken up in the trees next to the house and we see and hear them every day. These are very large (24" +) woodpeckers who are able to make very loud pecking sounds in the dead trees nearby. This sound is soloud and so unique that it gives them away. Lots of blue birds, cardinals, hawks and buzzards all the time. This week I hung a hummingbird feeder on the window of my office and it has seen a steady stream of ruby-throated hummingbirds p male, female and juvenile. they are lined up to drink the sugar water... only about 5 feet from my office chair but because of the reflective window tine, they cannot see me during daylight hours. So this is a great distraction for me.
So basically, there are still some seeds to be planted, some watering to be done until they germinate, and weeds to be pulled. But the foundational work is done and it's the best it's been in our three years here on the farm. We only need to get composted straw on the footpaths between some of the rows to help dampen the weed growth. A good season of harvesting and eating and preserving will follow.
One of the wonderful, unsung aspects of living on a farm is that you can see first hand the miracle of God's creation and his bounty. To see these seeds and plants grow and produce our food is a miracle that could only happen by His grace and provision. Living in the city and buying from the super market (who buys it through a distribution network of big truckers, big growers, etc. ) causes you to not know this aspect of God's love for us. The early morning dew and fog before sunrise, the floating of the hawk or buzzard or eagle overhead in the updrafts, the production of 4-6 eggs per day, the painted beauty of the sunsets, the peraceful herd of feeding deer in the pasdture, and the brilliant stars in a night skywithout man-made lights are all reminders that our God is a great God and that He is a creator with much creativity and He wants us to enjoy His creation with Him, even in it's fallen-ness.
We invite you to visit and enjoy this with us. And we're serious.
