Don't rain on my parade; just the gardens.

Yes, it's turning out to be one of those summers. One of those summers where we receive almost no rain, which is then accompanied by fierce winds to dry out the earth even more.
Now we come to the real point of this post: watering gardens.
I have done many kinds of watering. Early morning watering; greenhouse watering; lugging two-hundred-feet-of-hose-around watering; late afternoon watering; cloudy-day watering; pump-connected-to-a-pond watering; big water-wagon watering; medium water-wagon watering; small water-wagon watering; and, the main event, watering in the evening until it's pretty much dark. I would like to say at this point that watering is probably one of the most disliked garden tasks for most farmers (though I have never consulted others on this; but it is certainly how I feel).
Watering at night can simply be turning on the hose of pump, or it can be a rather a more strenuous task such as filling up a water-wagon (a water wagon is simply a wagon attached to some form of transportation, which is then loaded with plastic garbage cans, buckets, watering cans, and anything else that can hold water; filled and then driven to where you would like to water).

Thoughts on/while watering:
~DO water with a friend, or a group of friends! You can talk about your food, and sing all the songs you can remember from Guys & Dolls and The Music Man, and, if you vocal chords are feeling up to it, "Maybe This Time" or "Don't Rain On My Parade".  (Though there is a little irony on "Don't Rain On My Parade"; since you'd be thrilled if it rained.)

~DO dress for occasion ("What was I thinking! bare arms, neck and head!") . Yes, I mean it: you just may be eaten alive by a ferocious pack of bloodthirsty mosquitos. If this unfortunate event does occur, you may be left with these feelings: "I Came Out to Have a Good Time and Honestly I'm feeling so Attacked Right Now".

~If you are filling up water receptacles with pond water, it may be best to keep you mouth mostly closed. Pond water in the mouth can be rather disgusting, especially when you remember how much the ducks love this particular pond and you're left wondering if you'll possibly get some sort of funky duck disease...no? that's just me?

So, to conclude, I really do hope we get some rain soon; if not for me to have my evenings back, at least for the sake of the plants.

Happy Watering!
 

First week of CSA!

It's a busy time of year on the farm. Both the market and CSA have started (Yay!), and we're still busy putting things in the gardens.

First week CSA!

Last week we planted about 25 new strawberry plants, which will produce next year. Over 100 tomato plants have been planted in the garden, along with peppers and eggplants.

We have a new calf named Bonnie!

Vegetable List (subject to change):
Kale
Swiss chard
Collard greens
Bok choy
Green onions
Radish
Spring garlic
Lettuce heads
Lettuce mix
Beet greens
Peppermint
Oregano
Sage

Billi

Mulie

Tomatoes 

"The hooves of horses!
Oh! witching and sweet
Is the music earth steals from the iron-shod feet
No whisper of lover, no trilling of bird,
Can stir me as much as hooves of horses
Have stirred."
                           -Will H. Ogilvie

Garlic

Strawberry plants

Peas

Spring photo shoot

Berry,  last year's orphan calf

Beryl

Barbra (named after Barbra Streisand)

I went to Paris in April and came across many little food markets like this. 

Spring has finally started!

I look out my window (or go outside) today and it appears to me that it is shaping up to be a very nice spring.

The trees are budding, the daffodils are blooming...soon I'll need to start mowing the lawn; okay, so not everything is that great.
We've planted out some kale, chard, bok choy, cabbage, collards, onions, lettuce, broccoli, etc. Though, looking back at last year's records it seems that everything was planted out so much earlier.

The cows are not out on pasture yet, but the horses are and loving every minute of it (though they seem less than keen to drink out of a very nice little stream).
Isabelle (the pig) spends most of her day basking in the sun while listening to classical music, or whatever else CBC radio 2 has to offer.
 We have six calves so far this year: Boris, Barbra, Bette, Blaise, Barnaby, and Beryl :)

Fixing the roof on the old hay barn 

Boris and Bette

Blaise (top), Barnaby (bottom) 

Replacing the plastic on the greenhouse

Dust of Snow

It has been a terribly long time since I have written; my apologies.
The end of 2013 was a bit hectic....But now I'm just making excuses.

Naturally, the gardens are all closed up at this time of year, which gives us a bit of time to read lots of novels and seed catalogs!

November 16, 2001-November 23, 2013
R.I.P. Luna

The animals are doing quite well; we are expecting some new calves in the near future. Isabelle (the pig) spends most of her time lounging in her straw deluxe-sized bed, with the occasional interruption to get up and eat. The horses are all doing quite well, though there was an incident with Roscoe getting stuck on ice and having to take the tractor out to the field to rescue him (I was not at the farm, so I cannot give you the full account). Unfortunately, we had a sad loss at the end of November; our beloved farm dog, Luna, passed away after 12 years of companionship.

The weather here is, as usual, absolutely unpredictable. We get a snow storm about once a week (often on Wednesdays) and it's really cold around Wednesdays, then on the weekend it starts to warm up and thaw out --a lot-- and then the pattern starts all over again. The only thing you can really count on is it being perpetually damp. Also, the Groundhog totally did not see his shadow where I live today. Did he see his shadow where you live?

It's also very close to CSA brochure and registration time!

"Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy head; 
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake.
Are frosted like a wedding cake."

-Robert Louis Stevenson

When the long dark autumn-evenings come

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadowless like Silence, listening
To silence. 

- Thomas Hood

All the live murmur of a summer's day.

We're halfway through the CSA season, and a few of the ten week CSAs will be finishing up this week.

It has been rather dry (though we finally got some rain on Friday, and then again yesterday).
The gardens are doing very nicely, our beans are doing excellently this year! The weeding is time consuming,  but it appears to be paying off.
We has started harvesting the garlic!
We have the bush-hog again, and we have been clipping many pastures and other areas where the grass has grown out of control. I am quite a mole-arian and mouse-arian; I swerve not to run over them as they flee the grass I am clipping. I could never live with myself if I saw one of the rodents and then chopped it up.


Vegetable List:
Kale
Swiss Chard
Eggplant
Zucchini
Green peppers
Green beans
Yellow beans
Broccoli
Cherry tomatoes
Slicing tomatoes
Plum tomatoes
Basil
Parsley
Potatoes
Rosemary
Peppermint
Sage
Fresh garlic
Carrots
Onions
Lettuce heads
Lettuce mix








That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease. 

-John Keats

CSA Week 6

We've been having some pretty warm weather lately!
The gardens are in desperate need of weeding, even though we spend hours in them weeding every day! We are thinking of having a weeding party next week; a select group of people come over and weed and then we feed them a lot of good food. I'd cook, of course, because I'm rather slow at weeding and I only weed with one hand (I just can't do the double-fisted thing).
We are baling round bales today.

The cherries, currents, and a few cherry tomatoes are ripening. We still have a few strawberries; we had a pretty good year with those! It's scape season again! The sugar snap and snow peas are producing very well; I picked at least 25 pounds of snow peas last week. The green beans are coming on, which is very exciting!
The sour cherries will need to be picked soon; that means cherry pie!
 
Vegetable List (subject to change):
Kale
Swiss Chard
Snow Peas
Sugar Snap Peas
Broccoli
Lettuce heads
Lettuce mix
Zucchini
Currants
Green Beans
Basil
Cilantro
Parsley
Purslane
Green Onions
Radish
Spring Turnips
Peppermint
Oregano
Garlic Scapes

CSA Week 4

2014 is less than 6 months away...I'll just let that sink in.

That past week on the farm has been mostly rain and some clouds, the occasional really hot day, and whenever you are working in the gardens you are surrounded by a haze of insects.  

Essentially, garden work is impossible. It's too wet to hoe, it's a bit too wet to weed, and and taking the tractors into the garden is not even a plausible idea. 

Berry is doing very well, and she's very friendly now!

CSA List (subject to change);

Kale

Swiss Chard

Broccoli

Garlic Scapes

Sugar Snap Peas

Lettuce Mix

Purslane

Radish

Strawberries 

Spring Turnips

Chinese Cabbage

Green onions

Facts about Purslane:

~It has more omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy green vegetable (three times the amount that kale has!)

~It is an excellent source or Vitamin A, which is an antioxidant and essential for vision.

~Purslane is a rich source of Vitamin C, which is an antioxidant. Vitamin C is also needed for the growth and repair of body tissue.

~It contains some B-complex vitamins, including riboflavin, niacin, and pyridoxine.

~Purslane contains two types of betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish beta-cyanins and the yellow beta-xanthins. Both of these pigments are powerful antioxidants.   

Happy Summer!

It's summer already! It seems to have come too soon, and also to have taken too long to get here.
We got quite a bit of rain for one week, and the next week sun shone down hard and baked the upper crust of the gardens. Th tomatoes have all been planted, and most of them have been tied up. We have started picking strawberries! We should have zucchini soon; little fruits have started to develop on the plants.

Berry

On Thursday morning we moved the cows to the other side of the farm, then on Friday night we noticed a small calf that had been left behind. She had been born in the pasture, then her mother died; by the time she us --humans-- she was quite wild. This morning we finally managed to catch her! We waited for her to lay down, then I slowly crept up behind the little orphan, continuously humming either "Moon River" or "Dream a Little Dream Of Me"(I don't know why I did that, but she seemed to enjoy it and she didn't run away). Eventually I managed to grab her; thank gosh she was small and thin from lack of food. Then I did a little T-Touch in her on our ride in the back of a truck to the cow barn. She became a lot more friendly once we gave her a bottle of milk. She will be quite a pet in a few days :)
We have decided to call her Berry, in honor of her late Mother, Raspberry.

Vegetable List (subject to change):
Lettuce
Spring Turnips
Kale
Swiss Chard
Leeks
Onions
Broccoli
Strawberries

The friendly cow all red and white,
I love her with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple tart.
She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
the pleasant light of day;
And blown by all winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

CSA, week 1

Wow, it's CSA time already!

A majority of the tomatoes have been planted, and now we just have to tie them up.
The market started a couple of weeks ago, and so far is going well.

CSA Vegetable List (subject to change):
Spinach
Lettuce
Kale
Swiss Chard
Green Onions
Spring turnips
Radish
Spring Garlic
Sage
Peppermint
Cilantro
Bok Choy

O come sweet June, my lovely June
The month when first the roses bloom-
A wondrous, colorful display
By sunlight kissed throughout the day,
So chasing all my cares away.

-Valerie Dohren

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May...

Bela

Yes they do, Bill, they certainly do.
Since my last post three new calves have been born: Benjamin, Beth and Bela. The horses and cows are out on pasture.
I am gradually getting around to cleaning up some of the flower beds, and the tractor has been taken through a few patches in the garden.
We have planted peas, beans, lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, onions, cilantro, fennel, spinach, napa cabbage, bok choy, cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, beets, mesclun mix, strawberries, and parsley in the gardens. The tomatoes are almost ready for planting! Some peppers have been potted up in the greenhouse.
The CSA starts in a few weeks; so does the Market!

Cherry Blossoms

We are getting a few showers here and there, so the gardens aren't completely parched. I finally bundled up in a jacket, hat, and gloves and tackled some of the very long lawns!
We have said goodbye to Chief and Buddy, they have moved on to other homes. So now we only have four horses.
We had a little warm spell a couple of weeks ago, now it's just kind of cold, damp and windy.
It is wonderful to see the leaves on the trees, and the blossoms on the apple, pear, and cherry trees.

The new strawberry plants

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now.
Is hung with bloom along the bough.

-A.E. Housman

Beth

And the spring comes slowly up this way...

Baking Easter Bread today!

Atticus

Rachel

It is that time of year again... Starting seedlings, calves being born, preparation for the upcoming market/CSA season.

A little male calf by the name of Atticus was born on, very fitting, the first day of spring! And two days later, another little male calf was born; we named him Atlas. A big female was born on the 25th, we named her Bellatrix. Twins were born on the 27th; the little male survived and his name is Benedict.

Rachel is in the process of adopting a little male calf from a nearby farm that was born on March 17th, and therefore bestowed the unoriginal name of 'Patrick'. (He is actually a twin, and his brother was named 'Pat'.) We have since decided to call him another --equally Irish-- name; Finn.


I'm going out to clean the pasture spring ;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I shan't be gone long. --You come too.

I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I shan't be gone long. --You come too.

-Robert L. Frost

Bellatrix

Benedict

Finn

Atlas