They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
Everything is homeschool. Even a muddy former driveway that the pigs rooted through for a couple of months. This becomes a vehicle for talking about healthy and unhealthy soil with the kids. Think of it as a "before" picture. The "after" picture won't be for a couple of years, but ideally that same former driveway… Continue reading Spring Buds
Everything on the farm is interconnected, whether we like it or not. Because we want to be able to give our customers an accurate live-weight assessment for the pigs they bought, we need a scale. Because the scale needs to be on a flat, firm surface, under cover, accessible to all the livestock, it needed… Continue reading Gates around the scale, and Hog Live Weights
It's getting that time of year again! Time to plant the garden. We planted a dozen or so rutabaga last week, and this week we are starting the peas. On the crop rotation plan (yes, there is one) they are going to be in row four this year, so the first task was: Cleanup on… Continue reading Cleanup on Row Four
Evie and Daddy planted cucurbits last Thursday (Holy Thursday). Four or Five different varieties of winter squash, with two varieties of pumpkin and three rather scrawny looking cucumbers and two absolutely emaciated melons. (We have never had a good melon harvest. I am about ready to give up on them.) It has been unseasonably dry,… Continue reading Cucurbits in the Garden.
While we don't have an active garden at the house anymore (we barely have time for the one garden at the farm) Ellie still cares about her little flower bed at the end of the orchard. Still looks pretty wintery, but... There are some buds on some of the trees. Especially this little Hollywood Plum.… Continue reading Ellie’s Garden
This week has been too busy, we have only had a grand total of two hours to work on farm projects all week. One of those hours was spent gathering information. In the garden beds, in direct sunlight in the middle of the day, soil temps are about 50 degrees. Under the cold frame the… Continue reading Hoop Bender
Hazel bush. Elderberry. Goumi berry. Black berry. Josta berry. Willow. Look at that color! Time to start setting up fences!
Goumi berries in full bloom!
Yesterday afternoon the soil temperature was about 60°. Then it rained all night long. Barely over 50. Nothing cools the soil down like 12 hours of cold rain. Nevertheless, still warm enough for some cool season crops like radishes, spinach, lettuce. We have some seeds in the ground so we decided to feed them some…… Continue reading Worm castings, and soil temperature
Little Farm in the Big City 