Farm Update August

Well the crop is pretty much dead ... Again.

We couldn't get in until late (June 16th or so, check my earlier posts) and the crows were hungry as heck, at about 1/2 the seed we planted ... It was sad and too late for a second planting.

We did get in the stuff from the green house (squash/Pumpkin, cabbages, and tomatoes ... I kept it small because of the late winter) and they were doing fine - we even got in peas and beans this year!

Of course June and July were incredibly rainy, with over 8inches of rain in July alone, so weeding just did not get done ... But that should have hidden the veggies from the deer right??

WRONG - those giant rodents got out their radar noses and made tracks into the beans & cabbages. Darn them - they walk right down the row like it's a smorgasbord and help themselves to their liking ...

We went on vacation for two weeks this year so I have no idea what's down there now ... I don't know if I will have veggies or just a giant weed patch, or combination thereof ... I'm thinking the last.

The chickens have been putting out about 9 eggs a day our daughter says - she has been checking on the chickens for us at least once a day while we've been gone - she gets to keep the eggs as payment for checking on them and their food/wate ... But now they have decided NOT to lay ...

She told us last night that for the second day she had no eggs - I don't think they are molting yet so they shouldn't be going dormant and there's still plenty of lit hours so they shouldn't be going into winter laying ... I'm thinking they are just starting to miss getting into the grassy area and/or getting food scraps.

I have several ziplock bags worth from our trip for them, so that shouldn't be an issue at all when we get back ...

Bt I am worried that they aren't laying ... I'm hoping I don't have plugged vents - that could kill the whole lot of them in no time at all!

No way to know for sure until we get back - so no reason to worry over it until then.

Oh well that's it for updates - photos from vacation coming up

Summertime Blues

The rain has been horrid ... For all of June we had nothing but rain on the weekends ... Not those cute little showers where you can dodge the drops - I'm talking rain that falls 2 or 3 inches at a time ... This weekend was the first car ride anywhere where we weren't blinded by rain on the freeway!

The last time was horrible.- we had rain curtains, lightening in front of us, near zero visibility, and then HAIL!!

No farmer wants hail ... not by any measure during growing season!

Now we have a massive heat bubble that will be taking its time to clear out ... I mean 85F in the morning and +95F during the day (heat index in the 100F)

So we have a lovely patch of WEEDS growing in the fields ... While corn loves water weeds love it more ... The ground is too soft to walk on - we had standing water when I was down there Sunday ... It's been too hot to go out except to let the chickens out or take them some ice cubes & fresh, cold fruit bits

The birds have been spending most of their time in the coop this week though because it only gets up to 80F at the most, although I did see the thermometer raise nearly to 90 today for a little bit just before the sun went behind the house ... 

They are only using the south side of the kennel these days - I don't know why.

We let one lady out on Sunday to see what she'd do and if we could get her to go back in by herself ... 

We had to wrangle her but I'm guessing that that has a bit to do with it because when you stand by one of the kennel gates they all rush to get there ... LOL ... Or it's the fruit they want

I've got some photos ... (ignore the  tmes & dates - I have to get hubby to reset them again)

Hubby put lines on the doors and had to move the roost - I'm worried about where he has it, but he says it's only temporary ... Yes - that is a bird sitting on the rope, how she is hanging on is beyond me - my son tried to reason with her

He won the discussion ... Yup that's my 17 year old ... And the pulley system hubby is working out for the chickens above his head (it's suppose to run via Internet connection so we can let them out while we are gone)

Oh and that bird?

She learned her lesson!

She did it AGAIN tonight before my son went out to close the doors ...

this time she flapped him with her wings win protest but she gave up the rope ... Until the lights went out and my son left

Silly chicken!

Summertime Blues

Well the last I looked at the garden ... Last weekend really ... we had STANDING WATER in amongst the peas & beans, the grass nests surrounding the cabbages were washed away, and the pumpkins were loving it all.

We had 3 inches of rain from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon ... And major ruts in our driveway because of it ... 

Hubby said that on Thursday that he noticed the corn, beans and peas were up about 2-3 inches because of the rain!  I thought for sure they had drowned from all that rain!  

Now if only the deer and geese will leave them alone, I'll be happy :-)

Here's hoping for lots of canning opportunities this summer/fall

Greenhouse update

'Here is a photo of the green house plants Monday 10 June ... 

Top is cabbage, green

Then cabbage, red

 Then pumpkin, sweet pie

Bottom, tomato, cherry red

We got the green cabbage in the ground today ... Boy were they root bound and tangled but we got four good crooked rows out of them.

I put DS#2 in charge of digging the holes with a porthole digger and he got a bit windy ... He says it comes from only having one eye (which he does) we decided to stop after the greens were in because it was getting too hot in the sun fir old-lady me and the kids needed to get going on raking the grass clippings to put around the Greens to keep the weeds From growing.

Of course my daughters favorite part was walking barefoot in the mud that still sits along the south edge of the field.

Oh the photo:

Welcome To MN

Hope you didn't think it was actually summer yet ... Official or non-officially .... 

There are FROST WARNINGS in our state for TONIGHT!

Yeah I know -- "but its end of May!!"

But wait - its getting back into the 80s next week again ...

 See its going to be another on of <i>those</i> summers ...

Holy crap

UPDATE:

The body of the second child was recovered today.

2 boys, ages 9 & 10 died

This is soooooooooooooo sad

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There's nothing else to say ...

Two sets of parents are pleased .... Two sets are broken ....

Today tragedy struck our area ....

The big city (st Paul) school district had a field trip to a park at an adjoining city ... We've been there but only on the trails ... The point of the trip was to look for fossils ... The place has quite a bit so it's a prime location ...

A group of 4th graders ... Aged about 10 years old ... Maybe 9 years old ... We're having fun looking on this semi-rainy day - just light sprinkles, nothing huge like we've had over the weekend ...

They say the earth just gave way .... They say there was a gravel slide ... They say there was no way to know it was going to happen ....

4 kids were caught in it ...

Two were rescued ... One has already gone home from a hospital ...

One was "recovered" ... That is, they were too late or the child was killed on impact ....

One is still missing ... They were going to stop looking around 11pm tonight because the area was getting dangerous for rescuers - they had been digging all afternoon and even had fire hoses down there to try to wash away the sand/gravel to find the children ...

Facebook posts from the local news say they were going to keep looking ... I'm betting they've closed down for the night now ...

They've dubbed it a "recovery" now ... So they think this child is gone as well ...

This is every parents nightmare!

Hug your kids tonight ... And every time you are near them ... Every time you get in a bickering with them end it with "I really do love you" ... Because you never know ...

So sad ...

I will follow up as news comes in

Green House Update

Well a few things got planted about a week ago ... The day before Mothers Day, while hubby was working on the chicken coop ... My daughter and I decided to get going on the seedlings for the long field - or at least part of it.

We only planted three types of plants -

Pumpkin - Sugar Pie
Tomato - Red Cherry
Cabbage- 2 varieties
________Red Acre
________Green Acre

I still have carrots to do too ... As well as turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, beets but those would do best going straight into the fields ... Then there is the strawberry-spinach and onions ... There is so much more to get going on.

Here's how they have grown so far ... Wait ... It's been 10 days since planting ... They've grown pretty fast