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Hi Everyone,
There are all kinds of people in this world—and it takes all kinds of people to make everything work smoothly. Are you the kind of person that likes to do the work or the kind that likes to make sure others are doing the work properly? I have to say that every person on this farm is the working kind—but last week Steve had to take on the “Supervisor” job. He said that there was nothing worse than standing around watching someone else do the work. Last week was Steve’s last week to do the outside chores and work for us seven days a week. Starting this week he will only work five days a week and he will come in at 10:00 in the morning to bottle the milk and wash all the milking equipment. So—Steve had to make sure that our new worker Micah new exactly how to do everything. Thankfully Micah has been working for us for a month and had learned almost everything—but there were a few things that he hadn’t done yet, like: take care of the chicks in the brooder house, disassemble the milking equipment in order to wash it all in a hot sink of soapy water, and bottle the milk. Originally Mama told him that he was to do nothing but make sure that Micah was doing everything right—but that didn’t last long. Steve just couldn’t stand still. He did manage to supervise some, but he ended up pitching in and helping quite a bit too. I totally understand—watching people work and not helping just isn’t easy. Saturday when Steve finished his morning field chores he told us that he had moved the chicken pens for the last time. I asked him if it was a bittersweet moment and he said, “Yes”—he had to tell all the animals’ goodbye. One of his jobs was to feed the bulls and the Jersey heifers—and they can be quite personable.
The fall garden is coming along nicely. Last Monday Micah and I planted two beds (four rows) of red potatoes—they were from last winter’s harvest and they were starting to shrivel up and most of them had two foot long sprouts just longing to be planted so they could really grow and produce. I spent many hours cleaning up the multiplying onion bulbs that I pulled out of the ground last May. Then I planted about 60 of them in the Market Garden tunnel.
On Tuesday I planted a tray of celery seeds in the greenhouse. In the market garden I planted two beds of green beans. Thankfully I had Micah drop me off a few buckets of compost when he was done with his morning chores—because he was busy learning how to bottle milk and wash the milking equipment while I worked in the garden. Once I spread out the compost I broadforked the beds and then I tilthed them—and then I planted the bean seeds. Out in the West Garden I wanted to grow some pole beans—but I needed a trellis. Years ago we put up four sets of trellises in a row in a garden area we no longer use. I had relocated three of them, and there was still one available. The weeds were taller than my head and thicker than the Amazon rain forest—but thankfully the weeds were easy enough to push over and stomp to the ground as I made my way to the trellis. I had managed to bring a knife to cut the hay string, but the drill I brought did not have the right bit in it so I had to walk back out of the jungle to find a screwdriver. I got the trellis detached from the t-post and carried out of the jungle to the West Garden. I went back for the t-post which was well buried in the ground. I wiggled it, I pulled it, I pushed it, and I tried to heave it up—but it didn’t budge. Back and forth I wiggled and pulled—but it didn’t budge. I left the jungle and headed over to the Garden Shed to grab the broadfork—but it didn’t help. So I walked back to the Garden Shed to get a shovel—and I had to dig to China. The t-post was starting to loosen, but I could tell that it was stuck in some clay at the bottom. I finally managed to dig deep enough to get the t-post out when I heaved. Covering in the hole wasn’t very easy with all the weed stems everywhere. I then took it over to the West Garden and set up the trellis where I wanted it (after I did a little weeding), and hammered the t-post down into the ground. Once the trellis was up I added the compost to the soil and broadforked it in and planted some pole bean seeds—and Mama called me in for lunch. I had accomplished my gardening goals for the day.
Thursday morning I spent in the greenhouse starting seeds. I planted kale, bok choy, collards, mustard greens, cabbage, Swiss chard and broccoli. By Saturday some things were sprouting, but by Sunday there was a lot sprouted—especially the bok choy. This week I hope to start lettuce and some herbs.
Thursday afternoon Micah and I took a trip around the world. Our first stop was Antarctica as we worked in the walk-in freezer to do some organizing. That lasted about an hour—with many breaks back to the tropics (outside) to warm up. Then we headed to the Sahara Desert to attach some plastic panels to the side of the Market Garden tunnels to keep the rabbits out. We froze in one place, and sweated up a storm in the other.
Thursday night some farming friends of our came over to help us catch the chickens and lone us the use of their chicken crates. We have been having some issues with wing damage, and they wanted to see if crating the chickens would help prevent that issue. It did help some—but we also learned that it is probably a genetic issue also. After the government had so many chickens killed the genetics are not as strong as they were. The family also came back on Friday to help us process and teach us a few new technics. We have been processing chickens for about 25 years, but we had some issues arise and since our friends process 500 chickens at a time we asked them to come over and give us some pointers. Papa learned a better way to put the chickens in the killing cones and a better technic for killing. Mama learned how to loosen the crop easier, and I got to try out their new cone for cutting up the chickens. We also learned how to stream line the process a little better. No matter how long you do something—there is always a chance for improvement and learning new technics.
Mama and Papa did manage to get the back porch railing done, and they started on the front porch railings. Don’t know if they will get to work on them this week—because the mowing has been put on hold for the construction. The duck pen can hardly be moved through the tall grass—so it needs mowed. Then there are other areas that need to be mowed also--and if we wait too long we might be able to build our own Mt. Everest out of grass clippings.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare