Muggy, almost rain, almost dry

Newly planted onion seedlings

 It is muggy today, and the mosquitoes are holding facilitated meetings to determine whether to attack in force or simply swoop in and carry away their victim for later munching.

The ground is a bit too wet to plant the onions.   Maybe will be dry enough this afternoon.

I put some seedlings for sale down by the road.  

We found out that ordering a new starter motor for the tractor, locally, would cost about $600, so George is looking into other options.   If we really get stuck, the local place says they can get a starter motor overnight.   We ordered a new ignition switch.

We want to get the existing starter motor rebuilt, but this is not a good time to pull it off the tractor, since we need the tractor.   George found some less expensive starter motors on line, which say they are for our model tractor, but the pictures look different.   So, we're on hold until the full maintenance manual we ordered comes in...expected June 11.  

In the mean time, we use the time tested method of crossing fingers the tractor will start.   So far, so good.   And...if the rain holds off, I can leave the seedlings out for awhile by the road.   And, if things dry out, I can plant the onions.  And, if it rains, I can grease the baler.   And, if the mosquitoes decide to carry me off, hiding in the garage with the baler would be good.

Note added in evening -- Cleared up nicely.  I got the baler greased (mostly) - George will help find the grease points I missed next rainy day.   Oh, I forgot to grease the kicker on the baler, but I'll get that in the next couple of days.   Planted seven boxes of onion seedlings.   Someone left us an extra $1 when they bought seedlings.  :)   Every bit helps.

Happiness is empty onion seedling boxes

Silence, hay season, and garden beds

Cucumber Seedlings

The University of Maine has already started haying its fields.   I still have to grease our hay baler, and George is going to work on the baler's clutch.    These things have to happen before we even take the baler out of the garage.

We've been waiting to turn over the vegetable plots.   Normally I try to do this around mid-May, then do it again around the end of May, then plant.  The gap between the first and second turning allows the winter rye, which has been turned under, to break down.   The second turning wipes out the sprouting weeds that thought they were about to take over the world.

Vegetable Bed #1

This year, we didn't do the "first" turning, because the ground never got dry enough.   So, yesterday, we went to do our one and only turning.   We use our one and only farm tractor, an old Agco Allis 5650.   This is the same tractor that we depend upon to get in the hay.   That would be during the hay season that has already started.

Vegetable Bed #2

George started up the tractor a few days ago, and moved it out of its winter storage space in the sheep barn.  He came in the house and happily announced that the tractor had "started right up". 

Yesterday, we moved the tractor over to the tiller and hooked it up.   I got up in the seat to start the engine.  Silence.   Not even a sputter or a click.

George determined that the problem was an electrical issue.  He checked the fuses and switches, and we pulled lots of things apart.  We couldn't find the problem, and that left the starter motor as a possible culprit.   This was late afternoon on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  No way to get parts before Tuesday, and even then, might have to order them.

We both stayed calm, and kept nosing around the tractor.   We didn't get it started, but we were great.

The next morning, George climbed up on the tractor and started it.  Just like that.   George says that the brushes in the starter mower may be wearing out and just a bit of moisture, or maybe a shift in angle, got it started.   He is going to order a new starter motor and ignition switch.

We turned over the main vegetable beds today.   We always seem to be the last ones in the area to get our garden going, but we have big, flat, heavy clay beds that take a long time to dry out in the spring.   Last year I didn't get the garden in until the first week in June, but we still did fine.

Tomorrow if it doesn't rain and there is time...maybe I can start some new vegetable beds!  Go Agco Allis!

Another Vegetable Bed Picture

Sign and Sedge

 Our farm sign arrived, along with some news about Orono Sedge.

We have needed a farm sign.   Folks picking up hay have complained that sometimes they drive by us two or three times because they can't find the farm.  That is because the land is in back and, from the road, we look like a house and yard.

Having no sign budget, I tried making a sign.  It is still leaning on the side of the frig in the kitchen.  I kind of liked it, but then I made it.   George had misgivings.

I noticed that the Orono Land Trust had put up some nice wooden signs on the Davis land conservation easement over on Gardiner Road, which is close to us.

So, I contacted the Orono Land Trust last year, to find out who made their signs.

The person who got back said he made the signs, and he'd make us a farm sign if we joined the Orono Land Trust!   This was great!   So, we ended up with two wonderful things - a farm sign and a land trust membership!   I'd been wanting to join the land trust, but it wasn't in the budget.   So, this gets us started.

When David dropped off the sign, he mentioned that Orono Sedge wasn't just on the Davis conservation easement, but all through the nearby hay fields.   It might be in our hay fields.

Orono sedge is Maine's only endemic plant species (occurring no where else).   Information from Maine's Natural Areas Program.   The USDA lists it as threatened.

This is so great!  Not that the plant is threatened, but that it might be here!  Maybe we can help protect a plant!    But, it is not an easy plant to identify.   I would need help there.    Somehow I would need to figure out where the sedge may be, so I can hay/mow more appropriately.   I'm already trying not to destroy all the bobolink nests when I mow.  Maybe, with any luck, there would be some overlap.

Dave said avoiding mowing until August would be better for the sedge.   I know this would also be good for the Bobolinks, since the pairs here seem to stay around their nests on the ground well into July.    The challenge would be to delay mowing part of the field and still produce the hay we need for the farm, as well as do needed mowing to keep the weeds in the field under control.

I wonder if the sedge is here?   Wow, Orono Sedge!