Little bit of snow

Picture taken from inside the house, near the wood stove.

There is a little bit of snow on the ground this morning, unless one imagines it all rolled up...all the snow in the hay field, all the snow in the woods, all the snow in the gardens.   

Then, it would be one huge snow ball, out of which one could tunnel a seriously good snow cave.

Slow and quiet

I am trying to move slowly, in deference to my face, which is recovering from some well-done, and postponed way-too-long oral surgery.   My upper lip and left face are swollen.  From the left side, I kind of look like a bunny rabbit.  

I've been doing paperwork, and cooking a bit.  George just left the comfy chair, as evidenced by the coffee on the floor.  The "comfy chair" is the only chair in front of the wood stove.   For some reason, George and I rarely seem to both settle at the same time, so the single chair  has worked.   If neither of us is in the chair, Percy (orange cat) usually will be.   This is a very well-used chair.

There are two tubs of little pumpkins in the living room, that don't seem to be moving very fast.   I didn't count them as "farm product", because we aren't using them, and are not likely to sell them now.   They are just kind of here.   Pretty though.

Another cat is sleeping on my new seed catalogs.   Looking at catalogs is too energetic for today, so she is welcome.

Rutabaga in the pot

Chopped up rutabaga about to boil.   The rutabaga is lighter in color than the photo appears.

I pulled a couple of rutabaga a few days ago - much later in the season than usual.   They have been sitting on the kitchen counter, and I noticed they were starting to get soft.

So, they are now in a pot on the back of the stove, and will boil for awhile.

I like mashed rutabaga.   I'm also a mashed potato fan, but sometimes variety of flavor is a good thing, and rutabagas have a distinct flavor of their own.    I don't know how to describe it, but the flavor is stronger than  potatoes. 

Rutabaga (northern grown) and turnips (southern grown) used to be winter staples, and I've read that there used to be lots more varieties available through seed catalogs than there is now.   Maybe with more people interested in local foods, and more people using root cellars, and maybe even more people saving seed, we'll get some of that variety back. 

But, for now, I'm growing one, basic rutabaga.   It keeps well in the root cellar.   I can cook it almost any way I can cook a potato, and it is a nice change in flavor.

The only thing I don't like about rutabaga is that it takes longer to boil to softness than potatoes do.   George and I were discussing this the other night.   Taking longer to boil means  using more gas (we cook with gas), which costs money, and uses a non-renewable resource.    I love our soapstone wood stove for heating the house, but the stone means the stove is not good for boiling things.   If we ever get a second wood stove, I'd really like a small stove that was good for a pot or two.

I wonder if the fact that this rutabaga went through some frosts, and got a bit soft sitting on the counter, will mean it cooks up faster?   How will it taste?  Good?   Bad?   This is my experiment for the day.   It is good to try to do at least one scary thing per day (assuming that category has not already been forced upon one), and have one experiment per day.   Today, the goals do not overlap.   

Later edit:   Tastes good, and cooked more quickly than usual.   Why?   No idea.   That's the problem with running an experiment with two variables.   Oh well.    Beef and onion over mashed rutabaga is also a good way to end an experiment.

When the onions don't turn out quite right

As mentioned before, a lot of the garden got buried in weeds when I pulled my back this summer.   Some of the onions started to grow, then lost their access to sunlight.

Those onions stayed small, and I didn't bother putting them into the cellar with the big onions. The little ones dried out nicely though. 

I've been gradually working through a large bowl of little onions in the kitchen.     

After sloppy joes yesterday, I'm down to the last few.     I put them in the small, red, plastic colander.   I like the way they seem almost luminescent. 

Things from today.

1.  The cats knocked a big, blue pan full of onion peels on to the kitchen floor sometime during the night.  George found it in the morning.

2.  The sheep started drinking out of the electric water bucket.   It always takes them a couple of days to get used to drinking warm water after the weather turns cold.   I left out a cold-water bucket the last couple of days, in case. 

3. I ordered a twin-sized wool blanket from LLBean.   It was the last day of the 15% sale, and we also used 3 coupons.   This will be an extra blanket for the coldest upstairs bedroom, and it should last.

4.  My sister Cate in California told me that she wants a large, square pot-holder, with a hanging loop, for Christmas.  Cate and I have a tradition of sending each other Christmas boxes, and hints help.   We don't always manage to get the boxes done, and sometimes boxes arrive in January or later, but we still enjoy it.  

5.  Movie and hot buttered popcorn tonight, after showers.

Sink that equipment in....

Whew....a celebratory post.    After tucking the hay rake behind some trees, and parking the hay wagon on high ground, we sank the last of the heavy equipment under cover. 

Getting the hay baler into the metal garage is always interesting, because the garage door opening is barely bigger than the widest part of the baler.   The baler is very long so it has to come in at a sharp angle, and the baler is difficult to back up. 

George drives and I make various hand signals from the ground, indicating if he is about to run into something, like the side of a building or another piece of equipment.  He is largely backing up blind, given the tight space.

This year, we not only got the baler into the metal garage, but the farm tractor too.   In previous years, we parked the farm tractor in the hay barn for the winter.  Since the farm tractor is now in the metal garage, I will not be running into this tractor in the dark, on the way to feeding the sheep....all winter.   I have tended to do that in the past.  Whoo hoo!!    My knees are already feeling better.

I am reaching back to November 1 for this photo, as I didn't have my camera with me today.

Yesterday, we met friends for Thanksgiving - really nice to see them.

Later, George and I stopped in Freeport at LLBean to pick up some bedding and Christmas snow shoes.  

Today it was beautiful and mild.   I brought in a couple of rutabaga to see if they were still good to cook, and we started putting away the hay equipment.   The ground has been so soggy that we've been putting moving off equipment around.   But, today the ground was better.   It always takes a bit of fiddling by the both of us to get the disc mower safely under the overhang behind the barn, but that is done now.

I didn't get nearly what I expected out of the gardens this year, due to problems with my back and leg, both of which are fine now.   I thought that we hadn't made the amount we needed for agricultural land classification purposes this year, which includes both products sold and value of products used on farm.

But, I added everything up today, and we just made it.    Hooray!    Turns out that since I planted more than in the past, I brought in a decent amount of food for our own use, even with losing quite a lot to weeds and lack of picking.   We also sold more hay than last year, which is good.

Things that one does not expect

Beam and metal rod

(1)  Never know what one will find when open up a wall.   This house was built in the 1930s.   The slanted beam may indicate that this side of the house was originally a shed, which was enclosed to expand the house.    Several vertical metal rods appear to be there for structural reasons, but exactly why they were added isn't clear.


(2)  Every so often, I find a mouse in one of the water buckets in the barn.  A mouse falls in during the night, can't get out, and usually drowns before the next morning when the buckets are checked.   It is sad, but I've kind of gotten used to it over the years.

This morning, there was something bigger in a bucket.   A large rat fell in sometime during the night and drowned.   He was floating with his face up and tail down, under a thin, clear layer of ice.    I don't like rats generally, but this was a handsome rat.  

We don't live near a stream or pond.   I sometimes wonder what the wild creatures do for water around here.   There were night-frozen puddles just outside, because of all the rain lately.   But, I guess the open water in the bucket was tempting.   He was trapped in that icy water in the dark.   Sad.

First snow and the vote

Snow on the rose

Snow and roses is a good combination.

Maybe I should tidy up the porch before we trip over things under the snow.      And, we need to...bring up the table by the road; bring in the heavy equipment; oil/grease the tractor; trim hooves; pull up the temporary fencing; bring in the last rutabaga; get snow tires on the car and new tires on the truck; move hay that needs to get moved in the barn; put away pallets; put away tarps; bring in the farm sign (needs repairs); clean out more of the sheep pen....

But, the list of inside-the-house chores looks good this morning too.

Maybe I'll try a bit of both.  But, the important thing is to remember to vote.

Colors

Sticks for kindling

I was out back for a walk, and picked up some sticks.   They have lost so much bark that they look like drift wood.


Quiet day here.   We were supposed to do some equipment maintenance, but decided to give most of the day over to work-related paperwork, along with spaghetti and a wood fire to take off the chill.

With any luck, we'll get to the maintenance next weekend.

Weed shrub fruit

 

Sun out

Nothing like the light after a storm. 

We only got the edge of Sandy here:  puddles, soft ground, and oddly warm wind from the south. 

By the side of the road

Two little pumpkins for $1, and rutabaga $1 each.

The pictures are of pumpkins and veggies left by the road today.

Rutabaga

The rutabaga had been through three frosts, so it was nice and sweet.  It came out of the garden today. 

Pumpkin plop

George and I wandered down to Blue Hill this past weekend for some boat maintenance.  We stopped first in Bucksport ("Ghostport" on signs) for breakfast  at the Harbor View Grille.   Great food, and we had the extra treat of being able to watch through a window as a lot of kids in Halloween costumes walked past towards a small fair on the waterfront. 

We stopped by Ghostport again on the way home, because I wanted to get a last ice cream of the season from a shop on Main Street.   George got French Vanilla and I got Pumpkin.  We sat with our ice creams on a bench by the water, enjoying the fall-flavored view of the river, bridges and Fort Knox.   The people walking by smiled at us. 

Someone at the fair had brought a large, home-made catapult and was putting it to good use.   It took three or so people to "set" the catapult and load it with a pumpkin. Then, a small child was invited to pull the string.   This released the catapult's arm, tossing the pumping up and out over the river.   It landed hard in the water with a satisfying plop, splitting on impact, and causing the eruption of a small fountain of orange water.

It took awhile to load the catapult between shots, and no one hurried.    There was a lovely leisure to all of this.

• "Oh, wow, that one went really far out".   
• Wonder if those seagulls will eat the seeds......no."    
• "Highest one so far!"   

Occasionally there was an appreciative "Ahhhhhhh" from the on-lookers, for a particularly good shot.   One green pumpkin went relatively far.   Nice to know there is a good way to use a green pumpkin.

I was skyping with one of my sisters in California, wondering if this was only a Maine thing, or if people enjoyed pumpkin catapults elsewhere.   She said "Maine".   Well, I guess people in California have something new to enjoy, if they want.

Unexpected sunshine

A view toward neighboring field to the south

Old haying equipment out back

The forecast for yesterday was 90% chance of rain.   Forecast for today is 100% chance of rain.

Yesterday, it hardly rained at all.   Today, the sky poured until shortly before the homecoming game between the University of Maine and New Hampshire in Orono.   I'm happy for people I know at the game.


I was able to work on cleaning in the garden beds yesterday afternoon.   I almost have all the worst, tall weeds pulled from bed #1.   Finally checked out bed #2, and it is not as bad as bed #1.   So, if we get some more warmer weather, maybe I can get that one cleaned out too.


I went to the craft fair at University of Maine this morning, and took care of quite a bit of Christmas shopping.   One crafts woman told me that it took her 5 years to get into this show, and the waiting list this year was over 90 people.   Prices were reasonable.   The sale goes through tomorrow.

Geese

I saw a very high-flying and large formation of Canada Geese heading south/south-west this week.   As usual, I heard them before I saw them.

This afternoon, a low-flying and much smaller formation of geese came in from the north but turned abruptly west, just before reaching the house.   There were about forty birds.  At first, I wondered if they were a local population.   But, I hardly ever see geese around here.

I watched them fly out the length of the hayfield, to the far end near the woods.   Then they banked left, and came in for a landing.   It is between a quarter and half a mile from the house to the back of the field, so they had a good, long, run way.  

I have to add another use for the hayfield to my list:  "sleeping accommodations for south bound Canada Geese".

Sunday morning rainy day notes

Raining here now.   Good morning for web work and paperwork.

We've had more interest in the hay this year!   Maybe the little "hay for sale" sign down by the road was a help.  I took the sign down yesterday. 

I also pulled more huge weeds in part of the garden, making weed piles along the sides of the beds.  In the past I'd have cleaned this up, but can't this year.  Feels like I've lost at least two years of progress on the beds, due to everything getting overgrown this summer.  

I'm still sprinkling rye seed in small patches of black, between the smaller weeds that won't be pulled.  Maybe I'll try to turn the beds twice next  spring, with a couple of weeks in between, to kill some of the weeds. 

I brought in a few pounds of carrots yesterday, and put them in sand in the root cellar.  I found a few onions that I missed before, and those are now drying in the wooden garage with the rest.   Frost took out the tomato plants, and I raked all the last colorful balls to the sides.  We're still getting broccoli for the table, and the kale will keep going for awhile. 

Yum.....hot coffee.

Turkeys and other things

 The picture at left is from a few days ago, when it was mizzling, as Nancy said - a fine, misty rain.  For shelter, some wild turkeys hung out under a small oak tree on the front lawn.

The rest of the pictures are from today, which was one of those gray sky fall days, which often show colors the best.  This picture is looking down part of the hayfield, toward the woods in back.  The grass is short in places because of the extra mowing we did this year, in order to knock back the weeds a bit.

 This is a picture of some green pumpkins, under pumpkin vine leaves, under pine trees.  The pumpkin vine decided to come up in the middle of the "no good hay" pile.  The leaves are just showing the beginning of a mildew, which isn't surprising this late in the year.

George and I cleared some old ply wood out of the basement.  I just painted part of a bed frame, and sanded a bookshelf to clean it up.  Two new lamps came in the mail.  One of the two unused bedrooms is almost set to be used, and a contractor is helping us with the other one.

Random

Broccoli still flowering among the weeds, 9/28/2012

A few little items from the last couple of weeks --

• The pumpkin vine that planted itself in the old hay pile, giving the pile quite a decorative look, has now got 2 decent-sized pumpkins.   If the frost holds off a little longer, maybe we'll have a couple more pumpkins for the cellar.
• Arthur (sheep) tried to jump out of a pen and caught his back leg between the fence bars, flipping himself upside down and getting stuck.   He didn't break the leg, but it was pretty sore for awhile.   He seems better today - at least I had a harder time catching him.
• We grew some yellow tomatoes for the first time this year.  Verdict on the yellow tomatoes - worth growing again.  They are great on toast, with melted cheese.
• Vet from Foxcroft Veterinary Services came by and vaccinated the two remaining ancient sheep here.  He said that the practice was coming down to Orono routinely now.  Hooray!
• Monarch butterflies  seem to like to ride the hot thermals rising from the tractor's diesel engine, when it is being driven home across the hay field.

Bit of this and that before it pours

Got in that second cut hay a few days ago.   It is always so much softer than the first cut.  I brought in a few loose bales - I hadn't run the baler for awhile, and forgot to tighten down the screws a second time.  Oh well, the sheep are getting the loose ones.

Other than my husband George helping me attach the cutter to the tractor, and helping stack the last few bales, I did this run all by myself!  Cutting, two teddings, raking and baling.   The whole process is much more pleasant in cooler weather.

The garden is still hiding under all the weeds, since I lost control of it earlier this summer during a period when a leg and a back were very uncooperative.   It is about to pour here, so I've been scavenging around and weed diving for things to put in the cellar, freezer, or a stomach.

The beds full of tall weeds seem to be attracting a lot of small birds.  I flushed several, along with the neighbors' tabby cat.

The achorn squash are a bit small, probably because the plants didn't get enough sun.  They'll go into the cellar anyway.  The tomato plants don't seem to mind the weeds.   Amazingly, the carrots survived, so I processed some for the freezer.   I need to get to Park's Hardware and pick up some sand, so I can put some fresh ones in the root cellar.  That will be after this coming rain.

I picked a few New England pie pumpkins and put them on pallets in the garage to harden.   Again, far fewer pumpkins this year, and those are a bit small.  But they are enough, if I get thinking about pie in the winter.

Second cut weather

We are having a lovely run of weather with low humidity, breezes, and sun.   I cut a bit of hay yesterday, tedded it (spread it with a tedder), and tedded again this morning just after the dew was off.

It looks pretty good, but never know for sure until it is in the barn.

We do an "unusual" second cut.   Most people will harvest a first cut in early spring, then come back for a second in late summer or early fall.  Our field is not fertilized, so it won't support that.   But, we are finding our way to getting a bit of sustainable second cut.

Sheep and small ruminants like second cut.   It is softer, less stemmy, and easier on small mouths.  So, we always try to get a bit.  We do this by mowing part of the field in early spring, but not haying it.  The hay is tedded, and left on the field, leaving the organic matter to go back into the field.  By this time of year, that first cut hay is complete gone.   We can come back through and get the softer, "second" cut.

We also rotate some parts of the field.   In some years, certain areas only get mowed, sometimes more than once, and not hayed at all. 

Most of the area where I just did the "second" cut has been fallow, except for mowing, for a couple of years.   The hay looks pretty nice....now just to get it in the barn!

Alice

We lost Alice to coyotes.

That is Alice in the foreground at left.  The picture was taken a few years ago, in the fall at my old place in Augusta.  The sheep in the back with the white nose is Alice's older sister, Ophelia (the ewes in that family line all had names from Shakespeare).


Many years ago now, I got a disease in my flock that sheep people know as "CL".   This was before there was a vaccine in the US for CL.  I unknowingly bought a ram that had it.  The disease can be slow to develop and slow to transmit, but it is contagious among sheep.  It is an easy disease to buy.   When I found it was in the flock, I stopped breeding and selling lambs.

I decided to keep a dozen or so sheep, just to have them around.   This was an un-economic thing to do, but I felt like I owed them something.   That flock gave me some very good lambs.  Some lambs had been sold to spinners in prior years, and some went to slaughter.

I've had only three sheep for quite a long time now.   Been putting old ones down from time to time over the years, as they got sick, injured, or tied up with arthritis.   The three remaining were descendants of the first two ewes I owned many years ago, Cordelia and Chloe.

The sheep in the flock were mostly Shetland/Finn, which are highly intelligent.  I know that isn't the common view of sheep, but it is true sometimes with relatively primitive breeds.  Each has his or her own personality.   Alice was special to me because she'd always been friendly and relatively calm.  She got spooky the last few years because I didn't spend enough time with her, but she always calmed down quickly when I did.   She was the first one to check out any offering from my hand, like a bit of apple.

Alice was descended from Cordelia, and was born the year that a Finn ewe I had named Lily gave birth to a bottle lamb named Chester.  Alice and Chester used to follow me around.   Chester followed me because I was his adopted mother.  Alice followed me because she wanted to.  I will miss Alice.

A word about coyotes -- this is the first trouble I've had with coyotes, over about a 15 year period.  Most coyotes don't bother sheep, and the American Sheep Institute recommends leaving coyotes alone that don't bother sheep.   Coyotes are territorial, and will keep other coyotes out of the area. I'm still going to leave the coyotes alone, but I'll bring the last two sheep in the barn at night.    This time of year, they like to graze at night when it is cool, but now that needs to stop.

The two remaining sheep are Arthur (Alice's twin) and Sparrow, and they've both been shy since they were born.     Arthur has never been aggressive, but he likes to keep to himself.  Sparrow wants to flit away, although she is descended from Chloe, who was rock-solid, calm and friendly. 

Alice always gave me the benefit of the doubt.  Being brown and a ewe, she looked like a delicate little white-tailed deer right after shearing in the spring.  So pretty.

Alice was a very good sheep.

Alice in Orono (at left).  Ophelia and Sparrow at right.

Bird update

We don't hay the whole field, so bush hogging is a normal chore.  We knock things down to prevent weeds from going to seed.

I spent most of yesterday bush hogging areas that we skipped when haying.  We skipped haying an area in the middle of the front field, where there was a nesting pair of bobolinks.   We skipped large areas in the back, where the hay quality was poor, and there were other bobolink pairs.  We skipped a big, wet swale where the baler would have sunk.

I expected all the bobolink young to have fledged by now, and was surprised to find an adult pair still down in the grass in the area we had left in the middle of the front field. I think the young were gone, as normally they fledge by now, and I've seen young flying around.  But this pair were still there.   They flew up when I came through with the bush hog.

Most of the day, I was in the far back of the field, methodically going up and down, knocking down the weediest areas.   We have not hayed back there but have hopes that the area may become suitable with enough mowing. 

Much of the afternoon and into the evening, a male harrier hawk (marsh hawk) was hunting in the area around me, which kept things interesting.   I got back to the house and looked up their nesting habits.  They nest on the ground.   I got a bit worried about him.  I didn't see a female, or any behavior that looked like anything but hunting, so I am hoping that if he had young, they would have fledged by now.

It is a tough balance, bush hogging areas early enough to keep the weeds down, and bush hogging late enough to allow some field nesting birds to fledge.  We can't avoid taking out some nests when we hay.   Hay needs to come in relatively early, or the protein content drops.

A field that has to be maintained by humans is a pretty unstable habitat.  But, it may be the best these birds can find.


This morning, when I went out to feed and water the few ancient sheep here, I found that the barn swallows had fledged.   One youngster was sitting on the big metal tube gate that leads to the sheep pen.  I need to go through this gate at least twice in the morning, so the youngster's location was problematic.  He or she was doing his best "I'm invisible and you can't see me" pose.

I came up to the youngster and scooped it up in my hands.  It responded with an alarm call.  I tried to put it on top of the stacked hay bales, figuring the parents would find it and feed it there.  As soon as I released the youngster, it flew toward the light, out a crack where I'd left the barn door open a little.   Pretty impressive flying for something that young and small. 

I'd like to think that all the youngsters this year do so well.

Mid summer

It is that lovely time of summery when things are coming too fast in the garden for me to keep up.

I hurt my leg, then my back.   The jungle weeds took advantage of almost two weeks of inattention to try to take over the world.   Hey, I'm talking about 4 foot tall weeds here.

I've put around 10 packages of blanched beans into the freezer, and there are two more rows that need picking today.   More beans will be coming along later.    The broccoli is also heading out now, and needs to be steamed and frozen.   I very much like broccoli with melted cheddar cheese on top for lunch in the winter.

I've started making huge piles of weeds in various open spots in the garden.   I may haul them out later, or just turn them where they lie.   I worked on clearing weeds around the pumpkin plants this morning, starting with the good-eating pumpkins.   The  pumpkin plants probably would have been happy growing up and over the weeds, but I don't want all those weeds to go to seed in the garden.

If they all go to seed....next year the weeds may slip in our back door....at night....and crawl up the staircase, and grab us in our beds.

Heat, then storm, then cool

I was bush hogging an area in the back of the hayfield yesterday using the farm tractor, and ignored some storm clouds, which were riding in on the heat.   Got caught out in a huge rain, which was a bit scary, since the swales already contained standing water, and there was the real possibility of getting stuck out there.   Got drenched to the skin.

When I made it back to the pasture fence and turned south to follow it, the wind suddenly picked up massively, hitting me side ways.   I could see the rain moving horizontally, hitting the back of the sheep barn hard.

The cold rain was steaming off the tractor but....at least so far there doesn't seem to be any damage.   Sucking water into an engine is not a good thing.

The temperature went from the 80s to the 60s, and today was much more pleasant.   The vegetable beds were too wet to walk around in much, but at least I got the tomato plants tied up and a bit of hand weeding done.  The picture above is part of Bed #1, weeds and all.  We have three planted vegetable beds this year, plus a new, small, blueberry bed.   Bed #1 includes:  tomatoes, rutabaga, lettuce, kale, carrots, onions, broccoli, nasturtiums, bush beans, and potatoes.  Bed #2 has all the squashes (pumpkins, achorn, yellow summer squash, and zucchini) and the cukes.  Bed #3, which is new this year, has more tomatoes and more beans.

So far, we aren't using any row covers or raised beds.  Everything is in flat, basic, beds.   Last year I mulched everything with grass clippings, but there was not enough time or dry weather to allow for that this year.   So, this year there is more hoeing, and I've also mulched some areas with hay from the back field.   They hay was cut early, so there is little weed seed in it.  

In between gray

Broccoli in the garden

It is foggy this morning, and I'm waiting for the fog to burn off and the dew to go away, so I check the hay curing on the ground.

In the mean time, I did some house chores, and hoed in the garden.  Status:

• The long rains followed by gorgeous clear days seems to have made the broccoli particularly happy.
• The rains took out the carrots, most of the potatoes, and some of the squash.  When I expressed displeasure with the drowned potato seed, one of my nieces, who grew up in Ireland, said "Oh, Aunt Hetty, these things grow in Ireland.  Think about it!"   She may be right...two plants popped up in the "wettest" trench over night!  I'll leave the trenches alone for a bit more.
• Rutabaga, lettuce, and beans are up from seed.  Tomatoes seem ok., but need to be staked.
• George and I got the first hay into the barn.  We also got the baler, wagon and tractor stuck in the hayfield twice, and got out by ourselves twice.  Whoo hoo!   As George noted, we now have lots of experience hooking and unhooking machinery for this year.
• The farm sign is in place by the road.   We've already had one person ask "Where is the island"?  The "island" is described on the bottom of the Rock Island Farm web page.

Potato plant in the least wet trench

Got hay?

Wildflower from August, 2011

It is really nice when one gets to the time of year when people starting looking at you sideways and saying..."Got hay?   We're going to need X number of bales...".

We had a gorgeous hay window, in terms of weather, this past week.   It had me standing, staring into the breeze, wanting to hay.   Unfortunately, like other people with clay soils, we need a few dry days before such a window in the spring to allow the hay field to dry out.   That kind of weather hasn't happened yet.   Haying on wet grounds mucks up the soil, and produces potentially musty hay.

But, the haying equipment is all out of storage, oil and greased, and ready to go.  Well, almost.  We're still messing around with the bale knotter a bit, but we'll manage that.  We just need the weather.

We'll list hay for sale on the farm website and on Craig's List when we have hay in the barn.   I know it would be easier for some buyers if we did advance sales, and I'd really like to say "yes" when we get asked.   But, we need to get the hay in the barn first, and then sell it. We're a small, local farm, relying on some older equipment and some older people, and we don't want to promise something that we might not be able to deliver. 

Producing and selling hay is an important part of our ability to keep the land classified as "agricultural", as we slowly improve soils and increase our vegetable production.  Please remember us when you need feed or mulch hay and pass the word.

Please support your local farms

Rain, potatoes, and ditches

It has been raining.  A lot.    Nothing like the amount it has rained in Southern Maine, but a lot.

I went out this morning to check on the garden, and found the potato trenches full of standing water, several inches deep.   It would be nice to have a "before" photo, but at time like these, one tends to run for the shovel first.

The picture at right shows a partially drained potato trench, with a bit of drainage ditch below.   I dug about 45 or 50 feet of drainage ditch along one edge of the garden.  Then, I widened it to hold more water, and started a side ditch to try to sheet the stormwater off into a buffer area.   I'm glad that it wasn't raining while I was doing this, and that there is a large vegetated buffer area beside and below bed #1. 

The water shown in the left side of the photo is in one of the potato trenches.  The water heading off to the right is in part of the ditch.   The rest of the bed #1 looks pretty good.  The paths between the plantings tended to drain off the water.

But..the seed potatoes may be rotting in the ground.   This would be unfortunate, because we store the potatoes and eat them during the winter.   If the seed potatoes are rotted, I wonder if we can still find any more around here?

On a cheerier note, the grass is nice and green.

The white temporary fencing is used to keep the groundhogs out of the garden. So far, we haven't had to electrify it.   We have nice groundhogs around here.

The wind is from the northeast, and more rain is coming.   No watering is required, happy and cool onion seedlings, pumps in the cellar working, and George just came home looking sharp from the barber.  Time for lunch!

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!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

In Maine, the traditional "mostly safe" date to start a garden is Memorial Day.   Of course, some folks start "cool" loving things earlier, like spinach, or put in things early that won't sprout for awhile, such as potatoes.   We've had a mild winter and an early spring.   I'll probably put some seedlings out for sale a bit early.

But, we'll probably follow the usual schedule and aim for Memorial Day, for getting the garden in.   That usually gives us a long enough growing season for what we need.

In the March 17th post, there is a picture of some of the vegetable beds, clear of snow.   I wanted to post a picture of one of the beds now, to show the difference in color. 

Vegetable bed #3, planted to winter rye, late April

The light green area is Bed #3, planted with winter rye (a green manure).   The darker green is lawn.   We plant in fairly small beds (this one is about 15 x 50) because of the heavy clay soils and drainage swales.   We need to "fit" the beds in between swales, and build the beds up with organic matter.  This provides better soil for the veggies, and allows for buffers around the beds to reduce the risk of erosion problems.

If we simply opened up 3 acres or so, we'd have erosion gullies forming all over the place, which would be bad for both the soil and water quality.

I started a new "little" bed last year, in addition to a couple of large beds.  George and I just picked up blueberry plants for the little bed!   I need to work in some cow manure and phosphorous, then put in the high bush blueberry plants.   

The little blueberry bed looks "brown" around the edges in the picture.  The brown is just the remains of grass cuttings I put there last fall, to mark the bed, in case I had trouble finding it in the spring.  Beds have a way of hiding.

High bush blueberries

Yet to be turned-over blueberry bed

The blueberry plants were mostly paid for with a birthday gift from my mother-in-law, Dorothy.

Thanks, Dorothy!!

Seedlings

Broccoli seedlings in the greenhouse

I put up some new grow lights in the basement yesterday; we always seem to run short of space for seedlings.  We've been fiddling with the temperature in the small greenhouse, opening it up to cool during the day, and using the heater for warmth at night.

The broccoli seedlings growing in the basement and greenhouse were planted the same day, but look quite different, with the greenhouse plants looking happier.  It is quite a bit warmer in the greenhouse during the day, and there is more light.  But, the ones in the basement will be fine too, based on experience.

We'll need more seedlings each year, with the gradually expanding vegetable beds.  Also, I expect to have a few of the following seedlings for sale this year:  brocolli, onions, table tomatoes (red and yellow), heirloom tomatoes (a mix), maybe some Amish paste tomatoes, and cucumbers.

We also start various squash from seedlings, to give the squash a better chance against the bugs.  But, squash is easy to start from seed, so we only grow enough seedlings for the garden here.

Some people came by last year looking for seedlings for table tomatoes and cucumbers, so we are growing a few extra of those.   As usual, if they don't sell, we'll try to find room in the garden for them.

Last year, we ended up planting a lot of left-over broccoli seedlings.  But, I just cooked the last package of blanched summer broccoli from the freezer this week so, none of the broccoli went to waste!

And, now I know to plant lots of broccoli this year.   I like to make a big pile of broccoli with melted cheddar cheese on top for lunch in the winter.   I also use broccoli in beef stir fry, with onions from the cellar, although sometimes I substitute blanched and frozen string beans or carrots for the broccoli, for variety.  Yum.    The blanched and frozen vegetables taste better than the frozen vegetables from the store.   Not sure why, but they really do.

Onions seedlings in the greenhouse

Counting the signs

The robins came back last week.  The spring peepers (frogs) started singing this week, at night.      I think I saw the first barn swallow this morning, returned from South America.  The forsythia bloomed today.

George said he'd like it if I started writing these things down, when they happen, so we could keep track from year to year.

Later edition:
4/19/2012:  first dandelions

April: seedlings and sinking

Last year, I tried using a small greenhouse on the property for some seedlings, but they didn't get enough light and did poorly.  I hadn't thought much more about using the greenhouse since.  Then, I read somewhere that one could add lights.  Not sure why it took me so long to figure this out.

Now we have some lights in the greenhouse, and I'm enjoying trying to figure out how to add more.   The onion seedlings have been moved there, and seem quite happy.  The broccoli seedlings may go out there soon too.

The tomatoes have been started.   The picture above is of some of the seedling flat labels that I've been making on the kitchen table.

On the "uh oh" side of things, our tiller is slowly sinking.   We parked it in a new location last winter, and put it up on blocks as usual.  Unfortunately, the ground has shifted with the frost, and gone soft, so that the tiller is sinking pretty dramatically, and turning over gradually.  I don't want to try to move it yet, given how soft the ground is so...I check it from time to time and worry over it.

Our old truck went in for inspection and needs LOTS of work.   If it isn't one thing, it is another.  Pretty labels though, huh?  Got to like those labels.   Lining them up gives me a sense of control.   :)

Later added note:  George came home toward the end of the day, and I asked him for a second opinion on the tiller.   He said he isn't worried.

Spring: Geese, Onions, Winter Rye, and Warm Morning Windows

We are having an early spring, maybe.   I've heard Canada Geese flying over at night this week.    The last two mornings there was a flock in the hayfield resting in the early morning.   The geese are lovely, but I didn't get close enough to get a picture, since they need their rest.

I've been wandering around starting to make mental lists of winter damage, and things to do. 


The old wind vane on the garage is still pointing straight out into the hayfield, northwest, which is the direction the hard winds come from in the winter, most of the time.

Some of the smaller cedars in our house's windbreak bowed over in the opposite direction from that wind this winter, and probably won't last.    Should plant some more.

The onion seeds have sprouted under lights; the first seedlings up for the spring garden.

The vegetable beds are green with winter rye, and the old lawn is brown.  All the snow if off the beds.  The one in the front is old, and the one along the fence was started last year.  This year, I want to expand out into the old pasture, beyond the fence.

And, the most reliable indicator of spring:  the two baskets in the east windows in the living room both had cats in them this morning.   If this spot is this warm....wow, maybe an early spring.