Looking for dry ground

Haying

Due to the heavy clay soils here, we didn't hay in the first weather window in June.   The fields were not dry enough.   We had a short window a few days ago, with a bit of rain in the forecast in the middle, and used that to get in some mulch hay and tinker with the equipment.   It never did rain during that window.

After a couple of days of rains this week, we waited out yesterday's sunshine, because the fields were too wet to cut hay.   We cut some today but...fields were borderline.   We didn't get stuck, but were not thrilled with the ground conditions.   Will just have to wait and see how this batch goes.

Such is haying.

Garden

Conditions have been better in the vegetable gardens.   We got a new bed going in the old pasture, and have planted and mulched a lot of the existing beds.   Serious weed hoeing is now underway.   We are using more insect netting this year, and are still getting used to the extra steps involved in weeding.   The trade off that is we avoid running around putting wood stove soot on all the squash plants to discourage cucumber beetles.   Also, with the netting, we may avoid a problem with pests in the broccoli, which we had last year for the first time.

George built a new little raised bed in front of the house, and it is planted to lettuce mix, rainbow chard, and donkey spinach.   It is clean (no weeds), so will supply the kitchen nicely.

It is that time of summer before the weeds get ahead of me, and it is a race to see who wins!

Winter to spring

Raccoon at the suet feeder

Woodpeckers regularly visited the suet feeder, until the visitor at left cleaned us out while ignoring tremendous protests from a house cat at the nearest window.

New children came to stay with us.  This farm is fairly flat, but we now know there are ways to slide, if one has a saucer and is determined.

A new small raised bed is going in.  George's small garlic bed is doing well. Equipment maintenance and mowing have begun.

We always seem to start putting seedlings and seed in the big kitchen garden beds later than we should, but are usually lucky to get plenty of what we need in the end.

Squash seedlings