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.

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!

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

Hay, Garden and a Big WHEW

Whew - been an exciting couple of weeks.    I brought in a few bales of second-cut hay for the old sheep, which put us over the amount (financially speaking) that we needed to make to keep the land classified as agricultural land for tax purposes.    In Maine, one can count both sales figures and product consumed on farm toward this total, and ours includes a bit of both.   I expected this year and next to be tough in this regard, until we got more activities going on the farm, but we were counting every bale and weighing every vegetable this year. 

We still have hay that needs to be sold, but  I don't think that will be a problem this year.   It is a hard year for buyers to find good day.   

Carrots headed for the blanching pot

The hay was difficult to get in the barn because of the wet weather this year.   Three of the last five years have been difficult for hay here, with the heavy clay soils that take a long time to dry.   The investment in a hay tedder this year paid off (a "tedder" helps to cure hay faster, so hay can be brought in during a shorter weather-window).  Modelling related to global warming predicts that Maine should get wetter, so maybe that has something to do with it.   In any case, the rain just underscores that we need to continue to diversity. 

The first frost was predicted for last night, although we had the good luck not to get much.   But, just in case, we brought in a lot of vegetables yesterday.   The acorn squash we'll be eating this winter is now in the basement.    I already cooked a couple with butter and brown sugar, and it definitely gets a thumbs up. Some pie pumpkins are curing in an old and warm wooden garage, before being moved to the cool basement with the acorn and spaghetti squash.   The onions are drying.   I've been blanching vegetables all summer for the freezer, which now contains lots of frozen summer squash, broccoli, string beans, and carrots.  There are also bags of frozen cherry tomatoes, and lots of frozen zucchini bread (some with walnuts and chocolate chips).    I'm still intending to put some potatoes, rutabagas, and fresh carrots into the root cellar.

This was the first summer  that we haven't had both adults working full time off-farm, plus trying to run the farm.   Things have changed a lot.   It isn't easy, but it is always interesting.

If anyone reads this who bought hay or seedlings or vegetables from us this year, I just want to say thank you. Every bit helped.   Thanks also to family and friends who listened patiently to intense comments about haying machinery, green manure, or the weather.

Keeping tidy while it rains

Potato plants in the garden

It has been a very wet spring.   We finally got a little hay in the barn, but the first small batch will need to go for mulch hay (lower price) because the ground was a bit too damp.   The second small batch was baled when the humidity was a bit too high, so it is being checked regularly for heating in the bales.    If it doesn't heat up, which might happen in the next two weeks but could happen in the next two months, it will be kept for sheep on the farm.    The animals here usually get the first hay, and this year we need to keep it just to keep an eye on it.  Whew, amazing the extra work and worry caused by a little humidity.

We got enough hay in to check out all the machinery,  and try out the new hay tedder.   A tedder spreads cut hay out broadly so it can dry more quickly and evenly.  I don't think we'd have gotten any hay in so far without the tedder.   I feel good that I operated all the machinery in the field, with help from my husband hooking up and adjusting things.   There was that incident with the tractor and the garage door but....I might write about that when my face turns a lighter shade of red!

Any hay baled in July will be "late first-cut hay", which is less nutritious than hay of the same quality baled earlier in the year.   We'd have liked to have baled earlier, but the weather didn't agree with that goal this year, as is probably true for many hay producers in Maine. 

String bean plants

I just wandered out into the garden to take pictures and cheer myself up.   The overcast skies and damp air make the soil and mulch dark and soft.  In spite of the lack of sun, and the usual invasion of cucumber beetles, the plants are hanging in there.

I tried to help the young squash plants repel the beetles by sprinkling soot from the wood stove on the leaves.   Ash doesn't kill the beetles as an insecticide would, but the beetles seem to try to avoid the ash. 

There was a deer in the garden last night.    His narrow feet left big, deep tracks in the soft ground.   It looks like he checked things out, but didn't eat much of anything.   Good deer!

I am off to wash sheets and pull weeds....tidy the beds all around.

Squash plants

Late August

Whew, got that second window.   Probably have enough hay in the barn for the winter.  Well maybe.  Ok, we'd like to get a bit more in still.

We're having gorgeous late August Maine weather - cool nights for sleeping and sunny days soft on the skin.  All the wood is in for the winter already, so we'll be snug.

Best part is having family visiting -- family who don't mind hearing the same stories over again, who tell you what they want, and who appreciate the noisy crickets at night.  Only hard part is starting to miss them before they are gone.

Went to the Bangor music festival last night - great chance to dance, be silly, run into friends, and eat too much.  If you haven't been, you really should go.

Still waiting for that second window...

That first haying window in early June has also been the only one.   Some of the hay we cut got rained on a bit.   I think we'll feed it to own animals this winter, because anything we cut now will have less nutritional value.  I tried some of it on the sheep and they gave it a thumbs up.   Sheep are pretty discriminating about hay.  I now have more confidence in it.

We know one buyer who may still want some late-cut hay, and we still plan to cut more.

My husband bush hogged the remaining buckwheat, which is a green manure, in the garden beds this afternoon, then took the cultivator around and turned the beds under.  We'll turn them under once more this evening, and if things look ok, plant winter rye.   It is supposed to rain off and on the next few days, so that should give the rye a good start.  Ordinarily we'd wait a couple of days and let the green stuff break down a bit before planting, but with all the rain in the forecast, we're afraid we'll just grow weeds and undue the good work of the buckwheat, which smothered a lot of the weeds for us.

Open weather window - hay

Wow, we finally got our few days clear weather to hay, but it wasn't until the first week of July.  We've been ready to go since May.  Folks down on the Maine coast got going in May, and Kennebec County hayed in June.  We're in Penobscot County, and have been waiting to go.

This was only our second year haying using our own equipment, and we learned a lot.  Next year we'll know more.   There are so many more variables than appear on the surface.  I cut 2 days and then got rained on.  IOnly twenty percent chance of rain had sounded so good, after no break in the weather during May and June.   The hay I cut just before the rain looked pretty good, so we'll feed it here, if we run out of the later cut hay.   When things finally cleared, we raked and baled one load faster than we've ever done it - gorgeous drying weather - sunny, breezy, and low humidity.   Then, I thought some of the hay was too green, and was scared to keep it in the sheep barn, so we dragged it all outside.  Still not sure if we did the right thing or not.  Oh well.  In between we got in some hay that looks pretty good, if maybe on the dry side. 

Later edit:  Put a "free hay pile" list on Craig's List, and someone took the "too green" hay to feed some local beef, so it didn't go to waste.

I found a dead cat in the field.  I don't think haying machinery killed it - looked mostly eaten, with a head and attached entrails, and two paws left.   Maybe  it was a fox, or fisher, or coyote.  That was sad.   The cat probably belonged to a neighbor.  I walked over and told him, and he said "I try not to get too attached to the cats."  Barn cats have to be able to go outside to do their job, and it is a dangerous world.    I baled a snake, which was the end of the snake.   We managed to avoid the bobolink nest in the front field, which felt good.  Left plenty of room around it too.

Always a pleasure to do something new. My husband got me going, and I used the disc mower to cut hay this afternoon. I left lots of "rooster tails" (areas I missed on the corners), but maybe I'll do better next time.

This is very, very late first cut, with little or no nutritional value. But, we're getting what we can get. At least it may keep the sheep's rumens going, and keep the sheep warm this winter. Almost everyone around here is in the same boat after the long, rainy, cool summer. We're all scrambling for hay. I figure that I'm not likely to be able to buy much better. The great hope is that we can bring in a bit of second cut later this month or in September, to have something with some nutrition for January and February. In any case, we'll be feeding more grain than usual.

The vegetable garden didn't fare much better. I'm going to pull up some of the electronet fencing around it tomorrow, and use it to get some sheep out on part of the lawn that looks particularly tasty. It will mean less mowing for my husband, and more nutrition for the sheep. Their pasture is plenty large enough, but with all the rain, the buttercups really took off this year.   Buttercups are no problem in hay, but when they are green in the pasture, they are caustic.

Gray foxes and hay

Went out to check how wet the hayfield still is, and saw two gray foxes hunting mice in the tall grass. One saw me before I saw him/her, and moved off toward the woods. The other one didn't see me, and kept leaping up and pouncing down on mice, just like my old dog used to do in the winter, when she would hunt mice in the snow. They looked very happy on a warm, summer, afternoon.

Likes lots of other people around here, we haven't been able to hay due to all the rain. Clay soils take a long time to dry out, and there hasn't been a long enough break to allow the soil to dry, and enough days to cut, cure, and bale the hay. August brings its own risks, with afternoon thunderstorms, and September has morning dew to contend with. But, will get some in some how. We don't need much for the sheep, but we need some.

Friday

We now have a little bit of very green hay in the barn, requiring lots of monitoring. Lost most of the hay we cut to rain. Things we learned: (1) hyraulics can do a lot of damage quickly; (2) we need a fourth day to get the hay cured to where we want it, or we need more sun, or we need to ted or flip with rake again or something; (3) we can get about X many bales from a doubled windrow Y long; (4) shouldn't cut more than can reasonably bale under given conditions; (5) the bobolinks won't make it, because we need to cut more hay. They seem to be using the driest part of the hayfield for nest(s), which makes sense, and that is where we need to cut more hay. Lovely, musical, amazing flyers, which I don't want to run over with a mower. Wonder if they will come back next year.

Thursday morning

The picture is from part of the hayfield this morning. I raked it yesterday, and my husband cut it the day before. Will it get baled? It depends, on lots of things. A good try will certainly be made.

We tried to leave a particular part of the front field for a pair of nesting Bobolinks. Their population numbers are diving. We don't have enough storage for all the hay, and were planning to leave part of the field fallow each year in any case (cut but not bale) to reduce fertilizer needs. But, we hadn't initially planned on a "Bobolink-avoidance" cutting pattern. I'm hoping we didn't hit the nest, but since they hide it well to avoid predators, we're not sure.