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!!