We've had about 4 days of sunshine in a row, now...which means the gardens are starting to put on some growth...including, of course, THE WEEDS!!! I'll be so glad when the donks are trained up for the cultivator, that's for sure. I've been spending my mornings of the last 3 weeks or so helping my driving mentor train her new mammoth geldings to drive team & 3-abreast. She gave me a parade harness that her smallest donk Lippy Luvver Luc outgrew...now Jenny-Mae will be on track for doing garden work - covered in bling! Like my mentor Kristi says, "Girls have to look good, ya know!"
The radishes are needing to be pulled, not enough other stuff ready yet to make it worthwhile to go to market. But the spinach, lettuce & mesclun are coming on by next weekend, if anyone's interested, let me know - I'll sell what 's available and can deliver locally. Need about 10 solid days of sunshine for the peas to blossom & set.
Oh, and this Saturday (June 18th) is the White Bird Days Parade! Kristi's driving Teamdonk #1 in it...and guess who's along for the ride doing 'candy duty'?!? Yup, I got "volunteered" to sling the candy & to head the donkey boys when we come to a stop, so that the kiddies can pet the big boys. So Saturday, instead of hauling ass, they'll be hauling me!
Hope to see ya there!
Ugh...gotta go rescue my truck from the field...replacing a starter in the rain is so not fun.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Well, the gardens are full!
It's been a little while since I posted anything new here...between trying to play catch-up during the few sunny days & a tempermental computer that's been to the doc twice w/out total success, well...
Anyways, onto farm news. I've got the goat girls booked for 4 jobs in the L/C area after they get done w/ the 3 jobs here; I find it cool how my system of diversity on the farm is starting to work out. It's been a real slow go this spring w/ the produce - most things are up, but just sitting there, hanging on for the sunshine...but the grass & weeds are over my head on some of these jobs I checked out last Sunday. So far, it's 'my girls' that are making me the money, yet to get anything out of the garden 'cept for my personal sampling, which I prefer to call "quality control", doncha know? I also have another potential client in Harpster waiting 'til summer, so the girls will have a full summer..and bellies! Fun to watch the response of a client when they come out in the morning to realize what used to be a 7-foot tall bull thistle is now nothing but a hollow 6-inch-tall "stump". I've been "volunteered" to ride along w/ my driving mentor in the White Bird Days parade on Fathers' Day. I'm also planning a "playday" with various draft animals on one of my garden sites, this fall. I've got the gardens planted to bursting --> some of the highlights are 5 types of tomatoes; 4 melons, including 164 cantaloupe plants & 26 Tigger melons! I should {finally} have the peas & salad fixin's available for sale in about 2 or perhaps 3 weeks, depending on the sun.
Well, that should catch you up on the news around here, for now.
Anyways, onto farm news. I've got the goat girls booked for 4 jobs in the L/C area after they get done w/ the 3 jobs here; I find it cool how my system of diversity on the farm is starting to work out. It's been a real slow go this spring w/ the produce - most things are up, but just sitting there, hanging on for the sunshine...but the grass & weeds are over my head on some of these jobs I checked out last Sunday. So far, it's 'my girls' that are making me the money, yet to get anything out of the garden 'cept for my personal sampling, which I prefer to call "quality control", doncha know? I also have another potential client in Harpster waiting 'til summer, so the girls will have a full summer..and bellies! Fun to watch the response of a client when they come out in the morning to realize what used to be a 7-foot tall bull thistle is now nothing but a hollow 6-inch-tall "stump". I've been "volunteered" to ride along w/ my driving mentor in the White Bird Days parade on Fathers' Day. I'm also planning a "playday" with various draft animals on one of my garden sites, this fall. I've got the gardens planted to bursting --> some of the highlights are 5 types of tomatoes; 4 melons, including 164 cantaloupe plants & 26 Tigger melons! I should {finally} have the peas & salad fixin's available for sale in about 2 or perhaps 3 weeks, depending on the sun.
Well, that should catch you up on the news around here, for now.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Seeds list
Here's the list of what's been planted so far...
Radishes = 'Easter Egg' (various-colored blend), Altaglobe (small round red), D'Avignon (a French breakfast variety), and an unknown type given to me by a neighbor.
Brussel sprouts
Mesclun = mild mix
Spinach = 2 varieties
Leaf lettuce = 2 varieties, including a specialty "gourmet" blend
Beets = 1 red & 2 golden varieties (there'll be beet greens available, too!)
Peas = snow and sugarsnap
Carrots = Purple, Navarino and 'Rainbow (a blend of various-colored carrots)
Corn = 'Spring Treat' - an se (sugar-enhanced) variety that is mildly sweet, yet retains the old-fashioned "corn" flavor.
*note: I will be also planting a supersweet (sh2) variety for those who enjoy the extra sweetness and tenderness.*
Honeydew melons = 60 transplants in the ground under cloth & doing fine!
I've many more things started in the greenhouse; I'll update as they hit the ground! I'm especially excited this year w/ the 3 varieties of cukes (including a "white" one) and the 2 pumpkins to be seeded; Baby Boo - a small white variety and Batwings - top half is orange, the bottom half is black/dark green!
Still to be come: Beans, 3 more kinds of melons, 3 types of peppers, a couple of culinary herbs, winter and summer squash, eggplant, and let's not forget the 4 types of tomatoes! I'm pretty sure I've left at least one or two things out...
Looks like the donkeys better get used to pulling full carts, huh?
Radishes = 'Easter Egg' (various-colored blend), Altaglobe (small round red), D'Avignon (a French breakfast variety), and an unknown type given to me by a neighbor.
Brussel sprouts
Mesclun = mild mix
Spinach = 2 varieties
Leaf lettuce = 2 varieties, including a specialty "gourmet" blend
Beets = 1 red & 2 golden varieties (there'll be beet greens available, too!)
Peas = snow and sugarsnap
Carrots = Purple, Navarino and 'Rainbow (a blend of various-colored carrots)
Corn = 'Spring Treat' - an se (sugar-enhanced) variety that is mildly sweet, yet retains the old-fashioned "corn" flavor.
*note: I will be also planting a supersweet (sh2) variety for those who enjoy the extra sweetness and tenderness.*
Honeydew melons = 60 transplants in the ground under cloth & doing fine!
I've many more things started in the greenhouse; I'll update as they hit the ground! I'm especially excited this year w/ the 3 varieties of cukes (including a "white" one) and the 2 pumpkins to be seeded; Baby Boo - a small white variety and Batwings - top half is orange, the bottom half is black/dark green!
Still to be come: Beans, 3 more kinds of melons, 3 types of peppers, a couple of culinary herbs, winter and summer squash, eggplant, and let's not forget the 4 types of tomatoes! I'm pretty sure I've left at least one or two things out...
Looks like the donkeys better get used to pulling full carts, huh?
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Mystery solved...I think.
Yesterday, as I took my dogs down to the rabbit pens to protect them from whatever attacked and killed 4 of the bunnies, the next door neighbor's dog went ballistic - turned out to be a full grown bobcat! Heading straight for the rabbits, until Snoop treed one (the neighbor thinks he also saw a kitten that got away). This was in daylight (dusk) about an hour before dark...bobcats are usually much shyer, and no one hereabouts remembers seeing one come in this close to the houses in at least 20 years! The neighbor took the shotgun to it = rabbits are safe, I think, for now. Depends on if the kitten comes back (if there even was one). It's raining hard tonight - of course; I just completed assembling my irrigation system I designed over the winter! LOL! But that means I'm giving the dogs the night off from sentry duty - no need to get wet, especially since I'm unsure if there's a small bobcat lurking in the area.
Other news: my sugar-snap peas are starting to sprout! As are the rainbow radishes! I'll get around to posting a list of what all I have planted so far, tomorrow - after I move the goats in the rain!
Blessed be.
Other news: my sugar-snap peas are starting to sprout! As are the rainbow radishes! I'll get around to posting a list of what all I have planted so far, tomorrow - after I move the goats in the rain!
Blessed be.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Friday the 13th!
Well, it's 'finally Friday" for those that work a "real" job {farmers tend not to get the weekends off}. It's also the 13th...which tends to make some people just a wee bit nervous. Not me! I enjoy it, actually.
Last night, though, was horrible! An animal (I suspect raccoons, although it could've been a weasal or mink) got amongst the rabbits, reaching through the wire cages...I won't go into gruesome/graphic details; suffice to say, 3 dead baby bunnies, and one I had to put out of its misery. Time to put Nell *The Wonder Dog* (Border Collie x Aussie) and Tugboat ("Tuggie") -she's a 130 lb. Great Pyrenees/Newfoundland cross (and still growing!) to work, pulling guard duty. Nell will be amongst the rabbits (they like her to the point of nibbling her ears when she lies under their cages - I told you she was "The Wonder Dog"! - and Tuggie will be chained outside the fence.
Yes, I know its a bit gruesome subject, but the intention of this blog here is to let people know about the life at MoonShadow Farm - 'good, bad, and ugly'. This ain't no Walt Disney, folks; its life on a real, working farm. On the other end of the spectrum, I took "Boots", the little bummer buckling that I hand-raised and bottle-fed throughout the winter [In the utility room of my home] out to the herd to join the 12 does, 1 doeling and the new herdsire just this week...he learned quickly to respect the electric net fencing that keeps him in & the nasty goat-eaters out. He even learned to play "king of the hill" and "let's headbang" with the little doeling, who is twice his size. I still need to come up with a name for her. So, some good, some very bad; life on the farm that stays in rythym with Nature's flow.
Well, lunch is done, time to scarf it up & go put together the irrigation system I designed, and maybe get some more things planted. I'll update the plantings list tonight.
Last night, though, was horrible! An animal (I suspect raccoons, although it could've been a weasal or mink) got amongst the rabbits, reaching through the wire cages...I won't go into gruesome/graphic details; suffice to say, 3 dead baby bunnies, and one I had to put out of its misery. Time to put Nell *The Wonder Dog* (Border Collie x Aussie) and Tugboat ("Tuggie") -she's a 130 lb. Great Pyrenees/Newfoundland cross (and still growing!) to work, pulling guard duty. Nell will be amongst the rabbits (they like her to the point of nibbling her ears when she lies under their cages - I told you she was "The Wonder Dog"! - and Tuggie will be chained outside the fence.
Yes, I know its a bit gruesome subject, but the intention of this blog here is to let people know about the life at MoonShadow Farm - 'good, bad, and ugly'. This ain't no Walt Disney, folks; its life on a real, working farm. On the other end of the spectrum, I took "Boots", the little bummer buckling that I hand-raised and bottle-fed throughout the winter [In the utility room of my home] out to the herd to join the 12 does, 1 doeling and the new herdsire just this week...he learned quickly to respect the electric net fencing that keeps him in & the nasty goat-eaters out. He even learned to play "king of the hill" and "let's headbang" with the little doeling, who is twice his size. I still need to come up with a name for her. So, some good, some very bad; life on the farm that stays in rythym with Nature's flow.
Well, lunch is done, time to scarf it up & go put together the irrigation system I designed, and maybe get some more things planted. I'll update the plantings list tonight.
Monday, May 9, 2011
News for May, 2011
* I just got a new donkey that had been used as a "roping" donkey and will now be taught for light farm work (she's pretty small), instead of being constantly chased by people training new roping horses and/or new "cowboys".
*I have had two separate people allow me to use land right on the banks of the Salmon River (for free, even though I offered to pay rent!) for my gardens this year! And hauled approximately 10.5 tons of cow manure to one and 13.5 tons of horse poop to the other one. The smaller garden (the parcel is known as the Old Mill Site) is now planted in sweet corn, sugar snap peas, 2 types of radishes, lettuce, spinach and snow peas. Tomorrow it's on to the other garden (I'm calling it the DownRiver site), unless it rains!
*I have had two separate people allow me to use land right on the banks of the Salmon River (for free, even though I offered to pay rent!) for my gardens this year! And hauled approximately 10.5 tons of cow manure to one and 13.5 tons of horse poop to the other one. The smaller garden (the parcel is known as the Old Mill Site) is now planted in sweet corn, sugar snap peas, 2 types of radishes, lettuce, spinach and snow peas. Tomorrow it's on to the other garden (I'm calling it the DownRiver site), unless it rains!
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