Farmer Friday

Spinach

The spinach and lettuce are coming on strong, but I don't know how long they will last with our unseasonable heat. Things are blooming a month ahead of normal.

mixed lettuce

I have been planting every kind of lettuce, hoping some will manage the heat at least a little while. Oak leaf, Red Salad Bowl, Green Salad Bowl, Bibb, Butterhead. All different shades of green, with some red and speckled ones too.

Rainbow Chard

Rainbow Chard is a garden mainstay. These plants have been producing for a year now with no sign of letting up or slowing down!

Siberian Kale, aka Red Russian or Ragged Jack

With the warmer weather the kale has really been putting out a lot of new growth.

*some* of the eggs in ONE of the incubators

While some eggs are going into the incubators, a lot more are going in the fridge!

The Peas are coming!

I picked the first hand full of peas this week, I should have some to sell next week! Another crop that does not like to be hot. In an average year they are done between mid-May and the first of June. If our hot weather keeps up these may not make it past mid-April.

6" soil blocker

This week I played with my new toy tool, a huge 6 inch soil blocker. It was a little trickier to make good blocks compared to making the smaller 2" ones.

6" soil blocks

But I got them done and put about 80-100 tomato starts in them. The tomatoes were a little overgrown and probably should have been transplanted sooner. The issue was space to put them. I had a big fat pack rat getting into the hoop house where I set my transplants. That bugger wiped out over 100 broccoli and cauliflower starts and was even starting in on the marigolds! Finally caught it and it doesn't look like there are any more at the moment.

commercial style chick brooder

I scored big recently, trading an unused rabbit cage for a commercial style chick brooder. My friend even gave me the table he had it sitting on. I cut the table legs down and added casters so I can roll it under the work bench in the shop when I need to.

Just one duckling and a few chicks hatched last weekend. This weekends hatch should be bigger and in a couple of weeks I have a huge hatch coming (like more than 60 eggs!)