Seedy Sunday 2/23/2020

It rained from about midnight Friday through Saturday afternoon. 2.2”

Since everything was so wet and cold out on Sunday I spent the afternoon getting ready to start seeds. 

Wrapped the shelves in bird net to keep the cats out. 

Sorted through my boxes and made 8 trays of soil blocks. Planted a few tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beets, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage   Hopefully things will warm back up a little and I can get more stuff started. 

Farmer Friday 2/21/2020

So first I this morning I broke a hose bib and couldn’t get the van of hue pen no matter what I tried. So I got the can opener and opened it from the bottom. 

Flowers for market. 

This space sure needs a tidy up. 

That’s better. Took most of the afternoon. 

I cleaned up the big pots and found one sprouting hollyhocks so planted them out. 

And I planted one blue potato in each of the big pots. 

I have a bigger bag of red potatoes to plant. Just trying to decide where there’s the least chance of nematodes. FB tells me that last year on this date I posted it was snowing. This year just cold and grey with wind. Supposed to rain tomorrow. 

Thursday 2/20/2020

Loads of eggs here!

A little hawk came to visit. Pretty sure it’s too small to take any of the ducks or chickens in the uncovered pen. 

I spent this morning working in the big chicken house.  Took out a little bedding and forked over the rest. I have been wanting to do some work in here for a while. I put up shelf brackets to hold up these metal bins. The old wood I used before disintegrated a long time ago. 

I just set the bins on the brackets and put a couple screws through the back into the wall. 

Almost done. I ripped down the old curtain. I’ll put up a new one later. 

Those bins are old store fixtures and probably held bulk candy or something. Their removable fronts are long gone. So I cut down the edges of some 1x3 to a quarter inch so they would slide into the brackets. 

That worked pretty good. 

Some shavings and the girls are ready to check it out. 

I also put up some new feed troughs and got rid of the pans on the floor. That and getting both nest boxes on the wall freed up some floor space. 

Spring is seriously trying to come here. It was a beautiful sunny day.  I love how it’s not full dark until almost 6:00. 

The Weekend 2/16/2020

I spent a lot of time digging out the Bermuda grass in this bed. 

And I spent about as much time sifting and hauling compost for it. I need to find one more hoop. 

This area drops off pretty quick. 

Adding some rocks and compost and planted Greek oregano. 

Watered in. 

Baited 4 traps last night and caught 4 mice. Makes 6 this week. Plus the cats have brought in several rats. 

Loads of eggs. 

And here’s a video for you. 

Farmer a Friday (a bit late)

Picking arugula and red mustard. 

The tulips and daffodils are sprouting. 

So I need to move them and spread the pots out. 

Partly done. 

The days egg bucket. About 45. 

Then off to Superior market. Had a good time. 

#100daysofappreciation

I appreciate how every days is a new day. I can set a new intention every morning or I can reinforce the momentum of what came before. 

Thursday 2/13/2020

Today was another beautiful sunny day. It was cold and frozen early in the morning. Started the day off by sifting more compost. 

Finished putting compost down on this bed and planted more arugula. 

Planted a row of peas and covered with bird net. Fingers crossed. 

Digging out Bermuda grass. 

Do you see the big root? From a mesquite tree about 30’ up the hill. About 4’ mor of grass to dig out. 

A nice surprise. Some of the older Black Copper Marans hens have started laying again. 

Loads of eggs today. 

#100daysofappreciation

Today again I really appreciated the warm sunshine.  

And it’s Wednesday 2/12/2020

First job today, planting 2 pear trees up by that fence. Some day the rock wall will be finished and this area leveled out. I the meantime it’s a place to dump rotten wood to finish rotting. 

Dig two holes. 

Cut some wire to help protect the trunks from rodents. 

Plant trees, adding some mycorrhizae innoculants. 

All done. 

Next up. Replace this faucet. It’s probably leaking more than 50 gallons of water a day. Terrified I’m going to break that rusty pipe!

Whew!  Did it.  And I didn’t break the pipe. 

No more leaking!

Next up, sift compost for garden beds. 

Got most of this 25’ long bed done. I have to finish digging out the Bermuda grass at the other end before I finish.  

On to this bed.  Pulled anything that would be a problem later and cut the clover for the chickens. I’ll pull up the drip lines, dump compost, replace the drip lines and plant. I can probably get that finished tomorrow.  Time to do chores and deliver eggs!

#100daysofappreciation

Today I really appreciated the beautiful sunshine, the birds singing, the work flow. Everything seemed just right.