Harvest Monday

egg production is picking up

Harvest Monday, a day to show off your harvests. Brought to you by Our Happy Acres This post is for two weeks because last week I was having issues connecting with my wifi.

After a long spell of very few eggs production is picking up. Some of the old girls are laying a few extra large eggs a week while the young hatchery girls I bought last fall are just getting started with small pullet eggs.

baby pak choi

There's still lots of baby pak choi and red mustard greens. It's getting so warm some of the pak choi is trying to bolt, but still tastes delicious.

There's not much else to pick right now, since it was so hot and dry in the fall a lot of things didn't make it. I still have a pile of small and medium spaghetti squash, but the Red Kuri and the Delicata are gone. I just put in the first batch of lettuces so hopefully they will be ready soon.

A little catching up, January totals. totals do not count buckets of greens pulled for the chickens

crop	TOTAL
pak choi	13.0000
herb, cilantro	0.6875
herb, parsley curly	0.1875
herb, rosemary	0.0625
herb. Sage	0.1250
mustard, red giant	6.3125
Month total	7.3750

Eggs: January 2018  526

Feb
Crop
Pak choi           4.625
Red Mustard     3.3125
Spinach             1.25

Feb total            9.1875

Farmer Friday

tomato seedlings

The tomato seedlings are up! I'll be putting them into bigger soil blocks on Sunday.

broccoli, cauliflower, pak choi and lettuce

This week saw the second terrace and bed put in the new garden. I planted over 200 transplants into it, broccoli, cauliflower, baby pak choi and lettuce.

sage and rosemary planted below the wall

I planted some culinary sage and rosemary along the base of the retaining wall. They will catch and use water that seeps down from the garden.

Suzy in the back, Edda and Giotto

Edda is settling in well. Still a little skittish, especially with visitors or if I move too quick or make a loud noise.

one gap left

Today I worked on the fence around the garden. There is one little gap left to plug up.

fence at moms house

I worked on fence at mom's house too. Plugged up the gap where Edda was getting out of the yard.

Front yard pallet fence

I spent one morning working on trimming vines and shrubs and adding to the pallet fence around my front yard. A little more to go and I can start working on planting in the front yard without fear the pigs will get into it.

I spent this morning getting ready for the Superior Farmer's Market tomorrow. I picked baby pak choi, red mustard, cilantro. Egg production is picking up so I'll have lots of eggs. I may get a few more herbs picked too.

Farmer Friday

Edda

Meet Edda, an Anatolian Shepherd, which is another livestock guardian breed. Edda is a master at escaping so my friend gave her to me to see if I could have better luck with her. Edda is a sweet girl and so far very timid. We are taking it slow and easy, but she's the reason I put hot wire on the inside of the duck pen.

another terrace

This week I worked on another terrace in the new garden. This pic is taken from the uphill side, you can see the top of the rock retaining wall here. While I hauled the rocks for the bottom part of the wall out of the creek, the rocks in the top part are right from the garden.

a nest of rocks

I think this is a rock breeding ground. I keep turning up whole nests of them!

The terrace

I loosened up the soil on the new terrace, hauled out a lot of rock, leveled it out roughly and gave it a good watering. I also got the hoops bent for the new bed, but ran out of time to finish. Maybe on Sunday.

eggs are looking up

Egg production is slowly increasing. Some of the oldest girls are back to business while some of the young pullets have also begun to lay.

baby pak choi

Some of the pak choi is trying to bloom so I cut most of it. Good news is that the whole plant is edible, flowers included. I also picked some red mustard. I didn't get a pic today, but I cleared a row of mustard and planted out 3 trays of pak choi. This week I also planted 120 tomato seeds of 6 varieties and a couple of trays of carnations. Running out of room under the lights already! Sunday I'll try and finish up the new bed so I can plant out lettuce and beets and make room to seed more spring veggies.

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Farmer Friday

putting in a ground rod

This week I put electric fence on the *inside* of this 20x20 pen.... Why? That's a secret! Find out in my next post!

blurry sunset

 We've had some cold, cloudy, windy days but no rain yet. But a few pretty sunsets.

low tunnel with fava beans on the left and red mustard 

red mustard

I picked red mustard for market but I pick even more for the chickens. They love it!

low tunnel with baby pak choi on the left, spinach sprouts on the right

baby pak choi

It's so warm the pak choi is trying to flower; they are good though, fresh, green, crispy, juicy.

eggs from the youngest black Ameraucana pullets

Several young pullets have begun to lay and some of the older girls also. By March everyone should be in full swing.

more pak choi ready to go to the garden

I have 4 trays each of pak choi, beets and lettuce ready to go to the garden. This week I also seeded 4 trays of leeks.

me and my .22

I lost about 5 chickens at my house in the big wooden coop in a week. I've never had anything get in there before. It was a skunk, which I trapped and dispatched. Peeee  eeeeeeeeeeeew! I'll be watching for signs it wasn't alone. For now things seem to be OK. for those that don't know, skunks are related to weasels and will eat eggs and chickens. They tend to just eat the heads and necks.

Farmer Friday

pea shoot

Yay it's Farmer Friday. We are having very much unseasonably warm weather here, bright and sunny and no rain in sight. That does not bode well for the future. In the meantime things are going along. The peas are beginning to sprout.

Extra Dwarf Baby Pak Choi

I picked some baby Pak Choi this morning. This has been a big hit with my customers and there never seems to be enough. I think I will start planting 4 trays of starts instead of just 2 at a time.

Fava beans and red Mustard

Under the row covers things are doing pretty well. Here's a couple of rows of fava beans and some Giant Red mustard. But I pick the mustard when it's small. Mustard is a hardy, fast growing green. Spicy raw, it has a totally different flavor when cooked.

red and green cabbage

One low tunnel was covered with old row cover which was beginning to disintegrate. So I pulled it off and replaced it with new cover. The red and green cabbages are doing well and just beginning to head up. I'm not sure how long it will be before they are ready to pick, maybe a month or two.

cilantro

Some cilantro, finally! Because it's been so warm and dry it has not been growing very well. It is a winter weed and likes it cool and damp. But I have a little bit for market tomorrow. I planted a few cilantro seeds between the cabbages when I set them out.

green cabbage just beginning to head

A peek into the green cabbage. You can see the new leaves are just beginning to curl up on themselves.

red mustard and cabbages

You can see more red mustard and the cabbages here, before I took off the row cover. I plant a lot of red mustard even though I don't sell a lot of it, because the chickens really like it. After pulling enough for a couple of bags for market I pull some more to feed to the chickens. If I was only growing for myself I would just pick the outside leaves and leave the rest of the plant to grow. It will keep going for several months that way.

scarlet kale

The kale is looking quit sad these days, I'm not sure if the plants are just too old or they haven't been getting enough water. I do have some replacements started and will plant some more. In the meantime I'll try to get them some more water and see if they perk up.

progress

I"m making some progress on the newish garden area. I'm almost done putting the hoops up, but had to quit first because the battery needed to charge on the driver and because I need to go pick things for market.

hatchery birds

The hatchery birds I bought this fall are doing well, tho a wee bit crowded. The cockerels are beginning to bother some of the pullets, so eggs won't be too far behind.  Those boys will be going to freezer camp pretty soon. As soon as I get done with this new garden space and get things planted out, I'll go back to work on the pen these birds need to move into. When I move them I will probably leave the boys where they are, then they will all have more room.

Farmer Friday

cabbage and mustard seedlings in a low tunnel

The weather has been really crazy this year. While I don't think our hottest summer day beat the 115 degrees we had in June last year I think we have had a lot more days that were 95+ this year. 20 years ago we would have had a killing frost by Halloween and possibly seen some snow by Thanksgiving. Here it is November 30 and it hasn't even frosted. At all. Nada. Not even close. I still have somewhat productive zucchini and a few straggling cherry tomatoes. Hard to keep to my planting schedule when plants aren't coming out on time. I do have 2 low tunnels covered with frost cloth. In one are red and green cabbages, red mustard and I just took out the little patch of baby pak choi. I replaced it with rainbow beets.

Fava beans and red mustard

The other low tunnel is mostly fava beans and more mustard. I don't sell a lot of mustard greens but the chickens, especially the young ones love their greens. Mustard is hardy, grows year round and is easy to grow. tucked in between other things in both tunnels is cilantro. both of these pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago, so the plants are a lot bigger now.

funny looking pumpkins

I haven't been selling many of my funny looking pumpkins so I started feeding them to the chickens, who enjoy them tremendously. First they fight over the seeds and then they eat the meat, leaving a paper thin bit of rind.

baby turnips and greens

The turnips are growing well. But they are not the best sellers so I will not plant so many of them next time. But the chickens do like them, roots, greens and all.

spinach seedlings

It has finally cooled off enough that the spinach is finally sprouting. But it's still been too hot for the lettuce.

I pulled the rest of the turnips this morning. Some had gotten quite large. 

It's hard to believe there are still cherry tomatoes. These were late volunteers so maybe next year I'll plant some late on purpose. 

There are still a few Red Kuri squash to pick. These have been very popular with my customers. 

This is an avocado seedling. It is over a year old and has lived through one winter already. If it makes it through this winter I will put it in its own pot. There are two more in there but they aren't very big yet. 

Farmer Friday; Potatoes, Pak Choi and More

New Potatoes; White Creamers & All Blue

More potatoes this week, mostly White Creamers and All Blue. The main planting is fairly protected, inside a weld wire fence which is inside an electric fence. But some were planted in the front yard where the old pallet fence was falling down. And of course the dang javalina found their way in.

javalina destroy part of the potatoes

pallet fence in the works

So working on replacing the fence became a priority; there is still more to do, but I closed up the main gap the javalina were coming through.

that *was* about 30 lettuces just 2 weeks from cutting

So then the next day I discovered a squirrel  had eaten the next lettuce patch. To the ground. Barely even a stump left. I was not happy to say the least. And I have been watching for it to come back.

squirrel eaten tomato

To add insult to injury it also took off with the biggest green tomatoes.

baby beets

beets & potatoes for dinner!

The beets are starting to come in and they are so sweet and delicious! Roasted with a little olive oil and seasoning they are as sweet as candy. And all the colors are so pretty together.

Baby Pak Choi

The baby Pak Choi was starting to bolt, so pulled it all, 3 pounds from a small patch and all spoken for as soon as I let the word out.

time for the peas to be gone

The peas have given less and less the past couple of weeks. We've had some cooler weather so they aren't too sad looking yet, but they aren't producing enough to be worth the water. So out they are coming, to be replaced by cucumbers.