Planting Days

It is cool and rainy until tomorrow, when we expect the heat back. I am planting intensively, trying to clear out the seedlings in the greenhouse.

Since Saturday, I've had some visits from friends bearing plants. My plan to restrict my pepper planting to two types has been quashed. Last night, I tucked pepper plants into beds until it was too dark to see. There are at least six types of peppers that will grow in the plastic garden this summer.

Nearly all the tomato seedlings have been planted. Squashes are coming up. Beans are flowering, and little cucumbers are formed. I can see the beets have begun forming. Chinese greens are big enough to harvest, as is spinach.

The plastic garden liveth!

In the meantime, red and black raspberries are ripening and need to be picked daily. Plums have begun to ripen.

There's a new batch of tiny chicks under a tiny chicken and a brand new calf in the pasture.

There is not enough time in a day to do everything that needs to be done on the farm.

Here Kitty, Kitty...

When we Americans reference a "sitting duck" we are speaking of someone who is vulnerable. The correct term is probably "sEtting duck" and has its origins in the agricultural understanding that most fowl will set on their nests for the 21, 28, or 31 days necessary to hatch young.

Setting fowl will bear with heat, cold, rain, lack of food and water in order to incubate those eggs! They also have to fight off wild predators of all kinds which are trying to get their eggs or newly hatched young. I've seen some pretty tough mamas, willing to fight literally to the death to protect their young.

Last night, my husband walked in to just such a scenario in the goose house.

Every evening, we feed the geese and close them up for the night. Yesterday, there was a black cat attacking a setting goose in order to get her goslings. The goose was killed.

Now, when it is a fox you know that it is probably going to feed its kits with the livestock or fowl it kills. I know that cat wasn't particularly hungry, nor was it going to feed its young. It, like skunks and possum, just enjoys killing newly hatched birds and fowl.

Geese are lovely animals with tons of personality. Sure, I know that cats can be lovable pets as well. I don't dislike them. We tolerate neighbors' cats in our barns and fields. However, I sure wish they'd be aware of the destruction cats can do to songbirds and poultry and waterfowl. I wish they'd keep them inside their homes so that they can enjoy their company without endangering our livestock.

I'm not shy to tell dog owners to keep dogs away from our goats. There are clearcut laws regarding the killing of livestock by dogs. Of course, the first thing I hear is that "Fluffy would never hurt a flea" or some such. Every year, goats are run and killed by packs of Fluffies who are just doing what nature dictates.

Is it time to make laws that will impose a financial penalty on cat owners as well?

June is Berry Month

I picked the first eight red raspberries today. I ATE them all. They were very refreshing, and full of antioxidants.

All types of black raspberries and blackberries are loaded with blossoms.

Fruit hangs on all but the fig tree. It got zapped by the last surprise late frost.

There is a little spinach and some snow peas which I can pick tomorrow morning. The asparagus continue to bear.

If poke and Virginia creeper were cash crops, I'd be rich today. That stuff grows so fast that you could probably sit and watch it. 'Don't have time.

Beans and cucumbers want to grow right now. The cucumbers have started growing and have flowered and there are tiny fruits on the vines. I forgot how swiftly the plants grow and develop in June. Even an overwintered pepper plant has little fruits developing.

Life is very entertaining

and they say that we'll have fun if it stops raining.

'Not complaining; just explaining.

I just changed my socks for the second time today. The first time, I actually changed all my clothing, as I'd done the morning rounds on the farm and walked through the tall grass, which is nearly up to my waist.

It was mercifully cool with light rain this morning, so I was able to do a little transplanting in the vegetable garden. If I didn't have to deal with arthritis, I'd have done a lot more. However, every day I plant something and it adds up.

The first daylily bloomed on our farm today. Multiflora rose is blooming, as are blackberries. Wild grapes are loaded with tiny grape clusters. Too bad they are inedible to most humans. It's great asparagus growing weather.

I picked a couple of nice sized "hands" of fennel, which I'll saute in some tasty dish -- perhaps Italian sausage and pasta.

When the humidity is high, I feel sick and can't do much physical labor. We are sliding into summer and this will be a consideration. I'm getting out earlier than in Winter and Spring and doing all I can manage while it's reasonably cool.

A huge snapping turtle greeted me at the goose yard. He turned and headed toward the pond, thankfully. I wouldn't want to tangle with him.

We need the rain, but also need to cut the majority of the hay, which requires about five dry days in a row. Only about a third of the big field got cut and baled this past weekend.

Boys With Puppies c. 1978

I originally made this movie with a Super 8 movie camera. Recently, I needed to learn to make digital movies for another project. I decided to learn to incorporate live movie footage. These are my sons interacting with our Akita puppies.

They are not just regular puppies, however. They are super duper shoelace-untying puppies -- which make it hard on a kid who had just recently mastered the art... Notice that they work in teams. One puppy distracts the mark and the other attacks the shoelaces, successfully untying them.

Old House Progress

I've been working on the old farm house and am posting these photos mainly for my parents and interested friends and relatives. I'll post more as I get rooms finished.

90 Degrees

Yep. It was 90 degrees F. today. We zoomed right from Winter past Spring and into (hopefully) temporary Summer.

I'm exhausted from the Market and whatever farm chores I managed to get done.

Tinkie is back with the herd, having voluntarily walked through a gate held open for her. She's had her annual adventure. It's out of her system and she's back to normal.

Asparagus grew up during the hot day and I picked a good sized bunch this evening. We set up sprinklers in the vegetable garden area. After I rest up tonight, I'll probably feel like doing some outside work, but the grass needs to be cut again already.

The old house is shaping up nicely. Now that the interior plaster is repaired and rooms painted, I can clean and put furniture back. Soon, it will be ready for guests.

Tinkerbelle's Adventure

Spring marches on relentlessly.

Lilacs fill the air with fragrance. The peonies have their little ball buds and amazingly, flag iris are ready to bloom.

It's been cool and rainy. Fine with me. Seedlings are safe and sound in the greenhouse, developing nicely, thank you. I can see peas, beets, and spinach coming up outside. I transplanted some Oriental greens outside and also scattered seeds in small beds

Baby bucklings have all gone to new homes. The goats were stuck inside much of yesterday because they don't like rain and mud. Again the barn needs raking and new shavings in stalls and hallways.

Of course there's a clutch of little chicks with their determined mommie chicken. You can't get through Spring without chicks, whether you want them or not. She tricked me!

On the cow front, Tinkerbelle -- one of the six belles I received in a trade for an old tractor one year -- Lulubelle, Annabelle, Jezebelle, Clarabelle... -- well, anyway, somehow Tinkie, as I call her, got on the other side of the fence. She has access to the pastures the goats are in and is chomping grass with reckless abandon, ignoring her cow buddies who are somewhat concerned about her independent spirit.

Yes, Tinkie was the cow rescued from under a round bale one year when she managed to get into a hay shed. She recovered and hasn't learned any lesson at all from that experience. Evidently, she doesn't have a new calf currently or there'd be a lot of bawling -- as when she managed to get into our fenced woods on one of her other adventures.

Tinkerbelle's girth belies her name, as she is not fairy-like at all, except for the fact that she has magical powers and can, evidently, fly over fences.

Ah, Tinkie, you embody the non-conformist explorer. You are the symbol of independent thought and innovation. May you grow and prosper.

...but I'll get you yet!

Easter Eggs

While admiring a random basket of mixed turkey and chicken eggs (baskets of eggs fill refrigerators here at this time of year) I had to admire the beautiful mix of colors, sizes and textures. Brown eggs, green eggs, speckled eggs -- who needs dye?

I wonder if city folks started coloring Easter Eggs as a result of longing for the country and the time before the identical "factory eggs" they buy in the supermarket? Perhaps they had some memory of Springtime on the farm?

It's certainly easy to understand why eggs became part of the whole Easter celebration. Eggs are a plentiful part of Spring after Winter's decreased production.

The grass needs to be cut already, due to the rain we've had lately. Redbuds and lilac are blooming, as is the blue pulmonaria. Daffodils and narcissus are "over" already, looking shabby and worn. Tulips have created jolly groupings here and there.

Cabbages and oriental greens came up in the greenhouse in a matter of two days. They need to be transferred to multipack containers already. It's a little too cold to plant most things in the garden this year, but these will get out there soon. Rhubarb is doing great outside and I probably should pick some already. I saw the first asparagus tips peeking out of the ground.

Another class of baby goats has graduated from their safe maternity barns. It was time for the mother goats to get out in the pastures to get the nutrition from browse. The babies seem, with the exception of occasional stragglers, to be following the herd. The little ones who miss the "goat boat" cry in vain, as the mothers know they will learn soon from the experience. Mama goats pick up the little ones when the herd comes back down to the barns to get a drink mid-day. The babies are in goat kindergarten, a little disoriented but learning a lot about the world at large and life on the farm.

Lunchtime on the Farm

Fifty-two seconds in my day.