Watering systems

Brian planted beans to finish off the garden here at the house yesterday. Last night we laid the drip tape for the irrigation system, and now the only thing left is mulching between the rows. We are trying to be proactive about the weeds. Every garden starts off with such promise...we're trying to keep it looking good this year! We still have to plant the peppers for our produce auction patch and the gourds for Char's and Matt's wedding decorations, with any luck that will get finished up this weekend.

The sound of water filling the lines is really satisfying. Drink up beans!

And in other watering system news, our idea for an automatic chicken waterer is now a reality! The plastic barrel can be refilled once a week or so rather than every day, and the chickens always have fresh water available. We just strapped the barrel to a hand truck and hooked up a water bowl that has a float valve. So far, so good.

April showers bring May flowers

I love flowers. Pretty much all kinds and all colors. I am fascinated by close up photos of blooms. Often they are very intricate, with amazing colors, shapes, and textures. So here are a few close ups of the flowers that are blooming now in our yard.

This delphinium is about to bloom.

Love in a mist, one of my favorites.

Blanket flowers, a new addition that have already impressed me with their bold color and long lasting blooms.

Foxglove, which I have been trying to grow for years. Now that this one is doing so well, maybe it will spread some seed and we'll have even more next year.

A beautiful pure white columbine. They have been so pretty this year and just keep going and going.

Dianthus; I just love the hot pink colors of this variety!

Veronica, or speedwell, is a gorgeous contrast to the pinks, and I love the neat spiky blooms.

This sedum is amazing. I am almost certain this is the same variety that mom used to have around our pool growing up. There it grew on top of a river rock border. When we moved here I found a patch of it growing on an old concrete foundation out in the pasture. We built a pig pen there, but I gathered up all I could find before we moved the first pigs in. Ever since it has been filling in and now creates this gorgeous ground cover in the front of my bank bed (and in several other places!). This time of year it lights up with thousands of tiny yellow flowers.

This is a very special rose given to us by Brian's sister in memory of our son Lane. This spring it opened up on the very day she had her son, Noam. It's not fully open yet, but it is a special connection.

Praying mantis

When we went out to work the sheep this morning I found a baby praying mantis on my hat. When we were finished with the sheep, Brian discovered that the whole garage was full of them - hundreds of them! I had gathered up some netting from the orchard and remember seeing a nest in there. So we are assuming they hatched from that nest, which was in a trash bag in the garage. Enough commentary, check out these little guys. First time we've ever seen them this little.

The way to a woman's heart...

Wine and flowers!

This is the wine that we made. From the grapes Brian's parents grew. In 2008. It's well aged...

That doesn't necessarily mean it's exceptional wine. It's not bad, but you can only expect so much from Concord grapes and novice vintners. We finally got it bottled over the weekend.

These beautiful poppies have started opening in the last couple of days.

If you follow this blog, you'll soon see that I mainly take photos of animals and flowers. I caught this neat shot of Canada geese heading north at twillight tonight while we were weeding the potatoes.

Garden update

It's that time of year again. Over the last few days we laid plastic and set out tomato, pepper and broccoli plants. Here's the progression.

Plastic mulch with drip tape irrigation underneath

Straw in the alleys

Plants

 

Stakes and groundhog fence, which also keeps out dogs and free-range chickens (at least we hope so)

 

Close up of the tomato plants. We set out Pink Girls, Old Germans, Super Sweets (a cherry type) and an heirloom variety some family friends have been growing for years. 

It's later than we'd like to be setting out broccoli, but that's the way it goes sometimes. At least it looks healthy!

We're trying something new to see if the cucumbers, cantaloupes, and zucchini will do better this year. We put the seeds in newspaper pots and set the pots inside our plastic. Maybe this will help the seedlings get going without getting fried in the concentrated heat under the plastic (yeah, that's the voice of experience). Time will tell...

And in another experiment (that's what happens when two scientists do just about anything) we tried a living mulch in the rows between our potatoes. So far it appears to be working. The potatoes got frosted twice, so we are happy to have at least a few still alive. We may replant, but we're going to give them a little more time to see what else grows. The living mulch is crimson clover, which will be beautiful when it blooms, even if the potatoes don't make it!

Walk in the country with me

I love that Keith Urban song. Walkin' the country... yesterday I took a nice afternoon walk to visit the various critters and take some photos. So this will be a photo-heavy post. We've had two weeks of wonderful, soft rain that has really made the grass grow. You can see how tall it is compared to the sheep. The no-so-little-anymore lambs can't even see over the grass. It is fun to listen to them call for their mamas and watch them find their way back together. Each ewe and lamb has a unique baa.

This is Antonio, one of our two guard llamas.

The broiler chicks are growing even faster than the grass. We still have them in the starter house because of all the rain, but in the next couple of days they should be able to get out into their huts in the field. Here's one of the plump little guys.

The laying hens are adapting well to being on pasture. We haven't had any trouble getting them into the coop at night and their feathers are growing back after the constant assault from the roosters (the roosters are in their own bachelor pad now).

The final critter for this post is Jackson; he looks as worn out by the day as I was!  

Home on the range

Two weeks ago we put the laying hens out in their new range coop. Today we took down the electronet perimeter and are going to see how that goes. It will be easier to move the coop every day if we don't have to take down and re-set fence every day. Most of the hens have learned to roost in the coop by dark, so we are optimistic that this will work. These pictures show the rear and side views and the inside looking from the front to the back. The floor is slatted for self-cleaning and welded wire under the roosts for the same purpose. Nest boxes are accessed from the outside via a hinged lid. The front and back ends are covered with vinyl lattice to keep out crows and other varmints and allow plenty of ventilation. More pics, with chickens, coming soon.

Why I started this blog

Life happens quickly. I can never keep track of all the things I want to remember. So I am going to try to commit to keeping a journal of changes on the farm. Since that is a big part of my life, it probably will end up being the story of our family. And I hope that by writing it down, it will help me remember all of the things that get swept away in the busyness of each day.

Yesterday we put all the ewes back together. The last three yearlings and their little lambs joined the rest of the flock on grass. Now there's one less group to feed every morning and night, and today is hay-free day.

We finally had rain, nearly an inch in the last two days. This is just in time for planting the garden this weekend, provided it is dry enough. Who would have thought last week when we were nearly choking on dust that we'd be wishing it were drier...that's how it always is though...never satisfied!