Monday, October 19, 2009

We just finished the latest planting of Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower and Romaine lettuce. There was approximately 1200 plants in the last planting. Danny our farming intern planted every one by his self with none of us to help him. He had it done pretty quickly too! I had to leave to deliver last weeks CSA delivery and he stayed here and planted. The next morning I had another obligation and couldn't be there to help him and he finished all of them by his self. Awesome! The picture on the left is taken of one of the rows Danny planted. He did 4 more just like it!
He is such a real blessing to us and this farm. Thank you Danny! We really appreciate your efforts and you have made a real difference here. Danny is getting ready to move on to another farm in a couple of weeks and we will miss him alot. He has become a great friend and we feel really blessed to know him.

Danny also helped us participate in the 2009 ECO Fair in Wichita Falls. I really had decided that we were not going to be able to participate because of the time factor. He offered to help me on a day that were supposed to be his time off from the farm. If it wasn't for him we would not have been able to participate in the event. He made coffee, washed coffee cups and collected coffee donations for the ECO Fair. He helped run our booth and really enjoyed meeting people and sharing about the farm. He worked hard to help me with all the preparations before and clean up afterwards. Again thanks Danny for all your wonderful help.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Beneficial Rain

Well it has been a while since I last got on here. We have been fighting a losing battle with disease. It has run through all of the squash plants, cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons. The rain just made it worse. We battled it as long as we could and then decided to go ahead and just pull everything out. That was a sad day. It has put a halt on our CSA program for a few weeks until we get more of the veggies producing. The cooler temperatures are really not helping the warm season veggies, but the cooler season veggies are loving it (not the flooding rains but the cooler temps). So we have concentrated on planting and growing the cooler season crops. We seeded 4 beds about 150 feet long each with Napa Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli Rabb, collards, turnips, tatsoi, and Pak choy. A few would germinate and come up and then some would not. We then planted again, more rain and waited for our efforts to pay off and still nothing. More rain and still more rain and still a few would come up and then we planted again. This time I just gave up and started seeds in the green house. We are having more luck with that but not the germinating rate I would have hoped for.

A good point was made the other day from a farmer friend when he was sharing a story about about how farmers years ago used to pray for rain. They used to gather together and pray for each others farms and ask God to make it rain. However they specifically prayed for "Beneficial Rain". These days farmers pray individually for their own farms and they just pray for rain. I think there is power in numbers and being a little more specific really can't hurt.

We let the chickens out in the pasture behind the house and let them run around during the day. They are loving it. There is lots of excitement out there all the time. At any given time I see them chasing each other or the turkeys chasing them. It is very interesting to watch the turkeys when the chickens get in their food spot. The black hen turkey was so upset at "Mr. Red" our Road Island red rooster she chased him around for a very long time. She was extremely mad and was determined to set him straight. Those two are at it all the time because the rooster tries to run the turkeys off from their food so he can eat it. She is not having that! The rest of the turkeys just circle around those two and make tons of gobble noises. It is quite the "field fight"!

Mr. Red is just beautiful. He is stout and he is bossy. When I walk down to the garden to work or gather something and I have to pay close attention to where Mr. Red is at all times because now he thinks I should not be walking through his territory. He will walk slowly behind me and then all of the sudden he charges me and trys to peck me. I have no patience for that or him so he usually gets a swift kick. I thought that he might be detoured from doing that to me but so far he is not stopping. Each time it seems he gets a little more brave. Ronny says he may start trying to fly up and spur me but I can tell you if that happens he will be chicken soup quick. None of the other chickens bother anyone just Mr. bossy.

We did get all of the strawberries picked up and are ready to put them in. However it has rained for so many days and the ground is like mush. We are going to have to wait a little longer to put them in. I will be so glad when that job is over. It is a nightmare getting those in.

Well I hope the weather is better soon and we can all go outside and enjoy this beautiful fall weather. It really has been nice to have some cooler days to work in.