Day 14

We had a good day today! Beautiful weather. We're supposed to be getting rain tomorrow. Hope it comes through!

We harvested some asparagus today. It froze overnight Wed, so most of what HAD been up was lost. But, we still got a couple pounds of it.

Planted 500 strawberry plants. "Bare roots" she called them. Just a little bit of plant (a couple inches, maybe) and 6"-8" of root. They might produce some berries this year, but the CSA members that pay extra for strawberries will be getting them from another local farm. Next year, her plants will be able to fill the CSA requests.

One of the baby calves has been eating dandelion flowers! (They only have lower teeth right now!) And one of the others is trying to lap milk up from the top of a bucket (rather than sucking it from a nipple). My, don't they grow up fast!

We also built two composting toilets for the outhouse (used for pizza nights). It's a regular toilet seat, but it sits on a plywood cube. Inside the cube is a 5 gallon bucket with sawdust in it. After you make your "deposit" you sprinkle more sawdust (from a bin also in the outhouse) over the top and you're done. When it's full WE will dump it into a special compost bin. The temperature is monitored (that's what makes it safe to use eventually) as it composts over a 2-year period. Then it can be used in gardens. The outhouse will not smell as bad as the port-a-potty she had last year, because everything is covered with the odor-absorbing sawdust, and it's emptied more frequently. And, no chemicals.

Oh, and I also got to use a "Flame Weeder"... a snazzy contraption that's hooked up to a small propane tank and rolls over the weeds. Actually burns them away! How fun is that, barbecuing dandelions!?!?!

Day 13

Well, I guess I missed a day of blogging yesterday. Between "Lost" and Nora Roberts, it was bound to happen sooner or later!

Monday and Tuesday Heather was at a conference, and I was pretty much on my own. I had a list of pretty self-explanatory to-do items and I kept busy. There is lots of organizing, cleaning and straightening of things to be done to get ready for the Pizza Nights and when the CSA's start in June.

We're still planting things, too, of course. It was potatoes the other day with her Dad. Heather had "potato beetles" last year so she wants to make sure that is completely eradicated before she tries again. We put in more onions (these she calls "storage" onions--they'll keep for several months once they're harvested) and some strawberries and asparagus were delivered the other day, so they'll need to go in soon.

We had thought about a trip to Eau Claire tomorrow to pick up a new prep table for the pizza kitchen, but now they're talking about rain on Friday, so that might be a better day. I know she wants to get more stuff in the ground in case it really does rain.

Day 11

There are new faces on the farm today. Three baby (3 or 4 days old!) calves arrived last night. Less than a week old and they are bigger and stronger than my dogs! They like to head-butt you around, I think to see if you're hiding any food, or anything. Buddy, the farm dog loves them, but I'm not sure my Max would. But, who knows?!? I also helped plant potatoes today, and put some primer on 2' x 2' boards for road-side signs. I kept an eye on the temperature in the hoop house, and started making curtains for my room I'll be moving into in a few days.

Day 9 - Earth Day!

Today was beautiful! Just a little cool, but sunny and only a light breeze.

Of course, we did lots of other stuff too, but I think our biggest project today was mucking out one of the younger hens' room in the barn. The first task was to get the girls outside. Yes, we herded chickens. Not pretty. But, that might have been the most enjoyable portion of the task. Smelly, heavy, packed-to-the-floor straw had to be shoveled up and taken (up hill, of course) to the area by the hoop house to be layered with all the dying spinach we've been pulling. Will make a great compost pile. Then she pressure washed the whole room, ceiling to floor. So, that made us smelly, dirty and wet! The girls will be spending the night outside tonight (a first, I think) so the room can dry thoroughly. Tomorrow, we will put down a light layer of barn lime (whatever the heck that is!) to absorb moisture and supposedly neutralize the ammonia smells, then pine shavings as bedding. Then, back in the girls go!

They better appreciate it! ;-)

Day 8

Another beautiful day of planting! Lettuce mix, arugula, 2 kinds of radishes, carrots, zinnias, cosmos, etc., etc. I can't wait to see and taste all of this!

Day 7

I feel like I got a little workout today! Brought 13 flats of germinating seeds to the hoop house. We pulled more spinach that is going to seed, to make room for peppers that were planted on Feb 15, and have been under the grow-lights since then. We hauled wheelbarrows full of composted manure into the hoop house, and laid landscaping fabric. We planted 195 pepper plants. We moved some gravel around the pizza area and got more sand in the new sand box. We planted 166 watermelon seeds.

That sounds like a lot, huh?

Day 6

After a weekend home, I'm back on the farm! Even missing just a couple days, the trees in the valley seem to have exploded with green. As I look out at the rolling hills, what used to be the plain brownish-grayish trees surrounding me is now a soft, vibrant green. What a beautiful backdrop for the dark, rich dirt and the little sprouts fighting their way to the sun!