It's That Time of Year

(click for larger view)

..the sweet fragrances of the blossoms of locust trees fill the air all around our farm. I love it when the locust bloom. So do the bees!



Have spent much of this week rototilling under cover-crop on the north half of the main garden, getting it ready to plant. Now that the rains has stopped, there is so much for Steven to plant, and in so little time! (Yet, rains are predicted again before the end of Memorial Day weekend)

This will probably be my last update post until I return from Pennsylvania. I wish you all a blessed growing season!

May update

I can't believe it has been half a month since I updated here.

That is just indicative of how busy this time of year is for us on the farm. In another week, I will also be leaving for a one-week road trip, so I don't know that I will have anything to update until mid-June after this.

Steven spent several days this week adding on to his pigeon area. In addition to the pigeon loft he already had, now he has built a Fly Cage, taking up about 1/6th of the goat barn. This will allow the pigeons out to exercise their wings and fly about some, without having to let them totally out to fly away and not come back. (Currently the ladder in there is for them to perch on until he gets some type of perch or rooster built for them to hang around on).

(His new pigeon pair, top, and whenever he checks on them,
the goats come into the barn asking for his attention.)

The garden is coming right along. This isn't a great picture of it, but you can compare it to the earlier spring photo.



The yellowish-brown area in the center of the garden is where Steven just cut his hay crop, and put that hay up in the barn. Now it is ready to till and plant. We still have much to plant, between the continual rains we have been getting. The tall weeds in the foreground are curly dock - which Steven will also cut to put in in the barn for winter feed, once their heads seed out.

Ah - the legacy of my grandmother's flowers. I love the iris gardens my grandmother planted in various places around the farm, and they are begining their beautiful blooming now. It is a great legacy that she left behind.




My separate potato garden is coming right along
(yes, I know I need to weed it).


In the incubator, Steven has placed a new batch of chicken eggs. Those should hatch by the end of May. His Iowa Blue chicks are growing rapidly -- he takes them out to the garden with him (in the cage) when he is working out there - to allow them to get sunlight, fresh air, and peck around a bit.

Oh! and good news! We have been given a greenhouse! It's huge (21 x 12) - so now we are just trying to figure out the logistics of how to take it down from it's present location and get it moved to the farm.

New Chicks

Yesterday Steven received the new Iowa Blue chicks he ordered. This is part of his long-term plan for his chicken breeding program, as this somewhat rare breed will introduce the birchen gene into his flock.



Unfortunately, it looks like none of our duck eggs (in the incubator for the last month) are going to hatch. We knew it was a long-shot, but worth a try.

Also, it's that time of year. Our Leasee put his cattle into our pastures. I have to admit with everything so green, it does make for a pretty picture out our back gate: