Just another Day on the Farm

Melons

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

The melon bed is doing well, other then the cucumber beetles, which are battled daily, the plants being treated proactively for powdery mildew..

they are starting to run, which is great but It means that I need to expand their area on the busy side of the bed, very few at this point are climbing the fencing but that’s ok, because its there if they need it but we also interplanted with bean plants and despite them being slow in being planted, it was honestly a moment of ah, I have extra climber beans ready to be planted now, and where to put them.

Just a few of the melons that are growing, we also figured out that in the melon starts we were gifted, there is cucumber plants an summer squash..

And then there is the winter squash, if I was not so stubborn, I would just call them, I have never had such a poor start to most of my winter butternut squash, I reworked them and some are up and doing great, lots a few weaker ones but even with using fall extenders, I will be lucky to get seeds for next year, I am just down right growly over it..

Of course the pumpkins on the other hand, they are ground O for the cucumber beetles, we can easily take off 50 per day, and again the next day and the next and the next..

But they are still thriving at the moment.. I see the damage but the growth at this time is outputting the damage, and they really need more area cut down for them..

When you see this.. you know you need to bump it up the list 🙂 yup, that is pumpkin poking its head up out of six foot tall plants around it.. soon pumpkin, soon I promise..

Its taking up the whole space given to it.. and there are at least a dozen plus pumpkins on it at this time, plus at least 30 plus blooms. the pumpkins are currently around the size of baseballs..

I have two other squash rows but until we clean out the wild parsnip, they are look, no touch, I expect that the beetles are on them as well.. so we will get that area de-parsnip so I can get in, do a weed clean out, and spray for mildew and swish some bugs.

So while my melon growing has some ups and downs this year, I am overall very pleased.

Posted in gardens | Tagged growing melons, Melons 2015 | 3 Comments

Bean Teepee Round two..

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

So got the Bean Teepee finished up, its all prepped now, we filled in the half moons with lots of new made soil and planted them out in more climber beans.

The older beans in some cases have a good reach before they get to the climber but over a dozen of them are already there and I imagine that by the end of the week, the rest will as well.

Now we water and watch them grow!

Posted in gardens | Tagged Bean Teepee 2015 | 4 Comments

wild Parsnip

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Wild Parsnip

Wild parsnip is an invasive plant native to Europe and Asia. It was likely brought to North America by European settlers, who grew it for its edible root. Since its introduction, wild parsnip has escaped from cultivated gardens and spread across the continent.

Wild parsnip roots are edible, but the sap of the plant can cause severe burns. Collecting the plant from the wild should only be done with extreme care. See the section Protective Clothing below.

Wild parsnip, which is also known as poison parsnip, is a member of the carrot/parsley family. It typically grows a low, spindly rosette of leaves in the first year while the root develops. In the second year it flowers on a tall stalk and then dies. The plant can form dense stands and spreads quickly in disturbed areas such as abandoned yards, waste dumps, meadows, open fields, roadsides and railway embankments. Its seeds are easily dispersed by wind and water, and on mowing or other equipment.

Like giant hogweed and other members of the carrot family, it produces sap containing chemicals that can cause human skin to react to sunlight, resulting in intense burns, rashes or blisters

http://www.thewhig.com/2015/07/10/wild-parsnip-blamed-for-dogs-burnsn-noxious-weed-man-believes-his-six-year-old-boxer-jackson-came-in-contact-with-wild-parsnip-sap-during-brief-time-in-weedsoneplan

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/renfrew-woman-sherry-steeves-badly-burned-by-invasive-wild-parsnip-1.3145694

To say that this is the most hated plant on the farm would be fair, to say that my whole area, ditches, pastures locally (not mine) is full of this is understatement and true, we are working hard, pulling and bagging and cooking in the sun, but some small areas are out of control to the point we are cutting it down, drying and bagging it after

We will need to gear up and do this same kind of cutting on the outside edges of the farm in the spray buffer zone before the fence. However, this plant will effect my plans in my permaculture food forest, there will be more cutting then I had hoped to do, I will work on a few different things to help..

When we moved here 11 years ago, they were not hear but in a few, now they are everywhere.. but we will keep the battle going strong on the farm

Posted in Life moves on daily | 6 Comments

Out of dry lot

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

The pasture is doing great, we have at least half the pasture is high enough that above sheep belly height, we also let the grasses go to seed to help fight the clover, and now we have released the adults from the dry lot, we will feed out a small amount of fresh this years first hay cut in the back barn, as the horses like to have a bit of hay to munch when the horse flies are bad and it helps greatly for them to hide.

It was great to see the whole herd out, lambs, juno the doeling and the horses of course. The ewes that have been out are all shed out where the ones in dry lot have not shed out as much, but hopefully will soon.

Even better is the amazing growth rates on all but one of the lambs, they are huge. only my wee female ewe lamb scrunchy is not growing, she is still wee in size.. her sister is massive, as big as the ram lambs who are already as tall and big as most of their mothers

Juno is as tall as the ewes but will need to fill out more before she is bigger. We will see how long it will hold for

Posted in Critters | Leave a comment

Currents are in for 2015

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

We have had a few pickings so far this year, will get to weights later once math is done and the white and black in.

DSCN7228 They are good size this year but the bushes are in need of pruning and care, everything went to the back burner last year so I will need to heavily prune this year but hope to get a good number of prunings that will root up and make new red current bushes

These were all made into basic jelly, the next batch will be pancake syrup

Posted in Canning | Tagged harvesting home grown red currents, pruning for good harvests, red current jelly, red current syrup, Red Currents | 1 Comment

Bean Teepee is up

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

well, we had got the layers of bedding down, we got it planted very late and then it sat.. slowly growing, being pushed to the back of the list again and again.. till today!

First we needed to clean it, lay down the plant barrier and fresh clean hay and then we started building it, its big enough for two chairs, table and we will get the rest of the twine on tomorrow, and now that I can get in to water, hopefully the plants will take off

Posted in gardens | 2 Comments

The Battle is on!

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

This Beetle is on the farm this year in mass, I understand why, many of my typical thing I do each year was not done last year..

Its being reflected in some of the issues I am having this year, plus its just a great year for them.. they are bad everywhere..

The fox has me locking my birds up.. this is a bad thing when it come to bug patrol.. * more on that later

We are hand picking twice a day, and we are getting on average at least 50 plus adults, so much fun..

But look at the damage they can do and quickly..

What is your current issue in the gardens. My second one is rust.. o yes.. rust you are getting the cut, bag and spray treatment on the beans

Posted in gardens | 2 Comments

Ducklings are growing up.. Duck Breeding plans 2015

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I have two more hens sitting on their nests, so I am hopeful that I will have another crop of ducklings born in july.. but this lovely momma sat faithfully, and only hatched out two Two very cute ones, not her fault, she did everything right, but the male I got for her was clearly older then I expected, as she is a young healthy fertile female. Those wee ducklings are growing up and growing fast at that.. lovely colors, and I will see on their sexes, if they are female, they will stay as part of my overwinter flock, if males, they will be butchered just before the adult pin feathers on the wings come in.. But alas their time with their mom has come to a end, you see yesterday she laid a egg.. and that means time to move the ducklings into a growout pen, time to move a drake in with momma hen and let her breed and ideally sit at least one more clutch of eggs this year. So far, I am only at my 2 of 50 ducklings goal.. hmmm, that does not sound good when you write it out, but there is lots of summer-fall left yet

Posted in Critters | Tagged Ducks, Raising ducks for meat | Leave a comment

Rhubarb Seeds are in! Seed Harvest 2015

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

I have plans to grow lots and lots of wee baby rhubarbs next year and finding my

own * plant line out of them..

Each seed will grow rhubarb if viable but each seed is a new rhubarb genewise, how very cool is that..

I allowed my favorite and best plants to flower, then I culled based one what I saw

then I let them set seed and I culled some stalks until in the end I let the biggest and the best 4 plants stalks dry and harvest from.

I have a huge amount of seed.

have you ever grown rhubarb from seed, if so how did it go

Posted in seed saving | Tagged rhubarb, Rhubarb seed, Seed saving 2015 | 2 Comments

Sunset Summer 2015

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Our little farm is never truly quiet, birds chip, critters rip grass, or chew cud, toads sing, wind blows on trees, the farm hums and sings but it has a feel of quietness to it. Hubby snapped this photo for me last week..