I woke to this
which as of 30 minutes ago looked like this
Some may get all "blue" at the mere thought of a rainy Monday (not this guy), but after weeks of unseasonably warm/dry weather, today was exactly what was needed when it was needed. Tomorrow may see more of the same which will also bode well for all things planted and growing. Add some sunshine (as is forecast) to the latter half of the week and this place is going to explode with green-ness. If we see the kind of sudden growth D thinks we'll see then I may have to dedicate a few posts to pics only. Hmmm.
Before I run down today's activities, we'll back up to Friday.
Let's begin with the morning's transplants: Broccoli (Gypsy, Arcadia); Cabbage (Gonzales, Tendersweet, Farao)
From greenhouse... to van... to field... to ground. Note to self: 12" spacing/double row for broccoli; 12" spacing/triple rows for cabbage.
In all we planted approximately 1400 seedlings... and thankfully were helped by 3 awesome volunteers. One of whom (3 years old) referred to every seedling we planted as a "poor little guy." Really, I almost started to feel guilty by lunchtime. Poor little guy...
After setting up irrigation and prepping for our afternoon potato extravaganza we broke for lunch.
May 1st was our planned date for grounding potatoes, but we figured the soil to be ready and the potatoes were not getting any younger in the barn.
D suggested that we try to semi-mechanize our potato planting. In short, we hooked up a small wagon to the back of the John Deere and took turns (E & I) sitting (legs crossed facing the back of the wagon) with a bucket of planting potatoes on either side dropping said potatoes into the furrow at a particular spacing as the tractor crept down the bed. Sounds easy. Was not. The process needs tweaking. So, as work time was running short, we reverted to D's time-tested method of carrying a 5 gallon bucket of potatoes down the row by hand and dropping them into the furrow one by one. A little more physically demanding, but allowing for much more precision in spacing. And just as fast at this point. Again, needs tweaking.
Beautiful though (picture was taken today)
Finished Friday with dust jammed into every pore of my being. Made my train (sans shower) to the city just in time (thanks to E) and had a great weekend.
Back to today...
In light of perpetual precipitation we decided to focus on indoor activities... We actually managed to stay inside for all of 10 minutes. We ventured outside to tackle a minor ditch digging project.
(post soil/rock replacement)
Said ditch now houses a 100' cat5e ethernet cable that carries the wonders of "the internets" from a new hub in the office to E's quarters. Soon I too will have my own "intertubes" connection in my room.
...and how could I have not mentioned until now...?
We said hello to several new members of the farm this morning. One of our nine hens (the broody one) has been surrogate incubator to a handful of fertile eggs for the past few weeks. Today (21 days from their arrival, I'm pretty sure) they hatched!!
This is mom. None too happy about flash photography.
Will have pics of the chicks as soon as they emerge from under mom's wing.
Good stuff.
My afternoon was spent reading the owner's manual for the John Deere in its entirety. Though I did have a chance to drive it for the first time on Friday, I feel much more confident now about utilizing all of its bells and whistles. Woohoo!
...and miles to drive before I leave
and miles to drive before I leave...
dig
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