They Proved Me Wrong! July 2023

I saw this Sail Tarp (Triangle Shade) online for a great price.  Marked down a lot, I'm assuming, because it's probably not purchased a lot? Instantly I loved it, because I could see great potential of using it for the ducks.  They would be able to hide under it quickly to get away from the hawks and owls that swoop over our field, looking for food. While I don't think they would ever attack my ducks, I know that those predators really scare my ducks. The ducks quickly scamper into their coop to hide.  I wanted to give them another option, while also giving them some shade, which would allow them the option to keep an eye on things without running into their coop. 

My tallest stakes are four feet, and no amount of "taunt" is enough to keep the center of the tarp from drooping.  At the lowest point, the tarp dips to 2.5 feet from the ground. My ducks are all about 2 feet tall.  I honestly never thought that they would hang out under the tarp with it being so close to their heads.  But, nonetheless, I put the tarp up inside their pen to at least get them accustomed to the tarp as a non-threatening object, until I have the taller stakes to lift the tarp higher. 

So, today, after about a week, the ducks have proved me wrong.  They will and do go under the tarp for shade. First I saw Indigo, then shortly after that, I saw Diego and Sparks, and then finally saw Toast hanging out under the tarp, in the shade. Today is not a hot day, by any stretch of the imagination but , yah, they are using it. Wish they had been braver earlier when we had temps in the high nineties, but, hey, that's just the way animals are. 

I started most of my garden pretty late this year.  So, I have been really thankful that our hot days didn't burn the plants. We are getting some quick growth from our little crops. Corn, the most.  I need to take a moment to really weed around them, but the stalks have really grown a lot in the last few weeks of warmer weather. 

Summer is Here 2023

 So this week, the majority of the pullets are 19 weeks with a few that are 20 weeks. We had one pullet start to lay fairy eggs a few days ago, but has since stopped laying. The three older girls continue to produce well, and are close to 12 months old now. The two Comets produce extra large eggs and are a hit with our customers. The one remaining Black Copper Marans is only laying about three eggs per week that are medium large... a little larger than medium but not quite large. 

The ducks are over 12 months old and also are producing very well. The eggs are mostly large, with an occasional medium and an occasional extra large.  They like to hide their eggs in the tall grass so it feels a bit like an Easter egg hunt every morning. 

Weather has been typical June. Some rains, some thunder storms, but mostly sunny days with temps in the 80s.  It's been very nice. 

Garden is started albeit very minimal.  Not sure we will get much this year, but better than nothing, I guess. I have planted about half of what I planted two years ago.  Didn't do a garden last year. Less work, I guess, but that means less produce, too.  

Two years ago, we planted 50 Christmas trees out in the back part of the field. Only three survived the drought.  I didn't have any watering system set up.  We are going to install a drip system this year. I purchased 600 feet of hosing to get the water all the way from the house to the trees this year. So far, so good.  This year, I only purchased 25 Norway Spruce starts and plan to purchase 25 White Pine next year.  The three starts that did survive were White Pine.  Mowed a path between the two rows of trees but, the grass is so tall now, can't really see the trees.  They are marked.  The pink and white ribbons are the Spruce while the white only are either the remaining Pine, or will be the Pine next year. A lot of work goes into planting them, and to end up having 95% of them die last year was disappointing. Anyways, we will just keep adding 25 each year until we have a decent area covered and the wild life will have a bit of extra protection. 

Until we have the drip system install, I walk out across the field to water the trees.  While I'm out there, I look for nasties... lupin and ragweed.  I pull them and I am hopeful that one day they will be totally gone. The ragweed is the worst 'cause it is sticky and makes me itch. 

August 2020 - Garden and Chick Updates

July weather definitely helped with our garden, although the last week of July was sweltering. I had to start protecting the tomatoes to keep them from getting sun scald. Aside from that, the tomato wind guard area seems to be working out fine.  While I had originally planned on setting the bell pepper plants in that area, it's just not wide enough.  I will need to rethink it if I do this next year. 

The cucumbers are FINALLY doing their thing.  The first planting didn't survive.  The 2nd planting barely survived, but I didn't think they would, so I did a third planting... they also survived, but we will see it it was too late to get any cucumbers from them. At least we are getting some cucumbers at this point. 

Acorn squash. First try. Finally starting to get female buds.  For about three weeks, there were only male.  I just read that as soon as the male flowers start showing up, to put a dose of fertilizer on the plant to encourage the females to form. Then watch closely, the color of the leaves.  Keep them from turning yellow by regularly feeding the plants. We will see how this turns out. 

Corn survived!  The last time we had a summer like we had in June, my corn did not survive the month.  This year, instead of trying to start them outside, I kept them in the greenhouse under a light and that seemed to do the trick. I pulled all the tillers off this year and this past week, have added a dose of bone meal to help with corn development.  We should have some corn in another couple of weeks!

 

All onion are pulled and most have been cut up and dried. Pulled enough bush string beans to freeze for three meals. Plan to do that with the corn this year, too.  

Have pulled most of the broccoli florets off to keep them from bolting. Cauliflower heads are finally starting to form.  I have not grown cauliflower since the 1980s. I can't remember how long it takes.  This has been a very LONG time, it seems. 

Bell peppers have been attacked by bugs this year.  They are doing better, but not as well as I would like.  I think it is also a weather situation. This photo is a Sandpiper pepper.  Curious to see what it tastes like. 

Basil replant took hold.  I normally can't get basil to come up in July because it is usually too hot by that time. But the June weather really took a toll on a lot of my starts. It will probably be a late August before I can start harvesting dill and basil.  I'll take what I can get. 

The Cornish Cross Chicks came in on Wednesday this past week (July 29).  The last batch of Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock and the Blue Plymouth showed up on Friday (July 31).  Lots of new chicks and their cute little peeps are in the garage. 

Early June Garden Updates 2020

I truly don't have as much planted as I hoped.  We have had some rather crazy weather. But plants are happening, little by little.

On May 30, there were thunder storms and downpours.  So I covered the most delicate of the plants to keep them from getting knocked down.

Protecting beans, broccoli and cauliflower	Protecting Corn
Protecting Onions and Garlic

Monday was great. I was able to get the tomatoes transplanted into buckets. This year, we are going to put the buckets into the ground (as shown in photos below) and put plastic tarps and bark mulch around the buckets so that we don't have to mow around them, and can protect them from the winds and rains during the summer months.

Comparison of plants	Cloned Starts are almost 3x larger
Keep Ants/Slugs away from Strawberries	Corn was started inside this year!
Oregano thriving 2nd Cutting	Potatoes starting to bud/bloom
Creeping Rosemary transplanted