With the arrival of spring comes the burden of the field. We have been extremely busy for the past several days trying to prepare the farm for the first SCA pick up next Monday, the 11th.
After four days in the field we finally planted the last of the the onion and leek transplants. This year we have planted over 2200 row feet of leeks, three at a time with one foot spacing! Anyone want to make potato and leek soup this fall?
We have also transplanted lettuce into the field and will soon be transplanting more. This week has given us showers and grey skies so we have taken the opportunity to do various chores around the farm that would otherwise be neglected in sunny weather. Oiling and cleaning the forks, shovels, hoes, and rakes as well as the orchard ladders, organizing the CSA room, putting up additional fencing for the sheep and pigs, and cutting fence posts. Farming proves that even with deadlines there is never an end to the tasks.
We begin all days with our morning chores which rotate from person to person each day. They include taking care of all the animals and the greenhouses.
We put out the draft horses, clean the stalls, and feed them. Abe and Abby are familiar with the routine, but Ada, the youngest, is still a bit wild. When we take her out in the morning we have to turn her around to face us before we let go of her halter so we have time to get out of the way when she bolts for the hay!
We feed, water, and collect eggs from the laying hens. We have both fertilized and unfertilized eggs (meaning in one coop we have a roster, and hen pecked at that!). A laying hen will lay nearly an egg a day through its productive years (which are usually no more than one or two years). On average we collect about five dozen eggs a day from the nearly 100 hens we have!
We feed and water the pigs, and more often than not, wake them. They sleep in like a college student... Two weekends ago Jill got nine pigs that she raises for meat at the end of the season. This past weekend they had already outgrown their pen so Jill expanded it and within several hours they had already rooted it all up! Forget the tractor and tiller, just get some pigs! They are starting to warm up to us and aren't as skittish as they were at first.
Lastly we tend to the sheep, giving them grain and water. Today (in the pouring rain no less) Jilll, Megan, and myself (though only for a bit) expanded the sheep pen. Our goal is to soon have the all the animals in the largest areas we can get them to and with the completion of a few hundred more yards of fence, the horses should be able to have lots of room to run!
The tasks never end and neither does the bounty of the land. If we take care of both, we take care of ourselves.
Until then...
No comments:
Post a Comment