Farming Week - Day 5

- poultry care
- dishes/clean hands
- picked extras, emailed and posted, chilled the greens
- checked on the birds around 1:30.  They were fine but it was a long time since the morning.  I saved some hatching eggs but I may use tomorrow's instead because of the heat today.  Plus, I want more Welsummer eggs.  So far I have saved mostly green eggs.
- still have accounts and two forms to fill out and get notarized this afternoon.  There's still hope but I do not like working against a deadline.
- sold a bunch of kale and mesclun, a big sale for me.
- refrigerated vegies.
- checked for eggs
- Fastest account clean up and tax form writing I've ever done.  Now off to get notarized.  Luckily, it rained again while I was working so I didn't feel as bad about missing outside time.
- Note to self:  Never get so behind on accounts again!
- nice rain

PS  sorry about these boring, whiny posts.  Soon I will be on to actual farming, cheery writing, and pretty pictures.

PPS  Check out this sweet article from NPR about salad.  "Everyone says, 'Your food is so good,' " Lloyd says. "But it's the farmers who give me the products that make it good."  (Jordan Lloyd, chef and owner of the Bartlett Pear Inn in Easton, Md)

Farming Week - Day 4

Tuesday:

My goals are to finish the accounts and prep for picking the shares.

- still plugging away at paperwork.  And I intend to finish!
- poultry care.  Collecting eggs for hatching but so far it's kind of slow.  The 2 I set aside yesterday got a bit wet so I decided not to set those as the protective bloom on the shell probably got washed off.  As of 8:30 am, only 1 green egg saved.
- blog post
- read about saving eggs for hatching, caring for the hen and chicks
- collected eggs (1 more green one to save)
- dishes, breakfast, put away laundry and containers for shares.
- banana bread
- check for eggs, 1 more green one to save
- ordered a new book about poultry
- accounts continue
- hoophouse temperature read 104 so I went outside and sprayed it.  Now it reads 92.  Storm may be coming, or maybe not.
- 2 more eggs to hatch.  broody hen off the nest and taking a dust bath.  Will she go back?
- no storm yet.  The hoophouse is back to 100.  Poof lettuces and kale and cauliflowers and sunflowers!
- broody went to another nest that she could reach more easily.  Now she is back in her new nest.  And content.
- RAIN!  Down to 66 in the hoophouse.
- accounts...

Well I did not completely finish but I am at the checking for mistakes stage.  Ugh.  I hope I never get behind again!  I am reluctant to promise, as so much in life is uncertain, but I will certainly do my best to stay on my weekly routine year round, despite busy garden times.  So much depends on good record keeping.  Wednesday I get to pick vegetables!

Farming week - Day 3

Kousa Dogwood

Monday:

- my goal is to catch up on my accounts

- poultry care

- slow start to celebrate the holiday, bath, blog posting

- start laundry

- poultry care, starting to save eggs for Miss Mix

- supported sweet peas

- watered seedlings

- very hot today, lots of chicken watering

- cleaned all containers from picking and share pickup

- csa email and blog post

- accounts!

- watered hoophouse and seedlings (very hot day!)

- more laundry

- more accounts!!

- accounts take a long time when they are so behind.  much progress, finish tomorrow, while it rains, I hope, then I'll be able to garden for the rest of the week

- more laundry folding, etc.

Snow Crown cauliflower in the hoophouse...small, but hopeful.

Farming week - Day 2

Sunflowers for Memorial Day

Sunday-

- poultry care

- supported the fava beans in the hoophouse

- too much time inside blogging...

- dishes, clean up from last week's picking

- poultry care, broody hen has settled onto her new nest

- RC made another nest box for the Orpington (getting broody)

- set out lisianthus

- set up more bean teepees

- moved Muscovies in with the Cayugas and Welsh Harlequins, so far, so good.

- RC mowed some more

- watered eggplant

- siesta

Pole beans 5/27/12

- planted 15 teepees of pole beans: 3 Scarlet Runner, 2 Northeaster, 3 Rattlesnake, 2 Green and 1 Yellow Annellino, 2 Garden of Eden, 1 Kentucky Wonder, and 1 Kentucky Wonder Wax

- some weeding in the hoophouse

- planted more Luscious corn seed with the corn seedlings

- planted 25 ft of Royal Burgundy bush beans

- hoed half the New Zealand spinach, hoed the Asian onions

- picked some of the bolting spinach for supper

- that's all for today!

l. to r.: Royal Burgundy, Dragon Tongue, Kentucky Wonder, KW Wax, Gold Marie, Northeaster, Garden of Eden, Rattlesnake

 

May Farming Week - May 26 - June 3

More Pictures

Saturday, May 26, 2012:
- caught up on my bookkeeping job
- contacted a previous vegetable customer about salad greens
- went to the land fill/made a space in the garage!
- set out 45 sweet peppers and 35 eggplant
- RC set the Ghost pepper in the hoophouse
- RC bought a new lawnmower and 4 Blue Muscovy ducklings
- interplanted basil and marigolds with the large tomatoes
- RC mowed with the new mower after it was delivered
- sold some salad
- started setting up bean teepees
- moved manure to the summer squash area
- RC cleaned the rest of the coop!
- set up an area and nest for the broody hen (moved her at night)
We now have 6 separate poultry groups - hens, breeding hens, chicks, ducklings, Moscovy ducklings, broody hen.  Hoping to merge the two sets of ducklings soon.  Hoping the broody hen likes her new nest and settles in so we can give her some eggs to set.

Enough blogging!  Time to get to work!