We had another beautiful weekend, weather wise and I took advantage of it by putting all of the cole plants into the garden yesterday. I put in cabbage, red cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and leeks.
I tilled up an area adjacent to the garden, about 16' x 20' for Nikki yesterday and she is planning a big flower garden, she got some of it planted yesterday, other seeds need to wait until there is no danger of frost.
The Great Tomato Experiment is a 50% success. The two plants in the garden are thriving inside their Wall O' Waters and have turned from sickly yellow to the deep dark green that a tomato plant should be. They are 12-15" tall and once they grow just a little bit more I am going to let them blossom, with the goal of eating a ripe garden tomato in June. The cuttings haven't shown much vigor, but I haven't completely given up on them.
The pigs are growing by leaps, and they are always hungry. I am going to have to build a new trough for them because the giant rubber bowl I've been using is getting to be too small for all four to eat at once without fighting.
Still havent gotten seed my potatoes and I am starting to get anxious. I wanted potatoes in the ground 2 weeks ago. I will have to start being a squeaky wheel, I guess.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Optimism
Someone once said that a gardener is an eternal optimist, and I think that's true. I stopped at Home Depot the other day to buy a garden hose and saw that they had 12" tall potted tomato plants for sale already. Now THAT is optimism!
But since they were cheap, and I found a pot that had two plants in it which made it even cheaper, I decided to take a chance. I bought Mr. Stripey tomato plants, an heirloom variety that is very popular in New England.
On Friday I set up a couple of Wall o' Waters in one of the beds to get the soil warmed up. Saturday I cut off all of the branches on the first 3/4 of the plants and planted them in starting medium, trying to get even more plants out of my purchase. Today I planted the original plants inside the Wall O' Waters, with most of the stem underground to develop into roots.
I have no idea if any of the cuttings or the mother plants will survive, but if they do I should have tomatoes at least 2 weeks earlier than I had anticipated. I am optimistic!
But since they were cheap, and I found a pot that had two plants in it which made it even cheaper, I decided to take a chance. I bought Mr. Stripey tomato plants, an heirloom variety that is very popular in New England.
On Friday I set up a couple of Wall o' Waters in one of the beds to get the soil warmed up. Saturday I cut off all of the branches on the first 3/4 of the plants and planted them in starting medium, trying to get even more plants out of my purchase. Today I planted the original plants inside the Wall O' Waters, with most of the stem underground to develop into roots.
I have no idea if any of the cuttings or the mother plants will survive, but if they do I should have tomatoes at least 2 weeks earlier than I had anticipated. I am optimistic!
Friday, April 20, 2007
4 rods of strawberries
Because I am a dork, I get a kick out of using archaic language. I recently learned that a 'rod' is 16 1/2 feet, which is pretty close to the length of my garden beds (additionally they are a fathom wide, although that term is usually reserved for water depth). So Nikki and I planted 4 rods of strawberries yesterday, about 70 plants.
We planted a mix of Junebearing and everbearing strawberries, I'm not sure if we will see any berries from the Junebearing plants this year, but I hope there are some from the everbearers.
I am really hoping I get my potatoes and onions soon, it's time to get them in the ground. The seed company is supposed to send them at the proper time for planting, I might give them a call and see when they are planning on getting them to me.
We planted a mix of Junebearing and everbearing strawberries, I'm not sure if we will see any berries from the Junebearing plants this year, but I hope there are some from the everbearers.
I am really hoping I get my potatoes and onions soon, it's time to get them in the ground. The seed company is supposed to send them at the proper time for planting, I might give them a call and see when they are planning on getting them to me.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
More critters on the way!
We have completed our order for birds this year. It turns out McMurray Hatchery wasn't going to be able to help us out this year because our order was too small for their minimums.
Luckily the folks at Ideal Hatchery were able to work with us and we got exactly what we wanted. Our chicks should arrive sometime around May 21st.
Last year we raised a mixed flock of heritage-breed turkeys, this year we are raising all one breed. They are called Narragansett turkeys and are an official heritage breed. Here's the official description :
"The Narragansett turkey is named for Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, where the variety was developed. It descends from a cross between native Eastern Wild turkeys and the domestic turkeys (probably Norfolk Blacks) brought to America by English and European colonists beginning in the 1600’s. he Narragansett variety is similar in color to the Bronze breed, though it is lighter in color and in build. Narragansett turkeys are gray or dull black with a white bar on the wing feathers. The beak is horn colored, and the head is red to bluish white. "
We are also raising "meat" chickens, as opposed to "egg" chickens. Nikki chose to raise Black Broilers because they grow fast, but not as fast as some of the meat birds that grow so fast that they can't walk.
And finally, which will be a huge surprise to you faithful readers who remember my experience last year, we ordered ducks. However, we only ordered four of them. I was able to deal with having three ducks for a few months last year, so I think I can handle four. It was just that when we had nine of them it was too much. We ordered Blue Swedish Ducks, which look very pretty in the pictures, and they should look nice wandering the yard.
Now I am off to get planting in the garden. Cheers!
Luckily the folks at Ideal Hatchery were able to work with us and we got exactly what we wanted. Our chicks should arrive sometime around May 21st.
Last year we raised a mixed flock of heritage-breed turkeys, this year we are raising all one breed. They are called Narragansett turkeys and are an official heritage breed. Here's the official description :
"The Narragansett turkey is named for Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, where the variety was developed. It descends from a cross between native Eastern Wild turkeys and the domestic turkeys (probably Norfolk Blacks) brought to America by English and European colonists beginning in the 1600’s. he Narragansett variety is similar in color to the Bronze breed, though it is lighter in color and in build. Narragansett turkeys are gray or dull black with a white bar on the wing feathers. The beak is horn colored, and the head is red to bluish white. "
We are also raising "meat" chickens, as opposed to "egg" chickens. Nikki chose to raise Black Broilers because they grow fast, but not as fast as some of the meat birds that grow so fast that they can't walk.
And finally, which will be a huge surprise to you faithful readers who remember my experience last year, we ordered ducks. However, we only ordered four of them. I was able to deal with having three ducks for a few months last year, so I think I can handle four. It was just that when we had nine of them it was too much. We ordered Blue Swedish Ducks, which look very pretty in the pictures, and they should look nice wandering the yard.
Now I am off to get planting in the garden. Cheers!
Monday, April 16, 2007
New Arrivals
Saturday brought two deliveries to the farm.
The first was our four new pigs from Jack and Lori Krell, owners of Organic Jack's in Hartford. The pigs are posing in the picture above.
The pigs look great and they were definitely ready to be put on pasture. They have done nothing but root in the dirt and sleep since they got here. They even (mostly) ignore the trough of feed left out for them, preferring to dig in the dirt.
The second delivery was 9 cubic yards of composted manure.
I finished digging out the walkways between the garden beds on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, then moved the compost up the hill to the garden using a dump cart and my John Deere. I could be very happy if I don't see a shovel anytime in the next 2 months or so. All of that work was worth it, though. The soil in the beds looks and smells great. Rich, black and stinky, I hope our plants will thrive in it.
I was worried about being behind last year's garden pace, but there was nothing I could do about the weather. Saturday and Sunday were both beautiful sunny days with temperatures in the 50s, good shoveling weather! With a few days of hard work I am nearly caught up. I got all the compost rototilled and mixed with the dirt today when I got home from work and I should be ready to plant seeds tomorrow, only 2 days behind last year's planting date!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
What the heck?
I guess I won't be getting the garden in on Sunday after all, since we got about 7" of fresh snow yesterday! The snow should be gone by then, but I think it will still be way too wet to do anything.
Yesterday was no fun. The roads were terrible and I had to lay in the snow and put the plow back on the farm truck. My break-away mailbox design worked really well when (as usual) the snow plow hit it, but I was hoping to not have to replace the shearpin until next year. Oh well, I guess that is spring in Wisconsin.
Last Saturday was a great time, we had a a bunch of family and friends over for an early Easter feast. We cooked the whole ham we had prepared from our big pig last year, it weighed nineteen pounds and took five and a half hours to cook! I checked the cooking chart in one of my cookbooks and it only had hams up to fourteen pounds, so ours was literally "off the charts".
And now, drum roll please, the results of the voting for the pigs' names for 2007. The winner is..... Jackie, with the names Hickory, Maple, Apple, and Smoke. Second place went to Eenie, Meanie, Miney, Moe. For all of you complainers, Nikki did NOT win, she merely posted her sister's entry. A big "thank you" to all that participated!
We'll get the pigs on Saturday, we should have pictures up by Sunday. Cheers!
Yesterday was no fun. The roads were terrible and I had to lay in the snow and put the plow back on the farm truck. My break-away mailbox design worked really well when (as usual) the snow plow hit it, but I was hoping to not have to replace the shearpin until next year. Oh well, I guess that is spring in Wisconsin.
Last Saturday was a great time, we had a a bunch of family and friends over for an early Easter feast. We cooked the whole ham we had prepared from our big pig last year, it weighed nineteen pounds and took five and a half hours to cook! I checked the cooking chart in one of my cookbooks and it only had hams up to fourteen pounds, so ours was literally "off the charts".
And now, drum roll please, the results of the voting for the pigs' names for 2007. The winner is..... Jackie, with the names Hickory, Maple, Apple, and Smoke. Second place went to Eenie, Meanie, Miney, Moe. For all of you complainers, Nikki did NOT win, she merely posted her sister's entry. A big "thank you" to all that participated!
We'll get the pigs on Saturday, we should have pictures up by Sunday. Cheers!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
New logo
You can see we've got a new logo over there to the right. Ardwyn Farm is officially Certified Naturally Grown now, so we can use the symbol here on the blog.
There is not much new to report, the weather has turned cold again briefly, but it can't last forever. All of the coops, pens, enclosures, etc., have been cleaned , repaired, and prepared for their new tenants. Not long now before the pigs arrive and we'll get the turkeys a little earlier this year in order to give them some more time to grow.
Depending on weather and if the ground ever gets a chance to dry out, I'm hoping to put a lot of seeds in the garden on April 15th. That's the same day I started most things last year and it worked out just fine.
There is not much new to report, the weather has turned cold again briefly, but it can't last forever. All of the coops, pens, enclosures, etc., have been cleaned , repaired, and prepared for their new tenants. Not long now before the pigs arrive and we'll get the turkeys a little earlier this year in order to give them some more time to grow.
Depending on weather and if the ground ever gets a chance to dry out, I'm hoping to put a lot of seeds in the garden on April 15th. That's the same day I started most things last year and it worked out just fine.
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