They're here!

We got our turkeys yesterday, and our chickens and ducks this morning. Over there on the left is one of the turkey poults, sorry it's a little blurry.

When they ship the chicks there have to be a certain number of birds in each box to provide warmth. If there aren't enough, the hatchery will add random chicks (usually roosters) to the box to make up the minimum number. Some poultry raisers call these free additional birds "packing peanuts". Ideal Hatchery is apparently very generous with their "packing peanuts", because they included TEN mystery chicks in with our order of turkeys! They are all identical yellow fuzz-bodies except for one that has a slightly narrower head. It will be interesting to see what breed they end up being.

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The problem is that we were not expecting to nearly double our chicken order, so if anyone out there wants a couple of mystery chicks, they are for sale, cheep! (sorry)

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All of the birds look healthy so far and they are very active and never stop eating, so I have high hopes that they will all survive. If you want to come visit and see some very cute baby birds, come on out to the farm!

Oops, wrong day!

Nikki and I were pretty certain today was the day we were going to get our birds, so we got everything organized last night and I set the alarm so I would be up and dressed when the post office called.

Turns out we were wrong. Today was the shipping date, so we should get them tomorrow. Oops!

In other news, I am beginning to wonder if weathermen are intentionally messing with me. I think they must be, otherwise why was I standing in the garden this morning watering in the middle of a rain shower?

First salad of 2007

Tonight we're having the first salad from the garden this year. I picked a double handful of various lettuces, chard, radishes, and a couple of green onions. I can't wait. We'll also have a side dish of asparagus from the yard. I'll have to look back at the archives and see what the date was for last year's first salad.

I breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when I finally spotted some potato vines beginning to appear. I was starting to think they were all duds. So far only the red potatoes are up, I hope the others follow soon.
I got the second plantings of carrots, sweet corn, radishes, beets, chard, salad greens, and peas in yesterday. I also planted cucumbers and green beans.

Saturday we spent with family at my niece's first birthday party. It was nice to see a lot of family we hadn't seen in a while, we had a great time and my niece is, of course, the cutest one year old on earth.

Dodged a bullet!

Looks like we dodged a bullet last night. The weathermen on TV were doom-and-glooming about a frost advisory for the entire state, I wasn't too concerned as it was 60°F at 6pm, but I covered everything delicate before going to bed, just to be safe. Turns out it wasn't needed, I don't think it dropped below 40°. That ought to be the last time I have to worry about it at all, I hope!

The garden looks great, I can't believe how far I am ahead of last year. I already have the first planting of corn sprouting and have squash plants at 5-6". Sunday I'll be planting cukes, beans, and new blocks of radishes, beets, carrots, and chard. I tried transplanting some of our wild asparagus to a spot where maybe it will grow a little bit better than it does by the pine trees. All we get there is stalks thinner than a pencil.

The birds arrive next week, have to remember to call the post office on Monday and warn them that they'll be getting a noisy package for us,

A new trough

The big rubber bowl we were using to feed the pigs just wasn't cutting it. They were getting too big and were fighting with each other too much. I decided a new trough was in order, where they could eat peacefully. Here it is on it's trial run. They are still a little too short to just stand next to it, so I may remove the top board on the near side. That way they won't have to climb in to eat from it. Anyway, it seems to work, and I built it with scrap lumber I had around, so it didn't cost me anything.

The garden is still doing well, my luck seems to be holding with the weather. Still no frosts in the forecast, but it may dip into the upper 30's on Thursday night. I think I'm safe.

Happy Mothers' Day to all you moms out there, have a great day!

Garden List 2007

I think I have everything that's in the garden on the list , but I'm not 100% sure. If I missed anything I'll add it in later.

Acorn squash
Banana pepper
Beets
Black Krim tomatoes
Bloody Butcher tomatoes
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Butter & Cream Sweet Corn
Buttercup squash
Butternut squash
Cabbage
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Cauliflower
Cayenne pepper
Celebrity tomatoes
Checkered Sweet Corn
Cherry tomatoes
Chioggia beets
Cucumbers
Fingerling potatoes
Green beans
Green Bell pepper
Habanero pepper
Holy Mole' pepper
Iceberg lettuce
Jubilee tomatoes
Kohlrabi
Leaf lettuce
Leeks
Mesclun salad greens
Mr. Stripey tomatoes
Old German Orange tomatoes
Peas
Pumpkin
Purple Bell pepper
Radicchio
Radishes
Red Bell Pepper
Red cabbage
Red onion
Red potatoes
Rhubarb
Roma tomato
Russet potatoes
Snap peas
Summer squash
Sweet Potatoes
Swiss Chard
White onion
Wisconsin 55 tomatoes
Yellow beets
Yellow Bell pepper
Yellow Onion
Yellow Pear tomatoes
Yukon gold potatoes
Zucchini

Taking a chance

April 30th is our traditional date of last frost for our area, but last year we had a heavy frost on May 12th.

I've looked at the extended forecast and it doesn't look like we have any future danger of frost, so yesterday I took a chance. I put nearly all of the tomato and pepper transplants in the ground, and planted pumpkins, squash, zucchini, and 2 rows of sweet corn. Now I have to keep my fingers crossed until about Memorial Day.

Not much else is new, the pigs are getting bigger, they are getting used to us now and will walk right up to us at feeding time. Soon they will start getting demanding. The ducklings, chicks, and poults will be arriving May 23rd.

Planting by the signs

I finally got my order of potatoes and onions yesterday.

I had decided that I would follow folk wisdom and plant my belowground crops in the dark of the moon, and sure enough I get my potatoes the day before a full moon. So the potatoes went onto trays and into the fridge out in the barn, awaiting more propitious circumstances. The onions we planted after supper, they were looking a little wilted and I didn't want to risk damaging or losing them.

Those of you that know me, know that I consider the scientific method the greatest achievement of man. And that I consider astrology to be beneath contempt. So why am I following dated, semi-astrological beliefs about planting belowground crops in the dark of the moon? I guess it's because I am not so foolish as to believe that there there may not be a reason that we just have not discovered yet. It seems to me that people that depended on the vegetables they planted for survival were probably more in touch with the ground that they worked and the plants they tended than we are today. If planting by the signs was good enough for them, I am not going to immediately discount it.

Since I do trust the scientific method, I am going to plant just a few of the seed potatoes today, on the day of a full moon. It may turn out to be an interesting experiment. Stay tuned!