Good old Summertime

It has been a very busy summer with the CSA, critters and all the art projects going on around here.  We've also had some fun with the babies that are hatching at the farm.  Our ducks and geese are all sitting on nests.  The duck in the barn, Aunty Em, has hatched some chicken eggs and she has baby chicks that she is raising.  The duck under the cabin, Dorothy has hatched 11 ducklings, but 10 survived.  We are still waiting on Miss Gulch and the geese to see what they hatch. 

And, I have finally realized a life long dream.  Since my last post I have gotten Shetland sheep.  Here's a picture.

And I've learned to spin on a wheel and a drop spindle and I'm now saving to buy this... This is a Kromski spinning wheel.  Reminds me of Cinderella.  I can't wait.

The temps have been really high this summer and I've got quite the tan.  Each day I'm out in the fields weeding and planting and weeding and harvesting and weeding and staking and weeding....whew! 2 acres of gardening makes for a lot of weeds. 

I've also found that as I drive to town past other farms and homesteads I get quite frustrated.  We choose to raise our food organically and we try to only add compost that we make here at the farm, and very limited organic products and so there for our produce takes a little longer to get to full growth and harvest.  I see all these farmers/gardeners who have put their crops in way after I did(I can see them from the road) and yet their gardens are huge and bountiful.  I stopped one day and spoke with the farmer across the street.  He has about 5-8 acres in produce and his tomatoes are H U G E compared with mine.  I asked him what he does to them.  He uses sevin dust and other pesticides.  YUCK!!  I wanted to run away from there.  If I wanted to put all the junk on my crops I would've just saved the time and effort and bought the produce at the grocery store!  I guess I'm weird that way, but I really want to have the best veggies and fruits and herbs that I can. I want to ingest the vitamins and the health benefits of the goods of the earth and not worry about what pesticide I'm ingesting.  (then we wonder why so many of us are sick and full of diseases-  soap box moment..sorry)

So I will continue to toil out there and I'll continue to pick bugs off and make organic spray to combat them and I'll continue to talk to the plants (not a lot <<shrug>>) and I'll continue to ask God to bless this effort and to show me how He wants me to do this.  I'll continue learning about companion planting and most of all, I'll stop looking at my fellow farmers/gardeners with envy.

Oh yeah...I finally got some items listed on etsy.  yea me.

Til later-

Be well and stay cool.

Comments

[vivian]

good for you!! It'll pay off.. just a little later then the others.. good things come to those who wait..right? I dont have a veggie garden, just not much of a gardener. But all my neighbors do and they are good sharers!
have a great weekend and good to see you here!
hugs
vivian