Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Down with Vegetables

I'm down with vegetables. We get along pretty swell. Though late, yesterday I finally got a hold on a tiller and spent around 9 hours tilling a 40'x100' plot. Today I finished up, and planted about 35 feet of:

* red onions
* yellow onions
* carrots
* cabbage
* 3 types of lettuce
* 2 types of turnips
* radishes
* brussels sprouts
* 3 types of squash
* 2 types of peas

I've left enough room to plant some each week for the next few weeks. I'm late enough that I think I may hit frost. Most of that stuff should be ok up to a certain point with some frosts, and may do just fine if I bury them in straw on the cold snaps. In any case... now it is just time, some watering, and hoeing to see how it turns out.


It has been a few weeks since the last post, and the high spots are:

Spent 2 weeks clearing a box wood grove. It has been invading a hay field for around 5 years and was conveniently located next to a collapsed beaver den on the river side. Plus I needed more wood to finish the chicken coop. I killed 3 birds with one chain saw and time. Cut and cleared a couple hundred fairly straight trunks (about 3 inches diameter average) and stuffed the branches in the collapsed den to help prevent the river and hillside runoff from eroding the area any more. The trunks will help in the coop and some other projects coming up.

Moved a bunch of rock from the fields and hill sides to help prevent some wash out spots on a couple dirt roads through the farm. Some of the rocks around here have some interesting fossils. I'm not sure what they are beyond some kind of shelled creatures.

Spent part of a day building and attempting to use a harrow to drag behind the ATV. I thought I might be able to use it instead of renting a tiller. We've been collecting a lot of trashed lumber, and recycle items. I used a 2"x4" box, some rebar, a piece of rope and some concrete blocks. It worked for a bit, then busted ll to heck. Next time, I'll build the frame special instead of adapting to an already build box frame.

There is a McDonald's going up in town, and Dad has been good about asking the construction guys for trash lumber. We've taken about 4 truck loads of stuff from them and another construction dumpster near by. Probably more than enough to finish the coop and get going on the goat shelter.

Watched a meteor shower with the high school sweet heart and my parents on the farm.

Collecting lots of random seeds. Mainly trees, at the moment.

I'm forgetting a ton of things, but that happens when you let a few weeks go by without trying to remember it all.