Groupings, Personal Space, Garden Art, and Color forum: Down on the Farm, 2015
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| By popular request. This will be more or less of a gardening diary, with some other day to day stuff as it comes along. The other stuff may include helping my other neighbor with cattle, making bread, canning, my work at the local food co-op, and half a dozen other subjects. I might write something every day, or once a week. It will just depend on what is happening, and how much time I have to record it. Pictures, yes, I will post some. This morning I helped Ryan, my market gardener neighbor plant about 700 candy onion starts. He started planting them yesterday and had about 300 in the ground when I joined the fun this morning. The onion plants come in bundles of 50-60 little plants that look like a somewhat dried up version of the green onions you'd buy at the grocery store for salads. Planting them is a hands and knees job. After planting, they were watered so they will hydrate those little roots quickly and start to grow. A couple of weeks from now you'd think they had been there all of their lives. Last fall I helped him plant 1,000 pounds of garlic. Most of those are showing nice green tops. Some varieties are slow to wake up. While I don't recall exactly how many varieties he has, I think I remember 15 to 20. He sells them at farmer's markets and over the internet. We were working just down the hill from the pasture where the ewes without lambs are. We could hear the sound of a ewe pushing a lamb out into the world. She would be the first one since early yesterday. If you have been reading the Lamb Tails (Tales) thread, you know that we are down to the last few, and they are taking their time. Meanwhile, the last time I counted calves in the pasture between that place and ours, there were 7. The oldest calf is about 10 days old. They belong to the same ranch as the sheep. [  Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. More ramblings at http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/forum54.php |
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FIRST TO WATCH!!  omg, pix pix pix please!!!! And what's the address for buying garlic? I'd love to get some probably!! Never be afraid of a scar. It just means that you were stronger than something that tried to hurt you. My new Etsy shop - handmade jewelry by ME!! http://www.etsy.com/shop/OjodelGato Buy some of my photos! http://www.catsonkeyboards.com "I've seen better acting from extras in Godzilla movies!" - Calculon |
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Wonderful Mary, so glad you are writing about the farm.  |
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| Here's a link to my neighbor's website. Right now everything is out of stock, but after harvest in mid summer, he will have many more added to his list. http://marvelousroots.com/ He is also on Facebook, and would appreciate "likes" to boost his website. Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. More ramblings at http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/forum54.php |
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| Here I am Wow on planting all those onions on your hands and knees Mary - or should I say ouch  ALL THINGS PLANTS Purslane & Portulaca ~ Garden Art CUBITS Heart Strength ~ Trust in the Lord Find JOY at http://joyfultimestoday.com/ |
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| Yours sounds like a job I would dearly love, Mary. If you were nearby, I'd ask if they were hiring anyone else! |
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| Vicki, I cheat, I use kneeling pads. My garden is all rototilled now, and looks good. The soil has just the right amount of moisture for good tilling without packing. This afternoon I've been digging thistles, and transplanting some boysenberries that never did well. Now they are outside the garden fence, in what was part of the horse pasture but will now be turned into garden, since I am growing a lot of garlic and need more space to rotate crops. I put the berries along the outside of the fence in an area that has a little stream running close by. The stream comes from the overflow of a spring that keeps a tank filled for livestock water. Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. More ramblings at http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/forum54.php |
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| Tell your friend that he has a great website. And I liked it on FB!! |
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| Thank you, Sharon. And also thanks for inserting my garden picture in the first post when I found that I couldn't do it as an edit. Yesterday Ryan came over with the man from NRCS to look over our proposed site for a large high tunnel, talk about drainage and water, etc. We will place it just a bit differently than what we had planned, and hope to get it in place soon. Ryan still has paperwork to do. He and I will share the profits from this venture as it will be on our land and I'm sure to be in on the planting, watering, harvesting, etc. This will be a season extender, with plants in the ground. It will have roll up sides, and will need monitoring to keep too much heat from building up, and need to be closed at night. Basically it will be a 20x90' unheated greenhouse. Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. More ramblings at http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/forum54.php |
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| Wow! You are entering into a major business venture. If anybody can make it successful, you can, Mary. I think Ryan is lucky to have you as a neighbor and friend. |
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| Sounds good Mary, I hope it is very successful. |
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| Oh, I can't wait to see pictures of this Mary ALL THINGS PLANTS Purslane & Portulaca ~ Garden Art CUBITS Heart Strength ~ Trust in the Lord Find JOY at http://joyfultimestoday.com/ |
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| I'm not sure when we will have it because of needing approval from a government agency. After that, the materials have to be ordered, brought here, and put together. Meanwhile, tomorrow another neighbor will finish plowing up 2 acres in the pasture. Then we will rototill it, and plant a cover crop to be plowed under as a green manure. Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. More ramblings at http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/forum54.php |
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| I wrote this in two parts, several hours apart. This is shaping up to be a potentially interesting day. Three calves have been born in the neighbor's herd already today, and one cow we think may have been in labor during the night but has no calf, and she was acting very tired this morning. We searched the pasture for a calf, no, she still has it. Of course, when we tried to get her through a couple of pastures to the corral, she was not cooperative, dodged around us this way and that, crossed the road, went a quarter mile before we got her turned around and back to the road where she decided it was important to eat grass. Paul is going to call the vet and see if he thinks we should just watch her, or try again to get her to the corral. She might need a shot to induce labor. I think we may have to bring a bunch of cows with her, sort her out and take the others back. We'll see. Hopefully she still has a live calf in her. We wish she could talk. To be continued... Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. More ramblings at http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/forum54.php |
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| Update! We had to take the cow around the pasture twice before she saw the open gate into the pasture above the barn (where I have been checking the sheep at night). Then on to the corral, without a turn back because by this time she was resigned to going where we wanted her to go. She walked into the head catch chute and we went to work on her. Equipment included a bucket of hot water with disinfectant in it, OB chains that resemble a dog's choke collar, handles for the chains that hook into the link and will accommodate a human hand, and a gallon jug of lubricant to allow hands to make a smooth passage into the business end of the cow. Paul (owner) reached in to explore, and discovered a pair of feet. He determined that they were front feet. OK. He slipped a chain loop over each front leg, and I attatched the handles to the other ends of the chains. Now where is the calf's nose? Not where it should be. Heck, he can't even find the head for a while. Finally, he determined that the head was turned back and was slightly upside down. He also determined that the calf was very much alive! He went to get something else from the barn, and Ryan stripped to his t-shirt and soaped up to try to turn the calf's head. I had been keeping tension on the chains, but we decided maybe less tension would allow the calf to slip downward and it's head to straighten out a bit. It worked. He got everything lined up. By this time Paul had returned, and he grabbed one of the handles, I kept the other one and poor Ryan was in the middle where the calf was likely to land. We alternated pulling, sort of walking the calf out while Ryan kept the head straightened out, and the cow pushed. Teamwork! The calf was delivered safely, and placed on clean straw next to the chute. Then we removed our tools and stepped back while Paul opened the head catch and let the cow out. She turned around and started licking her baby who was already trying to stand! Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. More ramblings at http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/forum54.php |
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| I love Happy Endings! |
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| Great job Mary and team on helping the cow deliver her calf!!! |
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Oh, what a WONDERFUL story - I'm overjoyed that baby and mamma are doing well  ALL THINGS PLANTS Purslane & Portulaca ~ Garden Art CUBITS Heart Strength ~ Trust in the Lord Find JOY at http://joyfultimestoday.com/ |
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| What a relief to hear that Mama and Baby are safe! I was holding my breath as I read the story. |
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| Great I Love Happy Endings |
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