Farm Update: July 3

I haven't done a farm post in nearly two months. I have various excuses: rain, rain, and then a bit more rain. A wedding. The outrageous heat. But truthfully, I had energy for one blog, not two. There you have the unvarnished truth.

For future reference, here are a few stats:

*3 chicks survive from the May clutch. I think two are hens, but unsure still. They are nine weeks old today.
*Ethel is broody on four Ameracauna eggs, one week in. 
*It's a bad tomato year. I have about 25 plants in the garden, but the Mini Orange plants are performing badly because of excessive rain - rotten fruit. The 2 plants in pots with drainage did better.

*Matt's Wild Cherry tomato plants are doing okay. The 3 plants that overwintered on the porch have done extremely well. I should try that again. I had abundant cherry tomatoes all through June, which is early. The rope trellising is not a good solution for tomatoes. We need a new plan. Cages are too short for vining varieties.
*Cucumbers are bearing very well. The pickling variety turn yellow quickly. But the rope trellising is perfect for cucumbers. We will do that each year.

*I started my Blue Lake bean plants too late. I have 8 plants in a bed fenced against rabbits. Difficult to weed. Pepper plants also in there, and growing well.
*The greens bed was fabulous. We could not eat or sell even a majority of it.
*Babies' Breath and Chamomile did not grow well. Heavy rain destroyed the first and heat/weeds destroyed the second.
*Carrots appear to be growing well. No sign of orange root yet. I sowed seeds on March 29.
*A good year for onions, which were put in as sets last fall. At the end of June their tops were down enough to pull them. They're curing on the front porch. Then I think we'll store them in the frig.

* Each year our potato harvest improves. Adam harvested them today. He'll brush off the dirt and we'll store them in the spare bedroom.

*I've had decent farm sales at the market, selling nearly everything. 
*I have so much tomato sauce left over from last year that I'm cooking it down and turning it all into tomato paste, which Adam uses most readily in cooking.

Reduced by half, after simmering for a day

*We ate some peas this year, but did not freeze any. We don't tend to remember what's in the deep freezer, and garden produce sits there for a long time, uneaten. Need to improve on that.
* I made a batch of tea tree soap in February, one of lavender in March, and just made a mixed batch last week. I've steadily made batches of Healing Herb Ointment, Bee Balm, and Insect Repellent Lotion Bars, all of which sell well. I'll make a bit of ointment for ourselves today because we use it so often.
*Herb beds are doing very well, if weedy. I made a large batch of herbal tea (mint, lemon balm, tarragon, lemongrass), and sold the first tin of it at the market on Saturday.

*Adam's willow tree starts are doing extremely well. Thicker wands have grown better than thinner ones. 
*My seven loofah vines are looking very good. They won't bear until autumn. I sold almost all of my last year's loofah scrubs.

I think that's about it! If you want to know more about what's happening in our lives -- the roof, the wedding, the dogs -- skip on over to my other blog, Through a Glass Darkly. Thanks for stopping by!

So Many Goings-On at the Farm!

 In front of this little building are two very neglected fig bushes. The one on the right had a big tree growing in the middle of it. That's been cut out:

 The one on the left was appalling, totally overgrown with thick vines. How was it even still alive? I rooted the vines out aggressively and cleared the area around the little bush. Hopefully next year I'll go a better job all through the summer.

Here's a side-by-side shot of the older chickens in the orchard (on the right), and if you look carefully, the newer chickens on the left, back behind that building in their new yard.

 (Those funny-looking contraptions are boat stands.) The seven chickens know each other quite well now. They spend most of the day on either side of the fence, taking dust baths and cooing at each other. The new hens aren't laying yet, so I'm lucky to get two eggs per day. Usually only one. Punkin and Ethel are slowing down a bit.

 The pecan hulls are beginning to turn, in the trees.

 

Baby and Ned both dig massive holes in the pasture. You could break a foot in them. We look down as we walk.
Adam's latest plan for willow trees is off and running! Here's our "mother willow tree," a pitiful, fallen-over plant, but with lots of new, soft branches.

 

Adam cuts them and soaks them in water until they sprout new root buds and some new leaves. This week he dug small holes (which had water in them, it's been so wet) and put them in the soil.

 
This is the wet corner where he's planting willow trees.

 

I've put two marjoram plants into my new tea bed. And I have four pots of spindly mint.
My lambs' ears are very bedraggled but still alive after the rains.

 I still have one tomato plant with pretty cherry tomatoes!

 And from one of those fig bushes, two deep purple figs.

 Here's my first loofah! I worried that I would not get any, then just one or two. Now? I counted yesterday, and I have at least 24 loofahs on the vine, and probably more coming. I suppose they come on later in the year?

 It's lovely weather for drying Adam's t-shirts on the line.

Here's what's on the loom:

 I bought a pumpkin at WalMart. I always do, each autumn. I'd love 50 pumpkins, all growing out in the field, and maybe some year we'll have success that way. But I must have at least one.

 And I painted it, for my Autumn Journal.

In addition, in the garden we have:
Sweet potatoes, looking lovely and blooming still, to be dug up in the month
White potatoes, not as prolific as we'd hoped, but new ones popping up
Asparagus, which we'll leave alone for now, quite healthy
Loofahs abundant, from which I'll save seeds
Lots of lovely kale
Some mixed greens, plus collards that aren't up yet
Peas, which we hope will come along soon
Garlic (5 heads divided) beginning to come up
About 75 onion sets, I think, just put into 2 beds
Blue Lake bush beans, just about ready to bloom

I'm pleased with our fall garden this year. I didn't know how much you could still grow in autumn, in the South!