Here we are, nearly mid-July, and it seems that the summer weather is still not ready to start in earnest. Even so, the plants are finally taking off and I’m feeling optimistic that this will be a good year at the farm.
Entries Tagged as 'Farm Work'
Goat Hoof Trimming
January 4th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Farm Animals, Farm Work, Tools & Techniques
A short video showing Liz & Thomas trimming goat hoofs.
2010 Corn Maze, Crows in the Corn
September 13th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Activities, Crops, Farm Work
As a result of all the crow feeding we spent many, many more hours and days working on the corn maze than I had planned. When the time came to choose a theme for the maze, the choice was clear. Crows in the corn was the theme of my summer.
In the end, we were faced with a number of areas in the corn maze where there was hardly any corn plants to see. This is usually not a good thing to find in a maze of corn. To make use of those spaces and to add to the maze-solving fun we embedded five additional walk-through mazes and two labyrinths inside the corn maze. This is, after all, Dr. Maze’s Farm.
Broken wrist: doubly painful.
April 9th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Farm Planning, Farm Work
I fell and broke my wrist a week ago last Monday. I figure this is a fairly good explanation for the lack of recent entries here. I have several ideas for entries, but I’m not up to doing much typing yet. Turns out there are a number of things I have trouble doing one-handed. I had to hire in an extra worker to help at the farm yesterday, so it turn out the broken wrist is also painful in the wallet.
The tools & techniques of a farm. Part 1: Introduction
March 11th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Farm Planning, Farm Work
What do you need to farm? If you were starting a farm from scratch, what would you need to pull together to make a go of it? As the year progresses I’ll look at tasks such as planting or weeding. I’ll show how to create a corn maze and how to set a fencepost. I’ll show some photos and describe our equipment and why we made the choices we’ve made. Every farm and farmer is different, this series will reflect my own personal experiences and biases.
Pruning Tomatoes: Are you growing tomatoes or foliage?
July 27th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Farm Folks, Farm Work
We spend quite a lot of time pruning tomato plants. We grow indeterminate tomato varieties. These vining types respond well to training. Our goals are to increase the yield of beautiful tomatoes and to reduce plant disease by increasing air flow through the foliage.
What potatoes and raspberries have in common.
May 20th, 2009 · Comments Off · Crops, Farm Folks, Farm Work
It has been several weeks since I wrote a general farm update. Since then we’ve planted, weeded, given our spring school tours, harvested our first crops, started our vegetable starts sales, opened the farmstand, welcomed our first Farm Tots, and signed up more Free Choice CSA members. We’ve been very busy, and pretty much stayed on [...]
Tags:beets·bok choi·carrots·chives·compost·essential oil·Farm Tots·farmstand·frisee·kohlrabi·lettuce·lovage·mint·mustard greens·onions·oregano·peas·plant starts·planting·potatoes·sage·salad turnips·sorrel·summer squash·sweet corn·tarragon·tomatoes
A month of unforgiving deadlines and green releaf.
April 26th, 2009 · Comments Off · Farm Folks, Farm Work
Here we are already, closing in on the end of April. I haven’t written here in a while, partially because we have been more than busy on the farm working to stay on schedule, and partially because my writing urges have been directed at Twitter. Now that my blog has this spiffy new home, I’ll [...]
Tags:apples·blueberries·compost spreader·cover crop·coyotes·crows·CSA·Farm Tots·farmstand·fieldwork·geese·heron·lettuce·peas·planning·plastic mulch·pumpkins·rain·raspberries·rowcover·seeds·soil·spading machine·Spring·squash·summer squash·thornless blackberries·tomatoes·tractor·Twitter·Weather·wildlife·winter squash
Today Spring Fever officially arrived at the farm.
February 28th, 2009 · Comments Off · Farm Work
I’m sitting at my desk on a Saturday afternoon, trying to work on the greenhouse starts planting schedule, and making no progress at all. It feels just like Spring Fever back in high school days, but it is still February.
