A Time to Sow

The weather has been beautiful here and spring is in full swing. We continue to plant and prepare to plant in different places around the farm. Dane is nearing the completion of plowing the field that we planted corn in last year. The field was rough planted then (Dane just burned the vegetation and cleaned it up enough to put the corn seed in the ground) and it has never been plowed until now, so it has been a lot of work clearing rocks, roots, tree stumps, etc. It has been hard on the little crawler tractor too, with Dane breaking the suspension once, a plow blade another time, and bending another plow blade possibly beyond repair. Dane increased the field about three times the size that it was last year in order to plant potatoes, black beans, and corn. Last year we grew enough corn to feed our chickens for about six months, so we are excited about the possibility of growing more and being able to provide for all the animals for the year. Below is a picture of the part of the field that is ready for planting.

This is a picture of some potatoes that we are chitting in preparation of their planting next week.

We have also been cleaning up around the little corn plants in the other field in preparation to plant lima beans and squash. In fact, the girls started planting lima beans yesterday, until Dane who was clearing out some weeds with the tractor in some of the wider spots between the corn turned the tractor over on its side. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the planting came to a halt as all the children watched with amazement as their father, who has got to be the strongest man in the world to them, winched the tractor right side up with chains, straps, and a strong old stump left in the ground up in the field.

We have also gotten three long rows of tomatoe plants planted in the garden and hope to get another one planted this week.

Here is a picture of some huge leeks that grow wild around here. We have many in our garden and I use them for cooking all the time, but all of them started from wild leeks that the children gathered from around the farm and transplanted into the garden.

We have been enjoying the first fruits of spring. The Brazilian Cherry trees on our property have yielded their fruit and we have enjoyed the picking and the eating. We also discovered another type of cherry tree in the pasture. The berries taste just like a bing cherry and have the same type of flesh and texture, but some have two or three smaller seeds instead of one. Anyway, we have enjoyed them alot too.

Dane and Erik Barney worked on the hydroelectric project this past week. Barney brought a turbine that was built at the university to be tested on Dane's setup, but it didn't make much power because this particular type of turbine is really not suited for the situation that we have on our creek. The professor was very impressed with the piping and dam and the force of the water coming through the pipe which is encouraging to Dane. With the right type of turbine, we could possibly have enough energy to power several houses. So, the project continues and Dane is still contemplating building his own turbine or purchasing a prefabbed turbine.

The cows and chickens are doing well. We are still getting around a gallon of milk a day from our cow, who appears to be holding back on us, but we are very pleased with a gallon. And, our egg production has increased to fifteen eggs on average per day.

Where do little boys who have just had bathes go? Straight to a muddy spot in the yard - that's where.

We went and played in the creek this morning and the children have just returned from there again this afternoon.

This is butterfly season around here and some of the butterflies are huge, so naturally some of the caterpillars are huge too.

This is a short video clip of all the butterflies around the house. They zoom around by the hundreds.

We hope all is well with you all. Take care and until next time.

Jessica