First Eggs

I got the first egg from one of my Gold-laced Wyandotte hens a little over a week ago. Now another unknown Wyandotte has joined her in laying, and two of the Easter Eggers have as well. Yesterday was the best day for eggs so far – we found 4 in there, 2 brown and 2 blue. I have yet to find out exactly who the other 3 layers are. My Silver-laced Wyandotte rooster, Sigurd, gives an antsy, squawking alarm when a girl is about to lay, causing us much amusement. They’re all little pullet eggs right now, but they’re already getting a little bigger compared to the first ones.

Harvesting is in full swing. Zucchini/summer squash and green beans are overwhelming me as usual. I just dug the Red Norland potatoes today, and while yields were poor compared to what I was expecting (I blame the drought), I still ended up with more than last year, so I’m not too displeased. Broccoli also did well. I have harvested all the first heads, so now only side shoots remain, but one of the first heads was measured out to be 14″ wide. This is 3″ wider than my old record, which was itself a gigantic head of broccoli. They were truly something else.

The pot is a 3 gallon tree pot.

Tomatoes are also coming ready fast, and I’m picking more and more every day. I’m impressed with Cherokee Purple, but I’m also eager to see how my heirloom Mr. Stripeys look when fully ripe. Other veggies like peas, lettuce, and cucumbers are also producing, though the former two are on their way out. Watermelons seem really good looking this year, and I can’t wait to try some of the orange-fleshed ones I planted. Acorn squash are forming on their vines, and I’m still hoping for a good-sized pumpkin, too.

So far, roadside sales have been poor this year, and I’ve had trouble moving my produce. I’ve joined up with Furniture City Foods to offer some of my stuff online, and I got my first order this morning. I’ll fill that, and maybe business will pick up. Maybe not. I’m also dabbling with possibly getting into a produce market in Jamestown, but I don’t know if that will happen or not. I think the best thing for my sales will be to have a shed/stand to sell out of. Maybe next year.

The trees and gooseberry/currant bushes are all still alive, though some look better than others. The heat and dry weather have been hard on them. I lost some of the raspberries, but if some survive that will be enough to do cuttings from, or they’re cheap enough that I can just replace them if need be. I do hope that all the trees make it, though.

Hay season is complete, with enough extra bales made to get the chickens through the winter with plenty of bedding.

So far, so good. Now to get back to blanching and freezing…

4th of July

… and my corn, happily, beat the old saying by a long shot. They say you should shoot to have it knee high by the 4th of July. Well, mine is around chest-height in some spots, but all of it is over my waist. It is thriving in the hot weather, and now that we got a good soaking from a ‘gentle’ thunderstorm last night, I am sure it will shoot up even more.

The tomatoes are approaching 5 feet in height and vining profusely. Some are so heavy already that they are already close to knocking over their cages, so we will probably have to do like last year and make a framework for them to lay on.

Radishes are all ready, and lettuce is getting there. Herbs are getting ready as well. It won’t be long for zucchini, as they are in flower. It won’t be long for early tomatoes either. They are loading up with green fruits in huge clusters of 8. I can’t wait to see what they look like when they ripen.

The Wyandotte rooster has been named Sigurd. He has started to crow, but doesn’t know the whole song. He sings ‘Ca CAAA caa’ instead. :] So far, he gets along with Chanticleer for the most part, but he seems to be getting really out of control and rough with the girls so he may end up in a stewpot yet. I hope he improves – he is a pretty boy and would be great for producing more chicks.

It’s been overall dry and very hot here. Some things are loving it, like the peppers, but others (beets, carrots) are despising it and are struggling. Hopefully it all evens out in the end.

Some more young trees have sprouted from pits. There’s a plum and 3 more peach trees now! The big trees we put in have taken some bad deer damage but are still holding on. Hopefully they can establish and come back next year for some good growth.

Our fields have been fully cut. The biggest customers are satisfied, but we don’t have enough for the last ones, so we have had to find fields in other nearby locations to cut and bale. Good problems, I guess.

I project that I can start roadside sales in another 2 weeks if all continues as it is. Might be sooner, might be later, but I think that that is close to what should be expected.

Garden 2012

The garden for the 2012 season is fully planted, and most things are coming up well. The primary weed appears to be nutsedge again, which we are fine with because this plant is very easy to pull. Some tomatoes already have blossoms. This is despite the fact that most of my tomatoes got many of their outer leaves frozen off after an unexpected frost on their first night in the ground. The only ones that were untouched were the ones I got from Mellow Phone/Good City‘s porch party.

I have so many extra seed potatoes that I also planted them in a ring around the silo, and I have been selling them on Craigslist as well. I sold 16-17 pounds of reds to someone from Frewsburg. I listed them at .50 per pound, but changed $7 and threw in some extra, because this arrangement benefits everyone. They get to grow food, and I get a few dollars and don’t need to dump the potatoes into the compost.

I had to throw in some new sunflower seeds due to an unfortunate tiller accident. Thankfully I still had some heads saved from last year’s crop. I now grow my own variety of sunflowers, ones that grew wild in the place my barn fell after the fire of 2010, so it’s not as if I could go to the store to buy new ones. The Stillwater Valley sunflower is a medium-sized, yellow flowered, stout variety with small, very tasty/sweet seeds.

It looks like we might have to replace some beans, because for some reason we often have a hard time with fungi rotting or damaging the seeds during the initial growth process. Last year we also had a problem with one of the varieties of root rot in the first few weeks. I am giving some additional time for things to sprout before I resort to replacement, though. There are very few squash and cucumbers showing above the surface at this time, but I dug down below the soil before yesterday’s rain and found the seeds swollen but almost dry. That would explain it. Hopefully they start popping up now that the ground has had a good drink.

The hot (high 80s to 90s) days with no appreciable rain for a few weeks takes its toll. It was seriously stressing some of the trees and fruit plants I put in, as well. The currants and gooseberries seemed oblivious, but a couple of the trees needed almost daily watering, having started to abort leaves, and a couple of the rasberries seem to have died despite the babying.

My seedling apricot trees are doing well, having been repotted to 3-gallon containers. I anticipate that they will be ready to go into the ground this fall. I also picked up 5 blueberry bushes that were already producing. I couldn’t resist – at $4 apiece, it was a bargain. They’re potted up, mulched with pine needles and soil acidifier, until I can pick and amend a suitable place in the ground for them.

The radishes will be ready first, followed by things like herbs, lettuce, and kale, and then turnips, beets, and zucchini. The rest follow that – beans, cucumbers, etc. I hope to start selling a few things by the end of June, and maple syrup will also be offered at that time.

We might get to start the haying earlier this year if the weather continues like this. We are having two haywagons rebuilt, and we may rebuild a third on our own. The equipment is home, and is being prepared for work. I’ve ordered a used exhaust manifold for our 1950s Case DC, and that should arrive soon.

The chickens are getting bigger all the time. They are almost completely done feathering out, except for the males – two of them are cockerels, and are just starting to get their ‘roostery’ feathers. Our big red chicken is one of them, and we’ve named him Chanticleer. The other is a silver-laced Wyandotte. As long as the two of them don’t fight much, we’ll keep them both, but if they start to go after each other, Chanticleer is the keeper. His temperament is exceptional.