My goodness, it has been a while since my last post! I'm so sorry!
"Farm" life has been busy lately. Most of the garden is coming along nicely. If you look closely at the photos of the bean arbor, you can see how close the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks are to my garden. Unfortunately, Norfolk Southern cares absolutely nothing about property lines or gardens, because they sprayed weed killer on the approximately 2-3 foot wide strip of my garden that is closest to the tracks. One side of my bean arbor lies within that space, so I have lost half of my beans. *insert sobbing sounds here* I have also lost two tomato plants (I didn't label them when I planted, but I think it was the yellow tomato *sniff*), all of my cabbage, half of my brussels sprouts, all of my yellow squash, and the eggplants are iffy. After consulting with my grandfather (who admittedly does use chemical pesticides and herbicides on his garden), I have been assured that it has been long enough since the spraying, that plants will still grow in that same soil should I decide to replant. I may...I'm not super excited about planting my veggies in soil that has been contaminated with weed killer, but I may give it a go anyway. I'll let you know. On a happier note, the other side of my bean arbor is growing well. The beans haven't put out runners yet, so they are not yet climbing the arbor, but the plants are large enough that I expect to see those runners just any day now. I promise I'll take pictures when they begin to climb! I do have other tomato plants in various stages of growth. The earliest plants I put out are sitting full of green tomatoes now. My cocozelle squashes are monstrous sized plants (and the squash are tasty!), and my purple kohlrabi are excellent both in size and flavor. I planted it late, but my corn is growing well. I only hope the almanac was correct in saying it was okay to plant the corn as late as I did.
This year's goat clinics were a huge success. When I first entertained the idea of having a goat clinic, I expected to have one, single, solitary clinic, and only hoped there would be enough participation to not be embarrassed. Much to my surprise, the demand was exceptional. We ended up putting on four clinics, and have had numerous emails from people wanting more. I'm afraid of the summer heat and humidity being oppressive, and it often gets miserably muggy by mid-morning, so I have decided to take a break for the rest of the summer. I am trying to organize a meat rabbit clinic for September, so there will be no goat clinics during that month either. If time and weather permits, we may try to have another goat clinic in October or November, but I won't know if that is possible until closer to that time.
If you are like me, the summer projects you planned in late winter and early summer have turned out to be much more than you actually have time for, but then again I am inadequate at time management. Maybe you have more skills in that department than I have! I would love to hear from you! How are your summer projects coming along?
"Farm" life has been busy lately. Most of the garden is coming along nicely. If you look closely at the photos of the bean arbor, you can see how close the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks are to my garden. Unfortunately, Norfolk Southern cares absolutely nothing about property lines or gardens, because they sprayed weed killer on the approximately 2-3 foot wide strip of my garden that is closest to the tracks. One side of my bean arbor lies within that space, so I have lost half of my beans. *insert sobbing sounds here* I have also lost two tomato plants (I didn't label them when I planted, but I think it was the yellow tomato *sniff*), all of my cabbage, half of my brussels sprouts, all of my yellow squash, and the eggplants are iffy. After consulting with my grandfather (who admittedly does use chemical pesticides and herbicides on his garden), I have been assured that it has been long enough since the spraying, that plants will still grow in that same soil should I decide to replant. I may...I'm not super excited about planting my veggies in soil that has been contaminated with weed killer, but I may give it a go anyway. I'll let you know. On a happier note, the other side of my bean arbor is growing well. The beans haven't put out runners yet, so they are not yet climbing the arbor, but the plants are large enough that I expect to see those runners just any day now. I promise I'll take pictures when they begin to climb! I do have other tomato plants in various stages of growth. The earliest plants I put out are sitting full of green tomatoes now. My cocozelle squashes are monstrous sized plants (and the squash are tasty!), and my purple kohlrabi are excellent both in size and flavor. I planted it late, but my corn is growing well. I only hope the almanac was correct in saying it was okay to plant the corn as late as I did.
This year's goat clinics were a huge success. When I first entertained the idea of having a goat clinic, I expected to have one, single, solitary clinic, and only hoped there would be enough participation to not be embarrassed. Much to my surprise, the demand was exceptional. We ended up putting on four clinics, and have had numerous emails from people wanting more. I'm afraid of the summer heat and humidity being oppressive, and it often gets miserably muggy by mid-morning, so I have decided to take a break for the rest of the summer. I am trying to organize a meat rabbit clinic for September, so there will be no goat clinics during that month either. If time and weather permits, we may try to have another goat clinic in October or November, but I won't know if that is possible until closer to that time.
If you are like me, the summer projects you planned in late winter and early summer have turned out to be much more than you actually have time for, but then again I am inadequate at time management. Maybe you have more skills in that department than I have! I would love to hear from you! How are your summer projects coming along?
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None of the information contained on this site is intended to diagnose, treat, or otherwise substitute for the care and advice from a qualified human or animal medical professional. Please consult the trusted medical professional of your choice before using any of the information contained on this site.
None of the information contained on this site is intended to diagnose, treat, or otherwise substitute for the care and advice from a qualified human or animal medical professional. Please consult the trusted medical professional of your choice before using any of the information contained on this site.
