It Has Been Too Long

Our blog has not been as active as it has been previous years for a whole host of reasons.  Rather than spend time listing all of them, I'll point one of them out to you.

Sometimes I manage to write a post that is a 'higher quality post.'  For example, there was a very good post titled a Choice of Litany last Fall that was well-received for a serious/philosophical offering.  In fact, I took a moment to re-read that post just to work on changing the way I am feeling about things right now.  I'll let you know if it works.  Then, there are posts like the one on VAPs that tap the more humorous side of creativity.  For those who remember the post (or those who go read it now), we do still create VAPs for most days.

So, what, exactly is the problem with good posts?  Well, I put pressure on myself to try to provide quality each time I post.  But, I am not always feeling all that creative.  The net result is that I have a bunch of started posts that have yet to see the light of day (so to speak).  So, what to do?

Create a brand new post and just report on some things going on at the farm.  Why not?  It has worked before!

Just Dandy

Sadly, the dandelion peak is over at the farm.  For those who still think of the dandelion as a noxious weed, I want you to consider exactly how nice that bright yellow is in the midst of the green.  And, when you find out about weeds that cause us more issues on the farm like Canadian thistle, crabgrass, bindweed, etc etc  - the dandelion isn't an issue at all.  In fact, we are very happy to have clover and dandelions in our lawn and pasture areas - thank you very much.

The Solar Fence Explosion

As we start to do more with poultry in pastures and plant starts in the fields, our solar powered fences start providing their service to us instead of sitting neatly rolled up on a hayrack.

We have our first batch of broiler chickens on pasture now.  Of course, once we did that, we got cooler and wetter weather almost right away.  Why not?  Let's just make things a bit more complicated.  At least we remembered to get the solar charger up on a cement block so it wouldn't be sitting in the mini-pond that has formed in that area.  And, no, the nuggets (as we call the younger broilers) are not fond of the pond either.

You're Welcome
We're still trying to fill up our CSA program - so we're still taking applications if you are interested.  Thank you to all who have signed up.  We look forward to serving you.

A couple of years ago, we periodically provided produce to Lincoln Elementary for a special 'healthy snack' program.  We were happy to do this and I ran across the nice artwork provided to us as a way of saying thank you.  Little things like this help the farmers when they are looking at very very wet fields with very few options to do the work that needs doing.

Every Year is a Struggle
We try not to complain or be a broken record about it.  But, the weather can just drive us crazy sometimes.  Yoyo temperatures have forced us to be patient with planting.  We dodged some bullets by deciding not to plant certain crops, though we were tempted.  But, now those plants are in trays and really need to get into the ground.  The problem, of course, is how wet everything is.  There isn't really much we can do about it right now.  And, as I type this, I see more rain coming.  It helps to know (sort of) that other growers in Iowa are fighting some of the same issues because that means we're just not bad at what we do.  On the other hand, I don't really want them to struggle either!

Needless to say, we make the best decisions we can and then we live with them.  The good news about all of this is that we have more experience and more tools, so we are much more able to recover from some of this than we could in years past.

I'm ready for a huge planting session.  Here's hoping Mother Nature gives us a shot at it.