Always More to Do

The difficult thing about trying to share all of the things that are going on in a blog when you are farming in Iowa - during the month of June - is finding the time and motivation to take timely photos and THEN organize them into posts.  No time for creativity in writing for this farmer!  Just the facts, sir!  Ok, maybe there will be some additional exposition, perhaps a pun, maybe a speculative comment... but definitely some....

Chickens!

We asked the henlets if they would take some pictures.  They said, "no."

We asked the henlets for a volunteer to take some pictures on the farm and we were roundly rejected.  Instead, they just wanted the food Tammy was carrying at the time.  We asked Inspector, but he just looked at the camera and then walked away.  We'll take that as a rejection as well.  Soup spends most of her time sleeping, so that was a non-starter from the beginning.

The next solution?  Use pictures we already have from earlier in the month!

Capital idea if I say so myself.  So, here we are.

We made the decision this past Winter to go 'all in' on the paper mulch idea this year.  Now, when I say 'all in' I don't actually mean that every thing we grow will be on paper mulch.  There are things where we feel it will work well and then there are things where we don't think it is a very good match.  However, we are growing melons, winter squash, summer squash, tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower on paper mulch this season.

The photo at right shows some vine crops recently transplanted into paper.  We're using 3 foot wide paper so we can avoid weed pressure right next to the crop.  Our most time consuming weed control efforts are always in row, closest to the crop.  While we have cultivators to help us with the work, we have found that the last several seasons have been too wet for us to get out and cultivate when we need to.  The result is that the weeds get too big for the cultivators, so the effort becomes much more labor intensive.  While it is true that the paper mulch will eventually break down, the goal here is to get us past the heavy weed development season in June, July and early August.

 

The heavy planting push saw us using some of our equipment for long stretches of time.  The picture above shows our walk-behind tractor (Barty, in blue) and our tractor (Rosie, in red).  The mulch layer is attached to Rosie in this picture.  For those who figure that equipment like this makes the job 'easy' for the farmer, allow me to point out that Barty is not a small machine.  It takes some effort to keep him going where he is supposed to be going.  Rosie is a bit kinder, allowing me to sit down.  But, there is never a time when I spend long stretches in that seat - there is normally a good deal of climbing up and down to and from said seat.  Oh, and the you can really feel every bump wherever you drive.

Another, less expensive, piece of equipment that has seen time is the 'irrigation cart.'  It's a simple green cart that carries tools and supplies for setting up irrigation on the farm.  There is also a nifty holder that allows us to feed out drip tape for new rows.

It may seem a bit odd to be doing so much with drip tape when we've been so wet and we certainly see the irony in it.  But, transplants live in the top couple of inches of soil, which dries out quickly.  Until they expand their roots into the zones deeper in the soil, we have be prepared to support them with some extra water.  We have also learned that if you haven't got drip tape down, it will stop raining for.. like... three years or something.  Until you get the drip tape in.  Then it's ark time.  Not sure which way to go!

We were also graced with the presence of some fine people recently when three of Tammy's good friends from high school days visited the farm for a day.  It is always difficult to explain to people exactly what we do and how we do the things we do.  It becomes much easier when they can see some of it in person.  Seriously, a 200 foot row of any crop becomes much more real when you stand at one end of it!

Thank you to Angie, Missy and Lee for your visit!  It was good to see all of you.

We are also continuing with attempts to keep the farm house from falling apart this year.  We have been trying to designate some time on Sunday's to do some work on the kitchen and are now at the point where we need to tape the sheetrock.  Both farmers are getting VERY tired of not having a decent sink for doing dishes and no counter tops.  But, we remind ourselves that the old counters were falling apart, the floor was threatening to send us to the basement and the electrical was not, shall we say, the safest arrangement.  We just keep telling ourselves it will be worth it in the end.

Right?  Oh, c'mon... give us a little affirmation!

The farm house projects continue with efforts to try to get some help making our back entry a bit less precarious.

But, if you look more closely, you might realize that this old farmhouse is going to require a bit more than just some new steps....

Ah well.

It's all part of living in an old farmhouse.  Every home needs repairs over time, we just have this thing for acquiring 'projects.'  The good news is that the two of us are fairly handy and able to do a wide range of things.  The bad news is that Tammy is a teacher and Rob is a veggie farmer.  It's not always a good combination with home remodeling.  Here's hoping we can get a little contractor help with some of the more time-critical things on this project!

And there you have it - the things that popped into my head as I looked at pictures from earlier in the month.  I wonder if it will motivate me to go out and take more pictures? 

No, I think I'll go tape some drywall though.