A Quick Update and a Week Off

New portal is great! 

Hens

Beets, broccoli and lettuce, collards and more beets recently planted.

Potatoes

Beds with shade cloth; L to R: wild arugula, mustards and kyoto carrots, then sunflowers, tomatillos, marigolds, calendula and hot peppers, then radishes, spinach, chard, beets, broccoli, and more!

Volunteer tomato in with chard.

Cover crop of rye and buckwheat

Planting of Amaranth

Planting of Red Scallions, Carrots and lettuce

Second planting of the Blue Corn

Tomatillos to the left and under shade with micro sprinklers is carrots, lettuce and radicchio.

In the next few weeks we are preperaing this area for a fall planting of more greens, carrots, herbs, beets and hopefully some sun chokes, strawberries and asparagus. We have big plans but can really only move one day at a time..,.. coming soon is a high tunnel greenhouse or two as well as more solar off the grid technology and pasture for more layers. Exciting time to be a farmer.

Calendula in a hollowed pine log and popcorn is tall!

View to the East

Tomatillos and a propped up sunflower

Beans with lettuce mix growing underneath and pickling cucumbers growing up the other side.

These were volunteers!

Carrots, tomatoes and basil

zucchini is lowing this location/ micro-climate, calendula in between plants and radishes all over too. 

New planting of pak-choi, chard, radish and lettuce.

Chicken pasture is growing

herb garden

new roof on the new portal

Birds eye view west of the house

arroyo

Shade Cloth and Micro Sprinklers

Got a good rain yesterday. Planted and set up about 2 dozen micro-sprinklers.

All four beds with shade cloth were uncovered during the rains. Hopefully this will help germination of lettuces, mustards, chard, tomatillos and flowers. 

Sprouted Grains as Poultry Feed

Wheat berries after 2 days sprouting.

Soaking on day 1

Rain on Chickens and Gardens

Three Sisters in today's rain: ...a nice steady drizzle.

Seedlings and Chicken Run

Lemon Cucumber seedling with it's trellis:
hoping to make some good pickles this year.

House Painting, Tomatillos and Other Stuff..

painted (cut and trim) everything low enough to do from the ground..

pest management

future greenhouse/ coldframe:
got these two double-pane french doors on freecycle and have two more coming my way. that is already a twelve foot long panel/wall eight feet high. should grow some tasty winter tomatoes. or whatever we decide to do with it.

The big harvests are just around the corner.

many silvery fir tree tomatoes in today's harvest wagon:

more rain . more rain!

everything has been loving the almost-daily rain. garden drippers have not been turned on for over two weeks. the roma transplants have began to grow and look really happy. five more future bushes. they are planted slightly above the surrounding ground level, so I may need to add some top soil as well as putting some boards up at the gate to devert rain waters. They have been running small rivers in between the rows of plants for weeks now and most of our good, stinkey top soil is gone... more small projects..plus I bought six more mouse traps, set them all up last night and guess what? I only have two traps left. Quick results....
I always thought we needed a good barn cat to take care of the mice and such. But with mouse traps workin' like this and at 50 cents a pop, and made in the U.S.A. i'm thinkin forget it.