Same Ol’, Same Ol’

Jane Butterfield

I’ve got a couple, well actually three comments in as many weeks about my blog absence, so I thought I would do a quick walkabout with the actual camera and take some photos in a five-minute stretch.  Everybody is in permaculture zone one right now, so it was pretty easy.  I have to say though you blog readers, if you don’t comment or like my posts, I hardly know you’re there.  So without further ado, here we go.  Jane is the first item of interest I encountered.  I sold her calves, and am milking once a day now and she has put on some weight since winter, even though she is giving 4.5 to 5 gallons of milk per day.  Grass is a magical thing for cows you know, I’ve dropped her grain, her production has climbed a bit and she’s gained weight.  All good.

dryland staple garden

The dryland garden is almost all planted.  The only thing left to plant is corn, flint and sweet. And rutabagas just before the solstice.  Planted so far:  Potatoes, carrots and parsnips for Jane, beets, dry beans and an attempt at winter squash, some direct seeded and some transplanted.  It’s hard to explain to folks that I plant winter crops before many summer crops…but I do, and I did.

We finished the refurbishing on the brooder/chicken house/greenhouses. The new little pullets are in the small greenhouse to the left, and the mature hens are in the small greenhouse on deep bedding to the right.  I tried to take a photo of them but it was way too humid and the lens fogged up.  So scratch that.  We aren’t doing meat birds this year, finding that we just aren’t eating much chicken, so until our freezer inventory is cleared out, there is no point in adding more poultry.  Things will be quiet on the chicken front this year.

Opie, Chibs and Fiona

Here is our blackberry abatement crew, three Large Black weaner pigs from a local farm.  They also are here to take care of any extra dairy products I have, and I have a lot.  Jane did well raising her calf and one extra to seven months of age, and now she’s helping raise these three little baconaters.  Have I ever mentioned dairy cows are a pretty good thing to have around a farmstead? That is if you like cows, and like to milk…

greenhouse 2

Next on the walk is greenhouse two with sweet onions, strawberries, peppers, tomatoes and miscellaneous brassicas planted.  One row is left to be planted with melons, squash, and cucumbers.

greenhouse 1

Directly adjacent is greenhouse 1 which is where we’ve been spending a lot of time.  Plant starts and our garden is growing here.  Most of the starts for sale have went to their new homes, and we are still seeding for our own use, but not as near the pace as earlier.  When I see the amount of fresh food we have been pulling out here on a daily basis, I always wonder why serious gardeners balk at putting up a greenhouse. If you’re eating every day, your food is coming from somewhere, and most likely grown and transported in ways that you don’t really want to know about.  I couldn’t resist throwing that in there because if one more person tells me that I am using PLASTIC in my gardening efforts I think I’m going to do something bad to them. See?  I’m still here ranting and raving like usual.

full cows

Cows always calm my nerves, so the last stop on my walk was the cows.  They are full and resting and enjoying our drizzly days.

Always the faithful pup awaiting my return from across the road.  So dear readers if you’re still out there, let me know and toss me a few ideas of what to write about, because from my side of the screen and the camera things look pretty much the same as always.