Homestead Update - Early July

It has been dry here.  The earth beneath our feet crackles and snaps as we walk to and from. Seems it is screaming out for water.  The animal pastures are brown, save two sheep pens which have more weed growth with amaranth and clover.  The sheep were moved to the back pasture where the old garden is. There is only one more pasture for them after this, but the sheep will need a shade shelter before being put in.  If pastures don't replenish by the time they are done grazing that pasture, then we will need to put them in a pen with hay. 

The does need to be put on dry lot for a while.  Their pastures are pretty much consumed and nothing new is growing due to lack of rain. 

We have the bucks back on dry lot with a bale of hay, and the adult turkeys have been put into the pen instead.  Can you spot the black tom in the middle of the wooded area? 

The 11 young turkey poults (two different ages) and the five pullets are still in the cage until they get bigger and can be put into the appropriate pens with older birds.  We tried to put the older four poults with the adult toms/hens, but they managed to find their way out.  So I put them back in this morning.  

The ducks have access to the outside of the cage, and are protected by an electric fence.  We plan to put up another fence to give them a bit more room. We do like how quickly ducks grow despite how young they actually are.  

We put the quail in their cages on the garden grass.  They seem to be doing well considering the heat and spend most of the hot hours in the house section of the tractors.  I still need to put a cloth over the end to give shade during the day.   Meanwhile, we received our next (and hopefully final) batch of quail eggs for hatching.  We are hoping to get another two breeding sets from them, with the rest being future meals.  

The hens are finally without the turkeys and have the pen to themselves.  We are trying to get them to lay eggs again.  After discovering my error that I was starving the birds (fermentation makes feed more digestible, but doesn't mean you can feed less), I am hoping they will start laying soon.  When they start laying and understand where they should be laying, I think I might allow them to free range the woods to help with tick clean up. 

Then there is the garden - a mine field of hit and miss - struggling to make it through the heat, poor soil, and insects. 

The green beans are barely producing, lack foliage, and what beans they do produce are tough and have no seeds.  Onions are thin and worthless.  Kale has been eaten alive by first locust, now worms.  The second batch of beans didn't come up.  BUT, the chard has handled both the heat and insects quite well.  Only issue for chard is stunted growth. 

This little garden has some beautiful red zinnias!  The red torch Mexican sunflowers haven't begun to bloom.  The lemon balm and bee balm are still coming along.  In between them is a small marjoram plant that just doesn't seem to want to grow much larger.  Maybe just the heat?  I don't know. 

Abigail's little garden is doing wonderfully and she does love to grow things.  She has cucumbers, pole beans, a tomato plant (hidden between the cucumbers and beans), bachelor's buttons, zinnia, and dill.  She recently replanted with more flowers, dill, beans, and tomatoes. 

Alexandra's garden doesn't have much left in it.  Her peas were pulled out as was everything else except cucumbers and pole beans.  She may plant more later, but wasn't out when the other kids planted the second time. 

Caleb's garden is also doing quite nicely.  I have to admit, I am quite jealous of his beautiful red merlot lettuce!  I mean seriously!  I have tried three times to plant lettuce in soil.  He plants in wood chips and gets this?  He is quite proud of his little garden.  He has green beans, tomato, cucumbers, 

Hannah's little garden is also doing quite well.  She has an impressive borage plant with beautiful purple blooms.  There are a few beets, but I am not sure they are doing very well.  She has carrots as well as a few newly planted green beans and a marigold or two.  

My strawberry bed has been overrun by grasses.  I need to get this weeded, but it isn't a top priority in the garden.

The tomato garden is coming along.  It is so hard to be patient.  I compare it to previous years when I transplant seedlings instead of direct sowing seed.  I am thankful these plants are growing.  We have plenty of blooms for the cherry type and have eaten a couple Gold Nugget cherry tomatoes.  I planted the watermelon between the sunflowers and have them growing off the south end of the garden so they don't interfere with the tomatoes.  

The corn looks healthy, but is at varying heights.  I am keeping close watch for those nasty worms that devoured the crop last year.  

Squash bugs have been horrible, but I find the best way to keep on top of them is to remove them and squash them.  I also search for the eggs and wipe them off with my fingers with water.  I am trying to keep an eye on which squash varieties do better in our climate.  Meanwhile, the potatoes are nearing the end of their time in the ground.  I am hopeful that we will have a decent harvest as I am not very good about growing potatoes. 

On the front porch, I have seedlings growing that will be transplanted into the garden when they get a bit larger and the kitchen garden is ready.  Fortunately, these seedlings contain peppers to replace the many seedlings that died from early planting.  I also have lettuce, herbs, and greens like bok choy and collards.  

After a ridiculous ordeal ordering raised beds from Vegega, I canceled, received a refund, and ordered from another company.  That company shipped them out the same day as opposed to the three weeks and not shipped - stuck at the border - garbage I had.  I have assembled two and put them in the kitchen garden, but have not finished filling them with what will go in.  I still have to plan it out.  I have a few pole beans in a container with a zucchini plant, loofa gourd, chocolate cherry tomatoes, and butternut squash.  I planted some bunching onion seed in a pot, but wonder if perhaps they will even come up with the intense heat we have here.   The plan is to put my herbs in here and use this garden for seed saving varieties I want to keep. 

And speaking of seeds.  I reorganized my seeds and put them in zipper bags to keep them dry and organized.  I then went through what I had and what I thought I had and what I want to try that may grow better here. 

Al made a trip up to Indiana to pick up some farm implements to help with jobs we need to do around here.  It was cheaper for him to drive up and get them than for them to deliver to us.  So, he left Monday with a little sidekick, Caleb, stayed in a hotel over night and picked up a mower, rake, and baler that will work with our tractor.  He also had a wood chipper delivered this week to help with homestead clean up and clearing the woods.  

We also had more electric fencing delivered after being back-ordered for quite some time.  We also have a few fences that are waiting to be taken down, one is unfortunately in tick infested woods.  I dread pulling it down. 

Materials were purchased a little while back to put more fencing up in the woods for goats and sheep, but it probably won't get done any times soon with weather being so hot and ticks being so bad.  Top that off with shortages of time for Al to get paths cleared, we don't know when these things will get done. 

Well, I have rambled long enough.  We rest today, but tomorrow is a work day with many projects I am certain.