Week two at KGF. Rain, rain, and more rain. Great for the plants, but it slows down work an awful lot.
Checking in on my goals of milking and slaughter: I might milk a goat sometime in the coming week. The kids should be weaning very soon. For slaughter, it's not quite slaughter season. In spring, most of the animals are still too small (save an Easter lamb). Plus, they send their animals out to be slaughtered - it takes a lot of time to do. So, maybe on the milking, no on the slaughter. But I have been eating some of their pork and lamb from last year. It's delicious.
Basil left us for the White Mountains, so we were left to identify birds on our own. Including a KGF first, a green heron.
We got some planting done, watered greenhouses, and transplanted a whole lot of plants that are crowded in their flats. There aren't enough hours in the day to get everything in the ground.
What did I get to plant this week? Potatoes, onions, swisschard, lettuce in the ground. Winter squash, summer squash and cucumbers in flats. Tomato and parsley thinning. I'm sure there's more. Every day is kind of the same, but different. In a good way.
Rain all week. Sunny on the weekend! I took an 11 mile hike up to Mt Kearsarge. KGF backs up to Kearsarge so I had a happy hike up through Rollins State Park to the top. The view was a little clouded in, but I could still make out Mt Washington off in the distance. And, I got to know why New Hampshire is called the Granite State. A really pretty hike up to the top.
Before I wrap this week up, it's time for a science lesson. Let's talk about poop.
It's everywhere on the farm. Organic farming practices ban the use of synthetic fertilizers. So, manure and compost get spread on the beds to fertilize the soil to start. Thanks sheep, cows, horses, pigs. Remember N-P-K from biology class? Because I barely did. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Plants need them. They deplete the soil of these nutrients as they grow, so you need to add it back. Everything we plant in the ground gets a a sprinkling of fertilizer in the row before it goes in. Guess what it is. Yep, it's poop. Dried chicken poop to be exact. You also need to work on the crop rotations too - each type of plant uses the nutrients at a different rate. All that stuff you learned a long time ago and stuffed in the back of your brain. Or at least mine.
I leave you with a non-poop related video taken last week. Calvin and Charlie playing out in the yard. Charlie is a year old pup. Kitty is a 15 year old cat.
Checking in on my goals of milking and slaughter: I might milk a goat sometime in the coming week. The kids should be weaning very soon. For slaughter, it's not quite slaughter season. In spring, most of the animals are still too small (save an Easter lamb). Plus, they send their animals out to be slaughtered - it takes a lot of time to do. So, maybe on the milking, no on the slaughter. But I have been eating some of their pork and lamb from last year. It's delicious.
Basil left us for the White Mountains, so we were left to identify birds on our own. Including a KGF first, a green heron.
We got some planting done, watered greenhouses, and transplanted a whole lot of plants that are crowded in their flats. There aren't enough hours in the day to get everything in the ground.
Kitty in the small greenhouse. He caught a vole and a red squirrel this week
What did I get to plant this week? Potatoes, onions, swisschard, lettuce in the ground. Winter squash, summer squash and cucumbers in flats. Tomato and parsley thinning. I'm sure there's more. Every day is kind of the same, but different. In a good way.
Hello little lamb
Rain all week. Sunny on the weekend! I took an 11 mile hike up to Mt Kearsarge. KGF backs up to Kearsarge so I had a happy hike up through Rollins State Park to the top. The view was a little clouded in, but I could still make out Mt Washington off in the distance. And, I got to know why New Hampshire is called the Granite State. A really pretty hike up to the top.
View from Mt Kearsarge
Before I wrap this week up, it's time for a science lesson. Let's talk about poop.
It's everywhere on the farm. Organic farming practices ban the use of synthetic fertilizers. So, manure and compost get spread on the beds to fertilize the soil to start. Thanks sheep, cows, horses, pigs. Remember N-P-K from biology class? Because I barely did. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Plants need them. They deplete the soil of these nutrients as they grow, so you need to add it back. Everything we plant in the ground gets a a sprinkling of fertilizer in the row before it goes in. Guess what it is. Yep, it's poop. Dried chicken poop to be exact. You also need to work on the crop rotations too - each type of plant uses the nutrients at a different rate. All that stuff you learned a long time ago and stuffed in the back of your brain. Or at least mine.
No happy chard without poop
I leave you with a non-poop related video taken last week. Calvin and Charlie playing out in the yard. Charlie is a year old pup. Kitty is a 15 year old cat.
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