Sunday Walkabout 9-29

While Fall means harvest season and a lot of long hard work hours to some farmers…around here the shortening days and lack of light mean that we need to shift gears and get into cool weather (winter) mode. 

Unlike the big farms that grow grains, we plant and harvest year-round.  Our year-round harvest means year-round income, but it also demands a lot of creative thinking and more than a little planning.

Romanesco Broccoli

There is still much that can be harvested in the gardens, although the cool temperatures slow the ripening process considerably. 

This is a yellow ZUCCHINI
Yes, it really is a zucchini...and it stays yellow
Isn't it pretty?

Hundreds of little plants are growing steadily in the greenhouses before they go to their new homes in the hoophouses where they will provide fresh greens for weekly harvest throughout the Winter. We hope to get that completed this week.

this variety is known for its red veined leaves
even when they're smaller than my finger

The garlic for fall planting arrived the other night.  It is just beautiful!  We don’t always buy new seedstock, but this year with the wet Spring, our garlic crop wasn’t the best.  So we’ll start fresh this fall and hopefully late next June, we will be harvesting some beautiful bulbs ourselves.

As a little aside here, I was at the barn when I heard the FedEx truck coming up the lane.  Since we were expecting the garlic delivery (yay 21^st century technology of internet tracking) I figured I’d carry it down to the house while I was outside.  When I got to the gate, the FedEx guy was still there talking to the dog and watching her wolf down the dog biscuits that he offered.  “hey, where’s your other dog?”  …and I explained the story of Jed-the-dog.  He offered his condolences and we stood and talked about dogs/dog bites and other random stuff for a few minutes before he wished me well and headed on his way, waving and grinning as he pulled out of the lane.  You know, that’s one of the things about life out here…other people care…and let you know about it.  Maybe it’s the FedEx guy, or the Post Office lady or the folks at the feedstore…it could be anybody. It’s one of the best parts of life in the country.

Since I know you're wondering...Gus is doing incredibly well. I put him on the stock scale the other night and he weighs in at 19.2#.  Yep, he's growing like a weed!

This is Gus...and his goofy approach to life.
Poor Ellie Mae has become the ever patient "puppy-sitter"

Squeekie cannot be convinced to play with a dog

If things work out...Gus  will be the subject of his very own blog post sometime this week.  Stay tuned!

September brings with it the beginning of particularly beautiful skies.  I reckon it has something to do with the atmospheric conditions or the angle of the earth in its annual rotation or maybe it has something to do with ice crystals and dust.  Rather than get all scientific…I just enjoy the ever-changing, always amazing skies…on both ends of the day.

The shortening days mean we need to get as much light as possible in the hoophouses, so we did the whole “let there be light” thing on one house this week. Here's the story.

This year we have really struggled with a lack of light.  There have been SO many foggy, gloomy days that we took the shadecloth off early this year. We’ll probably do the other one in the upcoming week, as well as adding another lamb hauling trip to the schedule.  (only 2 more days of that black lamb! Hopefully, getting her on the truck won’t become sort of fiasco!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Sunday!