Where did May go?

Things have been quite busy on the farm through May and now into early June. Francie and Eric both started working full time in mid may and they have been busy transplanting most days. The planting has been going well, but we got slowed down a bit by the very dry weather through most of May. We actually stopped setting things out for a while as it was just to dry and it was easier to water things int he greenhouse. We finally did get lots of rain over the past five or six days and the plants have really responded. A few days of sun now again and things will really take off.

The raspberries, strawberries and rhubarb we planted are doing well and hopefully will provide us with a nice crop next year. We planted quite a few potatoes and they are coming up now, so we should have a very nice crop of early potatoes. I have a feeling we will be having an epic battle with the potatoe beetles though as a few have showed up already.

The dry weather was a signal that we needed to invest in an irrigation systems, so a used drip irrigation sytem has been purchased and will be set up over the next little while. It should improve our production even when things are not critically dry.

The entire first round of plantings is up and growing, as are the weeds. I was able to cultivate between the rows yesterday with the little tractor in the few hours it was dry enough. We still have lots of hoeing to do and a fair bit of handweeding. If any one wants to come help with weeding, just come on out:-). The flea beatles were thriving in the hot weather and they did a lot of damage to some of the brassicas. We have to keep everything covered tightly with row covers to keep them out, but even that doesn't work sometime.

Our first livestock arrived last week! We now have four little pigs, and they are already growing fast. They have a very roomy pen in the barn and they we should be in their outside yard this week. For a treat, we cut them a big pile of grass and clover everyday which they devour with great enthiusiasm. I don't think they had ever had fresh food before they arrived, so they they are loving it, and probably needed the vitamins.

We should be doing a our first harvest in a couple of weeks. For those of you who have ordered boxes, I will be in touch soon.