Early Spring Garden Prep

As you can see, the tractor path created some impressive mud tracks. There is still lots of water in the ground from snow melt.

This is where that tractor was going.. bringing some extra soil for the garden area.  This main garden area
will be about 25 x 40 when it's all done.

While I was working in the garden, Steve was stacking firewood. We have to move about 2 cords from the shed, which will be torn down, into the garage.  

the goslings are doing well.. Here they are nibbling at their food and water.  They are extremely personable, more so than chicks.  

New Arrivals and Losses

These fuzzy little lumps are little goslings, taking a nap like all new babies.  

The goslings arrived today! I wasn't expecting them till May, so it was a bit of a surprise to get a call from the farm store that they were here.  They are adorable. One male, one female.  The male is considerably larger than the little girl.    These are Toulouse geese, and will look like this when they are grown.

photo from http://www.thepetinfo.com/pets/goose/list-of-goose-breeds-for-farms.html

Toulouse are a mild mannered, less aggressive breed and  excellent at getting bugs and ticks from your garden without eating the plants like chickens will do.  This breed is usually used for meat, and they will lay about 40 eggs a year.  

Our geese will just be pets. And watch-geese.. Geese get territorial and noisy when intruders are spotted. 

And we are taking suggestions for names... so far, we have Bonnie and Clyde or Fiona and Shrek.  Any ideas out there?

On the loss side, we are missing one little hen.  She wasn't acting quite right, as if she was egg bound. This is probably the same hen that has laid all the weird eggs, and had some troubles before.  Oddly, she was sitting near the coop just awhile ago. I let them all wander up to the coop as dusk approaches, then I open the door and they put themselves to bed. So, if a predator got her, it came right up next to the coop... The other hens did not sound an alarm, or act as if anything was amiss. the dogs also did not sound an alarm. Had it been a predator, I think the hens would all have been hiding.  It's possible she is hiding somewhere... though we looked quite awhile, even after dark with flashlights. If she is huddled somewhere at ground level, then she will be quite vulnerable to predators over night. There is nothing I can do now... we will either see her in the morning, or we won't.  It is a fact of life on the farm.  Sad, but it is the way things are sometimes.

First Plowing!!

 Good Neighbor Carl plowing up the potato patch

Trusted assistant  Cody helping out

Ahhhh.... the smell of newly tilled earth! Nothing like it!

Today was a big event here on the homestead - he first breaking of ground for the garden ! I am pretty psyched.  And I wish you could see, feel, and smell this beautiful beautiful earth.... I am in heaven.  It looks like good rich soil, and deep.   It's still pretty muddy, so we will let this dry and then churn it up again before I get to raking out the grass clumps.  This area will be potatoes and flour corn and pole beans.

The corn  will support the pole beans, and the potatoes will be planted under and around the corn, which will give them some shade from the summer heat. At least, that is the plan right now.   I will have to fence this off from the chickens of course.

Just getting this first bit of land churned up makes me very happy.   the garden season is officially on!

Potting Up

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These bigger size cups will give a little more root space for these growing tomatoes.

I have several varieties of heirloom, open pollinated tomatoes.  For canning and sauce making, Roma is my favorite.  For fresh eating, I have one cherry (isn't that all you ever need?) and an old one called Brandywine. Plus, a type I discovered last year when friends shared some from their garden... sooooo good. It's called Black Krim.  And then, something new, called Red Star. I can't remember why I chose that one. Maybe it is an early variety.  They are all looking good, and hopefully will be thriving and even bigger when it is time to plant them outside.  It's good to keep them moving up to larger pots. I think it helps their root system to develop and keeps the potting soil fresh and new... At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I also potted up the broccoli and cauliflower, and they are now living out in the cold frame with all the onions and the cabbage.

I couldn't resist picking up a couple trays of these pansies at the feed store.  It is my one spot of color after a long, cold winter. 

The chicks hanging out in the big coop.  They are like gangly teenage chickens now.  And eating me out of house and home!

Excitement!  The daffodils I planted late last fall are up, and getting ready to bloom! yippee!

Last Syrup and Spring Cleaning

It was really weird boiling sap in such warm weather. This was the first really spring-like day we have had. Look at all the bare ground! Melting happens fast.. 

The suddenly warmer temperatures will bring to an end the maple sugar season.  I guess I am about ready to be done... and I am running out of scrap wood to burn anyway.
so this will be the last boiling of sap for this year. There is alot of it though... maybe another 85-90 gallons to get through. I started the boil early this morning (its 11:30 pm as I write this) and I figure I still have several hours to go before I can call it quits for tonight.  But tomòrrow is forecast to have rain, so I just need to get this done now.
[note:  I ended up working out there till about 4:30am, and more or less just quit.. there is still sap. But I am done, I think... Not sure what the total syrup quantity will be, I am right  now working on finishing this last batch over the stove where I can control temperatures better]

The girls were definitely enjoying the warm sunshine. Here they are enjoying a sunbath.

While I tended the evaporator, I decided this was a  great day for spring cleaning in the chicken coop.  I forked out all the semi-clean straw on top of the deep bedding and set it aside for mulch in the garden.  The middle layer of bedding that was soiled, but not really composted, i shoveled out and put on the compost pile.  The rest of it got spread out in the garden area. Then I scraped and swept,  and got everything looking nice and clean.  Since the hens dont spend much time in the coop now that the weather is getting warmer and the snow is (finally) melting, I only laid down some clean pine shavings on the floor.
After sweeping up all the cobwebs up in the rafters, and putting down the new bedding, the coop smells clean and fresh.

Nice and  Clean! What? You don't have a spiffy Art Deco floor in YOUR chicken coop?

(Maybe a little too clean, as the hens and the chicks were afraid to go inside at dusk and I had to chase them all down and put them in there one by one. )

if weather allows tomorrow, I need to do the same thing with the duck pen.  And  I will be finishing the syrup and bottling it.  I think we will end up with about 4 and a half gallons.....Whew!

Knowing When to Plant

The tomatoes are more than ready to move up to a larger size pot.

Some of those 250 onions I started from seed....

The basket of seed potatoes. Kennebeck variety.

Knowing when to plant your garden is, of course, of great importance. Plant too early, and a late frost could kill the tender seedlings you have worked so hard to get ready. Plant too late and you have lost valuable growing time, plus cool weather varieties might bolt to seed quickly in warmer temperatures.

You can talk to neighbors and the folks at the garden center... They will likely be able to tell you the conventional wisdom for the planting dates in your area.  

Online resources will tell you what your gardening zone is, and will give you the average dates for the last killing frost of the spring, and the first killing frost in the fall.  Here are a couple of resources, though most of you already probably know this.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/Default.aspx

http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/#b

Here is one I like even better.
Spring and Fall Frost Dates

This calculator will not only give you the last and first freeze dates for your area, but will also calculate the dates for 36 degrees and 28 degrees.  And, even better, the probability, of those temperatures occuring on a given date.  Why is this helpful? 

Lets use the calculator for my area as an example. (If you click on the image, you should get a larger view.)

The town on the chart closest to us is Milford.  The last day where we might expect to see 32 degrees, our last frost date, is May 31.  Ask anybody around here and they will agree.   If you want to play it really safe, wait till then to plant.  According to this chart, there is only a 10% chance we will see any frost past that date.  

But look further.  There is a 50% chance that the last time we will see 32 degrees is two week earlier, on May 14.  Maybe I want to take the chance, especially if it is just a few seeds I might lose.   

Here is another way to use this information.  I want to plant my seed potatoes.  I know it will take about 2 weeks for the potato sprouts to poke through the soil.  So, planting two week early, on May 14, makes good sense, since by the time the sprouts actually show up, my probability of getting a killing frost is pretty low.  (And there is always a quick mulch to protect tender sprouts, or some row cover.

Also, many early spring plants, such as spinach, can withstand slightly below freezing temperatures.  A row cover, or quick hoop, usually give 3-4 degrees of protection.  So it might be worth risking planting a little early, knowing that my chances of getting that 28 degrees after, say, April 30, are only 50%, and i can protect the young plants easily enough.

This chart gives me much more information to work with.   

Couple these calculations with good old observation of the overall weather conditions and forecasts near planting time, and you can get a good idea when it is really time to get that garden started.

River Song

This really doesn't have anything to do with homesteading, except that we are soooo eagerly awaiting spring, and these signs of the ice break up in the river, and snow melt filling all the waterways gives us hope that it really is just around the corner.  Right before I turned on the camera as I walked along the river today, a Canada goose flew overhead, honking.  The spring birds are here.... The season is changing.

Spring WILL come.  

Ice has broken up and water is running fast

There is some indication here of how deep the ice was all winter.  It began breaking up a couple weeks ago.
We call this "ice out".  Hard to imagine that just 2 weeks ago, this river was completely covered by several feet of ice, only showing itself in a few places, it's voice silenced under the winter blanket.  Now it sings again, and we rejoice in the sound.