Hello Farm Friends,
The rains have been absolutely wonderful for the farm. Even though this does create some challenges with the cows, all in all, we feel very blessed to have the ground so saturated going into the hot summer. We were fortunate enough to get our spinach, lettuce, and kale in the ground before the deluge began and so we are now beginning to harvest some of these fresh greens. This is the benefit of having some
raised beds. The soil is so black with compost and cow manure that is resists compaction and therefore can be planted even when wet. (Normally, if you till and plant while the soil is wet, it will create rock-hard clods that are nearly impossible to grow anything in.) If you have a lot of red clay, try to avoid working it when it is wet. The rule of thumb is: grab a handful of soil, squeeze it together and then drop it to the ground. If it does not break up, it is too wet to turn
under.
If you have not gotten your garden plants together yet, stop by the farm. We still have tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and butternut squash plants for sale. Make sure when you plant your tomatoes that you plant them extremely deep and do not over water. I generally pinch off the bottom one or two leaves and then plant them all the way up the shaft and cover this area with dirt where the limbs were pinched off. Since tomatoes are a vine,
they will produce root wherever they are under the ground. This allows the plant to draw moisture from deep in the ground even when the surface soil dries out. I would water my tomatoes as little as possible. Too much water can cause root rot. They actually perform very well and will produce sweeter tomatoes if you will withhold moisture. If you can collect rain water, this will serve your plants well when they need a little moisture between showers. Try planting a dozen tomatoes and
can them for the winter! We canned 160 quarts last year and we are still enjoying them as we speak.
Our next broiler date is Saturday, June 27th. Tina will be getting the order forms on the back porch today for those that want to order some Freedom Rangers. These are the best tasting birds we have ever raised. David gives them fresh grass twice a day and they are fed organic, non-GMO, soy-free feed. We celebrated Anna's 22nd birthday Saturday night and enjoyed some good ole fried (Freedom Ranger) chicken! It was absolutely delicious! It was also good to
have our son, Jacob, home who has just completed his veterinary degree at UGA. In fact, while he was home, he did a little minor surgery on one of our calves. It is kind of nice having a vet in the family :)
Midnight has one last kitten for sale. She has brought them out and settled them into their home on the bottom shelf of our shoe rack. If you haven't seen them, check them out the next time you are here. The babies are just beginning to frolic together. I think our farm friends enjoy the kitties even more than the
cows!
See you soon at the farm,
Daniel, Susan, & Anna David, Tina, Willie, & Ellie
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