Farmers Farming

    Having great neighbors has been such a help to us since we moved in. Over the weekend I was able to borrow his tractor and start clearing the land behind the gardens. I have been cutting sumac trees for quite some time in the hope that I will finally get rid of them. With most of them out of the way, I can start smoothing out the grade on the side of our property to create a better access point to our gardens.  

     The bucket on the tractor made quick work of the dirt, each scoop of the bucket easily saved me 30 - 60 minutes worth of shoveling. Eventually I would like to finish grading the rest of the land along the property line and reseed it with some low maintenance ground covering, possibly clover. 

    In two short hours I was able to finish the access and clear behind the raised beds. I was also able to burn most of the brush and trees that I had piled up this spring, really cleaning up the yard visually. 

    Unfortunately the rain stopped my progress on the expansion of the garden plot next to the raised beds, I will have to try and wrap that up this coming weekend and get it tilled for planting.By the time I am done, we should have an open 20' x 35' plot for corn and our vine type plants. 
 
    Seeing the lettuce, radishes, carrots, and bok choy take off, I have been quite antsy to get some more crops planted as we have had such a warm spring. I decided to put in a few rows of corn near the future chicken/duck run. A little risk for a few dollars of seeds is always a good trade off in my book.

    Over the past weekend, our little terrorizer has decided to start testing the waters, literally, and boundaries a bit too much for comfort. I had to get him out of the road on two occasions, and another from the pond. We have decided to install an invisible fence for his safety and our wits. 

    As a bonus, the ducks are growing fast! They will be ready to go outside in no time.