Monday, June 05, 2006
Wow. It's been almost a month! I'm so sorry I haven't been keeping you all up to date. I've just been consumed with other tasks.
Here's one brilliant piece of news: Two nights ago Ali, our goat, had two kids. We missed the first birth, but we were there to witness the second one. Like last year, she had another girl and boy. It went very smoothly (Lynn helped a bit with the second birth, but probably didn't have to), and the kids are predictably cute. Ali's a mom again, and she really acts like one. It's so sweet to see her transform from having that kind of bratty, selfish personality to having a loving and caring one. I guess all it takes is a kid or two.
We also got two alpacas a couple days ago, which are very funny to see if you haven't spent any time with alpacas before. They look a bit like small camels, but much furrier, with incredible hairdos, and without the humps. One is black and one is silver. They are very curious and seem to want to hang out with the sheep, who at the moment seem much less interested in hanging out with them. They chase after the sheep with a clownish gait. It's quite the hilarious sight. I highly recommend seeing the alpacas run.
We also got five pigs. They are now in competition with the chickens for "most vocal farm animal." We should be getting some donkeys and a cow in the near future as well. It's a party here! Many of our animals are living in the animal shelter that Alex and I put together (with the help of Gavin and all the other interns), and it seems to be standing up to the task (for now).
We planted about half an acre of tomatoes in two days. We planted many different varieties, including Lemon Boy, New Girl, Sun Sugar, and Green Zebra. I know from experience that the golden Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes are some of the sweetest ones in existence. Some of those are planted in the Biointensive garden as well. When planting tomato seedlings, it's important to ensure that they develop a strong root system. One way of doing this is by removing all the lower leaves from the stalk (leaving only a couple branches at the top) and planting them to a depth of at least half their height. The little hairs that you see on the stem will grow into roots once they are in contact with the soil.
The Biointensive garden is planted as well, except for the pole beans and strawberries. The Biointensive garden is 184 square feet, which is almost enough land to provide one person with enough vegetables to last them a year (once you have developed the skill to garden intensively enough). We will be growing eggplant, spinach, peas, beans, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, chives, tomatoes, parsley, basil, sunflowers, winter squash, summer squash, cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, corn, celery, cabbage, strawberries, and I hope I haven't missed anything. One section of the garden I unintentionally planted in a Sierpinski triangle fractal arrangement. I noticed yesterday that the critter that has been disturbing the soil in the garden each night is our adorable farm cat, Spike, who mistook the Biointensive garden for his litter box. So Jen and I took Meg's advice and sprinkled ground cayenne pepper over all the gardens. I have yet to check on it this morning to see if it did the trick to deter him.
We finally have many of our veggies planted in the fields, and most of them seem to be doing very well. The brassicas are a notable exception. It seems that flea beetles have gotten the better of many of them that weren't covered. However, we protected another bed of brassicas with row cover, and they look very happy.
There are many pictures, and they will be posted in due time.
Here's one brilliant piece of news: Two nights ago Ali, our goat, had two kids. We missed the first birth, but we were there to witness the second one. Like last year, she had another girl and boy. It went very smoothly (Lynn helped a bit with the second birth, but probably didn't have to), and the kids are predictably cute. Ali's a mom again, and she really acts like one. It's so sweet to see her transform from having that kind of bratty, selfish personality to having a loving and caring one. I guess all it takes is a kid or two.
We also got two alpacas a couple days ago, which are very funny to see if you haven't spent any time with alpacas before. They look a bit like small camels, but much furrier, with incredible hairdos, and without the humps. One is black and one is silver. They are very curious and seem to want to hang out with the sheep, who at the moment seem much less interested in hanging out with them. They chase after the sheep with a clownish gait. It's quite the hilarious sight. I highly recommend seeing the alpacas run.
We also got five pigs. They are now in competition with the chickens for "most vocal farm animal." We should be getting some donkeys and a cow in the near future as well. It's a party here! Many of our animals are living in the animal shelter that Alex and I put together (with the help of Gavin and all the other interns), and it seems to be standing up to the task (for now).
We planted about half an acre of tomatoes in two days. We planted many different varieties, including Lemon Boy, New Girl, Sun Sugar, and Green Zebra. I know from experience that the golden Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes are some of the sweetest ones in existence. Some of those are planted in the Biointensive garden as well. When planting tomato seedlings, it's important to ensure that they develop a strong root system. One way of doing this is by removing all the lower leaves from the stalk (leaving only a couple branches at the top) and planting them to a depth of at least half their height. The little hairs that you see on the stem will grow into roots once they are in contact with the soil.
The Biointensive garden is planted as well, except for the pole beans and strawberries. The Biointensive garden is 184 square feet, which is almost enough land to provide one person with enough vegetables to last them a year (once you have developed the skill to garden intensively enough). We will be growing eggplant, spinach, peas, beans, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, chives, tomatoes, parsley, basil, sunflowers, winter squash, summer squash, cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, corn, celery, cabbage, strawberries, and I hope I haven't missed anything. One section of the garden I unintentionally planted in a Sierpinski triangle fractal arrangement. I noticed yesterday that the critter that has been disturbing the soil in the garden each night is our adorable farm cat, Spike, who mistook the Biointensive garden for his litter box. So Jen and I took Meg's advice and sprinkled ground cayenne pepper over all the gardens. I have yet to check on it this morning to see if it did the trick to deter him.
We finally have many of our veggies planted in the fields, and most of them seem to be doing very well. The brassicas are a notable exception. It seems that flea beetles have gotten the better of many of them that weren't covered. However, we protected another bed of brassicas with row cover, and they look very happy.
There are many pictures, and they will be posted in due time.
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