You may have noticed that this posting, as well as last weeks, have been made in the middle of the week. This is due to business commitments that must come first so that we can continue to support the farm. Postings will be sporadic for the next several weeks due to these commitments, but we hope to be back to normal by winter (whatever normal is).
Debbie, David, and Elizabeth went down to the test garden today and found out that we now have watermelon and cucumbers. We expect to see some pumpkins pretty soon as there are a number of blooms on the vines, and the pole beans are doing good as well.
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| Pole Beans (and other plants and weeds) |
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| Cucumber |
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| Watermelon |
And our one remaining sunflower even seems to be doing well after being eaten by deer.
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| Lone Sunflower |
When they returned from the garden they brought up more zucchini and patty pan squash, and when David finished the watering, he brought up some small cucumber's that had separated from the vine.
We now know that we can grow vegetables, which was the initial purpose of our test garden. Our test garden is starting to show the results of the draught, but fortunately most of the plants were of decent size to withstand the hardship. Now we are just waiting to see how well everything was pollinated. It is possible that we are doing as well as we are due to planting so late. Most of the problems we have been hearing about are from pollination issues, and we have had a lot of good activity in that area (except for the corn). It has started to cool down considerably and hopefully we will continue our bountiful harvest.
David and Donald did some work on the production fields in Section I this past weekend. They are getting ready to prepare it for tilling so they can plant winter cover crops. They also worked on "Dory's Plot" and broke up more of a very large pine tree that was blown down in the tornado in early 2011(it was already dead from a lightening strike the year before). Donald also started mowing the hay in Section II so they can remove the mower and put the box blade back on. He ran short of fuel so decided to end early and hope diesel prices go down over the next couple of weeks. Section II has to be completed, as well as the mid-hill orchard plot and the "L". Once all of those areas are mowed, the mower can be removed for the winter.
Debbie continues to work on her crocheting projects and we will try to add some pictures of her work next week. She is entering several projects in the Oklahoma/Arkansas state fair in Fort Smith, including a number of photographs she has taken as well as some of her crochet work. She has entered several times in the past and has won several awards.
Remember, farming is not only growing food, it also includes working on other projects for extra income.
While we have had our ups and downs during our first year of farming, we are pleased with the results, which makes us work all that much harder. We have learned a lot and will be using what we have learned on the production fields this spring.
Until next time,
Blessings from Baker Heritage Farms
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