Ready for More Buckwheat

I cut the buckwheat down and tilled it in.  I found out that I need to buy a mower for the tractor.  I figured I would try to cut it with the lawn mower.  It knocked the plants down but the deck kept getting clogged and it didn't chop the material as much.  So our next purchase is going to be a 60-72" 3pt mower.

The discs did a decent job of chopping the the buckwheat while incorporating it into the earth, although it took a lot of passes.  Overall, it didn't turn out too bad.

Tilled field of buckwheat

 Now we'll plant another crop of buckwheat to be cut down at the beginning of September.  That will give 6 weeks for the next batch to start to break down before we form beds and plant the garlic.

Buckwheat in Full Bloom

The buckwheat that I planted has really enjoyed the rain and hot weather.  The plants are 5 feet tall and in full bloom.  It's quite pleasant to look out the window and see a field of white flowers.  I was worried that the aroma from the flowers would be overwhelming, considering how many there are, but they are not at all.  There is a faint fresh smell around the field, but that is it.

Field of Buckwheat

The other day I went down to pick some zucchini, which I planted at the corner of the field, and was amazed at the amount of insect activity.  I didn't realize that there would be as many pollinators attracted to this field, which is only growing buckwheat as green manure for the garlic crop.  Bumblebees, what looked like two distinct types of honey bees, butterflies, and all sorts of other flower loving insects were happily feasting on the pollen of these little flowers.  We are quite pleased with the side effect of helping the local bee population. 

Bee Gathering Pollen

Processing Carrots

After taking care of the rabbit that was getting into the carrots, I found a young groundhog eating the tops of them.  So, I figured it was time to pick them.  The carrots weren't as big as I was hoping, but anymore time in the ground wasn't going to help them.  There was one that had split open, but all others were fine.

Knowing how much Debbie hates me bringing dirty food into the house to process it, I decided to be a little smarter with my carrots this year.  With 2 wooden crates, a rotating stool, and a bucket of water, I had a very comfortable carrot set up.  The crates we came across at Home Depot on clearance for $4 each (I couldn't make them that cheap); the stool is for a drummer and can be found at any music shop.

Carrot set up

Spring carrot harvest

Our baby enjoyed teething on one of the carrots and we couldn't help but to get some pictures of her

Chickens Eating Eggs

We had a problem with one or more of our chickens eating eggs.  I tried to catch the culprit, but I was unsuccessful.  We had 2 eggs eaten in the nest box and another 4 eaten that were laid in the coop.  All of the eggs except for one had a soft shell, and the eggs in the coop were laid right before dark.  Anyway, after doing some research on the internet, I figured that the nest box was too big.  At one point, there were 3 chickens in there, one laying and the other two harassing her.  So I put a divider in the coop and immediately the we had no more issues.  I was worried that there wouldn't be enough room, but they had plenty of room and seem happy.

Divider in next box

Last Friday I watched one chicken fly out of their run.  The fence is 5 feet high and I didn't think they would be able to get over it.  She drove the other chickens crazy, so I left them all out for the evening.  They couldn't get enough grass.

The next day we were out of town for a family reunion.  I was hoping that the chicken wouldn't fly out again since we wouldn't be around and it was hot day.  Getting home, I checked the coop and sure enough there were only 5 hens.  So I went around the back of the barn to the wood shed and there she was.  I carried her to the coop, gave her water & food, and turned the light on for another hour.  She sounded like she was horse and I'm sure she didn't have water throughout the day, unless she ventured down to the creek to get a drink.

 We got hit with a big heat wave on Monday with temperatures in the 90s and heat index over 100.  I made sure the girls had plenty of fresh water.  Tuesday morning I collected the eggs and all the chickens looked fine.  Tuesday evening when I locked them up there was the hen that had flown out on Saturday laying dead in the nest box.  My assumption is that being out of the run on Saturday put too much stress on her and the heat wave put her over the edge.

In hindsight, I should have put a waterer outside of the coop on Saturday knowing that one of the chickens had flown out the day before.  Needless to say, we are putting chicken wire over the run.

Curing Onions

I picked all of our onions last week.  About 60% - 70% were fallen over and we had a small window of dry, sunny weather.  The onions were much bigger this year than last, owing to better growing conditions in the spring.  We had about a dozen or so red onions that bolted, likely due to the late frost we had, so we've been using those ones first.  They are now curing and drying in the barn on a drying rack I built last year out of chicken wire an 1x2.  We'll keep them in with the fan blowing until the necks dry shut, which takes anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on the size of the neck and how long they were in the ground after falling over.

Onions drying

Now we just need some dry weather to harvest our garlic.  It has rained every day for the last 10 days.  Today I had a little help in the garden picking the beets that were ready, some carrots for our salad, and a few peppers for an evening snack (our new favorite snack is crackers with cream cheese and a slice of jalapeno).

Our corn is approximately 6 feet high and is starting to form tassels.  This is my first year growing corn in the square foot garden and so far I am pleased.