Why do they sell socks in six packs? Don’t manufacturers know there are seven days in the week? Are we supposed to go sockless one day per week to reduce global warming? Same with underwear but with different quantities. Sometimes I see them in packs of four. Sometimes five and occasionally you get six for the price of five. But why not seven? I guess we need to go commando on wash day. By the way, it only took me 19 years to realize if I bought black athletic socks instead of white athletic socks I wouldn’t notice when they got stained from farming in the dirt.
Anyway, here are a few announcements prior to some other blather regarding the farm:
We are basically sold out for 2022 but could squeeze you in if you really want to join. But decide soon!
We have four EggShares left. Feel free to order them as soon as possible. We have unlimited CoffeeShares and ‘ShroomShares. There are a few FlowerShares left. And if you order soon we can still plant enough winter squash to supply more WinterShares.
Farm News
We survived last nights thunder storms. Hopefully all you did as well. The official rain gauge measured 1 3/8th inches. The unofficial rain gauge — also known as the horses feed bucket — registered closer to 3 1/2″. Since the official gauge works best with vertical rain and much of yesterday’s rain was of the horizontal variety I surmise that the horse bucket gauge is more reflective of the actual rain amount.
Thankfully there isn’t a lot of damage from last night’s storm. We found a couple of rows of plastic mulch that partially blew off their beds. We hadn’t planted in those beds yet so we can either replace the mulch or maybe just tuck it back down. The tiny carrot plants took a hit. I’m hoping they recover but you never know until it happens — or not. I guess it is on to round two this evening. I hope tonight is less forceful than last night.
It has been a hectic couple of weeks since the last newsletter. The first thing to mention is to thank all those who came out to help plant potatoes. It was a fun, well-attended event where we completed the task in around four hours with no known injuries or deaths. That is quite the accomplishment! And with last night’s rain the potato plants should be popping up any day now.
This time of year we are doing a lot of planting. With the late — and very short — Spring, there has been a lot of catching up to do. And we have caught up. All of the first round of cool season crops have gone in though the later successions have yet to be planted. The hoop house is populated with tomatoes and lettuce. We haven’t planted the bacon yet to complete the BLT hoop house trifecta. I’m not sure there is enough room for bacon plants.
Which brings me to a new project we have going this season. Over the years the number of ground squirrels residing on the farm has been quite cyclical. Also the number of hawks circling the farm has been cyclical. The hawk cycle seems to lag the ground squirrel cycle by a year or so. Last season we didn’t see many hawks. This season we see a lot of ground squirrels. I don’t think this is a coincidence.
So with our current hawk dearth, I have resorted to being the head of the ground squirrel eradication team. I call it a team because there are two of us — me and Fred the cat and Fred doesn’t like to be the leader. Fred’s approach to squirrel eradication is different from mine. He catches one and is pretty much done for the day. I on the other hand keep catching as many as my trap can catch. But since they are so cute I release them back into the wild for future hawk recruitment. So far I have either caught eight squirrels or one squirrel eight times. I’m not sure how to tell one squirrel from the other.
The reason I am focusing on the ground squirrels this season when I haven’t so much in the past seasons is that this is the first year they’ve had a hankering for hoop house lettuce. I don’t mind losing a few plants to the critters — especially ones that eat other pests like weed seeds and insects — but this year they took advantage of my good nature and went overboard on the lettuce smorgasbord. So I am banishing them to a farm where they can live out a full lettuce-free life.
I’m sure there is a bunch more interesting and uninteresting things to tell you about the farm but since it is drying up outside it is time to do more farming. As always, do not hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, suggestions, jokes, etc.
What did the squirrel say when his tail got caught in the trap?
“It won’t be long now!”