Monthly Archives: May 2014

Voila! Caught back up!

A foot of snow last Monday and torrential rain Wednesday….. 85 and sunny today.  Gotta love Colorado.  Finally the forecast is for 50 degree evenings and 70s and 80s in during the day.  Planting shall now commence!

I got the drippers installed on the garden today.  I got a pretty good case of sun stroke from being out there too long — Got WAY dehydrated.  Aaron helped me get the last dozen of the 36 lengths of drip tape installed and as soon as one of the mainline filters arrives the JAZ Farm will have water!

While I was doing that, Aaron and Zina took the plants out of the basement grow room and into the back yard to start hardening off.  In about 5 days the planting will being in earnest.

The city garden gets attacked tomorrow.  The place needs to be spruced up for the impending grandma visit and so the neighbors don’t call the cops for overgrown weeds!

I decided that it made the best sense to put the corn and sunflower patch on its own drip system as well, so Drip Works received another transfusion of cash from the JAZ Farm owners.

It is very exciting to actually be doing the farming work of the farm.  The beds really came together.  Now we cover them with the mulch and get too it.  Let the summer growing begin!

IMG_3336 IMG_3339

IMG_3341 IMG_3342

The Tilling Got Done!

Yes we appreciate the moisture.  Yes we appreciate that it has been cool weather.  BUT! it finally cleared and dried enough to till the beds!!  We are back on track!

Farmer Jon was out on the little tractor and tilled up the garden beds.  It was with the 4×4 engaged and in low range gear climbing over the hills and valleys of the piles that have been sitting there waiting for weeks!  Aaron took over after that task was completed and tilled up the corn and sunflower patch.  Zina started weeding what the tiller didn’t rip up and the garden area now looks like a garden!

The forecast is for the evening temperatures to be right around fifty for most of the next week.  Because of this warm up the plants in the grow room can now go out behind the house to harden off.

It looks like we will actually be planting on Memorial Day weekend!  Grandma better be ready for some serious digging in the dirt! – or anyone else who wants to help for that matter!

IMG_3295 IMG_3323 IMG_3327 IMG_3328 IMG_3329 IMG_3330 IMG_3332

 

Broody Time Out

Our Buff Orpington ladies are living up to their broody billing.  We have several who really want to be mommies.  When a hen goes broody, they go through a hormonal change and will do anything and everything to “brood” a clutch of eggs.  If you want chicks then this is a good thing.  If you just want eggs… not so much.  When they go broody they stop laying eggs.  They also get kind of nasty and will peck at you whenever try to get the eggs from underneath them.  Zina and Aaron went out and started the “break a broody” proceedings.  The hen in question gets isolated (we use Basil’s old puppy crate).  They essentially need to be put somewhere where there isn’t anything to nest in and will sort of cool off their tummies.  This lady was so broody she tried to nest in her pan of food.

In about a day or two she will be let out.  If she rejoins the flock we are good to go.  If she heads back to the nest…. more time out is in order.

IMG_3335

The Wind Break Progress Continues

Thanks to help from friend Mike and son Aaron, the drift fencing portion of the windbreaks are in place.  There is one stretch of solid fence that still needs to be built but this will get us set for planting…..   of course, the weather still needs to cooperate.  It is still getting down into the 40’s at night.  It looks like Sunday will finally get the evening temps up to where the plants can go out and harden off.

If we can dodge this next round of rain (notice the skies in the pictures below), then tilling can get underway tomorrow.  Aaron got out and plowed up the corn and sunflower patch, so slowly but surely we are progressing along.  The kid applied to the local grain elevator to help unload haulers and load train cars during the wheat harvest.   Very cool if he gets it.  Whoda thunk my kid’s first real non-volunteer summer job would end up being in Ag!  Long hours, lots of dust, heat and gruff hard core laborers.  Perfect!

Looking forward to the grandma visit on Monday!

Windbreak 1

windbreak 2

Windbreak 3

It Seems This Is Why The Vegetables Can’t Go Outside Yet

The Jet Stream is broken.  When one adds heat to our atmosphere it can hold more moisture.  Because of that, it gets heavier and slower and meanders higher and lower than it used to.  The polar vortex in the mid-west and east and the horrific winds here in the west, and the drought in the southwest seem to all have been influenced by this.  We are getting the strangest weather as we have had the prevailing winds coming almost directly out of the north, bringing cooler air.  This past weekend the mountains got to close to 3 feet of snow. Yesterday, because of winter driving conditions, Vail pass was closed and as I write it is smack dab the middle of May!  The days are not getting warm enough and the evenings as a result are not STAYING warm enough to put out the fruiting plants to harden off (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos, etc.)  Because we have been getting above normal precipitation in the form of sleet and freezing rain (two days ago there was 8 inches of snow at the farm), we have not been able to do any bed preparations.  This is farming and gardening in the new normal.

Here is a chart that illustrates the issue.  I am afraid there is going to have to be alot of new adaptation in order to allow food production to continue.  On a happy note, the wheat crop seems to be loving all of this.  Here is hoping that in the next week or two things warm up some.  I don’t mind the moisture – here it is a blessing – but it really needs to warm up.  Ah the life of the farmer – always at the mercy of the elements.

http://www.intellicast.com/National/Wind/JetStream.aspx

There Will Always Be New Projects

Zina and I were mulling over the past year or so of the JAZ Farm last night.  We are tired yet so proud of all of our accomplishments and this place is really starting to look like a farm.  JAZ Farm has laying hens, is capable of hatching its own chicken replacements, has meat birds in the brooder, and is going to be able to grow a great deal of the food the birds need throughout the year.  We have wheat coming up and are mere days away from hardening off hundreds and hundreds of plants for the organically grown vegetable garden (Cudo’s to friend Mike for coming down and helping to put up the remaining wind break fences…. you saved my lower back some agony!).  On top of it all we are going to be sowing Millet and Amaranth on the front 15 acres to help heal and build the soil.

While enjoying a Mother’s Day dinner out while Aaron stayed at the farm and babysat the dog, we talked about the future livestock that may visit the farm.  To me horses are nothing but toys.  Cows are huge and we don’t really eat much red meat.  If you want animals like goats, sheep, or Llamas one needs a barn to house them; especially during the really cold months of winter.  What we came up with is pigs:  Feeder pigs.  Feeder pigs grow to around 250 lbs in about 6 months.  If purchased in April, they are ready for the processor in October.  They require a pen, a hut, water and food.  I have already designed the hut in my head and the pen, after all of this fence building is a no-brainer!  So throughout the summer I will be building a pig pen and getting it outfitted for spring 2015.

We figured that with the wheat, the organic garden, the eggs and broilers and pigs, we will likely have all of the meat and vegetables we could ever need.  As the pigs are quite big, and they need to be raised in a group of 2-3, we will likely invite friends, neighbors or clients to go in on the cost.

JAZ Farm…. a real…. working…. homestead.

http://thehomesteadingboards.com/2012/03/simple-pig-pen-design/

 

Pre-Lunch and Pre-Dinner Have Arrived

Wouldn’t you know it – Mother’s Day weekend – which is supposed to be our “average” last frost date, was met with a spring blizzard.  The mountains got up to 3 feet of snow and the lower elevations around 5000- 6500 feet got around 5 inches to a foot!  At the same time, I received a text message from our hatchery that our roasting chicks had shipped!  Great.  Anticipating warmer weather (because it was in the 80’s the previous week) we set the brooder up in the barn.  Now… in the sloppy wet rain and snow it had to be taken down and the 300 gallon watering trough we use as the brooder had to be rolled around to the back of the house and into the basement.  It froze my fingers as the tank is made out of steel.  Now the brooder is set up in our exercise room.  Oh goodie!

I got a call from the post office at 8 am today (Monday) saying the chicks had arrived.  I got up there and got the cheeping box of fuzz balls in the rain and sleet.  I gave a little boy a thrill though.  He was about 3 years old and I let him look into the box before I left.  “Look Mommy!  CHEEKINZ!”  Everyone in line at the post office had a chuckle.

The little puff balls made it to the farm with no trouble and they are now happily eating, drinking, pooping and sleeping in their new 3 – 4 week condo stay.   After that they go out into the big coop for 4 – 5 more weeks.  It looks like mid-July will be chicken harvesting week. (It came in handy that the truck has heated seats.  I had them on the passenger seat and it kept them nice and toasty).

I read a quote once that said, “If you have an animal and it has a name, its a pet.  If you have animals and they have no names, they are food.”  These ones have no names; except for humorously saying that half are named lunch and the other half, dinner.  Aaron said we should name all of them Nuggets.

Now, between the layers in the big coop and the broiler chicks in the brooder we have over 60 birds.  Taking care of them will give us something to do until the garden dries out and we can get out to till and plant.

 

Dinner

Lunch

Why We NEED To Get Past Our Last Frost Date!

This is why we need to get the plants outside.  They are taking over the house!  Anyone who doesn’t believe that plants don’t help to regulate moisture need only come visit the grow room in my basement.  When I arrived today after the house being closed for two days, every window in the place was dripping condensation.  The basement could be a sauna with all of the moisture the plants are wicking into the air!  It was so moist that the stack of envelopes I keep down there for work had all sealed themselves!  It is a pleasant environment but we are once again to the stage in the gardening where the plants now need to go live in the real world!  Hopefully mid-week next week I can get the tasks done to make that happen and MAYBE the weather will cooperate!

 

Jalapenos

Basil, Serrano Peppers, Jalapeño Peppers, Acorn and Butternut Squash 

Maters

Cherry Tomatoes, Amish Paste, German Giant Tomatoes, Tomatillos and Eggplant

Onions

3 kinds of onions, celery, Marjoram

Peppers

Purple and Red Peppers.

In boxes and envelopes:  3 kinds of potatoes, Strawberries, Asparagus Crowns, Sweet Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Black and Kidney beans, Green feed corn, Green beans,  Carrots, Melons, Beets, Kale, Herbs, Amaranth, Millet, Sunflowers….. At the city garden:  Kale, Spinach, Peas, Garlic, Green Onions, Roma Tomatoes, Green Beans, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Cucumbers, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and grape vines.   AND…. THIRTY CHICKS ARRIVE NEXT WEDNESDAY!!

It is time for this polar vortex idiocy to move on to someone else’s house!

Weather Craziness…. Uncle!

Last week the weather was in the 80’s.  We got the windbreak done, the chicken chores accomplished and all sorts of other things in anticipation of getting the raised beds tilled and drip tape installed this week, along with the arrival of our broiler chicks next week.  Not so said mother nature!  We had hail and rain yesterday and into the night.  We are expecting more rain today, and this coming Monday we are expecting SNOW and an evening low of 26!!  Farmers are at the mercy of the weather.

I can’t till because of the mud.  I can’t install the drip tapes because I can’t first till.  The plants need to go outside to harden off before planting and that can’t happen because it is too cold!  Planting is going to be late in starting this year.  Oh well, given the adventures our family is going through right now, perhaps that is a good thing.  It will certainly all get done, but we folks who like to think we are in control, often find out that, in fact, we are not.

I recently read a trilogy of books by an author calling himself, Jed McKenna.  It has been an affirmation the likes of which I can’t even begin to describe.  If you want to read an account of what it means to “wake up” and not be a sheep, these books are for you…. only if you are open and ready.   To reverse an often overused quote that says, “when the student is ready the teacher appears”….. I think more accurately should be quoted as:  “When the teacher arrives, the student is ready.”  I was ready.

Letting go of the tiller on the boat is the epitome of farming I am finding out.  Certainly planting season is a busy time, especially when your primary occupation takes full precedence over your homestead; but thinking that you are in control of anything is such a myth and a fallacy.  Let go of the tiller, let the current take you.  When you feel yourself grabbing on tight and wanting to control things, it is at that instance that you need to know its time to let go.  Everything works out for the best.  Indeed, it is impossible for anything to be wrong… even when your ego is screaming at you that it is.

As we work through the final pre-planting tasks and then wait for the weather to allow the crops to go in and it all being delayed according to our schedule, the question isn’t “why?”  Its, “what does this mean and where is it leading?”  I suspect that this time it means that we all need to slow down.  We all need to simply live.  We need to quit thinking we are in some race to some undefined place.  That place, ultimately, is us becoming compost.  To not live currently, trying to build equity for a future that may never come, is ego playing its game.  It is Maya keeping us in prison.  Indeed, it is to rob us of our very lives.  After all, the end result for all of us is death.  Let go of the tiller.  Flow effortlessly down stream.  There is nothing to accomlish, nothing to achieve.  None of it matters.  Let go of the idea that we are “going” somewhere.  Nature will let us plant, our children will find their way, our lives will pass whether we are present with them or simply spending them in exchange for some elusive goal we always call…. the future.

Live now.