Dear Friends of Earle Family Farm, Well last Saturday morning it was raining like crazy, so we decided against going to Bridgton for the farmers market. Sure enough around 9 am the rain cleared and the sun began to shine through. This week, with the promise of good weather, we were able to harvest several varieties of greens for the first time this season. The swiss chard, red Russian kale, and beet greens are all doing particularly well. On Monday we spent most of the day mowing around the blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry bushes. We then raked the cut grass up into piles, and used it to mulch the cucumber, cabbages, and brussels sprouts in the main garden. Amongst the grass was also quite a bit of stinging nettle, which we concentrated around the cucumbers that have been getting attacked the hardest by beetles. The experiment/hope is to see if the nettle makes it unpleasant for the beetles and deters them away the plants. We have been mulching quite a few of the garden beds this season with grass. The benefits being weed suppression and providing a good habitat for pest eating spiders. Tuesday was a big day for the sheep. The ram lambs have gotten so big it was time to separate them and give the moms a break. We made a temporary transport trailer and backed it into the upper field where the sheep were living. We then used grain to entice the ewes to follow us around the field (careful to stay far away from the gardens of course) and into the small shed up there. Two of us were then responsible for guarding the doorways of the shed and trailer while two of us caught the ram lambs and passed them from shed to trailer. It all went fairly smoothly, and the lambs went down to the lowermost field and were soon joined by their father, just in time for the weekend holiday. Next the moms were then led with grain back to their pasture. Luckily the ewes seemed to momentarily forget about their missing lambs at the sounds of shaking grain and eagerly followed us back around the field. The cows are living down by the greenhouses now, and we are using the opportunity to try and really socialize with Maple. She had gotten pretty friendly while we were milking, but ever since they went out on pasture she became very shy. Having the cows near the barn lets us separate her from the others and spend some time hanging out with her. We discovered she likes peanut butter, so maybe that will help warm us up to her. In the store -several bunches of greens (kale, chard, beet greens) -honey from Sweden hills -maple syrup -wool -jams ~The Earle Famliy Farm (Natalie and Kyle)
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:47:42 +0000
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