Farm report
After the 2.3 inches of rain Thurs., we got another 5/8 inch Friday. In the short respite between showers, I repaired the chicken tractor, which had broken under the weight of accumulated water (leaving Rusty to run out in the rain in her nightie to rescue Silkies), and redesigned the top to shed water. It still collects a little in the corners if they're left bungeed; if they're loose, the water runs down the inside corners.
This morning was bright, clear, and not too hot. But gardening was impossible. There was still water standing in the rows, and when I went to take the boards off the carrots (placed to keep the soil wet for germination...ha! ) I sank into quicksand. Areas that haven't been tilled for awhile (cornfield) are OK to walk in, and will get visited tomorrow. Everything is growing, weeds included. Recent broccoli took slug damage, older broc is starting to bolt already though there isn't enough plant to support a nice head. Not the end of the world, as the major production is in side shoots. But I always want it "just like in the store".
So I began siding the barn. Cutting steel with a circular saw was not as nasty as I remembered it, but then, I had excellent earmuffs, safety goggles and a long sleeve shirt.I only got 7 sheets up. It needs cleaning, priming, and painting, being old steel that sat outside awhile (which was why it was cheap: about a buck a sheet). But even in its present state, it's a great improvement. I'd like to continue tomorrow when the sun is on the other side of the barn, but I don't want to subject my neighbors to that much noise before 10 AM.
All chicks are now outside. A few have crawled into the duck enclosure, leading the ducks to stand watch along the fenceline. Rusty has contracted for a second coop. I was dubious about this, as we can get along without it, and she hadn't thought through pasturage. In my ideal world, it would be on wheels (her original plan for the pop-up camper she got), but it isn't happening this time. It will give us more flexibility; much more if I get electronet. Plan is to create some dual use paddocks behind the coop, where we could run ruminants in alternation with poultry. We want to fence the pastures for eventual addition of goats, but there's a chicken-egg problem: goats will clean out the poison ivy and wild rose, but unless I clean out some of the above, the electric fence wire around the pasture perimeter is not going to do its job of keeping the goats in.
We were out of chick feed today, so went to Klingensmith's first thing. they had last year's cypress mulch there at a buck a bag (2 cf), so Rusty got 10 bags and played with the ornamentals all morning.
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