More lodging

3/8" of overnight rain really did a number on the wheat in the garden.  It's weird--note that the rogue rye is standing tall, despite being a foot taller than the wheat.

By the afternoon it had mostly stood up again.

I could also see a little more lodging in the Spring Street Turkey, which is in the background.

Corn up, Mostly

Sweet corn, planted in May, is coming up very nicely.  The replanted sweet corn is also starting to poke through.

The popcorn and Roy's Calais is coming up nicely.  The popcorn may need thinning--the small kernels sometimes doubled up.

The Floriani Red has not budged, which is unexpected.  It's been 12 days, and this soil is really pretty decent.  Very interesting!

This is how we compost at the farm.  I shovel the loose stuff on top, and this crew comes along and digs it all up.  It works pretty well.

This is some of the Turkey on Spring street, which was knocked down in a relatively brief squall a couple of days ago.  I'm surprised that it lodged at all.

Farmers Breakfast

Breakfast year round nearly always includes a couple of eggs, scrambled.  For the past few months I've only had garlic or maybe frozen scallions to add, but I finally have Spring greens!  The spinach was all a bust, so presently I am using beet thinnings and baby swiss chard.

Sloooow Summer Morning

Around this time of year the donkeys can get into a mode where they just do not want to get out of bed.  I go down around 5:30 am, open all the gates to the pasture, and the three donks just stare at me from their stall.  This morning was an extreme case.  Sebastian was sitting down, so I knelt down and just rubbed on him a bit. Then Rosie came over and rested her chin on my shoulder.  We hung out like this for a few minutes, and I reflected on how lucky I was to have this wonderful farm with such great animals.  I went inside to eat my breakfast, but they did not rouse themselves to go eat anything for another 30-40 minutes.

Rooster drama.  Rodrigo has been beating up on Woodstock.  They can be so cruel.  Two months ago it was the other way around, but Woodstock injured his leg and now Rodgrigo is just going to town on him.  It's really awful to watch sometimes.

We had a 1/4" downpour last night as part of a very quick squall.  Now the wheat in the garden is really laying down!  I hope some of it stands back up.  

The popcorn and Roy's Calais flint corn is coming up nicely.

Rosie can hang her tongue out for what seems like hours.  I take it as a sign of extreme contentment.

More Replanting

The USDA samples in the middle of the plot.  Left to right, Turkey, Wisconsin No. 2, and Bacska.  The Bacska is taller than any of the wheat in the field.

Parsnip experiment.  These giant parsnips were planted last July and never quit.  But the roots are getting all woody and only the outer portion was edible.  It was actually quite good, but I don't think it will catch on.  I ate it like corn on the cob and consumed the soft, sweet flesh on the outside.  BTW, asparagus this year has been a total bust.  The plot was not doing much, and the housesitter did not pick it very cleanly while I was gone.  So when I got back it was all 3' tall, and I pretty much decided to let it go and rebuild at that point.  My 2015 and 2014 plantings are also doing blah--weak and small.  Not sure what's up.

First greens!  Beet thinnings for my morning scrambled egg.

Once again I am replanting in the new section.  This soil is not as far along as I had hoped.  The bok choi and other cabbage family stuff is coming up very weak and slow.  Spinach has been planted twice and I don't think I have seen a single seedling emerge.  Today I put in radishes, kale (row we are looking at), and parsnips to finish out the allium row at the top left.

Ehmke Turkey is lodging.  This is weird--we only had a light rain and little wind.  Also, I don't consider this to be a very fertile part of the garden.  It happened after 1/4" of rain fell over the course of a couple hours today.

Re plant

The sweet corn planted on May 18 was coming in very spotty, and after investigation it looks like some of the seed rotted.  So I went up and down with my handy corn planter/pointed thingy and filled in the gaps.

Wheat Checkup

Here is the red fife on 10th Ave.  It's looking good but I think the drill may have a row or two clogging up.  There is a regular row across the field with spotty germination.

Here is the field on 8 Mile rd.  The Turkey Red is to the left, and conventional soft red is on the right.  I already told Brian to combine his wheat first, and to cut into mine a little bit so that everything I harvest is pure.