So, as said previously, things do not ever seem to go exactly as planned.
I was up at 6 am and off to the Ness farm reasonably early. The gardens look pretty good, though weeding up due to the rains. Lance and his family were not around for the weekend, but he had left the weed whipper out for me and I got started on the garden. A half hour into it I ran the spool out of twine, but when I went to remove the spool I couldn’t. I pride myself on being fairly strong, so I wrenched as hard as I could on the knob that holds the spool in, and something gave, but not the threads. Still couldn’t remove the spool, but now it was loose inside the head. <sigh> I think I may owe Lance a new head on his weed whipper. Left him a message to that effect on his cell phone.
So, I went around the field and just checked how things were growing. The squash I planted the other week are just starting to sprout, while my early plantings are already starting to show female flowers developing which is encouraging to see.
My earliest planting of corn there, Painted mountain, is thigh high and already starting to show tassels. Damn that stuff is early. No worries of this stuff crossing with any GMO garbage being grown locally. I do like that.
I did find an issue in the potatoes. Colorado Potato Beetles. Not on all of them, but much of the banana fingerlings and other Tom Wagner potatoes are being munched on. I had this issue last year too. For now I went through and beat the plants to knock them all off and onto the ground (advice from Alan Bishop) which apparently can be fairly effective, as their bodies are not made to right themselves, so many will just die on the ground in the sunlight of the day. If I have to, I will dust them with one horrible toxin or another, but I would prefer not to.
I needed to make a run to Maple Plain to pick up bedding for the chickens at David’s house. It is time to clean out the coop. The farm supply store there did not open until 10 am, and it was just past 9, so I headed into Mound to hit up the grocery store for the things to make Eggs Benedict. I have not had a ton of time with the family and the inability to do what I wanted to at the Ness gardens seemed like a good excuse to do a big family brunch. The run down to Mound, and then the drive up to Maple Plain ran me nearly to 10 am, but I got a call on my cell just as I got to the feed store. It was a client (insurance) whose English is hard to understand over the phone. What I could understand was that something bad had happened, he needed me there, and he wanted me to bring one of my kids with me.
Maple Plain is 65 miles from his home. I got the chicken bedding, went home, changed, got Claire into the car, and drove to his house in just over an hour. Something bad had happened. He had awakened to his house being on fire, had put the fire out himself with his garden hose, and now had to deal with the aftermath. I gave him what advice I could and helped him sort through the logistics regarding what he needed to do now while Claire played with his niece who was there. Afterwards we all went out to lunch together which was nice. I was still thinking of the Eggs Benedict I had not had for brunch, and when I was not thinking of it my grumbling stomach would remind me again.
Claire and I drove back across the cities and stopped at David’s house to run over the logistics of the rest of the day. I needed to change back into grubby clothes and sharpen knives. David and I set up a killing block using a 48 inch section of tree stump, I checked out his axe, and then left Claire there to play with Rebecca while I headed home to get my things and the rest of the family.
When we returned I just spent some time with the hens. They are very happy in the chicken run and coop Patti built. Though they were not in evidence when I went down to the coop, they spilled out into the open in a rush when I called them. They are fun, gentle, and rather personable. The same speckled Partridge Barnvelder was the first to greet me, insisting on being picked up and petted. The rest followed in turn.
Once I was done playing with the hens, it was time to deal with the roosters. We all knew this day was coming, but Nell had the hardest time. She had broken a cardinal rule I had set down before we ever got the chickens. She had named one. Thankfully, the one she named was the meanest most domineering of the roosters so no one else felt bad about it, but she was still upset about the whole thing. Gotta give it to her though, she never asked me to not kill him, though she did ask me to save his head for her and put it in a jar of formaldehyde so she could keep it next to her bed. We told her no.
Claire held the knife for me, and made cuts I needed a third hand to make. All of the other kids stood back and just watched. I noticed Claire sniffling a bit when we were cleaning the one that Nell had named. I gently asked her if she needed to not help on that one. She was quiet for a moment, then said “No, this is important.”
Really amazed me. My 6 year old gets it. Most adults don’t get it. She does.
David rinsed off the carcasses as I finished each one, then we all got cleaned up as best we could. I should have brought a change of clothes with me. Oh well. Next time I have to kill a bunch of chickens I will remember to bring clothes to change into.
We had a feast though. Three birds cut up filled the grill and the rest went into the freezer. The garden was raided for fresh lettuce and herbs, there was potato salad, and for desert we had blueberries, raspberries and blackberries in whipping cream. Oh my.
While we were cooking Patti admired the gazebo David is building around the hot tub he put back up, and after dinner I ran out to the Minnetonka garden just to check up on it. Frank has been there a couple of times since I was last there, diligently weeding the tomatoes, peppers and herbs there. The potatoes need me to go through and weed them, but the garden looks pretty good. I found some evidence of Colorado Potato Beetles there too, but not too bad. Still will have to do something about it though.
When I was done there, I headed back to David’s to pick up my girls and head home. I checked his potatoes. No evidence of beetles there which is good. He is doing his in an intensive gardening style. He is using food grade black plastic bags he has filled with compost. I am interested to see how well they produce. For now they look good. The rest of his gardens look good too. He has greatly expanded how much of his yard will be garden, but much of that will not be planted until next year.
We all got home at about 930. I soaked and scrubbed the day’s grime off of me, Patti got the girls into bed, and I downloaded, edited photos and updated the blog. It was a pretty full day.
