Saturday

There's so much work to do I hardly no where to start some days. 

I managed to get four roosters butchered and in the freezer this week.  Yesterday I shoveled out the chicken coop and started a new compost pile with, at the bottom of the pile, the chicken offal from last year's butchering that I had composting in a garbage can.  No varmints have come to dig at the new pile and there is no smell, so that's good.  On the days we've had rain I've been cleaning the house and working on hemming the handkerchiefs I'm making.  Then, today we had clouds but no rain, so I spent most of the day out in the field hoeing.  There are deer tracks all over the garden sections but I don't know yet if the deer have eaten anything.  Most of the plantings are just starting to sprout.  The transplants look kind of "pukely" but at least they are alive; I think they would like some warmer temperatures than what we've been having. Tom cut the grass around the section edges, and Ed and I raked it up to use as mulch on the rows.  I got most of Section 2 mulched and hopefully I'll finish it up tomorrow. 

The hoeing is half-finished in the hops section.  I noticed that the calendula is sprouting very well and so are the pie pumpkins.  I don't see many sunflowers though.  I need to hoe in between the hops poles and mulch the pumpkin plants there.

In section 3 where the corn and potatoes and winter squash are, the grass is taking over.  I will need to use the tiller to help with the cultivation.  We have gotten probably over 4" of rain so far this spring and I'm not complaining.  We could use a lot more rainfall before the water table in our area is recharged.  I'm also thankful for the cloudy days; they make working in the field much more comfortable.  There seems to be more wind when it's cloudy and that keeps the bugs from eating you alive. 

Well, I'm beat so this is a short post.  Take care, Everybody!