The Time Has Come and then Surprise!

    Well the time has finally come to put plants and seeds in the ground. We have been waiting for this day with great anticipation and it seemed that it took forever to get here, but the day had finally arrived. Kathy and I awoke at our usual time since we both had to work on Saturday, but it was with more excitement than usual as today was planting day. We had been watching the weather forecasts all week to assure that we would have good weather for planting and although there was a possibility of scattered showers or thunder storms we planned to get home as soon as possible and start planting. The morning passed slowly as time usually does when you're anticipating an event that means a lot to you. We arrived home to sunny and warm weather with a few scattered clouds and I thought you couldn't ask for a better day for putting plants and seeds in the ground. We had already discussed where the various plants would go in each of the garden plots so things progressed rather quickly. We put in habanero and green bell pepper plants, beefsteak and cherry tomato plants, kale plants, yellow crooked neck squash, green bean and several varieties of cucumber seeds. Our little farm in the city was finally starting to look like one.

This is just one of our garden plots and you can see we also have two large containers at one side of the garden these were planted with container corn from Burpee. We have wanted to grow sweet corn but with our limited space we've always decided that we could make better use of this space with smaller plants but this year we were able to get some hybrid corn made just for container gardening.
   We had put in other plants earlier, such as lettuce, potatoes, onions, snap peas and bok choi all of which are doing well. The raspberry plants are growing by leaps and bounds and we are expecting a nice late summer harvest of these tasty fruits. Sunday morning came and the weather was nice once again and I thought the severe thunderstorms which were forecast would probably not materialize so we took the opportunity to to some more work in the gardens such as putting down weed block cloth and setting up the a-frame trellises for the cucumber vines to grow on. We ate lunch on the patio and noticed black clouds rolling in from the north and after hearing some thunder in the distance we decided to beat a hasty retreat to the house. We listened to the claps of thunder and estimated this storm cell would slip to our east and so we took up spots on the front steps to watch lightening strikes in the distance. We noticed that clouds were building quickly in our direction and the wind was now blowing strongly. I made a decision to pull tarps over the rabbit hutches and while I was going this I could hear Kathy and Justin shouting to hurry. I had the last tarp pulled down and felt a sting on my lower back and then another and another. I looked out from under the hutch overhang and saw hail the size of marbles pommeling the freshly planted garden. I was really worried now that all our planting would be for nothing. After the storm we surveyed the the gardens and were relieved to find the most of the plants were small enough to avoid being damaged and only a few leaves on the cabbage and brussel sprouts were shredded. So our urban farm made it through the first surprise thrown by nature but I know there'll be more. I hope you continue to follow us during our growing season as we share what's going on with the gardens, the rabbits and the other projects which we'll be starting soon.

                                                           We made it through!!!

Waiting is Hard

  I have written that the old farmers guide is don't plant until after the last full moon in May, which has come and gone. I know that in New England and in Connecticut in particular we can see frost until about the 20th of the month so we'll have to wait past the full moon. We often wait until Memorial Day to plant and even that is about as early as it can be this year but we have to wait. Kathy purchased bell peppers, tomatoes, habanero peppers, kale and patio tomatoes to be planted next weekend. I prepared the ground for putting in the seeds we have purchased and this coming weekend we will plant corn, green beans, pickling cucumbers, crooked neck squash and winter squash in the garden. It was so nice this weekend that I wanted to put plants in the ground but I knew I should wait. The weather forecasts are for low temperatures in the 40's and even though that won't kill the plants they won't grow that well either so waiting is hard.
   There is still a lot to do on our little farm and the rabbits which were marked and weighed last weekend were remarked and weighed again this weekend. They have all gained weight, some more than others, and so the time to process them is coming up rather quickly. I have more orders than I can fill which is a good thing and all the does appear to be pregnant again. There is a method for assuring that the does are pregnant which is called palpation. Palpation is somewhat of an art as you are feeling for structures hidden deep or shallow in tissue. I am a certified phlebotomist and am familiar with palpation and in fact I'm really good at it. When I was going through my course in blood drawing my instructor said I was a natural of which he'd only worked with one before me. I worked at the Red Cross and because of this ability to feel veins other people couldn't I became a hard stick specialist, in other words if there was a vein other people couldn't feel I could. Palpating rabbits is a bit different, they're not sitting patiently while you probe them, they bounce all over the place and resist your attempts at feeling for the kits which are the size of an olive at this point. So I do my best, having had no formal instruction on this type of palpation, and I think I feel something so now I wait for the date they are to kindle and waiting is hard.
   I know we have only a few followers of this blog and I really want it to grow. I want more people to see this blog not out of pride but because I want more people to realize that they can do what we are doing. There are other people who have the same amount of land or more or less but I want them to know it's possible to raise your own meat and vegetables on a very little piece of land and have a dream of bigger things. I want other people to know that we don't have to live off of the terrible offerings of factory farms or be beholden to corporate boardroom decisions about how our food is grown. I want people to know we can change how and what we eat in our back yards but waiting is hard.
    So here's a look at what we're doing. Hopefully you'll find that you'll be looking for our next post and you'll find that waiting s hard.

Planning

   I've written about working, living and listening to the rhythms of nature so this blog may seem like a bit of a departure from that sense of living. Planning sounds like a word full of structure and discipline. Planning is what goes on in corporate boardrooms all over the world and it sounds like the thought process that goes into the next huge ad campaign. It has often been said that if you fail to plan then you can plan to fail and while that may be true to some extent if you raise animals or grow vegetables you know that plans change or fail. If you want to do any type of farming you must plan and also plan to change or plan to adapt.
   The coming planting season is almost upon us and we have to plan where things will be planted. I often pull out a tape measure to check the recommended distance between plants and rows. This type of thing has to be done when you only have a tenth of an acre to plant. We are learning to maximize every inch of our land for production and planning and inches matter. I have found the same applies to rabbit breeding, I plan so many litters per doe per year and nature plans something different. I can only make the introduction of the doe to the buck and then nature takes over. Oh I have studied rabbit anatomy and I know how things work, rabbits don't have a real cycle like many other animals. The does are stimulated to ovulate by the act of mating and the eggs descend eight or so hours later so I must breed to doe again to insure to best chance of conception. Yep you guessed it this takes planning especially when you are breeding three or four does in one weekend to one buck but conception is still up to nature. I have orders for rabbits that haven't been kindled yet and so I plan my does breeding cycles and hope nature agrees with my plan. This all falls under planning but guided by nature.
   So in the next few weeks the orders for rabbits will be filled with orders already ahead and so the next litters are spoken for and the planning goes on. The time for planting is coming and this weekend we'll purchase all the plants to go in the ground and the week after that the seeds and transplants will find themselves in our rich soil. All this requires planning but we'll rely on God and nature to make a success of our plans. So most of my posts have been a bit philosophical in nature and I have written about the theory of farming but the next posts you read will be about our experiences as we plant, grow and harvest what we have planned for. I hope to share both in words and pictures our successes and failures and the things we learn along the way. I hope to share new skills learned and perhaps you will learn a bit from us that you can use or perhaps you'll have a chance to laugh at the crazy things we try to do.

Dirty Hands

    Today was a productive day at Late Bloomer Farm. All the winter debris was removed and taken to the local transfer station, the garden plots were tilled, cabbage and brussel sprout plants were planted. The front garden plot was tilled and a small trench was dug to receive the seed potatoes that will grow there for the last time for a few years. I had been thinking about the things I wanted to accomplish today and even took some personal time from work to get it all done. During the week I made a mental list of things to get done while I was working at my regular job. My full time job is in the large commercial tire business, we change tractor trailer, farm equipment and construction equipment tires. I have also spent a number of years in the auto service trade and both involve getting your hands dirty.

    I hate the dirty hands that accompany both those jobs and wear latex gloves to protect my hands from the grime that soils my hands while I perform my job. Many people look down on people with dirty hands as it indicates that you work a menial job and who knows what's under your fingernails! I tend to hate that kind of grime myself, there is something I really dislike about having grease or oil on my skin. The fact that this man made stuff  is contaminating my skin dives me crazy, who knows what these carcinogenic materials are doing to me. 

    Then there is real dirt, not man made but God made, the stuff that the earth is made of and really it's not even dirt. Dirt is devoid of value, the dust created by over use and blasted by chemical fertilizers. Dirt is what our factory farms are creating but soil is something different. Soil is that dark rich smelling stuff that makes plants grow well. Soil is rich with microorganisms, holds water droplets on each little facet, smells sweet when crumbled and makes the plants grown in it thrive. While I was tilling and planting today I looked at the at the soil I've rehabilitated from dirt, it's had garden compost and rabbit manure added to it for a number of years now, and I could finally detect that rich sweet smell coming up from the freshly tilled earth. I looked at my dirty hands and felt proud, my hands were covered with a layer of that rich soil and I didn't feel dirty. I felt instead a deep sense of accomplishment and had no urge to wear some protective hand covering. This was God's soil just as He meant it to be, healthy, vibrant, rich, sweet and able to grow the best of what He has given us to grow and enjoy. I think that given the choice I'd choose hands dirty with God's soil any time.