The last week or so its been all heat, and no rain. We take the UTV out with the water tank and make sure everything that we established is doing well with the drought. Here in the South its normal to get daily rains, or at least a few a week. So when it does not rain at all for over seven days at a time we have to step in and make sure the plants we are cultivating get their watering needs met.
Looking back at all that has been accomplished in the last few months makes me quite happy. Starting my day in the early morning, and working until the early afternoon has been the strategy to dealing with summers here in the South. I tend to go to bed early and rise as early as possible, beating the sunrise is always the plan but it does not always happen.
Some of the hottest days I plan on working in the tractor or skid steer since they have air conditioning. But some tasks like baling hay requires me to get out a lot so I still get all hot and sweaty. But moving dirt or clearing trees its nice having a climate controlled cab to work in.
Now we are over the peak of the summer heat, I hope it will be more comfortable outside. I hope the winds return, as its been quite still on the hottest and most humid days which is frustrating. The winds we encountered here in the winter and spring were quite intense, but it seems during the summer they all but drop off.
While we are hard at work, many of the plants on the farm as as well. The Malabar Spinach is probably doing the best, and we have already harvested some tasty greens from it for a meal.
Eventhough the beds are mostly bare, now we have the space to grow hundreds of plants all protected from deer with a tall fence surrounding them. This was not the case just a few months ago. We are in the process of starting new seeds for the autumn season grow.
We tend to plan our day based on the recent rains, as many places we are working can get quite muddy. So on wet days we tend to do our work inside the workshop. With much to build for the rest of the farm we spend full days in there building out more garden beds, shelving for the workshop or prepping for the chicken, bee and duck enclosure.
Using different types of raised bed designs, we can place plants best suited for each design. Vining plants prefer support so we place them on the vining raised beds.
Other beds are more general use, our asparagus, comfrey and sweet potatoes are in the beds behind the vining bed with the malabar spinach.
We learned that raised beds have a limit on how tall we can build them, one tipped over while filling it. No one was hurt but it made us realize how top heavy these beds can be when filled with dirt.
In the areas where the ground was sloped more we took a level down on the beds, other spots that was not as bad we left them at five high.
We also have short beds, mostly for taller plants like tomatoes.
The winners this year for seedlings has to be the wildflowers, they are nearly as tall as me now and could probably use a good cutting..lol Rototilling the ground before throwing down the seeds made a huge difference.
We may collect the flowers and make a few bouquets out of them for around the house.
In the mean time the pollinators love them.
I will need to move my batteries and solar panel back as the wild flowers have grown so much. I am really curious to see what comes back on its own next year, along with the seeds dropped this season what they will develop into next year.
Next year we hope to completely fill the green house with seedlings, with my misting system working and all. Luckily we will have awhile me to get that all set up as the winter time will make most things dormant in the green house. Recently I completed the wiring inside the green house for the built in fan, and misting pump. It is all sealed in water resistant boxes. So when it does come time to using the mister the electronics should be well protected. I feel like I move really slow on the green house project, but in the summer it just gets so hot in there, and if I cannot wrap up work in there within the first hour or sunlight working inside becomes brutal.
Luckily I have taken advantage of the cooler mornings when its in the 50's F and work in the green house a few hours getting the solar panel wiring in a more permanent state. I look forward to it being completed, and we are surely getting there for the green house. As they say, you may want to complete ten things on the farm that day, but you only will get seven done at best... lol so one day at a time and the progress we make as we look back is all quite impressive. As we are not even one year into running this place, its all coming along quite well I think.
