We are also having the water run down to the end of the barn, and tunneling the new frost free spigot into the henhouse so they can easily be watered. Here is the last of today's shots, the floor, mostly done, as Fran and George, the carpenter, are shedding pounds of body weight as sweat in the 80+ degree heat.
More tomorrow as we get closer to moving the hens and (SURPRISE) 25 new additions!
As you can see, all of the stakes are in the ground (a gazillion thanks to Dan Berkshire for finding and getting the stakes, and to Johnathan for delivery), and if you look closely you will see the first lines of tomato twine have been woven in - a Texas Weave - as our so very helpful UK ag extension agent David Hull called it. He came over last Friday to show us all how it should be done. It was really fascinating. The twine comes in a box with just a little twine peeking out one side, and a slit in the other. I had no idea what the slit was for. David had this great method for threading the twine through a tobacco stick ( I just knew there was a 1001 uses for tobacco sticks, other than tobacco), he drilled two holes at each end and pulled the twine through one end then the other. As I was about to ask what he was going to do with that, he started to unbuckle his belt. No modesty in farmers...he had to loosen his belt to slip the box of tomato twine on the belt, that is what that slit was for! He then took the time to show all of us ( I think I have not yet mentioned I have two part time assistants on the farm, Silver and Thomas, thanks to Jonathan Berkshire) how to move along using the tobacco stick and twine, wrapping around the stakes. David finished the first row, and Silver and Thomas took over and finished the field. So, here we are, I sent out the tomato contract today - when the first of the tomatoes are blush (not green, not red), we'll start picking for the processing plant. Here is one of the plants - as you can see, tomatoes on board!
Today I received a "bug alert"! I guess stinkbugs really love tomatoes, and can do some real damage aesthetically, so we need to aggressively start looking out for them. This is where the difference between us, and other farmers becomes glaringly evident. The growers update includes several options for spraying to control the stinkbugs, but none that are organic. I went out to the organic sites, and the best information I could find, was that even synthetic pesticides were not very effective on stinkbugs. The concensus organically was to pick them off into a soap water, or hand vaccumn them off (that seemed a little challenging). The organic sites say Neem oil was not a very effective solution, so I will save that for another day. Instead, I think we will try weed control, and visual evaluation to pick off offenders. By the way, my awesome husband Fran mowed all the fields in the 90 degree heat for me. He's great!.
Way back when, when I lived in Vermont, I liked to hunt wild mushrooms. Doesn't seem to be as many down here in Kentucky, maybe because we have been under a drought for the past few years. But this year, there have been plenty of mushrooms around, and I have these beauties at Horus Hill. They are Reddening Lepiota, one of three Lepiota's which also includes the Shaggy Parasol and Parasol mushrooms. All three are delicious edibles, and will dry nicely for winter use. But a warning... never eat wild mushrooms unless you know what you are doing.
From his rocking chair on the porch, Ash likes to oversee what is going on. He's not really a paws on kinda guy, but he has to be there to give his meow of approval!
And here is Lina checking out FiFi (the cat planter) and another one of our cat statues in the front gardens. So there you have some of our garden cats, those that live and breathe, and those that do not. We love them all.
