Rehoboth Homestead

Planted 400 feet of garlic yesterday afternoon, and another 200 feet today. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous - low 50s and sunny. Today was cloudy but very enjoyable. Tomorrow is supposed to be rain and snow, so this is a relief. Now the folks at the Harvest Market who keep asking for garlic will get some this week. I kept telling them that after I had planted the garlic, they would get what I didn’t plant.

I also dug the last of the sweet potatoes and the regular potatoes. It has been cold enough that I don’t expect the sweet potatoes to store well, but we will gladly eat them quickly. The regular potatoes, Satinas, look good. Hopefully the huge ones won’t have hollow heart. Frequently when they are as big as these are they do. It is OK to eat, but customers are disappointed when the cut into this huge potato and it is empty in the center.

Here’s what is still in the field for harvest: cabbage, brussels sprouted, broccoli, raab, collards, lacinato kale, Ripbor kale, Red Russian kale, Swiss chard, arugula, salad turnips, radishes, salad mix, leeks, spinach, carrots, beets, and more. All but the first three are under row cover.

I should have nice plants in the hoophouse, but was very late getting compost in. I have some chard and pac choi in there, and will transplant more chard, kale, and spinach from the field. And plant arugula and winter salad mix. I left a row of Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, but they are ready to come out. The tomatoes are falling on the ground, I suspect from either less watering or from the temperatures. Dried Sun Golds are incredibly good, so I picked up what I could off the soil today and will dry them.

I was walking outside the fence, near the compost pile, by a patch of thistle (yes we have weeds around). I saw what I thought was a dead chicken - just half of the back showing in the thistle patch. Oh no! But when I worked my way in and spread the thistles apart, there was one of our young Americana pullets, resolutely setting on a huge clutch of eggs.

This photo was taken after I pushed aside a bunch of the vegetation so she isn’t hidden now. She was the first one of this year’s Americanas to start laying, by a long shot. And this was a good, safe spot in amongst the thistles.

I picked her up and there were 20, count them, 20, eggs. Not only that, but there were chicks developing in them. This is not the time of year I want to be having babies running around.Many times I have found an egg on the ground in an odd spot, or a small clutch of eggs, and didn’t sell them because I was afraid they would not be good. Never have I cracked an egg open and had blood spots and developing embryo. So, I packed a dozen of these up and took them to market - they were so cute. I did warn the person who bought them that I hadn’t checked them and gave them the story about them. Later, I went to use the rest, and,    uh oh!  The customer did not come back the next week and complain, but I was prepared to give them two dozen free for that mistake.

Anyway, she is inside the fence now and laying her eggs in the nest box. At least I know she is a good layer.

I can’t believe how much I love this golf cart. I first heard of farmers using golf carts when visiting another farm. I came home saying how neat it was, and inexpensive, but my DH trounced the idea saying it wouldn’t be powerful enough. Then he went to hunting camp and one of his friends had a souped up golf cart. He decided we should have one, but I trounced the idea since it would no longer be inexpensive.

Well, we have friends who just retired and are moving, and Tony came home from helping them with this golf cart. What is so wonderful, you ask?????

First, it is almost silent. And when you take your foot off the pedal, it is off. No motor idling while you do something “quickly”.

Second, it is really easy to get in and out of from both sides.

Third, it REALLY saves time and energy. I am still walking up and down the hill if I don’t have heavy things to carry or am in a real hurry, but this goes a lot faster than I walk. The first few years I was pulling a hand cart loaded with veggies up the hill. Sometimes it took two of us to pull it up when it was loaded with tomatoes. I finally gave in and started driving the Subaru up and down (or around via the road). We also have an old pickup truck, but I hate its fumes. So, I can load the back of this up and come up to wash and pack. Note there is a trailer hitch, so when I have a light weight trailer I can be more efficient. But I can fit 6 milk crates in the back, plus two up front.

I plant as much as I can fairly close together, rows 12 to 18 inches apart. But some things are planted 4 feet apart. And at this time of year there are bare areas. Sooooooo, with this I can drive right along the tomato row and put tomatoes right into crates in the back. Or fill a crate and put it right in, rather than carrying it to the end of the row. Ditto for zucchini and squash, potatoes, and other heavy things.

Fourth, it has headlights. The evening I found we had our first frost warning, I drove it along the winter squash rows looking for squash that would not be sheltered from a light frost. I used a flashlight also, but the headlights were great, and of course helped for not running over plants and for getting back up the hill to the house.

Fifth, Tony will actually do more chores if he can ride the golf cart.

I’m sure we can come up with more reasons, but after using it a couple of weeks, we love it. I have mentioned before that I realize what a different life we lead by the things that please me so much. This is another one of those things.

Winter stayed on a long time, and it seems to have returned today and yesterday, but once the snow finally melted, field work has begun. I got these broccoli (left and right) and lettuce (center) plants in the field Saturday and Sunday afternoon, before the rains. The little vertical “sticks” at the top are onion plants. I also got some seeds planted - chard, carrots, beets, peas, etc. When we have the opportunity to get field work done, and especially when a stop to field work looms, we have to get it done. I missed the Champlain Valley Beekeepers Association meeting Saturday and the North Country Co-op Annual Meeting Sunday to get these planted before the rains. I ran out of Vermont Compost that I use for potting mix so had to stop potting tomato plants into larger pots, and couldn’t plant more seeds, until I got more potting mix. Mark Kimball (Essex Farms) had some he could spare so I spent this morning picking and rinsing two big 30-gallon bags of spinach from the hoophouse to take down for their CSA distribution, and spent a couple hours shoveling compost into feed bags in the back of my car. The stuff is heavy, I could back right up to it, and I decided it was easier to put the empty bag in the car and fill it there than to fill it on the ground and heft it in. It is really helpful to have friendly farmers around (they are 24 miles away though) to share, advise, commiserate, etc.

Now I have something to show folks so will start promoting the CSA in earnest. Here is a sample of what is started. Clockwise from lower left on the right bench: lettuce, pac choi, lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, swiss chard, more lettuces, Chinese cabbage, broccoli and leeks. From the leeks going up the middle are spinach and more lettuces.

I weeded the carrots that are in the hoophouse today, and planted out some cold hardy flower plants. Started potting up some of the younger tomato plants that are slated for bedding plant sales. I need to get stuff planted out to make more bench space for younger plants. Things are growing very well.

The overwintered spinach is still tender and incredibly good. I have a small plot of young salad mix that is at perfect size, and the older stuff is much loved by the hens, ducks, goslings, and chicks. I have to anchor the plants down for the young ones so they can pull off pieces, but for the adults I dump the plants into the duck pool or on the ground. If I have a blue rubbermaid in my hands I get mobbed by expectant hens, whether it is empty or full. They are fun.

This is the week of babies. One of our Cuckoo Maran hens has been sitting on a clutch of eggs and most are hatched. We will get Americauna chicks Friday. And today our goslings arrived, from California no less.

I have been interested in geese because they appear to be a great sustainable meat source. After they are about a month old, they primarily eat green stuff. They don’t need lots of commercial feed. I can conceivably grow enough wheat (or buy Essex organic wheat) and soybeans, and roast the soybeans in the oven, for feed for goslings and overwintering. The only downside is that they take a couple of years to mature before they lay fertile eggs. We have started these early enough this year that maybe they will lay next year, but we can’t count on it.

We got two types of geese, both of which are on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy’s critical list: Pilgrim Geese and American Buff Geese. Both have nice dispositions (at least for geese), which was important since we have a neighbor who is afraid of geese. And they are both pretty quiet. Both breeds are American in origin, from the 1930s and 1940s.

The babes are soft, sweet, and make wonderful sounds. They devoured a couple good-sized chunks of dirt with grass and weeds today.

For those who wonder how we get chicks/ducklings/goslings shipped to us, fortunately both the biology and the logistics work well. First for the biology: Just before baby birds hatch they absorb the yolk and white into their bodies. They can live off this for several days. In nature, not only may it take a day for them to dry and get their legs enough to go out scratching for food, but the first to hatch have to wait a day or two for their nest mates to all hatch. So, the goslings hatched Sunday night/Monday morning and were taken to the USPS airport facility. They flew across country, then boarded post office trucks and arrived at the Peru Post Office about 5 a.m. Wednesday morning. We received a call at 7 a.m. telling us they were here, and Tony went over and got them. All are healthy. No one was starving or dying of thirst, though by midmorning they had all figured out what water and chick starter are. And when I took them some chunks of sod and dirt, and later some lettuce from the hoophouse, they instinctively new what to do.

Here is a size comparison of a fairly large breed chicken chick and a gosling, both hatched Sunday/Monday:

We had the field tile drained last fall, to the tune of about $5400 for 3 acres. I had dreamed of having it done, but didn’t think the contractor would bother with our little field. Well, last November a large dairy farm that leases land up the road had them in and, since they were so close and had extra tile (actually 4″ perforated plastic pipe laid about 4 feet deep), they came down and did it. It was the end of November, in between snows. Where they put the tile in there were relatively tall ridges left but it was too wet to do anything about them and I hoped they would settle over the winter. They didn’t. This year, once the snow melted, we could have worked the field within two days. Except for the northwest corner which has some surface water coming into it. In the past it would have taken weeks for the field to dry enough to work. We are fortunate to have someone about 4 miles away who has a large tractor, 5-bottom plow, and disks. Dairy farmers are too busy to do this stuff for others. They came Friday and worked it. It is not as level as I would like, but that will take a couple of years. Here is what it looked like before and after: It took them awhile because that surface runoff I mentioned goes down the border on the north. I warned about it but I guess it didn’t look bad from the tractor cab. Sometimes it just takes some extra “oomph” for a tractor to make it out, but ur old 40 HP tractor wasn’t enough so they had to go get their backhoe. I haven’t gotten the bill yet, but they were here probably 4 hours. I dread the bill, but they can do such a better job in so much less time with their larger equipment than we can with our little 2 bottom plow and 6 foot disk.

I realize how “different” my life is by what I get excited about or really REALLY appreciate. For instance, today we hooked the water up to the garage. Hmmmm???

We got an old stainless steel sink with drainboards a couple of years ago. Tony mounted it on the wall of the garage for me to rinse eggs in. Before that, I rinsed and dried them in the kitchen, had a scale on the countertop for sizing, egg cartons around, etc. With the new garage setup, all that moved out of the kitchen. WONDERFUL.

Clean eggs come in and get weighed and packed (cartons for various sizes to the left of the scale and sink). Rinsed eggs air dry on the drainboard to the right of the sink. Boxes of cartons, sorted by size/type are within reach below, and some are on shelves above also. In summer the shelves have cut flower supplies also. But, the water lines run along the outside wall, so when the temps start getting down into the teens, we shut the water off and drain the lines, and it is back to the kitchen. At least in the winter I only have about half as many hens and eggs as in the summer (currently running 10 dozen/day).

For years I have wanted an Allis Chalmers G tractor. Why? Mostly because the driver’s seat is relatively close to the ground and I feel safe. These tractors were designed for cultivating and are common in old vegetable producing regions. They are not common here, so I settled for the Farmall Cub. But not only am I up high on a bumpy side-hilly drive down to the field, but the Cub implements weigh a ton and are a real pain to change. Other benefits of the G are the engine is in the back so the driver has a clear view of what he is doing when cultivating, and most of the implements mount between the front wheels and the seat, again so the driver can see just what he is doing when cultivating to kill weeds.

The desire for a G increased exponentially a couple of years ago when I found out folks were converting the Gs to run on electric batteries - no fumes or noise (though I enjoy a nice putt-putt from old engines). After asking around (I know of one G around here), I finally found two in one week. I got a suggested price range for a working (sound engine) G from someone and put in a bid on Ebay, out of curiosity to see how high it would really go. It was in Lockport. I really wanted one without an engine and had asked on a couple of antique tractor sites if anyone had one. Someone near Buffalo replied they had one they would sell for $1000. I said I’d take it. The next day I won the Ebay G. So, from famine to feast. So, now I have one that works, with taller than normal tires which adds clearance so I can cultivate slightly taller plants, and one to convert to electric.

Tony drove out Thursday and picked them up. Borrowed a friend’s trailer for one, and put the other in the back of the pickup. Drove back without a rear window in the truck.

I don’t know what I’ll do long term with the one whose engine runs so well. Seems a shame to dismantle a really well running engine. Maybe I’ll find someone who has one without an engine, and just take off the front rack and trade the rear tires.

It is, but in weather like this I understand some of why livestock industries have gone to confinement housing. I did the last egg gathering and afternoon feeding at 3 p.m., latched the doors, and am done for the day. That may not sound earth-shattering, but it is a relief. In good weather, when everyone can be out, I can’t shut the doors until after dark. Some hens and the ducks like to stay out as long as they possibly can. It isn’t that big a chore, but it is something that nags in your mind that you have to do. To know that chores are over for the day is a really nice feeling.

In this weather the animals don’t mind staying in. The ducks came out a little yesterday morning, but stayed in all afternoon of their own accord. I left them closed in today, and with the sun shining through the plastic south wall, it was much warmer in there than outside. The hen house has a long south glass wall and heat from the shop, so they were toasty inside also. I took them some entertainment - soft sweet potatoes, hard tortillas, and other leftovers. When I filled the rabbit waterers (we have 3 Angora rabbits in the henhouse), I went ahead and put some water on their food, which sent them into ecstasy. You can’t let the food set and mold, but they do love to have their food wet. If the salad actually thaws tomorrow, I’ll thin it out and give them fresh greens. And it is supposed to get above freezing for about a week starting Saturday, so they will be out again getting their own greens. Tony snowblows paths for them and they love to dig the grass out and eat it. One nice thing about all this snow is that the grass underneath is in good eating condition for them.

The weather is actually quite gorgeous. The sky is usually really clear when it is really cold. Today’s high was 6 degrees F. For about half the morning there was a line of grey, but pretty, clouds over the lake, that obscured the sun. By 10 it was bright. The hoophouse did not thaw until afternoon, and the row cover was starting to freeze at 3 when I recovered the salad. The neighbor across the road had their white pines harvested this fall, but nicely left a few along the road. Those are to the west so OK. Unfortunately, they did not harvest the trees to our southwest, so the hoophouse is shaded by 2 p.m. at this time of year.