Triple Creek Farm, June 30, 2012

 

Weather,  one of the things man cannot control.  Without any warning a storm rolled down Interstate 64 in Eastern Virginia, Monday afternoon.  I heard grumbling and rumblings and decided to check the weather and the radar looked as if we may catch the bottom side of a storm.  It was just past Charlottesville and heading east.  I made a quick decision to prepare the flock for a rain storm and secure things about the farm.  By the time I returned to the house it was starting to rain.  The sky was black and the wind had picked up.  I was thankful the flock had been moved for I knew this was going to be a good one.  It rained, no, it actually poured, lots of great northern bean size hail and the wind was strong.  This did past and the sun came out.  Lots of tree damage with limbs on the ground.  Water was running everywhere and our creek was almost out of it's banks.  For our area this was a bad storm.  Richmond took quite a bit of damage and power loss.  The electric company said they were not prepared for this storm and I can understand why, neither was I.

IN THE KITCHEN

Pizza for dinner during the summer, this week I made a spinach pizza and a pesto with fetta pizza.  I have the crusts pre-set in the freezer and the topping can be prepared in just a few minutes.  It makes for a quick late supper and not a lot of cleanup after the meal.  Fresh vegetables are on the menu, string beans with new potatoes straight from the garden.  Had a steak sandwich one evening with a real tomato.  The greenhouse plant is producing small tomatoes and they taste and smell so wonderful.

ON THE FARM

Monday morning the builder was here and progress has been made this week.  The pole barn is starting to look like something.  He was not able to be here all week but he will be back soon and finish this project.  The pasture fence has all of the corner post holes dug.  The gate post holes have been dug, also.  We will be using cedar post cut from the farm.   Friday night, another storm came through and Mr. Bootsie had to cut up a tree that was blown down.  It was across the road to some of the neighbors homes.   This job is almost complete as he saved the trunk for raised bed borders.  They still need to be moved to where we store them.

IN THE COOP

 First time on a roosting pole.

The little peeps have been where they could see my big girls and we have let them go in the chicken run in the afternoons when the big girls are out taking their afternoon stroll.  Everyday, Mr. Bootsie has been saying it is time.  I have been holding back, Monday afternoon,  I said lets give it a try.  When it was time to roost the little ones came back to the part of the coop where they have been spending the night. We carried each one and put it on the roosting pole.  We had a pole no one was using and I knew this would be the safest place.  Tuesday morning, all was well and I think the worst part of blending the flock together is over.  Tuesday afternoon, the day had been quiet and I knew there is no turning back now.  We had to put them on the roosting poles again on Tuesday night.  The largest one of the peeps has had to be helped to the roosting pole every night.

 This week 42 eggs were collected.  For the month of June 194 eggs from 10 girls, one being broody and Aurora started laying in the month of June after having set on eggs and hatched the peeps.


IN THE GARDEN

Monday evening some of the less damaged corn had mulch pulled up on the roots to help hold it upright.  The tops were wrung out of some of the corn and I will leave it just to see what happens.
I spent the entire day in the garden Tuesday checking on things and trying to fix as much as possible.  Some of the tomato cages were pulled out of the ground.  They were the larger 5 foot ones.  Mr. Bootsie and I did "corn first-aide" when he returned from work.  It looks pretty, but I sure do hope this works, this is the bloody butcher corn and I really do not want to loose this.
Some of the new growth on the raspberries was broken.  I cut most of that out on Tuesday and now I think things are back to normal.  Friday night's storm did not do a lot of damage to the garden.  The corn was standing and looking good on Saturday morning.

I have been picking this week:  yellow crook neck squash, raspberries, blackberries, green beans,
cucumbers.  I dug 4 small baskets of potatoes and pulled some onions.  Sun gold tomatoes just do not make it into the house.  They seem to get eaten quickly.

IN CLOSING

We had a storm, which was classified as the mildest of tornados, with some damage but there are a lot of those in our country experiencing great losses.  I as thankful we had very little damage actually next to none.  There are many who have lost their homes this week.  Folks who will be starting over.  I do not know how a farmer can reclaim their land after a fire.  We, so often, only see what is going on in our community.  With all the folks I have met thru Happy Hallow my community have grown.  There are people from all over the world staying in touch with me.  Some thru the blog and some on our Facebook page.  My thoughts are with those in the line of the fires, the floods and any other dangerous situation  some may be in.  Everyone take care of yourself and make good decisions.  May each and everyone be blessed in their own special way.


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