After the melt survey

Just had the family get together yesterday.  All went well except for poor Katherine not being able to attend due to a bad cold.

Anyway, weather has turned warm after a snowy and cold time last week.  Since Friday, temps have gone up to above 40F and 4 inches of snow melted off.  Strong thunderstorms and heavy rains have helped melt the snow and drench the place.  I snuck out between rain showers this morning to survey the farm.  Here are some pictures:

This is the front garden.  The radishes are still alive!  Amazing!

The big patch.  Radishes are in rough shape where I need them the most!  Oh well. 

Notice the erosion?  This is the big patch, just above the clay region.

More of the clay region in the big patch.  The erosion is more apparent here.

The bad region is very apparent in this picture of the big patch.

The 'pond'.  It's actually the old horse drinking hole.  It's finally got some water in it.

Just below the drinking hole.  Still not up to "stream" status.

Pawpaw patch.  Plenty of water here!

This is the lower end of the pawpaw patch.  Seems to be right over an underground stream.

The upper portion of the pawpaw patch.

The front patch, with the pawpaw patch in the background.

Front patch.  Notice the brussel sprout? (I think its a sprout - some kind of brassica).

Movie of the 'elderberry' stream.  It was dried up for past couple of months!

Here is a movie of the underground streams that form near the pawpaw patch and the apple orchard.

The walipini hole.  Holds water surprisingly well!

Farm status

Drove up to farm early(ish) this morning.  Got here around 10:15am.  Forgot to bring the pumpkin that I processed last night.  Mowed around the paw-paw patch (the paw-paws themselves didn't need it).  Also mowed around the persimmons - was able to mow a lot of the brush area because its been so dry.  I am tempted to run the tiller over some of that area to smooth it out and maybe add some dirt so it doesn't get so wet.

Anyway, I surveyed the place - the radishes are up!  Here are some pics:

I went to Kellers and got some fuel and a sandwich.  Also stopped at HT Market and got some candy and apples.  After we got home (Smokey is with me) I ate the sandwich and WAY too much candy.  Napped for a while then went out to work on clearing around the red-barn.  While over there I noticed that the rose hips are ripe:

Maybe I will pick some tomorrow.  I worked on clearing the trees i knocked down last week.  I got the chainsaw chain into the dirt a couple times so thats going to need sharpening.  I dragged off a bunch of the trees and brambles near the big field - maybe I will burn those some day.  Didn't finish.  Still pretty tired.  I want to pick the cabbage and start another run of sauerkraut before I leave this weekend.  I am thinking of sending Seth a text message asking when we can arrange shipping my backhoe.  I really have lots of ideas of using it!  Just tonight I was thinking that the grounds around the red barn need to be smoothed and re-graded. Also, the bridge i waned to cross the streams is possible now!  I think I have enough long logs for the spans and with a backhoe I can put in posts much more effectively. 

cover crop research

I was reading about taproot radishes (or sodbuster radishes, etc) and Nitrogen fixing crops like rye of alfalfa.  Some companies sell seed mixes so you only have to sow once.  Here are some inks:

Hancock Seed Company

Not very informative, but I think they sell seed! : Seed Ranch

Urban farmer

Sustain Seeds (specifically check out their Hardpan drill mix!

and Cover Crop Solutions (I think they are related to Sustain somehow)