My back is sore, my arms are tired. The planting continues. The giant pumpkins went into the ground yesterday, and we are excited to see them start their growing process. We have never grown giant pumpkins, and look forward to it. Thanks to Tom for the seeds. I met him while at Johnny’s Seeds, and he sent me all sorts of information on growing giant pumpkins. He has grown them for years, and was so generous in helping us get started.

We had hoped to open last weekend, but were busy building the chicken coop.
Today was our first day open, and it was fabulous. We were much busier than we expected to be. Our local customers are looking forward to all our new produce choices. For a full list of what we are growing this year please visit our farm stand site. There you can also see what we are picking. Visit www.cloverleaffarmstand.com for more information.

Today, the chickens went into their new home in the barn. Years ago, the barn was actually a summer theater, and had a bathroom in the back. The bathroom was long ago defunct, and we knew it would make a great coop for the chickens. We put down a new floor, added some shavings, and put up their nesting boxes. They were a little afraid at first, but after being in there for a bit, they started to wander and discover their new home.

Aruacana chickens lay colored eggs. The eggs are typically smaller than normal eggs, but just as delicious. We bought 4 little day old chicks today, and are looking forward to the day they start laying.

Richard Simmons has his workout, and we have ours. Working in the fields is no small task, and it does help build the muscles…especially arm muscles.
We built our chicken coop on Sunday, and we now have to get the pen up. While the chickens will be free range, we have to ensure they don’t eat the growing veggies in the garden.
Life here on the farm is tiring…but wonderful.

Today, the Adirondack Red, Adirondack Blue, and Yukon gold potatoes went into the ground. We planted 20 pounds. We also have sweet potates that will be delivered  at the end of the month.

The chickens are now a little over two weeks old. I can’t believe how big they are getting already. We now have 16. We will be getting some more in a week or so. You can almost watch them grow over night. It is fun just to watch them. They look up at you with this little sideways glance, and you have to wonder what they are thinking.

We decided at the end of last season that we needed more, and bigger gardens. We want to sell a variety of heirloom veggies, and what we are calling “funky produce”. (more…)

We started some planting today. So far we got the sugar peas, mustard greens, and 3 different kinds of lettuce in the ground. Making the furrows is the hardest part of the job. The next hardest is deciding where to put it all. We have so much more this year to plant.  We still have to plow out 2 more fields to get the rest of the seeds, and seedling planted.
The chicks are getting bigger all the time.  I can’t believe how much they have grown in just a weeks time. Three more weeks,  and they will be outside in their coop. The coop which we have to build. We will also build them a pen to keep out predators. We have drawn up plans for both coop and pen, and just have to make the time to get it done.
So many projects…so little time.