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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

AN UPDATE

I haven't posted in a while about the fieldwork that's been ongoing about the farm. Here's a quick update as I steal a few minutes on the Internet at lunchtime:

- The oats appear to be growing. They are green at this point and above the soil not more than a few inches. Tom drove the horses and a spring-tine weeder through them last Thursday in order to get rid of some undesirables. (See first two pictures below.) There hasn't been decent rain in a few weeks, which isn't helpful to the oats, but so far they still seem happy.

- Meanwhile, one of the next fields we've been preparing to plant will be feed corn. We've all done some plowing, and then on Saturday Rob hooked up a big roller to the oxen and crushed clods. (See third picture.)

- Potato planting is scheduled for this coming Saturday in last year's cornfield, which is way out on the far side of the farm. I haven't seen what's going on out there in the last few days, but I understand there's been some tractor assistance in order to help get it ready.

- Growth also continues among a field of spelt that was planted before I got here and so far have nothing to do with. My one contribution is that I drove a tractor over the corner edge of the field just because it seemed like the right thing to do.





















4 comments:

Dani said...

How do you prevent the draft horses from stepping on the baby oat plants?

Anonymous said...

Only one of these answers is true:

1. The horses are really, really, well trained.

2. We give the horses really, really, tiny shoes.

3. The horses do step on the oats, but it doesn't hurt the plants much.

Dani said...

I pick...... 3!

Anonymous said...

I pick #2 because I like shoes. Dani's question sounds like it's the start of a joke.

When is farm phase over and we can get together?