The Harvest begins......

We have been planting and weeding in between rain showers and downpours and it's paying off no matter how much the mosquito's try to discourage us. We do get a couple of hours of sunshine most days and so we try to complete little projects before the heavens open up again. Yesterday morning was foggy and cool. I thought it would be a good time to do some weeding and transplanting. The broccoli was definitely ready to be harvested and the tomatoes needed to be staked. We had just two hours before a nasty storm blew in. We sat on the farmer's porch and watched the rain and lightening make it's way up the valley until the lightening got too close for comfort and I came in the house. Guess I'm a chicken : it was incredibly loud! It was a spectacular light show for a few minutes.

I discovered last night at chore time that that light show blew up my electric fence charger. The company informed me today when I called them that I can purchase a lightening arrestor for $10 to prevent that from happening. Wish I had know that before hand. I had a small charger as a spare that I'm using for backup. That big charger isn't going to be cheap to replace. I'm hoping it's repairable

Our first broccoli harvest

The storm didn't last long thankfully and we had another lovely rainbow. Once the storm passed my Mom and I put 50 quarts of broccoli in the freezer. I am always so encouraged when I can start harvesting and filling my freezers and pantry. I'm one of those "worrier" types and I relax a little more each time I "put something up". I planted 40 broccoli plants. They will keep producing side shoots for quite some time that we will eat fresh.

I've had good luck with bush beans but my pole beans didn't germinate well so we will replant tomorrow. One variety of corn did well and the other did not germinate at all. I still have time for it to produce so will try again with that as well. Will plant a few more rows of Swiss chard, spinach, mescalin mix, beets, radishes and carrots. We have a very short growing season here but thankfully the things that need a long season are doing well.

The rain has also been great for the grass. Our spring lambs are growing nicely. Below are a few photos of our Shetland lambs.

Tylerfarm's Robin -2008 Shetland ewe lamb

Tylerfarm's Towhee - 2008 Shetland ram lamb

Tylerfarm's Woody - 2008 Shetland Ram lamb

They aren't exactly thrilled to have me follow them around with the camera. They want to eat! Hard to believe most of them are over two months old. They will start going to their new homes next week. I'll be sad to see them go but it's part of the process for us. They go to wonderful homes and I couldn't be happier about that.

Lambs, piglets, veggies & sheep

Thank you to all of you who stop by to visit our blog.............it's been a busier than ever spring on the farm and updates have been slow in coming. I think of so many things to share during the day but by the time evening rolls around, I don't seem to get here......I'm sure you all know how that is :) Some of the things that are keeping us busy around here:

Lamb's : 20 so far

Towhee - chocolate shetland ram lamb

Shetland and Finn's

Lambs!

Robin & Quail

Shetland ewe & ram

Chickadee, Pipit & Jay
(shetland/finn triplets)

We have such fun watching the lamb races in the evening when the ewes are having their dinner. The lambs all gather in one corner, someone says "ready, set, Go!" and the race is on. They leap, jump, twist, and simply enjoy life. You can't possibly feel down in the dumps living in an environment like this. :0)

Piglets are coming! We raise pigs each year. Normally only 6 but this year we are raising 8 - 7 for other people and one for our family. The concern about where food is coming from is certainly growing in our area and so the demand for fresh meat grows. I think they are adorable when they are little. Not so when they get big. I have a healthy fear of huge pigs and I do not get in that pig pen anymore than I absolutely have to. They are normally all friendly because we make of them when they are piglets but I still do not trust them. I love pork so I don't mind raising them. I'm always relieved though when it's time to take them to the butcher.

Jake & Penelope

We have started planting the gardens. I love to get in the dirt and was surprised at how warm the soil is after all the rain we've had. We put in 40 broccoli plants and 24 cabbage plants the other day. We are waiting on sweet potato plants and will plant greens and radishes tomorrow, time permitting. Our seed order from Gurneys should arrive any day. It's like Christmas for me when that box arrives!

We are shearing sheep and trying to get them all done before we get into the gardens full time. I think there are about 20 or so left out of 40. I did 6 this morning. If I could do that every morning, we'd be done quickly but some days my back complains loudly and I don't shear any. All in good time :0)