Welcome Filet to the farm

Life on the farm always has bumps and bruises....quite a few lately, but we are starting to see the results of the bruises healing and the changes taking affect. Slowly we are catching up, but the lack of large tomato plants and sprouting broccoli and broccoli raab hit a sore point today, but the good news is I do have some sprouting broccoli and in the new field it is responding beautifully to the chicken compost and the weather. New starts are started and the Fall crop of sprouting broccoli and raab is looking very promising. We will have the opportunity to see how long tomatoes last in the new greenhouse this year, and with the help of Paul maybe we will even do a little hand pollinating if the results are good. Calendula is popping up beautifully in the herb garden....not just beautiful but nice to have around in case of a medicinal emergency. The field on the west side of the greenhouse is almost completed with watermelon, eggplant and cantalope. We already decided to add eight or ten 50 foot long beds in front of the house for the allium family next year...onions, garlic, shallots and leeks and the potato family. We are already missing our leeks and potatoes that we left out of the equation this year due to limited resources, and are looking forward to adding them back in next year. Filet was added this week too...our first beef project. She is a beautiful Angus heifer brought in from the hills of Cherry Valley, and she is not very happy right now, but seems to be settling in fast. Once we have numbers and feel comfortable we will pick up some more calves for our customers this Fall. The greens are really taking off now, which makes me realize that our ground temps were no where where we thought they were....the long winter, not severe, but consistent really did a number on the ground temps and we are just seeing what we normally see by the beginning of May. Big day tomorrow...coop and market...Moonstruck signing off.