Mid-Summer Re-Cap

So like most farms and farmers the summer is the busiest time and doing updates is sometimes put very low on the priority list. So here is my mid-summer update about everything that is going on at the farm

Garden

This year has been a total surprise! The ground I put the garden on was not the best to say the least and I had very little hope of it being productive at all. Add in the fact that I have never had any luck with grow my own starts I figured that this year would just be a mulligan. Turns out I was wrong on all accounts. First the indoor start did great! So good I gave half of them away and have accelerated my plans for expanding the garden for next year.

Also On a fun side-note I was able to get access to some neat tech. I have a FLIR camera on loan that I can use to see the heat and the effects of the sun on my garden. There is a lot of art and science that goes with reading these images but my hope is that I can use them to better plan my garden. But at the very least the tech is fun to use and makes for some awesome pictures.

Chickens

There was a close call with one of the birds but as of today all 8 birds are doing great! Still no eggs but if my calculations are correct they should start laying in the next week or two. I have come to an agreement with the people around me that if the chicken smell gets too much they come to me first to deal with it before going to the authorities. It will only cost me a dozen eggs every now and then.

  Brewing

Sadly this has become very challenging. Not the practice of brewing but finding the supplies. There really isn't any local sources and ordering online is time consuming and tedious. Not much I can do about this except stock up on supplies when I go to the "big" cities. (the joys of living in rural areas). On a positive note this weekend we are going berry picking so I might have enough left over berries to brew up some fruit wine and beer.

Family Fun!

"All work and no play..." I don't remember the rest of the quote but I do know that this summer has had an even mix of both. My two older daughters are in baseball and my Wife and I have been drafted as coach we are having fun but it really takes up a lot of our free and farm time. But for the smiles we get it makes it all worth while!

  

We have also taken to making a tree house for the kids on the island. This has been a very slow process because we are having trouble transporting lumber to the island. A few years back a forester friend of mine suggested that I set up a lumber mill on the island property. I didn't put much merit in

the idea at first but after this I'm going to take a much closer look and see if I can make it happen. (Side Note this photo is not up to date! We do have supports and subfloor installed but I forgot to get a picture will update when I can)


I think that is everything so far this summer that has been going on. I hope things will calm down so I can do more updates but I know that's a silly hope. So I wouldn't expect another update until the end of summer.

(Of course end of summer involves harvest, hunting, and canning so.... yeah... WINTER UPDATE???)