During chores this morning the Pigs were so greedy that when I start pouring the feed into their buckets they move their face into the stream of falling grain and effectively knock 1/2 their feed into the grass rather than their bucket.. Greedy pigs. They also broke the part of the ramp that hooks onto the Egg-Mobile for the chickens, so now we just have it propped up under the trap the door, but the pigs knock it over 5 times a day. In a sense I guess they make up for it by providing a step up for the chickens. Many times I saw chickens hopping on the the pigs back and then into their door.
After breakfast I worked in the garden on rigging some drip tape irrigation for the new beds we have built. I always wondered why everyone doesn't do drip tape irrigation because it is so effective and wastes the least amount of water possible. I found out today the reason not everyone does it, is because it is a lot of work to set up! It would be much easier to just set up a sprinkler, but much less effective, and much more wasteful. When I finished the three beds that we had enough tape for, I moved on to mulching around the plants that Jim had just pruned waaaay back. We got hit with some sort of fungus in our squash, and cucumber patch, but since we are a sustainable organic farm, it meant someone had to go in and hand pick out all the affected leaves by hand, which was Jim. And after that someone, Me, had to go in with mulch that I had screened and carefully spread it around each plant of which there were about 50, and hand rake away all the deadfall and weeds surrounding the plants. Then I had to go back around the mulch, which was to help give a nutrient boost to the stressed plants, and spread straw around and slightly over them to shade them and help with water retention. I'm not sure how long Jim spent pruning, I would hazard a guess at 2-3 hours, and I know I spend a good 4 hours on the whole project on it. I detail out the extensive work it took, not to complain or gain sympathy, but to draw a clear distinction between what makes the food we grow so good, healthy and slightly more expensive, and the food that is commercially produced cheap and unhealthy. They would have dusted that whole area with some sort of fungicide that most likely has detrimental affects on the surrounding environment not to mention the carbon emissions they would have sent out in the process, because you know they aren't in there hand weeding and pruning crops large enough to feed america. Not only that, but a random act of nature like that fungicide set us back a whole work day, which is something that we really can't afford to have happen on a regular basis. This experience has given me so much respect for what farmers have to deal with, and compete against.
During my lunch break I found out there is High Fructose Corn Syrup in the Apple Sauce I have been enjoying so much over the last couple days.. I was bummed out :(
Oh and I saw two good bits of wildlife today, I saw a millipede when I was screening compost and a garter snake while I was picking beans.
After the mulching, weeding, strawing project, I had to harvest some veggies, and the quickly do chores. During chores some Hawks passed over the field of chickens and all the chicks went scurrying under the Egg-Mobile. At least I know they are aware.
My work day has been pushed back and hour due to the Egg-Mobile because we wait for dusk to start corralling the chicken so it is easier to round them up because they are already more inclined to go inside. But because of that it means I finish chores and then have to wait an hour and go round them all up. After I finished rounding them up I played with Asher and the pigs like I was another dog. I got down on all fours and started wrestling with Asher which was soo much fun! I have always wanted a huge dog I could rough house with, but the only dog my family has ever had was a stray schnoodle that found us and was definitely not rough housing material. But Asher could dish it as well as take it! I would charge at him and knock him over with my head against his body and he would be under me gnawing (lightly) on my head and hands, and then I would let him up and he would leap at me and I would run, as best I could on all fours, away from him. We played like that for about 15 minutes! The pigs all circled around us and watch and would scatter to the four winds if our rough housing ever got to close to them, and then they would slowly circle back up. I think they just liked being part of the fun.
Because my work day has been pushed back it means my shower comes even later and during a chillier part of the evening. So the last couple days have started doing little mini work outs right before my showers to get all hot and sweaty so that the cold water feels some what refreshing rather than shockingly cold. Also the work out gets my core temperature up so it can heat back up faster after the shower. I have mainly just been doing pull ups and chin ups because there is a convenient bar right in the shower area. It is more evidence of how beneficial farm work is for me compared to normal working out, because even at the peak of my weight room work outs, I could only ever do 2-3 strict pull ups. But my first time trying here I did about 7 and a half! For some people that is probably easy, but progress is progress and going from 2-3 to 7-8 with out training is good enough for me!
I just realized I haven't been doing pictures in these last couple posts, I'll be sure to take some good ones tomorrow!
My friend Guy comes in a few days! How exciting!
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