On Friday our spring ran dry. We cobbled together a makeshift water system for ourselves and the animals—siphoning out of the pond and trucking tanks of water down from the neighbors—interjecting short-term disaster control with long-term planning. Tuesday and Wednesday we buried 1000 feet of new water line up another 120+ feet in elevation from the original spring house. This second, higher spring is running, but not much more than a trickle, certainly not enough to make me feel safe and secure this dry summer. We need a lot of rain at this point to make up for the lack of snow last winter and the very dry summer season.
Storms Bring Needed Rain
The short bursts of thunder, lightning and showers early in the week and the now gently falling rain have been a huge relief to the plants, helping to moisten the top layers of the soil where the newly seeded and transplanted roots live. If enough rain falls the established plants should make a nice recovery, putting on fresh vegetative growth and new blossoms. Hopefully we will start to see some regrowth in the pastures soon too. We need to make a second cutting of hay to have enough feed for the year. The animals have been moving through progressively poorer pastures. There has been no regrowth over the last couple of months and we’ve been stealing from our winter supply to make up the difference. We still need a lot more rainfall to build up the water table underground for long-term relief, so keep your watery thoughts coming.
Ongoing Construction on the Farm
We have a van-load of folks up this week from Austin, Texas. The barnyard has been abuzz with the sounds of progress. We have one crew working on the bankbarn, taking down concrete forms and rebuilding the cupola, and another group constructing a lean-to. This lean-to stands in place of the fallen barn and utilizes what remain of it’s parts. With wobbly, wavy structures on three sides, it’s been a feat of planning to build something straight and true in the center.
Full and By Farm Shares
In the veggie share: carrots, beet greens with baby beets, head lettuce, cabbage, zucs galore, cucumbers, swiss chard, bunching onions, green beans, basil and white beans. Coming up: summer onion, more tomatoes ripening on the vines and the sweet corn is sizing up.
In the meat share: many cuts of beef and pork, whole and half chickens. Lard, beef broth and chicken organs are all available. We’ll be butchering the beef back quarters next week. Racey is making lemongrass soap today, it will be in the share in a few weeks, after curing.
Sara Kurak
Full and By Farm
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