Thursday, June 19, 2014

Keeping Busy...

It's been a busy few weeks here!  What have we been up to?

Well...the kids are off school now, so we've all been adjusting to new schedules.

This week, Jim round baled some hay from an old alfalfa field that he's taking out, and he spent most of the next two days hauling and spreading pazutski before it's replanted with short season corn.

We've enjoyed some beautiful weather...and have had some really hot, humid days as well.  The grass and the garden are growing like weeds! Speaking of weeds...they're growing too!


I found something to kill the potato beetles that were decimating my plants! It's a spray containing Spinosad, and it works tremendously!  I sprayed late afternoon...it even rained in the evening...and by the next morning, dead potato beetles covered the ground!  For those of you who use organic gardening methods, you're in luck...this qualifies!  Now the plants look healthy and are beginning to blossom...


This year, finally, my tomato plants also look healthy.  I've had trouble with early blight every single year, and found a solution (too late) last summer. Once again...it's a spray that is used in organic gardening called Liquid Copper. I began spraying as soon as I planted the seedlings, and so far, so good...


These volunteer sunflowers are surrounding a huge rock that is in the center of my garden.  I'm hoping that some of them are the beautiful burgundy sunflowers that I grew last year from seeds that I received from my blogger friend Kim!



We were at a family picnic last Saturday, and came home to a torn washline. It had been full of towels, but the kids had brought them in for me!

I finally got around to repairing one of the lines yesterday.  It's really simple to fix.  You put in a large eye bolt, thread the wire through these little thingamajigs, tighten everything up, and it's good as new!  Hopefully it will last a bunch of years before it tears again...


The other line will have to wait until next week, when Tractor Supply gets in more of the wire that I like.

These girls are growing, and enjoying spending time in the sunshine...


They're not the youngest any more, as we've had four new calves this week. We're juggling cows around when we milk, trying to get several dried up, and it can make milking time a little hectic.  Hopefully by the middle of next week the extra cows will be "on vacation" at the other farm and we'll be back to our normal barn full, with no extras.

Here's another baby...one of Jolyn's kitties.  He was watching me from behind the gate when I was out in the barn this evening.  He's getting more tame every day.  Wouldn't you like to have him come live with you?


Coming up next week, we'll be looking at combining barley and baling straw. (Update:  barley is coming off today!) We're hoping for good weather!

How's your summer been going?

12 comments:

  1. Your gardens looks so productive. I'm starting to get little buds on my tomato plants.
    Haying is in full swing and they have baled 60 round bales of silage yesterday and today they were haying again like crazy. It looks like a gorgeous stretch of haying weather ahead of us. I'm so thankful for that.

    That kitty looks cute. Barn cats make good mousers. I hope that you can find a home for it.
    Hugs,
    JB

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  2. sweet kitten! wish i could keep a few in the barn. :) your cabbages are going to eat your dog!!

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  3. Another interesting post. Thanks! By the way, I never heard the term "pazutski" before !!

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  4. Oh Alica you have been busy it is that time of year for farmers and you are doing well. Your garden is fantastic. I love your use of technical terms while dealing with that thingamajigs thing:)
    Oh yes and what is pazutski I have never heard of it before either just like Ray. Have a nice weekend. Hug B

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  5. Your gardens are doing wonderfully! Glad you found a friendly, and easy way to take care of some of your garden troubles too. It's always something :)

    Cute critters around your place. They are all growing too, just like your gardens.

    Have a great weekend.

    K.

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  6. It looks great and I am so glad you found something to take care of potato beetles.
    You have been busy. I hope your sunflowers come back. I have some that are dark red this year, one plant. I hope I can save these seeds. I hope parrots don't like them
    Don't you just love Tractor Supply. I love going there.
    Have a lovely weekend.

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  7. It sounds quite busy on your farm. Your garden looks fantastic :)

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  8. Our spring is wet. I love your clothes line. I may have to try that. Mine broke during the October blizzard. Darn thing tangled up in my snowblower. I finally got a new one up, but yours looks like it would last longer.

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  9. Oh, Alica, I'm trying to get caught up reading... and I always love your posts! I wish we could have a little kitten here... we will have to wait until Lilly has passed on.

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  10. good tip for the potato bugs - I passed that along to two farmer friends who were complaining about the bugs this year. We don't grow potatoes in our limited space, but they said it's a bad year for potato bugs!

    my washlines are full of towels and sheets today - they better not break :)

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  11. Everything looks so good! I really wish I had a garden this year.

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  12. Cat's and beautiful cows and a really nice place. Could it be better?... :)
    Thank you for showing it.

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I enjoy hearing what you have to say! Thanks for your comments!