“It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”
Thomas Jefferson
May jobs including plantings, stumping, job applications, brewing, and other farm activities. A friend loaned us two bee hives, cousins visited, and we enjoyed relaxed restrictions as vaccinated members of society. Brendan purchased a plasma cutter and welder for the farm, and the old 1949 Chevy farm truck got some overdue TLC.
The month started dry and cold and ended dry, hot, and humid. In a stroke of lucky genius, we brought the water line from the greenhouse 165 feet up to the Tobacco barn on April 29th. As a result we had water for the new garden and baby plants. Unfortunately, the newly sowed grass and hardwoods struggled as we teetered on the edge of drought conditions.
We brewed a couple of 10 gallon batches – a Session IPA in the style of Founder’s All-Day IPA and a summer Witbeer ‘Gaarden Hoe.’ Having brewed 30 gal at the farm, we’re entering the next generation of All-Grain brewing: Broad Axe Brewing 2.0. We expanded Broad Axe brewing to include a new fermenter, 15 gal kettle, brew sculpture, and kegerator.
In the garden, we laid out a permaculture area by the vegetable garden around the peach trees that were planted in March. We moved last year’s bare root blueberries from Willis Orchards to their new spot and tentatively laid out space for blackberries and grapes. We have hopeful plans to add hops and blackberries later this year.
We planted 10 little hop bines at the beginning of the month in two buckets and by the middle of the month they sprouted and were ready to climb. Using the auger, we dug 3 post holes and will be moving them to a new home south of the garden.
We stumped an additional 2 1/2 acres for the future paddock. The stumps will wait until we have access to a track loader later this summer. The areas cleared last year are planted in Crimson Clover and oats. The Crimson Clover bloomed in early May and a friend brought over two bee hives to enjoy the feast.
The bloom finished by mid-May and we sprayed the clover for green manure. The following day we rented the Piedmont Soil and Water District’s grain drill and drilled this area and the oats with sunflowers. If successful, it will loosen the soil for the fall’s pasture mix and make an excellent feast for wildlife.
Three Golden Comets joined the Glendale flock, pushing the number of young chickens to nine. We deposited a heaping wheelbarrow of leaves into the coop and are starting the use the deep litter method. As the chickens scratch and poop, we’ll add additional leaves and ‘brown’ to balance their green manure. By the time it accumulates to 10-12 inches deep, we’ll have a lovely compost for next year’s garden. As of the end of the month, the comets had started to lay. Hurrah for fresh eggs!
The dry weather has been good for the apples which have not suffered as badly from blight as last year. Farm happening to be continued…
