Birdsfoot Farm

Hello ,
it is garlic festival time!  Next weekend , July 22/23 we will harvest all our 12,000 garlic plants and hang them.  Please come and join us for a fun weekend.  We need help to get it all harvested and peeled. 


So much happened the past two weeks.  Carol had her calf Felix who is running at high speeds through the pasture and tries to nurse while we are milking.  So we put a halter on him to tie him up next to Carol while we are milking and he is fine. 

The other good news is that we have  newborn Birdsfooter!  Phoebe was born Monday July 10th in Burlington.  She was full term, but very small and had a rough first week.  We were all with her in mind and sending our love and she made it so far and seems stabilized.  Kate and Christoff are happy and will be staying with her in Burlington for a month or so.


The crops are slowly growing.  The potatoes are flowering which means they are starting to set tubers.  We mulched all the tomatoes and put up a caterpillar tunnel to give them extra warmth.  50 degree nights are just not doing it. Beans are flowering and setting fruit to harvest in a couple of weeks.  We caught fife woodchucks so far.  I put a life trap by the beans and they have not eaten any since then.  May be they are getting the message?


And who would have thought that we ever have to restrict Birdsfooters from eating zucchini!  Rob came to the gardens on his cook night and said:" The people are demanding fresh veggies!"  So we counted the zucchinis in the field on the plants and when we had enough for the CSA (leaving them to grow another day) he got to harvest fife for us.  We added some peas for the stir fry and he was pleased.  Appreciate those early zucchinis.  The second row that was replanted three times is coming on.


I just planted the last beans tonight and have to get more Mixed Greens in tomorrow.  Then it is weeding time.  So many weeds to catch up to.  If any of you would like a few hours in the gardens and you can not make it to the garlic festival this weekend you could join us in the afternoons for a round of weeding and good conversation.

So far, hope to see you next weekend!
Dulli

Dear friends,
it has been very busy couple of weeks here.  Yesterday I found out that the chipmunks found the by now 1ft tall and almost flowering cucumber plants in the high-tunnel and chewed down about 20 of them.  They don't eat them or pull up the roots, just leave the dried up plants.  We spent a day two weeks ago fencing in the high-tunnel with chicken wire to keep the wood chucks from eating the head lettuce.  And we had peace from them in the tunnel.  They still eating down about half of the peas, while the other half made it to a height they don't seem to bother.  They are flowering and forming peas. 
My plan is to put hot pepper sauce water (Steve made a mean hot sauce out of the habanero peppers in the fall) on the lower cucumber stems to spice them up and a fence around the peas.   Usually you would put a fence in the middle of the pea rows for them to climb up on. 
In the meantime we have our very own Birdsfooter Len Mackey catching three wood chucks so far.  There are many more out there foraging on cilantro, parsnips and beans.  Cilantro is covered and beans need covering.  The challenge is on! 
This week we are working hard on getting the last fall carrots, beets and potatoes planted.  It requires hours of hoeing with fork like hoes through the fields to get the quack grass out.  We break u the hard work with weeding and mulching.  We have the following potato varieties planted:  Our favorite creamy Carola and Daisy Gold, Red Maria for reds, Burbank Russet for russets and Rose Finn and Ana Rosa for fingerlings.  It is fun to be with such beauties and varieties.  I had planted buck wheat as a cover crop in the spring and mowed strips of it down to plant potatoes into it.  We will mow the rest when it is done flowering.

Carol the cow had her calf last Friday!  We had just come back from a one day/night total rain out adventure seeing our son Seba play at t a music festival in Vermont where we spent Thursday evening/ night dancing and camping on top of a mountain in raging rain and wind.  We got home ready to take Kira out to dinner when we found the cow in labor.  Three hours later "Felix" was born.  The ultrasound (yes, they ave ultra sound for cows)  had said 90% girl, but Felix is a boy.  Carol is very happy to have cow company again.  On Saturday she went down with milk fewer and we had to have the vet out and give her Calcium IV.  She got 6' long and 1" wide torpedo shape calcium pills for the last three days to keep her going and today is her first day on her own, no medicine.  We check her every two hours or so to make sure she is well.  Felix is bouncing around and likes to be scratched under the chin. 
This is all for now , a days work and workers are waiting.  We welcome two new workers for the month : Colin and Tyler from North Carolina.  Colin is going to horticulture school and does his internship with us.
peace, Dulli