2013 Garlic Crop is in

My garlic popping station

During my week of vacation from my day off-farm job, we planted next year's garlic crop.  We doubled the amount that we planted last year:  ~4800 to ~10,000.  That is 22 100 ft beds; each bed has 3 rows.  It's a lot of garlic!  And of course it rained almost all week but we planted anyway - thankful for rain gear! 

a bit hard to see, but the wooden stakes are the variety markers

The new addition to the house is moving along.

And the barn cats are doing nicely.  They are great companions while working.

Oscar on top of the straw bales

House Update

The house construction is moving along.  The basement and crawl space walls have been repaired, tuck pointed and/or re-poured and all have been sprayed with structural foam.  The basement floor has also been repoured - after Bill and some helpers dug down an additional 10" in the basement and hauled it up and out.  Tomorrow brings a crew of carpenters to help Bill pull off the old roof, reframe and prepare for the new roof.  This week also brings the excavator to dig the foundation for the addition (a/k/a the new house where we will live) - we hope the foundation will be poured early next week.

 The gray is the exterior foam which is structural.  The yellow are interior foundation walls which only need insulating

Interior shot.  The space where the ladder is going down will be the commercial kitchen (at grade) and a basement underneath

Labor Day found us seeding cover crops.  Bill cultivated with the tractor on Fields 1, 2, 4, 9 and 11.  I followed behind with the hand seeder.  1 and 2 got white clover while 4, 9, and 11 got a mixture of peas, oats, vetch, winter rye, and crimson clover; which will be tilled in next spring.  Fields 1 and 2 will be replanted with garlic in - yikes - 6 weeks.

The drought has claimed a fair number of our orchard trees, planted this spring.  We anticipate a 50% survival rate.

The barn cats are settling in nicely. 

All 4 sleeping

(Left to right:  Sylvia, Mr. White, Oscar, Thomas)



Feline Update

Well.... I'm hopeful that this was a good decision.

Cathy was able to catch 3 of the 4 cats. She drove them up on Saturday morning - uneventfully. We released them in the barn and, understandably, they were fairly freaked out. They ran into the old milkhouse (small room attached to the barn) and hid behind a wooden pallet. We left them there as they clearly needed to adjust. We filled up the food and water bowls and left them.

Bill & I went back to check on them yesterday. At first I couldn't find any of them. I was sad and deeply disappointed. Bill came in and saw some little kitty eyes watching us from the top of the hay bales. I felt better. I couldn't tell which one it was - either L'il Gray or Tiger. Bill went to the upper part of the barn to work on our trailer (another story - he broke off part of the hitch last time we were there so he needed to replace that). He called from up top - that there was a cat in the upper portion. I walked out to go up to where he was and she was already out the door and was running across the hill - I think it was Tiger. She saw me and turned and hightailed it up the hill. I let her go because I didn't want to push her further away.

No other cats were apparent. I went for a walk around the farm. I returned via an upper pasture and noticed a strange squirrel nest in the top of one of the trees. I could have sworn it was a cat! It was so high up that I couldn't tell. I went to the car and got our binoculars - and sure enough - it was a cat! It was Tiger waaaaay up in the tree. I walked quickly away because again, I don't want to add her to scared-state.

We were there 1.5 hours. Tiger stayed in the tree and I didn't see any of the others. Bill thinks that L'il Gray and Morris were in the haybales. I hope so. Morris is supposedly the most friendly - so I was pretty disappointed to not see him. I hope he is still in the barn or in the area. I am fearful that he took off to try to find his way home.

I emailed my friend that keeps her horses at the barn this morning. She said she would email/call or text me this week to let me know the status of things.

Cathy hopes to catch the 4th cat and I am going to drive her up this weekend. Cathy said she is crying and very lonely without her littermates.

I sincerely hope that this hasn't all been a terrible mistake. I am doubting myself.

Project Feline Relocate - Part I

A co-worker (Cathy) and I have hatched a plan. She has 4 stray cat littermates that live on her front porch in Chicago. They have been outdoor cats their whole lives. Last summer she tried to find homes or a shelter to take them - unsuccessfully. She trapped and had them all neutered (1 male, 3 females). Her neighbors are becoming more vocal about their dislike of these "strays."

They are now adults. Still living in her neighborhood and hanging on her front porch. We are going to relocate them to the farm/barn this weekend. They are not feral - although two are a bit skittish. She is going to grab them on Saturday morning and transport them up to Wisc and we will release them in the barn. Our friends that board their four horses at the farm have agreed to feed the new transports regularly. Hopefully they will help cut down on the mouse infestation that we currently have in the barn.

I'll post this weekend with an update on how it goes.

And, see Barb's blog for great cow info today.