peas, please

today was momentous, indeed. tim, devin, creek and i put the first seeds of the season into the ground: sugar ann snap peas.

i'm headed out to Vernon, NJ for the holiday weekend. check back on monday. have a great weekend, all.

"12 hour days... in April?!?"

- words from devin's mouth as we climbed into the truck to head home this evening.
what a day! at about 730 this morning, devin came up from the basement, shirt covered in chicken feed, brow furrowed, shaking is head.

d: we're moving the girls
me: today?
d: now!

the 2 hours that followed were too intense to stop and photograph, but i'll do my best to sum it up. it seems the roosters, one rooster in particular, had pecked his final peck in the basement of 61A New Hamburg Rd., eagerly attacking the feed tray, sending feed everywhere.
we grabbed the two huge animal carriers we are borrowing from our neighbor, slugged them downstairs, and started grabbin' hens, roosters, and hay. once they were all in, tim loaded them into his truck and headed for the farm. devin + i stayed back to clean out the stinkyness that is a month and a half of chicken life in a basement... blech!

now that the ladies (plus a few unruley fellas) are on the farm, the need for a coop is evident. they are currently in a 'teenage' coop; safe from the elements and adjusting to fresh air, bugs, grass, sunshine, snow (it snowed today!), etc.

yesterday's disassembly energy was quickly converted to assembly energy. my archie brain and limited carpentry skills sure are coming in handy. who would have thought that converting to the world of farming would allow me my desired 'design-build' time?!

when the wheelbarrow saw horse didn't quite 'cut' it for the work i had to do today, i simply turned one over, loaded it up, headed to the room with the vice, and saws-all'ed away!

and that heating system we worked on yesterday... the system that has been tim's headache for months... still in the works. t + d are sleeping at the farm tonight, keeping watch over the thermometer to make sure those pepper + tomato babies stay warm. oiy veh.

brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

today i tried a couple different ways to stay warm despite all 35 of the degrees that arrived on the backs of 10-20mph wind gusts out of the WNW:

finish the rock edge for the perennial garden (from pile to style)


dismantle the manure spreader/trailer
"i (un)made this!"

though rewarding, these tasks did not 'warm' me up... fingers frozen, cheeks pink, i decided to go to the source. i finished my day helping tim rig up the vent ducting for the little green house's heating system.
hopefully it works... we need to ensure the warmth and safety of the precious, germinating baby tomatoes and peppers.


soooooo that's where warmth comes from!

bugs

the northeast got some RAIN today!

it was off and on at the farm (mostly on) so i broke out the full-suit rain gear and boots to work on the chicken coop and the rock edge around the perennial garden. i'll show you chicken coop pictures in a few more days. until then, check out these guys:



carpenter ants!
doing their job to contribute to the deconstruction of our manure-spreader-cum-chicken-coop.

weekend wrap-up

okay, okay. there was no post friday, i know. but let's be honest, you all went out and had fun friday night, right?! you weren't glued to your computer, refreshing the little lambsie, anxiously awaiting a post... and neither was i. ;o)

i went (somewhat unintentionally) on a 20 mile bike ride today... explored the area, soaked up the sunshine, and snapped a few photos. i'm puttin' them here for your veiwing pleasure (and to get back into good graces for the lacking of friday's post.)

check out this bowling alley! i love the signage and the building...



speaking of signage on a great building (let's not forget that there is an archie inside of this farmer's blog...). how about this great little number sitting about a mile or so from the end of my ride, overlooking the Hudson. green trim, stone construction, architect and farmer approved (the sign says so!)

all i need is water, light, and a bluebird bus

yesterday's post was a bit silly. not that i'm trying to take myself too seriously... but let's get down to business here, eh? this morning started out foggy and the greenhouse was muggy and warm.

but look! there is all kinds of great stuff going on: onions, kale, cauliflower; tons of little guys are poking up through their germination cells seeking yummy light and water.
and speaking of yummy, check out the lettuce flourishing in the back corner! almost time to get it outside and into the ground...

the bus tim + devin just bought for the mobile market (more on that later) came with instructions on how to safely cross the street.

it did not, however, come with instrctions on how to safely rip out all of the seats...
we figured that one out ourselves. (note tim + i are safely outside while devin is inside wrestling the seat loose)

after a full day of meetings with green teens - an organization exposing kids + young adults to information about nutrition, food, and much more (www.greenteen.org), bus-seat wrestling (despite the photo, tim + i were helping), tomato seed planting, and a range of weather from fog to sunshiiiiiiine; the guys + i hiked part of the way up mt. beacon to see the sunset over the hudson river.

april's fools

fools indeed.