We’re just finishing the planting after preparing the soil. Preparing the soil is often a two-step process. We chisel-plow to initially break up the soil followed by the cultivator to break the soil into smaller pieces–then we plant the corn and soybeans. Since we have so much land to plant, the corn that was planted earlier in the process has already started to grow—some 2-3” tall already. But no time to rest, it’s time to start applying the herbicide!

The pumpkin patch is now our area of focus. Farmers know that crops need to be rotated because each crop pulls from and/or adds to various nutrients of the soil. By rotating crops, the nutrients are kept somewhat in balance. This year we chose to put the pumpkin patch by the corn maze so visitors can experience both in the same area.

The restoration of my 1950 Chevy flatbed truck is still in process. I just added the wooden sideboards to make sure the loads stay in place. Restoration is a journey rather than a destination, so I don’t expect I’ll ever be “finished” with this project. Good thing I love doing it!

 Corn’s not the only thing growing. It’s spring and that means new life. Karen bought 7 new goats, including 4 kids (babies) to live in the Barnyard Buddies Petting Zoo. The visitors always like the goats and we are excited to see how these new ones will fit in.

School tours have already started and that means we had to clean the barns. No one LIKES doing this chore, but it was easier to stay focused knowing we are introducing many of them to some of the aspects of farm life.

Well, better get back to work before the crew notices I’ve slipped away.

Later, Dave

This entry was posted on Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 9:32 pm and is filed under Bloomsbury Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.