Kiwis

Yes.  I want to grow kiwis.  Determined.  Last year, a magical thing happened that showed me it was possible.  Some little visitors to the farm were playing in the apple tree, and beside it were the kiwis I had planted 17 years ago.  The female kiwis were fine, vigorous, aggressive even.  Over the years, the male kiwis I planted all died.  Were they overwhelmed by the females?  Finally, in 2010, one male survived and he flowered — but not at the same time as the female.  Remind you of anyone?

In the late summer of 2011 the kiwis had flowered, formed fruit, but then the fruit disappeared.  Or so I thought.  Our little visitors migrated from the apple tree to this magical hideout underneath the huge canopy of the kiwi.  Under the foliage they had their own little world where no-one could see them.

We called them in to eat supper, and the littlest little person, Maceo, had found a few kiwis.  His older sisters let us know he had a treasure.  We ate them, and it is not an exaggeration to say they were phenomenally delicious!  They tasted like the kiwis you can buy at the store, but you didn’t have to peel them!!!  Yay!

This spring, I pruned back the massive female plant, made space for the tentative male plant, and I have faith that these vines will bear fruit.  They already have little flower nubbies.

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Chicks and Beets

This morning we weeded the beet greens in the hoop house.  This was the third, and hopefully final weeding before harvest.  I tried to weed it all by myself, but it was just too discouraging.  Can you pick out the beets in this photo? So I asked for help from David and Bruce.  We did it in a short time while working and talking together.  Phew!  I was impressed with David’s particularly speedy and effective weeding technique.  He’s the weedermator.  Check out his hands in the photo.Earlier when I was doing chores in the barn, I noticed the two hens with chicks were sharing child care duties very effectively.  It is so beautiful!  While one is keeping chicks warm underneath her, the other hen was taking the other chicks around to show them how they could scratch and get food.  The chicks were happily running back and forth between the two mothers depending on what they needed.  I don’t think any of them could tell which chick started with which mom.

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Hatching

The white hen sitting on 9 eggs hatched out 8 cute little fluffy chicks today!  She immediately took them outside for a look around.  She encouraged them to eat and look for bugs.  I gave them yoghurt and boiled eggs which they loved.  

Here is a question I’ve wondered a lot about.  What is the best strategy for reproducing our chickens and geese?  We could let the mothers brood the eggs and raise the young.  We could collect the eggs and incubate them in the incubator, then raise them ourselves.  Or we could buy day-old chicks.  And finally we could buy ready-to-lay 6-month-old hens or adult geese.  I will do a blog post with a comparison soon.

I love seeing the hens raise their chicks, and on May 15 the goslings will likely hatch so I’ll see the goose raise her goslings.  I can’t wait!

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Ginger in the North

Today the first shoots of the ginger plants started to poke through the soil in the glass greenhouse.  I can barely contain my excitement!  We bought certified organic seed ginger from Hawaii, and I set it up on trays in the house to ‘pre sprout’.  On April 4, the ginger pieces were placed in a mix of peat and sand and covered.  I watered them, and waited.  

About two weeks later, we discovered a bit of a mould problem.  We weren’t keeping the house warm enough.  We promptly moved them to the glass greenhouse, set the trays on a ‘heat bed’, covered them with old sheets, and waited.  In the morning, they were at about 60 F, and in the day they were at 80 F.  Today, May 8, I could see the sprouts starting.  No sign of mould.  Phew!  We will let them sprout and leaf out, and then transplant them into a hoop house to let them grow in a nice protected environment.  Last year, we grew a small quantity of ginger as an experiment, and it worked very well.  Fresh ginger smells amazing, tastes great, and you don’t have to peel it!  I even used the shoots in tea.

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Planting seeds

Planting seeds is a miraculous thing.  It is an act of faith to put a dry, lifeless seed in the soil and expect it to spring to life.  Spring is so full of unexpected life and promise.  I am completely surprised that peas, planted March 23 have come up and look great.  In fact, they look very hardy and able to withstand stress.  They’ve been through cold, dry, windy weather — and there they are, a testament to life-force.  

The seedlings in the greenhouse, on the other hand, are comfort-bunnies.  We have to cover them when they are cold, tuck them in at night, and water them regularly.  Seeding plants in the greenhouse is more comfortable for human beings at this time of year.  When the seedlings are big enough, and the weather is settled enough, these plants will be moved to a covered hoop house or right out into the field.

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A few of our favourite things

Compost is definitely one of my favourite things.  Dark, rich, chocolate cake kind of compost.  It is so satisfying to use in the garden and it smells so good.

Phil and Bruce put up a two rows of fence posts today.  They used the tractor to bang them into the ground, which was nice and soft from the recent rain.  The posts are hemlock, which is quite rot-resistant, and black spruce.  Bruce peeled them all by hand.  They look and smell fantastic, but we’re excited about getting the fence up around the vegetable area, and completing the pasture area.  Vegetables on one side, dry dairy cows and young stock on the other.  That’s the plan, anyway.  We struggled a lot with the fencing choice, because we want to restrict chickens, sheep, and cattle.  In the end we settled on (of all things) black plastic deer fence with one strand of electric wire on the cattle side.  It was less expensive and more effective than page wire or chicken wire.  And, in my opinion, very aesthetically pleasing.

Finally, here is a little character who is usually not on my list of favourite things.  But I ran into him (her?) on my walk after supper in that lovely slanted sun at the end of the day, that makes God’s whole creation very appealing.  Even little creatures that chew our crops.  Unfortunately, I don’t think our new fence will keep them out.

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Farm News

Here are a few photos to share from the farm…

Some people follow sports teams, I follow greens!  The overwintered kale is fantastic this spring.  Sweet and tender. Arugula will be next with its nutty, softly bitter, and slightly spicy taste.  Arugula is very good for the liver and helps improve digestion.  We had a feed of stinging nettle three days ago and I’ve been feeling energetic ever since. :)

Overwintered kale on right, and arugula on left

Mama goose, Spot, has been sitting on her eggs for 4 days now.  Only ~26 more days to go.  She will not leave that nest!  I think there are 15 eggs under there.  You go girl!  Meanwhile Papa goose, Big, is protecting his gal and her nest with everything he’s got.  I can’t get near her.  I took the photo through a hole in the barn floor upstairs.  You can tell she knows I’m spying on her.  I think it is all very romantic to have such an earnest new family in the making.  

It is quite different from the chicken scene around here.  A hen will try to find a private spot to lay and then sit on her eggs.  When they hatch, she’s on her own.  Sometimes several get broody at the same time, and the farm yard is filled with single moms with clutches of little chicks to fend for.  The rooster doesn’t seem to want to help out at all.  One white hen went broody in the chicken coop so I made her a nice home in the brooder coop behind the barn.  I gently placed her on a nest of 9 eggs, hoping she’d settle in.  Sometimes they don’t ‘take’ if conditions aren’t right.  This one got on the eggs, fluffed her feathers, and made all the right noises.  Only 21 days to go before hatching if all goes well.

None of the ewes have lambed yet.  They are still free to roam the farm, but we’ll be setting up their fencing very soon.  Hopefully before they discover garden goodies!

People are signing up for the Produce Packs.  See the Produce Pack page tab for more details.  We believe the Halifax pick-up location will be Victoria Park (bordered by South Park, University, and Spring Garden) and the Lower Sackville location will be on Sackville Drive near exit 2.  We will announce details very soon.

Tomato plants enjoying the sun

 

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