April saw a lot of excitement on the farm: new baby ducks, the first steps toward creating a garden space and the return of the birds that give our farm its name. We had some trials, as well but mostly April has been a month of greening up and watching things come to life around us.
May ~1, 2014:
On April first, our duckhen Sugarplum hatched out 14 ducklings! 13 survived to the end of the month and they’re growing like adorable weeds. My husband built them a creep feeder so they can get fryer ration without the chickens eating it and we can’t wait to enjoy some farm grown duck meat in another month or so. We’ll be reserving at least one hen from this hatch, most likely and will try and sell a few or trade for laying hens. We just love the muscovies and can’t wait to have a larger flock, including some other types of ducks as well.
My studio view is changing: we put in 35 posts in anticipation of fencing in a 75×150 foot garden space, including a multi-use shed. I am SO.EXCITED. though this year won’t see a ton of utilization as we prep beds for next year and basically just test the waters. We still have a lot of planning and building to do – including the fence, a watering system and some serious soil conditioning. We did get one crop in: a cool tower of potatoes that i’ll be blogging about as it grows to harvest time.
I also had some fun with making hay with my scythe in the small ‘pasture’ lot next to our driveway. I’m all about old timey goodness, and the rabbits are loving the hay!
We had one sad loss this month, too: our Guinea cock bit the dust: literally. His demise came in the form of an early morning logging truck. His lady was so depressed after his passing that we sold her to someone with a small flock of guineas that she could take solace in. We miss our cute little friends with their silly antics and hope to get guineas again someday, but not until we have a better fence along the road.
What’s up in May? My goal is to get the fence around the garden finished and gated so that i can plant a bunch of veggies around the end of May. If i was a better gardener i’d be starting seeds indoors. But i’m not. 😉 We have another duck sitting, so June will bring the arrival of more adorable ducklings. Lots of weeding of hedgerows and scalped garden areas will be filling our days for the next foreseeable future and it’s almost time to start Summerizing the rabbit barn with fans, misters and frozen tiles. It’s always busy around here which is mostly how we like it.
