Rainy Days on the farm

It's been cold and rainy for the past two days and it looks like it will continue to be cold and rainy for at least another 10 days. Seems we have a renegade low pressure system that has isolated itself from the jet stream and is just sitting over southern Michigan and send NW winds and rain down to SW Ohio (okay, all of Ohio).

Because of the nasty weather, instead of preparing for the Saturday farmers market, I ordered chickens and promotional produce banners (I got 7 of 'em with things like Organic, Fresh Produce, Fresh Sweet Corn!, etc., on them) Will put them up along the road to lure customers into buy fresh & local produce. Eugene has been working on the vehicles. He has already tuned up the van and replaced the wheels on the mower and about 15 minutes ago came in for a BCS manual so he must be working on a tiller box or the sickle bar mower attachment

I ordered 50 Cornish rock cross pullets for pastured rock Cornish hens. We pick them up sometime Sunday May 21. Will also do a trip to Jungle Jim's, simply the best grocery store in the Midwest, if not the entire USA. I have great need for good olive oil, good cheese, basmati rice, vanilla powder, maple syrup and a few other items.

It will be nice to have some livestock. Chicks are fun to raise. We will raise them on pasture for 5 to 7 weeks than take them to be butchered and sell the dressed, whole birds to the public. We are in a new place and don't know what the predator problems will be. Hopefully Arlo will make it clear to Nate that chicks are for guarding and not for eating and we will not lose any the first couple of nights they are out in their brooder tractors. once we can get them through the first week we should be alright for the rest of their short lives.

At some point this afternoon I will go up to the market garden and grab a crate of radishes and see about cutting spring mix and perhaps harvesting some cilantro and tarragon. Fortunately I cut the lettuce this past Tuesday and because we had such poor sales on Tuesday I have plenty for tomorrow. That said, I do not expect a great crowd to come out in this cool wet weather. But perhaps I will be surprised and we will do well tomorrow.

While we humans do not always appreciate cool wet weather the spring crops like spinach, lettuce, spring mix, broccoli, onions, peas, etc., love this kind of weather and should respond to a couple of weeks of cool wet weather with high quality, great tasting produce