This is a series I started last month to keep track of the progress on the farm. Every month, I will show our progress on the farm. let's get right into it!
Month 1 HERE
Time!!!!
Don't you fee that time is going faster lately? I don't know if it's because I spend a good amount of time outside, especially during the day, but I really feel sometimes that I am running after my days.
One solution I have found yesterday, is to go to sleep at 8pm and wake up at 1am, to have 5 extra hours of work! It allows me to record, write my posts for hive, do my workout and still find the time during the day to do all the farm work and take care of the kids.
This picture was taken one morning, when I was trying to make time lapses for Tiktok. I might do an entire post about Tiktok very soon to show its madness. I only use it as a tool to showase my work.
You see, I make time lapses, and use my music in the background.
Anyway, let's get back to the subject of our post! It's the second edition of "This Month On the Farm" and I cannot believe that my post was already a month ago.
We were of course getting ready for the arrival of the dogs, which has been a bit delayed due to 2 consecutives lockdown in Spain and France, long story short we are still waiting for the company we are using to get back to us about that, we are of course staying as patient as we can in that situation.
In the meantime, I am getting the fence ready, the chicken are getting accustomed to their new environment and are rapidly getting weight, there were more planting, some blooming, also aphids, and an egg hunt ^^.
When our new feathery friends arrived, they were pretty much panicked, and now in hindsight, a little bit underfed. I cannot imagine the stress that they went through, and they were preparing themselves for a certain death. Little did they know that we would have them chilling in a Chicken 5 star hotel.
The rooster did not sing the first week, he was actually very shy, and kind of cute, sounding more like a moaning chicken, and a little bit sad. We decided to give them so space, let them used to us, we are very loud, our kids too, and that eventually they will approach us on their own terms, which they did. More on this later...
After double fencing the surrounding of the chicken coop, I wanted to transplant some of last month's sprouts. Because it's still freezing at times, I don't feel comfortable planting them yet, so they will be transplanted in bigger pots, waiting the last freezing days to pass.
While writing this today, we still had temperature below 0 at night, that is of course to be avoided at all cost!
New seeds
I also sowed some brand new seeds received from Holland. Red Cabbages, Tomatoes and strawberries. We will see how efficient they are. I recently learnt that the moon can affect your seedlings. Always better to sow on a "descending moon".
garlic transplanted to bigger pot
After spending most of the first week inside their coop, the chickens eventually adventured themselves outside, hunting for worms in the grass, and very quickly became my best buddies, especially when I am holding the bag of corn π.
Every morning, the rooster start his vocalizes around 6am, and I have to admit that he becomes more and more confident in his abilities, I am thrilled that he adapted this quickly to its new environment.
Lettuce
And cabbages
Very little tomatoes for now
Berries
When we arrived last year, it was right in the middle of summer, and most of the berries were gone, probably eaten or even fell on the ground. I was ecstatic when noticing early signs of nature regenerating itself so early, and these pictures are already 2-3 weeks old, it's amazing how quickly the entire flora came back to life so suddenly...
Vines
I've been cutting these vines for nearly a month, I do it bit by bit, and I still have other trees with the same issue to take care of. Honestly I don't have enough time during the day to spend 2 hours on 1 tree, so I do 20 minutes daily and this fig tree is almost free of vines now.
I managed to catch @lionmom in action, during a short break. She hasn't been able to do much farm work with her current work, but I know that lawnmowing is almost an exercise of meditation, it does feel good to cut that grass. The same way as having a haircut (I mean I dunno I have long hair now).
Right now, the flowers have been already replaced by the green and brown foliage, and we can still hear the bees buzzing all around us when sitting on a chair around the table. It's such a nice spot to work, I know my wife had few meetings here, I also love the trees surrounding the table, in circle.
I've started planting posts all around the house, to make a fence. At first, It will probably not be the fence of the century, but what matters is that it's closed, and that the dogs get used to their new surroundings. They will also need to mark their territory, we can always widen the fence at a later stage.
These posts are vine posts (vignes), that a neighbour offered us (and we gladly accepted), with a hammer you can get it deep enough π, the fence won't move. We don't need to burn the ends of the post,
as it's oak tree and won't rot.
Watermelon seeds
I finally had my watermelons seeds showing their faces, I got a little bit worried as they only sprouted after a week, and they are currently looking strong. I am just waiting for the last few days of frost, to plant them into the ground, I already cleared a spot for them.
Cherry Tree
This tree has an effect on me, I tried to explain it in a previous post, probably in a confusing way. I said at the time, that it was the type of tree where you "wanna be buried", and by this I mean that it's a beautiful spot to spent eternity
It's obviously looking even better when blooming, imagine the amount of cherries this guy (or girl?) will produce!!
Chickens Feeling relaxed
Now, the homies aren't even worried about the kids, and are getting strong, healthy, and growing. We haven't had our first egg yet, but I can tell that Angela and Noodle are wanting to. Tomorrow, I might clean their coop, and think of a better way to give them as much privacy as they need.
Angela even used the perching stick we set up, that eventually fell off π
I want to have a ladder, we will probably make on soon.
Egg Hunt
We did a little treasure hunt with the kids for Easter, nothing fancy ^^. Our son Neo was very involved, it was his idea in the first place to organize a hunt, come to think of it, he was the one that found all the eggs also...
In my most recent post, I was talking about my ongoing battle with the mighty aphids, and that I am quite used to them, and know how to deal with them, to a certain extent. @amberyooper advised to use neem oil in the comments, thanks buddy!
It also explained why the growth of the beans felt somehow slowed down lately, I am pretty sure these aphids are at least 34,99% responsible for the stunt. Only time will tell, if I managed to control the progression. I might go nuclear and get some ladybugs larvae.
I am forgetting tons of things that I wanted to talk about, but it's quite late now, so I am gonna leave you with that sunset time lapse I did on Tiktok, it's a nice break from the constant madness, they can have a little moment of clarity with a nice sunset, and then go back to whatever weird corner of the internet they came from!
Have a beautiful day, that's what happened on the farm this month!
Cheeers!
Ed
They say that if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it, and you sure are busy. Everything looks great. In reading through the comments and I saw that Neem oil was suggested for the aphids. I use it exclusively for controlling all sorts of pests and it works great.
When you live as full of a life as you do, time does seem to fly by, even more so as we get older.
We also had an Easter egg hunt and we allowed out youngest granddaughter to get a head start otherwise she would have been left in the dust by her brother and sister.
I wonder how long it will be before the chickens start laying their eggs, they look like they are already a couple months old.
It's going to be a big day when your dogs finally arrive, good thing you are a patient man.
Cutting those vines from the trees looks like it has not been done in a while. With them out of the way, I would imagine that the trees will thrive.
With the weekend coming up, try and get yourself some sleep, will you. Never mind, f--k that, there will be plenty of time to sleep when they throw dirt on your face..
I am ordering some right away sir! They are back, but I hindered their garnison.
The date changed to the 7th of May, fingers crossed. In the meantime we just keep on working, the fence will be some makeshift shit, but it doesn't matter. It will work for now... So damn happy it feels like a dream come true.
We arrived last year in July, I could have started doing it earlier really. My second problem is around the base of the fig tree, there's overgown grass that I can't cut with the mower because there were stones places all around the fig tree as decoration.
I set a tarp on the grass for months to kill the grass without damaging anything else. Now I am gonna pull the grass by hand.
I am almost done with that tree, 5 more to go!
I did! I slept until 8 this morning, not even on purpose. I was KO hahaha
You've taken on a big job! And there's "tons" more that you did and couldn't remember? I'm just trying to keep my sanity, tending for an 8 ft by 12 ft patch. I can not imagine.
Great post!
Heeey!
Thanks so much for your nice comment! Yep, you know times fly so fast, and there's so much you can talk about in one article without boring people out haha.
The way you started your seedlings already, they look much better than mine. You are doing a great job!!!
This post made me smile wide. Thank you for sharing. I found your post through the curation of Lotus.
Your chickens have definitely put on some nice weight and are looking super healthy. So glad your rooster is growing in confidence too.
With regards to aphids, gee they can seriously damage your plants. Ants also carry them around to different plants as they suck off the sugary nectar they produce, it's a weird symbiosis, but can get out of hand very fast (especially with seedlings coming up you want to tackle them as quickly as possible), neem oil definitely does help, I use it on aphids, white fly and even Australian bug. If they get worse, then there is another organic insecticide you can use called Pyrol. Lady bugs will definitely help, but they won't kill off the population of aphids, just keep it down to a manageable level.
Your kiddos look super happy and they are learning so much from you! Real skills that last a lifetime.
I'm looking forward to your next update and well done for being curated too. Have a great day πΈ
That's the type of comment that are so valuable.
Yeah, aphids are always be fascinating to me, ants also cultivate mushrooms, did you know that?
I will have a look into pyrol, if it's available in the area. Well, after your comment, I will work extra hard on these aphids.
As I was saying in the post, I think I found the reason why I got so many aphids in such a short amount of time. Long story short, I was a bit jealous seeing all the neighbours beans growing so fast (knowing they are using a local variety whereas I chose a Dutch strain), so I boosted the plants with a Nitrogen mix (organic).
Nitrogen tends to attract more aphids as the sap is extra sweet now, so I am not surprised the ants got a feast out of it.
That was such a great convo, I will check out your blog and thanks to Lotus of course!
Hi Edprivat
You are most welcome. I do remember learning about the underground fungus chambers that some ants cultivate, I find it fascinating. To be honest I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with ants. I know they are extremely valuable in the ecosystem for a variety of ecological services but sometimes they behave like such little sh*ts. We have some interesting ones here in the little Karoo, this one is rather large (about 2cm) and they are called Karoo Balbyters - the English translation Karoo Ball Biters, so yeah, they have a reputation hahaha.
Have a great weekend :)
OOOh fascinating, are they the army ants? A bit larger than the average and moving in group of 5 or 6? I imagine why they called ball biters hahaha
I love that name: five-star hotel for chickens!! How nice to read your progress on the farm, also, I swear the pictures are movie-like, wonderful. I am pleased to know that the chickens are now more comfortable and are more nourished and stronger, thank you for saving these lives, it is so valuable. π This post is wonderful, thank you for sharing it in our community!
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Hey @danielapevs thanks for the wonderful comment! They are definitely are having a better time with us, we are lucky to have them, and I really enjoy the rooster singing ^^.
There is still some work to do in the coop, but it's a good start! Much Love!!
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That's so dope thanks to @minismallholding for the curation and the work π€
Omg you sleep for 5 hours???? I love you have more time, but how can you run on so little sleep?
Lol, those dear chickens. They are looking a little sad in that first photo! How funny are roosters finding their crow? Very teenagery - kinda bleurgkiajkewewgaah. It always seems a shock for them! I just got rid of 3 roosters to a Croatian guy with 150 Isa Browns. I think they are now living their best life - hellllllloooo ladies!
Funny you plant garlic in pots then transplant. Is that because of a short growing season? We just whack em in and six months later have garlic ... no snow here though.
I feel you on that garlic tree. The kinda tree that makes your heart a bit gooey?
Your whole landscape is making me gooey. Spring in the northern hemisphere is just sublime. This time last year I was enjoying it in England.
Loved every delicious minute of this post. I was right there with you, with the light moving across the field. Thanks ever so much.
The first few days are the worst and then you kinda get used to it, I wake up even before the alarm. Trying to go to bed at 8pm and wake up at 1am was a good experience but not to do everyday as it fucks up the circadian rhythm.
Yep totally, they were super stressed out the first day, and so skinny. It made me wonder about all the others, that we didn't purchase... The lighter one, Angela, she is still very shy and the others are still protecting her. At night, they all gather around her to warm her up. I don't know if it's a normal behaviour.
These Isa Browns look just like a chicken is supposed to look like. My bare necks look...Differents...
Oh the garlic was just for fun, I think it started sprouting on its own and I just planted it. Right now, the pots option for a lot of sowing was because of the frost coming back up until the end of April. I was planning on sowing corns straight to the ground
You mean cherry tree? I wouldn't mind a garlic tree though π
Since we are back in France, it's really the first year that I can really enjoy spring. Where are you currently based?
Thanks for passing by again!
Β‘QuΓ© hermosa publicaciΓ³n! Realmente me encanta la frescura con la que escribe y detalla cada acciΓ³n. Me he paseado por su granja con su narraciΓ³n. Β‘Para usted, salud!
Β‘Muchas gracias por tu amable comentario!
Your farm is very beautiful and I see that your children are learning from it too. I hope you keep posting about the growth of your plants @edprivat
A cracker of a post!! So much detail and time taken to write it. It's cool to see how the farm life is going for you.
This got me thinking. My take is that the perceived notion of time going faster is a function of our time spent living on the planet.
The older we get the faster it seems to go, but that makes sense as each passing year is a smaller fraction of our overall life.
Take a child of 5 years old, 1 year is one full fifth (20%) of their life and experience, whereas to a 20 year old it is just 5%. At the age of 50, it is only 2%. You get the idea....
So in a sense time does go faster, as time is relative to your own age in a sense...
I never thought of it this way, and it makes sense! I also thought that it's linked to the expansion of the universe... But your explanation is so simple yet making lots of sense buddy!
What a breathtaking piece of land you have. I bet is very rewarding and a fun place for your kids to grow up.
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Hey @justinparke thanks, it was a true conscious decision to find a little corner of paradise for ourselves, and we will keep it for as long as we can! Once you taste true freedom, it's hard to go back to the city. Thanks for passing by!
In an extremely rare instance, in fact it's rarer than rare, I never heard such a thing until I read this post about dude needing more chickens cuz he got a
tik toktick on his balls. Yes, you read that properly.Ya'all got a tick problem over there talk?
The part about tik tok tool was funny.
Will check it first thing in the morning, I been up for 24 hours straight ahahaha why am I laughing....
Remind me to tell you my tick balls story. Night.
I'm not sure I should do this or not but here's your reminder.
I don't think we have tick problem. We might, I feel itchy all of a sudden...
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STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Que belleza tener tener una granja, todo ese espacio para sembrar y Pasar la tarde
gracias β€ es un poco abrumador, no sΓ© si puedo hacerlo por mi cuenta jajaja gracias de nuevo