Clearly, the place was a pit. I thought the worst part of all was going to be the thick layer of sludge below those piles of leaves, but once I got all the sludge out, I discovered (Trial of the Farmer #1) the real worst part. Ice! The quarter of the farm beneath 18" or so of grass and leaves was still frozen solid!
(See the ice crystals in the middle???)Luckily, the rest of the farm was more than ready to be worked, so I prepped all the rest of it except that one area. Based on some very scientific (read fourth-grade-chemistry-set) experimentation, it looks like the pH of the farm is great--right around 6.5. The macronutrients, on the other hand, are practically nonexistant. The consumers and I knew this, of course, and had planned on adding plenty more compost this time around...
So after about 100 pounds of manure and compost,* plus two wheelbarrows full of fresh compost from the neighbor, Chris, the soil was considerably richer in all of the important ways.(*Note: this makes it seem like Farming in April in Minnesota is No Big Deal. Wrong. Really, we're talking about Trial #2 of the weekend. The longer version of this story is that I pried the compost Saturday off the shelf at the Garden Center, leaving chunks of ice behind, was excited to get started, then opened the bags to realize it was all kind of frozen. So I opened the bags, left them in the sun, and came back to work on this project Sunday. Very frustrating for a farmer who is not as patient as she should be).
Also, in the middle of all of this, the Farm Dog, who looks deceivingly cute in this picture:
managed to sniff out the MiniChuck, which, after a winter of hibernating, is much less Mini and much closer to the size of a cocker spaniel. Fast forward through a flying leap into the farm, tie out ripped from the ground, and a good chase through a couple of backyards, and Maisy eventually gave up on the Chuck. But at one point, she was about six inches away from a mouthful, and then probably an ugly fight. In case you were wondering what a Farm Dog does after such an exciting chase... The answer is sit at attention like this for about 8 hours over two days, staring in the direction of the Chuck sighting. That dog has a one track mind...
And last, but certainly not least... The "after" pictures. Here's the little bit of side farm all cleaned up:
And here's the first 2009 installment of (Mini)Chuck's eye view* from the MiniChuck highway. As usual, you'll have to click on the picture to have a chance at reading the words... You can see in the top left corner of the picture the still-frozen area. That will be prepped later...*No idea what I'm talking about? Here's the first. (Sidenote: Wow! I forgot what Farming actually looks like when it's underway. Even more excited now!)
Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 58F
Yesterday's low: 39F
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