Fresh dirt

I broke down and ordered some composted manure and hay. After adding it I also tryed adding some clay to the one small field to see if it helps hold the nutrients in place. These are small fields, 20 by 45 each, 6 all total so I can rotate crops easier.

I also finished the nursery enough to place 2 hens in it. they are happily sitting and waiting for the great hatch day. Woohoo more chickens!

hachery started

with 3 hens sitting I decided to finely get started on the hatchery. It will be 8 x 12 and have 2 bays on the side with a center isle. This way i can keep the outer door shut and stop potential escapees for getting out. I can divide the 2 bays in half if I have to but I am hoping 2 hens will share the same area. But there is a plan if they don't. I can also keep food in the center so it's easier to feed them. the clay is to raise the floor level up some 4 or 5 inches to help keep out the water, if it ever rains again and it has a lot of sand in it so water should also soak thru. I have to hurry and get this done as next week I need to put fertilizer out and the week after is planting week. For some reason this doesn't seem like retirement.

More Tractor Info

I have a bit more info on the tractors, this is for Galadriel, since you asked and I like talking tractors. :) I have a 17 hp Yanmar I've used for years to clear the farmstead, but it is narrow and not well suited for a FEL ( front end loader). So I have a lot of implements that can be used on the newer, well not newer ... NEW tractor. 42 inch bush hog that did all the work on cutting down the brush, box blade that you see on the Jinma, rototiller, harrows, grader blade, post hole drill borrowed from a friend, and a spring rake ( it has spring loaded tines so it bounces out of the way). Now all I have to do is get the work done. I also have a Farmall Super A I'm working on and would like to use it just to cultivate. I can use belly mounted cultivators so its easy to see when I wipe out a section of veggies. The steering is a little loose after 60 years of work. Thats the line up of stuff I use to keep from working to hard.

New Helper

Well I finely junped off the deep end. With all the work that needs to be done and all the moving of stuff, I decieded to get a little helper. Its a 224 Jinma, 22 hp and 4 wheel drive. A nice sized bucket to do the lifting. So far I have the 3rd field cleared off and ready to plant, only 3 more to go and I got it done in 2 days, and no sore back. I should have done this sooner!

Farmin is tuff

This is a short update. I was going to have a picture of the seedlings but, I left the covers on yesterday and being Florida, it got hot in the green house and the seedlings cooked!

So, i checked the alumac and saturday was a good day to start seedlings, so I replanted them all. Some days i wonder if I should stick to chickens as most of the eggs I plant come up as chickens and the rest are ... eggplant of course. j/k