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All Hail the Start of Summer!

6/27/2019

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It is officially summer and while most of the days are warm, the evenings are getting colder with the increased chance of frost for my little valley. Thunderstorms still move through and usually bring herald their arrival with an onslaught of pea-sized hail. Since the greens are grown in the field, you'll see the evidence of the hail in the head lettuces, chard, and anything else that has broad leaves. I like to think of them as rugged, Montana-style veggies!

The chickens run inside when there is heavy rain since their feathers only over them so much protection, but the ducks LOVE it. Hail, rain, wind; they run around like it's christmas.

Because most of the cut flowers can't tolerate a frost, they live under their low tunnels, and even though those are raised up each day to ventilate they still over great protection from the carnage of the thunderstorms. I can't say the same for some of the radish, spinach, and kale younglings. But they had a good few days to root in before being hammered so they will recover!
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The sun and heat of summer has caused a lot of the mustards to bolt and go to flower. I don't mind as those flowers make a yummy addition to salads, giving it a little kick of flavor and color. Plus the bees love the flowers too!
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All that sun and rain helps the grass to grow, including in my rows. There is so much of it that even Hella kitty felt obliged to help me remove some as we inspected her progress of Project Mole Control.
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With all the hail, wind, and rain sometimes you need to take a moment to enjoy the sunshine of a Montana summer while you can!
What's available this weekend?
  • Eggs! The grass is still growing and the coops are roaming, gobbling up the fresh greens and worms!!!
    • dozen pasture-raised, rainbow chicken eggs $4
  • Flowers!
    • Large and small bouquets
  • Veggies!
    • Salad Mix
    • Butterhead, Romaine, and Red Leaf Lettuce complete with hail holes so you know it's can only be from Montana
    • Rainbow Chard
    • Mizuna, a mild Japanese mustard green
    • Kale
    • Purple Boc Choy
    • Microgreens
      • Lemon Basil Mix
      • Spicy Radish Mix
    • Petal Power Salad Topper
      • a blend of mustard flowers and pansies
Where to find it all?
I'll be at the Farmers Market at Libby, this Thursday from 3-7pm!

I'll be at the Troy Farmers Market, this Friday from 330-630pm!

I'll be at the Kalispell Farmers Market, this Saturday from 900am to 1230pm!
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Fawns, Fury, & Fluff!

6/20/2019

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A lot of work got done this week but it didn't feel like much as it was as variable as the weather. From sun, sun, sun, to thunder, hail, wind, and heavy rain bursts. I was able to get the new tractor, Oscar, up and running and begin mowing down the tall grass in preparation to expand my plots with just a few thunderstorms that forced me to some different work inside. 

The perennial/potato patch got weeded (as will many other beds over the next weeks). A task that has been forgotten and left behind, even if the weeds don't forget to grow.

More beds were prepped and ready for plantings early next week and the greenhouse is full to bursting with flats on the floor, tomatoes bursting from above their beds, and the beginning of their trellising system up and ready to begin use, while the Cottonwoods unleashed their masses of fluffy seeds upon the world. They are a favorite tree of mine but that doesn't mean I need 300 of them coming up in my newly prepared planting beds. Guess there is more weeding in my future!

Plus there are baby deer!
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I found this little nugget when I almost stepped on it while trying to set up my camera to film the mower in action. It was nestled right in the center of where I needed to mow, sooo I didn't mow there that morning and have begun walking the areas to be mowed to check for more little nuggets of gold in the grass. While walking back to the house after this discovery I saw a doe leading another little wobbly nugget across the lawn to a new hiding spot in the tall grass. Luckily, this one had moved by the next day and I was able to mow.
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Once I was able to finish mowing, the Violet Green Swallow watched cautiously from its nest in an old fence post as it watched its new neighbor settling in. It returns to this same nest every year and swoops over my head as I work in my main field plot.
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Hella finds the strangest places to feel safe and cozy, including inside the new tiller attachment for Oscar, the Tractor. It was only sitting in the grass, not even hooked up, but it is a good reminder to check everything and everyone before getting started.
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BEFORE: the perennial patch filled with weeds
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AFTER: weeds be gone! Now the rows of potatoes in the foreground, asparagus in the back left, and sunchokes in back right can be finally seen!
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Iris, in the rear, and Rosemary. The remaining golden girls from my original flock of 8 backyard chickens. They are 10 years old now and Rosemary still lays a few eggs every spring. They are left to roam during the day but don't roam far, preferring to spend warm days on the cool, shady porch by the little fountain. Don't let them see you with food or they will become your shadow and sometimes jump up to pull it from your hand. Luckily they can't jump too high anymore.
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Where to find it all?
I'll be at the Farmers Market at Libby, this Thursday from 3-7pm!

I'll be at the Troy Farmers Market, this Friday from 330-630pm!

I'll be at the Kalispell Farmers Market, this Saturday from 900am to 1230pm!
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The Tomatoes are Coming (& Peppers)

6/13/2019

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The grass keeps growing and growing and growing. It and the weeds are doing their best to take over the plots. The heat has been turned up a notch, which the tomatoes and peppers love! The chickens don't like the heat as much but it brings out the bugs, which they do like!

Bed preparation and weed control are still the biggest obstacles that hold me up (and all the little plants waiting in flats) but a big addition should help with one directly and the other indirectly!

As always, the lettuces are a weekly harvest, fresh and crisp, and the radishes an turnips are making an appearance!
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The upside to getting up before dawn is watching the morning mist grow and shift across the valley. The river is just the other side of the field from my house and it helps supply the cool, moist air that settles in just before dawn (and usually frosts just to keep things interesting)
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Some farm helpers are tiny, like this ladybug. It, and more importantly its young, are feasting on the aphids that have taken hold of the lupine in the wildflower patch. As it gets too much for the plants, these little warriors move in to devour the pests and protect the plants!
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The tomatoes are blooming with fruit not far behind. This is the first year I get to really use (and appreciate) my dome greenhouse. I wouldn't be able to grow anything as heat loving as these without it!
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and peppers too!
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Where to find it all?
I'll be at the Farmers Market at Libby, this Thursday from 3-7pm!

I'll be at the Troy Farmers Market, this Friday from 330-630pm!

I'll be at the Kalispell Farmers Market, this Saturday from 900am to 1230pm!
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Gone to the Birds

6/6/2019

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The beginning of June sees lots of caterpillars on the farm, caterpillar tunnels! This time of year I start planting out the tender annuals and they need protection from my regular frosts (even in July & August). As most of these tender annuals are for cut flowers, frost fabric isn't good enough or at least tall enough to protect them but the tunnels are! They are 4ft high and every morning as the sun comes I cinch up the plastic and every evening as the sun goes down so does their protective plastic blanket. More and more caterpillar tunnels will crop up as the crop go in underneath them.

I also finally got to start planting my tomatoes and peppers into the raised beds in the greenhouse. My Mom spent most of the last month lining the boxes and filling them ⅔ full and now I get to finish them up! The tomatoes got a little unruly while waiting but their stems don't mind being buried so no worries for me! Hopefully the cover of the greenhouse and the heat the raised beds can hold on to will help the tomatoes survive the chilly nights!

The baby ducks are getting their big girls feathers in, the barn swallows have returned to nest in, well, the barn, the chickens and ducks continue to enjoy lazy evenings catching bugs and other nummy munchies, the hummingbirds are busy eating all the feed I make for them (walking near the feeders feels like going into a war zone with all the Rufous chasing each other away), and I chase away the few little sparrows and butter butts (what birders call yellow rumped warblers) that dare to feed on the ground while Hella glares at me.

Oh yeah and the veggies keep growing!
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Caterpillar Tunnels! The good kind of caterpillars on a farm. Under these are the first planting out of baby Cosmos, Dahlias, Celosia, Calendula, Honeywort, Rudbeckia, and more!
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They grow up fast! Their ducky down is disappearing and being replaced by their big girl feathers! First they get the chest and shoulder feathers (they look like little epaulettes) and some pin feathers on their wings are showing but these will take a few more weeks to fully 'feather out'.
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Also, the big ducks have discovered the little ones and are fascinated by them, or at least the drakes are. They better enjoy the company for now as once the little ducks are big enough the one remaining lady duck, Sapphire, will be leaving the company of her four male 'friends' to join all the little ladies. Then the drakes will be lonely bachelors once more.
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What's available this weekend?
  • Eggs!
    • dozen pasture-raised, rainbow chicken eggs $4
  • Flowers!
    • wildflower bunches big & small
  • Veggies!
    • Salad Mix
    • Stir Fry Mix
    • Arugula & Mizuna mix
    • Lettuce:
      • Butter
      • Red Leaf
      • Romaine
    • Spinach
    • Radishes
      • French Breakfast
      • Rainbow
    • Rhubarb
Where to find it all?
I'll be at the Farmers Market at Libby, this Thursday, May 23rd from 3-7pm!

I'll be at the Troy Farmers Market, this Friday, June 7th from 330-630pm!

I'll be at the Kalispell Farmers Market, this Saturday, May 25th from 900am to 1230pm!
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    I'm Farmer Megan with a life full of cackles, clucks, quacks, weeds, crazy kitten, and one tiny, senior, blind dog.

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  • Home
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    • Mission
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    • Foraging Classes
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    • Meditations in the Wilds
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  • Botanicals