New Year New Goals

Hard to tell this is January here on the farm.  It has been as high as 60 degrees here in Fairbanks, Indiana.  That means we have been able to tackle some of the outside chores that we don't usually get to until March or later. 

Robert has been out on the tractor the last 3 days.  He was able to turn the upper field to expose the weed seeds to the sun.  Hopefully they will germinate and then we will turn the field again.  Since we don't spray chemicals around here, weeds are a constant battle.  For the other two fields that we plant in, he decided that we would try another method that a local old time farmer told him about.  We burned the fields, this is supposed to kill the weed seeds.  This big time farmer told him that this is what his grandpa did to his fields instead of spraying the nasty chemicals.  Time will tell.  I hope it works.

I have been outside cleaning out the last of the raised beds.  We still had the peppers and eggplants in some of them. Of course, they haven't been producing since the killing freeze but the dead plants were still there.They had to go into the compost pile.  I also had to cover the garlic with straw.  (Holy Moly has straw gone out of sight, in our neck of the woods, it is over 5 bucks a bale)  I can't cover the strawberries just yet because they are still green and growing.  The deer haven't found them yet, I think because the garlic is planted in a couple of raised beds close by. 

Ok, Dudes...goals for this year

1.  Blog at least once a week and add pictures. Hard to follow the farm with only my not so adequate texts
2.  Pull the new orchard trees into straight alignment.
3.  Put new rock around the raised beds  (mulch was not a good idea)
4.  Get new greenhouse up and running
5.  Plant 200 more blueberry plants
6.  Build leanto so I can get the tractor out of my barn.  (can't move in there)
7.  Get milk goats  (Dad, here I come with a zillion questions)
8.  Get a certified dairy for the milk goats
9.  Learn to make cheese from goat milk
10. Get rid of the brown rot in the peach trees

I could list things all day.  Work on the farm is never done.  But it is a way of life that I love.  Hope to see you all soon.

See ya on the farm
Charlotte