Hops are In, Chicks are Out, and Honey Bear is Loving The Dirt

Last weekend brought with it some marvelous sunshine!

We took advantage of the break in the grey to get some things done outside. We planted two new fruit trees, two grape vines and finally got the Christmas tree into the ground.

Shortly thereafter, we headed over to the chocks. They seem to be absolutely thriving in the new coop! With the sun shining, we opted to fence a small play yard for them. Our hope is that they will free range throughout the farm, but they are young and unaware of the area. In fencing a play yard, we hope they will gain outdoor access without getting into too much trouble.

Honey Bear and his Dad took a time out for a round of golf. I propped my feet up on the porch for a minute :)

Saving the best for last, we headed to the barn for the event we have long awaited... Getting the hops into some soil.

Fingers in soil rates close to fingers on steal strings for me. This is soul business! 

With the help of many donated pots, we were able to get all the rhizomes in dirt. The larger pots each contain three rhizomes and the smaller each have a single rhizome. Honey Bear shrieked with joy as the dirt was mixed and added to the pots. I think we have a future farm hand in the mix! It is our hope and plan to have them all in the ground inside of two weeks, weather permitting. Still, we hoped to offer them enough room to grow if mother nature has other plans. 

The rhizomes are all organic. We have high hopes of nurturing them with organic methods and protecting them from disease and pests by companion planting and other such measures. To have our farm certified as organic would be a very costly and time consuming matter. Should the crops take off, we may explore that route further. For the time being, we will have peace of mind knowing we are being the best stewards of the land and crops that we know how to be.

Today we were scheduled for a rich delivery of top soil, high in organic matter that will supplement our growing area. As the weather is taking a turn for the rainy and snowy once more, we elected to push back the delivery one week. Heavy, wet soil will be much less fun to work with than dry light soil. 

Josh, in Indiana, has been working with Ted on our trellis design this week. I think we are certainly getting closer to a trellis composition that will withstand the powerful winds on our farm.