Unity Farm Journal - First Week of June 2014

As Spring begins to transform into Summer, everything on the farm is a sea of green. As Paul Simon wrote in 1973 KodachromeThey give us those nice bright colorsThey give us the greens of summersMakes you think all the world'sa sunny dayAll of the guinea fowl are in crazed Summer mating mode, with males chasing females all over the property and communal nests appearing in the forest, with clusters of 30-40 eggs.   On some nights a “designated layer” sits on the nest and sometimes does not survive the prowling foxes, coyotes and fisher cats.    We lost one guinea this week, so we’re down to 27.I’ve lined all our trails and pastures with bird houses.   Since we cleared 2 acres for the orchard, large numbers of tree swallows and barn swallows have arrived.   As I walk the dogs in the large meadow, tree swallows peek out of their nesting boxes at me.   A mated pair of barn swallows  has created a nest in the rafters of barn.Every day we’re harvesting vegetables from the hoop house and dinner includes fresh Unity Farm kale, spinach,lettuces, peas, and garlic, pictured below.With all the growth of late spring, we've had to mow the orchard and meadows.  Now that I'm mowing 5 acres, I've had to retire the push mower and use an exMark commercial mower.   The orchard is a 20 degree hill so mowing takes a lot of upper body strength.   I use a brush cutter around the blueberries and apple trees then use the mower to trim the...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs