This is a rather crazy time of year at the farm since the fields are in transition as we pull up the remains from spent plants that are now going to seed to make way for the next cycle and simultaneously try to keep up with the processing. It is also hot as Hades with high humidity these days so we are pretty wiped out. It doesn’t help that I have my second bout with poison ivy so I’m very itchy and irritable!

Dave has finished digging potatoes with nice results at 171 plus pounds of Yukons and Red Pontiac combined. That field now needs to be tilled under since the weeds are trying to take over in the meantime and it is a battle royal that we hope to win! It doesn’t help that we have also spotted a couple of cicada killer wasps snooping around again. We had a year off from them last year when it was too wet for them to burrow and make nests in the dirt which is where they lay their eggs. Here is the previous blog about them:  Reprising Our Favorite Pizza…and the Return of the Cicada Killer Wasps!  We are intent on keeping them at bay since they are quite annoying. We have tried to douse them with wasp spray but so far they seem to be fairly impervious to it. Crossing fingers that nearly 2 inches of rain last night will deter this recent activity.

We have found that the most annoying weed of all time is nut grass or nut sedge that has been finding its way into our fields and creating havoc which is hard to control without herbicides. If you pull it out by the roots, it leaves a network of new starts underground. Ugh! If you don’t pull it, they go to seed and you get 100 fold in new weeds. Ugh, ugh! So this invader takes first place as my newest nemesis and I feel I’m on patrol at all times when it is concerned.

I intend to try my newest organic weed control on this one…I got this recipe from one of the chicken blogs that I follow and I haven’t tried it yet since I have concerns for the resulting acidity of the soil but I will try it in a small spot and hope it works.

WEED SPRAY – Combine 4 cups vinegar, 1/4 cup salt and 1/2 tablespoon Dawn brand dish soap (apparently, only Dawn will do the trick!) Mix well and spray on a sunny day.

But….there is always a catch….as we recently worked on eradicating this weed in one particular fallow field, I noticed that the bees were delighted with the pollen from the “flower” part of the stalk. Argh! It is notably a desperate time of year for them to find pollen resources and I normally would hate to eliminate any they might find, but this is where I draw a line in the sand and will continue to eradicate this weed with a vengeance.

That said, I’m particularly pleased to offer the bees an alternative source of pollen since I planted 6 varieties of sunflowers earlier this year with seeds I bought from Seed Savers Exchange and they are now all blooming wildly much to the delight of the bees. What a welcome site here in the middle of August. Here is the shortest of the group, approximately 12-24″ tall, named Teddy Bear. Then comes Valentine at 5 feet tall. Then Taiyo, about to open here at 5-6 feet tall. Then Velvet Queen at 5-7 feet tall with Mahogany petals and a nearly black center.Autumn Beauty, ranging from 5-8 feet tall, has more than one shade, ranging from yellow to gold to dark burgundy.

And then strikingly tall, the Lemon Queen is supposed to range from 7-8 feet tall but some of mine are easily reaching 9 feet and displaying a real “come hither” signal to the bees!Do you see anything interesting about this photo? Dave noticed that the flower heads are facing west as the day wears on but they start out their day eastward facing. It turns out that they follow the sun with much drama and movement and this recent article in the NYTimes caught my attention gave me a better understanding of what is happening here.  Better yet, this also explains why I had such a problem growing sunflowers last year. I planted them up against an east facing brick wall and although they got a good amount of sun, their sturdy stalks were not able to keep the tall plants upright since there was no balance to their sunlight exposure.  Live and learn!

Joan came to visit with the chicks yesterday and showed her natural skill learned as a youngster who tended a flock of 30 egg layers of her own.They don’t seem to care whose hand is feeding them when the goodies are leftover skins and seeds. 

Who has the bigger attitude here?  But there was no attitude from little Coulter who had his first haircut this week. Kate managed a Rockwell-esque photo montage.

The rewards were high as we went for a visit at the park located between the farm and their house. What fun! First some tunnel time…Then the slide…And finally a cool off with a bit of breeze from the swing!!!What a difference a year makes when you are 15 months old!