We’ll start with the weather. It has been uncharacteristically rainy on the prairies. In fact we are reportedly now on the wettest spring in history. Several areas have been flooded out. Add to all that rain a once in one hundred year storm. Last week about 3.5 to 4 inches of rain fell on the garden in approximately 3 hours. That storm flooded the road I use to get into the garden, flooded the garden itself and filled the dugout. There was a little hail that shredded the lettuce and set back some of the other broader leaf crops. Everything is looking a lot better now though after some recovery time.
Finding time to weed around all the rain clouds has been a bit of a challenge. I’m glad to have the new little tiller to aid in the process.
Not pictured but ongoing are the honey bees. I lost both my queens. The commercial beekeeper I am in contact with says it is such a bad spring for the bees that he doesn’t have a single extra queen to sell. I am now trying to make my own queens for next year but haven’t found the time to get everything done yet.
The chickens continue to grow. The plot for the chickens is growing annual rye, clover and weeds. It turns out that sussex chickens don’t eat weeds. I was kind of hoping they’d help me get rid of the quack grass but they don’t touch it. Everything is getting pretty long now and I’m probably going to mow it down before it all goes to seed.
