It Almost Felt Like Fall...

Saturday morning was an absolutely gorgeous day.  It was my first Saturday off in over a month and boy, was I ready!  Tricia and I boiled some water and made a great cup of coffee in the french press and planned our day.  I had a number of things competing for top priority, but we decided to get out in the garden first thing out of the gate.

We had a little planting to do.  The Russian Red Kale I had planted from saved seed did not germinate.  I tossed the seed and Tricia picked up a package of Siberian Kale at our local feed store.  Siberia reminds me of two things - cold weather and gulags.  We had neither of those things at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm on Saturday.  The weather was very pleasant with a hint of coolness in the air that we hadn't experienced in many long months.

About a week ago, I cut back some vines from the sweet potato plants to give me enough room to plant a couple rows.  When we harvest the sweet potatoes in a week or two, I'll have about a 15 foot by 15 foot square within which to plant carrots, lettuce, and mustard greens.  But I can get so busy thinking about all I want to do that I distracted from doing the task at hand.

For now, let's plant some kale.  Kale seeds look exactly like broccoli, cauliflower, mustard, turnip and cabbage seeds.  That's because they are all cole crops.  I stretched out a string and used a rock rake to move back the wood chips that cover the soil.  The newly exposed earth was moist and dark with plenty of organic matter in it from composted leaves, hay, and decomposing wood chips.  I used my hoe to work up the soil to receive the seeds.

Earthworms squirmed in the turned earth.  I grabbed a handful of the soil and held it in my hands.  It has a certain scent to it that is appealing.  It has just the right amount of moisture in it which will be perfect for germination.

I worked in some composted chicken litter from the hen house.  Then, I made two slight trenches side by side and sprinkled the seeds in each.  Tricia worked to cover the seeds in the seed bed.

And just like that, we were done.  The sweet potato vine jungle will be home to the carrot, lettuce and mustard green rows in a week or two.

In 5 to 8 days, little kale sprouts will burst from the dark brown soil.  Planting the fall crops is always fun.  It is exciting also to know that fall is on its way.  On Tuesdays we'll have lows in the 50's and highs in the 80's!  How nice!