Farm Friday, June 23rd, 2023

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We mowed the rye that was growing next to the pumpkins. Then we used the Allis-G (pictured) to kill weeds between the rows. All photos by the author.

It has been so hot and dry that it feels like Arizona moved north to Wisconsin. We will drink full water bottles and then be parched an hour later and frantically slurping water from the garden hose. This is the kind of heat that wears you out, so by the end of the day, it feels like you have worked two days. Every time summer storms have come by in the last six weeks, they have veered around us or only hit us with a sprinkling of water.

On the other hand, it is good weather to kill weeds and things are looking pretty good, weed-wise. When we hoe and the weeds are exposed to the blazing sun, they don’t stand a chance. Most of the planting is done, and we don’t have harvesting to do, so I have been able to focus on weeding and watering.

Since it feels like we have turned the corner on the season, we can start making things look nice. We haveour mower back and I keep threatening to get out the string trimmer.

Elderberry flowers

The potatoes are finally up — this is a “before” photo. I hope soon you won’t be able to see the hay mulch.

The black fabric is where we will be planting carrot seeds in two weeks. We prep the beds and water them and then use the fabric to kill the first flush of weeds before we even plant. It is called “occultation.”

We planted Brussels Sprouts this week and watered them in with drip tape.

We got a kiddie pool for the llamas — they haven’t used it as a pool yet, but they do drink out of it.

The rye before we mowed it.

The guineas like the dusty dry soil for taking dust baths.

I like moments of found art. I pulled the white van up to the farmhouse and the front light cast plant shadows on the side of the van.

We celebrated the solstice with a picnic on our neighbors’ deck. They took herbs and flowers and froze them around a bottle of vodka for a decorative centerpiece. The vodka went with fresh watermelon juice. We had to cancel the bonfire because of the dry conditions.

This is what our lawn looks like — I can’t remember the last time we had a brown lawn in June. I only water crops and sheep pasture. We are supposed to get rain this weekend.

In terms of writing news, there is no news. I did publish my monthly genealogy column — this month I focused on medieval German history. Fun stuff!

I read an amazing piece by Yael Wolfe and I have been thinking about it all week. She says that during the last four years when she has been writing about sex on Medium and in other places, the men she has interacted with have been almost universally an utter disappointment. Her essay reminded me of the first days of the Me Too movement when literally every woman I know came out as a survivor of some sort of sexual harassment or assault. The scope of the issue is almost too overwhelming to consider.

As a man, I keep wanting to say, “but, but, but… not all guys!” But Yael and others seem to confirm that the shittiness extends to so many men that it might as well be all guys. Her essay has me examining my own past interactions with women. I’d like to write a response, but I would want to do it well, so it might have to wait until I have more time.