Beautiful things this past week

CSA boxes of late, Dung beetle (?), and Parasitized Hornworm

Here are the CSA boxes we've had the last two weeks. The garden's production is down right now, but we think this next week will have the upswing we're looking for....a beautiful crop of haricot verts (that's fancy for green beans), eggplant, heirloom tomatoes and peppers from the field are all starting to come in, as are the gladiolas, sunflowers, and oriental lilies. Let's hope the fourth of July market is a busy one! The dung beetles (I think?) have taken up camp in the tree peony pot. They created this crazy hair ball from a previous year's bird nest. What on earth do they do with this ball? Maybe they have some kind of game they play with it. There are two of the beetles in the container and it was hard to get a good picture of them with the light. Fascinating creatures. Stuart had to pull me away as I was transfixed, sucked in to the viewing of their back legs twirling around this hairball. Who cares about weeding when you have dung beetles on the farm?
Also, the last picture is of a parasitized hornworm. Those little white cocoons are a wasps larvae hatching out from the horworm from the inside. Totally gross, but we love seeing these because that means that integrated pest management is working on our side.

House Walls almost done!

The first three pictures are from this morning and the ones after that are all from this afternoon.  You can see pretty clearly in the second to last photo the slope of our roof.  Beautiful.  

Infinity Farm

So this past Saturday Stuart and I went to visit a neighboring farm, Infinity Farm, located in Cedar Grove, about 8-10 miles from us.  Our good friend Adam Gori who is helping us out some is also working on Infinity Farm.  He wants to start up a goat farm so he's trying to get to know the animals better.  The farm is incredibly beautiful with around 150 acres total...the fields just go on and on, with acres of hardwoods on all the edges, several ponds, and a plethora of animals everywhere you look.  We were really taken with the goats so now I aim to convince Stuart that they would be a great addition to the farm, nevermind the fact that if you want to milk them it's a twice a day thing, as it is with cows.  We can make time, right?  We hear they'll eat poison ivy which we have in abundance on the farm.    
But we don't talk animals seriously yet as we're waiting until we live on our farm first.  We'd really love to acquire the 30 acres adjacent to us, making our farm total 60, which would give us plenty of room for crops and animals and give us more room for expansion.  More space for all the endless possibilities of growth and economic viability on our small farm.  We'll see what the cards of fate have in store for us.  Right now life is all about our house; it's been hard to concentrate on the farm with the thrill of seeing our walls go up, the idea of permanence now becoming a concrete reality versus an amorphous mirage always in the distant future.  A home.....a place for the rest of this lifetime.....

 

House Progress; Rebar and Shotcrete

Rebar is all up and tied together, concrete trucks in and out all day yesterday and today, walls being sprayed and finished off with wood and sponge floats....our little cottage is starting to look mighty fine.  

Food and Friends at Farm to Fork 2009

Wow, this event seemed to be a smashing success, with loads of people and even more food.   Thanks to the organizers behind the Farm to Fork, what a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  Maybe next time I won't give myself such a belly-ache!