Farm Education

I am endeavoring a new venture. The spring time is always the best time to begin anew, but sensiate being have an added gift of thinking before they begin, if they so choose. The warming trend in the middle of winter comes as a relief. Sue, my wife, has a new career path found out moments ago by a phone-call as she was in the dentist's chair in town. She called me immediately and I called who-ever I knew was around to share the fortunate news. Her pastor, Bruce Johnson, called so I informed him, my father and other members of our family. My brother Mike will know by the end of the day his wife Jill is Sue's dentist. The farm is hiberating but the warmness brings out a surprising mosquito and the ground still show signs of life with greenery of all sorts even a more delicate mint. I am introduced to teaching once again slowly taking an introduction class at the Attleboro campus of Bridgewater State College. It is close and more convienent on the the way to Cape Cod and my father.

The season is getting on and today we put most of the garden beds to rest. We picked up the the stakes and wires. We rolled the moisture and weeding guards up and stored them in the barn hopefully for next years use. While doing so we found some squash that we had missed. they looked pretty funny like half-deflated balloons. It certainly is easier to see what left when the foliage is gone. Its tough but we must play musical cars while we re-arrange from not only the new septic system, but also for the 50 " camper which is being stored on this Betsch Farm..We are not making too good use of the whole six acres instead have all the "Auto-junk stuffed into the third acre Bellingham side while the five-plus in Franklin goes untouched. But that piece of land has the bulk of junk from the old chicken farm. The two wells which give us great water and the field are its only assets unless we like woods which we do ! Sometimes it's nice to slip away into the woods far from the traffic that Washington street and Pulaski Boulevard have become. It's a fairly busy road and not one I'd care to raise children. its interesting to think that we learned to down hill ski up the street at Klein Innsbrook. It was very fun and at twelve or thirteen years old in the middle of winter. The older folks on the street tell of times when they recall walking down the middle of the road and not an automobile passing and if it did it offered a ride or said hello. I assisted today in Cumberland with the pick-up of fresh produce. The shares were large and delicious. I know this as I ate some of mine for dinner.
I really cannot get over how flavorful and rich was the food, from salad greens and frisee to potatoes, onions, carrots and turnips. The bok choi, leeks and all the other vegetables that are simply not common, but plenty good. I helped pick the carrots and that was an interesting task. We used a pitch-fork to loosen the soil then pulled teh carrots out of the ground and shook the excess soil away while leaving some soil attached. this aids in storage as teh carrot or potato still things it's all right to grow and so remains good. No shock. It is diifucult to gently place the carrots into a storage bin for me. It seems have either french hands or irish hands. My french hands are for delicate things and the irish is for rough things. Well, a potato makes no sense to a frenchman but to the Irish it is a means to existence. At the pick-up everyone really loved Nico. This was particularily touching for me as its very important. What a great dog. I have some-one to thank and also know that someone knows my heart.I think it's time to get back to civil service. The job may not be ideally suited but for their growth I guess i am important, just showing up. Saving more souls at Cedar Junction. The garden at rabbit dance farm and all the wonderful people who try will make it so.

We finally had a fence posted for our animals. I really do not know how many wild and hungry predators it will keep out. The days are shortened because of the time change off of daylight savings EST. But It's good to go to bed early and have a good night sleep. The kale and collards from the farm continue to provide us with rich savory greens which I usually make a soup adding a few store-bought things as perhaps a base. Maybe I'll make some Sassafras tea as one of my friends said her daughter was sick. I understand students are dropping like duckpins from the flu or related illnesses. It was good to dig in the soil yesterday to help put the fence in, from what I gather the soil contains microbes which will help with illness. It's the same thing for honey from bees living around here. I cultivate and eat honey thereby protecting us from the antigens and allergies that occur locally. No wonder the animals love it so much. I am glad we do not have bears !!

Autumn at the Betsch Farm

The Autumn is here a little past peak and Indian summer with it. I have disconnected my irrigation system and am tii servicing my old 9N Ford tractor. I may have holed the radiator and cut a fuel line and some hoses, but they really ought be replaced. I started taking a lot of junk sediment out of the lines so to be wise they will need to be replaced, maybe a new radiator. That one looks original. Its strange, some of the faucets the plumbing in this house needed some new washers. We replaced them and now they work fine without a drip. In other newer home you can only replace washers once or twice before you need a whole new faucet. I wonder why the newer faucets are not made as well as the old.
Nico and Enzo continue to do well as the leaves turn its funny to watch them play farther from the house.

A lot of happened on the Farm; several animals have gone missing and we believed a weasel or fisher cat had gotten all the chickens and maybe a cat, but listening to Nico, our GSD at night lately, it sounds like there maybe a band of coyotes or some such relative brought closer by the cold and impending winter.
The crops did fairly well, corn, beans, squash all really flourished with the noted exception of the corn which grew tall and appeared robust but some ears were small and underdeveloped. It's just like lots of things, nothing is as it quite appears. My tractor is sitting in the barn a little improved but not too much. I am promising to bring it out down to the garage and fully repair my Ford 9N to satisfactory running condition with the aid of Julius, the imprisoned retired farmer who currently is incarcerated at Atria where my wife Sue is enjoying her occupation as nursing assistant. It was touching last night as she told me they did a puzzle together. Both are as bright as the sun with humility that only comes with strong faith. I am blessed.
The Rabbit Dance Farm in Cumberland, RI, the Community Supported Agriculture Farm of which we are a contributing member, continues to provide us with an awesome array of organic foodstuffs, which we promptly eat. I bring the remaining food to my Dad and sister on the Cape. It seems Dad knows the difference which bodes well, but Sis, like my wife, is still hooked on pizza and chinese food. I brought Dad to a doctor's appointment last week. He is doing extremely well. His only compliant was frequent trips to the bathroom. Doctor Barbara Prazac informed us that this is a general side-effect of all the medication needed to keep his system in check. Next week, I will bring him to a dental appointment. I am sure looking forward to that ! It will much better and just as necessary as the urology appointment.
It's great to ride with him in car and just enjoy the passing seasons on the way to the doctor. We always stop at Sunken Meadow Beach before returning to home to look at the bay water.
The sunsets are still the most beautiful from that vantage as that end of Cape Cod gets both sunrise and sunset. The wilder Atlantic ocean has the sunrise and more gentle Cape Cod Bay has the sunset. Hopefully the same course course our lives should take: a stronger, untamed and wilder youth and a calmer and more pliable, but gentling fading life in is later years. It will shed life in still another place.

A fairly interesting and productive week. It is good to know someone reads my blog. It was a really beautiful day today. I had the dogs outside at the sports club. It was funny trying to chase two competitively fast dogs who were themselves chasing a quick rabbit. The only advantage the rabbit and I had was the big fence, a near total enclosure. Nico, my Shepard and Enzo, our Siberian Husky and most recent addition had so much fun. I am almost glad I could not run. There is nothing like watching two grown pups in action. I had a secure feeling they were safe in the large field. nico is a good listener but gets carried away if he scents a wild turkey or God forbid, a deer. We have gotten calls and been lucky so far....
The mosquitos do not seem to bother the double-coated dogs but am sure the heat will. Enzo is trained only for a crate or a leash. He still uses his living space for a bathroom which is not good and he digs holes and howls when he is alone. I see this as a bit of trauma and spoiledness, but maybe its his stubborn breed. Sue will take him to the dog trainers and make what she can of him as she is a much better animal trainer than myself. Her knowledge of race equines is amazing with a heart to match. The field has grown over but I am still hopeful to get the farmer in Bellingham to drag it with his tractor and plow a couple of rows for my squash. My ford and one bottom are just like me, happy to be sitting here but non too functional. I spoke last night with Julius a real farmer from these parts who unfortunately is now in an assisted living situation. he was telling how to repair my tractor. I did get some good hints, so I may try the strater install if Sue can bring him over here. That would make both our day. I keep hoping about the goats and chickens. Goats would knock down the over growth and chickens would take of the ticks on the pups. We really need fencing to maintain them safely. It took me a month to to get a few stockades up to keep the dogs in. I guess Rome was not built in a day either. may day is turning into june Day. I will just say Pan pan..pan and thank the Lord I am on the ground.

Spring has hit my farm like a Easter in Rome. The trees are blooming and the bees are humming. The corn is partly in with a few tomato plants started inside. I still have brocoli, kale and sorrel from last year. I covered them with an old window frame and a box so it managed through the winter. I was pleasantly surprised. Some of the birds have returned like the phoebe, wrens and confusing warblers. We noticed a cooper's hawk flying over what just a bare scrap where the tractor was stuck. We think he was searching for a snake or mouse. We know thee are plenty of these. Sue spotted a garder snake in the bed of mint that was just sprouting. The rhubbarb is coming in rapidly next to that. More mundanely the lawn needs to be cut soon and the fence holes have been started. I also started the first mushroom burst from a kit, shittake and pom-pom oysters. We shall see how they develop. My injury is easier with the warm weather to work with but still takes a longer time than usual. It's another beautiful day here with all the sprouts. I hope it carries into my joint. Warm Spring......