Tuesday, May 7, 2002

Good morning farmers. It is still morning here on the west coast. Today is sunny, up to 30* (from 25*) already and windy so the chill goes right through me. Brrrr. Where is spring? Yesterday I helped the neighbor move his cattle from our pasture where they have been for the past week to the corrals at his place, we sorted cows and calves, put the cows into a pasture across the road, then put the calves into a nearby pasture with 2 fences between them, one of those is hot. I haven't even heard any mooing since they can all see each other. Over the next few days the cows will be moved a bit farther away each day or two and the calves won't seem to notice if all goes well. These calves were born late last summer, and the new calves are due to start comming in June. The horse trainer came and we talked about her training methods and what I can expect. Her fee includes teaching me in a few sessions to get the proper responses from the horse the way she teaches him. She calls it learning how to push the buttons she put into the horse. He won't go there right away, her corral is occupied by a mare who is about to deliver a foal, so after that happens I will take him up to her place which is about 7 miles away. She commented on my yard and so we talked about flowers for a while. She and her husband bought a place about 2 years ago and she is trying to get some flower beds established so I told her I have plenty of things to share, including strawberry runners and raspberry plants if she wants a berry patch. Yesterday afternoon I got the black leaky hoses strung out through the strawberry patch and today I need to mulch over them to protect them from the sun and help keep the patch damp, also I need to haul some old straw from the neighbors to spread in the pathways for weed control. I watered the patch with the hose strings overnight. So easy once it is set up! The asparagus patch got a good watering using the gravety flow system from the spring though a trench beside the row. I hope I can get some weeding done today between warm ups in the house. I'll need to build a fire in the woodstove today. Right now I need to put on the winter jacket and hat and go feed the horses. Have a good day everyone, count your blessings.