Red Barn Heirloom Gardens

We spent the warm muggy day weeding in the garden which provided lots of treats for the pigs.  They really have adjusted well in just 3 days on the farm.  Our friend, Bob Fenrich and five of his kids came over and with our family of five spent most of the day weeding. 

But the day proved to hold bad news for our eggplants.  We discovered a lot of insect damage on them.  After researching the internet tonight I discovered that we most likely have an infestation of Colorado Potato Beetles.  Wanting to provide organic controls, I've determined the best method will be to manually inspect each leaf daily and remove any pests by placing them in a bucket of vinegar mixed with water.

For future control it seems like our best and lowest cost method of control will be to apply a mild solution of the same to our leaves.  I think we'll try inspecting and removing any eggs, larvae and adults first, then start treating the leaves if necessary with the vinegar solution.

It was a great day for weeding after the heavy rains that we received over the past 2 days.  We still have some of last year's 1st crop hay that we're putting down as a mulch which is proving to be a HUGE time saver!  We sold off some extra bails of our organic brome hay today to Ron & Kathy who were happy to get them.  They have some sheep and goats that will be quite happy with the hay I'm sure.

We're still looking for some Red Wattles pigs, but I think we're getting closer to locating some feeder pigs for this year. 

We've also located some Buff Chanteclers from Mike Gilbert at Red Stag Acres in northern Wisconsin.  He's willing to part with a few at the end of August.  We're really looking forward to the addition to our farm.

It was a great day on the farm!