Keeping Our Fingers Crossed For Rain Tonight---

 It has been a very dry spring in our area.  The most water the plants have been receiving are from watering to keep the frost off the last couple weeks.  We had one "freeze warning" this week, but the temperature never dropped low enough to be a threat, just some light frost.  Thankfully.  My tomato and pepper plants are still tucked safely in the greenhouse.  I'm just not ready to take that chance with them yet.  I'm hoping to put those in the ground the end of next week. 
The first row of radishes was picked last weekend, it always amazes me how quickly radishes are ready to harvest.  Yesterday was "garden day", a lot of tilling was done and several more rows were planted:  green beans, sweet corn, more lettuce, spinach and kohlrabi.  Now if we can just get some rain on them tonight, hopefully they will get a good start.
NEW WINDOWS!  Yesterday was also the day the new upstairs windows were installed-they sure look nice and now match the new downstairs windows we put in last fall.  When you have an old 1800's farmhouse there is always something you are wanting to update, last year we replaced the downstairs windows - which I think may have even been original windows, the old wood windows with the wavy individual square panes all put together.  The upstairs windows were at least one piece glass, but you could still feel the "weather" coming thru them.  We decided to "hire out" the upstairs windows, because I really don't like heights and the wonderful people at "Window World" made it very cost-effective for us.
The next spring project will be to replace the garage roof - that one will be all on my husband.  It's so satisfying when a "to-do" list project is completed.
The meat chickens are growing rapidly - as is typical for them - they are the last ones to go in the barn for the night, enjoying the last moments of daylight to be out scratching in the grass and finding a few last bites to eat.  They are fun to watch as they discover what it is to scratch around outside in the dirt/grass.  They should be ready for butcher in 2-3 weeks.  It will be time to total up what we've got in them $ wise for this spring.  We wait then to run another batch through in the fall - I don't like to raise them when temps are extreme (hot or cold) or when it is bug season.  We've found here in Indiana one round in spring and one in fall works well for us.  When there are just 2-3 of us butchering, we prefer to run about 50 through in a batch.
Next week is the start of Farmers Market season in our area.  We're excited to participate for the first time, hoping we've thought of everything we'll need for it.  We'll be doing a trial set up at home this weekend to see what it is going to look like.  I'll try to post some pictures.  
Hope this finds all of you enjoying the start of some nice spring weather and time to get outside and "play" in the dirt.  Happy Gardening!

A Week of Weather Changes

This week has brought about a "fight of the seasons".  We went from the windows being opened, to the furnace running again, freezing temperatures at night, and finally some much-needed rain.
We lost a few nice tomato, zucchini and pepper plants.  For the most part we came thru okay.  I'm hoping the nights of covering a large portion of the garden are over.  I'll be re-starting some seeds on some of the unusual/heirloom variety plants to hopefully still have these varieties-although late.  I've got some of the old "standby variety" tomato/pepper plants to get in the garden this week, so at least we'll have some available around the normal time. 
Onions, lettuce, spinach, radishes, rhubarb and peas seem to have come thru okay.  We are gearing up to participate in our first Farmers' Market this year.  We are going to do a "test set up" in the next week or two.  We have our canopy, tables, baskets, several of the signs/labels made.  I'm sure it will be quite the learning experience, but we are looking forward to it.  If any of you have some helpful hints/advice, please feel free to leave me comments here - they would be much appreciated.
Our new laying chickens are growing very well.  Many of them were put with the "odd-n-ends" assorted pen of chickens and they are all getting along well, although I'm not sure what the older chickens are thinking  about all of the activity in their pen now.  The spring meat chickens are growing well, some are getting brave enough to go out on sunny days and check out all the fresh green grass.  We hope to be butchering this first round of chickens in mid-late May.  Thanks to Herrick Kimball's how-to's and plans for building our own chicken plucker, we started butchering our own chickens last year. 
I'm looking forward to the forecast of a few rainy days, so I have the excuse to finish up some craft items for the Farmers' Market too. I'd like to get one or two more batches of soap made, since they need to cure a couple weeks.  As you can see in the picture, I spent the other day adding warp to the loom to start on a new batch of placemats and rugs.  All the warp is on the loom, now I have 360 strings to tie onto the old ones, to make it easier to feed the new warp (strings) thru and get the tension tight for the next rug.  That is the most tedious part. One of these days, I need to learn how to use the other two looms I have so I can designate each loom for particular projects.  I was fortunate to find and old "Purdue Weaver's Club" loom a couple years ago. It still has a delicate woven tapestry that someone was working on several decades ago.  This loom is portable enough to possibly use it for demonstrations one day, now I just need to become proficient in the use of it.  I truly enjoy taking an "antique" piece of equipment and using it to make beautiful and useful "current" pieces for the home.
If you're interested, feel free to check out our website - It will give you a little more insight as to our farm and the crafts we make.  Double Bar G

Wishing you all a week of beautiful spring weather ahead and a chance to get out and enjoy it!

Easter Sunday 2012 - Welcome to West-Central Indiana

Welcome to "Double Bar G" - Our family farm where we grow a variety of produce (participating in "our" first  Farmers' Market this spring), raise animals (both livestock and pets), and make a variety of crafts.  I hope to finish setting up the beginnings of this blog in the next couple of days, adding photos.  I hope you will enjoy reading this in the coming months, as I enjoy reading about others' Farms/Homesteads - what a wonderful use of the Internet! 
Spring has come early to our part of the country.  Horses are already out on grass, some items have been in the garden for a few weeks now (instead of us just starting to plant). 
While this blog is in the "construction process", feel free to visit our website at:  Double Bar G