The Riley Factor #57

The Riley Factor May 4, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

FORT PLAIN NY, May 4 -- Sunday was big sun and big heat in Middle-of-Nowhere, and Riley went for his first big swim in the upper pond -- the Golden's webbed feet worked great.  Gabby led the way into the depths, and both canines collapsed upon following Nancy back to the homestead.  And a trip on the Ute up into the back trails showed much drying has occurred and the trails are basically ready for the season's riding & hiking.

Plowing and planting are on the menu of the day for the first week or two of May.  The first field has already seen four and a half acres of wheat planted, and will also grow an acre of corn and an acre of potatoes and perhaps some soybeans.  The third field will be receiving an acre each of buckwheat, barley, oats and alfalfa.  Also, probably plowing for and planting six acres of hay (mixture of timothy, alfalfa, rye and clover).  Late last fall, the second field received its first cutting in over 25 years -- mostly brush in the six to eight feet high range was growing there.  Lloyd Van Alstine (the unofficial Mayor of Mendon) told us that he was the last person to mow that field, and it was in about 1983.  Since then, it was left uncared for and became overgrown with grass and brush, until last fall's cutting.   This spring, the field has thousands of dead four inch tall stubs and a lot of good looking grass.  A couple more mowings and a pasture should be born -- about four acres in all.  The brush stubs have been beaten to death by the bush hogs and will not regrow, destined to dissolve into the soil.  And field no. 4, the field at the top by the main entrance to the woods, is about eight acres of hay in its first full season of growth after plowing and seeding.  With any luck, we will be able to take a couple cuttings of hay from there this year.

On Monday, we planted another 18 grape vines in the vineyard area of the orchard, for a total of 30 -- trellis still in the design phase.  It normally takes until year three for grape vines to bear fruit in any real quantity.  And we installed a gateway & gate in the fence between the pasture and the orchard, so that occasionally a steer or two will be able to graze among the fruit trees -- we'll have to see how that experiment works out.

More plowing and rototilling also done on Monday & Tuesday, in spite of Tuesday afternoon thunder storms.  Only the pair of Mallard ducks swimming and floating around in the upper pond seem unaffected by heat or cold, sun or rain.  Perhaps they have a nest with eggs or ducklings in it -- a search may be done later.