Chronicles of the Long Shot Farm

Transplanting Blackberries in October

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marking the spaces for plants

Our existing berry plants have sent out so many “runners”, which have rooted, that we can’t even mow in-between the rows.  So as an experiment, we started digging out the rooted “babies”, and we are planting them in a new patch – in October.  For the past several years, we have been transplanting in the spring – which worked fine, except for the fact that there is so much else to do in the Spring.  We’ll see how this works…they are just extra plants, so if it does not work, we’ll go back to Spring transplanting.  Jeff still uses his spray-paint on a stick contraption to mark exact spacing (in addition to metal posts and string as guides)  This new patch currently has 6 rows, spaced 10 feet apart, and long enough for 36 plants.  The plants are spaced at 6 feet apart.

Barn and Barnyard Clean-Up

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Now that Jens and Grace decided to have their wedding in our barn, we stepped up the cleaning process!!!  Spent Saturday cleaning out the last few large items and moved them upstairs (this included the large stainless steel milk tanks, our huge feedbox and all our food grade 55 gallon drums). 
We got a quote for cementing the barn floor last week as well as instructions on what to prepare prior to having the cement delivered.  Jens. Lars and Jeff  also worked on installing the drainage pipes, and our load of gravel got delivered as well.  
While the “boys” were working on the barn, Tina and Grace planted the first batch of 300+ tulip bulbs around the barnyard fence.  Once that was done, Grace started to paint the fence, taking advantage of rather warm weather.

Storm Approaching

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We had an extraordinary high amount of rainfall so far this year – and here comes another storm!  According to the national weather service, our region (Middletown data) has had over 60 inches of precipitation already this year – the total amount of precipitation in 2010 was only 39.43 inches.

It’s Official: “The Long Shot Farm” Fictitious Name Filed

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We finally applied for a fictitious name through the PA Department of State (did the online application), and then placed two newspaper ads announcing that we filed for a fictitious name.  We received the notice of registration in today’s mail!

Name:  The Long Shot Farm
Purpose: Fruit and Vegetable Farm

Also purchased the url for “thelongshotfarm.com”
Now we have to come up with a sign and logo 🙂

Pine Tree Removal Makes Room for More Berries

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Last winter we had lost several large pine trees – and the few that survived that bad storm have been leaning more and more each month.  Jeff decided today that it was time for them to all go – so he pushed them down with his tractor.  Pushing them had the distinct advantage of pulling out the entire root ball – this made cleaning up rather easy. 
So he pushed three huge pine trees down – just so that they would miss our young fruit trees.  He then sawed them up enough for the tractor to be able to pull the stems and branches to a new “burning pile” across the road. 
The plan now is to make a straight line – parallel to the picket fence –  all the way to the end of our field.  Then plow from the fence on out toward the fruit trees.  This new section will be divided into two parts – one for blackberries (toward the back) and one for blueberries – toward the front, on the ground where the pine trees used to grow.  Hoping that the years of dropping pine needles turned the soil a bit more acid – to keep the blueberries happy.
 We got 40 more blueberry bushes – like last year, at the end of season clearance at Lowes.

All cleaned up!

New blueberries, waiting to be planted