Winter work on the farm is mostly cutting down trees and cleaning up branches. It’s a lot of work but not a ton. March is the start of new activities. The weather is much warmer and all the plants are waking up from winter. Farm work seems to expand, mostly around taking care of plants and animals.
While the chickens are doing a good job laying eggs again, we decided that it would be good to buy a few chicks each year. Hens can be lost to illness and predators, and winter brings a dip in production. Of course we will have a small problem dealing with dozens of eggs each week. The pond builder said I should sell some of the eggs. That seems to be more work that I don’t want to do. My option is to just scramble the excess eggs and feed them to the hens. They love scrambled eggs and it’s a wonderful source of protein for them.
I spent a long weekend mid-March in Napa, California. Beautiful weather, super relaxing, fabulous views, and delicious wine.
I was really interested in the little gardens and chickens I found around the wineries. The Quivira winery is an organic gardening farm that produces a variety of dried fruit, jams, and other food items for their charcuterie boards to complement the wine. Their crops are shared with employees and the local food bank. In the town of Yountsville, we had a look at the garden used by the famous French Laundry. Yountsville is a mecca for Michelin chefs and even the non-rated restaurants are very good. Having access to a lot of wonderful fresh food is replicable on my farm. So now I have some new goals.
Flying around the country was a pattern over two weeks in March. After Napa, I flew to Minnesota for some work…a day after returning from Minnesota, we were on a plane to Vegas. The inaugural All American Koi Show was held at the Silverton Casino/Bass Pro Shop in Las Vegas. I wasn’t planning to go but there was a lot of publicity and FOMO (fear of missing out) helped change my mind. It really was fun to see so many koi hobbyists in one place and a lot of different features from the traditional koi shows we attend. Great backdrop for photos…
I was not going to fly my koi to Las Vegas but it’s always nice to participate in a koi show. I asked Shawn McHenry of Mystic Koi for some small koi to show in one of his vendor tanks. The deal is that I buy the koi, Shawn transports to and from, ships to North Carolina at a later date. For most shows, hobbyists transport their own koi back and forth to the show. I feel this show was mostly koi dealers transporting koi to the show in Vegas. Some of these koi were flying in private jets. There was a huge buzz around a koi purchased by a hobbyist in Long Island for $200,000 (possibly more depending on who you talked to) – and she certainly flew on a private jet. She also happened to win Grand Champion.
Back to my crew of tiny baby koi. I purchased an ai goromo from Izumiya and the shiro utsuris from Omosako. I really do like shiro utsuris and we’ll have to wait a few years to see how these babies will look. One of the shiro utsuris I showed was designated “first place shiro utsuri size 1”. This means out of all the shiro utsuris that were in the show and under 10″ – one of my three shiro utsuris was first. Of course we don’t know how many under 10″ shiros were in the show – could have been just my three! 😂
The big difference of this show was the judging team. The judges flew in from Japan and are primarily koi breeders. They know koi but are not certified by any judges training program like the judges we have at US koi shows. They’re methodology and reasoning behind winners is sometimes different than what we are used to but I think we all had to go with some differences this inaugural show. The judges started late due to some last minute changes, judged under some windy and hot conditions, a lot more work than they had expected. Some of them were taking a nap during the banquet.
The banquet was definitely different than any other koi show banquet I have attended. We had a cirque du soleil style soloist perform, a dance number, and Shawn McHenry appeared in a bright green MC suit. Open bar, pretty good food, and ended two hours on the mark. During the awards presentation they tossed the owner of the grand champion koi into the air. This amusing tradition is done at the All Japan Koi Show where the winner is tossed into the air a few times. It was really a great effort on the part of Shawn McHenry and Hector Mardueno to get this event off the ground. I’m saying I might not go next year but I’ll probably change my mind next February.
The assorted Japanese maple trees are starting to leaf out. Most of my maples were just planted last year so this year is kind of a surprise season. I am worried that one of my larger maples is either very behind or possibly dead. Right now the new leaves tend to be a ruby color or light green depending on the variety. I would like to get a few more maples over the next few years that will have more color variation.
Difficult to see but the peach trees and cherry trees are doing well. I may put watering bags at their base to discourage chickens from scratching around the roots and also work as a slow drip irrigation.
Some herbs and vegetables are starting in the greenhouse. I have had problems starting tomatoes this year. Last year they did well indoors so maybe I will have to start a tray indoors. I also used new small trays with some covers and I don’t think they are very good.
Over the weekend the pond builder planted three more flowering apricot trees in this pasture and five hazelnut bushes. Still waiting to show up on the property are two cherry trees, three Asian pear trees, a satsuma mandarin tree, two flowering quince bushes,some lingonberries, and three more raspberry plants. Watering all the trees and shrubs on the property takes hours.
I’m really excited about my ramp box. This year, I have ramps growing! We will only harvest a few because my hope is that this will turn into a large wild ramp patch. Ramps are a species of wild onion/garlic and grow throughout the east. You might find it at the farmers market or on a seasonal menu. Ramps are difficult to find because they have been over harvested. I’m really tickled to grow foodie specialties.
The bee box is waiting for a colony. In about three weeks, my NUC will be ready for pick up. I’m using a flow hive which a lot of beekeepers look down upon. However it seems far easier to harvest the honey and I’m not really into doing bees the hard way. I really do not know if I’m cut out to be a beekeeper but we’ll just test the waters with one hive this year.
We’re back to pond work again. While I was in Napa, the pond builder removed our winter cover. Then he started building a concrete skirt around the pond. He will start building a framework around the pond and we will affix the finishing boards to the frame. There will be a wide plank that one can walk on or sit upon, and the sides will be shou sugi ban cedar. I’m hoping we can put the pergola up this year as well. It’s nice to see the koi all the time and most are looking good. I have one that needs some TLC for something going on its side
March ends with a lot of promising projects ahead. Hopefully the work will not be too much!