Bluebird Meadows of Stevensville, Michigan

Owner's Web Log
Copyright 2001 Michael S. Brown
June 2004


Daily activities of the owner of a 20 acre Organic Farm plus
observations, notes, and comments on a wide variety of topics.

1 Set out tomato plants in the Tomato Field - rows 6, 7, 8, 9
2 Set out tomato plants in rows 10, 11, 12, 13
3 Finished setting out tomato plants.  Disked the squash field.   Mowed the paths around the farm.
4 Took leftover tomatoes and placed in individual pots for sale as plants.
5 Disked and raked the squash field.

Tolerance Is Not Enough
When I hear about the various conflicts around the world, I'm troubled by calls for "Tolerance."  In my view, you only tolerate things you don't like.   Rather than exerting all the energy toward tolerance, wouldn't it be better to strive for "understanding" and "acceptance"?  I think in too many cases, efforts at "tolerance" are successful (for a time).  Folks are pleased because it seems like violence stops, but nothing has been done to address the hatred which results in the violence.  So the hatred endures and eventually erupts in violence once more.  I wrote about this briefly in my book, God's Gifts To Us All.  The next time you hear somebody asking for "tolerance" in a given situation, ask yourself "Why are they setting their goals so low?".
6 Planted the winter squash field with the help of my sister from Indianapolis.
7 Disked and raked remaining Grape Fields.  Planted 3 rows of sunflowers for seed heads in Grapes NE.
8 Watered the pepper plants with a hose from an irrigation pump in the Fairway Pond.  The length of hose that had to be moved from plant to plant didn't work very well.
9 Finished planting sunflowers in NE Grapes and planted 5 more rows of sunflowers in Grapes SE.
10 Potted mint plants and prepared for the first Farmers Market of the year in St. Joseph, MI.

We got 1.75" of rain over night.
11 Hoed the pepper plants and prepared for the Farmers Market.

Got another 1.75" of rain over night.
12 Worked a Vendor booth at the St. Joseph, MI Farmers Market

Hoed cukes and pumpkins.
13 Mounted and wired an exhaust fan for the greenhouse.

Built a row for the overflow of tomato plants - the main field was full and way too many to sell as plants this late in the season.  Set about 1/2 of the tomatoes in the row.
14 Potato bugs starting to flare up.  Walked all the rows and did some sporadic dusting with rotenone.

Moved some of the larger coleus plants from 4" pots to 6" pots and raised the price.

Got another 1/2" of rain - standing water in the tomato field.
15 Dusted potatoes again.

Finished planting sunflowers in Grapes SE.  Planted 4 more rows in East Meadow SE.
16 Dusted potatoes again.

Planted 4 rows of sunflowers in East Meadow SE.  Cultivated pumpkins and cukes.

Moved some of the larger coleus plants from 4" pots to 6" pots and raised the price.
17 The tomato plants look like they are dying from all the soaking rain lately.   I clipped off all the young tomatoes which had formed to allow the plants the best chance for survival.
18 Dusted the potatoes.

Prepared for the Farmers Market.

Roto tilled the cukes.

Moved some of the larger basil plants from 4" pots to 6" pots and raised the price.
19 Worked a Vendor booth at the St. Joseph, MI Farmers Market
20 Dusted the potatoes.

Cultivated fields.
21 Disked remaining unplanted fields.

Planted 1 row of ornamental sunflowers in Fairway-W.   Planted 3 rows of sunflowers for seed heads in East Meadow SW, 4 rows in East Meadow SE.
22 Hoed pumpkins and winter squash.  Roto tilled half the pickles and winter squash.
23 Finished planting sunflowers for seed heads in East Meadow SW.  Disked East Meadow NE.
24 Dusted potatoes.

Mowed the farm paths.  Made a weld repair to the brush hog wheel.

Planted a field of late cukes and pickles.
25 Prepared for the Farmers Market.

Dug up the first potatoes of the season (by hand).

Made some plumbing changes to the 130 gallon plastic water tank I carry behind the tractor.  I'd like to be able to water 3 rows at a time with pond water.
26 Worked a Vendor booth at the St. Joseph, MI Farmers Market
27 Finished adjusting 130 gallon water tank to do 2 rows at a time.  Watered sunflower sprouts and winter squash sprouts.  The tank set up didn't work as well as I had hoped.  I have a single 1" tap from the tank which goes through a tee to water 2 rows which are 4ft apart.  I found that even a slight slope difference makes a large difference in the balance of flow rates from the 2 outlets.  I think I'll make the best of this setup for this year.  For next year, I'll make 3 separate 1" taps from the bottom of the tank - that should allow the watering of 3 rows with the flow going to one row not affecting the others.  The downside is that I'll need 3 shutoff valves instead of the single one I have now.
28 Dusted the potatoes.

Moved some of the larger basil plants from 4" pots to 6" pots and raised the price.
29 Hauled cut grass mulch to the family garden.

Started assembly of the Tomato Field irrigation pipes.

The first ornamental sunflower blooms are out.  Next year, I'd like to have ornamental sunflowers to sell by June 1 which means getting a head start in the greenhouse.
30 Bought a new irrigation sump pump at Lowes.  Connected irrigation pipes on 4 rows in the Tomato Field.

The tomato plants look bad.  Especially the heirlooms - didn't seem to survive the heavy rains earlier in the month.  Some of the hybrids look like they may recover late in the season.
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