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Am I being fenced in or are you being fenced out?

 Yet another insanely busy week has passed and even though our To-Do list is growing we are starting to check some things off. Chris took the week off from his off-farm work so we could work on some major projects. This week the big one was putting up our deer fence.

 Thanks to Winnie's superior measuring skills and my sister (Jo) and dad (Pa) who lent a hand we were able to get it nearly completed over a few days. The deer fence is housing our growing field (just over an acre) and is 8 feet high. It seems a little overkill but there are so many deer around here and they could eat through our field in one night, easily. We’ve also seen them fly over a 6-foot fence on the property without breaking a sweat. We are NOT taking that chance and have put a good chunk of money into this fence fortress; by the end, (hopefully?) even I’ll have a hard time finding my way in. 

 

 The growing field itself is also about half finished. We are still busy building raised beds and topping them all with soil amendments. This is by far the most physical work and unfortunately, I ended up pulling a muscle in between my ribs from doing it so the rest of the bed building will be in Chris’ hands. Luckily, he’s great at it. 

 

 We have started putting up our caterpillar tunnels (of which we have 7) so our heat loving crops can go in and we are starting to transplant thousands of seedlings into the field.

 Things seem to going relatively smoothly but now that our CSA is sold out, we are definitely feeling the pressure of finishing up these big tasks so we can focus on growing. Most seedlings in the greenhouse are screaming to be transplanted but it’s hard to find the time. Luckily most of these plants are resilient and can withstand a little suffering.

 It's actually a big change to be this far north as well. Compared to our last place we are a whole temperature zone in difference (colder). We lose two weeks in spring and two weeks in fall to cold weather and frosts so we aren't in huge rush to get our cold sensitive plants in the ground. It will take a while to work out all the intricacies of growing in the open field and unheated tunnels with this temperature change but that kind of knowledge just comes with time and practice. 

 

 All things considered I'm glad we shortened our growing season this year. I look forward to pushing the boundaries of growing on the shoulder seasons using unheated tunnels but we definitely feel it's a smart move to get to know the micro climates of this property a bit better and also it gives us more time to set up.

 So that was the week! No big crying fits and one deer fence completed. Not too bad...