Spring Challenges

A dry spring, predators, and then a downpour!

Austin came over and finished tilling the field.  A clean slate ready to plant!

By now it was pretty darn dry and dusty out in the fields.  I transplanted some brassicas and herbs but wanted to make sure they got some water.  Drip irrigation to the rescue!  I set the roll up on this Swiss Family Robinson dispenser.  

It's got a handy cross piece for making a nice clean cut.

Back near the hoophouse we have the control center set up.  Water come from the tanks on the hill from the right. Some tees come off for garden hose watering and chicken water filling.  The filter for the drip tape, another tee to the hoophouse, and then the line continues out to the field.  ~10psi available at 5gal/min.

Voila!  Drip tape connected and ready to irrigate by gravity.

After many blissful months of carefree chicken tending, I had a rash of attacks on my birds.  It's pretty disheartening to come into the coop and find part(s) of a chicken.  I feel even worse for the other chickens that were in the same coop!  Top predator possibilities: Fox, raccoon, possum, dog, weasel, owl, just about anything...

We set a have-a-heart trap and tacked down loose areas of the fence with big staples.  I also reconfigured the coops to be more sheltered at the entrances if the attacks were from owls.

A few nights went by, and we got a possum!  When I went over to check the trap, all the chickens came running over to that end of the fence as if to see what it was that was caught.  Or maybe they were thanking me for protecting them from the critter that got their sisters.  Aww shucks.

  

I'm not a fan of trapping, but there are plenty other woodsy areas for this guy to call home.  Off you go now.  

After we got that taken care of, the dry spell came to an end with record breaking rainfall.

RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME 406 AM EDT TUE APR 24 2012 ...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM RAINFALL SET AT PORTLAND ME... A RECORD RAINFALL OF 3.13 INCHES WAS SET AT PORTLAND ME YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 1.53 INCHES SET IN 1921.

All the flats got flooded and I had to go drain each one.  Carefully carefully.  Those soil blocks held together fine while saturated, as long as the water did not slosh around too much.

Why did these trays not have holes to begin with?  Yeah, maybe trays with holes would have been better, but I went with these because it allows me to bottom water the soil blocks, and go longer between waterings.  These were under row cover, and previous light rains left just a touch of water in there which was gone by mid day.  Not so much when there were 3 inches of rain.  Compromise now is a single hole in the corner of each tray for a slow drain.