Our wheat was wiped out by wild hogs and our rye was damaged.
We applied a tank mix of Tobasco and half a gallon of Louisiana Hot Sauce in 55 gallons of water to repel the beasts. So far it is working. Another three weeks for the rye to mature and I am pretty sure pepper sprays will be common this year.
Bought a box blade and a new tiller from Tractor Supply. Did more bulldozing in reverse with the blade than leveling. Had to shove the berms the hogs threw up back into the holes they rooted. We should have plenty rye to mill and customers are very happy with our flour for the most part. We wanted to have wheat for our bread mixes as rye bread is made up of 20% to 50% rye flour. The remainder is bread flour and whole wheat flours. I am shopping around for hard red wheat to grind.
Postponing the Meadows Mill purchase until our business grows a bit more. I would really have liked that mill. Planting the hog damaged wheat field in blackeyed peas. Plan on cutting these dry in August for sale over the winter.
Our watermelons and cantaloupe are up and growing. No seedless melons. Ours didn't make either.
Most people are 5 generations removed from the farm. We do these blogs and facebook and G+ so that people have some idea how their food is produced. Many people have fanciful notions about how farm life is and who controls it. I am here telling you that we farmers make those decisions. It is our job, sometimes not our only job. Farm life is tough, high risk work. It can also be very rewarding work, though not always in monetary terms.
There is a new documentary out called Farmland. I want to take this opportunity to show my support for it. Go see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_YpdXUm_iM
