June 22-26

It's been nearly a week since the previous update. I started riding lessons up again and it took the week to get back in the groove. After all these months of minimal farm traffic we now have around 100 visitors to the farm each week.   We seem to have arrived at a Covid-19 prevention plan that everyone seems comfortable with but I need to stay vigilant. Fortunately, the covid numbers are down in MA in community spread and most other statistics.

 

I still need to make a few minor adjustments in the schedule to make room for a couple new students. The horses did well considering they've had an easy past few months and it was a hot and humid week. We also need to be careful in how we balance out the work-load for them.

 

Meanwhile, we've been waiting for rain as the storm we anticipated mid-week by-passed us. The grass in the yard is pretty brown now as is the hay as the grass matures. I've purchased a few loads of hay from our neighbor but with a reduced expected yield of first crop and lots of heat and dry weather likely to hurt production of the second crop, hay may be hard to find (and more expensive) this summer and fall.The garden, surprisingly, looks pretty good. The corn is a little spotty where some didn't germinate but all in all, things look OK and there is rain in the forecast again the next few days.

 

Photo: Farm activity has picked up. Three sisters and three brothers: Girls: Amber, Christina, and Caroline. Horses: Tucker, Charlie, and Derby