The oats are up and doing beautifully, electricity is in and the well is working. Progress down on the farm!

With help from neighbors, oats were planted in most of the tillable fields along with alfalfa and mixed grasses. This is a first step towards organic transition: no treated seeds, no GM anything, no prohibited chemicals. They’re doing nicely as you can see in the photo.

All together, there are about 24 acres in oats just now. After the oats and straw are harvested – likely late July or early August – the alfalfa should take off. At least, that’s the hope!

I never imagined I’d get so excited seeing oats grow! I’m thrilled. Go figger. Here’s an image of the oats, up close and personal so you can see the seeds developing.

Maybe I’ll keep a bushel or two and see if I can make oatmeal, rolled oats or skirlie. But that’s for later. At the moment I’ve got more immediate jobs to do: gotta get the red barn solid, cleaned up and re-painted. Got to get a farm office sorted (with a working bathroom, I hope) and lots of thinking about the overall site plan. Where should I put a strawberry patch, raspberries, hops, asparagus or other perennials? What should I do about a crossing over the creek? And what about the gazillion boxelders and tons of buckthorn? So much to ponder.

Good, though.