Thistles

My new farm maintenance plan was adopted today. I figure if I go out and let the chickens out and then plan to work two hours doing farm maintenance before I take a shower, maybe, I will be able to check a few things off the list soon.

Thistles are really prickly and they have one or a couple tap roots so they are not my favorite weed to pull but if you learn the technique they come up fairly easily most of the time. The trick is to get a spade fork just the right distance out from the root, put it down, and lift slightly. If the thistle stays high, you reach under the prickly leaves to the top of the root and pull it out. Then you press the raised area of sod down gently with your foot.

It is probably good sense to keep just the right distance from anything prickly. Not too close but not too far away. You have to get a sense of what you are dealing with but give it respect.

Thistles, like most invasive plants, are beautiful but the problem in the pasture is-- the sheep don't eat them, they get quite large, and they colonize. Now is the perfect time to pull them because we have had alot of spring rain and they won't bloom for awhile which is how they reseed.

Good thing I blog to journal and keep track of when things happen cause no one else would find this interesting reading. If anyone is reading this here are some pictures from this mornings rounds.

Norma Jean is fascinated with chickens

Gretta is the 2nd youngest but the 2nd biggest.