Mercer County is under an excessive heat warning today, as high temperatures are expected to reach at least 87 degrees. It was 89 yesterday, and it's supposed to be 88 tomorrow. The worst part of a New Jersey heat wave is that it's usually also very humid.

One farmer remarked that it feels like August. Minus, of course, the fresh tomatoes and sweet corn.

When Farmer Jeremy brought the draft horses in from the pasture this morning, before 8:30 a.m., they were already covered in sweat. "They're so hot and sweaty I can't curry them," he said. Instead, he pulled out the hose and gave them a quick shower before cleaning their coats. He pointed out that this was slightly non-historic. In the old days they probably would have taken the horses down to the creek.

Once the salt and dirt was off the horses, they could be harnessed. The horses didn't have a big day of work planned -- it was too hot -- but they needed to pull the plow a few times for a visiting school program.

In addition to the early heat, Farmer Jeremy noticed something else that seemed early. "We've got big flies already," he said. "They're at least a month ahead of schedule."

On the plus side, Farmer Jeremy later added, "Everything is growing like crazy."

The field corn -- planted by Farmer Ian on May 19 -- is up. The potatoes are ready for cultivating. And the first loads of hay are already put away in the barn.

Farmer Rob added that both the cabbages in the kitchen garden and the cow in the barn are "ginormous." Daisy, our Jersey cow, is due to give birth to a calf on Friday.

-The potatoes, planted in the market garden on April 28, are up.

-On Saturday, Farmer Ian planted corn.

-In the past week, using a tractor, Farmer Gary cut and bailed the first 200 hay bales of the season.

Back in November 2011, we wrote about wheat:

Howell Farm planted two different varieties this year. The wheat in the first photo below shares characteristics with older varieties of wheat -- it will grow taller than modern wheat varieties with a long beard protecting the heads. The wheat in the second photo has characteristics more typical of modern wheat crops -- it will grow shorter, and although it also has a beard, the beard will be shorter.

The farmers at Howell Farm are interested to observe the results of this experiment. Which variety will grow the best, which will yield the most grain, which will be easiest to harvest with historical equipment, and which will prove to be the most resistant to grazing deer?

Now that its May, its time to check in on the progress of the two crops. I walked through the two fields this morning and, unscientifically, picked out stalks that I thought looked fairly representative of the field as a whole.

So far, to my eye, it looks like the varieties are growing much as expected. "The old-time" variety is definitely taller -- 8 to 10 inches taller. But the grain head of the more modern variety is packed with many more wheat kernels, and each individual kernel is a little larger as well. The stalk of the modern variety is also slightly thicker.

A benefit of the modern wheat variety, as one might guess, is that it should yield more grain per acre. But the "old-time variety" will yield more straw per acre.

Other observations:

The coloration of the wheat plants is exactly the same.

Beard length: Each of the varieties is supposed to have a beard (which allegedly deters hungry deer) but the beard on the old time variety is expected to be longer. This appears to be the case, but the difference is not dramatic. The beard on the old-time variety appears larger partly because the grain head is comparatively smaller.

There's no more news to report on Daisy's calf other than it's still coming soon...

Farmer Jeremy speculated this morning that perhaps the calf will come in another week.

We'll know for sure once the calf is born!

Daisy, Howell Farm's Jersey cow, is due to give birth in early June. But the farmers say Daisy looks just about ready and there's speculation that the calf could come any day. We'll post details and baby pictures when they're available.

The barn swallows are also expecting. If you take a close look at the photo above, you can spot the forked tail of a barn swallow mother sticking out of the nest.

It's 70 degrees and sunny at Howell Farm today, with blue skies and a few scattered clouds -- just about a perfect spring day.

The lambs, however, seem to prefer the shade.

Today, visiting school children helped Farmer Ian and Historical Interpreter Lisa plow the field where this year's crops of field corn, popcorn and pumpkins will be planted.

(A decision was made to move the location of the popcorn here from the farm's uppermost crop field. One benefit to the move is that there will one less deer fence that needs to be put up.)

The spring lambs are starting to look a lot like sheep.