• Home
  • Furrow Archives (2009-2010)
  • Farmbedded Archives (2008)
  • Photos
THE FURROW: The online newsletter of Howell Living History Farm

Test potato

7/17/2013

0 Comments

 
Farmer Rob and Howell Farm's summer campers dug a potato out of the kitchen garden today to see if they were large enough to harvest. Potato salad was hoped for, but the potatoes are still too small and need a few more weeks of growing.
0 Comments

Combine

7/17/2013

0 Comments

 
Today Farmer Rob combined the wheat field with a tractor and 1960s-era combine. Compared to horse-powered technology of 1910, 50 years of progress marks a remarkable increase in farming efficiency.
0 Comments

Heat Wave

7/17/2013

0 Comments

 
Here at Howell Farm we’re midway through a week of 90-degree temperatures. And, of course, this being a New Jersey summer, it’s humid.

Hay is drying in the field, and perhaps the pastures are slightly  less vibrant green than they’ve appeared in week’s past. But it was a rainy June (New Jersey’s rainiest June ever, in fact) and Dry Run Creek, which cuts through the center of the farm, is still several feet deep in places. Usually by this time of year it lives up to its namesake.

The sheep and the geese are all huddled in the shade. The horses are in the barn, and the air conditioning is on in the visitor's center.

Today the farmers will spread manure, among other tasks, striving toward completion of the stinky, dirty job of mucking out the sheep barn.
0 Comments

Flowers in a Field of Spelt

7/11/2013

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

Summer Harvest

7/11/2013

0 Comments

 
In the kitchen garden, the garlic is ready for harvest, and so is the cabbage.
0 Comments

Spelt

7/3/2013

0 Comments

 
When the wind is right, Howell Farm's field of spelt resembles amber waves of grain. It's ready to be harvested -- once it finally dries out.
0 Comments

Wet, Not Dry

7/3/2013

0 Comments

 
With 9.6 inches of rain, June 2013 was the wettest June in New Jersey history, dating back to 1895.

At Howell Farm, Dry Run Creek is still flowing strong through the center of the farm.

For farmers of yesteryear, a summer that was too dry was just as troublesome as a summer that was too wet. For modern farmers with irrigation, however, a summer that is too wet is by far the worse of the two maladies.

Late blight, the scourge of potatoes and tomatoes, has already been spotted in the state – on potatoes in Salem County and on tomatoes in Mercer County. There’s every reason to suspect that late blight will hit hard this summer.

At Howell Farm, among other delayed activities, the wet weather has prevented the cultivation of the potato field, leading to a crisis of tall weeds.

On the upside, if there is one to all this wet weather, the corn field looks green and lush.
0 Comments

    About

    The Furrow is the online newsletter of The Friends of Howell Living History Farm. We will be updating this site about once a week with crop reports and other insights into life on a horse-drawn living history farm.

    Howell Farm is owned by Mercer County and operated by the Mercer County Park Commission.

    Funding for the Howell Living History Farm Furrow is made possible in part by an operating grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State. 

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.