Almost every day contains a new set of surprises, it seems, and we're thankful that several things have fallen together lately. More on that in a minute...

June certainly wasn't dull either, though.

Besides the other "normal" stuff, we have all the buffalo robes from last season back already, considerably ahead of normal. Plus this year it appears I've met my goal of having all the skulls cleaned before haying starts. Well, there's still a few that need bleaching, & horns bondo'd back on, and invoicing and shipping and my kingdom for a secretary!!

Plus bookings and bookwork, and some other B words that escape me at the moment.

But let's move on to the F words! Farming, primarily, although others occasionally crop up.

Speaking of cropping up, though, our camelina has come on like mad in the last ten days or so.

About time!! I seeded it on time, April 11 for the field pictured above, and April 20 for another 30 acres. Got a decent stand, although one thing I've learned is the recommended 3# per acre seeding rate is not enough (in my case, at least) and 5# is more like it. Live and learn...

It's ironic, because I had been leaning toward tearing (at least part of) that field out for a while. In fact we'd participated in a tour back on the 12th, put on mostly for some folks from Wyoming passing through, by the Biobased Institute at MSU. At that point my camelina fields were... well let's just say they weren't near as photogenic as now.

Fortunately I was too busy to get to it right away, plus it was raining off and on (Yay!) and the next thing you know...

The stuff has exploded! Camelina is known for competing well with weeds, and I'm considerably encouraged on that issue. I'm sure there'll still be the odd lambsquarter or pigweed, but they take quite a while to mature, and the camelina just might be harvestable not long after I finish haying (no rest, and I'm not even wicked), plus now we have a swather, so... I have a feeling things will work out.

The photo above was also taken last Thursday, and if I haven't lost you already with this farming stuff, the barley in the foreground is kinda interesting. And incidentally, the later-seeded field of camelina is just beyond.

This ground has gotten a substantial shot of nitrogen over the last two years, due to red clover we interseeded with prior crops. Plus, we'd green-manured lentils (ack, I must come up with a better phrase) on part of it. The difference is remarkable.

Initial soil tests on the place were abysmal, literally 1-2# of nitrogen per acre. I have no illusion that what we've done so far is some miracle cure (those don't exist, in this case), but during field work this spring I'd noticed the dirt is beginning to resemble soil, instead of some masonry product. And, the barley agrees! It's tillered out remarkably, on the verge of canopying and we'll see... if we can luck out with the odd timely shower, which has been known to happen here in the Valley of the Flowers, just maybe...

Luckily a couple of equipment issues have resolved in recent days. Thank God, I was able to borrow/rent a bigger flatbed gooseneck trailer, courtesy Scenic City Trailers, which greatly facilitated getting our swather back down here from the Hi-Line. And, I just made a screaming trip to fabulous Burley, Idaho. Local options for finding a replacement rim for our heirloom Massey turned up short, although they can be had at tractor salvage yards in Nebraska and the Dakotas. Alas, trucking options from Nebraska fell through (within time constraints) and I was dreading a drive to the Dakotas, but luckily turned a couple up in Burley, less than half the distance. Plus was able to pick up a combine tire and a few other odds & ends...

And, am back in time to pull off the Bogert Farmer's Market this afternoon!

This was just after we'd gotten set up a couple weeks back, before the crowds arrive. My wife Kim, on the left, whose fabulous baked goods bring 'em in, is visiting with Lynn Peterson, proprietor of TaDa Soap. Lynn's daughter Brekke is doing all kinds of great development work on alternative crops as a grad student in the BioBased Institute.

At least tonight there's only a 20% chance of thunderstorms. The first couple of those Tuesday evening markets, I joked that I should be taking the wall tent and wood stove, but it was true. We were dang near hypothermic time we got out of there... At least that should be over, now that it's (almost) July.

<update; it poured.>