A break in the rain.

We have had so much rain the last few weeks that it is almost unbelievable.  Certainly more then I have seen here, and the forecast is calling for more.  That has really set us back in a lot of ways.

We can not get the tractor on to the fields to prepare them for planting.  I had an afternoon last week when I was able to get three fields tilled, and 2 of them the second tilling with the plow attachment on to form the rows and the irrigation canals, but thats as far as I could get before I got rained out.  We have had our first full dry day today in a while and tomorrow is supposed to be dry as well.  I am hoping to get the next three fields tilled and plowed if I can get on them.  We should be OK.  The tractor has streamline things so much that we are on target still with the planting, and with the extra fields this year we are staggering the produce so by tomorrow we will have 1/2 of everything planted, then we will start planting a duplicate after that so the crops will be staggered by a few weeks to give a longer growing season.

Its not only the planting that has been slowed up, The green house project is taking a hit as well.  The type of green house we are doing is a Pit Greenhouse with the back wall made of mud bricks and then a burm piled up against it.  This has made it almost impossible to do much because the blocks need dry weather to set up and dry properly.. Today they were back at it

waiting for the rain to stop 

this is an example of what we will be building except that we are hopping to use poly carbonate rather then plastic.

It is interesting to see the walls go up.  First the mud and the straw are mixed up , then the mettle form is put into place 

the form is then packed with the mud mixture, and let to set for a bit while the next batch of mud is mixed. Then the form is carefully lifted off and moved to the location of the next block

Today Sydoola had a friend from Germany here who is an expert at this type of green house and wanted to look over the project and discuss it with Sydula and Jengish

Over at the hospital, they are coming along great .. probably by the end of tomorrow they will be ready for the tin to go onto the roof.

I stood watching the boys for a few minuted this morning, and was quite amazed at how well they were doing .  They both appeared to have a full understanding of the project, and were able to work independently, measuring, cutting . and nailing rafters in place.  It was so encouraging to see them.. I was a proud poppa.. It also speaks to Vladys abilities, not just doing the work but being such a great teacher and mentor for the boys as well.

So the trees were at the point that they needed to be thinned out.  I was all set but when it came to it I just could not bring myself to do it .  Its not like thinning carrots.. these trees are so Valuable to us at the farm and they have the potential to off set the kids salaries in the future.  So what we did was carefully loosened the soil and gently pulled the duplicates out being careful not to break the long roots.  Then carefully replanted them into fresh peat pots