Okay, the winter barleys have been in the ground for about a month now, and it's time for a check-up. They're doing fine; I'd put overall growth at almost a foot. I gave the growing plants a "haircut" about two weeks ago, clipping them from ~9 inches down to ~4 1/2; my reasoning for this was multifold: a) the deer did it (and more severely!) last year, and it didn't hurt them a bit; b) I wanted to suppress any excessive tillering before the first frost, to promote having a more established root system; c) something had been sleeping in the tall, lush "grass", and I wanted to discourage it; and d) some high winds were making things "lay down" a bit more than I liked, and I wanted to minimize whatever damage might occur.
A more experienced farmer might allow point "b" as sensible, and the rest as unnecessary/irrelevant, but there it is--I couldn't come up with a good reason not to, and had at least 4 reasons for doing it. Regardless, they bounced right back within about a week. (For the curious, whatever had been laying down in the barley--possibly a rabbit, squirrel, or chipmunk--stopped.)
The deck on the Undisclosed Location has been completed--well, all the decking is down, anyway. I've still got the pergola to build, as well as steps and possibly a handrail or two. Additionally, I'm looking at a smaller stoop out of the side-door from the UDL, with a ramp down to the decking, but that will require the removal of a few trees. I've also got to get moving on trash removal--the debris-pile from the various construction we've been doing has reached ridiculous proportions. Still, progress has been made overall.
It is with this in mind that I'm calling for the first Brew Day at the new house: November the 16th. I haven't yet decided exactly what I'll brew, or any further details than that; I do plan on there being pictures, which will naturally find their way here. Details will be forthcoming, so stay tuned!Labels: Barley, brew day, garden, Halcyon, Maris Otter, plans, projects, teaching