Chopping silage now. Should be finished by tomorrow or Saturday, I think. As long as there isn't another breakdown, should be done by then.
Combine is out of the quonset, cleaned and serviced, and ready to pick. Not sure if we'll pick corn or beans first. Bought a new bean head and I don't know if it is here yet. Haven't been down to the other farm to see if it arrived.
I think there was a slight frost last night. Should probably check the garden. I know there are tomatoes, brussel sprouts, and a load of zucchini and papaya squash out there that I really should use up. Where is the time to do that AND get my writing done? Good question.
I have a huge pan of cherry tomatoes in the garage refrigerator that I want to use to make some salsa, but I'm not sure when I'll get to that, either.
Need more minutes in the day. :)
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Farm notes
The new tank is in and working nicely, I might add. If the winter months are as nasty as I hear they are predicted to be, it is possible the milk man might not be able to get here every day. Now, we can make it two days before we'd be in trouble.
Of course, Scott wanted to keep the other tank too, so we could do some experimenting with organics and raw milk. But....that isn't going to happen now.
Stopped and looked at a bean head for the combine yesterday. We were laughing that we have all Case-IH tractors and a JD combine (that's a piece of junk...). If we get the one we looked at, we'll have to adapt a Case head on the JD combine. Should be interesting.
Cut (or chopped....I always get in trouble when I try to associate a verb with a crop because it seems I never get it right, even though they all mean the same think: it's out of the field!!) silage and it should be ready to feed starting tomorrow or Wednesday. Have to finish feeding the bad silage we had to buy because the head feed man (=Scott) says if he mixes it, he's afraid we'll have a herd of sick milking mamas. Don't want that!
And the cherry tomatoes are overtaking the garden. I'm going to pull two plants today or tomorrow and make more salsa. You can never have too much salsa!! Plus, it's so good!
Of course, Scott wanted to keep the other tank too, so we could do some experimenting with organics and raw milk. But....that isn't going to happen now.
Stopped and looked at a bean head for the combine yesterday. We were laughing that we have all Case-IH tractors and a JD combine (that's a piece of junk...). If we get the one we looked at, we'll have to adapt a Case head on the JD combine. Should be interesting.
Cut (or chopped....I always get in trouble when I try to associate a verb with a crop because it seems I never get it right, even though they all mean the same think: it's out of the field!!) silage and it should be ready to feed starting tomorrow or Wednesday. Have to finish feeding the bad silage we had to buy because the head feed man (=Scott) says if he mixes it, he's afraid we'll have a herd of sick milking mamas. Don't want that!
And the cherry tomatoes are overtaking the garden. I'm going to pull two plants today or tomorrow and make more salsa. You can never have too much salsa!! Plus, it's so good!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Snakes in the treeline
I've never really cared for snakes, but I've always had the idea in my head that if you leave a snake alone, it will leave you alone. But as I've gotten older (and definitely wiser), I've learned that snakes are just plain gross.
Since moving to the farm, I've seen one snake in our yard; that was last summer. I went out on the deck and was going to look for something in my vehicle when I saw something slither from the flowerbed in front of the house. It was a snake. A long snake. A fat snake. A bull snake. And it scooted underneath my vehicle. I stopped in my tracks, retreated to the deck, and waited for the husband to return home and get rid of it.
I'm not sure what he did do with it though, because snakes don't bother him.
So a little over a week ago, when I was directing a camp, he calls and tells me that when he was walking through the windbreak to get to the cattle tank to turn on the faucet so he could water the garden, he found a snake. A long snake. A fat snake. A bull snake. Yes, this anaconda (OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating) was approximately 8 feet long and about four inches in diameter. And worse yet, he picked it up. Yeah, like playing nice with the bull snake will guarantee that it will stay away from me.
Now, I'm mortified, because I refuse to walk into the forest of a windbreak just to turn on the water to the garden. No, I'm being realistic because I refuse to let the slimy creature hiss or strike at me.
I understand that they serve a purpose here. They keep the rat and mice population to a minimum and that is very important when you have tons of silage, hay, and alfalfa all over the place. But still, they are not pleasant to look at, and I'm not sure what purpose they play at our house. Except to scare the hell out of me!
Since moving to the farm, I've seen one snake in our yard; that was last summer. I went out on the deck and was going to look for something in my vehicle when I saw something slither from the flowerbed in front of the house. It was a snake. A long snake. A fat snake. A bull snake. And it scooted underneath my vehicle. I stopped in my tracks, retreated to the deck, and waited for the husband to return home and get rid of it.
I'm not sure what he did do with it though, because snakes don't bother him.
So a little over a week ago, when I was directing a camp, he calls and tells me that when he was walking through the windbreak to get to the cattle tank to turn on the faucet so he could water the garden, he found a snake. A long snake. A fat snake. A bull snake. Yes, this anaconda (OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating) was approximately 8 feet long and about four inches in diameter. And worse yet, he picked it up. Yeah, like playing nice with the bull snake will guarantee that it will stay away from me.
Now, I'm mortified, because I refuse to walk into the forest of a windbreak just to turn on the water to the garden. No, I'm being realistic because I refuse to let the slimy creature hiss or strike at me.
I understand that they serve a purpose here. They keep the rat and mice population to a minimum and that is very important when you have tons of silage, hay, and alfalfa all over the place. But still, they are not pleasant to look at, and I'm not sure what purpose they play at our house. Except to scare the hell out of me!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Garden season - farming in small quantities
We finally finished planting the garden this afternoon! Huge sigh of relief!
About a month ago, we planted tomatoes, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, green peppers, and potatoes. The potatoes are coming up nicely, except for in a few spots. If I remember correctly, those same spots didn't produce much lettuce last year. The other plants look mighty fine, so I am anticipating a good, healthy garden!
Today, we planted green beans, lima beans - actually the package said Christmas Speckled Beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and papaya pear squash. I bought two large planters and planted lettuce in one and spinach in the other. A little deck garden action never hurts!
Also planted iris and geraniums today. And we pulled a huge pile of weeds out of the front area. I'm going to have to get some plastic and put down so that we keep the weeds out of there. Also, about a month ago, I planted six rose bushes behind our new addition. All but one have leaves sprouting, so it should be nice and colorful back there this summer.
Tomorrow, I'm going to plant asparagus across the road in the ditch. I'm told I need to plant it there so it will actually come up next spring. I'm told the soil is always moist in that spot. And, I'm told that now I shouldn't have to worry about watering it every day. And I told him he'd better be right!
About a month ago, we planted tomatoes, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, green peppers, and potatoes. The potatoes are coming up nicely, except for in a few spots. If I remember correctly, those same spots didn't produce much lettuce last year. The other plants look mighty fine, so I am anticipating a good, healthy garden!
Today, we planted green beans, lima beans - actually the package said Christmas Speckled Beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and papaya pear squash. I bought two large planters and planted lettuce in one and spinach in the other. A little deck garden action never hurts!
Also planted iris and geraniums today. And we pulled a huge pile of weeds out of the front area. I'm going to have to get some plastic and put down so that we keep the weeds out of there. Also, about a month ago, I planted six rose bushes behind our new addition. All but one have leaves sprouting, so it should be nice and colorful back there this summer.
Tomorrow, I'm going to plant asparagus across the road in the ditch. I'm told I need to plant it there so it will actually come up next spring. I'm told the soil is always moist in that spot. And, I'm told that now I shouldn't have to worry about watering it every day. And I told him he'd better be right!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
