Spring is Closer Than We Think

Get your seed orders ready now if they aren't done already.  Make a list or diagram of how you intend to lay out your garden.  Remember to rotate all your vegetables, not the same thing planted in the same spot.  It may work for farmers that no till corn year after year (with a huge expense) but it does not work for the home gardener.  Planting the same thing in the same spot year after year just breeds problems.

If you have seed left over and you are unsure it is still good, do a small test on it. Use wet paper towels, and place seed between layers to see if it will germinate.  Count the seeds that do germinate (after time needed for each seed), if you end up with 90 Per Cent germinated,  it should be OK to plant it under normal growing conditions. 

Start watching for all the items you may still need to plant and tend your garden to go on sale if you have not already done so.

In our area now is the time to start Plants for spring transplant.  I still need to get this done.  This year I will only be starting Tomato and Pepper Plants.  Then when time to harden off I will have to fight with raccoons.  They can be a pest but they are so cute. 

We do have an Ice Storm coming in Thursday night,  cross your fingers this will be the last one.

Definitely Snowed In More Snow On The Way

Christmas was not white with snow this year, but we did get 10 inches starting at 3:00am on the morning of December 26.  We are snowbound even 2 days later.  Our road will be the last one that sees a snow plow or not at all.  We were prepared for a big snow so we will just do daily tasks and enjoy the quiet time.  My husband is keeping the farm related tasks done, takes a while wading snow with a ton of cloths and shoes on.  So far I have not had to break out my Carhartt polar bibs and insulated boots, but I will if he needs help. This will be a good time to get my taxes organized before January 1. 

We are supposed to get rain, freezing rain, then snow tonight so we will see what tomorrow looks like.

Christmas Day was really nice.  We all met at our Daughter and Son-in-Laws house Christmas evening.  We had too much food as usual, but that is what Christmas is about.  I took about six pounds of fudge for all the grand kids to enjoy.  All the grand kids were happy and had fun unwrapping their gifts and that is what is important. 

Our pets, several cats and One Spoiled Rotten Dog do not like the snow.  Snow does not phase the cattle, they just go about their business, eating hay, feed, hitting the water tanks and just milling about.

My seed catalogs are still coming in and I have found several new things I want to add to the garden this year.  All those beautiful Sunflowers will be hard to resist, so several new varieties will find their way into the garden.

New Herford Calf, Fall Garden clean up

Since I last posted we have been busy getting everything finished for winter.  Needless to say the fall house cleaning came to a complete standstill.  We have been trudging along trying to beat the fall rains.  When I woke up and it was raining I was thrilled that I can catch up in the house.  I even had to schedule grocery shopping around all the work.  Thank heavens I keep stocked up on food.  I feel that if I have a 30 day supply on hand going into winter we won't get slammed with a blizzard.  We will have to see if that works out again this winter.

Every day has been spent picking gourds, gather what has been left in the garden, and gather hickory nuts. My gourd drying racks are almost filled, the last of the hickory nuts are picked up, and the vegetable garden is done.  I pulled down the last of the tomato plants yesterday.  I have two more days picking gourds and I will be done for 2012.  That will give my husband time to get lime spread on the hay fields, garden, and pastures.

October 18 we had another calf born.  He is a big one, we stayed with her for two hours that she was in hard labor.  My husband was 5 minutes from calling the Vet in when here he came.  I named him Bruiser because he was so big and he probably bruised her on the way out.  I felt so sorry for her, but she is fine and so is her baby.  Here is a picture of him he after Mom cleaned him up.

We have done several other projects in the last twelve days and I will post more about that later.  I need to get back to work.

 

 

 

 

 

The Joy of Gardening, Cutting Hay, and Fall Cleaning

Last week we received 5 1/2 inches of rain.  My garden is on sand and drains well, but this week we are getting more rain.  I am not complaining because we need rain now to have a garden and crops next year.  I will not even complain about snow and severe cold.  In short we need a normal rainy fall and a cold snowy winter.

I still have quite a bit to harvest in the garden, but I did manage to get all the potatoes dug before the rains started.  I do not think I will be making anymore tomato juice this year.  If I do get enough tomatoes to juice and can, then that will be wonderful.  There are still gourds, lima beans, peppers, and cotton to harvest.  Yes I planted cotton (in Southern Indiana) to see it grow.  It has beautiful flowers and I am still waiting to see the cotton to appear. 

My husband cut hay again last Saturday, rain was not in the forecast until Tuesday.  Well it is wet and will have to be picked up with a pitch fork.  We have two pitch forks so I guess I will be helping. 

All these little things make life interesting.  We definitely do not get bored around here.

Since it is cold and has been raining since Saturday afternoon, I have tackled fall cleaning.  I am thrilled to say I have 2 rooms done, from top to bottom, closets, drawer, and rotated clothes.  After all the house is cleaned I am setting a goal to deep clean one room a month so it doesn't have to take so long twice a year to get it done. It will make normal cleaning a lot easier and hopefully I feel like I am always behind.  Sounds like a plan to me, I will keep you informed if it works out.

The good thing about any type of cleaning and or organizing you find things you forgot you had or those misplaced items.  It's an a-ha moment when you find things.  I am looking for a land line phone I bought last spring to use when we loose power,  just a plain jane, no bells or whistles.  I know I bought two of them, but I can only find one of them, the one that is plugged in.  Its is here somewhere, along with a big flashlight.  Sometimes I put things up so my grandkids don't play with them and then I can't find them.  I found a stapler after six months of looking for it.  You just have to love grandkids, they tend to keep us on our toes.

 

Adding To The Harvest

My garden is still producing and today I picked tomatoes, peppers, and dug 15 pounds of potatoes. 

I still have more potatoes to dig.  I will get it all done in between everything else that is going on.

I have a ton of peppers to do something with.  I think it is time to start chopping and freezing them.  I  freeze them on cookie sheets then bag them in small bags.  I use my vacuum system so they keep in the freezer a long time, sometimes I have so many they will last 2 years.

I only cook for 2, but I cook every meal so anything I freeze and pressure can helps with meal planning.  It also saves a lot of money.  Grocery shopping is not my favorite thing to do so I stock up when I do have to go.

My intentions of starting fall cleaning are still there and I am making very slow progress in that area.
I am still in the reorganizing phase right now and am finding several items to be mended.  I am catching that up.

When I do get started cleaning my husband will disappear to his building and to the farm, he hates that time of the year.  I loose him at least two times a year, but he always shows up at meal time.

The Things I Have Delayed In Doing.

It is here!  All the things I have placed on the back burner and labeled I will get to that later.  All the chores I have done during the busy summer giving them a hit, lick, and a promise(as my Mother always said) have to start being done.

All the fun stuff, cleaning out closets, drawers, cabinets, we all have those fun things that need to be done.  Who wants to look at all this  all winter long?  Not to mention washing wall, cleaning floors, window coverings to be cleaned, and the dreaded windows to be washed.  Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!!!!!!!!

I did some small jobs yesterday.  There will only be time for a few today.  My husband has an appointment with the doctor.  He has traveled all over the world(work related), but mention doctor and it is not a task he can perform on his own.  I will gladly go with him, it is not me that has to be weighed, probed, prodded, and questioned.

We still have garden waiting to mature and be harvested, hay to be cut and baled again, and fall calving to be cycled through.  Last summers heat messed up the breeding cycle and I am afraid this year will be the same.  Weather plays a big part in all our lives, but it makes life interesting.  I am just grateful for anything our garden produces, our calves that are born and all the delayed chores to be done.  It keeps us busy and we all need a purpose in life.

If you retire  just sit down and do nothing, it gets pretty boring.  We retired to keep working.

Lightning Benefits Your Garden

One of my husbands friends told him this morning that lightning during a rain storm adds nitrogen to the soil when the rain falls.  In short it its true.  I went to the Internet and found several sites with information on it just Google--How Lightning Benefits Your Garden.

The temperature only went down to 43 degrees last night, so I was thrilled about that.  The windows are open today so the air conditioner can get some rest.   I should have started fall cleaning today, but I have some things to get cleaned up outside, it can wait a few more days.

Will my garden beat the first frost?

Listening to the weather report for our area I am beginning to realize, my garden is getting close to being done for the year (a low of 39 tonight).  Autumn officially starts September 22 this Saturday.  It will be the earliest start to Autumn since 1896.  I wonder if their overall weather was as weird as ours has been this year?

There are still several items growing I am not ready to give up on.  Tomatoes and Lima beans are just now starting to produce.  I am going to wait and see if they beat the frost.   They struggled through all the heat.  I will just wait and see what happens. In Southern Indiana summer heat is not uncommon.  What hurt us was the total lack of humidity.  

Gardening is a gamble.  Just like life and you just have to keep going. 

An update on the new calf.  Mama and baby are thriving.  The little thing is already at a full gallop(my husbands description)  in the pasture.  Hopefully the rest of the cows will deliver soon so there will be little friends for it to play with.