Sunday Walkabout 5-17

ewe at sunrise

The word for the week was UNEXPECTED.  A little bad, a little good...it all worked out in the end even if it wasn’t part of the plan.

The week got off to an unexpectedly rocky start when FedEx dropped a package OVER the gate.  Now, I’m sure the delivery person was trying to be helpful. But, the “director of farmland security” (I know it was Gus, but cannot prove it) saw that as a possible threat and had to search and destroy the package. The contents were scattered along the driveway and bits of box were everywhere.

Thankfully, despite the mess, the damage was minimal. Since we cannot get Gus to check the “safe senders’ list”, we may need to leave special instructions for the delivery folks in the future.

package after a check by "farm security"

Monday afternoon we had an unexpected thunderstorm that dropped over an inch of rain in less than an hour.  There was some fairly good-sized hail mixed in there and a good deal of wind as the weather pattern changed again. I spent the entire storm worrying over my camera (which I HOPED I left at the barn) and the tomato/pepper plants that were sitting in the trailer (the storm came up hard and fast with no time to get the tractor and move the trailer to the shed). But, my camera was safe and the plants fared well in the storm.

I made a tour of the farm after the storm. There was flooding INSIDE the hoophouses, barn and brooder, and Gus’ dog-cave under the reefer was filled with water.  The super-saturated earth led to some sort of invasion into hoophouse #1 which will call for some sort of intervention in upcoming days.

The hoophouse has been invaded!
something has tunneled in
...and out again

 (and Squeekie made the most of the rat's nest that flooded out into the middle of the barn by eating the baby rats---ewww...but, Yay, Squeekie!)  And, while the lambs were greatly enjoying the tasty treat of fresh rosebush leaves, the Boss would have to repair the fence where the bush had blown over and pulled the wire off the post.   Not a big job, but again…unexpected.  

enjoying FRESH greens

fence job for the Boss

ewes after the storm

EVERYTHING was drenched!

The unexpected reared its head again as the Boss left the farm truck at the top of the lane for a delivery.  Since he was expecting boxes (and boxes) of egg cartons, he couldn’t risk a “farm security check” and there would be far too many parcels to carry easily, he left the truck at the gate, hoping the UPS man would put the boxes in the back. (and he did! YAY, UPS!)  As he walked back, he heard buzzing.  Lots and lots of buzzing.  As he looked around, he discovered a swarm of bees in one of the pine trees. 

Honeybees!

Surely you’ve read all the dire stories about bees, how many have died unexpectedly and how they are so very important to food production. There are even campaigns to “Save the Bees”.  So, if there’s a wild swarm, someone should do something to give them a good home, and put them to work pollinating crops and making honey. 

Beekeeping is one of those things I’ve always thought was cool.  Yeah, it would be a great thing to get into…and local honey is a hot item right now. And, here was a swarm on our land!  However, we don’t have the time, inclination or infrastructure to start another big project right now.  But, a swarm of bees really needs a home…so, the Boss put in a call to one of the local beekeepers.

The bee-man was excited about the thought of feral honeybees. The Spring has been kind to the bees and there are flowers everywhere, so it’s been a record year for swarm collection. With all the issues of colony collapse and mites, bees with a good survivability gene are immensely important.  So, he headed over to re-home the swarm and in the process, the Boss and I learned a good deal about bees. It was quite interesting…and, no one got stung!  Even better, the bee-man will soon have honey at the Market!

identifying the swarm

look closely, you can see the bees checking out their new home

loading the new hive for transport
(the bee-man gave the Boss a special suit so he wouldn't get stung)

Bye-bye bees!

With the bees headed to their new home, it was time to get back to the regular stuff of the farm.  We worked on weeding the onions.  All that rain seemed to bring forth a bumper crop of WEEDS.  I spent some time in the greenhouses starting more seeds. 

one greenhouse full of starts

And, the Boss mowed…and mowed. (that could be a full-time job this time of year) The mowing came to an unexpected stand-still when the back tire needed some attention…Thankfully, the tire was just REALLY flat and didn’t need replacement.

that tire is FLAT!

Wet Spring weather always seems to cause problems with the lambs. I’ve been watching this one lamb who looked “punk” for a while now.  Since a sick lamb all too often ends up a dead lamb, I was more than a little worried. After we lost the lamb last week, I did some serious reading and research.

see the "punk" lamb in the middle?

Liver flukes are caused by a parasite carried by snails. (I already knew that) Fluke infestation can kill lambs quite quickly and there are snails EVERYWHERE. (I knew that, too)

Snails are NOT one of my favorite things...

But, there’s also a clostridial disease carried by snails, and I think that is probably what killed the other lamb. (I was more than a little concerned that we were facing that one again) We treated the entire bunch for parasites, as overload and infection seemed to be a very real possibility.  He still seemed off…and he wasn’t eating. (a lamb that won’t eat won’t last long) The Boss and I resigned ourselves to the inevitable. But, when I put them in a new paddock, the sick lamb kicked up his heels and put his head down and started eating his way across the pasture.  Later, he was seen chewing his cud! I couldn’t believe it. Then, he started shouldering his way in at the feeder (like the rest of the hungry horde) Now, that was un-expected in a GOOD way!

hungry horde jockeying for a position in the feeder

healthy lambs grazing

Great germination on the potatoes

With all the moisture, the potatoes seemed to sprout overnight. It looks like the best germination ever.  My best guess would be about 95%.  That’s pretty good!

 And the potato beetles aren’t quite as awful as last week…but, look on the underside of the leaves. 

Do you know what those little orange things are?  Eggs.  Potato beetle eggs.  Nope, the battle is not over.

potato beetle eggs

After torrential rains and gale force winds, it was obvious the weather was changing, so we weren’t at all surprised to find we were under a frost warning one night. We hauled out the frost blankets one more time and covered the squash  and parked the trailer with the covered tomatoes and peppers in the shed.  But, we took a chance and left the strawberries were left to the whims of the weather. The overnight temperatures never got as cold as expected and we escaped any frost damage.

Gus, blowin' in the wind

we are still weeks from strawberry harvest

I REALLY hope we can put this stuff away until Fall!

HOORAY! I really hope that is the last of the cold weather for this season. Because there are signs of summer everywhere...

tomato blossom

The green beans are sprouting!

pepper blossom

The week came to its usual climax and conclusion with Saturday’s Market.  Nothing un-expected happened at the Market (which is a good thing) and we got home, had lunch and even got afternoon chores done before the Heavens opened with yet another unexpected rainstorm.

We did get spiffy new Market baskets
...and those little plants sold un-expectedly well!

Now, for a little down-time on this gloomy, potentially rainy Sunday...

Tomorrow will start another “week of the broiler” here on the hill and I am hoping to get a post written about that this afternoon. We’re also supposed to get a whole bunch of transplanting done…the cukes, tomatoes, okra, summer broccoli and peppers are all supposed to get in the garden this week!

Hope you’re having a Happy Sunday!

 

sunrise over Mbrook

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you’ll come and “visit” us again real soon.

What "Eejit" Taught Me about Life and the Internet

Last week, I posted a couple of pictures on Facebook.

No big news, I post a lot of pictures on Facebook. I try to share things that will explain our life and work here on the hill.  I would love to think that I had an influence…that I inspired someone else and made them think.  

But, nothing has ever even remotely garnered the attention that this did.

NOTHING I’ve ever written has been shared so much. And, I’ve been writing about the farm for nearly six years.  I’ve spent countless hours thinking, researching and crafting clever phrasing and interesting copy.

All to be bested by a lamb.

A lamb with a bucket on his head.

A lamb known as “Eejit”.

Okay, so you’re probably wondering about the name. Or, I am going to assume you are, because you need to understand it so that you “get” the title. And, I want to tell you the story.

The bottle lambs still think I’m their mother.  Despite the fact that they haven’t had a bottle in months, they remain far more friendly and “needy” than the others. They will call and come running anytime they see me…which makes for some noisy times here on the hill.

"Eejit" and friend

“Eejit” is the de facto leader of those lambs. Leader is a relative term, as it is more the blind leading the blind-er.  “Eejit” is so named because when the bottle rack was set up and the babies would all line up for their bottles, he would miss the bottle entirely and stick his nose through one of the empty holes, his little mouth making sucking noises as he looked for his meal. (you can read about the bottle rack HERE) This happened all too frequently…as in Every. Single. Time. 

that's "Eejit" right in the middle
even after re-positioning, he couldn't get it right!

There is a question as to anything being dumber than a sheep…but I’m here to tell you there is absolutely NOTHING dumber than a lamb.  He became known as the “idiot lamb”, which was eventually shortened to the more colloquial “eejit” with a nod to our Scots-Irish heritage.

Moving out to pasture didn’t improve “Eejit’s” thinking skills, or make him any more independent.  No, he still follows me, calls for me and gets himself into places he doesn’t belong. 

Like the feed bucket.

I reckon the feed bucket was my fault.  I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that there may have been one tiny oat left in the bottom.  I was focused on that sick lamb over in the corner.  The bucket hung limply from my hand and when Eejit pushed his head down in it, I instinctively pulled it back. I lost my grip and it popped over his head. 

Of course then hilarity ensued as he continued to wander around the pen, bucket on his head, unable to escape and unable to see. As he “talked” inside the bucket, the other lambs backed up in fright.  I could only imagine he was saying “I’m all right…I’m all right!”  (remember Uncle Billy in “It’s a Wonderful Life”?) which nearly reduced me to tears of laughter.

For those who think you can just walk up and take the bucket off the lamb’s head because he can’t see…think again.  Fear instinctively makes them run, or at least make an attempt.  This frightens all the other lambs and chaos reigns as the bucket lamb careens around, bumping into everything. 

Eventually, he stopped ricocheting around the pen and I removed the bucket.  Not, of course, until I had taken some pictures of his latest escapade.

When I loaded the pictures on the computer, they made me laugh.  I figured they might make someone else laugh.

And, I’m guessing they did.

The views continued to climb.

When the views passed 15,000…

…that’s when it hit me.

While the internet is an amazing place to learn and be exposed to new things, while we have more information at our fingertips than has ever been available before, while we can keep in touch with folks in far off lands and truly make a difference in the world with the words we write…

…entertainment trumps it all.

A whole lot of people look to the internet for escape. (don’t believe me? check out all the views on those funny cat/dog/animal videos!) It also helps when people of influence share your stuff...

But, I honestly think we are all looking for something that breaks the monotonous daily grind and causes us to take a minute and re-assess our situation…and reminds us that things might not be quite as bad as we thought. Something that changes our perspective…and makes us laugh. 

Like a lamb with a bucket on its head.

Hmmm

Maybe I’ve been putting far too much thought into this internet thing. 

Maybe I shouldn’t try so hard.

Maybe “they” (you know who you are) are right when they say I take everything too seriously.

 So,

If you can’t beat ‘em…

Join ‘em!

                    Have a great week, y’all!

Sunday Walkabout 5-10

wild grapes along the fenceline

So, here we are…

…it’s Sunday once again.

 I know I keep saying “time flies”, but, you know, it does! It really DOES!

GOOD NEWS! the tree swallows are back
they eat lots of bugs

This week was one of those good-news/bad news kind of weeks, depending on your perspective.

We got a lot of work done around here (including the beginning of a project I’ve wanted to do for AGES) and that’s GOOD.

a new path in front of the processing shed
definitely a GOOD thing!

But, we lost a lamb, realized that we lost more of the early broccoli crop than previously noted, had to re-plant some of the onions and are now facing what promises to be an epic battle with the potato beetles.

…and I guess I don’t need to tell you that all those things are BAD.

With the exception of the lamb and broccoli losses, everything can be corrected during the rest of the season and life goes on.  (and we feel confident that we know what happened to the lamb, and we can address that for next year’s crop…and all the other animals look fine) We will be sure to start more broccoli for the fall to cover the Spring shortage.

the farm in my rearview
see the Boss tilling?

As I headed out for the town run, the Boss was working on cultivating the gardens. Not only does this make things look tidy, it cuts down on the weed pressure for the harvestable crops and gives him a chance to fertilize the plants directly.

Since the timer on the irrigation system needed to be replaced, the Boss took the opportunity to upgrade and organize the “command center” at the hydrant.  At first this looked quite intimidating and confusing, but it’s actually much better than the old system and hopefully I will no longer find that actually watered nothing because I overlooked a valve.

irrigation "command center"

While working on the command center, the Boss modified the garden gates...again.  In an attempt to keep large, white dogs OUT of the garden, all the gates now have multiple bungee cords latching them shut.  The dogs getting into  the garden had never been a problem until about two weeks ago when one of the gates blew open and the dogs were finally free to explore the forbidden wonders of the compost pile. Since that time, we’ve found Ellie in the garden first thing in the morning on numerous occasions.

a big white dog in the garden is a BAD thing

Amazingly, Gus was not in on the overnight adventures. We still haven’t completely solved the mystery, but our best guess is that she somehow opened the gate and let herself in. So far, the latched gates have been successful.  However, I keep forgetting the gates are latched and I’ve been stopped dead in my tracks on more than one occasion. (it’s not unlike pulling on a “push” door) But, no more giant dog footprints in the garden!

I spent part of an afternoon “potting up” the tomato and pepper plants.

rootbound tomato

going in a bigger pot

watering the re-potted plants

  By putting the small, root-bound plants in bigger pots with plenty of soil and some fertilizer, we are assured large, robust transplants when we put them in the garden.  And, yes, I did see all those HUGE plants that left the Market on Saturday (some even had tomatoes on them!)  and yes, I did see that a couple of the neighbors down Mbrk road have already planted theirs out in the garden.  And, yes, I know that makes it look like we are “way behind” on our garden.  But, we’ve been out in the garden in the middle of the night, trying to salvage the newly planted tomatoes from an unexpected late frost because we got a little overly anxious.  So, we’ll err on the side of caution and let the tomatoes sit in their pots in the trailer in the backyard for a while.  And in so doing, have tomatoes until late in the season (hopefully).

That night, as we went to sleep, I was feeling quite satisfied that the tomato/pepper job was done…only to be nearly jolted out of bed by the ominous rolls of thunder.  Lightning crackled across the skies and rain began to pelt the roof. (and was that hail?) MY PLANTS!  I hate night storms when I can’t see anything and all I can do is worry over what might happen to the crops and animals in the dark and stormy night.  And, yes, I did run out and check as soon as the storm was over. Thankfully, there was no damage and we got ¾ inch of much-needed rain.

tomatoes and peppers after the thunderstorm

Then, it was “weeding the onions” day.  This year’s onion plants are not the greatest. Actually, they are more than a little disappointing. I think that has something to do with the ongoing drought in Texas where the onion farm is located. They are small and spindly and the three days of relentless wind a couple of weeks back didn’t do them any favors.  The plants were somewhat stressed and stunted and the weeds were beginning to take over. 

this is an onion planting fail
No, I can't see many onions either

Unfortunately, in one bed, the weeds actually won the battle for survival.  Since we didn’t have any extra plants, and it would take a while to get any replacements, we decided to fill in with onion sets (little onions) as an experiment. But, we didn’t have enough sets…and time would be of the essence as it’s getting late in the season for planting potatoes and onions.  An emergency run to the farm store was in order.…”and if you’re going to town, you might as well pick up a few other things…” Next thing I knew, I was standing in line with a buggy full of onion sets, gardening supplies AND a pitchfork, and the clerk was exclaiming “wow, you’re gonna be busy!”  Yep…it’s Spring! 

onion sets
yellow onions store well

planting onion sets

Somewhere in there, we got the first squash transplants of the season situated in the garden. We use a lot of transplants in the garden to an effort to thwart losses due to pests and disease. (I’ve been meaning to write a post about this…maybe one of these days)  With that transplanting job completed, we are just 6 weeks or so from fresh squash and zucchini. Here’s hoping!  (and it’s time to start the next batch)

first planting of squash after the rain

look closely
see the beetles?

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the first potato sprouts in the garden.  And, apparently, so have the Colorado potato beetles. The plants are starting to pop out all along the rows.  The beetles are coming up out of the ground along with the plants and destroying the plants with their voracious appetites.  And, it was more than a little disheartening to find more beetles than plants.

We’ve never seen anything quite like it…this year’s battle for potatoes promises to be epic.  And, yes, I noted more than a few asparagus beetles AND cucumber beetles were checking out the squash plants as we planted them. Ugh…bugs!

nine beetles on ONE plant

the drive to town was beautiful

Then, it was time for Market.  

Since it was Mother’s Day weekend AND it was warm and beautiful, a LOT of folks were out and about, shopping downtown.  We sold 44 dozen eggs in just over 2 hours…and we could have sold more.  …and we sold over 150 bags of salad greens…

at the start of Market

And, now it’s time for a little break and a

Happy Sunday!  

I'm totally loving the knockout rosebushes we planted!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!

Thanks for stopping by.  Come back and “visit” us again real soon.

ewes enjoying a fresh paddock on  Sunday morning

Sunday Walkabout 5-3

Another week has flown by. 

And… it’s time to tell you about the week on the hill.

But,

I got nothin’…

I’m just blank...

...staring into space

Praying, please, please, let me think of something

…’cause I got nothin’…

             -Darius Rucker “I Got Nothin’ “         

                

Sometimes it’s really hard to make life here on the hill sound interesting…even to me. 

It seems like we do the same thing day in and day out. 

We worry over the animals, the crops and the weather.  We seed, weed, plant, harvest and sell…and then we do it all over again the next week.

While it makes for a pretty good life…it does get a little repetitive. Honestly, even though we do far more than the things I mention in the walkabout blog, we are probably deep in a rut. But, much of the repetition is necessary to keep things running on an even keel. It’s fairly comfortable and productive here in our rut…it just doesn’t make for scintillating copy. Although, I must say, while drama and disaster make for good reading…they make for awful farming conditions!

With that being said, read on, knowing I’m trying to keep it interesting.

frozen dewdrop

So far, the Spring has been very cold and very wet.

We had a hard frost a couple of mornings this week and that slows everything down to a crawl.  Cold nights keep new crop growth to a minimum, which means there are few asparagus to harvest and the broccoli and onion plants are just sitting there in the garden, while the weed growth is rampant…that is SO unfair!

Luke Bryan might have been wrong when he said
"Rain is a good thing!"
It's really mucky in the feed corral.

But, it looks like the weather is going to change big time in the next week…temperatures flirting with the 80* mark by the weekend.  That should make the growth rates take off!

I don't think they're real impressed with becoming PASTURED poultry

With this in mind, we moved one batch of chicks to the pasture so the batch housed in the kiddie pool in the shop could move to the brooder.  Because…yep, you guessed it…we got the email telling us there is another batch of chicks in the works. They will arrive in about two weeks. That’s a good thing, too.  Our Market customers were certainly in a chicken buying mood this week! (we might run out before we get the next batch processed)

Even though the temperatures have been chilly, the sun (when it is actually shining) is brilliant.  This makes for gorgeous skies…and rapidly rising hoophouse temperatures. 

Time to haul out the shadecloth!

shadecloth for #2

Apparently, we’ve gotten fairly good at this procedure and got both hoophouses covered in less than an hour.  By covering the houses with this black knitted fabric, we are able to lower the daytime temperatures by as much as twenty degrees. This, along with good irrigation, makes it possible to grow lettuce all summer.

under cover and ready for summer

It’s looking pretty good in the hoophouses. 

hoophouse #1 total production

hoophouse #2 completely planted

It’s little things like neat, productive hoophouses that make us happy here on the hill.  

We ended up with 88 bags of mixed lettuce for Saturday’s Market. (that was just lettuce…not spinach, kale, arugula or anything else)  We sold most of it and what was left over we were able to share with family and have a very tasty supper! I must say, the food here on the hill is at the top of the list of benefits of farm life.

Hope you’re having a Happy Sunday!

The newly planted rosebushes are beautiful!
Gus likes to keep them "company"...

Thanks for stopping by. Please come back to “visit” again real soon.