SORRY I'VE BEEN AWAY

I didn't realize it has been so long since I wrote ....

We are still in the middle of our move out of Minnesota ....

It doesn't look as if we will have quite as much growing land as I thought we would - but then maybe that's okay, since we are older now and the thought of getting out into a field just makes our backs and knees seize up!!!

but, we've got a beautiful look out at a lake ....

hubby can go fishing whenever he wants ....
he just can't eat any of them because I'm extremely allergic (according to my mom while I was growing up)

And .... I'm living with a CAT ....
don't get me wrong, my mother-in-law's cat is a "nice" cat ... although he keeps rubbing on my legs when I'm in shorts, and stretches his paws up under drawers when I'm getting ready to close them ... that type of thing ... it just that, until I started dating my husband - I didn't know i had an allergy to cats too ....

So, he gets the run of the house .... I get the pantry, bedroom , and one bathroom where he isn't allowed (although he will follow me into the pantry) ...

My dog, Luna. loves the house .... doesn't even mind the radio collar not working up here - hubby takes her for walks all the time .... he says he enjoys it too - it gives him extra steps on his FitBit .... lol ....

So there are things to get used to in a new state ... mostly TAXES ...

In MN, there is no tax on clothing, nor MOST food ... but the tax system is totally wacky.
And at the end of the year, you will ALWAYS be told you owe MORE ... ever since Crazy Eyes was governor ... Mark Dayton ....

And if there's a "surplus" - which means people paid TOO MUCH .... Tim Walz WON'T give any of it back to the ones who actually got overcharged!!

Oh I've got OPINIONS on him!!!!!!!!!  But not for here ....

In this state - we have to pay tax on EVERYTHING we buy .... including clothing and food ..... but it ends up costing LESS for the most part ....

very strange.

I was hoping to have a garden this year ....

But that didn't work out -- hubby and I can't agree on things at the moment ....

such as where it's going to go ....

nor what's going to get planted there

BUT - we will figure all this out ....

but ....

Later ....

so it will likely be another verrrrrrryyyy long time - again - before I get back here to post.

Famers are in for MORE troubles

 Ah Man - gotta start this over again .... I wrote this once and totally went off tangent ... 

(This is a copy of a post I put on my "Gems" blog .... I thought you all might like it too)

Let's get straight to the agnews .... I may copy this and put it over on my "garden" blog as well .... it's been a very long time since I've posted over there.

To RENT land - a very common practice - the prices are going UP ... by a LOT ...

LAND RENT COSTS

Per Acre $160

Yr-Yr UP 3.2%

LAND VALUE (cropland)

Per Acre $5,570

Yr-Yr UP 4.7%

NET INCOME FOR FARMERS (estimated)

DOWN 25% for 2024 

These are the newest numbers from the US Department of Agriculture .... which was begun by President Abraham Lincoln DURING the Civil War (I find this rather interesting, I may have to do a little research)

But - in most people's everyday lives, we think of the USDA as the people who keep the meat in the stores edible - and that things are going well in the Butcher shops as well.

Most people DON'T realize that they have a hand in just about EVERYTHING that goes in your mouth .... meat, vegetables, grain, etc. even liquids as well ....

Homesteaders - and some farmers too - deal with them on a personal level as well .... because they decide what can and cannot be preserved, and which method should be used to do so, AND for how long something can sit in your pantry once you jar/can/dehydrate/freeze-dry/freeze it ....

They have a LOT more power than most people know about ... or that they were originally designed to do ....

but like I said, I've got to do some research - there had to be a reason for the USDA to be founded to begin with ....

Either way you look at it -- the farmers are going to get it in the end ... you would do better buying your goods at ROAD SIDE STANDS for the most part .... or a Farmer's Market IF, AND ONLY IF, the person selling can tell you anything you want to know about it ....

Did you know that there are people selling at Farmer's Markets who actually do NOT grow the veg they are selling?

Many of them go to Produce Auctions in other states, then haul it back to their state, package it, and sell it.

I did not realize this until one of the Canners I watch on YouTube put up a video of an Auction she had gone to (and videoed) went to a Farmer's Market in a different city than where she lived - some of us do this - and low & behold, there was a person who she had captured in her video actually SELLING similar product to what she had seen them purchase at the auction just a few days before!!!

It's a scam!

But .... that's a differnet post .... which I will put on my Garden blog.  

WHAT A BUNCH OF HOOEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOT my video

Its sounds like this study is lumping ALL home canned goods as a PROCESSED FOOD 

Kiss my Ball Jars!

ITS BEEN A LONG LONG TIME

It has been so long -- that this is the 5th time I've restarted this post ... LOL ... I just feel like I'm drolling on and on .... So I'm going to split this up ... on the plus timde - it means more posts.m

So lets hit the MAJOR updates:

    My husband mom, my mother-in-law, passed away 4 years ago and our youngest sone has become my Father-in-law's primary caregiver.  He says he likes it up there.  Its very quiet, and his work load is pretty light ... he just refuses to get paid for it. 

    My father-in-law turned 92 yrs old this year, and had a couple of stays in the hospital up there.  He is now on Hospice - but that just means "comfort care" not "death bed" care these days ... he had a prettyn major change to his medication. But he seems to be doing well as can be expected.

    Oldest is engaged - he went with his girlfriend up north at the end of September and came back engaged ... no date set as of yet, but it sounds like they are going to have an "engagement party" in December ... Nevver heard of one before, do we buy a gift ... god I hope not (more later)

    We are going to be grandparents - oldest daughter has had a "Timing Issue" as we call it, and she is due in February right around Valentine's Day ... marrieage may come after the baby is born, I think. Baby daddy seems to be dragging his feet ... but that's a whole different can of worms and I don't want to get into that.

    My youngest son, while excited to be an uncle and getting a new sister-in-law, is enjoying living at the resort.  He says he isn't sure if he could move back so close to the city any more.

    My youngest ... she is in her last year of college.  She says the one class that had kicked her butt twice before - problems with the professor - I want to say its the last class she has to pass to get her accounting certification.  

    Now for hubby -- okay, fair to say I am keeping a LOT of info off this page.  Its his story and I just come across as being witchy, give and take a letter ... Let me say - I love my husband very much, and I'm glad things weren't any worse ... and he is still alive, even after I found out the story as he's told it to me so far ... I've a feeling he is still holding a few things back that I likely will not know about for a while yet.  He was pretty embarrassed.

    Hubby got a spiral fracture of the smaller of the two bones in the shin ... he also messed up the tendons in his ankle.  He had to have some surgery - pin to hold the shin bone in place and then ... how to describe this ... to fix the tendons in the ankle, they had to tie the tendons back where they belonged with whatever it is they use for such things ... he has to keep weight off of it until January.

    This will not be easy for him to do in a state where 7-8 months are in snow.

    This winter is going to be .... Interesting ... 

    I used to have a parent at the daycare of Japanese decent ... one day I told him to have an "interesting day" - he said he understood that I certainly didn't mean it this way, but in Japanese culture to wish someone an "interesting day" is kind of like cursing them out.

    I just hope I haven't damned us ... this year will be hard enouhg.

HODIDAYS are coming ... inflation is up ... especially food ... its definately going to ge 'interesting"

ITS BEEN NEARLY 21 YEARS

This year was 20 years since we moved to the farm ... and there are days I still feel like Lisa - only difference is, I WANTED to move here!

I love this farm

Truly I do

IMPORTANT WEBSITE -- CHECK OUT THE USDA INFO ON UP COMING FOOD PRICES

RE-POST FROM THE GINGER GARGOYLE GEMS PAGE Here is the link to the USDA's webpage where they discuss how much THEY say food prices are going to go up ... they, of course, don't have a foot into reality and we all know that they will be way unde%r the actual price of things ... https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings/#:~:text=Beef%20and%20veal%20prices%20increased%201.1%20percent%20from%20February%20to,strong%20domestic%20and%20international%20demand I have been watching the sale flayers for our local store ... Cub Foods ... and they have had their steaks jump from $7/lb to $10/lb ... I'm sorry but that is almost 150% of what it cost a month ago!!! I'm wondering if someone added a decimal point some place It is reminding me a lot of the 70's when the elderly were eating cat/dog food because it was cheaper than hamburger - and we're talking the really CHEAP burger too, not even 73/27, we're talking the 50/50 stuff. I don't know if you've ever had it, but if you were a kid back then you know the joy of having a greased up colon! AND we had 6 boys in my family too -- boy did we put the sewer system to task! then too there will be another run on TOILDET PAPER & PAPER TOWELS, as well as CLEANING SUPPLIES this means, if you are a CANNER you will be having a tough time finding VINEGAR yet again this year -- since so many people have found that it works just as good as alcohol or bleach for cleaning. Canners use it to clean the rims of their jars for ensure a strong seal, to add to the canner water to prevent the "dust" from hard water, to clean jars after canning (cuts the grease like you wouldn't believe), and for making fermentations/pickles. as well as for other recipes ... and cleaning Definately the thing to do is to learn the PROPER method for putting up/away food ... avoid Rebel Canning if you are a Newbie ... seriously, do NOT "can" bread, cake, meatloaf, or creamed soups ... or the like. Maybe I should start doing a series over on my "Oh Crock" blogger page ... what do you think??

Stay At Gnome!!!!!

Hey everybody -- it's been sooooo long since I've posted
I've been trying my best NOT to post online these days -- mostly because everything seems to get a political leaning mad - well - I've already accidentally posted to this blog items I've meant for one of my other pages as it is.

We put in a seed order this year and have found the seed catalog more than a tad vague when it came to seeds sold by the thousand but only had an option of 10 thousand ...

Needless to say .... it caused quite a bit of tension when hubby came home with the order

I needed to de-stress

Enter Maymay Made It  she has issued a Punch Art challenge ... and I wanted to send a quick note to my brother to be sure he wasn't ok (he is in/on hospice)

So here is the card I made for him

  

It's plain, clean & simple ... but it didn't actually use ANY punches

But only because I don't own very many

I used regular old Cutting dies

Simply Made Crafts "Square Paper Bag/Lantern " Die set - the banner (his hat) and 2 of the pedal flower dies, the medium (his feet) and the small (his nose)

Gemini Stitched Hearts - either die 3 or 4 would work, I chose #3 (smallest to largest) for his beard

The paper came from my stash, background from a 8x8 square that already had the green & blue

The paper for the beard & his hat came from the SSS 2020 March card kit 

Any ink can be used to color the edges, I happened to use "Gingerbread" Hybrid ink from Scrapbooking.com 

I covered the hat with a layer of clear Wink-a-Luna but it didn't really show up very well, so I say just forget about it

Then I hit the edge of EACH piece with the ink pad - best to do it now before you glue it together

Glue the hat behind the heart in the "hump" side, just enough so the corners don't show 

Then cut a THREE petal piece from the medium flower keeping them attached to one another.  Clip off the CENTER petal with cutting the other 2 apart (so it's kind of like a V) 

Glue the feet behind the pointed end  of the heart ❤️ making them stick out to your liking

Cut 1 petal off the small flower and glue onto the face between the 2 heart humps for the nose

Draw a smirk under the nose

I decided once the glu had dried to gently curve the hat & beard of the gnome

Then I used thin bits of foam (Scrapbooking Made Simple) to pop it up on the card front

Cut a tag, write "Staying Gnome, Thinking of You" on it

Attach to card front

Write a message inside the card base 

Glue the card front on the outside - check to be sure it's going the correct direction

And Viola!!

Pop in the mail and off it goes!

Test

Testing the app I use

Ok - figured I better post something .... I got a mysterious email from blogger saying "it's been awhile". 

No crop again this year ... at the resort caring for my Father in Law ... it has not been easy.

He's not the problem -- it's the pollen count and the cold ... and then there are the cats, which I'm allergic to - they have taken to rubbing all over my sons clothes so the dander/fur transfers to everywhere he goes! 

This year is particularly hard because we lost my mother in law a bit after Mother's Day -- but she had a good Mother's Da, I think. 

He has some memory issues which are kinda no f a blessing ... but he keeps asking for an old girlfriend, used to drive Grandma to distraction - well they were married over 50 yrs and he's asking for someone else ... you understand ...

Average temp this time of year is usually in the 80s-90s .... this year?  60s!

Weird part is .... I LIKE the cold - but not in AUGUST!!!!

War Canadian style

Wow

That's all I can say is .... Wow

So if you haven't heard (and this will be posted on BOTH my GGGems & my Gargoyle Gardens (farm) blogs) CANADA is playing POLITICS with our milk farmers.

For no stated reason I can find, they have suddenly decided to cancel ALL orders for US milk used for making cheese.

I ASSUME - and it is just my own assumption here - that it has something to do with President Trump's stance on NAFTA ... since it seems the US is getting the shaft from the Mexican side when it comes to many portions ... but then that might just be my American perspective ... 

Either way - Canada just went "Nope. Not taking your milk anymore"

AGDay, 2017Apr20 broadcast, had this issue as their main story.

Not only are these farmers getting hit by not being able to sell the milk to Canada - but now the SUPPLIER they were selling it to - Grassland Dairy  - has CANCELLED the contracts to collect the milk at all.

IMMEDIATELY.  Yup - the farmers got a very unpersonal form letter ... not even signed by anyone, just a general company name 

The company said they were only given a TWO DAY notice from Canada, so they just wanted to get a notice out.

Canadas statement on all this??

David MacNaughton

The CANADIAN EMBASSADOR to the USA said

"Canada does not except the contention that Canada's dairy policies are the cause of financial loss for dairy farmers in the United States."

Letter to Wisconsin Governor

Canada seems to feel the US farmer is just looking for a scapegoat and Canada fits the bill at this point.  They blame it on the US over production of milk.

The company mentioned above, Grassland Dairy, would send 1 million gallons of ULTRA-FILTERED milk into Canada EVERY day - since they no longer have Canada taking the milk, 75 farmers in the state of Minnesota and Wisconsin have now been released from their contracts… Without warning… Without compensation!  In fact most farmers found out via Facebook before they even got the letter.

"We are working with our patrons to find a home for their milk, but we understand it's a challenge in these markets. The last thing we as a company want is to let farmers go."

Vice President of Business Development

Grassland Dairy

We are talking about farms that have been in the same family for generations – not just one generation, not just two generations… Sometimes up to eight generations!

This is really sad

This is really bad

This makes me very mad

The interesting part is – how can route retaliate against Canada?

I cannot name one important item from Canada that we can boycott!

All I can say is…

Buy more CHEESE!

Maybe if America eats enough cheese we as a nation can start using some of this million pounds of milk that would have gone to Canada, which is now sitting idle in the United States

We are going to be a bound up nation ...

Rainy Days

When I was a kid I LOVED rainy days ... yup, I was a strange kid - but rainy days were a time to pull out the crochet.

My mom would just shake her head because I was starting on Christmas presents in April - like they ever made it to Christmas, they usually became birthday gifts since I couldn't wait to see how people would like them

But that is what rain meant to me -- worked great until about 9th grade, maybe 10th, when we had a MAJOR thunderstorm go through ... in the middle of the night the thunder was so loud it rattled my windows! Now I can't stand loud noises - didn't realize this until hubby took me to see fireworks over the lake, not a fun time was had, the lake is in like a canyon or valley so it echoes quite a bit.

So why am I telling you this?

Now I'm not only an adult but a farmer ... well, farmers wife

Rain is supposed to be a Good Thing, like the song says (although I only drink wine ... or tequila ... maybe some rum in daiquiris or piña coladas ... but that's all really really rare)

BUT ... rain makes the fields too wet for the tractor to work.  In fact it will sink to the axils and then whatever we try to pull it out with will get stuck ... it's a total comedy of errors, let me tell you - I think we had four vehicles stuck down there one year - the lawn mower, the Allis-Chamber, then the Ford tractor, and the the Astro van!  It was so sad ... finally had to call hubbys cousin to come over because his truck had a winch on it - no getting that stuck!

Now we have a permanent divot next to the long corn field where the van tires sunk down - so you have to be very careful when you check the fields or you could break an ankle.

We are supposed to get rain for the next 3 days ... we were going to put corn in at the beginning of May this year - I think we've been planting too late and that's why we have had such troubles but that's a different story ... that's still got a couple weeks yet.

POTATOES however ...

I bought 250 POUNDS of potatoes this year ... Yukon Gold, Norlands, Russets, and All Blues ... I think the Norland reds I got 100# of ... I do NOT want to pay the prices they want for potatoes at the store and more.  My seed potatoes cost less than $100 total, the store wants $1/pound ... I'm ahead, right?

After all, potatoes are supposed to be a 10:1 return ... for every pound you plant, you get 10 pounds back ... they say.

My potatoes will go at the end of the long field where the corn Simply will not grow -   E. V. E. R!!  My mother-in-law says that's where they would plant theirs and it grew great (we bought the property from the in-laws) so it should be okay..

Accept ...

It's at the bottom of a hill - means LOTS of water from run off, plus it's the last place to melt/dry from winter snow ... it is NEVER dry by Tax Day, not to mention May 1st.

Every thing I read says they are supposed to go in a month BEFORE the last frost - here, that's May 15th or so ... so ... Tax Day.

Hubby bought several pieces of equipment for the tractor to put them in ... I've been stressing that he needs to have no less than a foots length between the potatoes he drops in or they will choke each other out ... quite a bit of education over here...

BUT if we have to wait until the end of May like we usually do ... I'm thinking it's gonna cut down on the production.

Last time:

Hubby put them in the on the long side of the Triangle field, put in like 100# ... planted them FOUR INCHES APART!!!  I was sick in bed so I wasn't out there to supervise ... that's okay, the onion shoots went in with about 1 inch between them - if they were lucky - they were suppose to have no less than 4 inches between, they were Candy onions - like the big Vandalias /Vadalias (however you spell it) - huge, sweet, great for salads, French onion soup, cooking, freezing, dehydrating ... I admit, they would be great sellers too ... if we had any ... they are still growing - didn't dig up the tiny things last year so they are sprouting up again, small but ok, not quite as sweet as I'd like.

----

Hmmm, okay it's been 3 days now ... it's still raining and now they say it will rain tomorrow too ...

Those potatoes are never going to get planted :-(

Wild Fires

I just watched Tursdays episode of AgDay ... I DVD them so I can watch when I have the time ... it was a special episode - surprising because they usually save these for holiday weekends - and if you don't think ranchers cry, you are soooo wrong.

They don't cry because they lost darn near everything ... they weren't crying because some didn't have insurance on their cattle ... they didn't even cry because they will be having a very hard time for a while.

They cry because they are overwhelmed with emotion over the help they are receiving from people they didn't even know of.  

There are farmers/ranchers who do not live in the area but they are gathering things like hay and feed for the surviving cattle ... there are people who are donating whatever goods they can to help these people get back on their feet, if even for a little while.

The wild fires stretched from the Texas panhandle all the way up into Colorado as far west as Nevada and, I think, even got into Nebraska, but I could be wrong.

There was one man who told how he he was out of town and told his wife to take the kids to his brothers house .. he drove like the wind and got to the property as fire arrived, driving past a blazing tree.

His family and brothers family are fine.

He didn't mention the cattle so I'm assuming he lost them.

There was a major ranching family who were hit very badly. They had realized the dry condition would make it rough for their livestock to eat so they had spread hay bails all over their range ...

Yes the fire ate all that hay - jumping from pile to pile taking the cattle with them.

Cattle are not smart animals ... unlike horses, they will not leave a barn when it's on fire - they will simply stay there and burn to death.  

I'm not sure if it has been bred out of them or if it's just their gentle way ... either way, it's sad.

There have been several calves who lost their moms ... either by the fire or from having to be put down afterwards because of their wounds.

There are 4-H clubs coming to the rescue ... the kids (and their parents) are taken no the little ones in.  They treat the injuries and bottle feed the calves ... some make it, a few don't ... but it's all a part of life, especially on a ranch or farm.

You can go to the AgDay webpage to watch the full length episode (they are limited to 1/2hr on tv) and see if there is anything you can do, if you wish.

Halloween 2016

Well it's been a crappy year ...

We've had chickens get attacked & killed, but not by the dog -- were thinking either coon or feral cat.

Crops never got put in or even started because it was too cold in April, although it was too warm in March (how crazy is that) and then n may it was too wet to get the corn in -- tractor kept getting stuck in the mud. By the time it dried out in mid-June hubby didn't think we'd have enough time before it got too hot and the corn would tassel ... So sad when it does that at ankle high.

So no crops at all ...

Chickens have stopped laying again.  We had a good month of laying in July but then they just stopped!

BUT ... But ... We are doing okay ... For now ...

Decided to do the yearly Halloween bonfire ... Hubby & son fixed the fire pit and started it.

The weather man said it was going to be nice ... 62*F and no rain

He lied

We had a misty rain going on and that made it seem really cold!  

The wind didn't help much either, didn't seem like we could find a spot where the smoke wasn't blowing

Then we decided to cook the hot dogs on the grill again - hubby hadn't used his grill all year so he was itching to get it out ... Too bad it wouldn't work properly, not sure what was going on ... The gas get through but it didn't seem to be enough to keep the flames lit.

So - Mummy dogs it was!

It's okay - we like mummy dogs ... With chips & soda

Yum!

So not too bad, but we stayed in and didn't get to enjoy that fire

Harvest???

We planted 100# of potatoes.

50# each of red Pontiac & all blue ...

Hubby dug them up today.

They (cause I'm ill this week, flu like symptoms) gathered them up.

We got about 50# total back ...

WHAT?!?!?!?!

Well a couple of possibilities ...

Weeds: we had quite a few weeds pop up when the rains began, since the in-laws had to borrow the small tractor this summer we didn't have a good way to keep it under control.  I'm sorry, I'm still too much of a city girl to go out and weed on my hands and knees .... Plus, it was a really crappy year.

Weather: it was actually a pretty cold summer!  Global warming my butt!  The soil never really warmed up the way it was supposed to - even the tomatoes didn't ripen until late August/early September .... Then there was the rain.  It just could not make up its mind - too dry in the beginning, too cold, then downpours of 4inches or so at a time for a week then nothing again for several weeks. It!  This is the first summer I can remember where we NEVER hit 100°F!!!!!  Normally we get 3-5 in July.

Equipment troubles: First we did not have our little tractor, the Allis-Chambers, which pulls the weeded behind it, so when the rains came the weeds took root and grew along with the 'tators ... Then hubby said the potato digger attachment he got for the big tractor (the Ford) wouldn't dig into the ground - he wanted it to go in deeper, at least 1 foot, but it only went down about 4inchrs.  

Critters: yup I'm blaming the fauna ...  We lost soooooooo many tomato plants this summer because the DEER (aka venison) ate every tomato plant that did not have cages around them.  I had purchased about a dozen cages at Menards a few years back but we had so many more plants than that this year.  At least, BEFORE the deer came.  I'm pretty sure they got into my potato plants as well.

The deer are not the only critters we have either ... We also have rabbits, chipmunks, and squirrels.  All these critters will eat the food in the field.  Oh, and RACOONS. ... We have an exploding population in Minnesota of 'Coons -- they sure do earn their bandits mask!  We have not seen them up near the house, but when we have sweet corn they leave the evidence of their picnics all over the side of our hill :-(. We did not have a corn crop this year (remember it sprouted at about 3ft tall) so they would have had to find something else to munch on ... I'm betting, my potatoes!

The Human Eliment:  we have found we have poachers ... I've always wondered if we had people taking the corn at night - actually no biggie as long as they don't clear us out - but I'm beginning to think they take other produce out there as well.  They may have, though not likely, taken some of those potatoes too.  Even if they did, I can't see it being 50# worth (even though I do know a couple of folk who might actually be able to take that much).

Actually I think the issue was PLANTING TOO CLOSE together.  Hunky decided to plant them while I wasn't available and he put them 4-6inches apart.  I had told him a FOOT apart .... twice the distance h,e did .... But once they were in it was too late.  

Deeer Santa

Please bring me the head of the POACHER who is setting up on our land!

Yup - we've got a pacher ....

we are right next to a swamp, and we've got a corn field/garden, and we're pretty well located close enough to get to easily but far enugh away where the cops have a tough time getting to us unless called ... part ^ parcel of living country style.

we've opened our land to the POLICE force and ONE local BOW hunter to help cut down on the deer population .... these guys we know, they are good guys .... joke every year is we get the first one they take down - we haven't gotten any deer yet though.

although Jim (the local guy) has given us some f his kill from previous years as a thank you for letting him hunt.  very nice especially when he probably didn;t get a dang thing out there.

but poachers -- they piss me off!

at least stop by the house and let me know ... at least play by the rules

you dont set u a trail camera * a pole of BAIT corn to hold the deer in place!

thats what is RUINING the sport of hunting and 

, even worse, the action of THINNING A HERD!

It is ILLEGAL to hunt baited deer in MN ....

and <strikethrough> if yu want your TRAIL CAM back .... its at the POLICE STATION

the officer CONFISCATED IT right then & there!

Not my doing, don't blame me ...

Just STAY OFF MY PROPERTY.

I wonder if thats why i sometimes don't have chicken eggs ... I'm betting you're poaching them too :-(

Creep!

More In The Ground

I threw my back out Tuesday afternoon - teasing my youngest daughter caused her to jump on my back and zinged it ... Then putting a box under the computer table locked it up!  Too bad too, it was actually feeling better until then ...

So yesterday (Wednesda) hubby & the two youngest .... Kind of, but more on that later ... Put out hubbies new inventions & planted the starters for the slicing tomatoes, the watermelon,one & the canteloupes.

Told hubby to plant the tomatoes on the same side as the potatoes said nice both are of the Nightshade family -- when we do rotations they will move together as well.

It took a couple hours to get in nearly 100 tomatoes plants .... Hubby said that if I do them again next year he wants them started in rows instead of just scattered on the top of the starter trays ... LL ... Didn't have the heart to tell him that those ones WERE planted in rows, they just scattered when they got watered!  I actually don't like planting them either way - the roots get tangled and it's tough to separate them when planting.

Most of my watermelon & canteloupes died waiting to get into the ground .... They grow too fast - I had them in 2 1/2 inch pots, two seeds each, but they grew too fast to last.  I didn't have any 4 inch pots to put them into.  

So now we will have to wait for it to finish raining,then dry a bit so we can plant the cherry tomatoes, peas, beans, and pumpkins ... Maybe even some Hubbard squash -- have you ever seen that stuff?  It look like monster squash!  But it's what they really use in CANNED pumpkin in the stores (pumpkin Hubbard is a breed and meets the truth in advertisement qualifications)

I do have carrots -- and would love to plant more lettuce types, as well as cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, turnips, rutabagas, and parsnips.  But they would all have to start as seed and we have way too many seed eaters around here!

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We have corn and potatoes popping their heads out ... YEA!!!!

Hubby says if I get 5# of potatoes for every plant that has popped up - I'm in trouble!

Riiiiiiight .... Did I mention that we tend to go through at least 5# of potatoes a week when we have them fresh?

I don't think we will have issues eating them all.  In fact, the tough part will be saving seed potatoes for next year. 

Onions are looking pretty.  They are beginning to bulb out at the bottoms now but I have to thin them out so they can get big ... The whites are either walls walls or candys - either way, they should get between baseball & softball sized.  The red onions should get to be about 3 inches in diameter so I can leave more of them get her.  

I will pick some tomorrow to take to the cabin .... Even if the bulbs are too small, we can still use the tops as green onions.  My mother-in-law can't have onions though because of her gall bladder so I'm not sure if we can use them.  But at least I know she has friends who would like them.

(°)<. 

The dog has been rather naughty ... Now she's a year old, she has discovered that her toenails are "can openers" for the chicken pen!  The furry pooper has been scratching thru the deer fencing to get into the chicken paddock and chase them around -- a few have attacked back but she hasn't been hurt yet and neither have they, but it would only take one to set a very bad pattern!

She does "herd" them when they get out on their own sending them back to the coop lickity split.  

Farm Update

End of May/Beginnng of June:

Hubby walks the fields yesterday and came in rather excited ....

The Potatoes have finally begun to poke their heads out, he says they are still rather spotty but we are glad that cutting them and letting them scab until the field dried out didn't kill them!

We planted

 50# of each type (red Pontiac & all blue) so if we could get just that much back we will be okay, we will break even .... If we get more than that 50# each back all the better -- I'm just hoping we won't get the 10:1 return that hubby has been hearing/watching on YouTube!   

The last try at potatoes we planted 2# and got like 3# back, but they were very small and my youngest son said they tasted very sweet raw ... He ate them that way too.

So ... If we are going to get a similar 2:3 ratio .... Then I can expect some 75# from each type back ... Not the greatest but it will work.

Hubby is still talking about turning the attached garage into a root cellar .... I think he's over thinking it right now.  If we get a 1:5 return, then yeah I could see us having to find a good way to store 500# of potatoes, but if we do get that 1:10 return ... Oh my gosh! I think I'm gonna be canning for quite some time!

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We also have very few corn sprites coming up as well - but that doesn't surprise me, the weather has been rather chilly lately and the soil really should be around 70°F in order for the corn to sprout/emerge

We've been having issues with spotting droppings from the planter these last couple of years so we will have to wait a bit to see exactly how much was actually planted.  HOPEFULLY this year we will actually have a crop - enough to both can/freeze and sell!  But we will see ... I want to make sure I have enough to feed the family all winter until next year AND feed the chickens, if possible, to help cut back on feed costs -- so we may not sell this year even if we did ge a bumper crop.

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Well - we should be getting the tomatoes, what few surviving melons I have, as well as the pease & beans in the ground tonight once hubby gets home.

He used PVC piping and landscape fabric to make me some planting frames to help keep weeds down.  And if the wind doesn't rip them to shreds, we should be able to reuse them for a cole seasons before we need to replace the fabric.

Hubby figures a large rock on each corner should be enough to keep the wind from carrying the platforms away and ripping up the plants ... We will see what happens.  It seems counter intuitive to put rocks INTO the garden to me -- but then, I'm just a city girl.

I have talked him into "rotating" ... Sort of, that's why it's in quotes, we will plant the potatoes & tomatoes in the same field since they are both of the nightshade family ...l the corn has its own field being a grass/grain ... The onions are in the retaining wall and looking GREAT btw!  The peas & beans will be planted in the other half of the field where the nightshades are basically cutting the field into two semi-equal pieces (by volume, not width) 

This gives me four plots for planting technically I'm supposed to have one area which does NOT get planted BUT since we planted NOTHING last year, the retaining wall hadn't been planted in several years, and the triangle field hadn't been planted in a couple years ....

Next year I will have to figure out which of the four will not be planted ... I'm leaning towards the long field but then, that's the one where we do the bonfire each year so it gets plenty of nutrients put back in ....  Hinny just varies where the fire gets placed - he evn tried it once on the west end where nothing seems to grow.

More on the miracle of bonfires later ...

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More of that stuff later ... Just wanted to give a farm update ....

Mother Nature is a Fickle Little B ....

Bad Tempered Lady

What did you think I was gonna say??

We are in a light drought ... Which seems funny to say because we have to wait for the fields to dry out so we can plant more of our crops ...

My youngest son .... now 18 yrs old going on 19 in a few weeks, planted some 6000 onion plants --- 3000 yellow, 3000 reds ... but I wrote about that before - even had photos

Last week I was in bed not felling well, oh I was in misery, so hubby got the two youngest kids (boy & girl) and planted the 100 pounds of potatoes without me!

Sounds like he planted them way too close together but we will have to wait and see.  I told him 18inches apart figuring he would plant them 12 inches between which is what they are supposed to. Be at ... But it sounds like he planted them at 6inches instead .... Oh well.

50 pounds of All Blue, 50 pounds of Pontiacs.

I'm hoping they will store very well over winter, but I'm also planning on canning up a LOT of them for quick use.

Hubby wants to plant sweet corn and see if we can get it to grow in the long field where we haven't planted it in nearly 3 years .... Of course last year NOTHING grew since it was soooooo cold & wet until July, by then it was too late to get anything in, even the apples suffered - there wasn't too much rain in July or August but it didn't get really hot until September either.

So we have 2 crops in the ground right now ... Hopefully tomorrow hubby can get the corn in .... aka The Cash Crop ... if there's a lot of corn we will sell some, usually enough to help the kids pay for field trips, course fees, maybe even school lunch - of course the money we use for seed/plants/firltilizer comes out first.  We haven't had anything for several years now :(

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My chickens ... 

They have turned suicidal, I swear!

They eat, they poop, but they aren't laying again!

We've given them food, water, and shell for calcium ...  they had started laying then just ... Stopped ...

Grrrrrr

I know they want to get out into the grass and scratch around, but we have to set up the "paddock" again - check for holes and figure a better way to attach it to the "corral" so they can't get out ...

We don't want the dog to have too much fun .... Although she has found the cockleburs and .... Well she's as bad as Velcro!  Oh man - poodles are not fun to get burrs out of either! She hates it, I hate it, grrrrr

She turns 1 yrs old next week ... Crazy pup!

Aaaaa-CHOOO!

Okay - Avian Flu is just NOT going away .... Unlike Mad Cow, they keep finding more & more strains of the Avian Flu!

Holy Crap!

According to AGDay (my go to source for most agriculture matters) it has effected 35 countries!!!!!!!!!

Although not all of the same strain:

In the US the majority have been of the H5N2 strain but there has been reports of H5N8

H5N8 was reported LAST year in:

Korea

China 

Japan

India

Europe

Canada

H5N1 strain showed up in 2004 and also infected people -- especially in Chona (remember that scare?!)

But it is STILL being found in:

West Africa

Egypt

Middle East (splatterings)

Losses due to AVian Flu in MN & IA ALONE could cost over $1BILLION!!!!

There have been killed/died/slaughtered over 37million birds so far in 15 states!  Granted the MAJORITY of these deaths were done in hopes of preventing the spread of the disease

You all know what this means?

Higher prices!

More for the food .... More for the products ....

Ugh!

Weather we like it or not

No matter what, you can't change the weather.

Even if that means SNOW towards the end of April .... Although we've been known to get that white fluffy stuff all the way into May - in fact I remember having nearly 4" of fresh snow on the docks the night before we put them in at the in-laws!

Last year was horrid - way too much water!  Fields didn't dry out until mid-July so no selling crop went in ... Nothing grew of the greenhouse starter pants put out ... If it wasn't for the chickens, we wouldn't have had any nome from the farm at all!

It's scary .... But this year looks to be about the same ... Only it wont be because we have too much water, but rather, not enough.

Copyright FeMA via AGDay.com

While we will not have the same issues as California, we will have horrid problems with water this year.

We are known as the Land of 10,000 lakes (total under estimate, btw) but little of those lakes are actually located near enough to farms to do any help.

Water is very important if you grow sweet corn .... 

Water helps get those kernels plump

It helps the stalks grow tall before they tassel

Actually when it's dry out, sweet corn has been known to tassel at just 3 ft tall instead of 5 1/2 - 6 ft high which is pretty much what you hope for.

We (farmers in general) hope to get our crop in ASAP so we can start selling early.

We do not like getting a crop in before  Memorial weekend ... The weather is generally dry, the fields are firm enough to hold the tractor but soft enough to work well for the seed.

The other enemy besides water ... Heat!

Too much and you've got swiveled plants, too little and - well - its just as bad.

It seems lately our climate has been warming later in the year ... In fact last year was a VERY cold summer.

Corm loves heat and water .... So a hotter, more humid summer is okay .... Not the greatest but at least we will get something even if it's only good enough for us or the critters ... At least it's something.

Dry & hot -- you get puny produce.  Things tend to tase woody & dry.

Dry & cold -- root crops will grow okay, but things like tomatoes, corn, peas, etc will have real problems ... They all really need the sunshine to ripen and water to plump it up.

Wet & cold -- forget it!  Nothing will grow.  Root crops will rot in the ground .... Topper plants wont grow unless they are Cole/Cold crops (I've seen it written both ways)