Outhouse - not finished yet

Our newest "old" tractor

A puddle of water  from the rain shower we received at the farm!!

Weekend of Oct. 16-17, 2010

sunflower head full of seeds.... so neat!

The largest tomato we grew this year - did not turn red because of drought and heat.  Looks like we are going to can some pickled green tomatoes!

Outhouse - A Work in Progress

Inside of the "Privy"... will have a REAL toilet and sink...

Well, despite the weather map showing that Saulsbury received rain last week, our rain gauge and the ground itself show no signs of any rain.  There's another chance of rain...just a chance this week so here's hoping.

Saturday Cris picked up 50 small mouth bass (about 3 inches long) and 25 albino catfish (about 4-5 inches long).  We added them to our pond to help control the minnow and bluegill population so they will grow larger.  They seem to be fish food trained as well. 

Teddy has made a great recovery from his snake bites...he ran around the pond this weekend but did not spot any snakes....maybe they are all gone???? 

When were pleasantly surprised to arrive at the farm and see the 2 lower fields had been cut and the hall rolled.  Thanks Homer!!  This weekend, Cris bushhogged the 'homestead' field and the garden field (2nd field) and left the hay on the ground to work as mulch to improve the soil. 

We still were not able to plant the winter vegies....it has GOT to rain sometime!  So we watered the fruit trees and worked on the blackberry bushes by putting some of the stems in the ground to promote growth and expansion of the bush. 

We have three late growing green pepper plants that are doing great.  We were able to harvest some peppers to add to our breakfast Sunday morning. 

The tomato plants have plenty of tomatoes on them...they are just all green.  We harvested the bigger ones to make pickled green tomatoes and I think fried green tomatoes are on the menu this week as well.  They would have been beautiful red tomatoes if this year had not been so dry and hot and we had not planted them so late in the summer.  Next year we plan to grow the tomatoes in the hoop house to protect them from the heat.  

Since we could not plant, we worked on the outhouse.  We need to add a door, window, three tin roof panels, install gutters, put up some trim, then paint.  Then we will work on the inside.  The plumbing will come later when we dig a hole, install a drum in the ground and other details that Cris will take care of.  We plan to install a barrel above the toilet (on the outside) to hold rain water to use for the toilet.  The sink will use fresh water from a container.  I am not washing my hands in pond or rain water!

Please Rain Already!

Watson's Law - (similar to Murphy's Law) When we were trying to build a barn, it would rain every weekend and slow down our process.....but.... the minute we plant vegetables in the ground, (which is when we need the rain), it stops raining!  I have never seen a drought like this.  Luckily, we have access to water through our pond but still, it just doesn't so as much as what a good soaking rain would do. 

And then....let's talk about the heat..... hottest summer ever and it was in the 90's this past week (hello....it's October!). 

Ok - enough complaining.....

Our winter vegies are still in their seedling trays because the ground is just too dry to plant.  We are soaking the plowed area with pond water where we are going to plant them to try and make the ground favorable for planting.  Hopefully this weekend we will be able to plant.  We have Kale, Collards, Turnips, Rutabagas, Brussels Sprouts, Beets and Mustard.

Fish - our fish are doing great!  The bluegill are growing and there are many baby fish swimming around.  This weekend we are picking up about 50 small mouth bass to put in the pond.  This winter we plan to clear out the trees around the pond to open it up (and maybe get rid of the snakes!!).

Tractor - our Ford 8N tractor is having it's engine worked on.  Nothing major and we should have it up and running this weekend.  In the meantime, Cris found a Massey Ferguson tractor on Craigslist that has more power and was $1000.00.  It works great with the plow.  I like my little Ford 8N though so I will keep using that to bush hog. 

Speaking of bush hog - our neighbor down the street and around the corner, Homer, offered to cut our fields for the hay and will give us a couple rolls to keep for ourselves.  That works out great because we need the hay for compost and he needs it to feed his horses and cows. 

Vet - when Cris took Teddy to the vet for a snake bite follow-up, our vet, Dr. Shaw, said he's very interested in our organic farming and will be one of our first customers.  More importantly, he is learning how to treat animals using organic type treatments and is happy to assist us with our animals when we do get our cows, sheep and chickens. 

The outhouse is about 1/4 the way complete - we have not been able to work on it lately but it's not an immediate need so it can wait.  We also plan to enlarge the barn by adding another 12x24 stall area but that's not too hard to do. 

Hoop House - we got approval for the hoop house (greenhouse without heat) from the Dept. of Ag and they will cover most of the cost.  They came out to the farm to approve the area where we want to place the hoop house; next we have to purchase it, install it and then they come back out, inspect it, then we get reimbursed. 

Cabin - in the planning stage.  Working out a floor plan and hope to start on it the first of the year. 

Electric - put off until a little later.  We have been doing fine out there with the generator and propane lanterns.... of course, when it's 20 degrees and we are spending the night in the barn, I may change my mind.  But hey, if the Boy Scouts can camp out in freezing weather, so can I! 

Fall is Fruit Tree Planting Time

Honeycomb from our hive.

There's some yummy honey in there!

The Honeycomb Frame - inside there is pure honey. Doesn't look pretty now but the end result is lovely!

 

Blueberry Bushes

 

10 Apple (2 varieties) and 10 Pear (2 varieties)



Something rub off the bark so we had to put up fencing. 



Fencing to keep deer away.



Weekend of October 2-3

We purchased 10 apple trees, 10 pear trees, 5 peach trees and 5 blueberry bushes from Angel Wings Nursery in Mississippi.  We rented a post hole digger and even with that, we had a hard time digging holes due to the drought in our area.  We have not had a decent rain in months and the ground is so hard. 

It will take probably 2 years for our trees to start producing fruit but I can't wait! 

We also harvested a few honey frames from our 2 hives and it's interesting to see the difference in color each hive produces.  One hive produced an amber color honey and the other was much lighter and less 'rich' tasting.  Both are really good though! 

Teddy vs. the Snake

Teddy's Wounds - notice the redness under his neck.  That is from the blood pooling. 

The venom makes it so blood does not clot. 

The Water Moccasin - Teddy looking at his kill

This snake was going nowhere - Teddy broke it's neck.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

While Cris was working in the field with the tractor, I took the dogs down to the pond to feed the fish.  Teddy and Nugget usually run around the pond trying to catch frogs.  This time, Teddy found a snake in the stump of a tree that was submerged in the pond.  I knew from his bark that this was not a frog and it was confirmed when Teddy grabbed the snake and threw it up.  Teddy's terrier instinct kicked in and he went to 'going off' on this snake, despite being bitten at least two times. 

Me, being the chicken, jumped on the ATV and went for Cris.  Cris took off for the pond and I went to the barn to get a shovel.  By the time I got back to the pond, Cris had the snake and Teddy was relieved from killing duty.  The snake was on his way to snake heaven because Teddy broke it's neck.  Cris thought it best to finish the job and chopped off the snake's head with the shovel. 

At first, we thought it was just a water snake but a couple hours later, Teddy was showing signs of being bitten by something poisonous.  Cris took him to the emergency vet that night and bagged the snake to take along.  The vet said it was indeed a Water Moccasin and it bit Teddy pretty good in the face.  The venom makes it so the blood of it's victim does not clot so Teddy had a big pool of blood under his neck which was very painful.  He was crying in pain the poor puppy.  The vet gave him an IV of pain killers and antibiotic, along with a prescription of benedryl, antibiotic and pain killers to take home. 

By Tuesday, Teddy has returned to his usually happy self except he does still feel a little discomfort from the bruising under his chin and the bite marks seem to itch him. 

Teddy Bear is my hero.