With the planting of the Glass Gem popcorn, which is a 110-day crop for us, indoors to get a good start on our all-to-short growing season, I’m finished planting seeds inside! What a relief. The squash, pumpkins, and melons are popping up like gang busters now. Out of room in the new greenhouse, I put them outside on our back deck, on the benches I used last year to harden off the tomatoes and peppers. With unseasonable temperatures in the eighties, they seemed to love it, coming up super strong. Of course, we’re due to have some freezing temperatures yet, so I’m not fooled. But it’s sure tempting to begin planting early crops outside. I did plant some giant fava beans that I found online, which are bigger in size than a quarter. They don’t mind cool weather a bit and actually prefer it so they should be fine.
Will has been hauling more manure out onto the Wolf garden and Wolf annex, which are now one big garden. And I mean big! He pulled the fence of the Wolf garden out on the north and west sides and laid it out around the whole works. Whew. And guess who does the planting… While he was loading manure, he threw a track on the Case loader so that held things up. Then he got it back on Tuesday morning and resumed. With only two more loads to haul, he threw it again. I know what he’ll be doing this afternoon.
Instead of working on the track last afternoon, he worked on our mile long drive. With Old Trusty, he cut ditches along both sides of it to help keep water from sitting on it. This tossed lots of rocks out onto the drive. So yesterday, he first ran the tractor-mounted rock rake down the drive twice, then took the four-wheeler out and began tossing rocks off the drive, into the woods. He made it halfway before dark. Nice!
But then it rained over half an inch last night. We had been praying for rain so even with a very slimy driveway full of rocks, we were very glad! Nothing to do but pick up more rocks and wait for drier weather, I guess. This morning, Will trimmed the feet on our donkey, Crystal. She inherited poor foot conformation from her mother so when her feet grow too long, they curl under and upward, like Aladdin’s slippers. To prevent this, she needs her feet to be trimmed often. And she hates to have her feet trimmed. But even with Will’s bad back, he managed to get her trimmed pretty well. — Jackie
I’m amazed at all that you folks accomplish! I have communicated with you before, bought seeds and books, and asked questions. Sure appreciate all that you do. I had about a dozen seeds from Hopi Pale Grey squash from 2017, they aren’t kept in ideal conditions so I though maybe half would come up! Ha! They all were good!! Gotta make room and gift some too! Thanks for your posts – really enjoy them all! My hubby and I are in our late 60’s and going strong! Take care and God bless!
So nice to hear from you again. Yes, Hopi Pale Grey squash seeds seem to know they were on the brink of extinction and do everything they can to keep the variety going. We simply love them!! The best tasting squash ever, too.
For sure the best tasting! And my word!!! They keep ALL winter – again in less than ideal conditions!!
Jackie hello again old time mountain friend from Mt. Rick and I are living in WA state now we follow you and will and love the things you do.
Jackie, you are indeed blessed to have a husband with so many skills and abilities. Here on Johnson mountain I could get very little done if it weren’t for my hus-a-ben (affectionately called) who is a general contractor of custom homes. He and his marvelous tools can do wonders, for which I thank the Lord every day. Then there’s the other side of the coin, he’s so busy on other people’s projects, ours are last on the list. Still, when he gets something done for me, it’s something I couldn’t do myself. I couldn’t accomplish most of my projects but for him!
I totally agree with you Elizabeth! A good helpmeet is sure a wonderful blessing, indeed.
Will seems so dedicated and hark-working! A very fine character trait :)
I am always amazed at the variety of animals you have to care for. How many do you own? Do they all have a job or function on your homestead? It would add an extra skill or knowledge needed in your toolbox, for sure. So interesting though!
I agree, Dianne. Let’s see, we currently have 16 head of cattle with a few new calves coming soon. They provide us with meat, money through the sale of beef, along with tons of manure to enrich our gardens. In a pinch, the mama cows also can be milked, should we need to. We have six goats, three adult and three kids. We’ll be selling the two adult bucks as I just bought a new buckling for new bloodlines. We drink goat milk, make dairy products from it, plus they provide manure for our gardens (You can’t have too much!). We have two horses for riding and light work, plus a mule and donkey that are just “pasture ornaments”. But they also protect our calves from wolves and coyotes and make manure as do the horses. We’ve got about 14 hens and one rooster that give us eggs and keep bugs and disease down in our orchard as they roam around. (And more manure!!) There are five ducks. Two are David’s old pets and three are egg layers. Some eggs are allowed to hatch out baby ducks, which we sell. The ducks also eat plenty of bugs and make, yep, more manure.
All of these critters also help us recycle extra squash, pumpkins and other garden excess, turning it into….wait….MANURE.
That’s a very busy and handy man you have got. Seems like he knows how to do everything. You must have the magic touch the way everything pops out of the dirt for you. Love the look of the new Wolf garden. It seems like it has rained all week here in central Oklahoma but l’m glad it did because l now have 6 barrels of rainwater ready for when we don’t have the rain. My gardens just don’t like city water. Happy growing to Will and yourself.
Will sure doesn’t let grass grow under his feet! Because of that, and his enthusiasm so much gets accomplished. We’re now facing planting season and are praying we can get it all done well.
After reading about your busy day, I need a rest. So glad your indoor planting is complete. The driveway will be so better when Will gets more time to finish.
I’m thinking so too but right now after an inch and half of rain, it’s like so much snot with rocks sprinkled on top. But the sun’s out today so I’m sure it’ll dry up soon.
Comments are closed.