Fortunately for us, they aren’t close, nor are we in any danger from them. But one has already burned 15,000 acres and 144 structures and shows no containment, despite heroic efforts from planes, choppers, fire crews, and the National Guard. There’s just too much wind. And, fighting fire on foot in 90-degree weather is heartbreaking. We can see towers of hot smoke from here, but the fire is about 40 miles away. We’re praying for those who have lost their homes, cabins, and beautiful trees to this dragon. This is a historic fire, in that we haven’t had one this bad since 1919.
There is a chance of rain in the forecast. Boy, do we ever need that! 90 degrees here, in May, is just crazy. Will is hauling manure out to the North Garden now, as the Sand and Central Gardens are all done. We’ll till again twice before planting, to keep the weeds down. Yes, we both have tried no-till gardening and that just didn’t work for either of us. And yes, we have plenty of soil microbes and earthworms! (Come see our harvest if you’re in doubt as to our over-tilling.)
Our squash, pumpkins, and watermelons that I planted indoors are now coming up. As the greenhouse is stuffed full, I have to put them out on benches, on the back deck so they get enough sun. The only downside is that if frost threatens, I have to bring them inside. Plus, I have to use a big watering can to water them, which is more work. The seedlings do look really nice, however.
We had another calf born. We’d been down at the cow yard, loading our friend Heather’s truck with rotted manure. Just about ten minutes later, Will came back to the house, saying a heifer was having her calf. That fast! Wow! He did have to help her a bit. But we now have another cute black bull calf. — Jackie
What a couple of handsome hunks! Oops can’t say that so I’ll have to go with handsome gentlemen instead. Congrats on your latest little calf!! Pyro
Sorry to hear about the fires!! It’s one of our worries here when things get dry and hot. I pray you don’t get hit. What an interesting pair of dirt bags. Actually a good looking pair of bags! Fortunately for us, it’s been raining off and on for the past week. More rain coming in. The down side is tomorrow it might snow. Yep, snow. We live at 5500 feet in the Idaho mountains. Snow and freezing temperatures are a possibility almost all summer. The Old Farmers Almanac is calling for a cool and dry summer. I think the Almanac is about as good for long range forecasts as most other sources. Worked in the yard today and noticed that the lilacs are ready to bloom. I’ve got to find my lilac recipe for lilac syrup and lilac jelly. Do you have one? I had the syrup once years ago. I was surprised at how good it was.
Also, I had corn ten years old germinate in a germination test. Shocked me but it was open pollinate. I was told that corn, peas and onions will not germinate after a point. But I’m trying all the old seeds to see if they will grow. Checking through all my seeds at this point. I find it remarkable and amazing at how often the seeds sprout despite the naysayers. Thank you for being such a great teacher (all your articles, books and here) and I think mentor! Hope you get some rain soon! Cat
hi Cat, Jackie may have a recipe also here’s one I’ve used with good results
4 cup lilac blossom, removed from stems. pour 4 cup boiling water over .infuse 10 minutes strain tea . Add @ Tb lemon juice. stir in 1 box of powder pectin, stir to dissolve. bring to boil 1 minute. add 4 cup sugar bring back to boil 1 minute. ladle into jars. process 10 minute.
Ashley Adamant Practical Self reliance find her for more hints
Thank you!
We got your rain, several days worth. And snow yesterday morning, altitude, 1,400 feet!! But it didn’t last nor stick on the ground. Yep, when we lived in Montana’s mountains, we had snow, and a big snow at that, on the Fourth of July! Been there; done that! I didn’t have a lilac syrup recipe, so Mary gave us both one!!
As for old seed germinating? I’ve had older seed germinate very well. Yep, sometimes, often due to storage conditions, it doesn’t. But, hey, our Folsom Indian Ruin beans were 1,500 years old when the rancher discovered them in a clay pot, buried in the dirt on his ranch. AND they germinated!! We’re still excited about that.
Something I want to acknowledge, Jackie. You have from time to time you continue admonishing the need to shall we say, prep. My thoughts have been, nothing’s going to happen now during 47. No attack on our grid. But, one thing still looms: the attack on our food industry and our big ag and individual farm/ranch ag. I listen to Charlie Rankin on yt, YanasaTV. He’s weekly uncovering the attack on our privately held land, small farming, small ranchers, let alone the clean food industries that have been literally burned down. How about the farmer’s irrigation stolen in Idaho and Oregon. Yep, we better keep growing our food and preserving!
Frankly, I don’t know if our grid will go down. But I do know the price of not keeping on top of things. ANY emergency can happen to any of us at any time, whether it’s injury, job loss, an adult child or family moving back home, economic breakdown, super high prices or even enemy attack (remember 9/11?). I’ve been hungry in the far past and it was not fun. I’ve had power outages so now we take care of the power ourselves, off grid. I’ve had an adult child have to move home (another mouth to feed), suddenly. So, yes, we try to keep prepared. Just in case of whatever. Not out of fear but just common sense.
Jackie and friends, I grew up in South Texas. Severe hailstorms, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and tropical storms were normal there. We kept a food supply on hand, along with other things, as a matter of course. My Great Grandparents went through the Dust Bowl, the Spanish flu, the Depression and both World Wars. They taught us to be prepared and never stop adjusting or adding to supplies. My husband and I live in the mountains of Idaho now. The hailstorms are tiny compared to what I grew up with, rare tornados but the winter storms with snow and ice makes up for that. Lately we’ve had multiple power outages. Something that’s unusual for this area. We have flashlights, other battery powered lights lights and oil lamps to use. My main worry was freezer and fridge items going bad and my husbands CPAP for later at night. We were going to get a generator to cover these when our microwave died and the tires are needing replacement. Figures! Prepping is not only a balancing act but a juggling act. I’m praying nothing else expensive does or needs repairs for a month or two.
Yes, all good reasons, can’t afford not to be on your ‘toes’ for an emergency!
I’ve had to turn my water off due to leaks under my slab, twice for a week each. So glad I had stored water.
Had power off 3 days due to hurricane. Glad I had a generator and gas.
Stuff happens, not just to a nation or a state. Sometimes it’s just to one person.
Here in far north California I haven’t seen any tornadoes, but seen pictures in the county south of us (Tehama). They crop up only every few years. Our spring has swung from one extreme to the other since January. Now it’s been so cool, that my vegetable garden is hardly growing and my peppers and tomatoes have turned yellow; no more watering for a while, and no more shade cloth against sun-burned leaves. Like I said, swinging to extremes.
Boy doesn’t the weather swing in extremes; too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet. It keeps me crazier than usual.
Love your “Dirt Bags”! You couldn’t ask for better.
Congrats on your new calf. More manure ahead. :)
So glad the fires aren’t near you and praying that they won’t ever head your way.
We’ve been going through alternating hot and cool spells all spring and are now moving into a hot one. But as of yesterday the whole garden finally IS IN, ending with the planting of the sweet potatoes. Tomatoes are starting to flower, pole beans have begun to climb, potatoes have finished blooming, the corn has popped up and I’ve found myself starting to think about what to plant in the fall. LOL!
Wow, it’s so nice to hear from you and other folks in warmer climates. It kind of perks me up, knowing our turn is coming. Our gardens won’t look like yours until late June/early July. But it gives us time to get them ready, spreading manure, tilling, getting fences ready, etc. For us, with so many big gardens, that’s a big order.
We had the state declare the need for burn permits two weeks earlier than usual but I haven’t heard of any major fires. The high country between the oppressed Basin and Anchorage Alaska had a snow storm a couple days ago and we have had enough showers to reduce risk despite more wind than usual. I’m working on my hoop houses which need deep weeding because of my spending May in the hospital last year. I’ve got most of my onions planted and tomato’s, peppers, squash and cucumbers are started in the house. I’m trying to maximize how much I can grow in the green house and hoop houses! Have fun planting all that stuff!
We will. Right now, it’s just onions in the garden. After all, we had snow yesterday morning! After nineties!! Hey, it’s northern Minnesota. We finally had a good few days of rain and cool temperatures. The firefighters are getting a handle on the fires, but they sure burned a lot of ground and structures. Stay well and have fun with those weeds!
You need rain so bad and we need dry weather! More severe storms coming in tonight with large hail damaging winds. Tomorrow hurricane force winds, large hail and of course damaging winds and they are forecasting tornadoes. Your plants look nice and I’m so glad you got a other baby calf! Take care and stay safe! I’ll pray that the Good Lord send a soaking rain to stop the fires. Let’s hope!
We did get that rain you prayed for. And cool temperatures too. The fires are becoming more contained, due to that and we’re sure grateful. So sorry to hear about your severe weather. stay safe!!
I’m thankful the fires aren’t too close to you and pray rain comes to help the fires be put out.
I’m praying too for those who’ve lost so much in this historic fire. Heartbreaking!
It’s hot here and lots of wind too. It feels a lot hotter than I remember in May. 80 degrees feels like 100. The wind makes it more tolerable.
Been working outside planting and trimmed a few trees.
I’ll be going back out to do more work in awhile and check on the chickens.
The wind helps keep them a lot cooler which is nice.
Glad Will is getting fields done with manure and I truly hear you on no till vs
tilling. You always have a tremendous harvest.
I’m glad everything you started is coming up so well. They are looking so good. I know what you mean about running out of room. Same here.
Hopefully no frost now. Wouldn’t be fun to have to put everything back inside somewhere.
I love seeing the swans. I hope they are nesting and going to be around a good long time for you all to enjoy.
Wonderful you have another calf and glad Will was out there to help her as she needed.
Great picture of Will and your son. Thanks for sharing.
Have the best night and stay safe.
I love that picture!! We’re supposed to get some rain. I sure hope so. It will not only help our poor gardens and pastures but help the poor firefighters out in this heat, trying to save folks’ homes and cabins in its path. They get worse by the day. I feel so bad for people who have lost everything. Thankfully, so far, at least, I have heard of no fatalities.
Are cooked Mother Stoddard beans, in moderation, ok to give chickens? I have canned a case of quarts of beans and there are still more!
Time to share with our girls!
Yes. We need rain. Seedlings are up and we are now watering. It is so dry here in this part of Indiana!
Dirtbags🤣🤣Good one. You’re fortunate that squash is up! Still ground too cold to seed. We’re in a dry Windy spring trend here. Even Swiss card is reluctant to sprout! What do you recommend for the leggy squash and pumpkins in my greenhouse? Potted them right to the leaf line and they are 3-4” shooting! Take care of the knees with the extra watering and work.
Our ground is warm enough to put in seed but with no rain and the definite possibility of frost, we’re holding off.
You might try spraying with fish emulsion for those leggy squash. Usually if they get enough light, they don’t reach for the sun.
Yeah, those dratted knees…. They aren’t cooperating much. But I keep trying. You gotta do what you gotta do….
Thank you for the fish emulsion hint!
Planting my seedlings like crazy today. Super windy here. We had sudden thunderstorm yesterday with a pummeling inch and a half of rain in a short time. In fact it ruin some of my tomatoes. Today a risk of tornado. We have the root cellar for shelter. As “usual” crazy weather. But the work continues.
Boy, doesn’t it though??? Sorry to hear your rain was an ugly one. And wind really sucks. I sure hope tornadoes stay far away!!! Luckily, we very seldom get one up here. And when we do, it’s usually a smaller one. Thank God. I’m not a fan.
Bull = quarters and halves. Unless he is the “next generation”.
We need rain too. Thankfully our hoses reach all we need to water.
Nope, he’ll be beef. We’re already saving the next generation bull calf. Still no rain. Maybe tonight?? We’d need dozens of hoses to reach some of our farthest gardens! : )
it rained about 14 minutes but we’ll take it. Pretty windy and tornado watches until 10 pm. It is dry, has been dry, and it is windy yet there are always people who ignore burn warnings.
Another short stint of rain – not even enough to make the entire driveway wet. Again, I’ll take what I get. Taters are looking super good – going to mound them this weekend. Weeds never stop, a few dandy-lions in the strawberries and need to spot week the annuals/asparagus. Young trees *just* don’t give up.
Of course more wind today so picking up sticks/branches is on the to do list.