Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

@Mini Horses you are right about one thing. It is more fun and even more productive, to have 2 working together... I sure wish I had company to do some of it... do it together and share the end results... sure wish we were closer... I get to where I have to push myself to get things worked up in the kitchen... of course it would help if kitchen was in more "organized condition"..... OH WELL.... next year. There will be plenty in the freezer and what I have picked up at the discount store... Garden fence will be a PRIORITY and hopefully fence around the whole place.... fruit trees moved this fall/winter...

Yeah, we really push this time of year to juggle things. I have done the late night canning thing too. Glad I do not have anyone here milking right now... don't know if I could push that much right now.
Yeah, helps to have a good relationship with the farmers that I work with. Years of knowing the inner workings of the farms and what they do and don't do.... we work with each other, since we also have to make hay and different things on our own place. And not having so many, to try to work around 4-5 every week...

How's the new goat doing? Getting more comfortable with his surroundings?

Poultry swap is in 5 weeks... WOW.... I plan to get some pullets/hens to take home... looking for some purebreds too ... am contacting some of the breeders to see about finding some New Hampshires again...

 

[Mini Horses]

So far the new buck is a dream animal! Not aggressive, fence respectful, good to handle. Must wear a watch because he knows feeding time. he's fed as does are being milked & fed. But wanted him to come when called and to the magic feed bucket, so began day he came here. Ya know how important that is!

Processed & canned all day. Making cheese in short while. Then a welcome bedtime.

 

[Baymule]

That chicken swap sounds like a lot of fun. I hope y’all have a great time and others that may be in the area go too!

 

[farmerjan]

Came in for a sandwich a little bit ago. It is an absolutely gorgeous day out there. Started at 56 and sun came up.... Comfortable 80's with NO HUMIDITY....
Moved some round bales of the wheat straw that DS had baled up as they are supposed to come and spray and kill the johnson grass and he is going to plant back a variety of rye that is more heat tolerant... get a crop off late this year and then it will grow and we should get a good crop off next spring. Since the wheat never got combined and the soybeans never got planted and it is WAY TOO LATE.... what a bad experience. So much of the seed had shattered/fallen that there is wheat coming up all over again from it... but the johnson grass is 3x the height after little more than a week....Alot of lost money/income from not getting the wheat combined and straw baled and sold. These rolls will make bedding/picking for the cows this winter and the seed will go back into the soil at the pastures and germinate for some added green growth.... but it would have made better hay in the early soft dough stage before it matured and dried and so much was lost back onto the ground.

Came home and had another headache and quit early for the night.

Went this morning and moved the rest of the wheat bales off the big field, then moved all the ones off the 6 acre field that is across the creek that DS put the new pipe in to replace the one that had washed out so bad and we couldn't get into that field for 2-3 years... Then went up and moved 14 of the 4x5 rolls off another hay field and put them in front of the gate to the guy who buys them from us... the one we custom make his hay.... as he has more cows than he has hay for off the first cutting. This year has been a bit better for him for the grazing... but his hay was less than normal. He usually buys some from us and his tractor is smaller so cannot handle the big 5x5 ones. So we make one place close to him with the 4x5 baler when we make his hay and just take it and drop it by the gate and he moves them up to his storage area... I put 14 bales there today. Then came home to eat and put a gallon of tea out in the sun, put a load of clothes in the washing machine and will hang them out in a little bit.

Got to work on the peaches I got. Corn is in the freezer except for the 4 ears I am going to eat, 2 tonight and 2 tomorrow night. Next is a trip out in the garden. Decided to just put all the scrap stuff from the house in the section that is not producing well and will try to build up the soil a bit this year.
Have seen several good sized bucks out here this year.... they go from here to the corn to the pasture next door where we winter a bunch of cattle. I hope there are quite a few less next year.

Gas has come down here to 3.49. I think I mentioned that I got it for 3.19 cash when I was testing south of here near Roanoke...

There is a company that is advertising whole house generators... 0% down and 0% interest for 48 months. I am going to call them on Monday to see if they come this far north to put them in and what the prices are. I am a little concerned with the forecasts of a severe winter this year. If it is cold I am not too concerned about the freezers if the power goes out... but if it is not real cold, then it could be a problem. Seems like we get alot more freezing rain and crappy weather than we get real cold or snow. Would like to know. My parents had a generator when we were kids growing up and it saw a fair amount of use in CT.... we were the only house in the neighborhood that had power many times... and we would have lots of people in to cook meals and such.... I think about the derrachio winds that we had about 10 years ago and lost our power in late June for 5 days... DS and I traded the generator he had back and forth so that I could keep the freezers going and necessary things... it was a PITA but we didn't lose any food. Might be a better investment at this point than a smaller tractor deal... Haven't found anything that I really like and the prices are through the roof anyway.

Lots of things on the list to consider... Fencing is pretty much number one... but I figured that 0% down and 0%financing is something to consider.

Cabinets don't smell so bad so might go through and spray good again... much as I hate painting wood, I might try painting them after a second round of this spray once it dries. Still looking at the corner and trying to decide which way I want the sink... I am thinking on the "right" and then take out the cabinet part on the left and slide the portable dishwasher in there and then it would be able to just stay there????....I stand there and try to imagine which way I would prefer to stand and how to utilize the space. I have even thought about putting in a single large one and a smaller one but not have them kitty corner like that... have thought about a triple sink like in commercial kitchens... and I don't like stainless steel but to have the usable space and size....Can't swing the faucet from one sink to the other now because it catches the counter and gets water everywhere... have to turn it off everytime you switch sinks...Wish I had my old sink with the built in drainboards on the sides....
Well time to go do something... like hang the clothes... I am going to do another load of just the jeans so they are dry before the next round of wet weather they are calling for. As hot as it has been, it doesn't take much to get them all sweaty and it is no fun to put on smelly jeans so I go through them fast.

 

[Ridgetop]

Work it out on paper to scale. Cheaper than puling cabinets out. LOL

 

[Mini Horses]

Get a roll of wrapping paper, plain colored....tape and spread over counter tops and draw where you want things or cut a piece that's the sink you want, to move it around...stand there and pretend . Move between refer, sink, etc. You can more realistically decide. The current items covered help you visually. $10 in paper could save hundreds in cabinets, plumbing and sinks/faucets.

Well. That's my idea.

I'm concerned with winter this year....not wanting snow and cold! It's rare that I get a lot of extreme in my area BUT when we do, area is not set up to handle it well. Haven't had more than an inch or two in several years. We're do for a hit and with crazy weather all year, yeah, it could happen.

 

[farmerjan]

I like that idea @Mini Horses ... I will try it....get some plain paper and try that.

Several years ago DS had to go down to the Hampton Roads area with the huge snow blower the state has up here... there was like 20-30 inches of snow down there... And because the coastal areas do not get any great amount of snow, it just shut down everything. He ran it like 20 hrs a day for 3 days because there wasn't anyone else capable of running it. He was teaching a guy "on the job" to run it.... they opened up a neighborhood for a lady that needed dialysis and they brought her out in one of the huge trucks to get her to where she could get in an ambulance to take her to the hospital... no power for like 3 days or something... but the roads were totally impassable... because they aren't set up to handle something like that. Here we just go along and deal with it because we get it and have the equipment...
Look at what @Baymule got hit with... once in a lifetime snow down there... at least they didn't lose their power for days.....

Cloudy here this morning... Forecast went from partly sun/clouds to mostly cloudy and now some rain by 2-3 p.m.???? Yesterday was so nice... sure could have used a 2nd day of that... Hope the clothes will dry enough. Temps in the upper 60's last time I looked.

DS texted me and said that the guy got all the bales of hay moved so I can go move some more to his gateway, off of the hayfield. Would like to get most of them done today before we get the rain so he can get them moved up to his storage spot. Plus let the grass grow without keeping driving on it. Going to eat a little something and then maybe go up and move more. I have to go up and down the driveway of the house there so didn't want to do it too early on a Sunday morning either.

 

[Mini Horses]

I have a coat closet, under the stairs, that I have NEVER used. . It is downstairs, middle if house and temps rarely change. I'm going to put shelves in there, along a wall and use for the foods I've canned. Looking upstairs in all the cubbies, I have enough shelving units and wood if I need more, to do it FREE. it will give me downstairs access and only 20' from kitchen....room for some of my large, rarely used pots, too. I can scoot a couple stacked containers under lower end of stairs area for empty jars. My huge walk-in closet in bedroom is half storage now with extra lids, paper products, laundry stuff, my canners, dehydrator, vacuum sealers, etc. Trying to reorganize before winter and all these canned goods are everywhere! One day this week, going into the bedroom, I passed "this door" and said WHOA...there's an unused place waiting to be discovered!

So, I just planned to enlarge my kitchen with a small project. . What a deal.

 

[Finnie]

I have a coat closet, under the stairs, that I have NEVER used. . It is downstairs, middle if house and temps rarely change. I'm going to put shelves in there, along a wall and use for the foods I've canned. Looking upstairs in all the cubbies, I have enough shelving units and wood if I need more, to do it FREE. it will give me downstairs access and only 20' from kitchen....room for some of my large, rarely used pots, too. I can scoot a couple stacked containers under lower end of stairs area for empty jars. My huge walk-in closet in bedroom is half storage now with extra lids, paper products, laundry stuff, my canners, dehydrator, vacuum sealers, etc. Trying to reorganize before winter and all these canned goods are everywhere! One day this week, going into the bedroom, I passed "this door" and said WHOA...there's an unused place waiting to be discovered!

So, I just planned to enlarge my kitchen with a small project. . What a deal.

I can’t believe you just left a closet like that empty!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

So, I just planned to enlarge my kitchen with a small project. . What a deal.

That's awesome!