Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

GREAT MORNING.... we finally got some actual rain last night. Heard it on the roof and we got a couple of bands that came through. I went out this morning to look, and we got 1.1 inches overnight. I am tickled pink that we got some rain to amount to something. I don't see any damage anywhere, have not been out to the chickens yet, or the garden, heading out there in a few. I didn't hear any wind with it, just a couple times steady rain downpour on the roof. Kinda like @canesisters said, like a bucket got poured out...
The plants on the porch got soaked real good, but something has been messing with them, dug through one of the Norfolk Island pines and through the tray with the "pieces" of some christmas cactus that were rooting. I am pretty sure it is another possum.... going to set a trap. It shreaded the label off a cottage cheese container I was using as a "saucer" under a pointsetta plant ..... I saw one on the front porch one night but then there was one killed on the road so thought that was it... guess not. There have been alot of possums killed on the road in my travels lately. Must've been a bumper crop last year....

Got to go get milk, he texted me and said that he would have it for me today.....which was nice since I had only texted him earlier to see if I could get it Tuesday or Wed.... and then I will stop tomorrow on my way to test as I run his samples through with tomorrow's herd. With the cooler weather, I was drinking more milk this last week. When it gets hotter, and when I am on the tractor, I drink more tea and water.

I might go by the nursery I like and just look at stuff... and maybe not. It is too wet to do anything out side... and too wet to move any hay today, don't want to damage the fields driving on them.
I do have to go by my P.O. Box and get mail, expecting stuff from estate lawyer one of these days... hopefully it is going to be settled soon.

Okay, time to get out the door.

 

[Mini Horses]

You got RAIN!!!

 

[Bruce]

No rain here for several days and none in the forecast.

You can grow potatoes in containers... 1 plant per 5 gal bucket of soil... And you can crowd them in the garden....
Fedco catalog has a good page on planting potato tips... they suggest 8" apart in the row for the fingerlings and up to 12 inches apart in the row for later and hopefully bigger tubers. So they don't take as much room in the row as you think,,, And you do not have to cut them ... that is to get more plants per potato ... that is why I try to plant pieces with at least 2 eyes... and I have been known to plant many times with only one eye if it is vigorously sprouting... especially if it was something that I wanted more plants to produce.....I would try to plant what she gave you if you can fit them in somewhere...
Most places here sell seed potatoes in 5 # bags.... maybe that is what she had to buy.
One nice thing I like is to steal new potatoes as they grow for fresh boiled potatoes.....if you plant them close you will get more smaller ones and so plenty for boiling new potatoes.

Turns out she grows them in bags, says 5 or 6 per bag. I can't see how that would work well given the bags are the size of a 5 gallon bucket but she said it works for her.

I'm thinking of planting at least some of them in the center bay of the compost bin (4' deep, 5' wide). I've got it down to about 9" high now. Figure I can get maybe three 5' rows in there?? And as they grow I can add compost (pine shavings from the chicken coop, hay and alpaca poop, kitchen scraps) from the next bay over. This year everything is going in the left side bay.

WOWZERS - I had no idea there were that many different kinds of interesting potatoes!

I was amazed when we were in/on Prince Edward Island. I don't recall the number but there was a sign saying that PEI is the potato capital of Canada with over a hundred varieties. Apparently though it is just a small island the size of Delaware, it provides 25% of the potatoes grown in Canada.

The mower can't cut off the real tall stuff, it just lays over when it goes across it and so I have to get it back down to "reasonable" height.

Oops, forgot to post on this one. My garden tractor won't mow tall grass either. Same as yours, lays it down and have to back up to get it cut and the mower chokes on it anyway, still really ragged when done. Last year I did the "No mow May" thing and had to mow the yard with the flail mower on the real tractor for the first mowing in June. Not surprisingly the compact tractor is not as maneuverable as the little garden "tractor" and can't get into all the areas. This year I said "heck with that". I have 4 acres of field I don't mow other than the perimeter until August to make sure any nesting birds or deer are done. Seems like there is plenty out there for whatever critters "No mow May" is supposed to help.

 

[farmerjan]

WOW on the PEI potato growing... That's neat.
Hey, if it works for her to grow them that close together than good for her... I'm impressed...
I think the compost bin thing ought to work... Becareful of the manure, it will cause more scab on them due to the acidity... and make more leaf than root with the nitrogen to feed the leaves...

The walk behind weed eater does a good job of getting the tall stuff knocked down pretty good. Haven't gone behind it yet with the mower... but it is alot shorter so ought to mow pretty good.

It stayed cloudy and a little cool until about 2-3 p.m. Then the sun came out. Now they are saying some possible spotty showers but more sun and all through Friday; then some spotty showers on Saturday and then several more days of sun/some clouds...

Talked to DS and I am going to move some hay tomorrow... he thought the field will be okay and the orchard grass is going to grow like gangbusters with this rain. So, want to get it off the orchard grass at his green barn, so it can start to regrow... and not be driving across it once it is growing back. Hope to get most/all of it done in the morning before I have to go to work. All the meters and hoses are in the car for testing... just have to put the bottles in the trays tonight.

Went to P.O., got the letter from the lawyer, and settlement from parents estate... so my part is totally done and now just the settlement to DS and the beneficiaries, after all the other things in the will are settled... hopefully soon. Went to the bank and will pay off a few things then put the rest back.... Not a fortune, but enough to get some things taken care of. I have been working at getting things paid off all along so this will help.

Also went to the nursery, and treated myself to some 4 pks of flowers to put in the planters, and 2 hollyhocks, they will come up every year. Just spent some time walking and looking.... and then went to the farm on the way home and got my milk. Came home, got it into glass jars to put in the fridge... I take him a 2 gallon bucket from Dunkin Donuts creme fillings... I used to get them from the Dunkin Donuts in the previous truck stop before it was taken over by Pilot.... they actually baked them there and did the fillings and glaze and all. Collected the buckets from a friend that worked there rather than they throw them out.... They have been GREAT.... 2 gal and 5 gal ones..... So, I can take them to the farm and leave them and then I don't have to worry about breakage on the way home with the milk...I take one and bring one home and just trade them back and forth.
Then I got the stuff in the car for testing, and decided to get the hanging pots on the chains in the tree... I went through each of the hanging pots, trimmed the ends of leaves that were brown and just tidied them up and got nearly 30 hung; still have about 10 more to do. I want to get the rest of the weeds from around the maple tree gotten cleaned up too so I can get in there easily to water them...They will do much better with the shade of the maple tree leaves... they were actually getting a little sunburned on the deck from too much strong sun; and the sun will hit them some late in the afternoon as it moves around to the west so that is good too.

I also got some stuff to use in the garden to try to deter some of the deer problems... it is like b lood meal and highly touted to keep the deer and rabbits and other pests out... Organic approved which was not my first concern... but you can use is directly on food plants as long as it is not directly on the veg.... we used to use blood meal years ago around the garden for a deterrent... and then blood meal was soooo controversy... and now I see it on the shelves at the nursery... so hopefully, this might help. That and urine based deterrents... yep... get the guys to go out and do some sprinkling around the edges....

And I have an infestation of what I believe are mealy worms in the african violets.... from all that I read.. so got some stuff to try to salvage them... going to take them outside and spray good after taking a water hose sprayer to them to try to knock some off... and get them all outside for the summer too under the tree. UGH....always something. They will make it or not... going to keep all the ones with no signs of infestation totally separate and watch closely... don't know where they came from... been months since I brought anything new home....

DS is probably going to try to get some more cows in tomorrow... I will be at work... I gave him the clipboard and the lists... told him to just write down everyone and I will get it figured out... He won't move them anywhere... just get them into the barn lot, calves tagged and worked that need it, and try to match cow & calf... but they will all be going to the same place so not as worried about making pairs matched... just don't want to leave anyone behind.... we are not putting bull/steer calves at one place and heifers at another since we are mostly weaning them and keeping them all for awhile... used to be we would pull everyone from one place and sell the calves directly.... but since he is making up more to sell in uniform groups... that means weaning and keeping for at least 30-60 days; it doesn't matter if we have steer and heifer calves at the same place.
Neighbor asked if we had any extra grass as he has 10 heifers he needs a place to put that are too young to be near a bull... and I told DS one place that we don't have anything at that would be a good place and it will help pay for the rent... we don't like to put cow/calf pairs there as they just don't milk good there, calves don't seem to grow..... but the heifers have done okay there and the steers did good there last fall... It will work.

500 cow herd scheduled for Thursday aft... with Geneva... our last.... then DS is going to have to step up and help like he said he would, when I first took this herd on...

Brackets should be here this week for the herd that I get the tank sample from... and they are going to be owner sampler if I can keep them pushed in that direction... I may have to go for the first test incase there are any questions/concerns... but I do not want any more to have to test. Really thinking about "retiring out" before the cold winter...

Time to get a few things done in the house. Chickens closed in.... done for the night outside.

 

[Bruce]

Becareful of the manure, it will cause more scab on them due to the acidity... and make more leaf than root with the nitrogen to feed the leaves...

Even though that bin has had nothing added since 2021? Well, not NOTHING, apparently a bird dropped a couple of seeds from a small orange gourd that I have never grown or had on the property in any fashion. Got over 30 of the things! When the plants first started growing I figured it was butternut squash since I've had that in the past though the chickens should have gotten all the seeds.

The right side bin is where we put everything last year, won't be using it until next year. Need to move the boys' winter pile of poop and hay from the north end of the barn into the left bin and clean out the chicken coop moving all that into the bin as well. So far only things from the kitchen compost bin has been dumped there this year.

 

[farmerjan]

@Bruce ......NO, I meant that if you added compost... not realizing that it was year old compost... from the neighboring bin. He// you might have the best potatoes of anyone this year.....I meant more "fresh compost" and hay/straw etc from the animals bedding.
But if the compost is real rich, you may get more leaf than potaotes.... all that good rich "food" for the plants.

10:30 p.m. It was a nice day, 57 up to 81 but there was a little breeze so not hot. Comfortable for short sleeve shirt at work in the barn, testing.

Let the chickens out and got everything in the car for work... went up and moved some round bales and DS came by the farm and we went up to his barn where the discbine was, dropped my car, he took me up to Deb's barn and I brought the tractor back to his barn to the disc bine so he could go mow after work. He was out checking on a job or something so took a 10 minute "break" to run me up there. Then when I got back with the tractor, just parked it and I had my car already there. Went back and moved some of the bales of wheat off that field. Then left and went and picked up the milk samples from my "milk" farmer and a tank sample from the other farm and made a stop in town and went to the farm.
Got done there and loaded meters and all, and finally got home around 8. Went out, locked everyone in their crate, set the live trap and came in. I am tired and ate a roast beef sandwich... that was REAL GOOD roast beef that was marked down... and getting ready to go in and get a shower and bed. Tomorrow I will take the meters and hoses out of the car and put in the storage bins in the carport; load the boxes and all for the 500+ cow farm, and move some more of the wheat bales off that field.

The 10+ acre field he mowed this evening will need to lay for a day to start to dry. Figure I will probably tedd it out Friday morning... then all according to how it dries, rake late Fri aft or early Sat and then he can bale it before we get that 30% chance of showers Sat night into Sun morning.

I will stop and get subway sandwiches for Geneva and me for "supper" tomorrow, after moving bales, since she is coming directly from the other farm, and we will have something to eat since we are in there for 5 + hours.... I will need to be there a little earlier since I will be setting up the samplers by myself... and they are starting around 4-4:15 now... I will have to leave here by 2 to stop at Subway on the way...

I saw deer hoofprints in the garden where it was soft from the rain... GOT to get to the fence this weekend.... I see lots of little green potato sprouts coming up... I am really excited about them... I am going to try spraying the tomato and pepper plants with the repellent and see if they leave them alone.... I also stuck some sunflower seeds in between some of the potato rows, like where one variety ended and another started... really want to see if it will work on them....

Time to quit for the night.

 

[Baymule]

When we still lives in Livingston, the kids across the street were raking up the next door neighbor’s leaves. I paid them to take a huge pile over to my front yard and put the rest in the chicken coop and run. BJ thought I’d list my mind. Then he and I went to the horse pasture and loaded the truck with fresh horse manure. We mixed it with that pile of leaves and I added a couple bags of lime-for scab. The leaves sat all winter, I watered the pile from time to time. Mid February I planted potatoes in the pile. It made the biggest, prettiest potatoes I’ve ever grown. BJ didn’t think I’d lost my mind anymore. LOL

 

[Ridgetop]

Hope you and the girls are having a great time. Give Carson a hug for me. Sentry deserves one too, but poor Carson is feeling ousted from his place as your velcro dog.

 

[farmerjan]

Mid Friday afternoon. Been 2 long enough days.

Weather has been really ideal. Sun, 80's and NO HUMIDITY.... DS tedded most of the field yesterday afternoon, when I was testing. Testing went pretty good, I was all set up and they started milking and Geneva got there about quarter to 5 so it was fine. Milking went good, and I left there after everything was done about 9:30-9:45.
Had a scare when I got home... The RI Red cockerel that the lady gave me (the trio) was on the front porch roosting up on some boxes and NO PULLETS... Okay, maybe they were in the crate or the shelter, and for some reason he didn't go???? Normally they are like the 3 Musketeers.... Always together.
Picked him up went to lock them in and NO PULLETS... took the flashlight.... put him in his crate, the brahma was in her crate... and I thought OH SH!T... something chased them, got the pullets..... maybe a fox or a hawk.....I looked everywhere I could think of and said well, maybe they are in a tree and I couldn't see them. I was really P.O.ed because I had just gotten a coon the night before in the live trap and had disposed of it.

This morning I went out to turn the chickens out of the 2 crates, figured I go looking for feathers... and there were the 2 pullets.... I have no idea where they were but they were standing right there in the shelter at the crate... THANK YOU LORD..... I was sick the night before thinking that something had gotten them...
The chickens are very conscious of NOT being out in the "open"... they are under the trees and the bushes and everything unless I am out there... and hang around near the house.... They're acting perfectly fine and not skittish or anything... Makes no sense....

They came to meet me when I just drove back in the yard.

DS called and said to take my car down to the field and he would pick me up and bring me back up here to get the tractor and rake, then I would have a vehicle down there when I got done. He brought me back to the house so I could finish packing the samples, I was 2/3 done, but he was heading down that way to loan some "congested area" signs to the old mill as they are having something.... the state dept does that.... since it was right near the field, he needed me to go down then....
So, I got the samples packed and dropped them at the vineyard since the new owners of the other place have not got a UPS account and regular pickup set up yet. Took that car to the barn, got the tractor and rake and went down the hill and spent 2 1/2 hours and got the 10+ acres raked, and just came back. Decided I needed a break, cold glass of tea... and will go out in a bit, and probably see about getting the mower out and doing around the front year.... or getting the weed eater out and go around the garden and get that situated..
I want to get the rest of it planted with the green beans and squash and the sprouted potatoes from the house down one row along the edge of the garden and see what/if they do anything.

Sooooo, here I am.... for a few minutes....took allergy pill earlier, and everything is good... no problems with any reactions. YAY....

Got to go up to the barn and check on those cows to see if I can catch anyone else sucking their momma and make sure they are matched. Have to go move some more bales of the wheat but he had truck and trailers in the road to the back field and I am not moving stuff all around. Too much stuff in the "yard" around the barns and all and not going to try to maneuver that trailer around... plus it is hooked to the truck that I have a hard time starting... the clutch is soooo stiff, that I often cannot get it punched down hard enough to the floor with the "new ankle"... funny how it doesn't work on 2 of the trucks with the real stiff clutches. I have to use the right foot, and doesn't always work... he thinks it is funny.... HA HA , big joke.

So, I am going out to do some stuff outside...

 

[Mini Horses]

here's your post....6/2.….remove from coffee thread.

Went down the hill to see how DS was making out... hay's all baled, tractor and baler gone... no sign anywhere... turns out neighbor was having trouble with his baler and so DS went and rolled his hay for him and parked the tractor and baler in his barn for the time being... I called him when I couldn't find him anywhere... thinking he might want a cold drink or a ride back to his truck after baling or whatever...he was getting a ride back to the truck so didn't need me... So all is good... There were alot of people making hay today...

We were more fortunate with the rain that finally came on Monday night.... most of my farmer's only got .2 to .4 inches over that 3 day stretch. We only had .2 until late Monday night when it dumped on us. VERY THANKFUL for that inch +, that we . The farm I tested Wed and the big one yesterday both said they only got a couple tenths. They are getting dry. Maybe they will get some out of the "chance of showers" tomorrow.

Made sure I locked the chickens in their crates in the shelter before I went down the hill...

I worked in the garden a bit before I went looking for DS. Put in 4 short rows of "Royal Burgundy, purple (green beans).... an area(hill) of several Butternut squash seeds, a short row of mixed summer squash seeds and 3 short rows of yellow wax beans. I guess the rows are 6-8 foot.... Think I will try to take the self propelled mower along the grass/garden edge and see if I can get it mowed down real short... There are several deer hoofprints in that end of the garden.... and get the poly netting up this weekend before the bush bean seeds come up. Might make one more "swath" with the walk behind weed eater and then "scalp" the ground. Down at that side (end) of the garden where I put the rows of beans I will put all the sprouted potatoes down along the edge, cover with mulch hay... and let them do their thing. Or NOT...... Still want to put in a hill of cantaloupe... and maybe a small hill of cukes... and some plain green beans...
And then I am out of space.... . If I get those couple of rose-a-shaon bushes moved that I want to get out of there; then I will till that area also...and make it bigger next year.

TSC called and said the wire had come in if I still wanted it... I said we were in the hayfields the next day or 2 so it would be the first of the week and she said that was fine, she would put my name on 2 rolls. I am going to get it before they don't have it or can't get it... Put it on a pallet so it doesn"t get rusty from contact with the ground... and it will be here to use as soon as I can get someone to do it. I can do it 12 months no finance charge... If I do it with the 5% discount on the card, that is not quite $20 a roll... which is nothing to sneeze at... BUT.... if I should not get it paid off within the next billing period... then the finance charge would negate that savings and possibly cost me ..... oh, I just thought... I can do it that way because I can use some of the settlement money from parents estate that was bequeathed in the will... Yeah, that's the way to do it. Take the 5% and pay it off when it gets billed to me... I also want to get some taller T-posts to run a strand of electric above the poly netting.. so will put a few in along the sides/corners/edges of the garden to run that extra strand above it....

I need to get the rest of the wheat bales off the one field and then get this hay all moved to the edge so DS can put the rolls in a row with the tractor with the spear...

OH CRAP.... @Mini Horses I need HELP.... to transfer all but the first paragraph to my journal.... I got side tracked after answering your comment and forgot I was in the "coffee" thread.... AGAIN.... you will have to teach me to do that......

I just remembered I have a steak that I took out of the freezer... ought to go make it for a late supper.